HUMAN FACTORS ON OFFSHORE SUPPLY VESSELS IN THE NORWEGIAN SEA – AN EXPLANATORY SURVEY

A survey of human factors on two state-of-the-art offshore supply vessels (OSVs) operating in the Norwegian Sea was performed by means of questionnaires. The purpose of the study was to examine whether human factors had been adequately addressed in ship design, how they were regarded by the crews, and whether design decisions were believed to have an effect on incidents on-board. The concept of human factors in ship design was operationalised into eight dimensions: habitability, workability, controllability, maintainability, manoeuvrability, survivability, occupational health and safety (OHS), and system safety. Inferential statistics were applied in order to draw conclusions, including means comparisons and multivariate regression analyses. The results show that human factors were given significant importance in the ship design. The level of accomplishment of human factors differs from one dimension to another. The highest satisfactory dimension was OHS and maintainability was the lowest, but still considered adequate. Design is revealed to have an impact on human factor ratings. Further, OSV design and human factor ratings are identified as having effects on particular incidents on board.

A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF HUMAN FACTORS IN SHIPS DESIGN

Research shows that more than 80% of accidents at sea were caused by human related factors. Some experts implied that less than adequate design is one significant element that may lead to human errors. There are several ways to discover whether a design has considered human factors, i.e., to refer to the design specification, to consult the designers, to conduct a direct observation through a site visit or through a model, to interview the users, or to look into the system that regulates the design. This paper applied a content analysis methodology to explore how human factors have been covered in the design of marine systems. Various documents such as rules, regulations, design guidelines, standards and other texts have been analysed. The results indicate that there are extensive references that cover human factors in designing ships. They are published with different degrees of enforcement, some are prescriptive and some are obligatory but still optional. The topic is developing very rapidly. A more assertive measure is required from the regulators to endorse human factors into implementation.

On European Green Deal and Sustainable Development Policy (the Case of Romania)

Reaching the EU climate-neutrality objective in 2050 is very ambitious, especially for the Member States from Central-Eastern Europe. All the Member States will face challenges of transformational changes, but a good preparation of their administrative capacity will be a consistent support. The aim of this article is to analyze Romania’s decision-making process for the implementation of the European Green Deal Strategy, reflected in its administrative capacity. For achieving this goal, an interesting model of analysis was elaborated, which takes into consideration three levels and dimensions: strategic (with executive and legislative dimensions), administrative (national and regional dimensions) and outcomes (assessed from a well-being lens and public opinions surveys). The model will be applied at the European and national levels (Romania). It uses qualitative research strategies and methods. The transversal character of the EGD strategy, the coordination needed for its implementation, and the interdependencies and regional approach are important components that pave the way for the elaboration of the National Green Deal Plan, which becomes compulsory for an adequate design of the sustainable, adaptive, and mature Romanian administrative capacity. In addition, the article proposes a few recommendations at the national and local levels for the preparation of a better implementation of the EGD.

Studies and research design in medicine

Adequate design is an essential condition for conducting a successful study. This review describes the most common types of research design in medicine. We discuss the differences between different types of observational and interventional studies, their advantages and limitations providing examples for each study design. The concept of bias and its potential sources in different studies are covered. We suggest the most suitable approaches to study design for different research objectives and outline approaches to data presentation. During the last decades, several guidelines for conducting and reporting different types of research were proposed and they are also covered in this manuscript.

Pharmacogenetic testing in psychiatry and neurology: an overview of reviews

Pharmacogenetic testing is available to healthcare professionals to guide drug selection and prevent adverse events. However, its implementation in the clinical practice of psychiatry/neurology still has barriers, mainly due to a lack of evidence. We conducted a literature search on Cochrane Library, Embase and Pubmed, from their inception to 18 June 2020. We included 16 published systematic reviews. The most studied drug categories were anticonvulsants and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors associated with human leukocyte antigen and cytochrome P450 genes ( HLA-A, HLA-B, CYP2C9, CYP2D6, CYP2C19), classified as critically low quality/low quality. There is a need for more robust studies with adequate design to assess the potential benefits of adopting pharmacogenetics in health systems and services.

Design of a Wireless Charging System for e-Scooter

This article deals with the design and practical evaluation of a wireless charging system for e-scooters. As wireless charging undertakes popularity, initially, the state of the art within application area is realized. Consequently, due to variability of the configuration of the whole system, several alternatives are discussed considering the utilization of the power converter stages. High attention is given to the construction of the coupling elements and calculation of the main circuit components of the considered power converters. The experimental part of the paper is supported by the measurements of key properties, i.e., the operational characteristics of the whole converter system together with coupling coils. Here, the efficiency characteristics, together with the output power characteristics in dependency on the mutual distance between the transmitting and receiving coils, are evaluated. Received results represent an adequate design approach and practical use of the proposed Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) e-scooter charging configuration.

Publicly subsidized private schools in developing countries: Lessons from Colombia

Educational public-private partnerships (EPPPs) promise to increase education access and quality in developing countries, provided they have an adequate design that restricts the distribution of subsidies including targeted programs, centralized controlled enrolment, and accountability. This study investigates the effects of publicly subsidized private schools (PSPS) in Colombia—a type of EPPP program that follows all of these recommendations. We use propensity score and regression techniques to identify PSPS effects on student achievement, measured by national standardized tests. Our results show that Colombian PSPS serve vulnerable students, who are fairly similar to those attending traditional public schools (TPS). Nevertheless, students at PSPS underperform compared to TPS students. Our conclusion suggests that design restrictions may prevent student selection and self-selection, but do not guarantee quality improvement for disadvantaged students at subsidized schools. We also argue that design restrictions for PSPS may not be enough when private providers are scarce or difficult to attract for serving the most disadvantaged population.

Developing a strategy for designing light in drug addiction centers

The aim of this paper is to introduce the visual elements that may influence the lighting quality, and link them with the functioning of drug addiction institutes to understand the adequate design for each function and assure the well-being of the patient, therefore reduce their stress. The suggested strategy accords the qualitative and quantitative lighting design conditions to afford a complete reference for the forward study.

Building Governance Capacity in Areas of Limited Statehood

Areas of limited statehood where central government authorities lack the capacity of implementing and enforcing decisions and/or lack the monopoly over the means of violence, are ubiquitous. However, these areas are neither ungovernable nor ungoverned. Enormous variation exists, that includes badly governed places but also “good governance” in areas of limited statehood, sometimes separated only by a few blocks. Effective governance (public service provision, rule-making) depends on three factors: legitimacy; social trust relations within communities; and adequate design of institutions, including financial resources. International Financial Institutions (IFIs) should thus focus on building governance capacity rather than further engaging in state-building, which has failed despite substantial investments. If the central state is autocratic and/or predatory, building state capacity will only make a bad situation worse. Yet, if the central government is constrained by the rule of law and by democratic institutions, but lacks the capacity to implement and enforce decisions, then capacity-building might help improve governance.

Control of sustainable management according to multilevel combinatorics of homeostatic mechanisms

The article aims to develop the methodological base for study and substantiation of homeostatic mechanisms of control of stability of managing systems in the conditions which is implemented according to the sustainable management concept. The article describes features of main types of homeostasis of managing systems (evolutionary, structural, resistant, system homeostasis), their hierarchical closed interrelation and inherent specific and predictive administrative properties. The following is herein substantiated: conditions of homeostasis generation and realization of specific effect of mechanisms and, respectively, regulators of adaptation of managing systems to external and internal transformations; directions and methods to form resistant, to institutional and resource restrictions, complementary managing complexes. The article states that the combinatorics of homeostasis controls includes stabilizing, inertial, adaptation, organizational and economic, kinematic, cybernetic, alarm, cognitive information, reparative, regenerative and other types of controls. It emphasizes that the complex of mechanisms to ensure self-regulating properties of systems must be focused on support of their adaptation abilities to external and internal transformations. Taking into account four-level structural hierarchy of homeostatic properties, the article substantiates the possibility of ensuring adequate design of regulators for their consolidation according to priority objects of tools and events localization.