Co-Opting Regulation: Professional Control Through Discretionary Mobilization of Legal Prescriptions and Expert Knowledge

The governance of front-line professionals is a persistent organizational problem. Regulations designed to make professional work more legible and responsive to both organizational and public expectations depend on these professionals’ willing implementation. This paper examines the important question of how professional control shapes regulatory compliance. Drawing on a seventeen-month ethnographic study of a bioscience laboratory, we show how professionals deploy their discretionary judgment to assemble environmental, health, and safety regulations with their own expert practices, explaining frequently observed differential rates of regulatory compliance. We find that professional scientists selectively implement and blend formal regulations with expert practice to respond to risks the law acknowledges (to workers’ bodies and the environment) and to risks the law does not acknowledge but professionals recognize as critical (to work tasks and collegiality). Some regulations are followed absolutely, others are adapted on a case-by-case basis; in other instances, new practices are produced to control threats not addressed by regulations. Such selective compliance, adaptation and invention enact professional expertise: interpretations of hazard and risk. The discretionary enactment of regulations, at a distance from formal agents, becomes part of the technical, practical, and tacit assemblage of situated practices. Thus, paradoxically, professional expert control is maintained and sometimes enhanced as professionals blend externally imposed regulations with expert practices. In essence, regulation is co-opted in the service of professional control. This research contributes to studies of professional expertise, the legal governance of professionals in organizations, regulatory compliance, and safety cultures.

Development of sago drying with environmentally friendly techniques

One of the drying machines that is commonly used by in industry is a rack-type dryer. However, the rack-type drying machine has generally fairly low efficiency. A rack-type dryer has been designed which was equipped with a hybrid mechanism, but is its performance not yet known when it is controlled by an expert control system. The purpose of this research was to produce an expert control system that can be applied to a rack-type dryer with a hybrid system mechanism which can improve the performance of the dryer. The research includes the development of expert rules applied to the control system and a series of tests was carried out using 10 kg of fresh sago starch. The test results show that the drying air temperature did not show any overshoot and short settling time, drying temperature is relatively stable and there was no steady state error. The drying rate of fresh sago starch can be increased by using the hybrid system. The use of electric power with the hybrid system was lower (5.78 kWh) compared to that of non-hybrid (6.88 kWh) or a reduction of about 16% compared to the non-hybrid system. Thermal efficiency of the rack-type dryer with the expert control system was about 36%.

Energy and nutrient content of weight-loss diets published in high-circulation newspapers

Introduction: The press is one of the most effective methods to provide the public with health education and to increase knowledge levels related to health in society.Nutritional advice and weight loss diets are also frequently featured in newspapers. However, diets in newspaper limit food groups and/or nutrients to achieve faster results.This study aimed to assess diet lists published in newspapers in terms of energy andnutrient contents and to compare levels with requirements. Material and Methods: From 1 February 2018 to 31 January 2019, nutritional and diet news included in 10 newspapers with high circulation in Turkey were investigated and diets published in these newspapers were investigated. The energy, macro, and micronutrient contents were compared with the Turkey Nutrition Guide recommendations. Results: It appeared diet lists met 55.5% of energy requirements for women and 44.5% of energy requirements for men. Carbohydrate and protein contents of diets were below recommendations, while fat contents were identified to be above-recommended levels. Dietary fiber was determined to meet 81.2% of recommendations. For micronutrients, calcium and iron contents were below recommended levels. Conclusions: It appears weight-loss diets in newspapers are insufficient in terms of energy and some nutrients. Though these diets, which are easily accessible by a large portion of society, without expert control they may cause nutrient deficiencies in the long term.

Expert Control of Mine Hoist Control System

This paper presents a kind of intelligence control algorithm for the mine hoist control system. Firstly, the desired output of the system is described by a speed curve of hoisting process. Then, the structure diagram of the hoist system is constructed, and the expert PID controller is designed based on the model of this control system; the expert knowledge base was established according to the analysis of characteristics in different periods of the hoist process. Finally, the control effect was verified by SIMULINK simulation; by comparing with the result of conventional PID control, expert PID control is improved more safe and suitable for the mine hoist control system.

Effectiveness and tolerability of a squalane and dimethicone-based treatment for head lice

Head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis) are worldwide obligate human ectoparasites, with high implications in pediatrics. In Europe, first-line topical neurotoxic insecticidal therapeutic strategies are being replaced by topical physically acting agents as the first-choice treatment. Safety of the active ingredients and high efficacy in a one-time single-dose treatment with a brief treatment application time are key issues for consumer use and effective compliance. The aim of this study was to assess the in vitro efficacy of a newly developed squalane and dimethicone-based pediculicidal formula, against motile head lice and eggs after 2 and 5 min immersion in the product, as well as its skin tolerance and acceptability under dermatological and pediatric expert control in children with atopic skin. The results indicate that at both time points, 100% mortality rate of head lice crawling stages and late-stage eggs was achieved. The formula was well tolerated and suitable for children with atopic skin from 12 months of age. Showing high in vitro efficacy and good skin acceptability, this solution is presented as a new safe alternative therapy for treatment of head lice infestations.

The Role of Experience, Perceived Match Importance, and Anxiety on Cortisol Response in an Official Esports Competition

The aim of the present study was to analyse the neuroendocrine stress response, psychological anxiety response, and perceived match importance (PMI) between expert and non-expert control gamers in an official competitive context. We analyzed, in 25 expert esports players and 20 control participants, modifications in their somatic anxiety, cognitive anxiety, self-confidence, PMI, and cortisol in a League of Legends competition. We found how expert esports players presented higher cortisol concentrations (Z = 155.5; p = 0.03; Cohen’s d = −0.66), cognitive anxiety (Z = 99.5; p = 0.001), and PMI (Z = 50.5; p < 0.001) before the competition than non-experts participants. We found a greater statistical weight in the cognitive variables than in the physiological ones. The results obtained suggest that real competitive context and player’s expertise were factors associated with an anticipatory stress response. The PMI proved to be a differentiating variable between both groups, highlighting the necessity to include subjective variables that contrast objective measurements.

Dynamically overridden systems for modeling of the two population processes with threshold effects

We have proposed a method for constructing dynamically redefined structures for the purpose of modeling abrupt changes in biological processes. The method provides for the analysis of scenarios with a control action, which is aimed at optimizing the profit from the exploitation of biological resources. The situations are described by three differential equations, which are numerically solved on adjacent time intervals. The state of the predicate set controls the selection of dynamically overridden coefficients. We carry out comparisons of all predicates on the basis of averaged individual indicators of generations. Threshold states in the dynamics of population size are a consequence of the selection of events as special nonequilibrium states that change the regulation algorithm. Our method makes it possible to implement dangerous qualitative changes in the scenarios of biological resource management, when the stable modes of their existence are suddenly lost. For practical problems, we have algorithmically implemented computational scenarios for two different processes such as the collapse of fish stocks under expert control of the fishery and a rapid outbreak of pests. The situation of the collapse of the fish population in the scenario with control develops in two stages and is a consequence of the experts 'desire to optimize the operation with uncertainty in an expert’s assessment of a state of a fishery. To confirm the relevance of our models, comparisons are made with the graphs of the development of the two real processes, as the spontaneous population explosion and the stock crisis during optimization of the sea cod fishery.

Development and scenario experiments with the new model of rapid bioresources crisis under expert control

This paper continues a series of studies dedicated to the analysis of the nonlinear dynamics of complex environmental processes through the use of computational methods. The construction of a computational structure that uses the forms of the hybrid time and the logic of redefined behavior of solutions of the special system of equations to describe important nonlinear phenomena in the man-agement of unstable biosystems is considered in the article. The difference between the described ap-proaches to building a model is that computational experiments based on differential equations and re-defined according to the rules simulate scenarios in the dynamics of controlled biological resources of different types. The form of time allows to operate on a discrete component of the trajectory to describe changes that are visible to experts from the monitoring statistics or from reports from the fishery. The computational structure logically corresponds to the life cycle of large marine fish. Continuous characteristics are used to manage changes in the life cycle model. The new models are intended to de-scribe in scenarios the phenomena of rapid degradation of valuable biological resources with a very small error in the regulation of the rate of removal from the stock. These models have shown that the tradi-tional methods of bioresources management by experts have fundamental shortcomings and problems. Experts overestimate the amount of stocks for commercial removal from the population. Regulation by setting quotas on fish catch does not prevent the fishery from collapsing. The approach is applicable for mathematical predicting of the rapidly inflowing phases of an ecological invasion in aquatic systems.

Features of monitoring bearing structures in the scientific and technical support of construction

The purpose of this article is to analyze the possibility and feasibility of using forms and methods of scientific and technical support to increase the efficiency of monitoring the properties and states of load-bearing structures. The task is to substantiate and develop an algorithm for assessing and predicting the states of load-bearing structures while monitoring the parameters of the effects on external and internal environment of construction production. Research methods are systematic approach to the analysis of the conditions for obtaining relevant and reliable information data on the states of bearing structures being erected. Research hypothesis - expanding the scope of scientific and technical support in the format of predicting possible changes in properties and states will significantly increase the efficiency in monitoring carried out during the construction of load-bearing structures and suitable for assessing the subsequent operational suitability of construction facilities. The result of this research is a mathematical model for predicting (assessing) changes in properties and states during the construction of load-bearing structures. In recent years, due to increasing volume of construction of high-rise buildings, the relevance of such a line of activity as scientific and technical support of construction is growing. In comparison with technical supervision, which has the task of monitoring the activities of contractors, scientific and technical support of construction (STSC) has both an applied and a scientific approach, specifically, it develops and implements new construction methods, as well as modern materials, in order to obtain maximum efficiency and saving money and labor costs during construction and installation work. The very definition of scientific and technical support sounds like this - a set of works of scientific and analytical, methodological, informational, expert control and organizational nature carried out by specialized organizations in the process of survey, design and erection of construction facilities in order to ensure the quality of construction, reliability (safety, functional suitability and durability) of buildings and structures, taking into account the applied non-standard design and technical solutions, materials and structures.