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Under what circumstances might short term interest rates lose their Essay

Under what conditions may momentary loan costs lose their power as an instrument of strategy control by focal bank..........FULL TITLE BELOW...

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Criminolgy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Criminolgy - Essay Example These diverse punishments will be examined in this paper. Traditional methods of punishment have â€Å"individual outcome goals of incapacitation, retribution, rehabilitation, and deterrence† (Osler, 253). Normally this means prison and monetary retribution. An example of a traditional method of punishment for larceny could be the amount stolen as the amount of restitution and two years in jail. This depends on the amount stolen. Most crimes have traditional methods of punishments, especially for violent crimes and repeat offenders. Violent crimes and repeat offenders are normally placed in prison to segregate the offender from society. Traditional methods of punishment fall into two categories. The first is judicial discretion. All crimes have traditional guidelines. For example, a first time drug conviction can have guidelines for one to ten years. That means the judge can sentence the defendant up to ten years and no more. The sentence is up to the judge. Mandatory sentences are sentences that the judge has to pass upon conviction. An example of mandatory sentencing is California’s three strikes. If a felon is convicted of three strikes or felonies, then they are sentenced to life in prison. The judge has to convict the felon to life, no matter what circumstances, or mitigating factors. The first category of traditional methods of punishment is preferred by defense attorneys. Mitigating factors can be considered when a judge has discretion. Examples of mitigating factors are battered woman syndrome, child abuse, passion, and poverty. While these factors might not sway every judge, some judges can be swayed. Susan Smith is a good example of a judge letting mitigating circumstances influences his decision. Smith was convicted of killing her two sons. However after learning Smith had been molested as a child and her father’s suicide, the judge sentenced her to life instead of death. When a judge has discretion,

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Philosophy of business law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Philosophy of business law - Essay Example On the other hand, in contra of those arguments are that privacy isn't an issue where legal status is concerned. Searches are not unreasonable to the police if they turn up something illegal. Unwarranted searches can be legal with reasonable suspicion that something illegal is taking place. Profiling is just a way for the police to keep abreast of developing situations. Rights can be violated, however, to stop the law from being broken, which is what the argument might be. The Constitutional basis for objections filed by the state AG's would be that not everyone wants or needs health care. This violates a person's right to freedom as guaranteed by the First Amendment. Their liberty is in jeopardy as well. If the U.S. were to be represented, their best defense would be that every American needs health care because it is a Constitutionally guaranteed right. The Supreme Court should rule that health care is mandatory, and that without it, people would be in dire straights. The client in the case where he is selling wood does not have a sound basis for overturning the DNR regulation.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Understanding Fatigue and the Implications for Worker Safety

Understanding Fatigue and the Implications for Worker Safety Introduction Workplace safety requires a systematic approach that includes an understanding of risk factors and identification of hazards. Worker fatigue has been identified as a risk factor for both acute and cumulative injuries. Fatigue and incomplete recovery can lead to decreased capacity that can result in an increased risk of injury and a decline in work efficiency (Kumar 2001, de Looze, Bosch, and van Dieà «n 2009, Visser and van Dieà «n 2006). In addition, fatigue contributes to accidents, injuries and death (Williamson et al. 2011). Over $300 million in lost productivity time in US workplaces can be tied to fatigue. Significantly reducing the incidence of fatigue-induced workplace injuries and lost productivity depends on the accurate and timely detection of fatigue to allow for appropriate intervention. Although the term fatigue is commonly used, it has come to refer to many concepts in occupational safety and health. In order to manage and mitigate fatigue and the associated risks, it is essential to understand the different types and components. Fatigue is generally accepted as resulting in the impairment of capacity or performance as a result of work. However, fatigue is multidimensional, either acute or chronic, whole body or muscle level, physical or mental, central or peripheral. In addition, it includes a decline in objective performance, as well as perceptions of fatigue. Of added importance are the roles of sleep and circadian function. Each of these aspects of fatigue do not occur in isolation, but interact to modify worker capacity and injury risk. Both mental and physical fatigue can result in poor decision making, which may result in an acute injury (Williamson et al. 2011). The risk of injury is dependent on both the injury mechanism and the characteristics of the work being performed. Parameters of importance in the development of fatigue, and subsequent risk, include the length of time-on-task between breaks, work pace, and the timing of rest breaks (Williamson et al. 2011). Researchers have postulated that through delineation of the quantitative details of relevant variables, appropriate interventions and injury control can be developed (Kumar 2001). How to best quantify workplace conditions, particularly physical exposures experienced by the worker, remains an open research question (Kim and Nussbaum 2012). Current approaches to fatigue monitoring and detection often rely either on fitness-for-duty tests to determine whether the worker has sufficient capacity prior to start work, monitoring of sleep habits, or intrusive monitoring of brain activation (using electroencephalography (EEG)) (Balkin et al. 2011) or changes in local muscle fatigue (using electromyography (EMG)) (Dong, Ugaldey, and El Saddik 2014). While there is no single standard measurement of fatigue, there are numerous subjective measurement scales and objective measurement techniques that can be adapted for workplace use. Recent advances in wearable technologies also present an opportun ity for real-time and in-the-field assessment of fatigue development. Why should we care about fatigue? Fatigue in the workplace is often described as a multidimensional process, which results in a diminishing of worker performance. It results from prolonged activity, and is associated with psychological, socioeconomic and environmental factors (Barker and Nussbaum 2011, Yung 2016). From an occupational health and safety perspective, fatigue must be managed and controlled since it has significant short-term and long-term implications. In the short-term, fatigue can result in discomfort, diminished motor control, and reduced strength capacity (Bjà ¶rklund et al. 2000, Cà ´tà © et al. 2005, Huysmans et al. 2010). These effects might lead to reduced performance, lowered productivity, deficits in work quality, and increased incidence of accidents and human errors (Yung 2016). Fatigue can also result in longer term adverse health outcomes, including, e.g., chronic fatigue syndrome (Yung 2016) and reduced immune function (Kajimoto 2008). It can be seen as a precursor to work-related muscu loskeletal disorders (WMSDs) (Iridiastadi and Nussbaum 2006). These outcomes have been associated with future morbidity and mortality, work disability, occupational accidents, increased absenteeism, increased presenteeism, unemployment, reduced quality of life, and disruptive effects on social relationships and activities (Yung 2016). The safety impacts of fatigue are best evidenced in the transportation domain. In the U.S., an estimated 32,675 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 2014 (2015a). In 2013 there were 342,000 reported truck crashes that resulted in 3,964 fatalities and ~95,000 injuries (2015b). While these crashes often result from several factors, it is estimated that driver-related factors are the leading cause for 75-90% of fatal/injury-inducing crashes (Craye et al. 2015, Stanton and Salmon 2009, Medina et al. 2004, Lal and Craig 2001). The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that about 20% of all crashes are fatigue-related (Strohl et al. 1998) and 60% of fatal truck crashes can be attributed to the driver falling asleep while driving (Craye et al. 2015). Drowsy driving increases crash risk by 600% over normal driving (Klauer et al. 2006). For many years, a succinct definition of fatigue has been sought after (Aaronson et al. 1999). In our estimation, there is no simple and standard definition for fatigue. For example, our statement above: Fatigue in the workplace is often described as a multidimensional process, which results in a diminishing of worker performance, while true, is not sufficient to describe fatigue, since there are many other conditions that may result in a diminished workers performance (e.g., motivation). Perhaps, more importantly, there are several other factors that impact our ability to determine one standard definition: Workplace fatigue development mechanisms differ significantly according to the occupation type. For example, in manufacturing, the focus is typically on physical/muscle fatigue or related to the shift schedule, and in transportation drowsiness and sleepiness are often the root-causes for driver fatigue. Given the complexity of the human body, a single mechanism unlikely explains fatigue under all conditions, even for a single task and fatigue type (i.e. muscle fatigue) (Weir et al. 2006). No one definition can explain the complex interactions between biological processes, behavior, and psychological phenomena (Aaronson et al. 1999). It is unlikely that a single theory can be used to explain all observations of performance deterioration (Weir et al. 2006). Thus, we cannot provide a single definition of fatigue in this paper. Instead we refer the reader to Yung (2016, p.14) for a summary of multiple example fatigue definitions from various domains. Measuring and Quantifying Fatigue In this section, we divide how fatigue is measured according to cognitive and physical functions respectively. Talk about PVT and reaction time as the main standards for sleep-related fatigue There are several important cognitive characteristics that are typically assed in the context of fatigue. These include: a) arousal, b) alertness/ attention, c) cognitive control, d) motivation, and e) stress. Arousal is commonly measured in transportation safety studies since it aims at assessing sleep deprivation, an important root-cause for trucking crashes (especially at night) (Philip et al. 2005, Strohl et al. 1998). Measures of arousal include heart rate, electrodermal response (EDR), pupil dilation and self-report questionnaires (Yung 2016). Alertness and attention are important in translating sensory and work-related inputs into actionable items. They can be measured using gaze direction, EEG, validated scales, and questionnaires. The third characteristic, cognitive control, has to do with the time taken to process information, and thus, reaction time is perhaps the most commonly used measure for evaluating it. The fourth characteristic is perhaps the hardest to measure sinc e motivation cannot be assessed except through questionnaires and validated scales. Stress can be assessed through a number of measures which include heart rate variability, blood pressure and body postures (Yung 2016). The reader should note that the measures for quantifying mental fatigue include intrusive monitoring systems (e.g. EEG and blood pressure monitoring systems), non-intrusive measures (camera systems to detect gaze direction), and somewhat subjective measures (questionnaires and scales). Table 1 provides a summary of physiological and physical indicators of fatigue. Table 1: Typical Physiological and Physical Indicators of Fatigue Development Measurement Direction of Change with Fatigue Heart rate Increases with physical fatigue Heart rate variability Decreases with mental fatigue (for root-mean square of the successive differences (RMSSD)) Increased Low Frequency / High Frequency (LF/HF) power ratio Electromyography Decrease in mean power frequency Increase in root mean square amplitude Strength Decrease in maximum exertion Tremor Increase in physiological and postural tremor Pupil dilation Increases with mental fatigue and drowsiness Blink rate Increased percentage eyelid closure over the pupil, over time (PERCLOS) Reaction time Increased reaction time and lapses (using psychomotor vigilance task (PVT)) Performance Increase in errors and task completion time Force variability Increase in variability with physical fatigue Subjective assessment Increase in ratings of discomfort and fatigue On the physical side, electromyography is one of the most commonly used evaluation tools for muscle fatigue in a laboratory setting. The gold standard is to detect cellular and metabolic changes through blood sampling techniques (Garde, Hansen, and Jensen 2003). Since these approaches are intrusive, some researchers attempt to detect symptoms of physical fatigue. These symptoms include an impairment in postural control (Davidson, Madigan, and Nussbaum 2004), increased sway (Davidson, Madigan, and Nussbaum 2004), and joint angle variability (Madigan, Davidson, and Nussbaum 2006). Additional symptoms include an increase in exerted force variability (Svendson et al. 2010) and increased tremor (Lippold 1981). Note that these symptoms can be observed through the use of check sheets, visual inspection (manual and/or through cameras), and self-reported questionnaires among other tools. In our estimation, most methods described above are of limited use in practice since they are either invasive (and will be resisted by individuals/unions) or rely on visual inspection performed by an observer. Perhaps, more importantly, each observational and measurement technique also focuses primarily on one main risk factor, such as posture or force, or a combined set of factors but for a repetitive task, such as the NIOSH work practices guide (Waters et al. 1993). This fails to capture the interactive nature of many fatigue precursors as well as the variability of the work performed. In addition, these methods do not take into account the characteristics of the individual, beyond general anthropometric and demographic attributes, such as height and age. One important consideration is that the application of these methods in field studies and practice have also been limited by the question: can we detect if fatigue (or its symptoms) has occurred? Note that this question is binary with a yes/no answer. However, it is well understood that fatigue is a process that occurs as a function of loading, time and exertion and is not an end point. From a safety perspective, a more interesting question is: Can we predict when fatigue will occur for a given worker based on their schedule, environment and job tasks? If this can be done, then fatigue management will progress from a reactive state (equivalent of the personal protective equipment state in traditional hazard control theory) to higher/safer levels of engineering controls, substitution and/or perhaps elimination through modeling and scheduling. The increasing availability of pervasive sensing technologies, including wearable devices, combined with the digitization of health information has the potential to provide the necessary monitoring, recording, and communication of individuals physical and environmental exposures to address this question (Kim and Nussbaum 2012, Vignais et al. 2013). In the following section, we describe some of the research and commercially available products that are used for predicting/monitoring fatigue development. Predicting Fatigue Development Models for fatigue development are not new, but the existing models are often incomplete. Models for predicting/understanding how humans fatigue have received significant attention over the past few decades in the fields of aviation, driving, mining, and professional athletics. In the transportation areas (i.e. aviation and driving), the models originated from efforts to model the underlying relationships between sleep regulation and circadian dynamics (Dinges 2004). Dinges (2004) present a survey of the biomathematical models used in this area. There are also some surveys on driver fatigue detection models, see e.g. Wang et al. (2006). However, based on our interactions with one of the larger trucking companies in the U.S., these models do not offer answers to the following question: Given the massive data collected on each truck that include indirect indicators of fatigue, e.g. lane departures and hard brakes, and individual characteristics of each driver, can we predict how each driver will fatigue for a given assignment, traffic condition and weather profile? With the advent of big data, this is the direction that is needed for fatigue development in the trucking industry. One can make parallels for aviation and military applications. In mining, there are commercially available products that claim to predict fatigue among mine workers. The authors did not have the chance to test these products and thus, we cannot verify/validate these claims. However, if true, this system will be a significant contribution to mining safety. Based on the above discussion, there are several important observations to be made. First, there has not been much independent research verifying the claims made for any commercial products. Thus, practitioners should use them with caution and in tandem with their current safety methods. Second, there have been only limited attempts to perform inter-disciplinary research in fatigue development. Thus, the current approaches are domain-dependent and are often incomplete since they consider only a few precursors. There needs to be a systematic move towards utilizing big data analytics as a mechanism to harness the massive amounts of data that is being captured on our equipment, workers, etc. The research challenge is to ensure that we are asking the right questions prior to considering what the technology can (or cannot) provide. Third, it is somewhat inexplicable that the manufacturing safety community is significantly behind other safety domains. We believe that there is a significant opportunity for both researchers and practitioners in examining how other disciplines are managing fatigue. General Strategies for Fatigue Management and Mitigation There are several somewhat recent publications that detail how to manage physical and/or mental fatigue indicators (Hartley and Commission 2000, Caldwell, Caldwell, and Schmidt 2008, Williamson et al. 2011, Williamson and Friswell 2013). These studies have presented the typical hazard control recommendations, which include administrative and engineering controls that can reduce/mitigate the development of fatigue. Practitioners should also consult the documentation from Transport Canada on Developing and Implementing a Fatigue Risk Management System (https://www.tc.gc.ca/media/documents/ca-standards/14575e.pdf). Typical interventions include: rest (for physical fatigue), sleep (for alertness), modified work-rest schedules, and limits on the cumulative hours worked in a week (or shift changes). While these strategies are effective for population averages/overall, they do not address the weakest link in the workforce (i.e. those most likely to fatigue and/or get injured). We see much w ork needed in this area. Concluding Remarks In this paper, we have provided an overview of some of the current issues in fatigue detection/ management research and practice. Based on our review of the literature, we offer the following advice to safety professionals: Transportation Safety Professionals: There is a significant body of research that highlights the impact of lack of sleep (e.g. from sleep apnea and/or scheduling), night driving, weather (e.g. cloudy or rainy), and work-rest schedules on fatigue development. In general, less sleep, night driving, bad weather and frequent changes in the work-rest schedule are more detrimental to transportation safety. To mitigate these risks, the routing/scheduling can be modified to alleviate some of these precursors. In addition, wearable sensors and on-vehicle systems (e.g. lane departure and hard brake detection sensors) can provide real-time indicators of fatigue development in driving. The data from these sensors can be used through simple dashboards that provide the dispatcher with information on which drivers are at risk. The dispatcher can then force these drivers to rest if fatigued (and sleep in-cabin at a truck stop if necessary) since a short break/nap can help mitigate these effects. Manufacturing Safety Professionals: Fatigue has been shown to be a precursor to risky behaviors and long-term injuries. It is also associated with a diminished performance and, therefore, can result in significant quality problems. Based on our discussion with several safety managers from large automotive companies, we have learned that it is often easier to sell safety projects to upper management when it is combined with quality improvement initiatives. The rationale is simple to management since they can see a return on investment (ROI) on these projects when compared to a softer objective (reducing/eliminating the probability of a safety problem that has not occurred before). In addition, we challenge practitioners to categorize their at-risk populations (e.g. unexperienced workers, obese and/or elder workers, etc.). These workers cannot be modeled by existing ergonomics and safety models that consider an average worker. Thus, a dashboard and sensors that monitor their absenteeis m, quality of their work and/or complaints can be used to trigger appropriate interventions. Mining Safety Researchers: The technology with fatigue monitoring (and more general safety) in mining has evolved significantly over the past decade. There are several commercial products that allow for active monitoring, scheduling, and equipment safety checks. To our knowledge, at least one major equipment manufacturer has released a safety systems suite that incorporates all these data sources to present a clear picture of a workers fatigue and distraction risk. We did not test the validity of these claims and therefore, we ask safety practitioners to ask for system demos and ensure that this particular system meets their needs. A word of caution: fatigue detection systems do not mitigate and/or eliminate fatigue. In addition, we urge safety professionals to embrace the role of technology and its potential to redefine safety from a one system fits all to an individualized approach. For researchers and educators, we believe that there is a sufficient body of literature that suggests that our community is headed to individualized safety models. To develop these models, there needs to be an emphasis on managing large amounts of data, revisiting our old models and ensuring that we can offer data-driven interventions for safety/ergonomics problems. In essence, our field is moving towards individualized models and evidence-based interventions. Acknowledgments This research was partially supported by the American Society for Safety Engineers (ASSE) Foundation grant titled ASSIST: Advancing Safety Surveillance using Individualized Sensor Technology. Bibliography 2015a. Crash Stats: Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities in 2014. edited by U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration. Washington, DC: NHTSAs National Center for Statistics and Analysis. 2015b. Large Trucks: 2013 Data (Traffic Safety Facts. DOT HS 812 150). National Center for Statistics and Analysis, accessed 06/01. http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/812150.pdf. Aaronson, Lauren S, Cynthia S Teel, Virginia Cassmeyer, Geri B Neuberger, Leonie Pallikkathayil, Janet Pierce, Allan N Press, Phoebe D Williams, and Anita Wingate. 1999. Defining and measuring fatigue. Image: the journal of nursing scholarship 31 (1):45-50. Balkin, Thomas J., William J. Horrey, R. Curtis Graeber, Charles A. Czeisler, and David F. Dinges. 2011. The challenges and opportunities of technological approaches to fatigue management. Accident Analysis Prevention 43 (2):565-572. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2009.12.006. Barker, L. M., and M. A. Nussbaum. 2011. The effects of fatigue on performance in simulated nursing work. Ergonomics 54 (9):815-29. doi: 10.1080/00140139.2011.597878. Bjà ¶rklund, Martin, Albert G Crenshaw, Mats Djupsjà ¶backa, and Hà ¥kan Johansson. 2000. Position sense acuity is diminished following repetitive low-intensity work to fatigue in a simulated occupational setting. European journal of applied physiology 81 (5):361-367. Caldwell, John A, J Lynn Caldwell, and Regina M Schmidt. 2008. Alertness management strategies for operational contexts. Sleep medicine reviews 12 (4):257-273. Cà ´tà ©, Julie N, Denis Raymond, Pierre A Mathieu, Anatol G Feldman, and Mindy F Levin. 2005. Differences in multi-joint kinematic patterns of repetitive hammering in healthy, fatigued and shoulder-injured individuals. Clinical Biomechanics 20 (6):581-590. Craye, Cà ©line, Abdullah Rashwan, Mohamed S. Kamel, and Fakhri Karray. 2015. A Multi-Modal Driver Fatigue and Distraction Assessment System. International Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems Research:1-22. doi: 10.1007/s13177-015-0112-9. Davidson, Bradley S, Michael L Madigan, and Maury A Nussbaum. 2004. Effects of lumbar extensor fatigue and fatigue rate on postural sway. European Journal of Applied Physiology 93 (1-2):183-189. de Looze, Michiel, Tim Bosch, and Jaap van Dieà «n. 2009. Manifestations of shoulder fatigue in prolonged activities involving low-force contractions. Ergonomics 52 (4):428-437. doi: 10.1080/00140130802707709. Dinges, David F. 2004. Critical Research Issues in Development of Biomathematical Models of Fatigue and Performance. Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine 75 (3):A181-A191. Dong, Haiwei, Izaskun Ugaldey, and Abdulmotaleb El Saddik. 2014. Development of a fatigue-tracking system for monitoring human body movement. Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference (I2MTC) Proceedings, 2014 IEEE International, 12-15 May 2014. Garde, A Helene, Ã…se M Hansen, and Bente R Jensen. 2003. Physiological responses to four hours of low-level repetitive work. Scandinavian journal of work, environment health:452-460. Hartley, Laurence, and National Road Transport Commission. 2000. Review of fatigue detection and prediction technologies: National Road Transport Commission Melbourne. Huysmans, Maaike A, Marco JM Hoozemans, Allard J van der Beek, Michiel P de Looze, and Jaap H van Dieà «n. 2010. Position sense acuity of the upper extremity and tracking performance in subjects with non-specific neck and upper extremity pain and healthy controls. Journal of rehabilitation medicine 42 (9):876-883. Iridiastadi, H, and MA Nussbaum. 2006. Muscle fatigue and endurance during repetitive intermittent static efforts: development of prediction models. Ergonomics 49 (4):344-360. Kajimoto, Osami. 2008. Development of a method of evaluation of fatigue and its economic impacts. In Fatigue Science for Human Health, 33-46. Springer. Kim, Sunwook, and Maury A. Nussbaum. 2012. Performance evaluation of a wearable inertial motion capture system for capturing physical exposures during manual material handling tasks. Ergonomics 56 (2):314-326. doi: 10.1080/00140139.2012.742932. Klauer, Sheila G, Thomas A Dingus, Vicki L Neale, Jeremy D Sudweeks, and David J Ramsey. 2006. The impact of driver inattention on near-crash/crash risk: An analysis using the 100-car naturalistic driving study data. Washington, DC. Kumar, Shrawan. 2001. Theories of musculoskeletal injury causation. Ergonomics 44 (1):17-47. doi: 10.1080/00140130120716. Lal, Saroj K. L., and Ashley Craig. 2001. A critical review of the psychophysiology of driver fatigue. Biological Psychology 55 (3):173-194. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0301-0511(00)00085-5. Lippold, OCJ. 1981. The tremor in fatigue. In Human muscle fatigue: Physiological mechanisms, 234-248. Pitman Medical London (CIBA Foundation symposium 82). Madigan, Michael L, Bradley S Davidson, and Maury A Nussbaum. 2006. Postural sway and joint kinematics during quiet standing are affected by lumbar extensor fatigue. Human movement science 25 (6):788-799. Medina, Alejandra L., Suzanne E. Lee, Walter W. Wierwille, and Richard J. Hanowski. 2004. Relationship between Infrastructure, Driver Error, and Critical Incidents. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting 48 (16):2075-2079. doi: 10.1177/154193120404801661. Philip, Pierre, Patricia Sagaspe, Nicholas Moore, Jacques Taillard, Andrà © Charles, Christian Guilleminault, and Bernard Bioulac. 2005. Fatigue, sleep restriction and driving performance. Accident Analysis Prevention 37 (3):473-478. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2004.07.007. Stanton, Neville A., and Paul M. Salmon. 2009. Human error taxonomies applied to driving: A generic driver error taxonomy and its implications for intelligent transport systems. Safety Science 47 (2):227-237. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2008.03.006. Strohl, KP, SL Merritt, J Blatt, AI Pack, F Council, and S Rogus. 1998. Drowsy driving and automobile crashes. nccdr/nhtsa expert panel on driver fatigue and sleepiness. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, accessed 01/25. http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/drowsy_driving1/Drowsy.html. Vignais, Nicolas, Markus Miezal, Gabriele Bleser, Katharina Mura, Dominic Gorecky, and Frà ©dà ©ric Marin. 2013. Innovative system for real-time ergonomic feedback in industrial manufacturing. Applied Ergonomics 44 (4):566-574. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2012.11.008. Visser, Bart, and Jaap H. van Dieà «n. 2006. Pathophysiology of upper extremity muscle disorders. Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology 16 (1):1-16. doi: DOI: 10.1016/j.jelekin.2005.06.005. Wang, Qiong, Jingyu Yang, Mingwu Ren, and Yujie Zheng. 2006. Driver fatigue detection: a survey. WCICA 2006: The Sixth World Congress on Intelligent Control and Automation, Dalian, China. Waters, Thomas R., Vern Putz-Anderson, Arun Garg, and Lawrence J. Fine. 1993. Revised NIOSH equation for the design and evaluation of manual lifting tasks. Ergonomics 36 (7):749 776. Weir, JP, TW Beck, JT Cramer, and TJ Housh. 2006. Is fatigue all in your head? A critical review of the central governor model. British journal of sports medicine 40 (7):573-586. Williamson, Ann, and Rena Friswell. 2013. Fatigue in the workplace: causes and countermeasures. Fatigue: Biomedicine, Health Behavior 1 (1-2):81-98. doi: 10.1080/21641846.2012.744581. Williamson, Ann, David A. Lombardi, Simon Folkard, Jane Stutts, Theodore K. Courtney, and Jennie L. Connor. 2011. The link between fatigue and safety. Accident Analysis Prevention 43 (2):498-515. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2009.11.011. Yung, Marcus. 2016. Fatigue at the Workplace: Measurement and Temporal Development. PhD, Department of Kinesiology, University of Waterloo.

Friday, October 25, 2019

The Doctrine of President Bush Essay -- Politics Political

On 20 September 2002, the Bush administration published a national security manifesto overturning the established order. Not because it commits the United States to global intervention: We've been there before. Not because it targets terrorism and rogue states: Nothing new there either. No, what's new in this document is that it makes a long-building imperial tendency explicit and permanent. The policy paper, titled "The National Security Strategy of the United States of America" -- call it the Bush doctrine -- is a romantic justification for easy recourse to war whenever and wherever an American president chooses. This document truly deserves the overused term "revolutionary," but its release was eclipsed by the Iraq debate. Recall the moment. Bush, having just backed away from unilateralism long enough to deliver a speech to the United Nations, was now telling Congress to give him the power to go to war with Iraq whenever and however he liked. Congress, with selective reluctance, was skating sideways toward a qualified endorsement. The administration had fended off doubts from the likes of George Bush Sr.'s national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, and retreated from its maximal designs (at least on Tuesdays and Thursdays), giving doubters, and politicians preoccupied with their reelection, reasons to overcome their doubts and sign on. The Bush White House chose this moment to put down in black and white its grand strategy -- to doctrinize, as it were, its impulse to act alone with the instruments of war. Hitching a ride on Al Qaeda's indisputable threat, the doctrine generalizes. It is limitless in time and space. It not only commits the United States to dominating the world from now into the distant future, but al... ...gned to take more than passing note of his speech. As a nation, we’re still in a trance. The leadership of the most powerful nation-state on earth proceeds to set out its grand strategy, its unified theory of everything, and its prime channels of information don’t see fit to let the populace in on the news that their government is hell-bent on empire and has said so in black and white. Nonetheless, Bush’s strategy is now in force. It confirms suspicions and stokes paranoia. In propounding that there are no more than two models for how a society lives in the world, and that those who despise the one must enlist behind the other, it indulges in the same drastic oversimplification that motivates the terrorists. Americans will have to contend with the consequences for generations. This is why the Bush doctrine is dangerous: It’s a gift to anti-Americans everywhere.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Classroom Seating Arrangements

Classroom Seating Arrangements By: Walaa Samir Fayek Classroom management is extremely effective to create a better learning environment, in which the teacher invests in space, time and materials to achieve academic and personal development to the students. Personally, seating arrangements play a significant role in creating a stress-free and a beneficial atmosphere for the EFL learners and helping the teacher in controlling the class easily. It will also reflect their performance in the activities, how much they have grasped from the lesson and facilitate free movement in the classroom.I consider the desks in semi-circles and U-shape are the ideal shapes for my EFL classroom. Arranging the class in a semi-circle allows the teacher to observe the students and also the students will be able to see their classmates and the board. It is also perfect for conducting group discussions and participating in group conversations by building the students’ self-esteem and confidence in sh aring their ideas, especially for students who are shy to present their work to others. On the other hand, semi-circle seating arrangement might not be helpful sometimes as the teacher might find it difficult to meet the students one-on-one.It is also not so handy if the class is not big enough because this seating arrangement will take much room than the normal row seating arrangement. As for the U-shape or â€Å"horseshoe† seating arrangement, it is a good choice as it allows each student to have a panoramic view of the whole class; classmates, teacher and the board as well, and gives the teacher a more direct contact with each student, promoting eye contact, improving classroom behavior and controlling discipline problems especially with young learners. Related article: Cda Competency Goal # 1Moreover, through the U-shape setup, the students won’t be able to hide or avoid participation and that will encourage them to improve their behavior. The U-shape seating allows a huge space for setting up projectors or any teaching materials and free movement in the class. Desks in U-shape require a large space, which might be a disadvantage that can negatively affect the teaching process. There are other seating arrangements that might be useful in teaching English, especially during the production stage, which are clusters and groups seating arrangement.Young learners of EFL can be placed in small clusters so they can interact easily and dynamically with one another and work on group projects. Clusters help in mixing between students of various skill levels and abilities, allowing the teachers to move around the class and observe the students. One drawback is that some of the students will end up facing other students not the front of the class which may lead to a slight distraction even if it was for young learners or adults.To sum up, seating arrangements have an effective role in enhancing the learners’ productivity and concentration during the class. There are many examples for seating arrangements like the semi-circle and the U-shape. Both of them can work perfectly if the teacher is conducting an informative lesson that needs the learners’ focus. Also, there are the clusters and groups seating arrangements that facilitate the group work and help the learners to connect their thoughts together.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

The Reflective Manager

The Reflective Manager Abstract Reflection and the effect of its application in relation to organization learning have attracted a growing attention. It is recognized that reflection is the vital content for either individuals or organizations learning process. It is believed that reflection is a very important component to accomplish successful working behavior. Moreover, reflection is the crucial practice in the process of exploiting learning organizations. In this report, the concepts of reflection and critical reflection will be discussed and the reflection in practice within organizations will be investigated as well.In addition, the emphasis of the article is the application of reflection and reflection practice on organizations. The objective of the report is to evaluate the application of reflection theory and to research what is the impact of practicing reflection on organizations. Keywords: Reflection, critical reflection, organization learning, working behavior, reflection practice Introduction More and more people nowadays pay their interest in the application reflection and critical reflection in an organization.The concepts of reflection and critical reflection are not specific but there are no common and recognized definition for reflection and critically reflection. Based on the purpose of investigation how reflection and practice reflection affect and enhance organizational activities and performance, reflection many general defined as the learning theories involve a review of one’s experience and an analysis of thinking and action while the description of critical reflection in accordance with recognizing one’s self objective and interests and learning about assumptions, background and performance enhanced oriented actions.As early as in 1983, Schon firstly brought the concept of reflection into the professional area and gave the definition of reflective practice said the application of knowledge to practice with the consideratio n of self-experiences. Reflection acts the most important role in converting one’s experience into knowledge according to Kolb’s research on experiential learning (Kolb, 1984). Reynolds pointed out in 1998 that form that time on, reflection was deemed to be the essential part in the process individual and organization learning, particularly when with reference to learning as exploitation rather than deriving information.The difference between information and knowledge is that knowledge is integrated information with experience, judgment and skills. Reflection persistently turns out as a recommended method of assisting individuals and organizations know better about what they do and understand in practice of the knowledge that learned from practice (Loughran, 2002). Reflective practice is a vital element of lots of occupations courses while the critical reflection currently becomes a pivotal component of lots of graduate managerial degrees (Swan, Bailey, 2004).Cunliffe stated that managers can exploit more cooperative, reliable moral approaches of management by more critically considering about their conception and action or in another words more critically reflection. It is believed that critical reflection is focused on more interest. The beginning of theory of critical reflection is developed by Jurgen in 1972. In 1999, Brooks stated that critical reflection benefits in enhancing work practices, assessing organizational objectives and policies. He pointed that the basic ability of critical reflection is to critically ask questions.The measurement of whether critical reflection benefit to working practice is a practical approach of evaluating the contribution of critical reflection. A means raised by Argyris and Schon that called double-loop learning offers such evaluation. It can be concluded by questioning critically, sating an opinion and requesting feedback from one’s audience, trying with new working approaches and action and taking new viewpoints. The contemporary collaborative has existed as the crucial way of working relations and acted as the major role in establishing society institution.The corporation between companies has reduced the influence of state, family residential and moral community in order to accomplish a dominant position. The growing influence of Commercial Corporation has restrained the conflicts among different institutional requirement. The practice of commercial corporation suffuse current life by offering individual identity, organizing experience and time, impacting knowledge creation and education and supervising news creation and recreation.Some authors argue that the influence of management on people’s lives and the impact in forming ethic, economic and environmental restrictions is generally too significant for their actions to be directed by a limited, helpful shape of justifiability (Alvesson and Willmott, 1992). Critical refection insists on facing the hided interests an d ideologies and on exploring objectives of questions that contribute to message management thinking and activities.Critical reflection objects to the kinds of conceptions that cultivate the logical necessary of authoritarianism in organizations, the unchallenged value added to gain of economic and the conservation of unfair in treasure and right. Critical reflection challenges compliance to the concepts like unavoidable cost of improvement, general knowledge or reality argued by Collins in 1991. Education originations and individuals that deliberately retain ethically pauperized courses for managers as meriting of defiance and acting in contravention of ones’ self-interests should be criticized and noticed (Reed, Anthony, 1992).Reed and Antony insist that managerial teachers and organizations should encourage mangers to foster the awareness of difficulties that they encountered so as to help them be conscious of self-significance and self-responsibility. Mangers have to be s timulated to consider the uncontrollable sophistication that confronts them without colorable help of skills and objectives. The objective of reflection concerns with the investigation of impact of political and civilizational processes on development and learning being integrated into any kind of managerial education, particularly when authority and franchise are not distributed fairly.Since some people are continuously confront with contempt because of their gender, age and religion while policies of developing and practice are depended on some mechanical measurement, critical reflection should be applied in order to provide wise structure for tough these processes. Critical reflection offers the flexibility based on a more living analysis method. It is apprehensive if managerial education does not involve critical reflection. Reflective practices In order to investigate the impact of reflection on the connection between organization and learning various levels of reflective pract ice will be presented.The connection between practice and reflection has been discovered. There were lots of existing trials to connect various kinds of reflection to organization learning. Mezirow described a detailed scheme that classifies seven levels of reflection. For instance, the first level is reflection form daily experience of one’s awareness of seeing, thinking and action while the last level is critical reflection form consciousness. Jarvis stated that the concept of Mozirow is restricted to the interpretation of individual, numinous conversion but not social transform although it is useful.Other authors stressed that the aim of reflection practice ought to have social activities although it is an in mind process (Kemmis 1985). Kemmis described reflection with three levels, the technical reflection, the practical reflection and finally the critical reflection. For the first level, the technical reflection is problem solving oriented with the process of selecting a vailable approaches to accomplish certain result. For the second level, the practical reflection relates choose the correct and appropriate result. While for the third level, the critical reflection concerns the content of historical thought.It is said that the critical reflection offers the fundamental of a justice society. Similarly, Hindmarsh illustrated three levels of reflection to survey the graduates in transferring from students to occupation employment. Furthermore, to understand the previous reflection practice levels, take the technical reflection, the principle of this level is unquestioned. For instance, students may be required to finishing a specific studying styles questionnaire or the favorite list of the teaching group so as to develop lessons based on personal learning style.While for the practical reflection level, there is still no questioning at this level. For instance, a specific form of learning style may be selected for reason that its fundamental learning principle is sustaining of an organization atmosphere that the course is meant to improve. Finally, at the level of critical reflection, underlying conceptions that become the basis of learning style are suspected form an academic or ethical viewpoint. For instance, this kind of learning style may be selected from a way of comprehending distinction in learning methods and an option made based on more related to supportive research.Alternatively, both of these should be rejected for the consideration of its invalidation to interpret the impact on leaning method of age, gender or class and its original dependence on classing, enhances a possibly discriminatory method of being employing with personal difference. Take group work as an example of reflection practice, it was usually applied in managerial development to enhance combination and intimacy by concentrating basically on personal and interpersonal action, inspiring self-shown and an analysis of individual experience without any gregarious or civilizational interpretation.However, a more critical way can be used by offering a contextualized concentration and designing expositive structures which capacitate a gregarious and moral analysis. All of these examples have elucidated the three levels of reflection. Moreover, Russ and Vince described another three levels of reflection practice. The first level is the individual in an organization, the objective of reflection at this level is to discover and conclude the role than a person act and the organization that manage the presentation of the role.The concentrate on role provides chances for managers to understand the methods their jurisdiction is built and limited in an organization. A role offers the structure that person and organization satisfy. Although the transformation of self-experience declares the peculiarity of the individual, planting personal experience in the role stresses the relationship to the organization. It is not possible that reflection on one’s personal experience will create progress and learning itself.However, it is possible to remind conceptions or power connections into problem at the time when reflection is pursued based on relating person, one’s role and organization in one’s mind (Shapiro, Carr, 1991). The second level is team or sub system, the objective of reflection is to discover and absorb connections between the edges of other and self, and between the edges of branches. The concentrate is on the clannish procedure of belonging, describing, striving for democracy, and the straits concerned with traveling across the edges of various organizations.This provides chances for managers to get experience from the creation of governmental activity with mutual commitment or separation, via corporation and competition, and through organization meshwork or nations. This level of reflection is on sub systems which are usually operated within the branch. Within the entire organization, reflec tions of inter groups of sub systems are more collective which usually break the communication among different components. The third level of reflection is the entire organization, the objective of this reflection is to discover and absorb connections across inside and outside construction.It is in relation to the organizational action produced via personal and mutual authority and flectional experiences. The concentrate is on the process of systematism that the road to create an organization. The reflection at this level is to provide chances for managers to investigate aware and unaware flectional and governmental procedure that draw the organization characteristics. Reflection practice research on a company A company with an expectation of high economic growth and development in generally not likely to encounter commerce failure which produce seldom pressure on mangers.The organization seems not to be confronted with failure and risk and therefore managers are in an environment w ithout risk awareness. Nowadays organizations unawares help to silent or unconfident managers that are afraid of failure and risk hence segregate themselves in a self-empire. In order to deal with such organizational issues, the company has raised an idea of organization learning and learning organization. For example, the staff of the company can profit from training and learning during working.This kind of learning is covered to the entire company and that has affected on its working teams. It leads to the company an improvement in workers attitude and practice as well which indicates the organization is learning. While on account of personal learning all over the company, the influence on the company itself is therefore organization learning. For the company the organizing learning process is hard rather than personal learning. The process is designed started with the creation of the initiative of ‘rebuilt the company’ and hence inspires lots of staff’s enthus iasm.However, new entry employees met the barriers from the power relations like some senior managers which brought some disappointment that resulted in the failure implement of the initiative. Then the company raised a democratic reflection process objected to change the situation, which removed the rooted authority relationships that define the organization. The difficulties the company encountered in learning and change results from managers’ personal cognition of reflection, and the comprehensive organizational dynamic via which these cognitions are produced and enhanced.The personal viewpoints of managers about reflection relates in reality contains keeping away from what is occurring, reconsidering about what was finished and investigating individual thought. The point of reflection is on assessing something from past but not within the present. To conclude, the reflection practice within the company is supposed to be an individual responsibility. It can be described as the work of managers, whether the manager is free so as to consider about the problem or issue and which way the manager sued to deal with the problem.Although these individual reflections from managers can create growth and change for the company, it is the organization success form individual. One failure aspect for the company is that it is lack of the ability to produce a process of organization reflection which will raise the progress from individual to organizational. The limitation of the learning ability for the company should be broken by developing the ability of reflection to an organization level. ConclusionsThis report has an overview of how the application reflection and reflections practice are encouraged and benefit to the organizations for learning, change and critical. In general, the main conclusion is that reflection and reflection practice are the essential components of individual learning and organizational learning and are aspects of competitively advantages . In this report, the concept of reflection has been discussed on the basis of some literature review, and the distinction between reflection and critical reflection has been compared as well.In the section of reflection practice, the report has presented some different description about the levels of reflection practice. In spite of these arguments, reflection practice may be classified from individual oriented to organizational reflection. Reflection is action in mind with the objective of investigating one’s action in a certain situation. It is said that within organization, good staffs are those who are critical reflective. However, with the examination on individual reflection and organization reflection, it shows that there is a difference between them.According to the example given in the previous paragraph, the company relied on individual ability of reflection can be shifted to be depended on the organizational ability of reflection so as to enhance the ability of le arning and changing for the organization. In a word, reflection can benefit to either individual learning or organizing learning but organizations should make more effort to shift the reflection levels so as to get competence and advantage in the global commerce environment. References 1. Argyris, C. and Scho? n, D. A. (1996), Organizational Learning II.Theory, Method, and Practice, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, New York, NY. 2. Alvesson, M,, & Willmott, H, (1996), Making sense of management: A critical introduction. London: Sage, 3. Cunliffe, A, L, (2004), On becoming a critically reflexive practitioner. 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