Standard Office Research Articles

MODERN TECHNOLOGIES FOR DIAGNOSTIC AND REMOVAL OF FOREIGN BODIES OF SOFT TISSUE OF FIRE-ORIGINAL ORIGIN

Summary. The work studied the epidemiological and clinical aspects of foreign bodies of soft tissues (FBST) of a firearm origin, taking into account mechanical and traumatogenesis.
 Introduction. Diagnosis of FBST is usually based on complaints, history and examination data, radiographic and ultrasound examinations, and wound revisions. Some authors consider the diagnosis and removal of FBST not difficult, we consider it erroneous, since not all methods allow visualizing FBST and controlling their removal.
 Objective: to improve the results of surgical treatment of injured with FBST by developing new methods for the diagnosis and removal of FBST using modern technologies.
 Materials and methods. The basis of the clinical study was the experience of diagnosis and surgical treatment of 1046 wounded with the presence of gunshot FBST in accordance with the agreement between the Military Medical Clinical Center of the Northern Region (VMKC SR) and the State Institution “General and Emergency Surgery named after V.T. Zaitsev NAMS Ukraine. ”Depending on the methods used to diagnose and remove FBST, the wounded were divided into two groups: the main — 528 (50.5 ± 1.5) % (from November 2015 to May 2017) and the comparative — 518 (49.5 ± 1.5) % (from May 2014 to November 2015). Each of of the selected groups was divided into 3 subgroups depending on the completeness of the removed FBST: subgroup A — the wounded who removed the FBST in full; subgroup B — the wounded who did not remove the FBST in full (partially); B — the wounded who did not remove the FBST .
 Statistical processing was carried out using the standard office suite “Microsoft Office 2013” with the application of the package “Microsoft Excel” and statistical programs for biomedical research “Biostatistics”, “Statistica 10.0”.
 Results. Based on a comparison of clinical, clinical, instrumental and morphological data, the most informative functional signs of FBST were established: structure, size, shape, structure, capsule presence and indications and contraindications for FBST removal depending on localization, location depth and size were established, which made it possible to standardize data about FBST, determine the surgical tactics, the tools that are used, and improve treatment outcomes. New methods and devices have been developed and tested for determining and monitoring the completeness of FBST removal.
 Conclusions. It was concluded that as a result of using the proposed modern diagnostic technologies for FBST removal, the completeness of FBST removal significantly increased from (6.2 ± 0.1) to (1.4 ± 0.1) (p <0.0000), and the duration of FBST removal decreased from (30.4 ± 1.8) to (11.2 ± 1.3) minutes (p <0.0000), the number of surgical interventions decreased from (2.8 ± 0.2) to (1.7 ± 0.1) (p <0.0000), decreased the severity of pain from (7.3 ± 0.2) to (5.2 ± 0.4) points (p <0.0000), the inpatient treatment period decreased from (18.6 ± 1.1) to (16.5 ± 1.3) days.

Dealing with ‘vulnerable workers’ in precarious employment: Front-line constraints and strategies in employment standards enforcement

Individual worker complaints continue to be the core foundation of employment standards enforcement in many Western jurisdictions, including the Canadian province of Ontario. In the contemporary labour market context where segments of the labour force may be disproportionately impacted by rights violations, and employment relationships are more diverse and often more tenuous than previously, the continued reliance on individual claims suggests a need to better understand the challenges associated with the investigation and resolution of claims involving ‘vulnerable workers’ in precarious employment situations. Using interviews with front-line Ontario employment standards officers (ESOs), this article examines the extent to which certain worker characteristics and employment situations perceived by officers as ‘vulnerable’ are identified by officers as significant constraints or barriers to investigation processes and outcomes, and documents whether and how officers address these constraints and barriers. The analysis also identifies the perceived influence of policy, resource and legislative requirements in shaping how officers deal with the more difficult and challenging cases, while also considering the extent to which the officers’ actions are understood by them as discretionary and guided by their particular orientations or concerns. In so doing, this article reveals challenges to the resolution of claims in precarious employment situations, the very place where employment standards are often most needed.

Factors influencing the culture of special school physical education: A Gramscian critique

Physical education (PE) research has largely been preoccupied with mainstream (regular) schools. This article reports on part of a larger research project that centralises special school PE. In particular, Gramsci’s conceptualisations of hegemony, power and ideology are utilised to help shed light on the key factors that shape the culture of special school PE. A number of key themes were constructed from twelve interviews with special school senior leaders and PE teachers including, ‘economic climate: budgetary constraints’, ‘access to appropriate facilities and learning spaces’ and ‘pressures from Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) and senior management team’. These findings demonstrate how particular historical and contemporary factors contribute to the positioning of PE in special schools. The status and value of PE in these settings is sometimes considered less favourably than other areas of the curriculum or indeed mainstream PE. In spite of this, staff tasked with delivering special school PE had the desire and creativity to offer engaging experiences. In concluding we note that issues concerning economic constraints, limited space to deliver PE and pressures associated with Ofsted can be found in many mainstream schools too. However, honing in on the particular circumstances within special schools broadens insight about PE in contemporary schools.

Comparison of Various Blood Pressure Measurement Techniques with Standard Office Based Blood Pressure Mesurement

Comparison of Various Blood Pressure Measurement Techniques with Standard Office Based Blood Pressure Mesurement

Understanding the musculoskeletal injury risk of women in combat: the effect of infantry training and sex on musculoskeletal injury incidence during British Army basic training

IntroductionUntil recently, women were excluded from British combat roles. Their risk for musculoskeletal injury during basic training is two to three times higher than men. To better understand the musculoskeletal...

The Impact of the Underwater Hull Anti-Fouling Silicone Coating on a Ferry’s Fuel Consumption

There are well-known specifics of ro-pax ferry shipping, such as the time factor as a consequence of keeping a regular timetable and the priority given to minimizing heeling, pitching, and rolling caused by maximum focus on passenger comfort and ro-ro cargo safety. It is also extremely important to control the ferry’s fuel consumption, being one of the most important cost components. The aim of the article is to draw the attention of shipping company managers to the great potential that lies in the use of routine operational data, collected exclusively on board the ferries. It is worth noting that the research in this paper is based on standard office software packages rather than advanced statistical methods of data analysis, which are usually not accessible for shipping managers. Contrary to typical ocean-going vessels, there are a number of factors that need to be taken into consideration when analyzing ro-pax ferry fuel consumption. Moreover, these factors occur, in many cases, accidentally and, thus, they are difficult to observe on board the ferry without utilizing expensive and time-consuming methods. The possibility of fuel control is important not only for economic reasons but also due to air pollution caused by engine exhausts. The article presents an estimation of increased fuel consumption caused by the degradation of the hull silicone anti-fouling coating. The presented estimations of fuel consumption may be treated as the base for calculations of the economic effectiveness of ferries. The attempt to resolve the above-mentioned problem was made on the basis of research on a real ferry, which took place on the Świnoujście-Trelleborg line between 2007 and 2019.

Relationship between Principals' Transformational Leadership Style and Secondary School Students' Academic Performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in Bomet County, Kenya

Leadership style is an important aspect in students’ academic performance in schools. Transformational leadership style is associated with the students’ academic achievement in KCSE. The study sought to establish the relationship between idealized influence of principals’ transformational leadership style and students’ academic performance in KCSE in Bomet County in Kenya. The descriptive survey design was used for this study whose target population comprised of 130 secondary schools and five Quality Assurance and Standards Officers in Bomet County. Stratified random sampling procedure was adopted to sample out schools as boys’, girls’ and mixed schools; then Slovin’s formula was used to obtain a total of 108 schools. While purposive sampling procedure was applied to choose one Director of Studies from each 108 schools selected and five Quality Assurance and Standards Officers from the five sub-counties in Bomet County. A total sample of 118 respondents from 108 secondary schools and the five sub-counties participated in the study. When collecting the data, instruments used were Director of Studies’ questionnaires, Quality Assurance and Standards Officers’ interview guides, school and Bomet County Director of Education KCSE records. Chi-square test was adopted to establish the relationship between principals’ idealized influence and academic performance and the results showed that principals’ idealized influence had a strong significant relationship with students’ academic performance in KCSE. Thus, idealized influence characteristics are most effective in promoting students’ academic achievement. The study recommends that the idealized influence should be adopted and displayed by principals in order to improve academic performance in KCSE examinations.

Office Chair Backrest Height Affects Physiological Responses to Sitting

OCCUPATIONAL ABSTRACTProlonged static sitting has been associated with a number of negative health consequences. In prior work investigating office seating designs, the main focus has been on lumbar supports and backrest recline angles. To date, however, there is very limited information on the impact of backrest height on physiologic responses to sitting. Thus, the primary focus of this study was to assess muscular and postural responses to changing backrest height, across various postures, in a standardized office chair. The use of a Tall backrest resulted in significantly more lumbar spine flexion and lumbar erector spinae muscle activation but facilitated a more neutral neck posture. Results from this investigation demonstrate that office chair backrest height influences both posture and muscle activity responses and thus should be a consideration when designing office seating.

Risk factors associated with outbreaks of seasonal infectious disease in school settings, England, UK.

Children are important transmitters of infection. Within schools they encounter large numbers of contacts and infections can spread easily causing outbreaks. However, not all schools are affected equally. We conducted a retrospective analysis of school outbreaks to identify factors associated with the risk of gastroenteritis, influenza, rash or other outbreaks. Data on reported school outbreaks in England were obtained from Public Health England and linked with data from the Department for Education and the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted). Primary and all-through schools were found to be at increased risk of outbreaks, compared with secondary schools (odds ratio (OR) 5.82, 95% confidence interval (CI) 4.50-7.58 and OR 4.66, 95% CI 3.27-6.61, respectively). School size was also significantly associated with the risk of outbreaks, with higher odds associated with larger schools. Attack rates were higher in gastroenteritis and influenza outbreaks, with lower attack rates associated with rashes (relative risk 0.17, 95% CI 0.15-0.20). Deprivation and Ofsted rating were not associated with either outbreak occurrence or the subsequent attack rate. This study identifies primary and all-through schools as key settings for health protection interventions. Public health teams need to work closely with these schools to encourage early identification and reporting of outbreaks.

METHOD OF AUTOMATED GENERATION OF INFORMATION ABOUT UNIVERSITY’S SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS FOR REPORTING IN THE RESEARCH MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OF THE RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND HIGHER EDUCATION

Manual preparation and uploading information on university’s scientific publications to the Research Management System takes considerable time, and often it is not able to meet the deadlines. This challenge posed the task of automating these processes to the authors of the study. The method involves the use of standard office tools (Microsoft Word and Excel), so that employees who do not have specialized information technology knowledge and have an average level of computer skills could use it. The study demonstrated a 3.5-fold time costs reduction when generating information about university’s scientific publications automatically as compared to manual data entry in the Research Management System.

Beneficial or detrimental? The relationship between sustainability, Eco-schools and Ofsted reports

ABSTRACT The article addressed the relationship between sustainability, Eco-schools and primary school Ofsted (Office for Standards in education) reports in England. The article examined the presence of education for sustainability in primary schools’ Ofsted reports and their webpages. The primary schools selected were schools that had gained the title of Eco-Ambassador schools because they had reached the ultimate distinction in the Eco-school approach (held a Green flag). The study followed an exploratory approach employing qualitative content analysis of primary schools’ Ofsted reports and their web pages. Overall, the findings indicated that neither the schools nor their Ofsted reports capitalised on the work they had invested towards sustainability and the Eco-school approach; also the relationship between the primary schools’ work/ethos and their Ofsted reports is not an interactive one.

Parameter Extraction from Duplex Stainless Steel Micrographs and Their Correlation to Macro Properties

Duplex stainless steels owe many of their attractive properties to the interaction between austenitic and ferritic regions in the microstructure. Austenite fraction and austenite region inter-spacing are two parameters known to have a strong influence on product properties such as tensile strength and impact toughness. This study describes how to extract such conventional parameters, together with others that are more difficult to estimate with manual methods. A generalized austenite distance measurement valid also for non-lamellar structures is introduced, together with a serrated phase boundary index. Both are shown to have a strong correlation to impact toughness. An algorithm for estimation of separate grain size in austenite and ferrite is also introduced. In total, some 30 parameters were extracted automatically from a set of light optical micrographs. More than 1000 high resolution images could be processed in an overnight run on a standard office computer. Parameters related to phase boundaries were found to have the strongest correlation to impact toughness.

Painful invisibilities: Roll management or ‘off‐rolling’ and professional identity

‘Off‐rolling’ is widely defined as the illegal removal of students from a school roll, unlike permanent exclusion, which involves sanctioned formal procedures. It is a practice that brings very different logics, political agendas, governmental imperatives and the associated matter of school leader professional identity into sharp relief. Deviant professional identities have already been discursively constituted, despite the current lack of research into the motivation of senior school leaders who engage in ‘off‐rolling’. This article draws on Foucault to explore tensions between a political standards and an inclusion agenda, and to consider how the professional identities of senior school leaders are shaped such that ‘off‐rolling’ becomes possible. It is suggested that chronic underfunding of the inclusion agenda has combined with what England's Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) now describes as an over‐emphasis on academic performance to create unsustainable pressures on many senior school leaders. The descriptor ‘contextual roll management’ may therefore be more appropriate. The moral outrage which accompanies public and political discourse around ‘off‐rolling’ is theorised with reference to Apple, Ball and Popkewitz. Such moral indignation distracts attention from the wider socio‐political and economic context within which schools are now required to deliver academic progress and inclusion. We conclude the article by outlining key empirical questions that have yet to be addressed.

Takeaways from a Seven-Year Digitization Project at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

With the completion of a large-scale project comes the inevitable question: what have we learned and how can we apply it in the future? This article reviews the lessons learned from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Information Services Office’s (ISO) project to digitise and preserve its collection of grey literature published by NIST and its predecessor, the National Bureau of Standards. This legacy digitisation project supported ISO’s mission to create, maintain and disseminate a knowledge base that supports NIST’s scientific, engineering and technical research. The article examines the project over its seven-year duration, its goals and lessons learned, and the path it has laid for digitisation and preservation of NIST publications in the future.

Impact of dynamic lighting control on light exposure, visual comfort and alertness in office users

The lighting environment at indoor workplaces is important not only to provide vision and visual comfort, but also for light’s direct influence on human physiology, cognitive performance and mood. The purpose of this ongoing study is to investigate the impact of a dynamic control of combined daylight and artificial lighting on office users’ visual comfort as well as on alertness and cognitive performance. We are going to evaluate the impact of two different office lighting conditions in a quasi-real setting on subjective alertness ratings in healthy young participants over several days. We will compare an office with optimized daylighting and artificial lighting, operated by a new control system with a standard office room, where the lighting/shading can be changed manually. The aim of this balanced crossover within study design is to show that exposure to optimized dynamic lighting control over several days is superior on subjective alertness and glare indexes, when compared to a conventional lighting control. Here, we present some preliminary results from the first six participants on the comparison of subjective evaluations of alertness and the objective monitored (day-) light exposures and glare index Daylight Glare Probability (DGP) in the two different conditions over one week (five days) each.

Evaluation of economic losses and collapse safety of steel moment frame buildings designed for risk categories II and IV

This paper quantifies the collapse risk and earthquake-induced economic loss in low- to mid-rise steel frame buildings assigned to different risk categories, which are designed with perimeter special moment-resisting frames in highly seismic regions in North America. Each archetype building is designed in accordance with two seismic design force levels as permitted within current seismic building code provisions. For this purpose, a probabilistic framework that can explicitly account for various uncertainties inherent in seismic hazard, structural response, and resulting damage is used. It is shown that, depending on the seismic design practice, the collapse risk of the archetype buildings may be of fundamental concern. In this case, it is suggested that the upper-bound design practice, which provides the maximum strength and stiffness to the relevant building, should be used in the structural design process. For moderate-to-high seismic events, the expected economic loss due to building demolition and replacement is the greatest contributor to the total economic losses in low- to mid-rise standard office buildings of an ordinary use, whereas the repair of nonstructural components is the most significant contributor to the total loss in higher-occupancy archetype buildings. For frequent seismic events, the repair to acceleration-controlled nonstructural components accounts for most of the economic losses regardless of assigned risk category.

A529 Remote Follow-up with a Wirelessly Connected Scale improves weight loss. Comparison with standard office follow-up. A possible solution for insufficient weight loss, weight re-gain and attrition rates.

Insufficient weight loss (WL), weight re-gain and high attrition rates are common problems of any WL method. Intensive follow-up individualized to each patient is the suggested solution, but it is often unattainable due to financial restraints and lack of adequate human resources. Remote follow-up was conducted with a scale, provided by Allurion Technologies Inc., that was wirelessly connected with the patient’s smartphone and provided body composition analysis (RFWCS). Each patient was asked to send measurement by email or text weekly and received nutritional feedback. We compared %TBWL of: 1) Elipse intragastric balloon (Allurion Technologies, Inc.) at 16, 24 and 52 weeks with either biweekly office follow-up (BOF, N=12) or RFWCS (N=48); 2) 17 patients participating in non-surgical weight loss (NSWL) or bariatric surgery (BS) in a crossover design of equal time-intervals of BOF with or without RFWCS. The Elipse is a swallowable, fluid-filled balloon that is placed without endoscopy or anesthesia. It deflates and passes naturally at 16 weeks. Elipse patients on BOF or RFWCS had similar age (39.4±14.3 vs. 44.1±11.1), %females (63.6% vs. 72.3%) and BMI 36.1±3.2 vs. 36.9±6.2 kg/m2). %TBWL was similar at 16 (14.7%±7.5 vs. 13.8%±4.1) and 24 weeks (14%±9 vs. 13.3%±4.9), but RFWCS had better %TBWL at 52 weeks (5.9%±10.2 vs. 14.4%±7, p=.06). %TBWL of patients participating in NSWL or BS was better after RFWCS (0.93%±2.5 vs. 3.1%±2.7, p=.023) at an average of 7.2 weeks follow-up. RFWCS improves WL after various WL methods and it could be a used to achieve more intensive follow-up.

Precarious work, harassment, and the erosion of employment standards

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine experiences of harassment within the context of precarious work, which in Canada is shaped by subnational legislative frameworks.Design/methodology/approachA narrative inquiry approach to data collection and analysis was adopted. The paper draws from 72 interviews conducted with workers in precarious jobs from various industries in three cities in the Canadian province of Ontario, as well as 52 employment standards officers (ESOs) from 15 local Ministry of Labour offices in every region across the province. Placing workers’ stories in counterpoint to those of ESOs brings them into conversations about the law to which they would normally be left out.FindingsThe main finding of this paper is that harassment and employment standards (ES) violations are interrelated phenomena experienced as abuses of power and as tactics of control occurring within a context that is shaped by legislative frameworks.Originality/valueThis paper demonstrates that for workers in precarious jobs legislative frameworks and labor market practices in Ontario do not provide adequate redress for harassment and ES violations. In so doing, legislative frameworks render invisible the power imbalances within the employment relationship and obscure the interrelatedness of harassment and the wider erosion of workplace norms.

Design and Manufacture of a Novel Sunlight Guiding Panel

With technological advancement, energy consumption and lack of energy supply are inevitable. Approximately 20% of total energy consumption is used for artificial light in standard office buildings. To reduce energy consumption for illumination purposes, a sunlight guiding panel was used to increase the amount of sunlight available indoors. However, in most designs of a sunlight guiding panel, the panel has to be placed on the outdoor surface of a window glass. This type of design is inconvenient for assembling and cleaning. To enhance the practicality of a sunlight guiding panel, we attempted to place the sunlight guiding panel on the indoor surface of a window glass. The simulation results revealed that when the sunlight guiding panel was placed on the indoor surface of a window glass, the aspect ratio of the light-guiding structure of the sunlight guiding panel had to be increased for guiding the sunlight from outdoors so as to increase the amount of sunlight indoors. To fabricate the proposed sunlight guiding panel, UV nanoimprint lithography was applied to pattern the light-guiding structure of the sunlight guiding panel. Moreover, a mold with a high-precision light-guiding structure was used in UV nanoimprint lithography. The mold was fabricated using ultraprecision machining technology. Both analytical and experimental investigations were conducted to confirm the proposed design. The average light-guiding efficiency was 89.9% with a solar elevation angle range of 35° to 65°, and the experimental results agreed well with the simulation results. This study elucidates light-guiding efficiency when the sunlight guiding panel is placed on the indoor surface of a window glass, which can increase the usage convenience and application potential of sunlight guiding panels.

Cool Roof Impact on Building Energy Need: The Role of Thermal Insulation with Varying Climate Conditions

Cool roof effectiveness in improving building thermal-energy performance is affected by different variables. In particular, roof insulation level and climate conditions are key parameters influencing cool roofs benefits and whole building energy performance. This work aims at assessing the role of cool roof in the optimum roof configuration, i.e., combination of solar reflectance capability and thermal insulation level, in terms of building energy performance in different climate conditions worldwide. To this aim, coupled dynamic thermal-energy simulation and optimization analysis is carried out. In detail, multi-dimensional optimization of combined building roof thermal insulation and solar reflectance is developed to minimize building annual energy consumption for heating–cooling. Results highlight how a high reflectance roof minimizes annual energy need for a small standard office building in the majority of considered climates. Moreover, building energy performance is more sensitive to roof solar reflectance than thermal insulation level, except for the coldest conditions. Therefore, for the selected building, the optimum roof typology presents high solar reflectance capability (0.8) and no/low insulation level (0.00–0.03 m), except for extremely hot or cold climate zones. Accordingly, this research shows how the classic approach of super-insulated buildings should be reframed for the office case toward truly environmentally friendly buildings.