Humans vs Hardware: The Unique World of NASA Human System Risk Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Anton, W.; Havenhill, M.; Overton, Eric

2016-01-01

Understanding spaceflight risks to crew health and performance is a crucial aspect of preparing for exploration missions in the future. The research activities of the Human Research Program (HRP) provide substantial evidence to support most risk reduction work. The Human System Risk Board (HSRB), acting on behalf of the Office of Chief Health and Medical Officer (OCHMO), assesses these risks and assigns likelihood and consequence ratings to track progress. Unfortunately, many traditional approaches in risk assessment such as those used in the engineering aspects of spaceflight are difficult to apply to human system risks. This presentation discusses the unique aspects of risk assessment from the human system risk perspective and how these limitations are accommodated and addressed in order to ensure that reasonable inputs are provided to support the OCHMO's overall risk posture for manned exploration missions.

Human reliability. Is probabilistic human reliability assessment possible?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mosneron Dupin, F.

1996-01-01

The possibility of carrying out Probabilistic Human Reliability Assessments (PHRA) is often doubted. Basing ourselves on the experience Electricite de France (EDF) has acquired in Probabilistic Safety Assessments for nuclear power plants, we show why the uncertainty of PHRA is very high. We then specify the limits of generic data and models for PHRA: very important factors are often poorly taken into account. To account for them, you need to have proper understanding of the actual context in which operators work. This demands surveys on the field (power plant and simulator) all of which must be carried out with behaviours science skills. The idea of estimating the probabilities of operator failure must not be abandoned, but probabilities must be given less importance, for they are only approximate indications. The qualitative aspects of PHRA should be given greater value (analysis process and qualitative insights). That is why the description (illustrated by case histories) of the main mechanisms of human behaviour, and of their manifestations in the nuclear power plant context (in terms of habits, attitudes, and informal methods and organization in particular) should be an important part of PHRA handbooks. These handbooks should also insist more on methods for gathering information on the actual context of the work of operators. Under these conditions, the PHRA should be possible and even desirable as a process for systematic analysis and assessment of human intervention. (author). 24 refs, 2 figs, 1 tab

Human reliability. Is probabilistic human reliability assessment possible?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mosneron Dupin, F

1997-12-31

The possibility of carrying out Probabilistic Human Reliability Assessments (PHRA) is often doubted. Basing ourselves on the experience Electricite de France (EDF) has acquired in Probabilistic Safety Assessments for nuclear power plants, we show why the uncertainty of PHRA is very high. We then specify the limits of generic data and models for PHRA: very important factors are often poorly taken into account. To account for them, you need to have proper understanding of the actual context in which operators work. This demands surveys on the field (power plant and simulator) all of which must be carried out with behaviours science skills. The idea of estimating the probabilities of operator failure must not be abandoned, but probabilities must be given less importance, for they are only approximate indications. The qualitative aspects of PHRA should be given greater value (analysis process and qualitative insights). That is why the description (illustrated by case histories) of the main mechanisms of human behaviour, and of their manifestations in the nuclear power plant context (in terms of habits, attitudes, and informal methods and organization in particular) should be an important part of PHRA handbooks. These handbooks should also insist more on methods for gathering information on the actual context of the work of operators. Under these conditions, the PHRA should be possible and even desirable as a process for systematic analysis and assessment of human intervention. (author). 24 refs, 2 figs, 1 tab.

Progress in human exposure assessment for biocidal products

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hemmen, J.J. van

2004-01-01

An important shortcoming in our present knowledge required for risk assessment of biocidal products is the assessment of human exposure. This knowledge gap has been filled in a preliminary fashion with the TNsG on human exposure to biocidal products (available from the ECB website). Explicit User

Human reliability assessment in context

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hollnagel, Erik

2005-01-01

Human Reliability Assessment (HRA) is conducted on the unspoken premise that 'human error' is a meaningful concept and that it can be associated with individual actions. The basis for this assumption it found in the origin of HRA, as a necessary extension of PSA to account for the impact of failures emanating from human actions. Although it was natural to model HRA on PSA, a large number of studies have shown that the premises are wrong, specifically that human and technological functions cannot be decomposed in the same manner. The general experience from accident studies also indicates that action failures are a function of the context, and that it is the variability of the context rather than the 'human error probability' that is the much sought for signal. Accepting this will have significant consequences for the way in which HRA, and ultimately also PSA, should be pursued

Human exposure assessment to environmental chemicals using biomonitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Calafat, Antonia M; Ye, Xiaoyun; Silva, Manori J; Kuklenyik, Zsuzsanna; Needham, Larry L

2006-02-01

In modern societies, humans may be exposed to a wide spectrum of environmental chemicals. Although the health significance of this exposure for many chemicals is unknown, studies to investigate the prevalence of exposure are warranted because of the chemicals' potential harmful health effects, as often indicated in animal studies. Three tools have been used to assess exposure: exposure history/questionnaire information, environmental monitoring, and biomonitoring (i.e. measuring concentrations of the chemicals, their metabolites, or their adducts in human specimens). We present an overview on the use of biomonitoring in exposure assessment using phthalates, bisphenol A and other environmental phenols, and perfluorinated chemicals as examples. We discuss some factors relevant for interpreting and understanding biomonitoring data, including selection of both biomarkers of exposure and human matrices, and toxicokinetic information. The use of biomonitoring in human risk assessment is not discussed.

Human Spaceflight Conjunction Assessment: Lessons Learned

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Jason T.

2011-01-01

This viewgraph presentation reviews the process of a human space flight conjunction assessment and lessons learned from the more than twelve years of International Space Station (ISS) operations. Also, the application of these lessons learned to a recent ISS conjunction assessment with object 84180 on July 16, 2009 is also presented.

Human reliability analysis methods for probabilistic safety assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pyy, P.

2000-11-01

Human reliability analysis (HRA) of a probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) includes identifying human actions from safety point of view, modelling the most important of them in PSA models, and assessing their probabilities. As manifested by many incidents and studies, human actions may have both positive and negative effect on safety and economy. Human reliability analysis is one of the areas of probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) that has direct applications outside the nuclear industry. The thesis focuses upon developments in human reliability analysis methods and data. The aim is to support PSA by extending the applicability of HRA. The thesis consists of six publications and a summary. The summary includes general considerations and a discussion about human actions in the nuclear power plant (NPP) environment. A condensed discussion about the results of the attached publications is then given, including new development in methods and data. At the end of the summary part, the contribution of the publications to good practice in HRA is presented. In the publications, studies based on the collection of data on maintenance-related failures, simulator runs and expert judgement are presented in order to extend the human reliability analysis database. Furthermore, methodological frameworks are presented to perform a comprehensive HRA, including shutdown conditions, to study reliability of decision making, and to study the effects of wrong human actions. In the last publication, an interdisciplinary approach to analysing human decision making is presented. The publications also include practical applications of the presented methodological frameworks. (orig.)

Revised Human Health Risk Assessment on Chlorpyrifos

Science.gov (United States)

We have revised our human health risk assessment and drinking water exposure assessment for chlorpyrifos that supported our October 2015 proposal to revoke all food residue tolerances for chlorpyrifos. Learn about the revised analysis.

The future of human rights impact assessments of trade agreements

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Walker, S.M.

2009-01-01

The Future of Human Rights Impact Assessments of Trade Agreements develops a methodology for human rights impact assessments of trade agreements and considers whether there is any value in using the methodology on a sustained basis to ensure that the human dimensions of international trade are taken

Assessing human rights impacts in corporate development projects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Salcito, Kendyl, E-mail: kendyl.salcito@unibas.ch [Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002 Basel (Switzerland); University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003 Basel (Switzerland); NomoGaia, 1900 Wazee Street, Suite 303, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); NewFields, LLC, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); Utzinger, Jürg, E-mail: juerg.utzinger@unibas.ch [Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002 Basel (Switzerland); University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003 Basel (Switzerland); Weiss, Mitchell G., E-mail: Mitchell-g.Weiss@unibas.ch [Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002 Basel (Switzerland); University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003 Basel (Switzerland); Münch, Anna K., E-mail: annak.muench@gmail.com [Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610 (United States); Singer, Burton H., E-mail: bhsinger@epi.ufl.edu [Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610 (United States); Krieger, Gary R., E-mail: gkrieger@newfields.com [NewFields, LLC, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); Wielga, Mark, E-mail: wielga@nomogaia.org [NomoGaia, 1900 Wazee Street, Suite 303, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); NewFields, LLC, Denver, CO 80202 (United States)

2013-09-15

Human rights impact assessment (HRIA) is a process for systematically identifying, predicting and responding to the potential impact on human rights of a business operation, capital project, government policy or trade agreement. Traditionally, it has been conducted as a desktop exercise to predict the effects of trade agreements and government policies on individuals and communities. In line with a growing call for multinational corporations to ensure they do not violate human rights in their activities, HRIA is increasingly incorporated into the standard suite of corporate development project impact assessments. In this context, the policy world's non-structured, desk-based approaches to HRIA are insufficient. Although a number of corporations have commissioned and conducted HRIA, no broadly accepted and validated assessment tool is currently available. The lack of standardisation has complicated efforts to evaluate the effectiveness of HRIA as a risk mitigation tool, and has caused confusion in the corporate world regarding company duties. Hence, clarification is needed. The objectives of this paper are (i) to describe an HRIA methodology, (ii) to provide a rationale for its components and design, and (iii) to illustrate implementation of HRIA using the methodology in two selected corporate development projects—a uranium mine in Malawi and a tree farm in Tanzania. We found that as a prognostic tool, HRIA could examine potential positive and negative human rights impacts and provide effective recommendations for mitigation. However, longer-term monitoring revealed that recommendations were unevenly implemented, dependent on market conditions and personnel movements. This instability in the approach to human rights suggests a need for on-going monitoring and surveillance. -- Highlights: • We developed a novel methodology for corporate human rights impact assessment. • We piloted the methodology on two corporate projects—a mine and a plantation. �

Assessing human rights impacts in corporate development projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salcito, Kendyl; Utzinger, Jürg; Weiss, Mitchell G.; Münch, Anna K.; Singer, Burton H.; Krieger, Gary R.; Wielga, Mark

2013-01-01

Human rights impact assessment (HRIA) is a process for systematically identifying, predicting and responding to the potential impact on human rights of a business operation, capital project, government policy or trade agreement. Traditionally, it has been conducted as a desktop exercise to predict the effects of trade agreements and government policies on individuals and communities. In line with a growing call for multinational corporations to ensure they do not violate human rights in their activities, HRIA is increasingly incorporated into the standard suite of corporate development project impact assessments. In this context, the policy world's non-structured, desk-based approaches to HRIA are insufficient. Although a number of corporations have commissioned and conducted HRIA, no broadly accepted and validated assessment tool is currently available. The lack of standardisation has complicated efforts to evaluate the effectiveness of HRIA as a risk mitigation tool, and has caused confusion in the corporate world regarding company duties. Hence, clarification is needed. The objectives of this paper are (i) to describe an HRIA methodology, (ii) to provide a rationale for its components and design, and (iii) to illustrate implementation of HRIA using the methodology in two selected corporate development projects—a uranium mine in Malawi and a tree farm in Tanzania. We found that as a prognostic tool, HRIA could examine potential positive and negative human rights impacts and provide effective recommendations for mitigation. However, longer-term monitoring revealed that recommendations were unevenly implemented, dependent on market conditions and personnel movements. This instability in the approach to human rights suggests a need for on-going monitoring and surveillance. -- Highlights: • We developed a novel methodology for corporate human rights impact assessment. • We piloted the methodology on two corporate projects—a mine and a plantation. • Human

A comparative evaluation of five human reliability assessment techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kirwan, B.

1988-01-01

A field experiment was undertaken to evaluate the accuracy, usefulness, and resources requirements of five human reliability quantification techniques (Techniques for Human Error Rate Prediction (THERP); Paired Comparisons, Human Error Assessment and Reduction Technique (HEART), Success Liklihood Index Method (SLIM)-Multi Attribute Utility Decomposition (MAUD), and Absolute Probability Judgement). This was achieved by assessing technique predictions against a set of known human error probabilities, and by comparing their predictions on a set of five realistic Probabilisitc Risk Assessment (PRA) human error. On a combined measure of accuracy THERP and Absolute Probability Judgement performed best, whilst HEART showed indications of accuracy and was lower in resources usage than other techniques. HEART and THERP both appear to benefit from using trained assessors in order to obtain the best results. SLIM and Paired Comparisons require further research on achieving a robust calibration relationship between their scale values and absolute probabilities. (author)

Comparative Human Health Impact Assessment of Engineered Nanomaterials in the Framework of Life Cycle Assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Fransman, Wouter; Buist, Harrie; Kuijpers, Eelco; Walser, Tobias; Meyer, David; Zondervan-van den Beuken, Esther; Westerhout, Joost; Klein Entink, Rinke H; Brouwer, Derk H

2017-07-01

For safe innovation, knowledge on potential human health impacts is essential. Ideally, these impacts are considered within a larger life-cycle-based context to support sustainable development of new applications and products. A methodological framework that accounts for human health impacts caused by inhalation of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) in an indoor air environment has been previously developed. The objectives of this study are as follows: (i) evaluate the feasibility of applying the CF framework for NP exposure in the workplace based on currently available data; and (ii) supplement any resulting knowledge gaps with methods and data from the life cycle approach and human risk assessment (LICARA) project to develop a modified case-specific version of the framework that will enable near-term inclusion of NP human health impacts in life cycle assessment (LCA) using a case study involving nanoscale titanium dioxide (nanoTiO 2 ). The intent is to enhance typical LCA with elements of regulatory risk assessment, including its more detailed measure of uncertainty. The proof-of-principle demonstration of the framework highlighted the lack of available data for both the workplace emissions and human health effects of ENMs that is needed to calculate generalizable characterization factors using common human health impact assessment practices in LCA. The alternative approach of using intake fractions derived from workplace air concentration measurements and effect factors based on best-available toxicity data supported the current case-by-case approach for assessing the human health life cycle impacts of ENMs. Ultimately, the proposed framework and calculations demonstrate the potential utility of integrating elements of risk assessment with LCA for ENMs once the data are available. © 2016 Society for Risk Analysis.

Hubungan antara Pola Asuh Orangtua(parenting Style) dengan Kesehatan Mental Remaja di Ciawi Kabupaten Tasikmalaya

OpenAIRE

Team, Redaksi

2010-01-01

Research on parenting style and its correlation with some aspects of their children live has yielded inconsistent results. Some studies on authoritarian indentifying significant positive imoact while other find negative. The aim of the currant study is to identify correlationship between parenting style and adolescence mental helth in Ciawi Tasikmalaya. This study used correlation methodology, and rank Spearman for analiyzing. Parenting style measurement used Parental Authority Questionnaire-...

Assessing corporate project impacts in changeable contexts: A human rights perspective

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Salcito, Kendyl, E-mail: kendyl.salcito@unibas.ch [Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002 Basel (Switzerland); University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003 Basel (Switzerland); NomoGaia, 1900 Wazee Street, Suite 303, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); NewFields, LLC, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); Singer, Burton H., E-mail: bhsinger@epi.ufl.edu [Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610 (United States); Krieger, Gary R., E-mail: gkrieger@newfields.com [NewFields, LLC, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); Weiss, Mitchell G., E-mail: mitchell-g.weiss@unibas.ch [Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002 Basel (Switzerland); University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003 Basel (Switzerland); Wielga, Mark, E-mail: wielga@nomogaia.org [NomoGaia, 1900 Wazee Street, Suite 303, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); NewFields, LLC, Denver, CO 80202 (United States); Utzinger, Jürg, E-mail: juerg.utzinger@unibas.ch [Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, P.O. Box, CH-4002 Basel (Switzerland); University of Basel, P.O. Box, CH-4003 Basel (Switzerland)

2014-07-01

Project-level impact assessment was originally conceived as a snapshot taken in advance of project implementation, contrasting current conditions with a likely future scenario involving a variety of predicted impacts. Current best practice guidance has encouraged a shift towards longitudinal assessments from the pre-project stage through the implementation and operating phases. Experience and study show, however, that assessment of infrastructure-intensive projects rarely endures past the project's construction phase. Negative consequences for environmental, social and health outcomes have been documented. Such consequences clarify the pressing need for longitudinal assessment in each of these domains, with human rights impact assessment (HRIA) as an umbrella over, and critical augmentation of, environmental, social and health assessments. Project impacts on human rights are more closely linked to political, economic and other factors beyond immediate effects of a company's policy and action throughout the project lifecycle. Delineating these processes requires an adequate framework, with strategies for collecting longitudinal data, protocols that provide core information for impact assessment and guidance for adaptive mitigation strategies as project-related effects change over time. This article presents general principles for the design and implementation of sustained, longitudinal HRIA, based on experience assessing and responding to human rights impact in a uranium mining project in Malawi. The case study demonstrates the value of longitudinal assessment both for limiting corporate risk and improving human welfare. - Graphical abstract: Assessing changes in human rights condition as affected by both project and context, over time. - Highlights: • Corporate capital projects affect human rights in myriad ways. • Ongoing, longitudinal impact assessment techniques are needed. • We present an approach for conducting longitudinal human rights impact

Assessing corporate project impacts in changeable contexts: A human rights perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salcito, Kendyl; Singer, Burton H.; Krieger, Gary R.; Weiss, Mitchell G.; Wielga, Mark; Utzinger, Jürg

2014-01-01

Project-level impact assessment was originally conceived as a snapshot taken in advance of project implementation, contrasting current conditions with a likely future scenario involving a variety of predicted impacts. Current best practice guidance has encouraged a shift towards longitudinal assessments from the pre-project stage through the implementation and operating phases. Experience and study show, however, that assessment of infrastructure-intensive projects rarely endures past the project's construction phase. Negative consequences for environmental, social and health outcomes have been documented. Such consequences clarify the pressing need for longitudinal assessment in each of these domains, with human rights impact assessment (HRIA) as an umbrella over, and critical augmentation of, environmental, social and health assessments. Project impacts on human rights are more closely linked to political, economic and other factors beyond immediate effects of a company's policy and action throughout the project lifecycle. Delineating these processes requires an adequate framework, with strategies for collecting longitudinal data, protocols that provide core information for impact assessment and guidance for adaptive mitigation strategies as project-related effects change over time. This article presents general principles for the design and implementation of sustained, longitudinal HRIA, based on experience assessing and responding to human rights impact in a uranium mining project in Malawi. The case study demonstrates the value of longitudinal assessment both for limiting corporate risk and improving human welfare. - Graphical abstract: Assessing changes in human rights condition as affected by both project and context, over time. - Highlights: • Corporate capital projects affect human rights in myriad ways. • Ongoing, longitudinal impact assessment techniques are needed. • We present an approach for conducting longitudinal human rights impact assessment

Human Health Toxicity Values in Superfund Risk Assessments

Science.gov (United States)

This memorandum revises the hierarchy of human health toxicity values generally recommended for use inr isk assessments, originally presented in Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund Volume I, Part A.

Dependent Human Error Probability Assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Simic, Z.; Mikulicic, V.; Vukovic, I.

2006-01-01

This paper presents an assessment of the dependence between dynamic operator actions modeled in a Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) PRA and estimate the associated impact on Core damage frequency (CDF). This assessment was done improve HEP dependencies implementation inside existing PRA. All of the dynamic operator actions modeled in the NPP PRA are included in this assessment. Determining the level of HEP dependence and the associated influence on CDF are the major steps of this assessment. A decision on how to apply the results, i.e., should permanent HEP model changes be made, is based on the resulting relative CDF increase. Some CDF increase was selected as a threshold based on the NPP base CDF value and acceptance guidelines from the Regulatory Guide 1.174. HEP dependence resulting in a CDF increase of > 5E-07 would be considered potential candidates for specific incorporation into the baseline model. The approach used to judge the level of dependence between operator actions is based on dependency level categories and conditional probabilities developed in the Handbook of Human Reliability Analysis with Emphasis on Nuclear Power Plant Applications NUREG/CR-1278. To simplify the process, NUREG/CR-1278 identifies five levels of dependence: ZD (zero dependence), LD (low dependence), MD (moderate dependence), HD (high dependence), and CD (complete dependence). NUREG/CR-1278 also identifies several qualitative factors that could be involved in determining the level of dependence. Based on the NUREG/CR-1278 information, Time, Function, and Spatial attributes were judged to be the most important considerations when determining the level of dependence between operator actions within an accident sequence. These attributes were used to develop qualitative criteria (rules) that were used to judge the level of dependence (CD, HD, MD, LD, ZD) between the operator actions. After the level of dependence between the various HEPs is judged, quantitative values associated with the

Modelling human interactions in the assessment of man-made hazards

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nitoi, M.; Farcasiu, M.; Apostol, M.

2016-01-01

The human reliability assessment tools are not currently capable to model adequately the human ability to adapt, to innovate and to manage under extreme situations. The paper presents the results obtained by ICN PSA team in the frame of FP7 Advanced Safety Assessment Methodologies: extended PSA (ASAMPSA_E) project regarding the investigation of conducting HRA in human-made hazards. The paper proposes to use a 4-steps methodology for the assessment of human interactions in the external events (Definition and modelling of human interactions; Quantification of human failure events; Recovery analysis; Review). The most relevant factors with respect to HRA for man-made hazards (response execution complexity; existence of procedures with respect to the scenario in question; time available for action; timing of cues; accessibility of equipment; harsh environmental conditions) are presented and discussed thoroughly. The challenges identified in relation to man-made hazards HRA are highlighted. (authors)

Human exposure assessment: Approaches for chemicals (REACH) and biocides (BPD)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hemmen, J.J. van; Gerritsen-Ebben, R.

2008-01-01

The approaches that are indicated in the various guidance documents for the assessment of human exposure for chemicals and biocides are summarised. This reflects the TNsG (Technical notes for Guidance) version 2: human exposure assessment for biocidal products (1) under the BPD (Biocidal Products

Modeling human intention formation for human reliability assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Woods, D.D.; Roth, E.M.; Pople, H. Jr.

1988-01-01

This paper describes a dynamic simulation capability for modeling how people form intentions to act in nuclear power plant emergency situations. This modeling tool, Cognitive Environment Simulation or CES, was developed based on techniques from artificial intelligence. It simulates the cognitive processes that determine situation assessment and intention formation. It can be used to investigate analytically what situations and factors lead to intention failures, what actions follow from intention failures (e.g. errors of omission, errors of commission, common mode errors), the ability to recover from errors or additional machine failures, and the effects of changes in the NPP person machine system. One application of the CES modeling environment is to enhance the measurement of the human contribution to risk in probabilistic risk assessment studies. (author)

Ambulatory assessment of human body kinematics and kinetics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schepers, H. Martin

2009-01-01

Traditional human movement analysis systems consist of an optical position measurement system with one or more 6D force plates mounted in a laboratory. Although clinically accepted as `the golden standard' for the assessment of human movement, the restriction to a laboratory environment with its

A human factors needs assessment and planning study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Price, H.E.; Van Cott, H.P.

1982-06-01

A study was done to assess the need for human factors research, development, and regulatory action in the Atomic Energy Control Board. Further study or development in nine human factors areas is proposed. The urgency, schedule, and resources judged to be necessary for the proposed efforts are estimated. Special emphasis is placed on the need for task analysis information, for the evaluation of control room and maintenance human engineering, and for the development of an improved human error reporting system

Frameworks for Assessing Human Influence on Water Availability

Science.gov (United States)

AghaKouchak, A.; Mehran, A.; Mazdiyasni, O.; Ashraf, B.

2016-12-01

The water cycle is tightly coupled with water management and human water use behavior. Human activities and water use behavior can intensify the effects of a meteorological drought (a notion referred to as Anthropogenic Drought). In this presentation, we provide a general definition of anthropogenic drought. We then briefly review two different methods for assessing human influence on water availability: (1) a data-driven multivariate approach that links the information on inflow and surface reservoir storage to water demand; (2) A model-based framework that brings a top-down and bottom-up approach to provide localized water assessment based on local available infrastructure and projected water demands. Finally, we will show how the proposed methods can be used for water management scenario analysis (e.g., local water availability based on different human water demands scenarios). This presentation is primarily based on Mehran et al (Mehran A., Mazdiyasni O., AghaKouchak A., 2015, A Hybrid Framework for Assessing Socioeconomic Drought: Linking Climate Variability, Local Resilience, and Demand, Journal of Geophysical Research, 120 (15), 7520-7533, doi: 10.1002/2015JD023147.) and AghaKouchak et al (AghaKouchak A., Feldman D., Hoerling M., Huxman T., Lund J., 2015, Recognize Anthropogenic Drought, Nature, 524 (7566), 409-4011, doi:10.1038/524409a).

A development of the Human Factors Assessment Guide for the Study of Erroneous Human Behaviors in Nuclear Power Plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oh, Yeon Ju; Lee, Yong Hee; Jang, Tong Il; Kim, Sa Kil

2014-01-01

The aim of this paper is to describe a human factors assessment guide for the study of the erroneous characteristic of operators in nuclear power plants (NPPs). We think there are still remaining the human factors issues such as an uneasy emotion, fatigue and stress, varying mental workload situation by digital environment, and various new type of unsafe response to digital interface for better decisions, although introducing an advanced main control room. These human factors issues may not be resolved through the current human reliability assessment which evaluates the total probability of a human error occurring throughout the completion of a specific task. This paper provides an assessment guide for the human factors issues a set of experimental methodology, and presents an assessment case of measurement and analysis especially from neuro physiology approach. It would be the most objective psycho-physiological research technique on human performance for a qualitative analysis considering the safety aspects. This paper can be trial to experimental assessment of erroneous behaviors and their influencing factors, and it can be used as an index for recognition and a method to apply human factors engineering V and V, which is required as a mandatory element of human factor engineering program plan for a NPP design

A development of the Human Factors Assessment Guide for the Study of Erroneous Human Behaviors in Nuclear Power Plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oh, Yeon Ju; Lee, Yong Hee; Jang, Tong Il; Kim, Sa Kil [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2014-08-15

The aim of this paper is to describe a human factors assessment guide for the study of the erroneous characteristic of operators in nuclear power plants (NPPs). We think there are still remaining the human factors issues such as an uneasy emotion, fatigue and stress, varying mental workload situation by digital environment, and various new type of unsafe response to digital interface for better decisions, although introducing an advanced main control room. These human factors issues may not be resolved through the current human reliability assessment which evaluates the total probability of a human error occurring throughout the completion of a specific task. This paper provides an assessment guide for the human factors issues a set of experimental methodology, and presents an assessment case of measurement and analysis especially from neuro physiology approach. It would be the most objective psycho-physiological research technique on human performance for a qualitative analysis considering the safety aspects. This paper can be trial to experimental assessment of erroneous behaviors and their influencing factors, and it can be used as an index for recognition and a method to apply human factors engineering V and V, which is required as a mandatory element of human factor engineering program plan for a NPP design.

Dependence assessment in human reliability analysis based on D numbers and AHP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou, Xinyi; Deng, Xinyang; Deng, Yong; Mahadevan, Sankaran

2017-01-01

Highlights: • D numbers and AHP are combined to implement dependence assessment in HRA. • A new tool, called D numbers, is used to deal with the uncertainty in HRA. • The proposed method can well address the fuzziness and subjectivity in linguistic assessment. • The proposed method is well applicable in dependence assessment which inherently has a linguistic assessment process. - Abstract: Since human errors always cause heavy loss especially in nuclear engineering, human reliability analysis (HRA) has attracted more and more attention. Dependence assessment plays a vital role in HRA, measuring the dependence degree of human errors. Many researches have been done while still have improvement space. In this paper, a dependence assessment model based on D numbers and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is proposed. Firstly, identify the factors used to measure the dependence level of two human operations. Besides, in terms of the suggested dependence level, determine and quantify the anchor points for each factor. Secondly, D numbers and AHP are adopted in model. Experts evaluate the dependence level of human operations for each factor. Then, the evaluation results are presented as D numbers and fused by D number’s combination rule that can obtain the dependence probability of human operations for each factor. The weights of factors can be determined by AHP. Thirdly, based on the dependence probability for each factor and its corresponding weight, the dependence probability of two human operations and its confidence can be obtained. The proposed method can well address the fuzziness and subjectivity in linguistic assessment. The proposed method is well applicable to assess the dependence degree of human errors in HRA which inherently has a linguistic assessment process.

Dependence assessment in human reliability analysis based on D numbers and AHP

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhou, Xinyi; Deng, Xinyang [School of Computer and Information Science, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715 (China); Deng, Yong, E-mail: ydeng@swu.edu.cn [School of Computer and Information Science, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715 (China); Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan 610054 (China); Mahadevan, Sankaran [School of Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235 (United States)

2017-03-15

Highlights: • D numbers and AHP are combined to implement dependence assessment in HRA. • A new tool, called D numbers, is used to deal with the uncertainty in HRA. • The proposed method can well address the fuzziness and subjectivity in linguistic assessment. • The proposed method is well applicable in dependence assessment which inherently has a linguistic assessment process. - Abstract: Since human errors always cause heavy loss especially in nuclear engineering, human reliability analysis (HRA) has attracted more and more attention. Dependence assessment plays a vital role in HRA, measuring the dependence degree of human errors. Many researches have been done while still have improvement space. In this paper, a dependence assessment model based on D numbers and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is proposed. Firstly, identify the factors used to measure the dependence level of two human operations. Besides, in terms of the suggested dependence level, determine and quantify the anchor points for each factor. Secondly, D numbers and AHP are adopted in model. Experts evaluate the dependence level of human operations for each factor. Then, the evaluation results are presented as D numbers and fused by D number’s combination rule that can obtain the dependence probability of human operations for each factor. The weights of factors can be determined by AHP. Thirdly, based on the dependence probability for each factor and its corresponding weight, the dependence probability of two human operations and its confidence can be obtained. The proposed method can well address the fuzziness and subjectivity in linguistic assessment. The proposed method is well applicable to assess the dependence degree of human errors in HRA which inherently has a linguistic assessment process.

NASA Human Spaceflight Conjunction Assessment: Recent Conjunctions of Interest

Science.gov (United States)

Browns, Ansley C.

2010-01-01

This viewgraph presentation discusses a brief history of NASA Human Spaceflight Conjunction Assessment (CA) activities, an overview of NASA CA process for ISS and Shuttle, and recent examples from Human Spaceflight conjunctions.

Human reliability assessment on the basis of operating experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Straeter, O.

1997-01-01

For development of methodology, available models for qualitative assessment of human errors (e.g. by Swain, Hacker, Rasmussen) and a variety of known systematic approaches for quantitiative assessment of inadequate human action (e.g. THERP, ASEP, HCR, SLIM) were taken as a basis to establish a job specification, which in turn was used for developing a method for acquisition, characterisation and evaluation of errors. This method encompasses the two processes of event analysis and event evaluation: The first step comprises analysis of events by analysis of information describing the conditions and scenarios of relevance to the inadequate human action examined. In addition to the description of process sequences, information is taken into account on possible conditions that may bring about failure. As an assessment of human reliability requires manifold approaches for evaluation, a connectionistic procedure was developed for evaluation of the compilation of events based on a debate about various approaches from the domain of artificial intelligence (AI). This procedure yields both qualitative and quantitative information through a homogenous approach. (orig./GL) [de

Framework for integrating human and animal data in chemical risk assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Lavelle, Karlene S; Robert Schnatter, A; Travis, Kim Z; Swaen, Gerard M H; Pallapies, Dirk; Money, Chris; Priem, Peter; Vrijhof, Henk

2012-03-01

Although regulatory agencies formally encourage the integration of all available data in chemical risk assessment, consistent implementation of this practice has been constrained by the lack of a clear, systematic method for doing so. In this paper, we describe a methodology for evaluating, classifying and integrating human and animal data into the risk assessment process that incorporates: (1) a balanced appraisal of human and animal data, (2) relevance to different stages of the risk assessment process, and (3) accommodation for different data quality requirements. The proposed framework offers a flexible, step-wise approach for determining which set of available data best support the chemical risk assessment that involves the rating and relative ranking of human and animal data quality. The evaluation of human data incorporates seven data quality elements, nature and specificity of the lead effect; evaluation of animal data incorporates data quality and relevance to humans. Results of simulations with selected chemicals previously evaluated in a formal risk assessment generally agreed with existing regulatory guidance. Application of the proposed framework across a wider range of chemical agents will improve transparency of the risk assessment process and validity of results, while informing continuous refinements to this evolving methodology. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Human Capital Questionnaire: Assessment of European nurses' perceptions as indicators of human capital quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Yepes-Baldó, Montserrat; Romeo, Marina; Berger, Rita

2013-06-01

Healthcare accreditation models generally include indicators related to healthcare employees' perceptions (e.g. satisfaction, career development, and health safety). During the accreditation process, organizations are asked to demonstrate the methods with which assessments are made. However, none of the models provide standardized systems for the assessment of employees. In this study, we analyzed the psychometric properties of an instrument for the assessment of nurses' perceptions as indicators of human capital quality in healthcare organizations. The Human Capital Questionnaire was applied to a sample of 902 nurses in four European countries (Spain, Portugal, Poland, and the UK). Exploratory factor analysis identified six factors: satisfaction with leadership, identification and commitment, satisfaction with participation, staff well-being, career development opportunities, and motivation. The results showed the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, which when applied to healthcare organizations, provide a better understanding of nurses' perceptions, and is a parsimonious instrument for assessment and organizational accreditation. From a practical point of view, improving the quality of human capital, by analyzing nurses and other healthcare employees' perceptions, is related to workforce empowerment. © 2012 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Human intruder dose assessment for deep geological disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, G. M.; Molinero, J.; Delos, A.; Valls, A.; Conesa, A.; Smith, K.; Hjerpe, T.

2013-07-01

For near-surface disposal, approaches to assessment of inadvertent human intrusion have been developed through international cooperation within the IAEA's ISAM programme. Other assessments have considered intrusion into deep geological disposal facilities, but comparable international cooperation to develop an approach for deep disposal has not taken place. Accordingly, the BIOPROTA collaboration project presented here (1) examined the technical aspects of why and how deep geological intrusion might occur; (2) considered how and to what degree radiation exposure would arise to the people involved in such intrusion; (3) identified the processes which constrain the uncertainties; and hence (4) developed and documented an approach for evaluation of human intruder doses which addresses the criteria adopted by the IAEA and takes account of other international guidance and human intrusion assessment experience. Models for radiation exposure of the drilling workers and geologists were developed and described together with compilation of relevant input data, taking into account relevant combinations of drilling technique, geological formation and repository material. Consideration has been given also to others who might be exposed to contaminated material left at the site after drilling work has ceased. The models have been designed to be simple and stylised, in accordance with international recommendations. The set of combinations comprises 58 different scenarios which cover a very wide range of human intrusion possibilities via deep drilling. (orig.)

Managing Air Quality - Human Health, Environmental and Economic Assessments

Science.gov (United States)

Human health and environmental assessments characterize health and environmental risks associated with exposure to pollution. Economic assessments evaluate the cost and economic impact of a policy or regulation & can estimate economic benefits.

Application of fuzzy synthetic assessment to assess human factors design level on reactor control panel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peng Xuecheng

1999-01-01

Reactor control panel design level on human factors must be considered by designer. The author evaluated the human factor design level of arrangement and combinations including the switch buttons, meter dials and indication lamps on Minjiang Reactor and High-Flux Engineer Test Reactor (HFETR) critical device by application of fuzzy synthetic assessment method in mathematics. From the assessment results, the advantages and shortcomings are fount, and some modification suggestions have also been proposed

Research progress of non-human species radiological impact and assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bai Xiaoping; Zhu Hao; Mao Yawei; Zheng Wei; Du Hongyan

2014-01-01

In recent years, with the development of radiological protection conception and the improvement of requirement about non-human species protection, much more attention has been paid gradually to biota radiation impact. Research and development of non-human species protection impact and its assessment at home and abroad are introduced, then RESRAD-BIOTA and ERICA which are comparatively mature codes in the world are compared and analyzed, at last some suggestions about research and assessment work of non-human species radiological impact in the future in China are provided. (authors)

Assessment of modern methods of human factor reliability analysis in PSA studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holy, J.

2001-12-01

The report is structured as follows: Classical terms and objects (Probabilistic safety assessment as a framework for human reliability assessment; Human failure within the PSA model; Basic types of operator failure modelled in a PSA study and analyzed by HRA methods; Qualitative analysis of human reliability; Quantitative analysis of human reliability used; Process of analysis of nuclear reactor operator reliability in a PSA study); New terms and objects (Analysis of dependences; Errors of omission; Errors of commission; Error forcing context); and Overview and brief assessment of human reliability analysis (Basic characteristics of the methods; Assets and drawbacks of the use of each of HRA method; History and prospects of the use of the methods). (P.A.)

Assessment of Human Exposure to ENMs.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiménez, Araceli Sánchez; van Tongeren, Martie

2017-01-01

Human exposure assessment of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) is hampered, among other factors, by the difficulty to differentiate ENM from other nanomaterials (incidental to processes or naturally occurring) and the lack of a single metric that can be used for health risk assessment. It is important that the exposure assessment is carried out throughout the entire life-cycle as releases can occur at the different stages of the product life-cycle, from the synthesis, manufacture of the nano-enable product (occupational exposure) to the professional and consumer use of nano-enabled product (consumer exposure) and at the end of life.Occupational exposure surveys should follow a tiered approach, increasing in complexity in terms of instruments used and sampling strategy applied with higher tiers in order tailor the exposure assessment to the specific materials used and workplace exposure scenarios and to reduce uncertainty in assessment of exposure. Assessment of consumer exposure and of releases from end-of-life processes currently relies on release testing of nano-enabled products in laboratory settings.

Human capital, innovation, and climate policy: An integrated assessment

OpenAIRE

Carraro, Carlo; De Cian, Enrica; Tavoni, Massimo

2012-01-01

This paper looks at the interplay between human capital and innovation in the presence of climate and educational policies. Using recent empirical estimates, human capital and general purpose R&D are introduced in an integrated assessment model that has been extensively applied to study the climate change mitigation. Our results suggest that climate policy stimulates general purpose as well as clean energy R&D but reduces the incentive to invest in human capital formation. Human capital incre...

Incorporating Human Interindividual Biotransformation Variance in Health Risk Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

The protection of sensitive individuals within a population dictates that measures other than central tendencies be employed to estimate risk. The refinement of human health risk assessments for chemicals metabolized by the liver to reflect data on human variability can be accom...

Researching Human Experience: video intervention/prevention assessment (VIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer Patashnick

2005-05-01

Full Text Available Human experience is a critical subject for research. By discussing Video Intervention/Prevention Assessment (VIA, a patient-centered health research method where patients teach their clinicians about living with a chronic condition through the creation of visual illness narratives, this paper examines the value of qualitative inquiry and why human experience rarely is investigated directly. An analysis of a sample VIA data is presented to demonstrate how, by utilizing grounded theory and qualitative analysis, one can derive rich and unique information from human experience.

Assessing Human Judgment of Computationally Generated Swarming Behavior

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Harvey

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Computer-based swarm systems, aiming to replicate the flocking behavior of birds, were first introduced by Reynolds in 1987. In his initial work, Reynolds noted that while it was difficult to quantify the dynamics of the behavior from the model, observers of his model immediately recognized them as a representation of a natural flock. Considerable analysis has been conducted since then on quantifying the dynamics of flocking/swarming behavior. However, no systematic analysis has been conducted on human identification of swarming. In this paper, we assess subjects’ assessment of the behavior of a simplified version of Reynolds’ model. Factors that affect the identification of swarming are discussed and future applications of the resulting models are proposed. Differences in decision times for swarming-related questions asked during the study indicate that different brain mechanisms may be involved in different elements of the behavior assessment task. The relatively simple but finely tunable model used in this study provides a useful methodology for assessing individual human judgment of swarming behavior.

Non-human biota dose assessment. Sensitivity analysis and knowledge quality assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, K.; Robinson, C.; Jackson, D.; La Cruz, I. de; Zinger, I.; Avila, R.

2010-10-01

This report provides a summary of a programme of work, commissioned within the BIOPROTA collaborative forum, to assess the quantitative and qualitative elements of uncertainty associated with biota dose assessment of potential impacts of long-term releases from geological disposal facilities (GDF). Quantitative and qualitative aspects of uncertainty were determined through sensitivity and knowledge quality assessments, respectively. Both assessments focused on default assessment parameters within the ERICA assessment approach. The sensitivity analysis was conducted within the EIKOS sensitivity analysis software tool and was run in both generic and test case modes. The knowledge quality assessment involved development of a questionnaire around the ERICA assessment approach, which was distributed to a range of experts in the fields of non-human biota dose assessment and radioactive waste disposal assessments. Combined, these assessments enabled critical model features and parameters that are both sensitive (i.e. have a large influence on model output) and of low knowledge quality to be identified for each of the three test cases. The output of this project is intended to provide information on those parameters that may need to be considered in more detail for prospective site-specific biota dose assessments for GDFs. Such information should help users to enhance the quality of their assessments and build greater confidence in the results. (orig.)

Quantification of human reliability in probabilistic safety assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirschberg, S.; Dankg, Vinh N.

1996-01-01

Human performance may substantially influence the reliability and safety of complex technical systems. For this reason, Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) constitutes an important part of Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSAs) or Quantitative Risk Analyses (QRAs). The results of these studies as well as analyses of past accidents and incidents clearly demonstrate the importance of human interactions. The contribution of human errors to the core damage frequency (CDF), as estimated in the Swedish nuclear PSAs, are between 15 and 88%. A survey of the FRAs in the Swiss PSAs shows that also for the Swiss nuclear power plants the estimated HE contributions are substantial (49% of the CDF due to internal events in the case of Beznau and 70% in the case of Muehleberg; for the total CDF, including external events, 25% respectively 20%). Similar results can be extracted from the PSAs carried out for French, German, and US plants. In PSAs or QRAs, the adequate treatment of the human interactions with the system is a key to the understanding of accident sequences and their relative importance to overall risk. The main objectives of HRA are: first, to ensure that the key human interactions are systematically identified and incorporated into the safety analysis in a traceable manner, and second, to quantify the probabilities of their success and failure. Adopting a structured and systematic approach to the assessment of human performance makes it possible to provide greater confidence that the safety and availability of human-machine systems is not unduly jeopardized by human performance problems. Section 2 discusses the different types of human interactions analysed in PSAs. More generally, the section presents how HRA fits in the overall safety analysis, that is, how the human interactions to be quantified are identified. Section 3 addresses the methods for quantification. Section 4 concludes the paper by presenting some recommendations and pointing out the limitations of the

Development of concepts for human labour accounting in Emergy Assessment and other Environmental Sustainability Assessment methods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kamp, Andreas; Morandi, Fabiana; Østergård, Hanne

2016-01-01

of labour intensive processes and a systematic underestimation of environmental impacts has implications for decision-making. A brief review of the evaluation of human labour in ESAs reveals that only Emergy Assessment (EmA) accounts for labour as standard. Focussing on EmA, we find, however......Human labour is central to the functioning of any human-influenced process. Nevertheless, Environmental Sustainability Assessments (ESAs) do not systematically include human labour as an input. Systematic omission of labour inputs in ESAs may constitute an unfortunate, significant bias in favour......, that there is no agreement on the calculation method for labour. We formalise the calculation of human labour unit emergy values (UEVs) as being the ratio between the emergy resource basis of the labour system and a proxy for labour, with or without allocation to account for different qualities of labour. The formalised...

Priority setting for risk assessment-The benefit of human experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alonzo, Cristina; Laborde, Amalia

2005-01-01

The chemical risk assessment process plays an essential role in the potential human health risk evaluation. Setting priorities for this purpose is critical for better use of the available human and material resources. It has been generally accepted that all new chemicals require safety evaluation before manufacture and sale. This is a difficult task due to the large number of chemicals directly consumed by man, as well as those that are widely used. At present, more than 50% of chemicals do not have the minimum data requirements for risk assessment. Production and release volumes are well-established prioritization criteria, although volume itself does not directly reflect the likelihood of human exposure. This quantitative approach applied in setting priorities may be influenced by human experience. Human data provided by epidemiological investigations have been accepted as the most credible evidence for human toxicity although analytical studies are expensive and require long-term follow up. Unfortunately, some epidemiological studies continue to have difficulties with exposure documentation, controlling bias and confounding, and are not able to provide predictions of risk until humans are exposed. Clinical toxicology services and Poison Centres around the world accumulate a great amount of toxicological-related information that may contribute to the evidence-based medicine and research and so collaborate with all the risk assessment disciplines. The information obtained from these services and centers has the potential to prioritize existing chemical assessment processes or to influence scheduling of classes of chemicals. Prioritization process may be improved by evaluating Poisons Centres statistics about frequency of cases, severity of effects, detection of unusual circumstances of exposure, as well as vulnerable sub-populations. International efforts for the harmonization of these data offer a useful tool to take advantage of this global information. Case

Assessing human error during collecting a hydrocarbon sample of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper reports the assessment method of the hydrocarbon sample collection standard operation procedure (SOP) using THERP. The Performance Shaping Factors (PSF) from THERP analyzed and assessed the human errors during collecting a hydrocarbon sample of a petrochemical refinery plant. Twenty-two ...

Vulnerability assessment of atmospheric environment driven by human impacts.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yang; Shen, Jing; Ding, Feng; Li, Yu; He, Li

2016-11-15

Atmospheric environment quality worsening is a substantial threat to public health worldwide, and in many places, air pollution due to the intensification of the human activity is increasing dramatically. However, no studies have been investigated the integration of vulnerability assessment and atmospheric environment driven by human impacts. The objective of this study was to identify and prioritize the undesirable environmental changes as an early warning system for environment managers and decision makers in term of human, atmospheric environment, and social economic elements. We conduct a vulnerability assessment method of atmospheric environment associated with human impact, this method integrates spatial context of Geographic Information System (GIS) tool, multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method, ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operators under the Exposure-Sensitivity- Adaptive Capacity (ESA) framework. Decision makers can find out relevant vulnerability assessment results with different vulnerable attitudes. In the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region, China, we further applied this developed method and proved it to be reliable and consistent with the China Environmental Status Bulletin. Results indicate that the vulnerability of atmospheric environment in the BTH region is not optimistic, and environment managers should do more about air pollution. Thus, the most appropriate strategic decision and development program of city or state can be picked out assisting by the vulnerable results. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Assessing human health risk in the USDA forest service

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hamel, D.R. [Department of Agriculture-Forest Service, Washington, DC (United States)

1990-12-31

This paper identifies the kinds of risk assessments being done by or for the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service. Summaries of data sources currently in use and the pesticide risk assessments completed by the agency or its contractors are discussed. An overview is provided of the agency`s standard operating procedures for the conduct of toxicological, ecological, environmental fate, and human health risk assessments.

Human-robot interaction assessment using dynamic engagement profiles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Drimus, Alin; Poltorak, Nicole

2017-01-01

-1] interval, where 0 represents disengaged and 1 fully engaged. The network shows a good accuracy at recognizing the engagement state of humans given positive emotions. A time based analysis of interaction experiments between small humanoid robots and humans provides time series of engagement estimates, which...... and is applicable to humanoid robotics as well as other related contexts.......This paper addresses the use of convolutional neural networks for image analysis resulting in an engagement metric that can be used to assess the quality of human robot interactions. We propose a method based on a pretrained convolutional network able to map emotions onto a continuous [0...

Assessment of the Human Environment 2012; Balans van de Leefomgeving 2012

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dassen, T.; Van Veen, M. (eds.)

2012-09-15

The Assessment of the Human Environment evaluates the extent to which policy objectives, as set by the Dutch Cabinet, are being met in the fields that concern the human environment (the environment, nature and space). The human environment is determined by local surroundings and accessibility of the workplace, as well as by more abstract or globally felt factors, such as climate change and the use of natural resources, such as land, water and fertilisers for food production. Although these factors together form the physical human environment, they do not add up to a single quality standard for the human environment. The issues that provide the concept of the human environment with concrete, relevant meaning are all separate, such as the quality of the local surroundings or global climate change. These findings present the most prominent developments in relation to the status of the various factors that determine the quality of the human environment, and compare these with government objectives for the policy areas. In areas where objectives are unlikely to be achieved, suggestions for policy improvements have been provided. Developments around all environmental, nature and spatial objectives can be found in the digital assessment - the website that accompanies this Assessment of the Human Assessment of the Human Environment 2012 (www.pbl.nl/balans2012; in Dutch) [Dutch] Deze Balans is een ex-durante evaluatie van het nationale beleid voor milieu, natuur, water en ruimte. In de Balans evalueert het PBL tweejaarlijks de effecten van het huidige vastgestelde en voorgenomen beleid. Dit keer inclusief de afspraken in het Lenteakkoord voor zover die voldoende concreet zijn uitgewerkt. De evaluatie is geordend rond zes thema's of maatschappelijke handelingssystemen waarin overheden, maatschappelijke partijen en burgers bij het nastreven van hun diverse doelen, van elkaar afhankelijk zijn: energie, voedsel, landelijk gebied, water, bereikbaarheid en het stedelijk

Assessment of the Human Environment 2012; Balans van de Leefomgeving 2012

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dassen, T.; Van Veen, M. [eds.

2012-09-15

The Assessment of the Human Environment evaluates the extent to which policy objectives, as set by the Dutch Cabinet, are being met in the fields that concern the human environment (the environment, nature and space). The human environment is determined by local surroundings and accessibility of the workplace, as well as by more abstract or globally felt factors, such as climate change and the use of natural resources, such as land, water and fertilisers for food production. Although these factors together form the physical human environment, they do not add up to a single quality standard for the human environment. The issues that provide the concept of the human environment with concrete, relevant meaning are all separate, such as the quality of the local surroundings or global climate change. These findings present the most prominent developments in relation to the status of the various factors that determine the quality of the human environment, and compare these with government objectives for the policy areas. In areas where objectives are unlikely to be achieved, suggestions for policy improvements have been provided. Developments around all environmental, nature and spatial objectives can be found in the digital assessment - the website that accompanies this Assessment of the Human Assessment of the Human Environment 2012 (www.pbl.nl/balans2012; in Dutch) [Dutch] Deze Balans is een ex-durante evaluatie van het nationale beleid voor milieu, natuur, water en ruimte. In de Balans evalueert het PBL tweejaarlijks de effecten van het huidige vastgestelde en voorgenomen beleid. Dit keer inclusief de afspraken in het Lenteakkoord voor zover die voldoende concreet zijn uitgewerkt. De evaluatie is geordend rond zes thema's of maatschappelijke handelingssystemen waarin overheden, maatschappelijke partijen en burgers bij het nastreven van hun diverse doelen, van elkaar afhankelijk zijn: energie, voedsel, landelijk gebied, water, bereikbaarheid en het stedelijk gebied

The Development of Marine Accidents Human Reliability Assessment Approach: HEART Methodology and MOP Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ludfi Pratiwi Bowo

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Humans are one of the important factors in the assessment of accidents, particularly marine accidents. Hence, studies are conducted to assess the contribution of human factors in accidents. There are two generations of Human Reliability Assessment (HRA that have been developed. Those methodologies are classified by the differences of viewpoints of problem-solving, as the first generation and second generation. The accident analysis can be determined using three techniques of analysis; sequential techniques, epidemiological techniques and systemic techniques, where the marine accidents are included in the epidemiological technique. This study compares the Human Error Assessment and Reduction Technique (HEART methodology and the 4M Overturned Pyramid (MOP model, which are applied to assess marine accidents. Furthermore, the MOP model can effectively describe the relationships of other factors which affect the accidents; whereas, the HEART methodology is only focused on human factors.

Establishing the Appropriate Attributes in Current Human Reliability Assessment Techniques for Nuclear Safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bowie, Jane; Munley, Gary; Dang, Vinh; Wreathall, John; Bye, Andreas; Cooper, Susan; Marble, Julie; Peters, Sean; Xing, Jing; Fauchille, Veronique; Fiset, Jean Yves; Haage, Monica; Johanson, Gunnar; Jung, Won Dae; Kim, Jaewhan; Lee, Seung Jung; Kubicek, Jan; Le Bot, Pierre; Pesme, Helene; Preischl, Wolfgang; Salway, Alice; Amri, Abdallah; Lamarre, Greg; White, Andrew; )

2015-03-01

This report presents the results of a joint task of the Working Groups on Risk Assessment (WGRISK) and on Human and Organisational Factors (WGHOF) of the OECD/NEA CSNI, to identify desirable attributes of Human Reliability Assessment (HRA) methods, and to evaluate a range of HRA methods used in OECD member countries against those attributes. The purpose of this project is to provide information that will support regulators and operators of nuclear facilities when making judgements about the appropriateness of HRA methods for conducting assessments in support of Probabilistic Safety Assessments (PSA). The task was performed by an international team of Human Factors, HRA and PSA experts from a broad range of OECD member countries. As in other reviews of HRA methods, the study did not set out to recommend or promote the use of any particular HRA method. Rather the study aims to identify the strengths and limitations of commonly used and developing methods to aid those responsible for production of HRAs in selecting appropriate tools for specific HRA applications. The study also aims to assist regulators when making judgements on the appropriateness of the application of an HRA technique within nuclear-related probabilistic safety assessments. The report is aimed at practitioners in the field of human reliability assessment, human factors, and risk assessment more generally

An Environmental Risk Assessment for Human-Use Trimethoprim in European Surface Waters

OpenAIRE

Straub, J?rg Oliver

2013-01-01

An environmental risk assessment (ERA) for the aquatic compartment in Europe from human use was developed for the old antibiotic Trimethoprim (TMP), comparing exposure and effects. The exposure assessment is based on European risk assessment default values on one hand and is refined with documented human use figures in Western Europe from IMS Health and measured removal in wastewater treatment on the other. The resulting predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) are compared with measured...

Human Exposure Assessment for Air Pollution.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Bin; Hu, Li-Wen; Bai, Zhipeng

2017-01-01

Assessment of human exposure to air pollution is a fundamental part of the more general process of health risk assessment. The measurement methods for exposure assessment now include personal exposure monitoring, indoor-outdoor sampling, mobile monitoring, and exposure assessment modeling (such as proximity models, interpolation model, air dispersion models, and land-use regression (LUR) models). Among these methods, personal exposure measurement is considered to be the most accurate method of pollutant exposure assessment until now, since it can better quantify observed differences and better reflect exposure among smaller groups of people at ground level. And since the great differences of geographical environment, source distribution, pollution characteristics, economic conditions, and living habits, there is a wide range of differences between indoor, outdoor, and individual air pollution exposure in different regions of China. In general, the indoor particles in most Chinese families comprise infiltrated outdoor particles, particles generated indoors, and a few secondary organic aerosol particles, and in most cases, outdoor particle pollution concentrations are a major contributor to indoor concentrations in China. Furthermore, since the time, energy, and expense are limited, it is difficult to measure the concentration of pollutants for each individual. In recent years, obtaining the concentration of air pollutants by using a variety of exposure assessment models is becoming a main method which could solve the problem of the increasing number of individuals in epidemiology studies.

Human Reliability Assessments: Using the Past (Shuttle) to Predict the Future (Orion)

Science.gov (United States)

DeMott, Diana L.; Bigler, Mark A.

2017-01-01

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Johnson Space Center (JSC) Safety and Mission Assurance (S&MA) uses two human reliability analysis (HRA) methodologies. The first is a simplified method which is based on how much time is available to complete the action, with consideration included for environmental and personal factors that could influence the human's reliability. This method is expected to provide a conservative value or placeholder as a preliminary estimate. This preliminary estimate or screening value is used to determine which placeholder needs a more detailed assessment. The second methodology is used to develop a more detailed human reliability assessment on the performance of critical human actions. This assessment needs to consider more than the time available, this would include factors such as: the importance of the action, the context, environmental factors, potential human stresses, previous experience, training, physical design interfaces, available procedures/checklists and internal human stresses. The more detailed assessment is expected to be more realistic than that based primarily on time available. When performing an HRA on a system or process that has an operational history, we have information specific to the task based on this history and experience. In the case of a Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) that is based on a new design and has no operational history, providing a "reasonable" assessment of potential crew actions becomes more challenging. To determine what is expected of future operational parameters, the experience from individuals who had relevant experience and were familiar with the system and process previously implemented by NASA was used to provide the "best" available data. Personnel from Flight Operations, Flight Directors, Launch Test Directors, Control Room Console Operators, and Astronauts were all interviewed to provide a comprehensive picture of previous NASA operations. Verification of the

The Development of Marine Accidents Human Reliability Assessment Approach: HEART Methodology and MOP Model

OpenAIRE

Ludfi Pratiwi Bowo; Wanginingastuti Mutmainnah; Masao Furusho

2017-01-01

Humans are one of the important factors in the assessment of accidents, particularly marine accidents. Hence, studies are conducted to assess the contribution of human factors in accidents. There are two generations of Human Reliability Assessment (HRA) that have been developed. Those methodologies are classified by the differences of viewpoints of problem-solving, as the first generation and second generation. The accident analysis can be determined using three techniques of analysis; sequen...

Role of the Office International des Epizooties in protecting the health of free-ranging mammals.

Science.gov (United States)

Blancou, J

1992-12-01

The various activities undertaken by the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) since 1924 to protect the helth of free-ranging mammals are outlined and discussed. Two types of activity have been conducted over the years: --The first type promotes measures to protect the health of free-ranging mammals in order to safeguard the health of domestic animals and human beings. These measures have prevented the propagation of the highly contagious diseases of animals and the more serious zoonoses. --The second type aims at protecting the health of free-ranging mammals in order to maintain the fauna and the natural equilibrium. Ecological and epidemiological studies are promoted with a view to effective management of wildlife populations and overcoming the associated health risks. By virtue of its close contacts with officials in charge of animal health in 126 Member Countries, the OIE has made a noteworthy contribution to the protection of populations of free-ranging mammals.

Multi-frequency bioimpedance in human muscle assessment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bartels, Else Marie; Sørensen, Emma Rudbæk; Harrison, Adrian Paul

2015-01-01

Bioimpedance analysis (BIA) is a well-known and tested method for body mass and muscular health assessment. Multi-frequency BIA (mfBIA) equipment now makes it possible to assess a particular muscle as a whole, as well as looking at a muscle at the fiber level. The aim of this study was to test...... healthy human control subjects and three selected cases were examined to demonstrate the extent to which this method may be used clinically, and in relation to training in sport. The electrode setup is shown to affect the mfBIA parameters recorded. Our recommendation is the use of noble metal electrodes......, contracted state, and cell transport/metabolic activity, which relate to muscle performance. Our findings indicate that mfBIA provides a noninvasive, easily measurable and very precise momentary assessment of skeletal muscles....

Development of a Device for Objective Assessment of Tinnitus in Humans

Science.gov (United States)

2017-10-01

AWARD NUMBER: W81XWH-14-2-0180 TITLE: Development of a Device for Objective Assessment of Tinnitus in Humans PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Jeremy G...SUBTITLE Development of a Device for Objective Assessment of Tinnitus in Humans 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER W81XWH-14-2-0180 5c. PROGRAM...briefly (one paragraph) describes the subject, purpose and scope of the research. Tinnitus is the perception of sound in the ears or head when no

Technology assessment of human spaceflight - Combining philosophical and technical issues

Science.gov (United States)

Fromm, J.; Hoevelmann, G. H.

1992-08-01

A transutilitarian rationale is proposed for assessing human spaceflight that is based on objectives for these endeavors and ethical norms of conduct. Specific attention is given to: presupposed/tacit reasons for including man in spaceflight and the restricted notion of rational/justifiable activity. It is shown that economic rationale is insufficient and unsuitable as a means for assessing manned spaceflight, and transutilitarian objectives are compiled that contribute to the motivation for manned flight. The transutilitarian motivations include: pioneering uncharted territory, enhancing national prestige, establishing space-related autonomy, promoting international cooperation, and enhancing science and the quality of human life.

Understanding Arts and Humanities Students' Experiences of Assessment and Feedback

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Joelle; McNab, Nicole

2013-01-01

This article examines how undergraduate students on arts and humanities courses experience assessment and feedback. The research uses a detailed audit, a specially devised questionnaire (the Assessment Experience Questionnaire), and student focus group data, and the article examines results from 19 programmes, comparing those from "arts and…

A model for assessing human cognitive reliability in PRA studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hannaman, G.W.; Spurgin, A.J.; Lukic, Y.

1985-01-01

This paper summarizes the status of a research project sponsored by EPRI as part of the Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) technology improvement program and conducted by NUS Corporation to develop a model of Human Cognitive Reliability (HCR). The model was synthesized from features identified in a review of existing models. The model development was based on the hypothesis that the key factors affecting crew response times are separable. The inputs to the model consist of key parameters the values of which can be determined by PRA analysts for each accident situation being assessed. The output is a set of curves which represent the probability of control room crew non-response as a function of time for different conditions affecting their performance. The non-response probability is then a contributor to the overall non-success of operating crews to achieve a functional objective identified in the PRA study. Simulator data and some small scale tests were utilized to illustrate the calibration of interim HCR model coefficients for different types of cognitive processing since the data were sparse. The model can potentially help PRA analysts make human reliability assessments more explicit. The model incorporates concepts from psychological models of human cognitive behavior, information from current collections of human reliability data sources and crew response time data from simulator training exercises

Assessment of human impacts on landuse and vegetation cover ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Assessment of human impacts on landuse and vegetation cover changes in Mubi region, Adamawa state, Nigeria; remote sensing and GIS approach. ... Global Journal of Environmental Sciences. Journal Home · ABOUT THIS JOURNAL ...

A Model-based Framework for Risk Assessment in Human-Computer Controlled Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Hatanaka, Iwao

2000-01-01

The rapid growth of computer technology and innovation has played a significant role in the rise of computer automation of human tasks in modem production systems across all industries. Although the rationale for automation has been to eliminate "human error" or to relieve humans from manual repetitive tasks, various computer-related hazards and accidents have emerged as a direct result of increased system complexity attributed to computer automation. The risk assessment techniques utilized for electromechanical systems are not suitable for today's software-intensive systems or complex human-computer controlled systems. This thesis will propose a new systemic model-based framework for analyzing risk in safety-critical systems where both computers and humans are controlling safety-critical functions. A new systems accident model will be developed based upon modem systems theory and human cognitive processes to better characterize system accidents, the role of human operators, and the influence of software in its direct control of significant system functions. Better risk assessments will then be achievable through the application of this new framework to complex human-computer controlled systems.

Final report to Halifax Harbour Cleanup Inc. on human health risk assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1993-12-31

This assessment evaluates the potential of the proposed Halifax Harbor primary sewage treatment plant to meet the objective of the protection and improvement of human health. The assessment was made of a plant which would include an outfall within the inner harbor and a series of outlets designed to handle high flow conditions due to storm events. The assessment focuses on the potential human health effects of microbiological pathogenic organisms, chemical elements, and chemical compounds for three principal uses of the harbor: recreational use in which people have direct contact with the water; consumption of shellfish; and consumption of lobster. The assessment includes hazard characterization, exposure assessment, dose-response assessment, risk characterization, a discussion of the assumptions used and their implications, and a prediction of the sewage treatment facility performance.

Safety assessment of human and organizational factors in French fuel cycle facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Menuet, Lise; Beauquier, Sophie

2013-01-01

According to the French law, each nuclear facility has to provide a safety demonstration every ten years. The assessment of this demonstration supports the decision of the French Safety Authority regarding the authorisation of operating for the ten years to come. In addition, transversal topics, which are linked with safety performance, such as safety management, management of competencies, maintenance's policy are periodically evaluated. One aspect of these assessments relates to Human and Organizational Factors (HOF) and their contribution to safety. Our communication will describe the assessment of the HOF-related part, performed by the Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety Institute (IRSN) the Technical Support Organisation of the French Safety Authority). It will focus on the methodological framework, the tools which are developed and used for assessing the integration of HOF in safety demonstration, and the main difficulties of this kind of assessment. Each situation will be illustrated by concrete examples coming from safety assessments concerning fuel cycle's plants: Areva's plants dedicated to uranium conversion, uranium enrichment, fuel manufacturing, spent fuel reprocessing, treatment facilities and CEA's laboratories dedicated to research and development and to interim spent fuel storage. The methodological framework for assessing HOF currently implements three main steps which will be precisely described: - checking that the nuclear plant has made an exhaustive analysis of the risks linked with HOF. Regarding to HOF, the Licensee safety demonstration is based on the description of the main human activities which are considered as hazardous regarding safety. These activities are accomplished with a human contribution and they require a safe realisation. - assessing the human, organisational and technical barriers that the nuclear plant have planed in order to make the operations safe, to avoid, prevent or detect an

Generic Assessment Criteria for human health risk assessment of potentially contaminated land in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Yuanyuan; Nathanail, Paul C

2009-12-20

Generic Assessment Criteria (GAC) are derived using widely applicable assumptions about the characteristics and behaviour of contaminant sources, pathways and receptors. GAC provide nationally consistent guidance, thereby saving money and time. Currently, there are no human health based Generic Assessment Criteria (GAC) for contaminated sites in China. Protection of human health is therefore difficult to ensure and demonstrate; and the lack of GAC makes it difficult to tell if there is potential significant risk to human health unless site-specific criteria are derived. This paper derived Chinese GAC (GAC) for five inorganic and eight organic substances for three regions in China for three land uses: urban residential without plant uptake, Chinese cultivated land, and commercial/industrial using the SNIFFER model. The SNIFFER model has been further implemented with a dermal absorption algorithm and the model default input values have been changed to reflect the Chinese exposure scenarios. It is envisaged that the modified SNIFFER model could be used to derive GAC for more contaminants, more Regions, and more land uses. Further research to enhance the reliability and acceptability of the GAC is needed in regional/national surveys in diet and working patterns.

Qualitative and quantitative methods for human factor analysis and assessment in NPP. Investigations and results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hristova, R.; Kalchev, B.; Atanasov, D.

2005-01-01

We consider here two basic groups of methods for analysis and assessment of the human factor in the NPP area and give some results from performed analyses as well. The human factor is the human interaction with the design equipment, with the working environment and takes into account the human capabilities and limits. In the frame of the qualitative methods for analysis of the human factor are considered concepts and structural methods for classifying of the information, connected with the human factor. Emphasize is given to the HPES method for human factor analysis in NPP. Methods for quantitative assessment of the human reliability are considered. These methods allow assigning of probabilities to the elements of the already structured information about human performance. This part includes overview of classical methods for human reliability assessment (HRA, THERP), and methods taking into account specific information about human capabilities and limits and about the man-machine interface (CHR, HEART, ATHEANA). Quantitative and qualitative results concerning human factor influence in the initiating events occurrences in the Kozloduy NPP are presented. (authors)

Elements of a regulatory strategy for the consideration of future human actions in safety assessments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilmot, R.D.; Wickham, S.M.; Galson, D.A.

1999-09-01

The objective of this report is to discuss issues that should be considered in the development of a regulatory strategy for assessing future human actions in any forthcoming license application for a deep repository for spent fuel in Sweden and for sites of other repositories. The report comprises an outline of key issues concerning the treatment of future human actions in safety assessment, reviews of regulatory developments, recent safety assessments and supporting studies, and international initiatives on the treatment of future human actions in safety assessment, and the principal elements of a regulatory strategy. Performance assessments (PAs) are generally accepted as providing illustrations of system performance under given sets of assumptions. The results of PAs are clearer and easier to understand if certain large uncertainties are accounted for by determining performance under several different sets of assumptions or scenarios, each of which defines a possible evolution of the disposal system. A number of assumptions can be made that would restrict the scope of an assessment without reducing the credibility of the corresponding safety case. Reducing speculation about technological development, by assuming that the techniques used in future human activities are similar to those currently in use in the region or at similar sites, will simplify the assessment. A distinction is generally made between inadvertent and intentional intrusion, with intentional activities excluded because society cannot protect future populations from their own actions if they understand the potential consequences. A division of human activities into 'recent and ongoing' and 'future' activities considers not only the timing of the activities but also the degree of control or influence that can be imposed on them. Recent and ongoing human activities are those that affect an area beyond the immediate vicinity of the disposal facility and which neither the proponent nor the regulator

Use of human patient simulation and the situation awareness global assessment technique in practical trauma skills assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Hogan, Michael P; Pace, David E; Hapgood, Joanne; Boone, Darrell C

2006-11-01

Situation awareness (SA) is defined as the perception of elements in the environment within a volume of time and space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their status in the near future. This construct is vital to decision making in intense, dynamic environments. It has been used in aviation as it relates to pilot performance, but has not been applied to medical education. The most widely used objective tool for measuring trainee SA is the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAT). The purpose of this study was to design and validate SAGAT for assessment of practical trauma skills, and to compare SAGAT results to traditional checklist style scoring. Using the Human Patient Simulator, we designed SAGAT for practical trauma skills assessment based on Advanced Trauma Life Support objectives. Sixteen subjects (four staff surgeons, four senior residents, four junior residents, and four medical students) participated in three scenarios each. They were assessed using SAGAT and traditional checklist assessment. A questionnaire was used to assess possible confounding factors in attaining SA and overall trainee satisfaction. SAGAT was found to show significant difference (analysis of variance; p level of training lending statistical support to construct validity. SAGAT was likewise found to display reliability (Cronbach's alpha 0.767), and significant scoring correlation with traditional checklist performance measures (Pearson's coefficient 0.806). The questionnaire revealed no confounding factors and universal satisfaction with the human patient simulator and SAGAT. SAGAT is a valid, reliable assessment tool for trauma trainees in the dynamic clinical environment created by human patient simulation. Information provided by SAGAT could provide specific feedback, direct individualized teaching, and support curriculum change. Introduction of SAGAT could improve the current assessment model for practical trauma education.

Critical elements for human health risk assessment of less than lifetime exposures.

Science.gov (United States)

Geraets, Liesbeth; Nijkamp, Monique M; Ter Burg, Wouter

2016-11-01

Less than lifetime exposure has confronted risk assessors as to how to interpret the risks for human health in case a chronic health-based limit is exceeded. Intermittent, fluctuating and peak exposures do not match with the basis of the chronic limit values possibly leading to conservative outcomes. This paper presents guidance on how to deal with human risk assessment of less than lifetime exposure. Important steps to be considered are characterization of the human exposure situation, evaluation whether the human less than lifetime exposure scenario corresponds to a non-chronic internal exposure: toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic considerations, and, finally, re-evaluation of the risk assessment. Critical elements for these steps are the mode of action, Haber's rule, and toxicokinetics (ADME) amongst others. Previous work for the endpoints non-genotoxic carcinogenicity and developmental toxicity is included in the guidance. The guidance provides a way to consider the critical elements, without setting default factors to correct for the less than lifetime exposure in risk assessment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessing the Impacts of Forests on Human Welfare: Prelimnary Results from the Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessement

Science.gov (United States)

D. Evan Mercer; P.B. Aruna

2000-01-01

Abstract. This paper presents results from the first phase of the socio-economic assessment of forest ecosystems in the Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment (MAIA). First, we present results of the analysis of changes in the distribution of human population and forest land use in the region. Then, trends in wood products employment and income between...

Evaluation of 3D-human skin equivalents for assessment of human dermal absorption of some brominated flame retardants.

Science.gov (United States)

Abdallah, Mohamed Abou-Elwafa; Pawar, Gopal; Harrad, Stuart

2015-11-01

Ethical and technical difficulties inherent to studies in human tissues are impeding assessment of the dermal bioavailability of brominated flame retardants (BFRs). This is further complicated by increasing restrictions on the use of animals in toxicity testing, and the uncertainties associated with extrapolating data from animal studies to humans due to inter-species variations. To overcome these difficulties, we evaluate 3D-human skin equivalents (3D-HSE) as a novel in vitro alternative to human and animal testing for assessment of dermal absorption of BFRs. The percutaneous penetration of hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCD) and tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBP-A) through two commercially available 3D-HSE models was studied and compared to data obtained for human ex vivo skin according to a standard protocol. No statistically significant differences were observed between the results obtained using 3D-HSE and human ex vivo skin at two exposure levels. The absorbed dose was low (less than 7%) and was significantly correlated with log Kow of the tested BFR. Permeability coefficient values showed increasing dermal resistance to the penetration of γ-HBCD>β-HBCD>α-HBCD>TBBPA. The estimated long lag times (>30 min) suggests that frequent hand washing may reduce human exposure to HBCDs and TBBPA via dermal contact. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Human performance assessment: methods and measures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andresen, Gisle; Droeivoldsmo, Asgeir

2000-10-01

The Human Error Analysis Project (HEAP) was initiated in 1994. The aim of the project was to acquire insights on how and why cognitive errors occur when operators are engaged in problem solving in advanced integrated control rooms. Since human error had not been studied in the HAlden Man-Machine LABoratory (HAMMLAB) before, it was also necessary to carry out research in methodology. In retrospect, it is clear that much of the methodological work is relevant to human-machine research in general, and not only to research on human error. The purpose of this report is, therefore, to give practitioners and researchers an overview of the methodological parts of HEAP. The scope of the report is limited to methods used throughout the data acquisition process, i.e., data-collection methods, data-refinement methods, and measurement methods. The data-collection methods include various types of verbal protocols, simulator logs, questionnaires, and interviews. Data-refinement methods involve different applications of the Eyecon system, a flexible data-refinement tool, and small computer programs used for rearranging, reformatting, and aggregating raw-data. Measurement methods involve assessment of diagnostic behaviour, erroneous actions, complexity, task/system performance, situation awareness, and workload. The report concludes that the data-collection methods are generally both reliable and efficient. The data-refinement methods, however, should be easier to use in order to facilitate explorative analyses. Although the series of experiments provided an opportunity for measurement validation, there are still uncertainties connected to several measures, due to their reliability still being unknown. (Author). 58 refs.,7 tabs

Approach for Assessing Human Intrusion into a Radwaste Repository

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cho, Dong Keun; Kim, Jung Woo; Jeong, Jong Tae; Baik, Min Hoon

2016-01-01

An approach to assess human intrusion into radwaste repository resulting from future human actions was proposed based on the common principals, requirements, and recommendations from IAEA, ICRP, and OECD/NEA, with the assumption that the intrusion occurs after loss of knowledge of the hazardous nature of the disposal facility. At first, the essential boundary conditions were derived on the basis of international recommendations, followed by overall approach to deal with inadvertent human intrusion. The essential premises were derived on the basis of international recommendations, followed by overall approach to deal with inadvertent human intrusion. The procedure to derive protective measures was also explained with four steps regarding how to derive safety framework, general measures, potential measures, and eventual protective measures on the basis of stylized scenarios. It is expected that the approach proposed in this study will be effectively used to reduce the potential for and/or consequence of human intrusion during entire processes of realization of disposal facility.

Integrating human behaviour dynamics into flood disaster risk assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Aerts, J. C. J. H.; Botzen, W. J.; Clarke, K. C.; Cutter, S. L.; Hall, J. W.; Merz, B.; Michel-Kerjan, E.; Mysiak, J.; Surminski, S.; Kunreuther, H.

2018-03-01

The behaviour of individuals, businesses, and government entities before, during, and immediately after a disaster can dramatically affect the impact and recovery time. However, existing risk-assessment methods rarely include this critical factor. In this Perspective, we show why this is a concern, and demonstrate that although initial efforts have inevitably represented human behaviour in limited terms, innovations in flood-risk assessment that integrate societal behaviour and behavioural adaptation dynamics into such quantifications may lead to more accurate characterization of risks and improved assessment of the effectiveness of risk-management strategies and investments. Such multidisciplinary approaches can inform flood-risk management policy development.

Assessing human exposure risk to cadmium through inhalation and seafood consumption

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ju, Yun-Ru; Chen, Wei-Yu; Liao, Chung-Min

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Trophically available fraction in seafood and bioaccessibility is linked. ► Human health risk to Cd can via inhalation and seafood consumption. ► Female had the higher Cd accumulation in urine and blood than male. ► Cigarette smoking is a major determinant of human Cd intake. - Abstract: The role of cadmium (Cd) bioaccessibility in risk assessment is less well studied. The aim of this study was to assess human health risk to Cd through inhalation and seafood consumption by incorporating bioaccessibility. The relationships between trophically available Cd and bioaccessibility were constructed based on available experimental data. We estimated Cd concentrations in human urine and blood via daily intake from seafood consumption and inhalation based on a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model. A Hill-based dose–response model was used to assess human renal dysfunction and peripheral arterial disease risks for long-term Cd exposure. Here we showed that fish had higher bioaccessibility (∼83.7%) than that of shellfish (∼73.2%) for human ingestion. Our results indicated that glomerular and tubular damage among different genders and smokers ranged from 18.03 to 18.18%. Our analysis showed that nonsmokers had 50% probability of peripheral arterial disease level exceeding from 3.28 to 8.80%. Smoking populations had 2–3 folds higher morbidity risk of peripheral arterial disease than those of nonsmokers. Our study concluded that the adverse effects of Cd exposure are exacerbated when high seafood consumption coincides with cigarette smoking. Our work provides a framework that could more accurately address risk dose dependency of Cd hazard.

Global assessment of human losses due to earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, Vitor; Jaiswal, Kishor; Weatherill, Graeme; Crowley, Helen

2014-01-01

Current studies have demonstrated a sharp increase in human losses due to earthquakes. These alarming levels of casualties suggest the need for large-scale investment in seismic risk mitigation, which, in turn, requires an adequate understanding of the extent of the losses, and location of the most affected regions. Recent developments in global and uniform datasets such as instrumental and historical earthquake catalogues, population spatial distribution and country-based vulnerability functions, have opened an unprecedented possibility for a reliable assessment of earthquake consequences at a global scale. In this study, a uniform probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA) model was employed to derive a set of global seismic hazard curves, using the open-source software OpenQuake for seismic hazard and risk analysis. These results were combined with a collection of empirical fatality vulnerability functions and a population dataset to calculate average annual human losses at the country level. The results from this study highlight the regions/countries in the world with a higher seismic risk, and thus where risk reduction measures should be prioritized.

Human error data collection as a precursor to the development of a human reliability assessment capability in air traffic management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kirwan, Barry; Gibson, W. Huw; Hickling, Brian

2008-01-01

Quantified risk and safety assessments are now required for safety cases for European air traffic management (ATM) services. Since ATM is highly human-dependent for its safety, this suggests a need for formal human reliability assessment (HRA), as carried out in other industries such as nuclear power. Since the fundamental aspect of HRA is human error data, in the form of human error probabilities (HEPs), it was decided to take a first step towards development of an ATM HRA approach by deriving some HEPs in an ATM context. This paper reports a study, which collected HEPs via analysing the results of a real-time simulation involving air traffic controllers (ATCOs) and pilots, with a focus on communication errors. This study did indeed derive HEPs that were found to be concordant with other known communication human error data. This is a first step, and shows promise for HRA in ATM, since HEPs have been derived which could be used in safety assessments, although these HEPs are for only one (albeit critical) aspect of ATCOs' tasks (communications). The paper discusses options and potential ways forward for the development of a full HRA capability in ATM

Human health risk assessment related to cyanotoxins exposure.

Science.gov (United States)

Funari, Enzo; Testai, Emanuela

2008-01-01

This review focuses on the risk assessment associated with human exposure to cyanotoxins, secondary metabolites of an ubiquitous group of photosynthetic procariota. Cyanobacteria occur especially in eutrophic inland and coastal surface waters, where under favorable conditions they attain high densities and may form blooms and scums. Cyanotoxins can be grouped according to their biological effects into hepatotoxins, neurotoxins, cytotoxins, and toxins with irritating potential, also acting on the gastrointestinal system. The chemical and toxicological properties of the main cyanotoxins, relevant for the evaluation of possible risks for human health, are presented. Humans may be exposed to cyanotoxins via several routes, with the oral one being by far the most important, occurring by ingesting contaminated drinking water, food, some dietary supplements, or water during recreational activities. Acute and short-term toxic effects have been associated in humans with exposure to high levels of cyanotoxins in drinking and bathing waters. However, the chronic exposure to low cyanotoxin levels remains a critical issue. This article identifies the actual risky exposure scenarios, provides toxicologically derived reference values, and discusses open issues and research needs.

Human Error Probability Assessment During Maintenance Activities of Marine Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rabiul Islam

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Background: Maintenance operations on-board ships are highly demanding. Maintenance operations are intensive activities requiring high man–machine interactions in challenging and evolving conditions. The evolving conditions are weather conditions, workplace temperature, ship motion, noise and vibration, and workload and stress. For example, extreme weather condition affects seafarers' performance, increasing the chances of error, and, consequently, can cause injuries or fatalities to personnel. An effective human error probability model is required to better manage maintenance on-board ships. The developed model would assist in developing and maintaining effective risk management protocols. Thus, the objective of this study is to develop a human error probability model considering various internal and external factors affecting seafarers' performance. Methods: The human error probability model is developed using probability theory applied to Bayesian network. The model is tested using the data received through the developed questionnaire survey of >200 experienced seafarers with >5 years of experience. The model developed in this study is used to find out the reliability of human performance on particular maintenance activities. Results: The developed methodology is tested on the maintenance of marine engine's cooling water pump for engine department and anchor windlass for deck department. In the considered case studies, human error probabilities are estimated in various scenarios and the results are compared between the scenarios and the different seafarer categories. The results of the case studies for both departments are also compared. Conclusion: The developed model is effective in assessing human error probabilities. These probabilities would get dynamically updated as and when new information is available on changes in either internal (i.e., training, experience, and fatigue or external (i.e., environmental and operational conditions

Safety culture' is integrating 'human' into risk assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sugimoto, Taiji

2014-01-01

Significance of Fukushima nuclear power accident requested reconsideration of safety standards, of which we had usually no doubt. Risk assessment standard (JIS B 9702), Which was used for repetition of database preparation and cumulative assessment, defined allowable risk and residual risk. However, work site and immediate assessment was indispensable beside such assessment so as to ensure safety. Risk of casualties was absolutely not acceptable in principle and judgments to approve allowable risk needed accountability, which was reminded by safety culture proposed by IAEA and also identified by investigation of organizational cause of Columbia accident. Actor of safety culture would be organization and individual, and mainly individual. Realization of safety culture was conducted by personnel having moral consciousness and firm sense of mission in the course of jobs and working daily with sweat pouring. Safety engineering/technology should have framework integrating human as such totality. (T. Tanaka)

Assessing Human Impacts on the Greater Akaki River, Ethiopia ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

We assessed the impacts of human activities on the Greater Akaki River using physicochemical parameters and macroinvertebrate metrics. Physicochemical samples and macroinvertebrates were collected bimonthly from eight sites established on the Greater Akaki River from February 2006 to April 2006. Eleven metrics ...

Human and animal health risk assessments of chemicals in the food chain: Comparative aspects and future perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dorne, J.L.C.M.; Fink-Gremmels, J.

2013-01-01

Chemicals from anthropogenic and natural origins enter animal feed, human food and water either as undesirable contaminants or as part of the components of a diet. Over the last five decades, considerable efforts and progress to develop methodologies to protect humans and animals against potential risks associated with exposure to such potentially toxic chemicals have been made. This special issue presents relevant methodological developments and examples of risk assessments of undesirable substances in the food chain integrating the animal health and the human health perspective and refers to recent Opinions of the Scientific Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). This introductory review aims to give a comparative account of the risk assessment steps used in human health and animal health risk assessments for chemicals in the food chain and provides a critical view of the data gaps and future perspectives for this cross-disciplinary field. - Highlights: ► Principles of human and animal health risk assessment. ► Data gaps for each step of animal health risk assessment. ► Implications of animal risk assessment on human risk assessment. ► Future perspectives on chemical risk assessment

Human and animal health risk assessments of chemicals in the food chain: Comparative aspects and future perspectives

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dorne, J.L.C.M., E-mail: jean-lou.dorne@efsa.europa.eu [Emerging Risk Unit, Via Carlo Magno 1A, 43126 Parma (Italy); Fink-Gremmels, J. [Utrecht University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Yalelaan 104, 3584 CM Utrecht (Netherlands)

2013-08-01

Chemicals from anthropogenic and natural origins enter animal feed, human food and water either as undesirable contaminants or as part of the components of a diet. Over the last five decades, considerable efforts and progress to develop methodologies to protect humans and animals against potential risks associated with exposure to such potentially toxic chemicals have been made. This special issue presents relevant methodological developments and examples of risk assessments of undesirable substances in the food chain integrating the animal health and the human health perspective and refers to recent Opinions of the Scientific Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). This introductory review aims to give a comparative account of the risk assessment steps used in human health and animal health risk assessments for chemicals in the food chain and provides a critical view of the data gaps and future perspectives for this cross-disciplinary field. - Highlights: ► Principles of human and animal health risk assessment. ► Data gaps for each step of animal health risk assessment. ► Implications of animal risk assessment on human risk assessment. ► Future perspectives on chemical risk assessment.

Assessment of genetic risk for human exposure to radiation. State of the art

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shevchenko, V.A.

2000-01-01

Historical aspects of the conception of genetic risk of human irradiation for recent 40 years. Methodology of assessing the genetic risk of radiation exposure is based on the concept of hitting the target. To predict genetic risk of irradiation, the direct and indirect methods of assessment, extrapolation, integral and populational criteria of risk analysis is widely used. Combination of these methods permits to calculate the risk from human exposure on the basis of data obtained for mice. Method of doubling dose based on determination of the dose doubling the level of natural mutational process in humans is the main one used to predict the genetic risk. Till 1972 the main model for assessing the genetic risk was the human/mouse model (the use of data on the spontaneous human variability and data on the frequency of induced mutations in mice). In the period from 1972 till 1994 the mouse/mouse model was intensively elaborated in many laboratories. This model was also used in this period to analyse the genetic risk of human irradiation. Recent achievements associated with the study of molecular nature of many hereditary human diseases as well as the criticism of a fundamental principles of the mouse/mouse model for estimating the genetic risk on a new basis. Estimates of risk for the different classes of genetic diseases have been obtained using the doubling-dose method [ru

Human Reliability Analysis in Support of Risk Assessment for Positive Train Control

Science.gov (United States)

2003-06-01

This report describes an approach to evaluating the reliability of human actions that are modeled in a probabilistic risk assessment : (PRA) of train control operations. This approach to human reliability analysis (HRA) has been applied in the case o...

Waste area Grouping 2 Phase I task data report: Human health risk assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Purucker, S.T.; Douthat, D.M.

1996-06-01

This report is one of five reports issued in 1996 that provide follow- up information to the Phase 1 Remedial Investigation (RI) Report for Waste Area Grouping (WAG) 2 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The five reports address areas of concern that could cause potential human health risk and ecological risk within WAG2 at ORNL. The purpose of this report is to present a summary of the human health risk assessment results based on the data collected for the WAG 2 Phase 1 RI. Estimates of risk are provided based on measured concentrations in the surface water, floodplain soil, and sediment of White Oak Creek, Melton Branch, and their tributaries. The human health risk assessment methodology used in this risk assessment is based on Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund (RAGS). First, the data for the different media are elevated to determine usability for risk assessment. Second, through the process of selecting chemicals of potential concern (COPCs), contaminants to be considered in the risk assessment are identified for each assessment of exposure potential is performed, and exposure pathways are identified. Subsequently, exposure is estimated quantitatively, and the toxicity of each of the COPCs is determined. The results of these analyses are combined and summarized in a risk characterization

Human exposure to bisphenol A by biomonitoring: Methods, results and assessment of environmental exposures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dekant, Wolfgang; Voelkel, Wolfgang

2008-01-01

Human exposure to bisphenol A is controversially discussed. This review critically assesses methods for biomonitoring of bisphenol A exposures and reported concentrations of bisphenol A in blood and urine of non-occupationally ('environmentally') exposed humans. From the many methods published to assess bisphenol A concentrations in biological media, mass spectrometry-based methods are considered most appropriate due to high sensitivity, selectivity and precision. In human blood, based on the known toxicokinetics of bisphenol A in humans, the expected very low concentrations of bisphenol A due to rapid biotransformation and the very rapid excretion result in severe limitations in the use of reported blood levels of bisphenol A for exposure assessment. Due to the rapid and complete excretion of orally administered bisphenol A, urine samples are considered as the appropriate body fluid for bisphenol A exposure assessment. In urine samples from several cohorts, bisphenol A (as glucuronide) was present in average concentrations in the range of 1-3 μg/L suggesting that daily human exposure to bisphenol A is below 6 μg per person (< 0.1 μg/kg bw/day) for the majority of the population

Human Factor Modelling in the Risk Assessment of Port Manoeuvers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teresa Abramowicz-Gerigk

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The documentation of human factor influence on the scenario development in maritime accidents compared with expert methods is commonly used as a basis in the process of setting up safety regulations and instructions. The new accidents and near misses show the necessity for further studies in determining the human factor influence on both risk acceptance criteria and development of risk control options for the manoeuvers in restricted waters. The paper presents the model of human error probability proposed for the assessment of ship masters and marine pilots' error decision and its influence on the risk of port manoeuvres.

Elements of a regulatory strategy for the consideration of future human actions in safety assessments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wilmot, R.D.; Wickham, S.M.; Galson, D.A. [Galson Sciences Ltd, Oakham (United Kingdom)

1999-09-01

The objective of this report is to discuss issues that should be considered in the development of a regulatory strategy for assessing future human actions in any forthcoming license application for a deep repository for spent fuel in Sweden and for sites of other repositories. The report comprises an outline of key issues concerning the treatment of future human actions in safety assessment, reviews of regulatory developments, recent safety assessments and supporting studies, and international initiatives on the treatment of future human actions in safety assessment, and the principal elements of a regulatory strategy. Performance assessments (PAs) are generally accepted as providing illustrations of system performance under given sets of assumptions. The results of PAs are clearer and easier tounderstand if certain large uncertainties are accounted for by determining performance under several different sets of assumptions or scenarios, each of which defines a possible evolution of the disposal system. A number of assumptions can be made that would restrict the scope of an assessment without reducing the credibility of the corresponding safety case. Reducing speculation about technological development, by assuming that the techniques used in future human activities are similar to those currently in use in the region or at similar sites, will simplify the assessment. A distinction is generally made between inadvertent and intentional intrusion, with intentional activities excluded because society cannot protect future populations from their own actions if they understand the potential consequences. A division of human activities into 'recent and ongoing' and 'future' activities considers not only the timing of the activities but also the degree of control or influence that can be imposed on them. Recent and ongoing human activities are those that affect an area beyond the immediate vicinity of the disposal facility and which neither the proponent

Human factors questionnaire as a tool for risk assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santos, Isaac J.A.L.; Grecco, Claudio H.S.; Carvalho, Paulo V.R.; Mol, Antonio C.A.; Oliveira, Mauro V.; Augusto, Silas C.

2009-01-01

The human factors engineering (HFE) as a discipline, and as a process, seeks to discover and to apply knowledge about human capabilities and limitations to system and equipment design, ensuring that the system design, human tasks and work environment are compatible with the sensory, perceptual, cognitive and physical attributes of the personnel who operates systems and equipment. Risk significance considers the magnitude of the consequences (loss of life, material damage, environmental degradation) and the frequency of occurrence of a particular adverse event. The questionnaire design was based on the following definitions: the score and the classification of the nuclear safety risk. The principal benefit of applying an approach based on the risk significance in the development of the questionnaire is to ensure the identification and evaluation of the features of the projects, related to human factors, which affect the nuclear safety risk, the human actions and the safety of the nuclear plant systems. The human factors questionnaire developed in this study will provide valuable support for risk assessment, making possible the identification of design problems that can influence the evaluation of the nuclear safety risk. (author)

The Value of Mainstreaming Human Rights into Health Impact Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

MacNaughton, Gillian; Forman, Lisa

2014-01-01

Health impact assessment (HIA) is increasingly being used to predict the health and social impacts of domestic and global laws, policies and programs. In a comprehensive review of HIA practice in 2012, the authors indicated that, given the diverse range of HIA practice, there is an immediate need to reconsider the governing values and standards for HIA implementation [1]. This article responds to this call for governing values and standards for HIA. It proposes that international human rights standards be integrated into HIA to provide a universal value system backed up by international and domestic laws and mechanisms of accountability. The idea of mainstreaming human rights into HIA is illustrated with the example of impact assessments that have been carried out to predict the potential effects of intellectual property rights in international trade agreements on the availability and affordability of medicines. The article concludes by recommending international human rights standards as a legal and ethical framework for HIA that will enhance the universal values of nondiscrimination, participation, transparency and accountability and bring legitimacy and coherence to HIA practice as well. PMID:25264683

Assessment of genetic risk for human exposure to radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sevcenko, V.A.; Rubanovic, A.V.

2002-01-01

Full text: The methodology of assessing the genetic risk of radiation exposure is based on the concept of 'hitting the target' in development of which N.V. Timofeeff-Ressovsky has played and important role. To predict genetic risk posed by irradiation, the U N Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) has worked out direct and indirect methods of assessment, extrapolation, integral and palpitation criteria of risk analysis that together permit calculating the risk from human exposure on the basis of data obtained for mice. Based on the reports of UNSCEAR for the period from 1958 to 2001 the paper presents a retrospective analysis of the use of direct methods and the doubling dose method for quantitative determination of the genetic risk of human exposure expressed as different hereditary diseases. As early as 1962 UNSCEAR estimated the doubling dose (a dose causing as many mutations as those occurring spontaneously during one generation) at 1 Gy for cases of exposure to ionizing radiations with low LET at a low dose rate and this value was confirmed in the next UNSCEAR reports up to now. For cases of acute irradiation the doubling dose was estimated at 0,3-0,4 Gy for the period under review. The paper considers the evolution of the concepts of human natural hereditary variability which is a basis for assessing the risk of exposure by the doubling dose method. The level of human natural genetic variability per 1 000 000 newborns is estimated at 738 000 hereditary diseases including mendelian, chromosomal and multifactorial ones. The greatest difficulties in assessing the doubling dose value were found to occur in the case of multifactorial diseases the pheno typical expression of which depends on mutational events in polygenic systems and on numerous environmental factors. The introduction in calculations of the potential recoverability correction factor (RPCF) made it possible to assess the genetic risk taking into account this class of

Framework for Human Health Risk Assessment to Inform Decision Making

Science.gov (United States)

The purpose of this document is to describe a Framework for conducting human health risk assessments that are responsive to the needs of decision‐making processes in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Human health risk assessment (HHRA) for environmental development and transfer of antibiotic resistance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ashbolt, Nicholas J.; Amézquita, Alejandro; Backhaus, Thomas

2013-01-01

to enable human health risk assessments (HHRA) that focus on the role of the environment in the failure of antibiotic treatment caused by antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Methods: The authors participated in a workshop held 4-8 March 2012 in Québec, Canada, to define the scope and objectives...... of an environmental assessment of antibiotic-resistance risks to human health. We focused on key elements of environmental-resistance-development "hot spots," exposure assessment (unrelated to food), and dose response to characterize risks that may improve antibiotic-resistance management options. Discussion: Various...... novel aspects to traditional risk assessments were identified to enable an assessment of environmental antibiotic resistance. These include a) accounting for an added selective pressure on the environmental resistome that, over time, allows for development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB); b...

Protocols for the Investigation of Information Processing in Human Assessment of Fundamental Movement Skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Ward, Brodie J; Thornton, Ashleigh; Lay, Brendan; Rosenberg, Michael

2017-01-01

Fundamental movement skill (FMS) assessment remains an important tool in classifying individuals' level of FMS proficiency. The collection of FMS performances for assessment and monitoring has remained unchanged over the last few decades, but new motion capture technologies offer opportunities to automate this process. To achieve this, a greater understanding of the human process of movement skill assessment is required. The authors present the rationale and protocols of a project in which they aim to investigate the visual search patterns and information extraction employed by human assessors during FMS assessment, as well as the implementation of the Kinect system for FMS capture.

Automatic Human Movement Assessment With Switching Linear Dynamic System: Motion Segmentation and Motor Performance.

Science.gov (United States)

de Souza Baptista, Roberto; Bo, Antonio P L; Hayashibe, Mitsuhiro

2017-06-01

Performance assessment of human movement is critical in diagnosis and motor-control rehabilitation. Recent developments in portable sensor technology enable clinicians to measure spatiotemporal aspects to aid in the neurological assessment. However, the extraction of quantitative information from such measurements is usually done manually through visual inspection. This paper presents a novel framework for automatic human movement assessment that executes segmentation and motor performance parameter extraction in time-series of measurements from a sequence of human movements. We use the elements of a Switching Linear Dynamic System model as building blocks to translate formal definitions and procedures from human movement analysis. Our approach provides a method for users with no expertise in signal processing to create models for movements using labeled dataset and later use it for automatic assessment. We validated our framework on preliminary tests involving six healthy adult subjects that executed common movements in functional tests and rehabilitation exercise sessions, such as sit-to-stand and lateral elevation of the arms and five elderly subjects, two of which with limited mobility, that executed the sit-to-stand movement. The proposed method worked on random motion sequences for the dual purpose of movement segmentation (accuracy of 72%-100%) and motor performance assessment (mean error of 0%-12%).

SLIM-MAUD - a computer based technique for human reliability assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Embrey, D.E.

1985-01-01

The Success Likelihood Index Methodology (SLIM) is a widely applicable technique which can be used to assess human error probabilities in both proceduralized and cognitive tasks (i.e. those involving decision making, problem solving, etc.). It assumes that expert assessors are able to evaluate the relative importance (or weights) of different factors called Performance Shaping Factors (PSFs), in determining the likelihood of error for the situations being assessed. Typical PSFs are the extent to which good procedures are available, operators are adequately trained, the man-machine interface is well designed, etc. If numerical ratings are made of the PSFs for the specific tasks being evaluated, these can be combined with the weights to give a numerical index, called the Success Likelihood Index (SLI). The SLI represents, in numerical form, the overall assessment of the experts of the likelihood of task success. The SLI can be subsequently transformed to a corresponding human error probability (HEP) estimate. The latest form of the SLIM technique is implemented using a microcomputer based system called MAUD (Multi-Attribute Utility Decomposition), the resulting technique being called SLIM-MAUD. A detailed description of the SLIM-MAUD technique and case studies of applications are available. An illustrative example of the application of SLIM-MAUD in probabilistic risk assessment is given

Self-assessment of human performance errors in nuclear operations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chambliss, K.V.

1996-01-01

One of the most important approaches to improving nuclear safety is to have an effective self-assessment process in place, whose cornerstone is the identification and improvement of human performance errors. Experience has shown that significant events usually have had precursors of human performance errors. If these precursors are left uncorrected or not understood, the symptoms recur and result in unanticipated events of greater safety significance. The Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) has been championing the cause of promoting excellence in human performance in the nuclear industry. INPO's report, open-quotes Excellence in Human Performance,close quotes emphasizes the importance of several factors that play a role in human performance. They include individual, supervisory, and organizational behaviors; real-time feedback that results in specific behavior to produce safe and reliable performance; and proactive measures that remove obstacles from excellent human performance. Zack Pate, chief executive officer and president of INPO, in his report, open-quotes The Control Room,close quotes provides an excellent discussion of serious events in the nuclear industry since 1994 and compares them with the results from a recent study by the National Transportation Safety Board of airline accidents in the 12-yr period from 1978 to 1990 to draw some common themes that relate to human performance issues in the control room

A Realistic Human Exposure Assessment of Indoor Radon released from Groundwater

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, Dong Han; Han, Moon Hee

2002-01-01

The work presents a realistic human exposure assessment of indoor radon released from groundwater in a house. At first, a two-compartment model is developed to describe the generation and transfer of radon in indoor air from groundwater. The model is used to estimate radon concentrations profile of indoor air in a house using by showering, washing clothes, and flushing toilets. Then, the study performs an uncertainty analysis of model input parameters to quantify the uncertainty in radon concentration profile. In order to estimate a daily internal dose of a specific tissue group in an adult through the inhalation of such indoor radon, a PBPK(Physiologically-Based Pharmaco-Kinetic) model is developed. Combining indoor radon profile and PBPK model is used to a realistic human assessment for such exposure. The results obtained from this study would be used to the evaluation of human risk by inhalation associated with the indoor radon released from groundwater

Humanized mouse model for assessing the human immune response to xenogeneic and allogeneic decellularized biomaterials.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Raymond M; Johnson, Todd D; He, Jingjin; Rong, Zhili; Wong, Michelle; Nigam, Vishal; Behfar, Atta; Xu, Yang; Christman, Karen L

2017-06-01

Current assessment of biomaterial biocompatibility is typically implemented in wild type rodent models. Unfortunately, different characteristics of the immune systems in rodents versus humans limit the capability of these models to mimic the human immune response to naturally derived biomaterials. Here we investigated the utility of humanized mice as an improved model for testing naturally derived biomaterials. Two injectable hydrogels derived from decellularized porcine or human cadaveric myocardium were compared. Three days and one week after subcutaneous injection, the hydrogels were analyzed for early and mid-phase immune responses, respectively. Immune cells in the humanized mouse model, particularly T-helper cells, responded distinctly between the xenogeneic and allogeneic biomaterials. The allogeneic extracellular matrix derived hydrogels elicited significantly reduced total, human specific, and CD4 + T-helper cell infiltration in humanized mice compared to xenogeneic extracellular matrix hydrogels, which was not recapitulated in wild type mice. T-helper cells, in response to the allogeneic hydrogel material, were also less polarized towards a pro-remodeling Th2 phenotype compared to xenogeneic extracellular matrix hydrogels in humanized mice. In both models, both biomaterials induced the infiltration of macrophages polarized towards a M2 phenotype and T-helper cells polarized towards a Th2 phenotype. In conclusion, these studies showed the importance of testing naturally derived biomaterials in immune competent animals and the potential of utilizing this humanized mouse model for further studying human immune cell responses to biomaterials in an in vivo environment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Indicative and complementary effects of human biological indicators for heavy metal exposure assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Xing, Ruiya; Li, Yonghua; Zhang, Biao; Li, Hairong; Liao, Xiaoyong

2017-10-01

Although human biological indicators have been widely utilized for biomonitoring environmental pollutants in health exposure assessment, the relationship between internal and external exposure has not yet been adequately established. In this study, we collected and analyzed 61 rice, 56 pepper, and 58 soil samples, together with 107 hair, 107 blood, and 107 urine samples from residents living in selected intensive mining areas in China. Concentrations of most of the four elements considered (Pb, Cd, Hg, and Se) exceeded national standards, implying high exposure risk in the study areas. Regression analysis also revealed a correlation (0.33, P human hair (as well as in human blood); to some extent, Pb content in hair and blood could therefore be used to characterize external Pb exposure. The correlation between Hg in rice and in human hair (up to 0.5, P human hair for Hg exposure. A significant correlation was also noted between concentrations of some elements in different human samples, for example, between Hg in hair and blood (0.641, P assessing heavy metal exposure.

Human Reliability in Probabilistic Safety Assessments; Fiabilidad Humana en los Analisis Probabilisticos de Seguridad

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nunez Mendez, J

1989-07-01

Nowadays a growing interest in environmental aspects is detected in our country. It implies an assessment of the risk involved in the industrial processes and installations in order to determine if those are into the acceptable limits. In these safety assessments, among which PSA (Probabilistic Safety Assessments), can be pointed out the role played by the human being in the system is one of the more relevant subjects (This relevance has been demonstrated in the accidents happened) . However, in Spain there aren't manuals specifically dedicated to asses the human contribution to risk in the frame of PSAs. This report aims to improve this situation providing: a) a theoretical background to help the reader in the understanding of the nature of the human error, b) a quid to carry out a Human Reliability Analysis and c) a selected overview of the techniques and methodologies currently applied in this area. (Author) 20 refs.

Human Reliability in Probabilistic Safety Assessments; Fiabilidad Humana en los Analisis Probabilisticos de Seguridad

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nunez Mendez, J.

1989-07-01

Nowadays a growing interest in environmental aspects is detected in our country. It implies an assessment of the risk involved in the industrial processes and installations in order to determine if those are into the acceptable limits. In these safety assessments, among which PSA (Probabilistic Safety Assessments), can be pointed out the role played by the human being in the system is one of the more relevant subjects (This relevance has been demonstrated in the accidents happened) . However, in Spain there aren't manuals specifically dedicated to asses the human contribution to risk in the frame of PSAs. This report aims to improve this situation providing: a) a theoretical background to help the reader in the understanding of the nature of the human error, b) a quid to carry out a Human Reliability Analysis and c) a selected overview of the techniques and methodologies currently applied in this area. (Author) 20 refs.

A flexible matrix-based human exposure assessment framework suitable for LCA and CAA

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jolliet, Olivier; Ernstoff, Alexi; Huang, Lei

2016-01-01

are not applicable to all types of near-field chemical releases from consumer products, e.g. direct dermal application. A consistent near-and far-field framework is needed for life cycle assessment (LCA) and chemical alternative assessment (CAA) to inform mitigation of human exposure to harmful chemicals. To close......Humans can be exposed to chemicals via near-field exposure pathways (e.g. through consumer product use) and far-field exposure pathways (e.g. through environmental emissions along product life cycles). Pathways are often complex where chemicals can transfer directly from products to humans during...... use or exchange between near-and far-field compartments until sub -fractions reach humans via inhalation, ingestion or dermal uptake. Currently, however, multimedia exposure models mainly focus on far-field exposure pathways. Metrics and modeling approaches used in far-field, emission-based models...

Use of quantitative uncertainty analysis for human health risk assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Duncan, F.L.W.; Gordon, J.W.; Kelly, M.

1994-01-01

Current human health risk assessment method for environmental risks typically use point estimates of risk accompanied by qualitative discussions of uncertainty. Alternatively, Monte Carlo simulations may be used with distributions for input parameters to estimate the resulting risk distribution and descriptive risk percentiles. These two techniques are applied for the ingestion of 1,1=dichloroethene in ground water. The results indicate that Monte Carlo simulations provide significantly more information for risk assessment and risk management than do point estimates

The assessment of human intrusion into underground repositories for radioactive waste Volume 2: Appendices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nancarrow, D.J.; Little, R.H.; Ashton, J.; Staunton, G.M.

1990-01-01

This report has been prepared with the primary objective of establishing a methodology for the assessment of human intrusion into deep underground repositories for radioactive wastes. The disposal concepts considered are those studied in the performance assessment studies Pagis and Pacoma, coordinated by the CEC. These comprise four types of host rock, namely: clay, granite, salt and the sub-seabed. Following a review of previous assessments of human intrusion, a list of relevant human activities is derived. This forms the basis for detailed characterization of groundwater abstraction and of exploitation of mineral and other resources. Approaches to assessment of intrusion are reviewed and consideration is given to the estimation of probabilities for specific types of intrusion events. Calculational schemes are derived for specific intrusion events and dosimetric factors are presented. A review is also presented of the capacity for reduction of the risks associated with intrusions. Finally, conclusions from the study are presented

An approach for assessing human decision reliability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pyy, P.

2000-01-01

This paper presents a method to study human reliability in decision situations related to nuclear power plant disturbances. Decisions often play a significant role in handling of emergency situations. The method may be applied to probabilistic safety assessments (PSAs) in cases where decision making is an important dimension of an accident sequence. Such situations are frequent e.g. in accident management. In this paper, a modelling approach for decision reliability studies is first proposed. Then, a case study with two decision situations with relatively different characteristics is presented. Qualitative and quantitative findings of the study are discussed. In very simple decision cases with time pressure, time reliability correlation proved out to be a feasible reliability modelling method. In all other decision situations, more advanced probabilistic decision models have to be used. Finally, decision probability assessment by using simulator run results and expert judgement is presented

An in vitro human skin test for assessing sensitization potential.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmed, S S; Wang, X N; Fielding, M; Kerry, A; Dickinson, I; Munuswamy, R; Kimber, I; Dickinson, A M

2016-05-01

Sensitization to chemicals resulting in an allergy is an important health issue. The current gold-standard method for identification and characterization of skin-sensitizing chemicals was the mouse local lymph node assay (LLNA). However, for a number of reasons there has been an increasing imperative to develop alternative approaches to hazard identification that do not require the use of animals. Here we describe a human in-vitro skin explant test for identification of sensitization hazards and the assessment of relative skin sensitizing potency. This method measures histological damage in human skin as a readout of the immune response induced by the test material. Using this approach we have measured responses to 44 chemicals including skin sensitizers, pre/pro-haptens, respiratory sensitizers, non-sensitizing chemicals (including skin-irritants) and previously misclassified compounds. Based on comparisons with the LLNA, the skin explant test gave 95% specificity, 95% sensitivity, 95% concordance with a correlation coefficient of 0.9. The same specificity and sensitivity were achieved for comparison of results with published human sensitization data with a correlation coefficient of 0.91. The test also successfully identified nickel sulphate as a human skin sensitizer, which was misclassified as negative in the LLNA. In addition, sensitizers and non-sensitizers identified as positive or negative by the skin explant test have induced high/low T cell proliferation and IFNγ production, respectively. Collectively, the data suggests the human in-vitro skin explant test could provide the basis for a novel approach for characterization of the sensitizing activity as a first step in the risk assessment process. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Evaluating Interdisciplinary Collaborative Learning and Assessment in the Creative Arts and Humanities

Science.gov (United States)

Miles, Melissa; Rainbird, Sarah

2015-01-01

This article responds to the rising emphasis placed on interdisciplinary collaborative learning and its implications for assessment in higher education. It presents findings from a research project that examined the effectiveness of an interdisciplinary collaborative student symposium as an assessment task in an art school/humanities environment.…

Assessment of labour market returns in the case of gender unique human capital

OpenAIRE

Paas, Tiiu; Tverdostup, Maryna

2016-01-01

Maryna Tverdostup, Tiiu Paas, ERSA 2016: The paper focuses on the identification of the unique, non-reached by the opposite gender human capital and the analysis of its effect on the earning profiles of unique human capital holders. The overwhelming research aim is to better understand the possible reasons behind gender wage disparities, focusing on the unique features of male and female human capital and their returns. When assessing the gender pay disparities, variation of human capital cha...

Ecological and human health sediment risk assessment for a hydrocarbon-impacted site in Lake Athabasca

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mcdonald, B.; Wagenaar, A.; LaPorte, J.; Misfeldt, G.; Chatwell, I.

2009-01-01

The operation of a public port facility near Uranium City, Saskatchewan has resulted in elevated levels of hydrocarbons in soil, groundwater and sediment. Remedial action in the uplands portion of the site was successful and a risk management approach was initiated for the aquatic portion of the site in order to resolve human health and ecological issues. Ecological risks were assessed using a sediment weight-of-evidence approach involving chemistry, toxicity, bioaccumulation and benthic community structure. Human health risks were assessed via fish consumption, water ingestion and direct contact according to Health Canada guidance. This presentation included an overview of the general risk assessment approach as well as site-specific data and findings. The primary focus was on the challenges confronted during the risk assessment process, such as the need to include alkylated PAHs as a COPC in the human health risk assessment and to evaluate ongoing propeller wash and sediment resuspension for sediment risk management, even though the facility is no longer operational.

Risk assessment of human infection with a novel bunyavirus in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tamano Matsui

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Objective: To assess the public health risk of human infection from a novel bunyavirus – severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV – in China.Methods: The likelihood of disease spread and the magnitude of public health impact were assessed to clarify overall risk. Literature about hazard, exposure and contextual factors associated with SFTSV infection was collected and reviewed. Information on SFTSV cases and the population in six provinces under surveillance was compared.Results: SFTSV is a member of the Phlebovirus genus of the Bunyaviridae family. A widely distributed tick species, Haemaphysalis longicornis, can act as the vector; thus the disease is likely to spread in China. Symptoms of SFTSV infection are nonspecific, but have led to multiorgan dysfunction in severe cases. High-risk populations include farmers and older females. Evidence of human-to-human transmission within family and hospital has been reported. The capacity for treatment and diagnosis of SFTSV are adequate in rural communities in China, and community awareness of the disease should be high. Discussion: There is a low to moderate public health risk related to SFTSV human infection in China. There is potential for an increase in the number of cases reported as awareness increases and when surveillance is expanded.

The assessment of virtual reality for human anatomy instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Benn, Karen P.

1994-01-01

This research project seeks to meet the objective of science training by developing, assessing, and validating virtual reality as a human anatomy training medium. In ideal situations, anatomic models, computer-based instruction, and cadaver dissection are utilized to augment the traditional methods of instruction. At many institutions, lack of financial resources limits anatomy instruction to textbooks and lectures. However, human anatomy is three dimensional, unlike the one dimensional depiction found in textbooks and the two dimensional depiction found on the computer. Virtual reality is a breakthrough technology that allows one to step through the computer screen into a three dimensional world. This technology offers many opportunities to enhance science education. Therefore, a virtual testing environment of the abdominopelvic region of a human cadaver was created to study the placement of body parts within the nine anatomical divisions of the abdominopelvic region and the four abdominal quadrants.

ASSESSMENT OF HUMAN EXPOSURE TO TOLUENE DIISOCYANATE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

OLIVIA ANCA RUSU

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Assessment of human exposure to toluene diisocyanate. Toluene diisocyanate (TDI, an aromatic compound, may be dangerous for human health. Diisocyanates have wide industrial use in the fabrication of flexible and rigid foams, fibers, elastomers, and coatings such as paints and varnishes. Isocyanates are known skin and respiratory sensitizers, and proper engineering controls should be in place to prevent exposure to isocyanate liquid and vapor; exposure to TDI vapors is well documented to increase asthma risk. The study focused on the exposure of workers and nearby populations to toluene diisocyanate in a Polyurethane Foam Factory located in Baia Mare, Romania. Workplace air measurements were performed in different departments of the plant, after sampling either in fixed points or as personal monitoring. Sampling in four different locations of Baia Mare town was carried out, - during and after the foaming process. TDI sampling was performed on silica cartridge followed by GC-MS analysis. TDI concentration at workplace was lower than 0,035 mg/m³, which represents the permissible exposure limit, while in the city the TDI concentration had shown values below 0,20 μg/m³. Health assessment of a group of 49 workers was based on questionnaire interview, determination of TDI antibodies and lung function tests. Data collected until this stage do not show any negative effects of TDI on the employees health. Since this plant had only recently begun operating, continuous workplace and ambient air TDI monitoring, along with workers health surveillance, is deemed necessary.

Leveraging human genetic and adverse outcome pathway (AOP) data to inform susceptibility in human health risk assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Estimation of susceptibility differences in human health risk assessment (HHRA) has been challenged by a lack of available susceptibility and variability data after exposure to a specific environmental chemical or pharmaceutical. With the increasingly large number of available da...

Impacts of “metals” on human health: uncertainties in using different Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) methodologies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pizzol, Massimo; Christensen, Per; Schmidt, Jannick Højrup

This study looks into the uncertainties in determining the impact of “metals” emissions to human health, in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA). Metals are diverse substances, with different proprieties and characteristics, considered important in LCIA because of their toxicity to humans or ecosy......This study looks into the uncertainties in determining the impact of “metals” emissions to human health, in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA). Metals are diverse substances, with different proprieties and characteristics, considered important in LCIA because of their toxicity to humans...... be considered in an impact assessment focused on human health, and defined a list of 14 metals. We performed a contribution analysis in order to compare methods in relative terms; an approach successfully used in other studies. Various processes have been analyzed with 8 different LCIA methods in order...... to assess both how much each metal contributes to the total impact on human health, when only metal emissions are present, and how much metals in total contribute when also other toxic substances are included in the inventory of emissions. Differences between the methods are great and due...

Quantifying human exposure to air pollution - moving from static monitoring to spatio-temporally resolved personal exposure assessment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Steinle, Susanne; Reis, Stefan; Sabel, Clive E

2013-01-01

exposure studies to accurately assess human health risks. ? We discuss potential and shortcomings of methods and tools with a focus on how their development influences study design. ? We propose a novel conceptual model for integrated health impact assessment of human exposure to air pollutants. ? We......Quantifying human exposure to air pollutants is a challenging task. Ambient concentrations of air pollutants at potentially harmful levels are ubiquitous in urban areas and subject to high spatial and temporal variability. At the same time, every individual has unique activity-patterns. Exposure...... results from multifaceted relationships and interactions between environmental and human systems, adding complexity to the assessment process. Traditionally, approaches to quantify human exposure have relied on pollutant concentrations from fixed air quality network sites and static population...

Biocides Steering Group on human exposure assessment: A preliminary report

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hemmen, J.J. van

1999-01-01

In a project granted by DG XI of the European Commission, it is attempted to collate experimental and theoretical data on human (workers and consumers) exposure assessment to biocidal products, and to outline the methodology for sampling and measurement. On the basis of the available evidence,

Clean Slate transportation and human health risk assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1997-02-01

Public concern regarding activities involving radioactive material generally focuses on the human health risk associated with exposure to ionizing radiation. This report describes the results of a risk analysis conducted to evaluate risk for excavation, handling, and transport of soil contaminated with transuranics at the Clean Slate sites. Transportation risks were estimated for public transport routes from the Tonopah Test Range (TTR) to the Envirocore disposal facility or to the Area 3 Radioactive Waste Management Site (RWMS) at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) for both radiological risk and risk due to traffic accidents. Human health risks were evaluated for occupational and radiation-related health effects to workers. This report was generated to respond to this public concern, to provide an evaluation of the risk, and to assess feasibility of transport of the contaminated soil for disposal

Reporting of Human Genome Epidemiology (HuGE association studies: An empirical assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gwinn Marta

2008-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Several thousand human genome epidemiology association studies are published every year investigating the relationship between common genetic variants and diverse phenotypes. Transparent reporting of study methods and results allows readers to better assess the validity of study findings. Here, we document reporting practices of human genome epidemiology studies. Methods Articles were randomly selected from a continuously updated database of human genome epidemiology association studies to be representative of genetic epidemiology literature. The main analysis evaluated 315 articles published in 2001–2003. For a comparative update, we evaluated 28 more recent articles published in 2006, focusing on issues that were poorly reported in 2001–2003. Results During both time periods, most studies comprised relatively small study populations and examined one or more genetic variants within a single gene. Articles were inconsistent in reporting the data needed to assess selection bias and the methods used to minimize misclassification (of the genotype, outcome, and environmental exposure or to identify population stratification. Statistical power, the use of unrelated study participants, and the use of replicate samples were reported more often in articles published during 2006 when compared with the earlier sample. Conclusion We conclude that many items needed to assess error and bias in human genome epidemiology association studies are not consistently reported. Although some improvements were seen over time, reporting guidelines and online supplemental material may help enhance the transparency of this literature.

A Unified Probabilistic Framework for Dose–Response Assessment of Human Health Effects

Science.gov (United States)

Slob, Wout

2015-01-01

Background When chemical health hazards have been identified, probabilistic dose–response assessment (“hazard characterization”) quantifies uncertainty and/or variability in toxicity as a function of human exposure. Existing probabilistic approaches differ for different types of endpoints or modes-of-action, lacking a unifying framework. Objectives We developed a unified framework for probabilistic dose–response assessment. Methods We established a framework based on four principles: a) individual and population dose responses are distinct; b) dose–response relationships for all (including quantal) endpoints can be recast as relating to an underlying continuous measure of response at the individual level; c) for effects relevant to humans, “effect metrics” can be specified to define “toxicologically equivalent” sizes for this underlying individual response; and d) dose–response assessment requires making adjustments and accounting for uncertainty and variability. We then derived a step-by-step probabilistic approach for dose–response assessment of animal toxicology data similar to how nonprobabilistic reference doses are derived, illustrating the approach with example non-cancer and cancer datasets. Results Probabilistically derived exposure limits are based on estimating a “target human dose” (HDMI), which requires risk management–informed choices for the magnitude (M) of individual effect being protected against, the remaining incidence (I) of individuals with effects ≥ M in the population, and the percent confidence. In the example datasets, probabilistically derived 90% confidence intervals for HDMI values span a 40- to 60-fold range, where I = 1% of the population experiences ≥ M = 1%–10% effect sizes. Conclusions Although some implementation challenges remain, this unified probabilistic framework can provide substantially more complete and transparent characterization of chemical hazards and support better-informed risk

76 FR 12963 - Request for Information (NOT-ES-11-007): Needs and Approaches for Assessing the Human Health...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-09

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Request for Information (NOT-ES-11-007): Needs and Approaches for Assessing the Human Health Impacts of Exposure to Mixtures AGENCY: National Institutes of... analyzes its findings to assess potential hazards to human health from exposure to environmental substances...

Potential human health risk assessment of heavy metals intake via ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Potential human health risk assessment of heavy metals intake via consumption of some leafy vegetables obtained from four market in Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria. ... This result reflected the risk associated with exposure for the period of life expectancy considered, and the inhabitants are highly exposed to health risks ...

Assessment of doses to non-human biota: Review of developments and demonstration assessment for Olkiluoto repository

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, K.; Robinson, C.

2006-12-01

This report provides a summary of work commissioned by Posiva Oy and undertaken by Enviros Consulting Ltd to support the development of a strategy for the assessment of environmental impacts from ionising radiation associated with the Olkiluoto waste repository, Finland, as part of the development of the Posiva Safety Case Portfolio. This project included a review of the development of international policies and standards related to protection of biota from the effects of ionizing radiation and of biota assessment methodologies, paying particular attention to those that have been applied to waste repository performance assessments. On the basis of this review, recommendations were developed on the most appropriate methodology to apply in order to assess the impact of radioactive releases from the planned spent fuel repository in Olkiluoto. A test-case was developed, in collaboration with staff from Posiva and Facilia AB, and an assessment was performed. The results and experience of which were analysed and summarised to develop recommendations for a future strategy. The test case highlighted some significant data gaps related to the assessment of impacts to both generic biota types and to interest species. In particular, concentration ratios for generic carnivorous mammals and migratory species such as moose that may consume food from multiple ecosystems and dose conversion factors for large burrowing (i.e. hibernating) mammals. However, in general terms, the dose rates predicted for all organism types were several orders of magnitude below those at which population effects would be expected to be observed and those at which effects on the individual may be anticipated. There would therefore be scope for simplifying the approach applied, although there would be value in performing a sensitivity analysis to ensure that the simplification is applied appropriately. There would also be value in ensuring consistency of the developing approach for non-human biota with

Assessment of doses to non-human biota: Review of developments and demonstration assessment for Olkiluoto repository

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smith, K. [Carol Robinson Enviros Consulting Ltd, Edinburgh (United Kingdom)

2006-12-15

This report provides a summary of work commissioned by Posiva Oy and undertaken by Enviros Consulting Ltd to support the development of a strategy for the assessment of environmental impacts from ionising radiation associated with the Olkiluoto waste repository, Finland, as part of the development of the Posiva Safety Case Portfolio. This project included a review of the development of international policies and standards related to protection of biota from the effects of ionizing radiation and of biota assessment methodologies, paying particular attention to those that have been applied to waste repository performance assessments. On the basis of this review, recommendations were developed on the most appropriate methodology to apply in order to assess the impact of radioactive releases from the planned spent fuel repository in Olkiluoto. A test-case was developed, in collaboration with staff from Posiva and Facilia AB, and an assessment was performed. The results and experience of which were analysed and summarised to develop recommendations for a future strategy. The test case highlighted some significant data gaps related to the assessment of impacts to both generic biota types and to interest species. In particular, concentration ratios for generic carnivorous mammals and migratory species such as moose that may consume food from multiple ecosystems and dose conversion factors for large burrowing (i.e. hibernating) mammals. However, in general terms, the dose rates predicted for all organism types were several orders of magnitude below those at which population effects would be expected to be observed and those at which effects on the individual may be anticipated. There would therefore be scope for simplifying the approach applied, although there would be value in performing a sensitivity analysis to ensure that the simplification is applied appropriately. There would also be value in ensuring consistency of the developing approach for non-human biota with

A 21st century roadmap for human health risk assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Pastoor, Timothy P; Bachman, Ammie N; Bell, David R; Cohen, Samuel M; Dellarco, Michael; Dewhurst, Ian C; Doe, John E; Doerrer, Nancy G; Embry, Michelle R; Hines, Ronald N; Moretto, Angelo; Phillips, Richard D; Rowlands, J Craig; Tanir, Jennifer Y; Wolf, Douglas C; Boobis, Alan R

2014-08-01

The Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI)-coordinated Risk Assessment in the 21st Century (RISK21) project was initiated to develop a scientific, transparent, and efficient approach to the evolving world of human health risk assessment, and involved over 120 participants from 12 countries, 15 government institutions, 20 universities, 2 non-governmental organizations, and 12 corporations. This paper provides a brief overview of the tiered RISK21 framework called the roadmap and risk visualization matrix, and articulates the core principles derived by RISK21 participants that guided its development. Subsequent papers describe the roadmap and matrix in greater detail. RISK21 principles include focusing on problem formulation, utilizing existing information, starting with exposure assessment (rather than toxicity), and using a tiered process for data development. Bringing estimates of exposure and toxicity together on a two-dimensional matrix provides a clear rendition of human safety and risk. The value of the roadmap is its capacity to chronicle the stepwise acquisition of scientific information and display it in a clear and concise fashion. Furthermore, the tiered approach and transparent display of information will contribute to greater efficiencies by calling for data only as needed (enough precision to make a decision), thus conserving animals and other resources.

Cognitive human reliability analysis for an assessment of the safety significance of complex transients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amico, P.J.; Hsu, C.J.; Youngblood, R.W.; Fitzpatrick, R.G.

1989-01-01

This paper reports that as part of a probabilistic assessment of the safety significance of complex transients at certain PWR power plants, it was necessary to perform a cognitive human reliability analysis. To increase the confidence in the results, it was desirable to make use of actual observations of operator response which were available for the assessment. An approach was developed which incorporated these observations into the human cognitive reliability (HCR) modeling approach. The results obtained provided additional insights over what would have been found using other approaches. These insights were supported by the observations, and it is suggested that this approach be considered for use in future probabilistic safety assessments

Assessment of Human Performance and Safety Culture at the Paks Nuclear Power Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Toth, Janos; Hadnagy, Lajos

2002-01-01

Evaluation of human performance and safety culture of the personnel at a Nuclear Power Plant is a very important element of the self assessment process. At the Paks NPP a systematic approach to this problem started in the early 90's. The first comprehensive analysis of the human performance of the personnel was performed by the Hungarian Research Institute for Electric Power (VEIKI). The analysis of human failures is also a part of the investigation and analysis of safety related reported events. This human performance analysis of events is carried out by the Laboratory of Psychology of the plant and a supporting organisation namely the Department of Ergonomics and Psychology of the Budapest University of Technical and Economical Sciences. The analysis of safety culture at the Paks NPP has been in the focus of attention since the implementation of the INSAG-4 document started world-wide. In 1993 an IAEA model project namely 'Strengthening Training for Operational Safety' was initiated with a sub-project called 'Enhancement of Safety Culture'. Within this project the first step was the initial assessment of the safety culture level at the Paks NPP. It was followed by some corrective actions and safety culture improvement programme. In 1999 the second assessment was performed in order to evaluate the progress as a result of the improvement programme. A few indicators reflecting the elements of safety culture were defined and compared. The assessment of the safety culture with a survey among the managers was performed in September 2000 and the results are being evaluated at the moment. The intention of the plant management is to repeat the assessment every 2-3 years and evaluate the trend of the indicator. (authors)

Human reliability analysis for probabilistic safety assessments - review of methods and issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Srinivas, G.; Guptan, Rajee; Malhotra, P.K.; Ghadge, S.G.; Chandra, Umesh

2011-01-01

It is well known that the two major events in World Nuclear Power Plant Operating history, namely the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, were Human failure events. Subsequent to these two events, several significant changes have been incorporated in Plant Design, Control Room Design and Operator Training to reduce the possibility of Human errors during plant transients. Still, human error contribution to Risk in Nuclear Power Plant operations has been a topic of continued attention for research, development and analysis. Probabilistic Safety Assessments attempt to capture all potential human errors with a scientifically computed failure probability, through Human Reliability Analysis. Several methods are followed by different countries to quantify the Human error probability. This paper reviews the various popular methods being followed, critically examines them with reference to their criticisms and brings out issues for future research. (author)

Using Evidence Credibility Decay Model for dependence assessment in human reliability analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo, Xingfeng; Zhou, Yanhui; Qian, Jin; Deng, Yong

2017-01-01

Highlights: • A new computational model is proposed for dependence assessment in HRA. • We combined three factors of “CT”, “TR” and “SP” within Dempster–Shafer theory. • The BBA of “SP” is reconstructed by discounting rate based on the ECDM. • Simulation experiments are illustrated to show the efficiency of the proposed method. - Abstract: Dependence assessment among human errors plays an important role in human reliability analysis. When dependence between two sequent tasks exists in human reliability analysis, if the preceding task fails, the failure probability of the following task is higher than success. Typically, three major factors are considered: “Closeness in Time” (CT), “Task Relatedness” (TR) and “Similarity of Performers” (SP). Assume TR is not changed, both SP and CT influence the degree of dependence level and SP is discounted by the time as the result of combine two factors in this paper. In this paper, a new computational model is proposed based on the Dempster–Shafer Evidence Theory (DSET) and Evidence Credibility Decay Model (ECDM) to assess the dependence between tasks in human reliability analysis. First, the influenced factors among human tasks are identified and the basic belief assignments (BBAs) of each factor are constructed based on expert evaluation. Then, the BBA of SP is discounted as the result of combining two factors and reconstructed by using the ECDM, the factors are integrated into a fused BBA. Finally, the dependence level is calculated based on fused BBA. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model not only quantitatively describe the fact that the input factors influence the dependence level, but also exactly show how the dependence level regular changes with different situations of input factors.

The assessment of human intrusion into underground repositories for radioactive waste Volume 1: Main report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nancarrow, D.J.; Little, R.H.; Asthon, J.; Staunton, G.M.

1990-01-01

This report has been prepared with the primary objective of establishing a methodology for the assessment of human intrusion into deep underground repositories for radioactive wastes. The disposal concepts considered are those studied in the performance assessment studies Pagis and Pacoma, coordinated by the CEC. These comprise four types of host rock, namely: clay, granite, salt and the sub-seabed. Following a review of previous assessments of human intrusion, a list of relevant human activities is derived. This forms the basis for detailed characterization of groundwater abstraction and of exploitation of mineral and other resources. Approaches to assessment of intrusion are reviewed and consideration is given to the estimation of probabilities for specific types of intrusion events. Calculational schemes are derived for specific intrusion events and dosimetric factors are presented. A review is also presented of the capacity for reduction of the risks associated with intrusions. Finally, conclusions from the study are presented

An approach for assessing human exposures to chemical mixtures in the environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rice, Glenn; MacDonell, Margaret; Hertzberg, Richard C.; Teuschler, Linda; Picel, Kurt; Butler, Jim; Chang, Young-Soo; Hartmann, Heidi

2008-01-01

Humans are exposed daily to multiple chemicals, including incidental exposures to complex chemical mixtures released into the environment and to combinations of chemicals that already co-exist in the environment because of previous releases from various sources. Exposures to chemical mixtures can occur through multiple pathways and across multiple routes. In this paper, we propose an iterative approach for assessing exposures to environmental chemical mixtures; it is similar to single-chemical approaches. Our approach encompasses two elements of the Risk Assessment Paradigm: Problem Formulation and Exposure Assessment. Multiple phases of the assessment occur in each element of the paradigm. During Problem Formulation, analysts identify and characterize the source(s) of the chemical mixture, ensure that dose-response and exposure assessment measures are concordant, and develop a preliminary evaluation of the mixture's fate. During Exposure Assessment, analysts evaluate the fate of the chemicals comprising the mixture using appropriate models and measurement data, characterize the exposure scenario, and estimate human exposure to the mixture. We also describe the utility of grouping the chemicals to be analyzed based on both physical-chemical properties and an understanding of environmental fate. In the article, we also highlight the need for understanding of changes in the mixture composition in the environment due to differential transport, differential degradation, and differential partitioning to other media. The section describes the application of the method to various chemical mixtures, highlighting issues associated with assessing exposures to chemical mixtures in the environment

Sudbury soils study : human health and ecological risk assessment : a case study in science, process and perception

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wren, C.

2009-01-01

This presentation discussed the public relations and public opinion strategies used as part of a soils study conducted to assess the risk of mining activities in the Sudbury region to human health and the environment. The human health risk assessment (HHRA) study was conducted and administered by a multi-stakeholder technical committee attended by the public. The study was comprised of extensive soil collection and analysis; a review of historical soils data; and extensive human health and ecological risk assessments. Extensive sampling was also conducted on air, dust, and locally-produced foods. A public advisory committee was formed to disseminate scientific information to the community. Scientific data obtained in the study were reviewed by experts in various fields. Results of the study were also peer-reviewed by an independent expert review panel comprised of leading specialists in human health, toxicology, speciation, and risk assessment. The study showed that the identified risks were over-estimated in the interest of protecting human health. It was concluded that the HHRA's findings were generally accepted by the public. tabs., figs

Assessment of human-natural system characteristics influencing global freshwater supply vulnerability

Science.gov (United States)

Padowski, Julie C.; Gorelick, Steven M.; Thompson, Barton H.; Rozelle, Scott; Fendorf, Scott

2015-10-01

Global freshwater vulnerability is a product of environmental and human dimensions, however, it is rarely assessed as such. Our approach identifies freshwater vulnerability using four broad categories: endowment, demand, infrastructure, and institutions, to capture impacts on natural and managed water systems within the coupled human-hydrologic environment. These categories are represented by 19 different endogenous and exogenous characteristics affecting water supply vulnerability. By evaluating 119 lower per capita income countries (Yemen and Djibouti nearly as vulnerable. Surprising similarities in vulnerability were also found among geographically disparate nations such as Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and Guatemala. Determining shared patterns of freshwater vulnerability provides insights into why water supply vulnerabilities are manifested in human-water systems at the national scale.

A shortened version of the THERP/Handbook approach to human reliability analysis for probabilistic risk assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Swain, A.D.

1986-01-01

The approach to human reliability analysis (HRA) known as THERP/Handbook has been applied to several probabilistic risk assessments (PRAs) of nuclear power plants (NPPs) and other complex systems. The approach is based on a thorough task analysis of the man-machine interfaces, including the interactions among the people, involved in the operations being assessed. The idea is to assess fully the underlying performance shaping factors (PSFs) and dependence effects which result either in reliable or unreliable human performance

Improving the relevance and efficiency of human exposure assessments within the process of regulatory risk assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Money, Chris

2018-01-24

The process for undertaking exposure assessments varies dependent on its purpose. But for exposure assessments to be relevant and accurate, they are reliant on access to reliable information on key exposure determinants. Acquiring such information is seldom straightforward and can take significant time and resources. This articles examines how the application of tiered and targeted approaches to information acquisition, within the context of European human health risk assessments, can not only lead to improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of the process but also in the confidence of stakeholders in its outputs. The article explores how the benefits might be further improved through the coordination of such activities, as well as those areas that represent barriers to wider international harmonisation.

The Socio-ecological Fit of Human Responses to Environmental Degradation: An Integrated Assessment Methodology

Science.gov (United States)

Briassoulis, Helen

2015-12-01

The scientific and policy interest in the human responses to environmental degradation usually focuses on responses sensu stricto and `best practices' that potentially abate degradation in affected areas. The transfer of individual, discrete instruments and `best practices' to different contexts is challenging, however, because socio-ecological systems are complex and environmental degradation is contextual and contingent. To sensibly assess the effectiveness of formal and informal interventions to combat environmental degradation, the paper proposes an integrative, non-reductionist analytic, the `response assemblage', for the study of `responses-in-context,' i.e., products of human decisions to utilize environmental resources to satisfy human needs in socio-ecological systems. Response assemblages are defined as geographically and historically unique, provisional, open, territorial wholes, complex compositions emerging from processes of assembling biophysical and human components, including responses sensu stricto, from affected focal and other socio-ecological systems, to serve human goals, one of which may be combatting environmental degradation. The degree of match among the components, called the socio- ecological fit of the response assemblage, indicates how effectively their contextual and contingent interactions maintain the socio-ecological resilience, promote sustainable development, and secure the continuous provision of ecosystem services in a focal socio-ecological system. The paper presents a conceptual approach to the analysis of the socio-ecological fit of response assemblages and details an integrated assessment methodology synthesizing the resilience, assemblage, and `problem of fit' literature. Lastly, it summarizes the novelty, value, and policy relevance of conceptualizing human responses as response assemblages and of the integrated assessment methodology, reconsiders `best practices' and suggests selected future research directions.

Evidential analytic hierarchy process dependence assessment methodology in human reliability analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Lu Yuan; Zhou, Xinyi; Xiao, Fuyuan; Deng, Yong; Mahadevan, Sankaran

2017-01-01

In human reliability analysis, dependence assessment is an important issue in risky large complex systems, such as operation of a nuclear power plant. Many existing methods depend on an expert's judgment, which contributes to the subjectivity and restrictions of results. Recently, a computational method, based on the Dempster-Shafer evidence theory and analytic hierarchy process, has been proposed to handle the dependence in human reliability analysis. The model can deal with uncertainty in an analyst's judgment and reduce the subjectivity in the evaluation process. However, the computation is heavy and complicated to some degree. The most important issue is that the existing method is in a positive aspect, which may cause an underestimation of the risk. In this study, a new evidential analytic hierarchy process dependence assessment methodology, based on the improvement of existing methods, has been proposed, which is expected to be easier and more effective

Evidential Analytic Hierarchy Process Dependence Assessment Methodology in Human Reliability Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luyuan Chen

2017-02-01

Full Text Available In human reliability analysis, dependence assessment is an important issue in risky large complex systems, such as operation of a nuclear power plant. Many existing methods depend on an expert's judgment, which contributes to the subjectivity and restrictions of results. Recently, a computational method, based on the Dempster–Shafer evidence theory and analytic hierarchy process, has been proposed to handle the dependence in human reliability analysis. The model can deal with uncertainty in an analyst's judgment and reduce the subjectivity in the evaluation process. However, the computation is heavy and complicated to some degree. The most important issue is that the existing method is in a positive aspect, which may cause an underestimation of the risk. In this study, a new evidential analytic hierarchy process dependence assessment methodology, based on the improvement of existing methods, has been proposed, which is expected to be easier and more effective.

Evidential analytic hierarchy process dependence assessment methodology in human reliability analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Lu Yuan; Zhou, Xinyi; Xiao, Fuyuan; Deng, Yong [School of Computer and Information Science, Southwest University, Chongqing (China); Mahadevan, Sankaran [School of Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville (United States)

2017-02-15

In human reliability analysis, dependence assessment is an important issue in risky large complex systems, such as operation of a nuclear power plant. Many existing methods depend on an expert's judgment, which contributes to the subjectivity and restrictions of results. Recently, a computational method, based on the Dempster-Shafer evidence theory and analytic hierarchy process, has been proposed to handle the dependence in human reliability analysis. The model can deal with uncertainty in an analyst's judgment and reduce the subjectivity in the evaluation process. However, the computation is heavy and complicated to some degree. The most important issue is that the existing method is in a positive aspect, which may cause an underestimation of the risk. In this study, a new evidential analytic hierarchy process dependence assessment methodology, based on the improvement of existing methods, has been proposed, which is expected to be easier and more effective.

Multi-Disciplinary Knowledge Synthesis for Human Health Assessment on Earth and in Space

Science.gov (United States)

Christakos, G.

We discuss methodological developments in multi-disciplinary knowledge synthesis (KS) of human health assessment. A theoretical KS framework can provide the rational means for the assimilation of various information bases (general, site-specific etc.) that are relevant to the life system of interest. KS-based techniques produce a realistic representation of the system, provide a rigorous assessment of the uncertainty sources, and generate informative health state predictions across space-time. The underlying epistemic cognition methodology is based on teleologic criteria and stochastic logic principles. The mathematics of KS involves a powerful and versatile spatiotemporal random field model that accounts rigorously for the uncertainty features of the life system and imposes no restriction on the shape of the probability distributions or the form of the predictors. KS theory is instrumental in understanding natural heterogeneities, assessing crucial human exposure correlations and laws of physical change, and explaining toxicokinetic mechanisms and dependencies in a spatiotemporal life system domain. It is hoped that a better understanding of KS fundamentals would generate multi-disciplinary models that are useful for the maintenance of human health on Earth and in Space.

Internal Dose Conversion Coefficients of Domestic Reference Animal and Plants for Dose Assessment of Non-human Species

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keum, Dong Kwon; Jun, In; Lim, Kwang Muk; Choi, Yong Ho

2009-01-01

Traditionally, radiation protection has been focused on a radiation exposure of human beings. In the international radiation protection community, one of the recent key issues is to establish the methodology for assessing the radiological impact of an ionizing radiation on non-human species for an environmental protection. To assess the radiological impact to non-human species dose conversion coefficients are essential. This paper describes the methodology to calculate the internal dose conversion coefficient for non-human species and presents calculated internal dose conversion coefficients of 25 radionuclides for 8 domestic reference animal and plants

Assessment and Evaluation of National Human Resource Development System Competitiveness in Emerging Countries

Science.gov (United States)

Oh, HunSeok; Seo, DongIn; Kim, JuSeuk; Yoo, SangOk; Seong, HeeChang

2015-01-01

This study assessed and evaluated the competitiveness of national human resource development (NHRD) systems in emerging countries with potential for growth. The literature on emerging countries and NHRD systems was reviewed. The study developed a model mechanism with forty-one indices and nine sub-components for the NHRD system assessment in…

The impact of the human genome project on risk assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Katarzyna Doerffer; Paul Unrau.

1996-01-01

The radiation protection approach to risk assessment assumes that cancer induction following radiation exposure is purely random. Present risk assessment methods derive risk from cancer incidence frequencies in exposed populations and associate disease outcomes totally with the level of exposure to ionizing red aeon. Exposure defines a risk factor that affects the probability of the disease outcome. But cancer risk can be affected by other risk factors such as underlying genetic factors (predisposition) of the exposed organism. These genetic risk factors are now becoming available for incorporation into ionizing radiation risk assessment Progress in the Human Genome Project (HOP) will lead to direct assays to measure the effects of genetic risk determinants in disease outcomes. When all genetic risk determinants are known and incorporated into risk assessment it will be possible to reevaluate the role of ionizing radiation in the causation of cancer. (author)

Development of a quantitative safety assessment method for nuclear I and C systems including human operators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Man Cheol

2004-02-01

Conventional PSA (probabilistic safety analysis) is performed in the framework of event tree analysis and fault tree analysis. In conventional PSA, I and C systems and human operators are assumed to be independent for simplicity. But, the dependency of human operators on I and C systems and the dependency of I and C systems on human operators are gradually recognized to be significant. I believe that it is time to consider the interdependency between I and C systems and human operators in the framework of PSA. But, unfortunately it seems that we do not have appropriate methods for incorporating the interdependency between I and C systems and human operators in the framework of Pasa. Conventional human reliability analysis (HRA) methods are not developed to consider the interdependecy, and the modeling of the interdependency using conventional event tree analysis and fault tree analysis seem to be, event though is does not seem to be impossible, quite complex. To incorporate the interdependency between I and C systems and human operators, we need a new method for HRA and a new method for modeling the I and C systems, man-machine interface (MMI), and human operators for quantitative safety assessment. As a new method for modeling the I and C systems, MMI and human operators, I develop a new system reliability analysis method, reliability graph with general gates (RGGG), which can substitute conventional fault tree analysis. RGGG is an intuitive and easy-to-use method for system reliability analysis, while as powerful as conventional fault tree analysis. To demonstrate the usefulness of the RGGG method, it is applied to the reliability analysis of Digital Plant Protection System (DPPS), which is the actual plant protection system of Ulchin 5 and 6 nuclear power plants located in Republic of Korea. The latest version of the fault tree for DPPS, which is developed by the Integrated Safety Assessment team in Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), consists of 64

Approach to modeling of human performance for purposes of probabilistic risk assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Swain, A.D.

1983-01-01

This paper describes the general approach taken in NUREG/CR-1278 to model human performance in sufficienct detail to permit probabilistic risk assessments of nuclear power plant operations. To show the basis for the more specific models in the above NUREG, a simplified model of the human component in man-machine systems is presented, the role of performance shaping factors is discussed, and special problems in modeling the cognitive aspect of behavior are described

Assessing Curriculum Planning for Humanities Inquiry: The Challenges and Opportunities of Poster Presentation

Science.gov (United States)

Wallace, Heather D.; Preston, Lou; Harvie, Kate M.

2016-01-01

Authentic assessment has been promoted in teacher education as a means of addressing the challenge that pre-service teachers often face in translating theory into practice. In this article, we outline one approach to authentic assessment that utilises a poster format to present a humanities inquiry sequence. Drawing on a practice-based research…

Assessment of satellite cell number and activity status in human skeletal muscle biopsies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mackey, Abigail; Kjaer, Michael; Charifi, Nadia

2009-01-01

The primary aim of our study was to validate the assessment of myonuclear and satellite cell number in biopsies from human skeletal muscle. We found that 25 type I and 25 type II fibers are sufficient to estimate the mean number of myonuclei per fiber. In contrast, the assessment of satellite cells...

Human factors assessments of D and D technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carpenter, C.P.; Evans, T.T.; McCabe, B.

2000-01-01

On April 2, 1997, the US Secretary of Energy directed the US Assistant Secretary of Environmental Management and of Safety and Health to require field input of appropriate data to ensure that safety and health considerations were properly addressed in the Accelerating Cleanup: Focus on 2006 Plan. The US Department of Energy (DOE) field managers have committed to the Secretary that they will fully implement integrated safety management systems (ISMSs) at their respective sites by the end of fiscal year 1999. The Secretary has further directed that headquarters safety and health guidance be developed to support consistent and comprehensive project baseline summaries from the field. The Secretary has committed to institutionalizing ISMS as an integral component of the way the DOE conducts its business. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board continues to oversee and closely monitor the DOE's commitment to the safety and health of its workers. The DOE is committed to a management system approach to ensure that work is performed in a manner that protects the worker, public, and environment. The Deactivation and Decommissioning Focus Area (DDFA) is actively addressing the need to incorporate environmental safety and health (ES and H) considerations in developing technologies. The DDFA is partnered with the Operating Engineers National Hazmat Program (OENHP) to evaluate the ES and H considerations of the innovative and improved decontamination and decommissioning technologies. Part of the implementation of the ES and H work practices in the field is through a cooperative agreement between the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and the OENHP. The objective of this program is to establish an International Environmental Technology and Training Center to conduct human factors assessments and protocols on environmental technologies. The intent of the human factors assessments is to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the technologies and to enhance

New approaches in human health risk assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Abass, Khaled; Carlsen, Anders; Rautio, Arja

2016-01-01

Studies on the precise impact of environmental pollutants on human health are difficult to undertake and interpret, because many genetic and environmental factors influence health at the same time and to varying degrees. Our chapter in the AMAP report was based on new approaches to describe risks and future needs. In this paper, we will introduce the issues associated with risk assessment of single chemicals, and present suggestions for future studies as well as a summary of lessons learned during the health-related parts of the European Union-funded FP7 project ArcRisk (Arctic Health Risks: Impacts on health in the Arctic and Europe owing to climate-induced changes in contaminant cycling, 2009-2014; www.arcrisk.eu).

A critique of recent models for human error rate assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Apostolakis, G.E.

1988-01-01

This paper critically reviews two groups of models for assessing human error rates under accident conditions. The first group, which includes the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) handbook model and the human cognitive reliability (HCR) model, considers as fundamental the time that is available to the operators to act. The second group, which is represented by the success likelihood index methodology multiattribute utility decomposition (SLIM-MAUD) model, relies on ratings of the human actions with respect to certain qualitative factors and the subsequent derivation of error rates. These models are evaluated with respect to two criteria: the treatment of uncertainties and the internal coherence of the models. In other words, this evaluation focuses primarily on normative aspects of these models. The principal findings are as follows: (1) Both of the time-related models provide human error rates as a function of the available time for action and the prevailing conditions. However, the HCR model ignores the important issue of state-of-knowledge uncertainties, dealing exclusively with stochastic uncertainty, whereas the model presented in the NRC handbook handles both types of uncertainty. (2) SLIM-MAUD provides a highly structured approach for the derivation of human error rates under given conditions. However, the treatment of the weights and ratings in this model is internally inconsistent. (author)

Physicologically Based Toxicokinetic Models of Tebuconazole and Application in Human Risk Assessment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jonsdottir, Svava Osk; Reffstrup, Trine Klein; Petersen, Annette

2016-01-01

(ADME) of tebuconazole. The developed models were validated on in vivo half-life data for rabbit with good results, and on plasma and tissue concentration-time course data of tebuconazole after i.v. administration in rabbit. In most cases, the predicted concentration levels were seen to be within......A series of physiologically based toxicokinetic (PBTK) models for tebuconazole were developed in four species, rat, rabbit, rhesus monkey, and human. The developed models were analyzed with respect to the application of the models in higher tier human risk assessment, and the prospect of using...... such models in risk assessment of cumulative and aggregate exposure is discussed. Relatively simple and biologically sound models were developed using available experimental data as parameters for describing the physiology of the species, as well as the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination...

Should the scope of human mixture risk assessment span legislative/regulatory silos for chemicals?

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, Richard M; Martin, Olwenn V; Faust, Michael; Kortenkamp, Andreas

2016-02-01

Current chemicals regulation operates almost exclusively on a chemical-by-chemical basis, however there is concern that this approach may not be sufficiently protective if two or more chemicals have the same toxic effect. Humans are indisputably exposed to more than one chemical at a time, for example to the multiple chemicals found in food, air and drinking water, and in household and consumer products, and in cosmetics. Assessment of cumulative risk to human health and/or the environment from multiple chemicals and routes can be done in a mixture risk assessment (MRA). Whilst there is a broad consensus on the basic science of mixture toxicology, the path to regulatory implementation of MRA within chemical risk assessment is less clear. In this discussion piece we pose an open question: should the scope of human MRA cross legislative remits or 'silos'? We define silos as, for instance, legislation that defines risk assessment practice for a subset of chemicals, usually on the basis of substance/product, media or process orientation. Currently any form of legal mandate for human MRA in the EU is limited to only a few pieces of legislation. We describe two lines of evidence, illustrated with selected examples, that are particularly pertinent to this question: 1) evidence that mixture effects have been shown for chemicals regulated in different silos and 2) evidence that humans are co-exposed to chemicals from different silos. We substantiate the position that, because there is no reason why chemicals allocated to specific regulatory silos would have non-overlapping risk profiles, then there is also no reason to expect that MRA limited only to chemicals within one silo can fully capture the risk that may be present to human consumers. Finally, we discuss possible options for implementation of MRA and we hope to prompt wider discussion of this issue. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Constant infusion transpulmonary thermodilution for the assessment of cardiac output in exercising humans

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Calbet, J A L; Mortensen, Stefan; Munch, G D W

2016-01-01

To determine the accuracy and precision of constant infusion transpulmonary thermodilution cardiac output (CITT-Q) assessment during exercise in humans, using indocyanine green (ICG) dilution and bolus transpulmonary thermodilution (BTD) as reference methods, cardiac output (Q) was determined......: 6.1-11.1%). In conclusion, cardiac output can be precisely and accurately determined with constant infusion transpulmonary thermodilution in exercising humans....

Particle size: a missing factor in risk assessment of human exposure to toxic chemicals in settled indoor dust.

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, Zhi-Guo; Yu, Gang; Chen, Yong-Shan; Cao, Qi-Ming; Fiedler, Heidelore; Deng, Shu-Bo; Huang, Jun; Wang, Bin

2012-11-15

For researches on toxic chemicals in settled indoor dust, selection of dust fraction is a critical influencing factor to the accuracy of human exposure risk assessment results. However, analysis of the selection of dust fraction in recent studies revealed that there is no consensus. This study classified and presented researches on distribution of toxic chemicals according to dust particle size and on relationship between dust particle size and human exposure possibility. According to the literature, beyond the fact that there were no consistent conclusions on particle size distribution of adherent fraction, dust with particle size less than 100 μm should be paid more attention and that larger than 250 μm is neither adherent nor proper for human exposure risk assessment. Calculation results based on literature data show that with different selections of dust fractions, analytical results of toxic chemicals would vary up to 10-fold, which means that selecting dust fractions arbitrarily will lead to large errors in risk assessment of human exposure to toxic chemicals in settled dust. Taking into account the influence of dust particle size on risk assessment of human exposure to toxic chemicals, a new methodology for risk assessment of human exposure to toxic chemicals in settled indoor dust is proposed and human exposure parameter systems to settled indoor dust are advised to be established at national and regional scales all over the world. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Toxicity Assessment of Six Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles in Human Epidermal Keratinocytes

Science.gov (United States)

Toxicity Assessment of Six Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles in Human Epidermal Keratinocytes Nanoparticle uptake in cells may be an important determinant of their potential cytotoxic and inflammatory effects. Six commercial TiO2 NP (A=Alfa Aesar,10nm, A*=Alfa Aesar 32nm, B=P25 27...

Ecological and human exposure assessment to PBDEs in Adige River.

Science.gov (United States)

Giulivo, Monica; Suciu, Nicoleta Alina; Eljarrat, Ethel; Gatti, Marina; Capri, Ettore; Barcelo, Damia

2018-07-01

The interest for environmental issues and the concern resulting from the potential exposure to contaminants were the starting point to develop methodologies in order to evaluate the consequences that those might have over both the environment and human health. Considering the feature of POPs, including PBDEs, such as bioaccumulation, biomagnification, long-range transport and adverse effects even long time after exposure, risk assessment of POPs requires specific approaches and tools. In this particular context, the MERLIN-Expo tool was used to assess the aquatic environmental exposure of Adige River to PBDEs and the accumulation of PBDEs in humans through the consumption of possible contaminated local aquatic food. The aquatic food web models provided as output of the deterministic simulation the time trend of concentrations for twenty years of BDE-47 and total PBDEs, expressed using the physico-chemical properties of BDE-47, in aquatic organisms of the food web of Adige River. For BDE-47, the highest accumulated concentrations were detected for two benthic species: Thymallus thymallus and Squalius cephalus whereas the lowest concentrations were obtained for the pelagic specie Salmo trutta marmoratus. The trend obtained for the total PBDEs, calculated using the physico-chemical properties of BDE-47, follows the one of BDE-47. For human exposure, different BDE-47 and total PBDEs concentration trends between children, adolescent, adults and elderly were observed, probably correlated with the human intake of fish products in the daily diet and the ability to metabolize these contaminants. In detail, for the adolescents, adults and elderly a continuous accumulation of the target contaminants during the simulation's years was observed, whereas for children a plateau at the end of the simulation period was perceived. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Acid sulfate soils and human health--a Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Ljung, Karin; Maley, Fiona; Cook, Angus; Weinstein, Philip

2009-11-01

Acid sulfate soils have been described as the "nastiest soils on earth" because of their strong acidity, increased mobility of potentially toxic elements and limited bioavailability of nutrients. They only cover a small area of the world's total problem soils, but often have significant adverse effects on agriculture, aquaculture and the environment on a local scale. Their location often coincides with high population density areas along the coasts of many developing countries. As a result, their negative impacts on ecosystems can have serious implications to those least equipped for coping with the low crop yields and reduced water quality that can result from acid sulfate soil disturbance. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment called on by the United Nations in 2000 emphasised the importance of ecosystems for human health and well-being. These include the service they provide as sources of food and water, through the control of pollution and disease, as well as for the cultural services ecosystems provide. While the problems related to agriculture, aquaculture and the environment have been the focus of many acid sulfate soil management efforts, the connection to human health has largely been ignored. This paper presents the potential health issues of acid sulfate soils, in relation to the ecosystem services identified in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. It is recognised that significant implications on food security and livelihood can result, as well as on community cohesiveness and the spread of vector-borne disease. However, the connection between these outcomes and acid sulfate soils is often not obvious and it is therefore argued that the impact of such soils on human well-being needs to be recognised in order to raise awareness among the public and decision makers, to in turn facilitate proper management and avoid potential human ill-health.

Assessment of human respiration patterns via noncontact sensing using Doppler multi-radar system.

Science.gov (United States)

Gu, Changzhan; Li, Changzhi

2015-03-16

Human respiratory patterns at chest and abdomen are associated with both physical and emotional states. Accurate measurement of the respiratory patterns provides an approach to assess and analyze the physical and emotional states of the subject persons. Not many research efforts have been made to wirelessly assess different respiration patterns, largely due to the inaccuracy of the conventional continuous-wave radar sensor to track the original signal pattern of slow respiratory movements. This paper presents the accurate assessment of different respiratory patterns based on noncontact Doppler radar sensing. This paper evaluates the feasibility of accurately monitoring different human respiration patterns via noncontact radar sensing. A 2.4 GHz DC coupled multi-radar system was used for accurate measurement of the complete respiration patterns without any signal distortion. Experiments were carried out in the lab environment to measure the different respiration patterns when the subject person performed natural breathing, chest breathing and diaphragmatic breathing. The experimental results showed that accurate assessment of different respiration patterns is feasible using the proposed noncontact radar sensing technique.

A Tool for Assessing the Text Legibility of Digital Human Machine Interfaces

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roger Lew; Ronald L. Boring; Thomas A. Ulrich

2015-08-01

A tool intended to aid qualified professionals in the assessment of the legibility of text presented on a digital display is described. The assessment of legibility is primarily for the purposes of designing and analyzing human machine interfaces in accordance with NUREG-0700 and MIL-STD 1472G. The tool addresses shortcomings of existing guidelines by providing more accurate metrics of text legibility with greater sensitivity to design alternatives.

The Socio-ecological Fit of Human Responses to Environmental Degradation: An Integrated Assessment Methodology.

Science.gov (United States)

Briassoulis, Helen

2015-12-01

The scientific and policy interest in the human responses to environmental degradation usually focuses on responses sensu stricto and 'best practices' that potentially abate degradation in affected areas. The transfer of individual, discrete instruments and 'best practices' to different contexts is challenging, however, because socio-ecological systems are complex and environmental degradation is contextual and contingent. To sensibly assess the effectiveness of formal and informal interventions to combat environmental degradation, the paper proposes an integrative, non-reductionist analytic, the 'response assemblage', for the study of 'responses-in-context,' i.e., products of human decisions to utilize environmental resources to satisfy human needs in socio-ecological systems. Response assemblages are defined as geographically and historically unique, provisional, open, territorial wholes, complex compositions emerging from processes of assembling biophysical and human components, including responses sensu stricto, from affected focal and other socio-ecological systems, to serve human goals, one of which may be combatting environmental degradation. The degree of match among the components, called the socio-ecological fit of the response assemblage, indicates how effectively their contextual and contingent interactions maintain the socio-ecological resilience, promote sustainable development, and secure the continuous provision of ecosystem services in a focal socio-ecological system. The paper presents a conceptual approach to the analysis of the socio-ecological fit of response assemblages and details an integrated assessment methodology synthesizing the resilience, assemblage, and 'problem of fit' literature. Lastly, it summarizes the novelty, value, and policy relevance of conceptualizing human responses as response assemblages and of the integrated assessment methodology, reconsiders 'best practices' and suggests selected future research directions.

A Unified Probabilistic Framework for Dose-Response Assessment of Human Health Effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Chiu, Weihsueh A; Slob, Wout

2015-12-01

When chemical health hazards have been identified, probabilistic dose-response assessment ("hazard characterization") quantifies uncertainty and/or variability in toxicity as a function of human exposure. Existing probabilistic approaches differ for different types of endpoints or modes-of-action, lacking a unifying framework. We developed a unified framework for probabilistic dose-response assessment. We established a framework based on four principles: a) individual and population dose responses are distinct; b) dose-response relationships for all (including quantal) endpoints can be recast as relating to an underlying continuous measure of response at the individual level; c) for effects relevant to humans, "effect metrics" can be specified to define "toxicologically equivalent" sizes for this underlying individual response; and d) dose-response assessment requires making adjustments and accounting for uncertainty and variability. We then derived a step-by-step probabilistic approach for dose-response assessment of animal toxicology data similar to how nonprobabilistic reference doses are derived, illustrating the approach with example non-cancer and cancer datasets. Probabilistically derived exposure limits are based on estimating a "target human dose" (HDMI), which requires risk management-informed choices for the magnitude (M) of individual effect being protected against, the remaining incidence (I) of individuals with effects ≥ M in the population, and the percent confidence. In the example datasets, probabilistically derived 90% confidence intervals for HDMI values span a 40- to 60-fold range, where I = 1% of the population experiences ≥ M = 1%-10% effect sizes. Although some implementation challenges remain, this unified probabilistic framework can provide substantially more complete and transparent characterization of chemical hazards and support better-informed risk management decisions.

An Environmental Risk Assessment for Human-Use Trimethoprim in European Surface Waters

Science.gov (United States)

Straub, Jürg Oliver

2013-01-01

An environmental risk assessment (ERA) for the aquatic compartment in Europe from human use was developed for the old antibiotic Trimethoprim (TMP), comparing exposure and effects. The exposure assessment is based on European risk assessment default values on one hand and is refined with documented human use figures in Western Europe from IMS Health and measured removal in wastewater treatment on the other. The resulting predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) are compared with measured environmental concentrations (MECs) from Europe, based on a large dataset incorporating more than 1800 single MECs. On the effects side, available chronic ecotoxicity data from the literature were complemented by additional, new chronic results for fish and other organisms. Based on these data, chronic-based deterministic predicted no effect concentrations (PNECs) were derived as well as two different probabilistic PNEC ranges. The ERA compares surface water PECs and MECs with aquatic PNECs for TMP. Based on all the risk characterization ratios (PEC÷PNEC as well as MEC÷PNEC) and risk graphs, there is no significant risk to surface waters. PMID:27029296

An Environmental Risk Assessment for Human-Use Trimethoprim in European Surface Waters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jürg Oliver Straub

2013-03-01

Full Text Available An environmental risk assessment (ERA for the aquatic compartment in Europe from human use was developed for the old antibiotic Trimethoprim (TMP, comparing exposure and effects. The exposure assessment is based on European risk assessment default values on one hand and is refined with documented human use figures in Western Europe from IMS Health and measured removal in wastewater treatment on the other. The resulting predicted environmental concentrations (PECs are compared with measured environmental concentrations (MECs from Europe, based on a large dataset incorporating more than 1800 single MECs. On the effects side, available chronic ecotoxicity data from the literature were complemented by additional, new chronic results for fish and other organisms. Based on these data, chronic-based deterministic predicted no effect concentrations (PNECs were derived as well as two different probabilistic PNEC ranges. The ERA compares surface water PECs and MECs with aquatic PNECs for TMP. Based on all the risk characterization ratios (PEC÷PNEC as well as MEC÷PNEC and risk graphs, there is no significant risk to surface waters.

Comparative pathophysiology, toxicology, and human cancer risk assessment of pharmaceutical-induced hibernoma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Radi, Zaher; Bartholomew, Phillip; Elwell, Michael; Vogel, W. Mark

2013-01-01

In humans, hibernoma is a very rare, benign neoplasm of brown adipose tissue (BAT) that typically occurs at subcutaneous locations and is successfully treated by surgical excision. No single cause has been accepted to explain these very rare human tumors. In contrast, spontaneous hibernoma in rats is rare, often malignant, usually occurs in the thoracic or abdominal cavity, and metastases are common. In recent years, there has been an increased incidence of spontaneous hibernomas in rat carcinogenicity studies, but overall the occurrence remains relatively low and highly variable across studies. There have only been four reported examples of pharmaceutical-induced hibernoma in rat carcinogenicity studies. These include phentolamine, an alpha-adrenergic antagonist; varenicline, a nicotine partial agonist; tofacitinib, a Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor; and hydromorphone, an opiod analgesic. Potential non-genotoxic mechanisms that may contribute to the pathogenesis of BAT activation/proliferation and/or subsequent hibernoma development in rats include: (1) physiological stimuli, (2) sympathetic stimulation, (3) peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) agonism, and/or (4) interference or inhibition of JAK/Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (JAK/STAT) signaling. The evaluation of an apparent increase of hibernoma in rats from 2-year carcinogenicity studies of novel pharmaceutical therapeutics and its relevance to human safety risk assessment is complex. One should consider: the genotoxicity of the test article, dose/exposure and safety margins, and pathophysiologic and morphologic differences and similarities of hibernoma between rats and humans. Hibernomas observed to date in carcinogenicity studies of pharmaceutical agents do not appear to be relevant for human risk at therapeutic dosages. - Highlights: • Highly variable incidence of spontaneous hibernoma in carcinogenicity studies • Recent increase in the spontaneous incidence of hibernomas

Comparative pathophysiology, toxicology, and human cancer risk assessment of pharmaceutical-induced hibernoma

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Radi, Zaher, E-mail: zaher.radi@pfizer.com [Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development, Drug Safety R and D, 1 Burtt Rd., Andover, MA 01810 (United States); Bartholomew, Phillip, E-mail: phillip.m.bartholomew@pfizer.com [Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development, Drug Safety R and D, Eastern Point Road, Groton, CT 06340 (United States); Elwell, Michael, E-mail: michael.elwell@covance.com [Covance Laboratories, Chantilly, VA 20151 (United States); Vogel, W. Mark, E-mail: w.mark.vogel@pfizer.com [Pfizer Worldwide Research and Development, Drug Safety R and D, 1 Burtt Rd., Andover, MA 01810 (United States)

2013-12-15

In humans, hibernoma is a very rare, benign neoplasm of brown adipose tissue (BAT) that typically occurs at subcutaneous locations and is successfully treated by surgical excision. No single cause has been accepted to explain these very rare human tumors. In contrast, spontaneous hibernoma in rats is rare, often malignant, usually occurs in the thoracic or abdominal cavity, and metastases are common. In recent years, there has been an increased incidence of spontaneous hibernomas in rat carcinogenicity studies, but overall the occurrence remains relatively low and highly variable across studies. There have only been four reported examples of pharmaceutical-induced hibernoma in rat carcinogenicity studies. These include phentolamine, an alpha-adrenergic antagonist; varenicline, a nicotine partial agonist; tofacitinib, a Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor; and hydromorphone, an opiod analgesic. Potential non-genotoxic mechanisms that may contribute to the pathogenesis of BAT activation/proliferation and/or subsequent hibernoma development in rats include: (1) physiological stimuli, (2) sympathetic stimulation, (3) peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) agonism, and/or (4) interference or inhibition of JAK/Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (JAK/STAT) signaling. The evaluation of an apparent increase of hibernoma in rats from 2-year carcinogenicity studies of novel pharmaceutical therapeutics and its relevance to human safety risk assessment is complex. One should consider: the genotoxicity of the test article, dose/exposure and safety margins, and pathophysiologic and morphologic differences and similarities of hibernoma between rats and humans. Hibernomas observed to date in carcinogenicity studies of pharmaceutical agents do not appear to be relevant for human risk at therapeutic dosages. - Highlights: • Highly variable incidence of spontaneous hibernoma in carcinogenicity studies • Recent increase in the spontaneous incidence of hibernomas

A review of human biomonitoring data used in regulatory risk assessment under Canada's Chemicals Management Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Zidek, Angelika; Macey, Kristin; MacKinnon, Leona; Patel, Mikin; Poddalgoda, Devika; Zhang, Yi

2017-03-01

As a part of the Chemicals Management Plan launched in 2006, the Government of Canada is assessing and managing, where appropriate, the potential health and ecological risks associated with approximately 4300 substances under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (1999). Since that time, nearly 3000 substances have been assessed, with human biomonitoring (HBM) data playing an increasingly important role for some substances. Case studies are presented, including both inorganic and organic substances (i.e., selenium, triclosan, phthalates), which highlight the impact and overall role HBM has had in regulatory decision making in Canada for these three substances as well as criteria used in the application of HBM data in human health risk assessment. An overview of its limitations in terms of how and when HBM data can be applied, when assessing human health in a regulatory setting, is discussed as well as the role HBM data can play in priority setting. Crown Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Final report on the Project Research 'Assessment of Human Exposure to Environmental Radiation'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1989-03-01

This is the final report of the Project Research, 'Assessment of Human Exposure to Environmental Radiation', which has been conducted during the period 1983-1988. With the objective of assessing risk of environmental radioactivity to the population, the Project was divided into the following five research groups: (1) research for establishing calculation models and parameters in transfer of radionuclides from crop species through the human body; (2) research for analyzing transfer of radionuclides in the ocean and their contributions to exposure doses in the human body; (3) research for surveying accuracy of exposure models for the external body and respiratory organ and the influential factors; (4) research for determining uptake and biokinetics of radionuclides in the body; and (5) research for estimating and evaluating physical and physiological characteristics of reference Japanese man and the populaltion doses. Effluents from nuclear power plants and reprocessing plants were regarded as radionuclide sources in the water and atmosphere. (N.K.)

Biosafety assessment of probiotics used for human consumption: recommendations from the EU-PROSAFE project

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vankerckhoven, V.; Huys, G.; Vancanneyt, M.; Vael, C.; Klare, I.; Romond, M.B.; Entenza, J.M.; Moreillon, P.; Wind, R.D.; Knol, J.; Wiertz, E.; Pot, B.; Vaughan, E.E.; Kahlmeter, G.; Goossens, H.

2008-01-01

On June 26-27, 2006, 60 academic and industry scientists gathered during the PROSAFE workshop to discuss recommendations on taxonomy, antibiotic resistance, in vitro assessment of virulence and in vivo assessment of safety of probiotics used for human consumption. For identification of lactic acid

Biocides Steering Group on human exposure assessment: a preliminary report.

Science.gov (United States)

van Hemmen, J J

1999-06-30

In a project granted by DG XI of the European Commission, it is attempted to collate experimental and theoretical data on human (workers and consumers) exposure assessment to biocidal products, and to outline the methodology for sampling and measurement. On the basis of the available evidence, approaches are presented for the exposure assessment to be used for estimation of risks in authorization procedures under the recently accepted Directive 98/8/EC. Gaps in knowledge are indicated, making it possible to study the issues involved in a comprehensive and cost-effective way. Some recommendations are given on how to best do this. The current project has been detailed in a final report.

Reproducibility and Transparency of Omics Research - Impacts on Human Health Risk Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Omics technologies are becoming more widely used in toxicology, necessitating their consideration in human health hazard and risk assessment programs. Today, risk assessors in the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Toxicologi...

Rethinking risk assessment for emerging technology first-in-human trials.

Science.gov (United States)

Genske, Anna; Engel-Glatter, Sabrina

2016-03-01

Recent progress in synthetic biology (SynBio) has enabled the development of novel therapeutic opportunities for the treatment of human disease. In the near future, first-in-human trials (FIH) will be indicated. FIH trials mark a key milestone in the translation of medical SynBio applications into clinical practice. Fostered by uncertainty of possible adverse events for trial participants, a variety of ethical concerns emerge with regards to SynBio FIH trials, including 'risk' minimization. These concerns are associated with any FIH trial, however, due to the novelty of the approach, they become more pronounced for medical applications of emerging technologies (emTech) like SynBio. To minimize potential harm for trial participants, scholars, guidelines, regulations and policy makers alike suggest using 'risk assessment' as evaluation tool for such trials. Conversely, in the context of emTech FIH trials, we believe it to be at least questionable to contextualize uncertainty of potential adverse events as 'risk' and apply traditional risk assessment methods. Hence, this issue needs to be discussed to enable alterations of the evaluation process before the translational phase of SynBio applications begins. In this paper, we will take the opportunity to start the debate and highlight how a misunderstanding of the concept of risk, and the possibilities and limitations of risk assessment, respectively, might impair decision-making by the relevant regulatory authorities and research ethics committees, and discuss possible solutions to tackle the issue.

Probabilistic safety assessment model in consideration of human factors based on object-oriented bayesian networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Zhongbao; Zhou Jinglun; Sun Quan

2007-01-01

Effect of Human factors on system safety is increasingly serious, which is often ignored in traditional probabilistic safety assessment methods however. A new probabilistic safety assessment model based on object-oriented Bayesian networks is proposed in this paper. Human factors are integrated into the existed event sequence diagrams. Then the classes of the object-oriented Bayesian networks are constructed which are converted to latent Bayesian networks for inference. Finally, the inference results are integrated into event sequence diagrams for probabilistic safety assessment. The new method is applied to the accident of loss of coolant in a nuclear power plant. the results show that the model is not only applicable to real-time situation assessment, but also applicable to situation assessment based certain amount of information. The modeling complexity is kept down and the new method is appropriate to large complex systems due to the thoughts of object-oriented. (authors)

Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) for Environmental Development and Transfer of Antibiotic Resistance

Science.gov (United States)

Amézquita, Alejandro; Backhaus, Thomas; Borriello, Peter; Brandt, Kristian K.; Collignon, Peter; Coors, Anja; Finley, Rita; Gaze, William H.; Heberer, Thomas; Lawrence, John R.; Larsson, D.G. Joakim; McEwen, Scott A.; Ryan, James J.; Schönfeld, Jens; Silley, Peter; Snape, Jason R.; Van den Eede, Christel; Topp, Edward

2013-01-01

Background: Only recently has the environment been clearly implicated in the risk of antibiotic resistance to clinical outcome, but to date there have been few documented approaches to formally assess these risks. Objective: We examined possible approaches and sought to identify research needs to enable human health risk assessments (HHRA) that focus on the role of the environment in the failure of antibiotic treatment caused by antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Methods: The authors participated in a workshop held 4–8 March 2012 in Québec, Canada, to define the scope and objectives of an environmental assessment of antibiotic-resistance risks to human health. We focused on key elements of environmental-resistance-development “hot spots,” exposure assessment (unrelated to food), and dose response to characterize risks that may improve antibiotic-resistance management options. Discussion: Various novel aspects to traditional risk assessments were identified to enable an assessment of environmental antibiotic resistance. These include a) accounting for an added selective pressure on the environmental resistome that, over time, allows for development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB); b) identifying and describing rates of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in the relevant environmental “hot spot” compartments; and c) modifying traditional dose–response approaches to address doses of ARB for various health outcomes and pathways. Conclusions: We propose that environmental aspects of antibiotic-resistance development be included in the processes of any HHRA addressing ARB. Because of limited available data, a multicriteria decision analysis approach would be a useful way to undertake an HHRA of environmental antibiotic resistance that informs risk managers. Citation: Ashbolt NJ, Amézquita A, Backhaus T, Borriello P, Brandt KK, Collignon P, Coors A, Finley R, Gaze WH, Heberer T, Lawrence JR, Larsson DG, McEwen SA, Ryan JJ, Schönfeld J, Silley P, Snape JR

Handling of future human actions in the safety assessment SR-Can

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moren, Lena

2006-10-01

This report documents the future human actions (FHA) considered in the long-term safety analysis of a KBS-3 repository. The report is one of the supporting documents to the safety assessment SR-Can. The purpose of this report is to provide an account of: General considerations concerning FHA; The methodology applied in SR-Can to assess FHA; The aspects of FHA that need to be considered in the evaluation of their impact on a deep geological repository; and The selection of representative scenarios for illustrative consequence analysis

Handling of future human actions in the safety assessment SR-Can

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moren, Lena

2006-10-15

This report documents the future human actions (FHA) considered in the long-term safety analysis of a KBS-3 repository. The report is one of the supporting documents to the safety assessment SR-Can. The purpose of this report is to provide an account of: General considerations concerning FHA; The methodology applied in SR-Can to assess FHA; The aspects of FHA that need to be considered in the evaluation of their impact on a deep geological repository; and The selection of representative scenarios for illustrative consequence analysis.

Human Capital: A Self-Assessment Checklist for Agency Leaders. Version 1.

Science.gov (United States)

Comptroller General of the U.S., Washington, DC.

This document presents and discusses a self-assessment checklist that the General Accounting Office (GAO) developed to enable agency leaders to examine their human capital efforts through a process consisting of the following stages: analyze and plan; implement change; and evaluate and continuously improve. The preface defines the term "human…

Risk assessment of human health from exposure to the discharged ballast water after full-scale electrolysis treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Nahui; Wang, Yidan; Xue, Junzeng; Yuan, Lin; Wang, Qiong; Liu, Liang; Wu, Huixian; Hu, Kefeng

2016-06-01

The presence of disinfection by-products (DBPs) releasing from ballast water management systems (BWMS) can cause a possible adverse effects on humans. The objectives of this study were to compute the Derived No Effect Levels (DNELs) for different exposure scenarios and to compare these levels with the exposure levels from the measured DBPs in treated ballast water. The risk assessment showed that when using animal toxicity data, all the DNELs values were approximately 10(3)-10(12) times higher than the exposure levels of occupational and general public exposure scenarios, indicating the level of risk was low (risk characterization ratios (RCRs) < 1). However, when using human data, the RCRs were higher than 1 for dichlorobromomethane and trichloromethane, indicating that the risk of adverse effects on human were significant. This implies that there are apparent discrepancies between risk characterization from animal and human data, which may affect the overall results. We therefore recommend that when appropriate, human data should be used in risk assessment as much as possible, although human data are very limited. Moreover, more appropriate assessment factors can be considered to be employed in estimating the DNELs for human when the animal data is selected as the dose descriptors. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Evolution of Integrated Assessment and Emerging Challenges in the Assessment of Human and Natural System Interactions

Science.gov (United States)

Clarke, L.

2017-12-01

Integrated assessment (IA) modeling and research has a long history, spanning over 30 years since its inception and addressing a wide range of contemporary issues along the way. Over the last decade, IA modeling and research has emerged as one of the primary analytical methods for understanding the complex interactions between human and natural systems, from the interactions between energy, water, and land/food systems to the interplay between health, climate, and air pollution. IA modeling and research is particularly well-suited for the analysis of these interactions because it is a discipline that strives to integrate representations of multiple systems into consistent computational platforms or frameworks. In doing so, it explicitly confronts the many tradeoffs that are frequently necessary to manage complexity and computational cost while still representing the most important interactions and overall, coupled system behavior. This talk explores the history of IA modeling and research as a means to better understand its role in the assessment of contemporary issues at the confluence of human and natural systems. It traces the evolution of IA modeling and research from initial exploration of long-term emissions pathways, to the role of technology in the global evolution of the energy system, to the key linkages between land and energy systems and, more recently, the linkages with water, air pollution, and other key systems and issues. It discusses the advances in modeling that have emerged over this evolution and the biggest challenges that still present themselves as we strive to better understand the most important interactions between human and natural systems and the implications of these interactions for human welfare and decision making.

New approaches in human health risk assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Khaled Abass

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Studies on the precise impact of environmental pollutants on human health are difficult to undertake and interpret, because many genetic and environmental factors influence health at the same time and to varying degrees. Our chapter in the AMAP report was based on new approaches to describe risks and future needs. In this paper, we will introduce the issues associated with risk assessment of single chemicals, and present suggestions for future studies as well as a summary of lessons learned during the health-related parts of the European Union-funded FP7 project ArcRisk (Arctic Health Risks: Impacts on health in the Arctic and Europe owing to climate-induced changes in contaminant cycling, 2009–2014; www.arcrisk.eu.

Biomonitoring of the mycotoxin Zearalenone: current state-of-the art and application to human exposure assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Mally, Angela; Solfrizzo, Michele; Degen, Gisela H

2016-06-01

Zearalenone (ZEN), a mycotoxin with high estrogenic activity in vitro and in vivo, is a widespread food contaminant that is commonly detected in maize, wheat, barley, sorghum, rye and other grains. Human exposure estimates based on analytical data on ZEN occurrence in various food categories and food consumption data suggest that human exposure to ZEN and modified forms of ZEN may be close to or even exceed the tolerable daily intake (TDI) derived by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for some consumer groups. Considering the inherent uncertainties in estimating dietary intake of ZEN that may lead to an under- or overestimation of ZEN exposure and consequently human risk and current lack of data on vulnerable consumer groups, there is a clear need for more comprehensive and reliable exposure data to refine ZEN risk assessment. Human biomonitoring (HBM) is increasingly being recognized as an efficient and cost-effective way of assessing human exposure to food contaminants, including mycotoxins. Based on animal and (limited) human data on the toxicokinetics of ZEN, it appears that excretion of ZEN and its major metabolites may present suitable biomarkers of ZEN exposure. In view of the limitations of available dietary exposure data on ZEN and its modified forms, the purpose of this review is to provide an overview of recent studies utilizing HBM to monitor and assess human exposure to ZEN. Considerations are given to animal and human toxicokinetic data relevant to HBM, analytical methods, and available HBM data on urinary biomarkers of ZEN exposure in different cohorts.

Immunotoxicity assessment of rice-derived recombinant human serum albumin using human peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kai Fu

Full Text Available Human serum albumin (HSA is extensively used in clinics to treat a variety of diseases, such as hypoproteinemia, hemorrhagic shock, serious burn injuries, cirrhotic ascites and fetal erythroblastosis. To address supply shortages and high safety risks from limited human donors, we recently developed recombinant technology to produce HSA from rice endosperm. To assess the risk potential of HSA derived from Oryza sativa (OsrHSA before a First-in-human (FIH trial, we compared OsrHSA and plasma-derived HSA (pHSA, evaluating the potential for an immune reaction and toxicity using human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs. The results indicated that neither OsrHSA nor pHSA stimulated T cell proliferation at 1x and 5x dosages. We also found no significant differences in the profiles of the CD4(+ and CD8(+ T cell subsets between OsrHSA- and pHSA-treated cells. Furthermore, the results showed that there were no significant differences between OsrHSA and pHSA in the production of cytokines such as interferon-gamma (IFN-γ, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α, interleukin (IL-10 and IL-4. Our results demonstrated that OsrHSA has equivalent immunotoxicity to pHSA when using the PBMC model. Moreover, this ex vivo system could provide an alternative approach to predict potential risks in novel biopharmaceutical development.

A study on the dependency evaluation for multiple human actions in human reliability analysis of probabilistic safety assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kang, D. I.; Yang, J. E.; Jung, W. D.; Sung, T. Y.; Park, J. H.; Lee, Y. H.; Hwang, M. J.; Kim, K. Y.; Jin, Y. H.; Kim, S. C.

1997-02-01

This report describes the study results on the method of the dependency evaluation and the modeling, and the limited value of human error probability (HEP) for multiple human actions in accident sequences of probabilistic safety assessment (PSA). THERP and Parry's method, which have been generally used in dependency evaluation of human reliability analysis (HRA), are introduced and their limitations are discussed. New dependency evaluation method in HRA is established to make up for the weak points of THERP and Parry's methods. The limited value of HEP is also established based on the review of several HRA related documents. This report describes the definition, the type, the evaluation method, and the evaluation example of dependency to help the reader's understanding. It is expected that this study results will give a guidance to HRA analysts in dependency evaluation of multiple human actions and enable PSA analysts to understand HRA in detail. (author). 23 refs., 3 tabs., 2 figs

Contents of a regulatory strategy for assessing future human actions in the safety evaluation of a repository for spent fuels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilmot, R.D.; Wickham, S.M.; Galson, D.A.

2001-08-01

The objective of this report is to discuss issues that should be considered in the development of a regulatory strategy for assessing future human actions in any forthcoming license application for a deep repository for spent fuel in Sweden and for sites of other repositories. The report comprises an outline of key issues concerning the treatment of future human actions in safety assessment, reviews of regulatory developments, recent safety assessments and supporting studies, and international initiatives on the treatment of future human actions in safety assessment, and the principal elements of a regulatory strategy. Performance assessments (PAs) are generally accepted as providing illustrations of system performance under given sets of assumptions. The results of PAs are clearer and easier to understand if certain large uncertainties are accounted for by determining performance under several different sets of assumptions or scenarios, each of which defines a possible evolution of the disposal system. A number of assumptions can be made that would restrict the scope of an assessment without reducing the credibility of the corresponding safety case. Reducing speculation about technological development, by assuming that the techniques used in future human activities are similar to those currently in use in the region or at similar sites, will simplify the assessment. A distinction is generally made between inadvertent and intentional intrusion, with intentional activities excluded because society cannot protect future populations from their own actions if they understand the potential consequences. A division of human activities into 'recent and ongoing' and 'future' activities considers not only the timing of the activities but also the degree of control or influence that can be imposed on them. Recent and ongoing human activities are those that affect an area beyond the immediate vicinity of the disposal facility and which neither the proponent nor the regulator

Assessment of bullet effectiveness based on a human vulnerability model.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Susu; Xu, C; Wen, Y; Li, G; Zhou, J

2017-12-25

Penetrating wounds from explosively propelled fragments and bullets are the most common causes of combat injury. There is a requirement to assess the potential effectiveness of bullets penetrating human tissues in order to optimise preventive measures and wound trauma management. An advanced voxel model based on the Chinese Visible Human data was built. A digital human vulnerability model was established in combination with wound reconstruction and vulnerability assessment rules, in which wound penetration profiles were obtained by recreating the penetration of projectiles into ballistic gelatin. An effectiveness evaluation method of bullet penetration using the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) was developed and solved using the Monte Carlo sampling method. The effectiveness of rifle bullets was demonstrated to increase with increasing velocity in the range of 300-700 m/s. When imparting the same energy, the effectiveness of the 5.56 mm bullet was higher than the 7.62 mm bullet in this model. The superimposition of simulant penetration profiles produced from ballistic gelatin simulant has been used to predict wound tracts in damaged tissues. The authors recognise that determining clinical effectiveness based on the AIS scores alone without verification of outcome by review of clinical hospital records means that this technique should be seen more as a manner of comparing the effectiveness of bullets than an injury prediction model. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Assessment of sources of human pathogens and fecal contamination in a Florida freshwater lake.

Science.gov (United States)

Staley, Christopher; Reckhow, Kenneth H; Lukasik, Jerzy; Harwood, Valerie J

2012-11-01

We investigated the potential for a variety of environmental reservoirs to harbor or contribute fecal indicator bacteria (FIB), DNA markers of human fecal contamination, and human pathogens to a freshwater lake. We hypothesized that submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV), sediments, and stormwater act as reservoirs and/or provide inputs of FIB and human pathogens to this inland water. Analysis included microbial source tracking (MST) markers of sewage contamination (Enterococcus faecium esp gene, human-associated Bacteroides HF183, and human polyomaviruses), pathogens (Salmonella, Cryptosporidium, Giardia, and enteric viruses), and FIB (fecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, and enterococci). Bayesian analysis was used to assess relationships among microbial and physicochemical variables. FIB in the water were correlated with concentrations in SAV and sediment. Furthermore, the correlation of antecedent rainfall and major rain events with FIB concentrations and detection of human markers and pathogens points toward multiple reservoirs for microbial contaminants in this system. Although pathogens and human-source markers were detected in 55% and 21% of samples, respectively, markers rarely coincided with pathogen detection. Bayesian analysis revealed that low concentrations (<45 CFU × 100 ml(-1)) of fecal coliforms were associated with 93% probability that pathogens would not be detected; furthermore the Bayes net model showed associations between elevated temperature and rainfall with fecal coliform and enterococci concentrations, but not E. coli. These data indicate that many under-studied matrices (e.g. SAV, sediment, stormwater) are important reservoirs for FIB and potentially human pathogens and demonstrate the usefulness of Bayes net analysis for water quality assessment. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Indicators for human toxicity in Life Cycle Impact Assessment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krewitt, Wolfram; Pennington, David W.; Olsen, Stig Irving

2002-01-01

The main objectives of this task group under SETAC-Europe’s Second Working Group on Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA-WIA2) were to identify and discuss the suitability of toxicological impact measures for human health for use in characterization in LCIA. The current state of the art of defining......, as well as potency. Quantitative severity-based indicators yield measures in terms of Years of Life Lost (YOLL), Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY), Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALY) and other similar measures. DALYs and QALYs are examples of approaches that attempt to account for both years of life...... such as No Observed Effect Levels (NOEL). NOELs, and similar data, are determined in laboratory studies using rodents and are then extrapolated to more relevant human measures. Many examples also exist of measures and methods beyond potency-based indicators that attempt to account for differences in expected severity...

Humans rely on the same rules to assess emotional valence and intensity in conspecific and dog vocalizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Faragó, Tamás; Andics, Attila; Devecseri, Viktor; Kis, Anna; Gácsi, Márta; Miklósi, Adám

2014-01-01

Humans excel at assessing conspecific emotional valence and intensity, based solely on non-verbal vocal bursts that are also common in other mammals. It is not known, however, whether human listeners rely on similar acoustic cues to assess emotional content in conspecific and heterospecific vocalizations, and which acoustical parameters affect their performance. Here, for the first time, we directly compared the emotional valence and intensity perception of dog and human non-verbal vocalizations. We revealed similar relationships between acoustic features and emotional valence and intensity ratings of human and dog vocalizations: those with shorter call lengths were rated as more positive, whereas those with a higher pitch were rated as more intense. Our findings demonstrate that humans rate conspecific emotional vocalizations along basic acoustic rules, and that they apply similar rules when processing dog vocal expressions. This suggests that humans may utilize similar mental mechanisms for recognizing human and heterospecific vocal emotions.

Human performance analysis in the frame of probabilistic safety assessment of research reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Farcasiu, Mita; Nitoi, Mirela; Apostol, Minodora; Turcu, I.; Florescu, Gh.

2005-01-01

Full text: The analysis of operating experience has identified the importance of human performance in reliability and safety of research reactors. In Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) of nuclear facilities, human performance analysis (HPA) is used in order to estimate human error contribution to the failure of system components or functions. HPA is a qualitative and quantitative analysis of human actions identified for error-likely situations or accident-prone situations. Qualitative analysis is used to identify all man-machine interfaces that can lead to an accident, types of human interactions which may mitigate or exacerbate the accident, types of human errors and performance shaping factors. Quantitative analysis is used to develop estimates of human error probability as effects of human performance in reliability and safety. The goal of this paper is to accomplish a HPA in the PSA frame for research reactors. Human error probabilities estimated as results of human actions analysis could be included in system event tree and/or system fault tree. The achieved sensitivity analyses determine human performance sensibility at systematically variations both for dependencies level between human actions and for operator stress level. The necessary information was obtained from operating experience of research reactor TRIGA from INR Pitesti. The required data were obtained from generic data bases. (authors)

Comparison of models used for ecological risk assessment and human health risk assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ryti, R.T.; Gallegos, A.F.

1994-01-01

Models are used to derive action levels for site screening, or to estimate potential ecological or human health risks posed by potentially hazardous sites. At the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), which is RCRA-regulated, the human-health screening action levels are based on hazardous constituents described in RCRA Subpart S and RESRAD-derived soil guidelines (based on 10 mRem/year) for radiological constituents. Also, an ecological risk screening model was developed for a former firing site, where the primary constituents include depleted uranium, beryllium and lead. Sites that fail the screening models are evaluated with site-specific human risk assessment (using RESRAD and other approaches) and a detailed ecological effect model (ECOTRAN). ECOTRAN is based on pharmacokinetics transport modeling within a multitrophic-level biological-growth dynamics model. ECOTRAN provides detailed temporal records of contaminant concentrations in biota, and annual averages of these body burdens are compared to equivalent site-specific runs of the RESRAD model. The results show that thoughtful interpretation of the results of these models must be applied before they can be used for evaluation of current risk posed by sites and the benefits of various remedial options. This presentation compares the concentrations of biological media in the RESRAD screening runs to the concentrations in ecological endpoints predicted by the ecological screening model. The assumptions and limitations of these screening models and the decision process where these are screening models are applied are discussed

Human and animal health risk assessments of chemicals in the food chain: comparative aspects and future perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Dorne, J L C M; Fink-Gremmels, J

2013-08-01

Chemicals from anthropogenic and natural origins enter animal feed, human food and water either as undesirable contaminants or as part of the components of a diet. Over the last five decades, considerable efforts and progress to develop methodologies to protect humans and animals against potential risks associated with exposure to such potentially toxic chemicals have been made. This special issue presents relevant methodological developments and examples of risk assessments of undesirable substances in the food chain integrating the animal health and the human health perspective and refers to recent Opinions of the Scientific Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). This introductory review aims to give a comparative account of the risk assessment steps used in human health and animal health risk assessments for chemicals in the food chain and provides a critical view of the data gaps and future perspectives for this cross-disciplinary field. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Human-Centered C2 Assessment of Model and Simulation Enhanced Planning Tools

Science.gov (United States)

2014-06-01

workload and to monitor workload across the duration of the event. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Task Load Index ( TLX ) (Hart and...Wednesday and Friday). The NASA- TLX is a subjective workload assessment measure that allows users to perform subjective workload assessments on...operator(s) working with various human-machine systems. A multidimensional rating procedure, NASA- TLX derives an overall workload score based on a

Computer program for assessing the human dose due to stationary release of tritium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saito, Masahiro; Raskob, Wolfgang

2003-01-01

The computer program TriStat (Tritium dose assessment for stationary release) has been developed to assess the dose to humans assuming a stationary release of tritium as HTO and/or HT from nuclear facilities. A Gaussian dispersion model describes the behavior of HT gas and HTO vapor in the atmosphere. Tritium concentrations in soil, vegetables and forage were estimated on the basis of specific tritium concentrations in the free water component and the organic component. The uptake of contamination via food by humans was modeled by assuming a forage compartment, a vegetable component, and an animal compartment. A standardized vegetable and a standardized animal with the relative content of major nutrients, i.e. proteins, lipids and carbohydrates, representing a standard Japanese diet, were included. A standardized forage was defined in a similar manner by using the forage composition for typical farm animals. These standard feed- and foodstuffs are useful to simplify the tritium dosimetry and the food chain related to the tritium transfer to the human body. (author)

Integration of human reliability analysis into the probabilistic risk assessment process: Phase 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bell, B.J.; Vickroy, S.C.

1984-10-01

A research program was initiated to develop a testable set of analytical procedures for integrating human reliability analysis (HRA) into the probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) process to more adequately assess the overall impact of human performance on risk. In this three-phase program, stand-alone HRA/PRA analytic procedures will be developed and field evaluated to provide improved methods, techniques, and models for applying quantitative and qualitative human error data which systematically integrate HRA principles, techniques, and analyses throughout the entire PRA process. Phase 1 of the program involved analysis of state-of-the-art PRAs to define the structures and processes currently in use in the industry. Phase 2 research will involve developing a new or revised PRA methodology which will enable more efficient regulation of the industry using quantitative or qualitative results of the PRA. Finally, Phase 3 will be to field test those procedures to assure that the results generated by the new methodologies will be usable and acceptable to the NRC. This paper briefly describes the first phase of the program and outlines the second

Assessment of human health hazard due to metal uptake via fish ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Assessment of human health hazard due to metal uptake via fish consumption from coastal area of Tanzania. ... The result shows that the concentration and THQ of As in all fish samples ranges from 1.173 – 2.325 which is > 1, hence signified that a daily exposure at this level are in risk of cancer during a person lifetime.

Assessing human skin with diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and colorimetry

Science.gov (United States)

Seo, InSeok; Liu, Yang; Bargo, Paulo R.; Kollias, Nikiforos

2012-02-01

Colorimetry has been used as an objective measure of perceived skin color by human eye to document and score physiological responses of the skin from external insults. CIE color space values (L*, a* and b*) are the most commonly used parameters to correlate visually perceived color attributes such as L* for pigment, a* for erythema, and b* for sallowness of the skin. In this study, we investigated the relation of Lab color scale to the amount of major skin chromophores (oxy-, deoxyhemoglobin and melanin) calculated from diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Thirty two healthy human subjects with ages from 20 to 70 years old, skin types I-VI, were recruited for the study. DRS and colorimetry measurements were taken from the left and right cheeks, and on the right upper inner arm. The melanin content calculated from 630-700 nm range of DRS measurements was shown to correlate with the lightness of skin (L*) for most skin types. For subjects with medium-to-light complexion, melanin measured at the blue part spectrum and hemoglobin interfered on the relation of lightness of the skin color to the melanin content. The sallowness of the skin that is quantified by the melanin contribution at the blue part spectrum of DRS was found to be related to b* scale. This study demonstrates the importance of documenting skin color by assessing individual skin chromophores with diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, in comparison to colorimetry assessment.

Assessing neurodevelopmental effects of arsenolipids in pre-differentiated human neurons.

Science.gov (United States)

Witt, Barbara; Ebert, Franziska; Meyer, Sören; Francesconi, Kevin A; Schwerdtle, Tanja

2017-11-01

In the general population exposure to arsenic occurs mainly via diet. Highest arsenic concentrations are found in seafood, where arsenic is present predominantly in its organic forms including arsenolipids. Since recent studies have provided evidence that arsenolipids could reach the brain of an organism and exert toxicity in fully differentiated human neurons, this work aims to assess the neurodevelopmental toxicity of arsenolipids. Neurodevelopmental effects of three arsenic-containing hydrocarbons (AsHC), two arsenic-containing fatty acids (AsFA), arsenite and dimethylarsinic acid (DMA V ) were characterized in pre-differentiated human neurons. AsHCs and arsenite caused substantial cytotoxicity in a similar, low concentration range, whereas AsFAs and DMA V were less toxic. AsHCs were highly accessible for cells and exerted pronounced neurodevelopmental effects, with neurite outgrowth and the mitochondrial membrane potential being sensitive endpoints; arsenite did not substantially decrease those two endpoints. In fully differentiated neurons, arsenite and AsHCs caused neurite toxicity. These results indicate for a neurodevelopmental potential of AsHCs. Taken into account the possibility that AsHCs might easily reach the developing brain when exposed during early life, neurotoxicity and neurodevelopmental toxicity cannot be excluded. Further studies are needed in order to progress the urgently needed risk assessment. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Human reliability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Embrey, D.E.

1987-01-01

Concepts and techniques of human reliability have been developed and are used mostly in probabilistic risk assessment. For this, the major application of human reliability assessment has been to identify the human errors which have a significant effect on the overall safety of the system and to quantify the probability of their occurrence. Some of the major issues within human reliability studies are reviewed and it is shown how these are applied to the assessment of human failures in systems. This is done under the following headings; models of human performance used in human reliability assessment, the nature of human error, classification of errors in man-machine systems, practical aspects, human reliability modelling in complex situations, quantification and examination of human reliability, judgement based approaches, holistic techniques and decision analytic approaches. (UK)

Quantifying human exposure to air pollution--moving from static monitoring to spatio-temporally resolved personal exposure assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Steinle, Susanne; Reis, Stefan; Sabel, Clive Eric

2013-01-15

Quantifying human exposure to air pollutants is a challenging task. Ambient concentrations of air pollutants at potentially harmful levels are ubiquitous in urban areas and subject to high spatial and temporal variability. At the same time, every individual has unique activity-patterns. Exposure results from multifaceted relationships and interactions between environmental and human systems, adding complexity to the assessment process. Traditionally, approaches to quantify human exposure have relied on pollutant concentrations from fixed air quality network sites and static population distributions. New developments in sensor technology now enable us to monitor personal exposure to air pollutants directly while people are moving through their activity spaces and varying concentration fields. The literature review on which this paper is based on reflects recent developments in the assessment of human exposure to air pollution. This includes the discussion of methodologies and concepts, and the elaboration of approaches and study designs applied in the field. We identify shortcomings of current approaches and discuss future research needs. We close by proposing a novel conceptual model for the integrated assessment of human exposure to air pollutants taking into account latest technological capabilities and contextual information. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Assessment selection in human-automation interaction studies: The Failure-GAM2E and review of assessment methods for highly automated driving.

Science.gov (United States)

Grane, Camilla

2018-01-01

Highly automated driving will change driver's behavioural patterns. Traditional methods used for assessing manual driving will only be applicable for the parts of human-automation interaction where the driver intervenes such as in hand-over and take-over situations. Therefore, driver behaviour assessment will need to adapt to the new driving scenarios. This paper aims at simplifying the process of selecting appropriate assessment methods. Thirty-five papers were reviewed to examine potential and relevant methods. The review showed that many studies still relies on traditional driving assessment methods. A new method, the Failure-GAM 2 E model, with purpose to aid assessment selection when planning a study, is proposed and exemplified in the paper. Failure-GAM 2 E includes a systematic step-by-step procedure defining the situation, failures (Failure), goals (G), actions (A), subjective methods (M), objective methods (M) and equipment (E). The use of Failure-GAM 2 E in a study example resulted in a well-reasoned assessment plan, a new way of measuring trust through feet movements and a proposed Optimal Risk Management Model. Failure-GAM 2 E and the Optimal Risk Management Model are believed to support the planning process for research studies in the field of human-automation interaction. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dependencies, human interactions and uncertainties in probabilistic safety assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirschberg, S.

1990-01-01

In the context of Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA), three areas were investigated in a 4-year Nordic programme: dependencies with special emphasis on common cause failures, human interactions and uncertainty aspects. The approach was centered around comparative analyses in form of Benchmark/Reference Studies and retrospective reviews. Weak points in available PSAs were identified and recommendations were made aiming at improving consistency of the PSAs. The sensitivity of PSA-results to basic assumptions was demonstrated and the sensitivity to data assignment and to choices of methods for analysis of selected topics was investigated. (author)

Gene expression profiling to identify potentially relevant disease outcomes and support human health risk assessment for carbon black nanoparticle exposure.

Science.gov (United States)

Bourdon, Julie A; Williams, Andrew; Kuo, Byron; Moffat, Ivy; White, Paul A; Halappanavar, Sabina; Vogel, Ulla; Wallin, Håkan; Yauk, Carole L

2013-01-07

New approaches are urgently needed to evaluate potential hazards posed by exposure to nanomaterials. Gene expression profiling provides information on potential modes of action and human relevance, and tools have recently become available for pathway-based quantitative risk assessment. The objective of this study was to use toxicogenomics in the context of human health risk assessment. We explore the utility of toxicogenomics in risk assessment, using published gene expression data from C57BL/6 mice exposed to 18, 54 and 162 μg Printex 90 carbon black nanoparticles (CBNP). Analysis of CBNP-perturbed pathways, networks and transcription factors revealed concomitant changes in predicted phenotypes (e.g., pulmonary inflammation and genotoxicity), that correlated with dose and time. Benchmark doses (BMDs) for apical endpoints were comparable to minimum BMDs for relevant pathway-specific expression changes. Comparison to inflammatory lung disease models (i.e., allergic airway inflammation, bacterial infection and tissue injury and fibrosis) and human disease profiles revealed that induced gene expression changes in Printex 90 exposed mice were similar to those typical for pulmonary injury and fibrosis. Very similar fibrotic pathways were perturbed in CBNP-exposed mice and human fibrosis disease models. Our synthesis demonstrates how toxicogenomic profiles may be used in human health risk assessment of nanoparticles and constitutes an important step forward in the ultimate recognition of toxicogenomic endpoints in human health risk. As our knowledge of molecular pathways, dose-response characteristics and relevance to human disease continues to grow, we anticipate that toxicogenomics will become increasingly useful in assessing chemical toxicities and in human health risk assessment. Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Estimating human exposure to perfluoroalkyl acids via solid food and drinks : Implementation and comparison of different dietary assessment methods

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Papadopoulou, Eleni; Poothong, Somrutai; Koekkoek, Jacco; Lucattini, Luisa; Padilla-Sánchez, Juan Antonio; Haugen, Margaretha; Herzke, Dorte; Valdersnes, Stig; Maage, Amund; Cousins, Ian T.; Leonards, Pim E.G.; Småstuen Haug, Line

2017-01-01

Background Diet is a major source of human exposure to hazardous environmental chemicals, including many perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs). Several assessment methods of dietary exposure to PFAAs have been used previously, but there is a lack of comparisons between methods. Aim To assess human exposure

Systamatic approach to integration of a human reliability analysis into a NPP probabalistic risk assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fragola, J.R.

1984-01-01

This chapter describes the human reliability analysis tasks which were employed in the evaluation of the overall probability of an internal flood sequence and its consequences in terms of disabling vulnerable risk significant equipment. Topics considered include the problem familiarization process, the identification and classification of key human interactions, a human interaction review of potential initiators, a maintenance and operations review, human interaction identification, quantification model selection, the definition of operator-induced sequences, the quantification of specific human interactions, skill- and rule-based interactions, knowledge-based interactions, and the incorporation of human interaction-related events into the event tree structure. It is concluded that an integrated approach to the analysis of human interaction within the context of a Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) is feasible

Impact assessment of ionizing radiation on human and non-human biota from the vicinity of a near-surface radioactive waste repository.

Science.gov (United States)

Nedveckaite, T; Gudelis, A; Vives i Batlle, J

2013-05-01

This work describes the radiological assessment of the near-surface Maisiagala radioactive waste repository (Lithuania) over the period 2005-2012, with focus on water pathways and special emphasis on tritium. The study includes an assessment of the effect of post-closure upgrading, the durability of which is greater than 30 years. Both human and terrestrial non-human biota are considered, with local low-intensity forestry and small farms being the area of concern. The radiological exposure was evaluated using the RESRAD-OFFSITE, RESRAD-BIOTA and ERICA codes in combination with long-term data from a dedicated environmental monitoring programme. All measurements were performed at the Lithuanian Institute of Physics as part of this project. It is determined that, after repository upgrading, radiological exposure to humans are significantly lower than the human dose constraint of 0.2 mSv/year valid in the Republic of Lithuania. Likewise, for non-human biota, dose rates are below the ERICA/PROTECT screening levels. The potential annual effective inhalation dose that could be incurred by the highest-exposed human individual (which is due to tritiated water vapour airborne release over the most exposed area) does not exceed 0.1 μSv. Tritium-labelled drinking water appears to be the main pathway for human impact, representing about 83 % of the exposure. Annual committed effective dose (CED) values for members of the public consuming birch sap as medical practice are calculated to be several orders of magnitude below the CEDs for the same location associated with drinking of well water. The data presented here indicate that upper soil-layer samples may not provide a good indication of potential exposure to terrestrial deep-rooted trees, as demonstrated by an investigation of stratified (3)H in soil moisture, expressed on a wet soil mass basis, in an area with subsurface contamination.

Impact assessment of ionizing radiation on human and non-human biota from the vicinity of a near-surface radioactive waste repository

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nedveckaite, T.; Gudelis, A. [Institute of Physics, Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Vilnius (Lithuania); Vives i Batlle, J. [Belgian Nuclear Research Centre SCK-CEN, Mol (Belgium)

2013-05-15

This work describes the radiological assessment of the near-surface Maisiagala radioactive waste repository (Lithuania) over the period 2005-2012, with focus on water pathways and special emphasis on tritium. The study includes an assessment of the effect of post-closure upgrading, the durability of which is greater than 30 years. Both human and terrestrial non-human biota are considered, with local low-intensity forestry and small farms being the area of concern. The radiological exposure was evaluated using the RESRAD-OFFSITE, RESRAD-BIOTA and ERICA codes in combination with long-term data from a dedicated environmental monitoring programme. All measurements were performed at the Lithuanian Institute of Physics as part of this project. It is determined that, after repository upgrading, radiological exposure to humans are significantly lower than the human dose constraint of 0.2 mSv/year valid in the Republic of Lithuania. Likewise, for non-human biota, dose rates are below the ERICA/PROTECT screening levels. The potential annual effective inhalation dose that could be incurred by the highest-exposed human individual (which is due to tritiated water vapour airborne release over the most exposed area) does not exceed 0.1 μSv. Tritium-labelled drinking water appears to be the main pathway for human impact, representing about 83 % of the exposure. Annual committed effective dose (CED) values for members of the public consuming birch sap as medical practice are calculated to be several orders of magnitude below the CEDs for the same location associated with drinking of well water. The data presented here indicate that upper soil-layer samples may not provide a good indication of potential exposure to terrestrial deep-rooted trees, as demonstrated by an investigation of stratified {sup 3}H in soil moisture, expressed on a wet soil mass basis, in an area with subsurface contamination. (orig.)

A computational method for probabilistic safety assessment of I and C systems and human operators in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Man Cheol; Seong, Poong Hyun

2006-01-01

To make probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) more realistic, the improvements of human reliability analysis (HRA) are essential. But, current HRA methods have many limitations including the lack of considerations on the interdependency between instrumentation and control (I and C) systems and human operators, and lack of theoretical basis for situation assessment of human operators. To overcome these limitations, we propose a new method for the quantitative safety assessment of I and C systems and human operators. The proposed method is developed based on the computational models for the knowledge-driven monitoring and the situation assessment of human operators, with the consideration of the interdependency between I and C systems and human operators. The application of the proposed method to an example situation demonstrates that the quantitative description by the proposed method for a probable scenario well matches with the qualitative description of the scenario. It is also demonstrated that the proposed method can probabilistically consider all possible scenarios and the proposed method can be used to quantitatively evaluate the effects of various context factor on the safety of nuclear power plants. In our opinion, the proposed method can be used as the basis for the development of advanced HRA methods

Local panels and maintainability human factors assessment for AP1000 nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Zhonghai; Reed, Julie I.

2011-01-01

A document entitled 'AP1000 Local Panels and Maintainability Human Factors Design Guidelines' was produced to aid the designers to specifically include human factors (HF) considerations in the design, operation, and maintenance of local control stations and plant equipment. To ensure that the applicable HF design guidelines are appropriately applied to the design of local panels and maintenance activities, and identify any HF improvement opportunities that can readily be implemented at the design stage, a HF assessment of maintenance activities and local plant operations is underway. This assessment gives priority to local control stations and equipment which have been identified as having a potential impact on safety. This includes risk-significant systems, structures and components (SSCs) identified through the probabilistic risk assessment (PRA), and local operator actions as required by the Emergency Operating Procedures (EOPs). Local actions, maintenance activities and associated operator interfaces are reviewed against the relevant HF guidelines. The results of the assessment include a description of the component, associated local actions and/or required maintenance activities, good design features and/or potential issues, and recommendations for change or improvement. These results are communicated to responsible design engineers who evaluate the impact to plant design and implement design changes, if deemed necessary. (author)

Correlation Of An E-Nose System For Odor Assessment Of Shoe/Sock Systems With A Human Sensory Panel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horras, Stephan; Reimann, Peter; Schuetze, Andreas; Gaiotto, Alessandra; Mayer, Maria

2009-01-01

Evaluation of strength and quality of smell is today still primarily done with human sensory panels. For a range of applications, technical systems for an objective smell assessment would provide a great benefit in R and D and also day-to-day application. The project presented here specifically addresses the problem of assessing the strength and unpleasantness of smell caused by sweat in shoes and socks by an E-nose system. The ultimate goal is to provide a tool for developing improved shoe/sock systems with optimized materials.The main approach to achieve this goal is to find a correlation between the assessment of a human sensory panel and the complex sensor response patterns of an E-Nose system to appraise the smell of sweat in shoes and socks. Therefore a range of test persons wear shoes and socks under defined ambient conditions in a controlled test environment as well as during everyday use. Afterwards the smell of the shoes and socks is both measured with the E-Nose system and assessed by a human sensory panel. We report here the results of the first larger test series and the identified correlation between the E-Nose system and the human assessment of the smell of sweat.

Innovative human health and ecological risk assessment techniques at Hanford

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clarke, S.; Jones, K.; Goller, E.

1993-01-01

The open-quotes Hanford Site Baseline Risk Assessment Methodologyclose quotes (HSBRAM) was developed to enhance the preparation of risk assessments supporting the Hanford site cleanup mission. This methodology satisfies a Hanford federal facility agreement and consent order (tri-party agreement) milestone and is used to evaluate the risk to human health and the environment under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The methodology was prepared by the Hanford Risk Assessment Committee (RAC) consisting of tri-party representatives: the U.S. Department of Energy, the State of Washington Department of Ecology, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), with associated contractors. The risk assessment guidance provided by EPA is sufficiently general to permit tailoring of specific parameters to meet the risk assessment needs of individual sites. The RAC utilized EPA's Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund, (RAGS) as the cornerstone of the HSBRAM. The RAC added necessary Hanford-specific elements to construct a complete risk assessment guidance for utilization as an independent document. The HSBRAM is a living document because the RAC charter emphasizes the importance of continued methodology reevaluation. The HSBRAM also provides guidelines for the application of EPA's open-quotes Framework for Ecological Risk Assessmentclose quotes to Hanford-specific environmental baseline risk assessments by including endangered and threatened species in addition to sensitive habitats potentially associated with the Hanford site and guidance for selection of ecotoxicological data. Separate negotiations for the selection of risk parameters for each operable unit were avoided by defining parameters in the HSBRAM. There are 78 past-practice operable units at Hanford requiring risk assessments

The quantitative assessment of epicardial fat distribution on human hearts: Implications for epicardial electrophysiology.

Science.gov (United States)

Mattson, Alexander R; Soto, Mario J; Iaizzo, Paul A

2018-07-01

Epicardial electrophysiological procedures rely on dependable interfacing with the myocardial tissue. For example, epicardial pacing systems must generate sustainable chronic pacing capture, while epicardial ablations must effectively deliver energy to the target hyper-excitable myocytes. The human heart has a significant adipose layer which may impede epicardial procedures. The objective of this study was to quantitatively assess the relative location of epicardial adipose on the human heart, to define locations where epicardial therapies might be performed successfully. We studied perfusion-fixed human hearts (n = 105) in multiple isolated planes including: left ventricular margin, diaphragmatic surface, and anterior right ventricle. Relative adipose distribution was quantitatively assessed via planar images, using a custom-generated image analysis algorithm. In these specimens, 76.7 ± 13.8% of the left ventricular margin, 72.7 ± 11.3% of the diaphragmatic surface, and 92.1 ± 8.7% of the anterior right margin were covered with superficial epicardial adipose layers. Percent adipose coverage significantly increased with age (P history of coronary artery disease (P history of hypertension, and/or history of congestive heart failure. Additionally, we describe two-dimensional probability distributions of epicardial adipose coverage for each of the three analysis planes. In this study, we detail the quantitative assessment and probabilistic mapping of the distribution of superficial epicardial adipose on the adult human heart. These findings have implications relative to performing epicardial procedures and/or designing procedures or tools to successfully perform such treatments. Clin. Anat. 31:661-666, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

ASSESSING CHILDREN'S EXPOSURES TO PESTICIDES: AN IMPORTANT APPLICATION OF THE STOCHASTIC HUMAN EXPOSURE AND DOSE SIMULATION MODEL (SHEDS)

Science.gov (United States)

Accurately quantifying human exposures and doses of various populations to environmental pollutants is critical for the Agency to assess and manage human health risks. For example, the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA) requires EPA to consider aggregate human exposure ...

Assessing the Impact of Arts and Humanities Research at the University of Cambridge. Technical Report

Science.gov (United States)

Levitt, Ruth; Celia, Claire; Diepeveen, Stephanie; Chonaill, Siobhan Ni; Rabinovich, Lila; Tiessen, Jan

2010-01-01

This project for the University of Cambridge and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) assesses the impacts of arts and humanities research at the University of Cambridge. Evidence from interviews, a survey of research staff and detailed case studies indicates that these disciplines already have a broad range of impacts. Many of these…

Functional assessment of human enhancer activities using whole-genome STARR-sequencing.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yuwen; Yu, Shan; Dhiman, Vineet K; Brunetti, Tonya; Eckart, Heather; White, Kevin P

2017-11-20

Genome-wide quantification of enhancer activity in the human genome has proven to be a challenging problem. Recent efforts have led to the development of powerful tools for enhancer quantification. However, because of genome size and complexity, these tools have yet to be applied to the whole human genome.  In the current study, we use a human prostate cancer cell line, LNCaP as a model to perform whole human genome STARR-seq (WHG-STARR-seq) to reliably obtain an assessment of enhancer activity. This approach builds upon previously developed STARR-seq in the fly genome and CapSTARR-seq techniques in targeted human genomic regions. With an improved library preparation strategy, our approach greatly increases the library complexity per unit of starting material, which makes it feasible and cost-effective to explore the landscape of regulatory activity in the much larger human genome. In addition to our ability to identify active, accessible enhancers located in open chromatin regions, we can also detect sequences with the potential for enhancer activity that are located in inaccessible, closed chromatin regions. When treated with the histone deacetylase inhibitor, Trichostatin A, genes nearby this latter class of enhancers are up-regulated, demonstrating the potential for endogenous functionality of these regulatory elements. WHG-STARR-seq provides an improved approach to current pipelines for analysis of high complexity genomes to gain a better understanding of the intricacies of transcriptional regulation.

A human reliability assessment screening method for the NRU upgrade project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bremner, F.M.; Alsop, C.J.

1997-01-01

The National Research Universal (NRU) reactor is a 130MW, low pressure, heavy water cooled and moderated research reactor. The reactor is used for research, both in support of Canada's CANDU development program, and for a wide variety of other research applications. In addition, NRU plays an important part in the production of medical isotopes, e.g., generating 80% of worldwide supplies of Molybdenum-99. NRU is owned and operated by Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL), and is currently undergoing upgrading as part of AECL's continuing commitment to operate their facilities in a safe manner. As part of these upgrades both deterministic and probabilistic safety assessments are being carried out. It was recognized that the assignment of Human Error Probabilities (HEPs) is an important part of the Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) studies, particularly for a facility whose design predates modern ergonomic practices, and which will undergo a series of backfitted modifications whilst continuing to operate. A simple Human Reliability Assessment (HRA) screening method, looking at both pre- and post-accident errors, was used in the initial safety studies. However, following review of this method within AECL and externally by the regulator, it was judged that benefits could be gained for future error reduction by including additional features, as later described in this document. The HRA development project consisted of several stages; needs analysis, literature review, development of method (including testing and evaluation), and implementation. This paper discusses each of these stages in further detail. (author)

Integration of human reliability analysis into the probabilistic risk assessment process: phase 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bell, B.J.; Vickroy, S.C.

1985-01-01

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Pacific Northwest Laboratory initiated a research program in 1984 to develop a testable set of analytical procedures for integrating human reliability analysis (HRA) into the probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) process to more adequately assess the overall impact of human performance on risk. In this three phase program, stand-alone HRA/PRA analytic procedures will be developed and field evaluated to provide improved methods, techniques, and models for applying quantitative and qualitative human error data which systematically integrate HRA principles, techniques, and analyses throughout the entire PRA process. Phase 1 of the program involved analysis of state-of-the-art PRAs to define the structures and processes currently in use in the industry. Phase 2 research will involve developing a new or revised PRA methodology which will enable more efficient regulation of the industry using quantitative or qualitative results of the PRA. Finally, Phase 3 will be to field test those procedures to assure that the results generated by the new methodologies will be usable and acceptable to the NRC. This paper briefly describes the first phase of the program and outlines the second

Review on assessment methodology for human intrusion into a repository for radioactive waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cho, Dong Keun; Kim, Jung Woo; Jeong, Jong Tae; Baik, Min Hoon

2016-01-01

An approach to assess inadvertent human intrusion into radwaste repository was proposed with the assumption that the intrusion occurs after a loss of knowledge of the hazardous nature of the disposal facility. The essential boundary conditions were derived on the basis of international recommendations, followed by an overall approach to deal with inadvertent human intrusion. The interrelation between societal factors, human intrusion scenarios, and protective measures is described to provide a concrete explanation of the approach, including the detailed procedures to set up the human intrusion scenario. The procedure for deriving protective measures is also explained with four steps, including how to derive a safety framework, general measures, potential measures, and eventual protective measures on the basis of stylized scenarios. It is expected that the approach proposed in this study will be used effectively to reduce the potential for and/or the consequences of human intrusion during the entire process of realizing a disposal facility

Review on assessment methodology for human intrusion into a repository for radioactive waste

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cho, Dong Keun; Kim, Jung Woo; Jeong, Jong Tae; Baik, Min Hoon [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-09-15

An approach to assess inadvertent human intrusion into radwaste repository was proposed with the assumption that the intrusion occurs after a loss of knowledge of the hazardous nature of the disposal facility. The essential boundary conditions were derived on the basis of international recommendations, followed by an overall approach to deal with inadvertent human intrusion. The interrelation between societal factors, human intrusion scenarios, and protective measures is described to provide a concrete explanation of the approach, including the detailed procedures to set up the human intrusion scenario. The procedure for deriving protective measures is also explained with four steps, including how to derive a safety framework, general measures, potential measures, and eventual protective measures on the basis of stylized scenarios. It is expected that the approach proposed in this study will be used effectively to reduce the potential for and/or the consequences of human intrusion during the entire process of realizing a disposal facility.

Human factors assessment in PRA using task analysis linked evaluation technique (TALENT)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wells, J.E.; Banks, W.W.

1990-01-01

Human error is a primary contributor to risk in complex high-reliability systems. A 1985 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) study of licensee event reports (LERs) suggests that upwards of 65% of commercial nuclear system failures involve human error. Since then, the USNRC has initiated research to fully and properly integrate human errors into the probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) process. The resulting implementation procedure is known as the Task Analysis Linked Evaluation Technique (TALENT). As indicated, TALENT is a broad-based method for integrating human factors expertise into the PRA process. This process achieves results which: (1) provide more realistic estimates of the impact of human performance on nuclear power safety, (2) can be fully audited, (3) provide a firm technical base for equipment-centered and personnel-centered retrofit/redesign of plants enabling them to meet internally and externally imposed safety standards, and (4) yield human and hardware data capable of supporting inquiries into human performance issues that transcend the individual plant. The TALENT procedure is being field-tested to verify its effectiveness and utility. The objectives of the field-test are to examine (1) the operability of the process, (2) its acceptability to the users, and (3) its usefulness for achieving measurable improvements in the credibility of the analysis. The field-test will provide the information needed to enhance the TALENT process

An investigation on the assessed thermal sensation and human body exergy consumption rate

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Simone, Angela; Kolarik, Jakub; Iwamatsu, Toshiya

2010-01-01

perception of the indoor environment is rare. As the building should provide healthy and comfortable environment for its occupants, it is reasonable to consider both the exergy flows in the building and within the human body. A relatively new approach of the relation between the exergy concept and the built......-environment research has been explored in the present work. The relationship of subjectively assessed thermal sensation data, from earlier thermal comfort studies, to the calculated human-body exergy consumption has been analysed. The results show that the minimum human body exergy consumption rate was related......The exergy concept helps to optimize indoor climate conditioning systems to meet the requirements of sustainable building design. While the exergy approach to design and operation of indoor climate conditioning systems is relatively well established, its exploitation in connection to human...

Pharmaceuticals in tap water: human health risk assessment and proposed monitoring framework in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Leung, Ho Wing; Jin, Ling; Wei, Si; Tsui, Mirabelle Mei Po; Zhou, Bingsheng; Jiao, Liping; Cheung, Pak Chuen; Chun, Yiu Kan; Murphy, Margaret Burkhardt; Lam, Paul Kwan Sing

2013-07-01

Pharmaceuticals are known to contaminate tap water worldwide, but the relevant human health risks have not been assessed in China. We monitored 32 pharmaceuticals in Chinese tap water and evaluated the life-long human health risks of exposure in order to provide information for future prioritization and risk management. We analyzed samples (n = 113) from 13 cities and compared detected concentrations with existing or newly-derived safety levels for assessing risk quotients (RQs) at different life stages, excluding the prenatal stage. We detected 17 pharmaceuticals in 89% of samples, with most detectable concentrations (92%) at risk levels, but 4 (i.e., dimetridazole, thiamphenicol, sulfamethazine, and clarithromycin) were found to have at least one life-stage RQ ≥ 0.01, especially for the infant and child life stages, and should be considered of high priority for management. We propose an indicator-based monitoring framework for providing information for source identification, water treatment effectiveness, and water safety management in China. Chinese tap water is an additional route of human exposure to pharmaceuticals, particularly for dimetridazole, although the risk to human health is low based on current toxicity data. Pharmaceutical detection and application of the proposed monitoring framework can be used for water source protection and risk management in China and elsewhere.

Probabilistic integrated risk assessment of human exposure risk to environmental bisphenol A pollution sources.

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Keng-Yen; Cheng, Yi-Hsien; Chio, Chia-Pin; Liao, Chung-Min

2016-10-01

Environmental bisphenol A (BPA) exposure has been linked to a variety of adverse health effects such as developmental and reproductive issues. However, establishing a clear association between BPA and the likelihood of human health is complex yet fundamentally uncertain. The purpose of this study was to assess the potential exposure risks from environmental BPA among Chinese population based on five human health outcomes, namely immune response, uterotrophic assay, cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes, and behavior change. We addressed these health concerns by using a stochastic integrated risk assessment approach. The BPA dose-dependent likelihood of effects was reconstructed by a series of Hill models based on animal models or epidemiological data. We developed a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model that allows estimation of urinary BPA concentration from external exposures. Here we showed that the daily average exposure concentrations of BPA and urinary BPA estimates were consistent with the published data. We found that BPA exposures were less likely to pose significant risks for infants (0-1 year) and adults (male and female >20 years) with human long-term BPA susceptibility in relation to multiple exposure pathways, and for informing the public of the negligible magnitude of environmental BPA pollution impacts on human health.

Assessing the evolutionary impact of amino acid mutations in the human genome

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boyko, Adam R; Williamson, Scott H; Indap, Amit R

2008-01-01

Quantifying the distribution of fitness effects among newly arising mutations in the human genome is key to resolving important debates in medical and evolutionary genetics. Here, we present a method for inferring this distribution using Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) data from a population...... of demographic and selective effects to patterning amino acid variation in the human genome. We find evidence of an ancient population expansion in the sample with African ancestry and a relatively recent bottleneck in the sample with European ancestry. After accounting for these demographic effects, we find...... with non-stationary demographic history (such as that of modern humans). Application of our method to 47,576 coding SNPs found by direct resequencing of 11,404 protein coding-genes in 35 individuals (20 European Americans and 15 African Americans) allows us to assess the relative contribution...

Human health risk assessment (HHRA) for environmental development and transfer of antibiotic resistance

Science.gov (United States)

Objective: Here we present possible approaches and identify research needs to enable human health risk assessments that focus on the role the environment plays in antibiotic treatment failure of patients. Methods: The authors participated in a workshop sub-committee to define t...

Major national human biomonitoring programs in chemical exposure assessment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Judy Choi

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Human biomonitoring (HBM programs have been established in several countries around the world in order to monitor the levels of chemical exposures in the general population and qualify health risk assessment of national and international interest. Study design, population, sample collection, and chemical analysis must be considered when comparing and interpreting the results. In this review, the objectives and brief descriptions of the major national HBM programs in North America, Europe, and Asia are provided. Similarities and differences observed from a comparative analysis among these programs, including the stratification of data according to age, sex, socioeconomic background, etc. as well as the identification of chemical exposure associated with food intake, are discussed. Overall, although there are some discrepancies in the study designs among the reviewed national HBM programs, results from the programs can provide useful information such as chemical levels found within the general population of a country that can be compared. Furthermore, the results can be used by regulatory authorities or the government to enforce legislations in order to reduce the exposure of chemicals into the human body.

Assessment of Interspecies Differences in Drug-Induced QTc Interval Prolongation in Cynomolgus Monkeys, Dogs and Humans.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dubois, V.F.S.; Witte, de W.E.A.; Visser, S.A.; Danhof, M.; Della, Pasqua O.

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The selection of the most suitable animal species and subsequent translation of the concentration-effect relationship to humans are critical steps for accurate assessment of the pro-arrhythmic risk of candidate molecules. The objective of this investigation was to assess

A relation between calculated human body exergy consumption rate and subjectively assessed thermal sensation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Simone, Angela; Kolarik, Jakub; Iwamatsu, Toshiya

2011-01-01

occupants, it is reasonable to consider both the exergy flows in building and those within the human body. Until now, no data have been available on the relation between human-body exergy consumption rates and subjectively assessed thermal sensation. The objective of the present work was to relate thermal...... sensation data, from earlier thermal comfort studies, to calculated human-body exergy consumption rates. The results show that the minimum human body exergy consumption rate is associated with thermal sensation votes close to thermal neutrality, tending to the slightly cool side of thermal sensation....... Generally, the relationship between air temperature and the exergy consumption rate, as a first approximation, shows an increasing trend. Taking account of both convective and radiative heat exchange between the human body and the surrounding environment by using the calculated operative temperature, exergy...

Pesticide Flow Analysis to Assess Human Exposure in Greenhouse Flower Production in Colombia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Claudia R. Binder

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Human exposure assessment tools represent a means for understanding human exposure to pesticides in agricultural activities and managing possible health risks. This paper presents a pesticide flow analysis modeling approach developed to assess human exposure to pesticide use in greenhouse flower crops in Colombia, focusing on dermal and inhalation exposure. This approach is based on the material flow analysis methodology. The transfer coefficients were obtained using the whole body dosimetry method for dermal exposure and the button personal inhalable aerosol sampler for inhalation exposure, using the tracer uranine as a pesticide surrogate. The case study was a greenhouse rose farm in the Bogota Plateau in Colombia. The approach was applied to estimate the exposure to pesticides such as mancozeb, carbendazim, propamocarb hydrochloride, fosetyl, carboxin, thiram, dimethomorph and mandipropamide. We found dermal absorption estimations close to the AOEL reference values for the pesticides carbendazim, mancozeb, thiram and mandipropamide during the study period. In addition, high values of dermal exposure were found on the forearms, hands, chest and legs of study participants, indicating weaknesses in the overlapping areas of the personal protective equipment parts. These results show how the material flow analysis methodology can be applied in the field of human exposure for early recognition of the dispersion of pesticides and support the development of measures to improve operational safety during pesticide management. Furthermore, the model makes it possible to identify the status quo of the health risk faced by workers in the study area.

Development of a methodology for conducting an integrated HRA/PRA --. Task 1, An assessment of human reliability influences during LP&S conditions PWRs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Luckas, W.J.; Barriere, M.T.; Brown, W.S. [Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States); Wreathall, J. [Wreathall (John) and Co., Dublin, OH (United States); Cooper, S.E. [Science Applications International Corp., McLean, VA (United States)

1993-06-01

During Low Power and Shutdown (LP&S) conditions in a nuclear power plant (i.e., when the reactor is subcritical or at less than 10--15% power), human interactions with the plant`s systems will be more frequent and more direct. Control is typically not mediated by automation, and there are fewer protective systems available. Therefore, an assessment of LP&S related risk should include a greater emphasis on human reliability than such an assessment made for power operation conditions. In order to properly account for the increase in human interaction and thus be able to perform a probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) applicable to operations during LP&S, it is important that a comprehensive human reliability assessment (HRA) methodology be developed and integrated into the LP&S PRA. The tasks comprising the comprehensive HRA methodology development are as follows: (1) identification of the human reliability related influences and associated human actions during LP&S, (2) identification of potentially important LP&S related human actions and appropriate HRA framework and quantification methods, and (3) incorporation and coordination of methodology development with other integrated PRA/HRA efforts. This paper describes the first task, i.e., the assessment of human reliability influences and any associated human actions during LP&S conditions for a pressurized water reactor (PWR).

Uses of human reliability analysis probabilistic risk assessment results to resolve personnel performance issues that could affect safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

O'Brien, J.N.; Spettell, C.M.

1985-10-01

This report is the first in a series which documents research aimed at improving the usefulness of Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) results in addressing human risk issues. This first report describes the results of an assessment of how well currently available PRA data addresses human risk issues of current concern to NRC. Findings indicate that PRA data could be far more useful in addressing human risk issues with modification of the development process and documentation structure of PRAs. In addition, information from non-PRA sources could be integrated with PRA data to address many other issues. 12 tabs

Proteomic Assessment of Biochemical Pathways That Are Critical to Nickel-Induced Toxicity Responses in Human Epithelial Cells

Science.gov (United States)

Understanding the mechanisms underlying toxicity initiated by nickel, a ubiquitous environmental contaminant and known human carcinogen is necessary for proper assessment of its risks to human and environment. Among a variety of toxic mechanisms, disruption of protein responses a...

Assessing human health risks from pesticide use in conventional and innovative cropping systems with the BROWSE model.

Science.gov (United States)

Lammoglia, Sabine-Karen; Kennedy, Marc C; Barriuso, Enrique; Alletto, Lionel; Justes, Eric; Munier-Jolain, Nicolas; Mamy, Laure

2017-08-01

Reducing the risks and impacts of pesticide use on human health and on the environment is one of the objectives of the European Commission Directive 2009/128/EC in the quest for a sustainable use of pesticides. This Directive, developed through European national plans such as Ecophyto plan in France, promotes the introduction of innovative cropping systems relying, for example, on integrated pest management. Risk assessment for human health of the overall pesticide use in these innovative systems is required before the introduction of those systems to avoid that an innovation becomes a new problem. The objectives of this work were to assess and to compare (1) the human exposure to pesticides used in conventional and innovative cropping systems designed to reduce pesticide needs, and (2) the corresponding risks for human health. Humans (operator and residents) exposure to pesticides and risks for human health were assessed for each pesticide with the BROWSE model. Then, a method was proposed to represent the overall risk due to all pesticides used in one system. This study considers 3 conventional and 9 associated innovative cropping systems, and 116 plant protection products containing 89 different active substances (i.e. pesticides). The modelling results obtained with BROWSE showed that innovative cropping systems such as low input or no herbicide systems would reduce the risk for human health in comparison to the corresponding conventional cropping systems. On the contrary, BROWSE showed that conservation tillage system would lead to unacceptable risks in the conditions of our study, because of a high number of pesticide applications, and especially of some herbicides. For residents, the dermal absorption was the main exposure route while ingestion was found to be negligible. For operators, inhalation was also a predominant route of exposure. In general, human exposure to pesticides and human health risks were found to be correlated to the treatment frequency

The development, assessment and validation of virtual reality for human anatomy instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Marshall, Karen Benn

1996-01-01

This research project seeks to meet the objective of science training by developing, assessing, validating and utilizing VR as a human anatomy training medium. Current anatomy instruction is primarily in the form of lectures and usage of textbooks. In ideal situations, anatomic models, computer-based instruction, and cadaver dissection are utilized to augment traditional methods of instruction. At many institutions, lack of financial resources limits anatomy instruction to textbooks and lectures. However, human anatomy is three-dimensional, unlike the one-dimensional depiction found in textbooks and the two-dimensional depiction found on the computer. Virtual reality allows one to step through the computer screen into a 3-D artificial world. The primary objective of this project is to produce a virtual reality application of the abdominopelvic region of a human cadaver that can be taken back to the classroom. The hypothesis is that an immersive learning environment affords quicker anatomic recognition and orientation and a greater level of retention in human anatomy instruction. The goal is to augment not replace traditional modes of instruction.

Assessment of the Potential for Human Resource Accounting in Venezuelan Navy Management Decision Making.

Science.gov (United States)

1981-12-01

Accounting Association, 1957, op. cit, p. 6. 23. Horngren , Charles, " Cost Accounting : A Managerial Emphasis," Solutions Manual, Prentice-Hall...Model," Management Accounting , December 1977. Savich, R. S . and Ehrenreich, K. E., " Cost /Benefits Analysis of Human Resource Accounting Alternatives...A0A112 T40 NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY CA F/ S S / ASSESS1ENT OF THE POTENTIAL FOR HUMAN RESOURCE ACCOUNTING IN VE-ETC(Ul EC GS K FI MARN

Human factors assessment in PRA using Task Analysis Linked Evaluation Technique (TALENT)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wells, J.E.; Banks, W.W.

1991-01-01

Thirty years ago the US military and US aviation industry, and more recently, in response to the US Three Mile Island and USSR Chernobyl accidents, the US commercial nuclear power industry, acknowledged that human error, as an immediate precursor, and as a latent or indirect influence in the form of training, maintainability, inservice test, and surveillance programs, is a primary contributor to unreality and risk in complex high-reliability systems. A 1985 Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) study of Licensee Event Reports (LERs) suggests that upwards of 65% of commercial nuclear system failures involve human error. Despite the magnitude and nature of human error cited in that study, there has been limited attention to personnel-centered issues, especially person-to-person issues involving group processes, management and organizational environment. The paper discusses NRC integration and applications research with respect to the Task Analysis Linked Evaluation Technique (TALENT) in risk assessment applications

Monitoring emerging contaminants in the drinking water of Milan and assessment of the human risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Riva, Francesco; Castiglioni, Sara; Fattore, Elena; Manenti, Angela; Davoli, Enrico; Zuccato, Ettore

2018-04-01

Emerging Contaminants (ECs) are ubiquitous in waters, arousing concern because of their potential risks for human health and the environment. This study investigated the presence of multiple classes of ECs in 21 wells over the drinking water network of Milan, in the most inhabited and industrialized area of Italy, and assessed the risks for consumers. Samples were analyzed using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Human risk assessment (HRA) was conducted by comparing the measured concentrations with drinking water thresholds from guidelines or calculated in this study; first considering the exposure to each single EC and then the entire mixture. Thirteen ECs were measured in the low ng/L range, and were generally detected in less than half of the wells. Pharmaceuticals, perfluorinated substances, personal care products, and anthropogenic markers were the most frequently detected. The results of the HRA excluded any risks for consumers in each scenario considered. This is one of the most comprehensive studies assessing the presence of a large number of ECs in the whole drinking water network of a city, and the risks for human health. Results improve the limited information on ECs sources and occurrence in drinking water and help establishing guidelines for regulatory purposes. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Truncated Levy flights and agenda-based mobility are useful for the assessment of personal human exposure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schlink, Uwe; Ragas, Ad M.J.

2011-01-01

Receptor-oriented approaches can assess the individual-specific exposure to air pollution. In such an individual-based model we analyse the impact of human mobility to the personal exposure that is perceived by individuals simulated in an exemplified urban area. The mobility models comprise random walk (reference point mobility, RPM), truncated Levy flights (TLF), and agenda-based walk (RPMA). We describe and review the general concepts and provide an inter-comparison of these concepts. Stationary and ergodic behaviour are explained and applied as well as performance criteria for a comparative evaluation of the investigated algorithms. We find that none of the studied algorithm results in purely random trajectories. TLF and RPMA prove to be suitable for human mobility modelling, because they provide conditions for very individual-specific trajectories and exposure. Suggesting these models we demonstrate the plausibility of their results for exposure to air-borne benzene and the combined exposure to benzene and nonane. - Highlights: → Human exposure to air pollutants is influenced by a person's movement in the urban area. → We provide a simulation study of approaches to modelling personal exposure. → Agenda-based models and truncated Levy flights are recommended for exposure assessment. → The procedure is demonstrated for benzene exposure in an urban region. - Truncated Levy flights and agenda-based mobility are useful for the assessment of personal human exposure.

Development of safety assessment method for human intrusion scenario in Japan. Part 1. Drilling scenario database for safety assessment of geological disposal (Contract research)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagasawa, Hirokazu; Takeda, Seiji; Kimura, Hideo; Sasaki, Toshihisa

2010-11-01

In deep geological disposal or intermediate depth disposal, human intrusion, i.e. accidental excavation or drilling into the disposal site, may make a direct or an indirect effect on the disposal system. Safety assessment method for the human intrusion scenario, that is, the evaluation code of radiological effect from the human intrusion and the data to examine the reduction of the probability of the human intrusion occurring, is essential for the future safety regulation. Assuming that drilling action into the disposal site leads to the human proximity to the radioactive waste or the damage to the barrier system (drilling scenario), we have collected both the data on borehole drilling implemented in Japan and information on actual situation of drilling activities. Based on the data and information, we provide concrete exposure scenarios associated with borehole drilling in the vicinity of the repository and model for estimating the frequency on borehole reaching the depth of repository. The frequency is characterized with the relation to objective of excavation, geographical features, and region in Japan etc. We have developed an assembly of the information mentioned above as database, including the model parameters used in the code to assess radiation dose for drilling scenario. (author)

HYBRID HUMAN-ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE APPROACH FOR PAVEMENT DISTRESS ASSESSMENT (PICUCHA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reus Salini

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The pavement surface condition assessment is a critical component for a proper pavement management system as well as for pavement rehabilitation design. A number of devices were developed to automatically record surface distresses in a continuous survey mode, but the software required for automatic distress identification remains a big challenge. In this study, a new method named PICture Unsupervised Classification with Human Analysis (PICUCHA is proposed to circumvent many of the limitations of existing approaches, based on a combination of human and artificial intelligence. It was designed from scratch to be capable to identify sealed and unsealed cracks, potholes, patches, different types of pavements and others. The self-learning algorithms do not use any distresses predefinition and can process images taken by cameras with different brands, technologies and resolution. This study describes some key aspects of the new method and provides examples in which PICUCHA was tested in real conditions showing accuracy up to 96.9% in image pattern detection and classification.

Water for human and livestock consumption in rural settings of Ethiopia: assessments of quality and health aspects.

Science.gov (United States)

Amenu, Kebede; Markemann, André; Valle Zárate, Anne

2013-11-01

The study aimed to assess the quality and health aspects of water intended for human and livestock consumption in two rural districts of the Rift Valley of Ethiopia. The study involved two parts: the first consisted of a questionnaire survey and farmers' group discussions, complemented by secondary health data, and the second part determined the chemical (total dissolved solids, pH, manganese, hexa-valent chromium, fluoride) and microbiological quality of different water sources during dry and wet seasons. The result showed a lack of sustainable access to safe water in the communities. Industrial pollution and mismanagement of water sources by human and livestock was found to be a source of potential health risk. Potentially linked human health problems like malaria, diarrhoea and gastrointestinal parasites were common in the districts. Overall, 76% of the assessed water sources (n = 25) failed to comply with World Health Organization guidelines for human drinking water, for at least one assessed parameter, mostly irrespective of the season. The non-compliance was mainly attributed to Escherichia coli contamination and/or high fluoride concentration. At least 20% of the water samples were also found to be unfit for livestock consumption based on assessed chemical parameters in both dry and wet seasons. To minimize the health risk associated with mismanagement and poor quality of water sources in the area, targeted action in the protection of surface water sources should be given priority.

Spatial Assessment of Forest Ecosystem Functions and Services using Human Relating Factors for SDG

Science.gov (United States)

Song, C.; Lee, W. K.; Jeon, S. W.; Kim, T.; Lim, C. H.

2015-12-01

Application of ecosystem service concept in environmental related decision making could be numerical and objective standard for policy maker between preserving and developing perspective of environment. However, pursuing maximum benefit from natural capital through ecosystem services caused failure by losing ecosystem functions through its trade-offs. Therefore, difference between ecosystem functions and services were demonstrated and would apply human relating perspectives. Assessment results of ecosystem functions and services can be divided 3 parts. Tree growth per year set as the ecosystem function factor and indicated through so called pure function map. After that, relating functions can be driven such as water conservation, air pollutant purification, climate change regulation, and timber production. Overall process and amount are numerically quantified. These functional results can be transferred to ecosystem services by multiplying economic unit value, so function reflecting service maps can be generated. On the other hand, above services, to implement more reliable human demand, human reflecting service maps are also be developed. As the validation, quantified ecosystem functions are compared with former results through pixel based analysis. Three maps are compared, and through comparing difference between ecosystem function and services and inversed trends in function based and human based service are analysed. In this study, we could find differences in PF, FRS, and HRS in relation to based ecosystem conditions. This study suggests that the differences in PF, FRS, and HRS should be understood in the decision making process for sustainable management of ecosystem services. Although the analysis is based on in sort existing process separation, it is important to consider the possibility of different usage of ecosystem function assessment results and ecosystem service assessment results in SDG policy making. Furthermore, process based functional approach

Implementing a framework for integrating toxicokinetics into human health risk assessment for agrochemicals.

Science.gov (United States)

Terry, Claire; Hays, Sean; McCoy, Alene T; McFadden, Lisa G; Aggarwal, Manoj; Rasoulpour, Reza J; Juberg, Daland R

2016-03-01

A strategic and comprehensive program in which toxicokinetic (TK) measurements are made for all agrochemicals undergoing toxicity testing (both new compounds and compounds already registered for use) is described. This approach provides the data to more accurately assess the toxicokinetics of agrochemicals and their metabolites in laboratory animals and humans. Having this knowledge provides the ability to conduct more insightful toxicity studies, refine and interpret exposure assessments and reduce uncertainty in risk assessments. By developing a better understanding of TK across species, including humans via in vitro metabolism studies, any differences across species in TK can be identified early and the most relevant species can be selected for toxicity tests. It also provides the ability to identify any non-linearities in TK as a function of dose, which in turn can be used to identify a kinetically derived maximum dose (KMD) and avoid dosing inappropriately outside of the kinetic linear range. Measuring TK in key life stages also helps to identify changes in ADME parameters from in utero to adults. A robust TK database can also be used to set internal concentration based "Reference Concentrations" and Biomonitoring Equivalents (BE), and support selection of Chemical Specific Adjustment Factors (CSAF). All of these factors support the reduction of uncertainty throughout the entire risk assessment process. This paper outlines how a TK research strategy can be integrated into new agrochemical toxicity testing programs, together with a proposed Framework for future use. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Applying DoE's Graded Approach for assessing radiation impacts to non-human biota at the Incl

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morris, Randall C.

2006-01-01

In July 2002, The US Department of Energy (DOE) released a new technical standard entitled A Graded Approach for Evaluating Radiation Doses to Aquatic and Terrestrial Biota. DOE facilities are annually required to demonstrate that routine radioactive releases from their sites are protective of non-human receptors and sites are encouraged to use the Graded Approach for this purpose. Use of the Graded Approach requires completion of several preliminary steps, to evaluate the degree to which the site environmental monitoring program is appropriate for evaluating impacts to non-human biota. We completed these necessary activities at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) using the following four tasks: (1) develop conceptual models and evaluate exposure pathways; (2) define INL evaluation areas; (3) evaluate sampling locations and media; (4) evaluate data gaps. All of the information developed in the four steps was incorporated, data sources were identified, departures from the Graded Approach were justified, and a step-by-step procedure for biota dose assessment at the INL was specified. Finally, we completed a site-wide biota dose assessment using the 2002 environmental surveillance data and an offsite assessment using soil and surface water data collected since 1996. These assessments demonstrated the environmental concentrations of radionuclides measured on and near the INL do not present significant risks to populations of non-human biota

Implications of global climate change for the assessment and management of human health risks of chemicals in the natural environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Balbus, John M; Boxall, Alistair B A; Fenske, Richard A; McKone, Thomas E; Zeise, Lauren

2013-01-01

Global climate change (GCC) is likely to alter the degree of human exposure to pollutants and the response of human populations to these exposures, meaning that risks of pollutants could change in the future. The present study, therefore, explores how GCC might affect the different steps in the pathway from a chemical source in the environment through to impacts on human health and evaluates the implications for existing risk-assessment and management practices. In certain parts of the world, GCC is predicted to increase the level of exposure of many environmental pollutants due to direct and indirect effects on the use patterns and transport and fate of chemicals. Changes in human behavior will also affect how humans come into contact with contaminated air, water, and food. Dietary changes, psychosocial stress, and coexposure to stressors such as high temperatures are likely to increase the vulnerability of humans to chemicals. These changes are likely to have significant implications for current practices for chemical assessment. Assumptions used in current exposure-assessment models may no longer apply, and existing monitoring methods may not be robust enough to detect adverse episodic changes in exposures. Organizations responsible for the assessment and management of health risks of chemicals therefore need to be more proactive and consider the implications of GCC for their procedures and processes. Copyright © 2012 SETAC.

An assessment of the radiological impact of human intrusion at the UK Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR) - 59356

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hicks, Tim; Baldwin, Tamara; Cummings, Richard; Sumerling, Trevor

2012-01-01

The UK Low Level Waste Repository Ltd submitted an Environmental Safety Case for the disposal of low-level waste (LLW) to the Environment Agency on the 1 May 2011. The Environmental Safety Case (ESC) presents a complete case for the environmental safety of the Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR) both during operations and in the long term (Cummings et al, in these proceedings). This includes an assessment of the long-term radiological safety of the facility, including an assessment of the potential consequences of human intrusion at the site. The human intrusion assessment is based on a cautiously realistic approach in defining intrusion cases and parameter values. A range of possible human intrusion events was considered based on present-day technologies and credible future uses of the site. This process resulted in the identification of geotechnical investigations, a housing development and a smallholding as requiring quantitative assessment. A particular feature of the site is that, because of its proximity to the coast and in view of expected global sea-level rise, it is vulnerable to coastal erosion. During such erosion, wastes and engineered barrier materials will be exposed, and could become targets for investigation or recovery. Therefore, human intrusion events have been included that are associated with such activities. A radiological assessment model has been developed to analyse the impacts of potential human intrusion at the site. A key feature of the model is the representation of the spatial layout of the disposal site, including the engineered cap design and the large-scale spatial heterogeneity of radionuclide concentrations within the repository. The model has been used to calculate the radiation dose to intruders and to others following intrusion at different times and at different locations across the site, for the each of the selected intrusion events, considering all relevant exposure modes. Potential doses due to radon and its daughters in

How Can We Assess and Evaluate the Competitive Advantage of a Country's Human Resource Development System?

Science.gov (United States)

Oh, Hunseok; Ryu, Hyue-Hyun; Choi, Myungweon

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to develop an index to assess and evaluate the competitive advantage of a country's human resource development system. Based on an extensive literature review, a theoretical model of a human resource development system at the national level (named National Human Resource Development: NHRD) was constructed. The…

Safety testing of monoclonal antibodies in non-human primates: Case studies highlighting their impact on human risk assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Brennan, Frank R; Cavagnaro, Joy; McKeever, Kathleen; Ryan, Patricia C; Schutten, Melissa M; Vahle, John; Weinbauer, Gerhard F; Marrer-Berger, Estelle; Black, Lauren E

2018-01-01

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are improving the quality of life for patients suffering from serious diseases due to their high specificity for their target and low potential for off-target toxicity. The toxicity of mAbs is primarily driven by their pharmacological activity, and therefore safety testing of these drugs prior to clinical testing is performed in species in which the mAb binds and engages the target to a similar extent to that anticipated in humans. For highly human-specific mAbs, this testing often requires the use of non-human primates (NHPs) as relevant species. It has been argued that the value of these NHP studies is limited because most of the adverse events can be predicted from the knowledge of the target, data from transgenic rodents or target-deficient humans, and other sources. However, many of the mAbs currently in development target novel pathways and may comprise novel scaffolds with multi-functional domains; hence, the pharmacological effects and potential safety risks are less predictable. Here, we present a total of 18 case studies, including some of these novel mAbs, with the aim of interrogating the value of NHP safety studies in human risk assessment. These studies have identified mAb candidate molecules and pharmacological pathways with severe safety risks, leading to candidate or target program termination, as well as highlighting that some pathways with theoretical safety concerns are amenable to safe modulation by mAbs. NHP studies have also informed the rational design of safer drug candidates suitable for human testing and informed human clinical trial design (route, dose and regimen, patient inclusion and exclusion criteria and safety monitoring), further protecting the safety of clinical trial participants.

76 FR 52945 - Chlorpyrifos Registration Review; Preliminary Human Health Risk Assessment; Extension of Comment...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-08-24

... ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0850; FRL-8886-6] Chlorpyrifos Registration... chlorpyrifos registration review; preliminary human health risk assessment. This document extends the comment... . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document extends the public comment period for the chlorpyrifos reregistration...

A new framework for assessing river ecosystem health with consideration of human service demand.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Zengliang; Zuo, Qiting; Shao, Quanxi

2018-06-01

In order to study river health status from harmonic relationship between human and natural environment, a river health evaluation method was proposed from the aspects of ecosystem integrity and human service demand, and the understanding of river health connotation. The proposed method is based on the harmony theory and two types of river health assessment methods (the forecasting model and index evaluation). A new framework for assessing river water health was then formed from the perspective of harmony and dynamic evolution between human service demand and river ecosystem integrity. As a case study, the method and framework were applied to the Shaying River Basin, a tributary of the most polluted Huaihe River Basin in China. The health status of the river's ecosystem and its effect on the mainstream of Huaihe River were evaluated based on water ecological experiment. The results indicated that: (1) the water ecological environment in Shaying River was generally poor and showed a gradual changing pattern along the river. The river health levels were generally "medium" in the upstream but mostly "sub-disease" in the midstream and downstream, indicating that the water pollution in Shaying River were mainly concentrated in the midstream and downstream; (2) the water pollution of Shaying River had great influence on the ecosystem of Huaihe River, and the main influencing factors were TN, followed by TP and COD Mn ; (3) the natural attribute of river was transferring toward to the direction of socialization due to the increasing human activities. The stronger the human activity intervention is, the faster the transfer will be and the more river's attributes will match with human service demand. The proposed framework contributes to the research in water ecology and environment management, and the research results can serve as an important reference for basin management in Shaying River and Huaihe River. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Gene Expression Analysis to Assess the Relevance of Rodent Models to Human Lung Injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Sweeney, Timothy E; Lofgren, Shane; Khatri, Purvesh; Rogers, Angela J

2017-08-01

The relevance of animal models to human diseases is an area of intense scientific debate. The degree to which mouse models of lung injury recapitulate human lung injury has never been assessed. Integrating data from both human and animal expression studies allows for increased statistical power and identification of conserved differential gene expression across organisms and conditions. We sought comprehensive integration of gene expression data in experimental acute lung injury (ALI) in rodents compared with humans. We performed two separate gene expression multicohort analyses to determine differential gene expression in experimental animal and human lung injury. We used correlational and pathway analyses combined with external in vitro gene expression data to identify both potential drivers of underlying inflammation and therapeutic drug candidates. We identified 21 animal lung tissue datasets and three human lung injury bronchoalveolar lavage datasets. We show that the metasignatures of animal and human experimental ALI are significantly correlated despite these widely varying experimental conditions. The gene expression changes among mice and rats across diverse injury models (ozone, ventilator-induced lung injury, LPS) are significantly correlated with human models of lung injury (Pearson r = 0.33-0.45, P human lung injury. Predicted therapeutic targets, peptide ligand signatures, and pathway analyses are also all highly overlapping. Gene expression changes are similar in animal and human experimental ALI, and provide several physiologic and therapeutic insights to the disease.

Handling of future human actions in the safety assessment SR-Site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2010-12-01

This report documents the future human actions, FHA, considered in the long-term safety analysis of a KBS-3 repository. The report is one of the supporting documents to the safety assessment SR-Site (see further the Main report /SKB 2011/). The purpose of this report is to provide an account of general considerations concerning FHA, the methodology applied in SR-Site to assess FHA, the aspects of FHA needed to be considered in the evaluation of their impact on a deep geological repository and to select and analyse representative scenarios for illustrative consequence analysis. The main focus of this report is a time period when institutional control has ceased to be effective, thereby permitting inadvertent intrusion. However, a brief discussion of the earlier period when the repository has been closed, sealed and continuously kept under institutional control is also provided. General The potential exposure to large quantities of radiotoxic material is an inescapable consequence of the deposition of spent nuclear fuel in a final repository, and consequently intrusion into the repository needs to be considered in repository design and safety assessment. In accordance with ICRP recommendations /ICRP 2000/, intrusion in the post-closure phase of institutional control and beyond is primarily prevented through the design of the repository. In addition to that there will presumably continue to be safeguards measures, preservation of information (record keeping) and possibly some sort of markers placed at the site. During the institutional control period, activities at the site have to be restricted or directed if they have the potential to interfere with or hinder surveillance of the site, but this does not necessarily rule out all forms of access to the area. Also the fact that the repository contains fissile materials is an important aspect. Control of safeguards measures will most likely be upheld by national as well as international agencies. Furthermore, the

Handling of future human actions in the safety assessment SR-Site

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2010-12-15

This report documents the future human actions, FHA, considered in the long-term safety analysis of a KBS-3 repository. The report is one of the supporting documents to the safety assessment SR-Site (see further the Main report /SKB 2011/). The purpose of this report is to provide an account of general considerations concerning FHA, the methodology applied in SR-Site to assess FHA, the aspects of FHA needed to be considered in the evaluation of their impact on a deep geological repository and to select and analyse representative scenarios for illustrative consequence analysis. The main focus of this report is a time period when institutional control has ceased to be effective, thereby permitting inadvertent intrusion. However, a brief discussion of the earlier period when the repository has been closed, sealed and continuously kept under institutional control is also provided. General The potential exposure to large quantities of radiotoxic material is an inescapable consequence of the deposition of spent nuclear fuel in a final repository, and consequently intrusion into the repository needs to be considered in repository design and safety assessment. In accordance with ICRP recommendations /ICRP 2000/, intrusion in the post-closure phase of institutional control and beyond is primarily prevented through the design of the repository. In addition to that there will presumably continue to be safeguards measures, preservation of information (record keeping) and possibly some sort of markers placed at the site. During the institutional control period, activities at the site have to be restricted or directed if they have the potential to interfere with or hinder surveillance of the site, but this does not necessarily rule out all forms of access to the area. Also the fact that the repository contains fissile materials is an important aspect. Control of safeguards measures will most likely be upheld by national as well as international agencies. Furthermore, the

Environmental and human health risk assessment of organic micro-pollutants occurring in a Spanish marine fish farm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Munoz, Ivan; Martinez Bueno, Maria J.; Agueera, Ana; Fernandez-Alba, Amadeo R.

2010-01-01

In this work the risk posed to seawater organisms, predators and humans is assessed, as a consequence of exposure to 12 organic micro-pollutants, namely metronidazole, trimethoprim, erythromycin, simazine, flumequine, carbaryl, atrazine, diuron, terbutryn, irgarol, diphenyl sulphone (DPS) and 2-thiocyanomethylthiobenzothiazole (TCMTB). The risk assessment study is based on a 1-year monitoring study at a Spanish marine fish farm, involving passive sampling techniques. The results showed that the risk threshold for irgarol concerning seawater organisms is exceeded. On the other hand, the risk to predators and especially humans through consumption of fish is very low, due to the low bioconcentration potential of the substances assessed. - Exposure and effects of twelve organic micro-pollutants are evaluated at a Spanish fish farm.

Environmental and human health risk assessment of organic micro-pollutants occurring in a Spanish marine fish farm

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Munoz, Ivan, E-mail: ivanmuno@ual.e [Departamento de Hidrogeologia y Quimica Analitica, Universidad de Almeria, 04120 Almeria (Spain); Martinez Bueno, Maria J., E-mail: mjbueno@ual.e [Departamento de Hidrogeologia y Quimica Analitica, Universidad de Almeria, 04120 Almeria (Spain); Agueera, Ana, E-mail: aaguera@ual.e [Departamento de Hidrogeologia y Quimica Analitica, Universidad de Almeria, 04120 Almeria (Spain); Fernandez-Alba, Amadeo R., E-mail: amadeo@ual.e [Departamento de Hidrogeologia y Quimica Analitica, Universidad de Almeria, 04120 Almeria (Spain)

2010-05-15

In this work the risk posed to seawater organisms, predators and humans is assessed, as a consequence of exposure to 12 organic micro-pollutants, namely metronidazole, trimethoprim, erythromycin, simazine, flumequine, carbaryl, atrazine, diuron, terbutryn, irgarol, diphenyl sulphone (DPS) and 2-thiocyanomethylthiobenzothiazole (TCMTB). The risk assessment study is based on a 1-year monitoring study at a Spanish marine fish farm, involving passive sampling techniques. The results showed that the risk threshold for irgarol concerning seawater organisms is exceeded. On the other hand, the risk to predators and especially humans through consumption of fish is very low, due to the low bioconcentration potential of the substances assessed. - Exposure and effects of twelve organic micro-pollutants are evaluated at a Spanish fish farm.

A Qualitative Assessment of Human Cadavers Embalmed by Thiel's Method Used in Laparoscopic Training for Renal Resection

Science.gov (United States)

Rai, Bhavan Prasad; Tang, Benjie; Eisma, Roos; Soames, Roger W.; Wen, Haitao; Nabi, Ghulam

2012-01-01

Human cadaveric tissue is the fundamental substrate for basic anatomic and surgical skills training. A qualitative assessment of the use of human cadavers preserved by Thiel's method for a British Association of Urological Surgeons--approved, advanced laparoscopic renal resection skills training course is described in the present study. Four…

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their Bioaccessibility in Meat: a Tool for Assessing Human Cancer Risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Hamidi, Elliyana Nadia; Hajeb, Parvaneh; Selamat, Jinap; Abdull Razis, Ahmad Faizal

2016-01-01

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are primarily formed as a result of thermal treatment of food, especially barbecuing or grilling. Contamination by PAHs is due to generation by direct pyrolysis of food nutrients and deposition from smoke produced through incomplete combustion of thermal agents. PAHs are ubiquitous compounds, well-known to be carcinogenic, which can reach the food in different ways. As an important human exposure pathway of contaminants, dietary intake of PAHs is of increasing concern for assessing cancer risk in the human body. In addition, the risks associated with consumption of barbecued meat may increase if consumers use cooking practices that enhance the concentrations of contaminants and their bioaccessibility. Since total PAHs always overestimate the actual amount that is available for absorption by the body, bioaccessibility of PAHs is to be preferred. Bioaccessibility of PAHs in food is the fraction of PAHs mobilized from food matrices during gastrointestinal digestion. An in vitro human digestion model was chosen for assessing the bioaccessibility of PAHs in food as it offers a simple, rapid, low cost alternative to human and animal studies; providing insights which may not be achievable in in vivo studies. Thus, this review aimed not only to provide an overview of general aspects of PAHs such as the formation, carcinogenicity, sources, occurrence, and factors affecting PAH concentrations, but also to enhance understanding of bioaccessibility assessment using an in vitro digestion model.

Assessment of cancer and virus antigens for cross-reactivity in human tissues.

Science.gov (United States)

Jaravine, Victor; Raffegerst, Silke; Schendel, Dolores J; Frishman, Dmitrij

2017-01-01

Cross-reactivity (CR) or invocation of autoimmune side effects in various tissues has important safety implications in adoptive immunotherapy directed against selected antigens. The ability to predict CR (on-target and off-target toxicities) may help in the early selection of safer therapeutically relevant target antigens. We developed a methodology for the calculation of quantitative CR for any defined peptide epitope. Using this approach, we performed assessment of 4 groups of 283 currently known human MHC-class-I epitopes including differentiation antigens, overexpressed proteins, cancer-testis antigens and mutations displayed by tumor cells. In addition, 89 epitopes originating from viral sources were investigated. The natural occurrence of these epitopes in human tissues was assessed based on proteomics abundance data, while the probability of their presentation by MHC-class-I molecules was modelled by the method of Keşmir et al. which combines proteasomal cleavage, TAP affinity and MHC-binding predictions. The results of these analyses for many previously defined peptides are presented as CR indices and tissue profiles. The methodology thus allows for quantitative comparisons of epitopes and is suggested to be suited for the assessment of epitopes of candidate antigens in an early stage of development of adoptive immunotherapy. Our method is implemented as a Java program, with curated datasets stored in a MySQL database. It predicts all naturally possible self-antigens for a given sequence of a therapeutic antigen (or epitope) and after filtering for predicted immunogenicity outputs results as an index and profile of CR to the self-antigens in 22 human tissues. The program is implemented as part of the iCrossR webserver, which is publicly available at http://webclu.bio.wzw.tum.de/icrossr/ CONTACT: d.frishman@wzw.tum.deSupplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press

How to evaluate the effectiveness of safety assessment in the area of human factors?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rolina, G.; Moisdon, J.C.; Jeffroy, F.

2007-01-01

The Three Mile Island nuclear reactor accident in 1979 led to a new approach regarding safety that includes a better consideration of man and his activities. A few years later, with the set up of a group of specialists at Electricite de France and at the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety, a new player appeared at France's nuclear safety organisation: the assessment expert specialising in human factors (HF). The improvement of man-machine interfaces was one of the first projects undertaken by the HF experts, the majority of whom specialise in ergonomics. A review of the literature and analysis of the archives, revealed that the specialists' scope of investigation has since increased; so that organisation is also the subject of HF assessment. However, this area is not one of consensual or established knowledge; neither researchers nor specialists can agree on a model of safe organisation. What then can we say about effectiveness of HF assessment? How can we define the criteria of effectiveness of a safety assessment production system in this area? The question is the subject of original research based on collaboration between the scientific management centre (CGS) of the Ecole des Mines in Paris and the section for the study of human factors (SEFH) at IRSN. To address this question, the CGS team monitors some assessments to which SEFH contributes. In other words, it attends different meetings on framing, technical instruction, reporting, taking notes and collecting related documents (minutes of meetings,...). It carries out additional interviews with different parties involved in assessment in order to ascertain their point of view. A sample of five assessments was defined to cover a varied number of situations encountered by the team of HF experts. The type of facility, the operator and the subject concerned are some of the variables integrated for this choice

In vitro data combined with human disease data to improve toxicological hazard assessment: the ASAT Knowledge Base

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Venhorst, J; Aarts, Jac; Boorsma, Andre; Caiment, Florian; Soeteman-Hernandez, Lya G.; van der Veen, J; Tsamou, Maria; Russel, Frans G. M.; Groothuis, Genoveva; Stierum, Rob

2014-01-01

In line with the Assuring Safety Without Animal Testing (ASAT) principle, risk assessment may ultimately become feasible without the use of animals (Fentem et al., 2004). ASAT assumes that activation of human disease mechanisms in in vitro models can be used for toxicological assessment. Therefore,

Problem formulation for risk assessment of combined exposures to chemicals and other stressors in humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Solomon, Keith R; Wilks, Martin F; Bachman, Ammie; Boobis, Alan; Moretto, Angelo; Pastoor, Timothy P; Phillips, Richard; Embry, Michelle R

2016-11-01

When the human health risk assessment/risk management paradigm was developed, it did not explicitly include a "problem formulation" phase. The concept of problem formulation was first introduced in the context of ecological risk assessment (ERA) for the pragmatic reason to constrain and focus ERAs on the key questions. However, this need also exists for human health risk assessment, particularly for cumulative risk assessment (CRA), because of its complexity. CRA encompasses the combined threats to health from exposure via all relevant routes to multiple stressors, including biological, chemical, physical and psychosocial stressors. As part of the HESI Risk Assessment in the 21st Century (RISK21) Project, a framework for CRA was developed in which problem formulation plays a critical role. The focus of this effort is primarily on a chemical CRA (i.e., two or more chemicals) with subsequent consideration of non-chemical stressors, defined as "modulating factors" (ModFs). Problem formulation is a systematic approach that identifies all factors critical to a specific risk assessment and considers the purpose of the assessment, scope and depth of the necessary analysis, analytical approach, available resources and outcomes, and overall risk management goal. There are numerous considerations that are specific to multiple stressors, and proper problem formulation can help to focus a CRA to the key factors in order to optimize resources. As part of the problem formulation, conceptual models for exposures and responses can be developed that address these factors, such as temporal relationships between stressors and consideration of the appropriate ModFs.

Legacy and emerging brominated flame retardants in China: A review on food and human milk contamination, human dietary exposure and risk assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Zhixiong; Zhang, Lei; Li, Jingguang; Wu, Yongning

2018-05-01

Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are a large group of widely used chemicals, which have been produced and used since 1970s. As a consequence of substantial and long-term usage, BFRs have been found to be ubiquitous in humans, wildlife, and abiotic matrices around the world. Although several reports have reviewed BFRs contamination in general, none have focused specifically on foods and human milk, and the corresponding dietary exposure. Foods (including human milk) have long been recognized as a major pathway of BFRs intake for non-occupationally exposed persons. This review summarizes most available BFRs data in foods and human milk from China in recent years, and emphasizes several specific aspects, i.e., contamination levels of legacy and emerging BFRs, dietary exposure assessment and related health concerns, comparison between various BFRs, and temporal changes in BFRs contamination. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In vitro assessment of the efficacy of thermal therapy in human benign prostatic hyperplasia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bhowmick, P.; Coad, J. E.; Bhowmick, S.; Pryor, J. L.; Larson, T.; de la Rosette, J.; Bischof, J. C.

2004-01-01

The successful management of BPH with minimally invasive thermal therapies requires a firm understanding of the temperature-time relationship for tissue destruction. In order to accomplish this objective, the present in vitro study assesses the cellular viability of human BPH tissue subjected to an

Assessment of human and ecological risks from uranium and gold mining activities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hart, D.; McKee, P.; Garisto, N.

1995-01-01

Forecasting of ecological and human health risk has been widely used in the uranium mining industry to support decisions regarding acceptability of proposed mine developments and mine closure plans. Probabilistic assessment has been less frequently used in other mining sectors where radiological issues are less prominent, but is now beginning to be more broadly applied. Case studies are presented to illustrate probabilistic approaches in opening and closing assessments of uranium and gold mines. Risks to man and biota from operational emissions (radionuclides, arsenic, cyanide) and risk reductions following mine closure are forecast using probabilistic models of chemical fate, transport and exposure. These forecasts permit selection of operational and closure alternatives which produce acceptably low risks

Actual problems of environmental factors risk assessment on human health and ways to improve it

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y.A. Rakhmanin

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The article provides an analysis of global trends and new areas of health risk assessment and analysis methodology caused by exposure to chemicals, environmental pollutants, and the contemporary issues of national assessment methodology. Most details are considered: risk assessment evidence base, modern methods and problems of carcinogenic risk assessment, hygienic regulation based on risk assessment, the economic aspects of the methodology. Particular attention is paid to reasons of recent years perceived gaps in the Russian methodological basis of the best foreign samples. The urgent measures to improve the national risk assessment methodology are proposed, the main of which are: legislative consolidation of the basic concepts of risk assessment, a further update of the methodology and the practice of hygienic regulation on the basis of risk assessment, improving the valuation of damage to human health, the tightening of the requirements to the developed regulatory guidance documents on risk assessment, as well as to the training and retraining of personnel in the risk assessment.

An introduction to the indirect exposure assessment approach: modeling human exposure using microenvironmental measurements and the recent National Human Activity Pattern Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Klepeis, N E

1999-01-01

Indirect exposure approaches offer a feasible and accurate method for estimating population exposures to indoor pollutants, including environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). In an effort to make the indirect exposure assessment approach more accessible to people in the health and risk assessment fields, this paper provides examples using real data from (italic>a(/italic>) a week-long personal carbon monoxide monitoring survey conducted by the author; and (italic>b(/italic>) the 1992 to 1994 National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS) for the United States. The indirect approach uses measurements of exposures in specific microenvironments (e.g., homes, bars, offices), validated microenvironmental models (based on the mass balance equation), and human activity pattern data obtained from questionnaires to predict frequency distributions of exposure for entire populations. This approach requires fewer resources than the direct approach to exposure assessment, for which the distribution of monitors to a representative sample of a given population is necessary. In the indirect exposure assessment approach, average microenvironmental concentrations are multiplied by the total time spent in each microenvironment to give total integrated exposure. By assuming that the concentrations encountered in each of 10 location categories are the same for different members of the U.S. population (i.e., the NHAPS respondents), the hypothetical contribution that ETS makes to the average 24-hr respirable suspended particle exposure for Americans working their main job is calculated in this paper to be 18 microg/m3. This article is an illustrative review and does not contain an actual exposure assessment or model validation. Images Figure 3 Figure 4 PMID:10350522

Cumulative Human Impacts on Coral Reefs: Assessing Risk and Management Implications for Brazilian Coral Reefs

OpenAIRE

Rafael A. Magris; Alana Grech; Robert L. Pressey

2018-01-01

Effective management of coral reefs requires strategies tailored to cope with cumulative disturbances from human activities. In Brazil, where coral reefs are a priority for conservation, intensifying threats from local and global stressors are of paramount concern to management agencies. Using a cumulative impact assessment approach, our goal was to inform management actions for coral reefs in Brazil by assessing their exposure to multiple stressors (fishing, land-based activities, coastal de...

Characterization of Evidence for Human System Risk Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Steinberg, S. L.; Van Baalen, M.; Rossi, M.; Riccio, G.; Romero, E.; Francisco, D.

2016-01-01

Understanding the kinds of evidence available and using the best evidence to answer a question is critical to evidenced-based decision-making, and it requires synthesis of evidence from a variety of sources. Categorization of human system risks in spaceflight, in particular, focuses on how well the integration and interpretation of all available evidence informs the risk statement that describes the relationship between spaceflight hazards and an outcome of interest. A mature understanding and categorization of these risks requires: 1) sufficient characterization of risk, 2) sufficient knowledge to determine an acceptable level of risk (i.e., a standard), 3) development of mitigations to meet the acceptable level of risk, and 4) identification of factors affecting generalizability of the evidence to different design reference missions. In the medical research community, evidence is often ranked by increasing confidence in findings gleaned from observational and experimental research (e.g., "levels of evidence"). However, an approach based solely on aspects of experimental design is problematic in assessing human system risks for spaceflight. For spaceflight, the unique challenges and opportunities include: (1) The independent variables in most evidence are the hazards of spaceflight, such as space radiation or low gravity, which cannot be entirely duplicated in terrestrial (Earth-based) analogs, (2) Evidence is drawn from multiple sources including medical and mission operations, Lifetime Surveillance of Astronaut Health (LSAH), spaceflight research (LSDA), and relevant environmental & terrestrial databases, (3) Risk metrics based primarily on LSAH data are typically derived from available prevalence or incidence data, which may limit rigorous interpretation, (4) The timeframe for obtaining adequate spaceflight sample size (n) is very long, given the small population, (5) Randomized controlled trials are unattainable in spaceflight, (6) Collection of personal and

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AND ASSESSMENT OF ITS QUALITY BY THE EXAMPLE OF ARCHIVES OF THE RF REGION

OpenAIRE

Molotkov Y.I.; Romanenko E.V.

2012-01-01

The purpose of the research conducted in state archives was to define the level of human resources and estimate the possibility of its further growth and development. The human resources assessment has been performed using the Adizes method. In accordance with the results, professionally important qualities of archive personnel have been defined at the level of the Russian Federation substitute. Issues of the improvement of the performance of the use of human resources using the research and ...

Human exposure assessment to antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli through drinking water.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Flaherty, E; Borrego, C M; Balcázar, J L; Cummins, E

2018-03-01

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) are a potential threat to human health through drinking water with strong evidence of ARB presence in post treated tap water around the world. This study examines potential human exposure to antibiotic-resistant (AR) Escherichia coli (E. coli) through drinking water, the effect of different drinking water treatments on AR E. coli and the concentration of AR E. coli required in the source water for the EU Drinking Water Directive (DWD) (Council Directive 98/83/EC, 0CFU/100ml of E. coli in drinking water) to be exceeded. A number of scenarios were evaluated to examine different water treatment combinations and to reflect site specific conditions at a study site in Europe. A literature search was carried out to collate data on the effect of environmental conditions on AR E. coli, the effect of different water treatments on AR E. coli and typical human consumption levels of tap water. A human exposure assessment model was developed with probability distributions used to characterise uncertainty and variability in the input data. Overall results show the mean adult human exposure to AR E. coli from tap water consumption ranged between 3.44×10 -7 and 2.95×10 -1 cfu/day for the scenarios tested and varied depending on the water treatments used. The level of AR E. coli required in the source water pre-treatment to exceed the DWD varied between 1 and 5logcfu/ml, depending on the water treatments used. This can be used to set possible monitoring criteria in pre-treated water for potential ARB exposure in drinking water. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Integrating mechanistic and polymorphism data to characterize human genetic susceptibility for environmental chemical risk assessment in the 21st century

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mortensen, Holly M.; Euling, Susan Y.

2013-01-01

Response to environmental chemicals can vary widely among individuals and between population groups. In human health risk assessment, data on susceptibility can be utilized by deriving risk levels based on a study of a susceptible population and/or an uncertainty factor may be applied to account for the lack of information about susceptibility. Defining genetic susceptibility in response to environmental chemicals across human populations is an area of interest in the NAS' new paradigm of toxicity pathway-based risk assessment. Data from high-throughput/high content (HT/HC), including -omics (e.g., genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics) technologies, have been integral to the identification and characterization of drug target and disease loci, and have been successfully utilized to inform the mechanism of action for numerous environmental chemicals. Large-scale population genotyping studies may help to characterize levels of variability across human populations at identified target loci implicated in response to environmental chemicals. By combining mechanistic data for a given environmental chemical with next generation sequencing data that provides human population variation information, one can begin to characterize differential susceptibility due to genetic variability to environmental chemicals within and across genetically heterogeneous human populations. The integration of such data sources will be informative to human health risk assessment

Level-Dependent Nonlinear Hearing Protector Model in the Auditory Hazard Assessment Algorithm for Humans

Science.gov (United States)

2015-04-01

HPD model. In an article on measuring HPD attenuation, Berger (1986) points out that Real Ear Attenuation at Threshold (REAT) tests are...men. Audiology . 1991;30:345–356. Fedele P, Binseel M, Kalb J, Price GR. Using the auditory hazard assessment algorithm for humans (AHAAH) with

Human chromosome-specific changes in a human-hamster hybrid cell line (AL) assessed by fluorescent in situ hybridization (fish)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geard, Charles R.; Jenkins, Gloria

1995-01-01

Purpose: To quantitatively assess all gamma-ray induced chromosomal changes confined to one human chromosome using fluorescence microscopy and in situ hybridization with a fluorescently labeled human chromosome specific nucleic acid probe. Methods and Materials: Synchronized human-hamster hybrid cells containing human chromosome 11 were obtained by a modified mitotic shake-off procedure. G1 phase cells (> 95%) were irradiated with 137 Cs gamma rays (0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 4.0, 6.0, 8.0, and 10.0 Gy) at a dose rate of 1.1 Gy/min and mitotic cells collected 16-20 h later; chromosomal spreads were prepared, denatured, and hybridized with a fluorescein-tagged nucleic acid probe against total human DNA. Chromosomes were examined by fluorescence microscopy and all categories of change involving the human chromosome 11 as target, recorded. Results: Overall, of the 3104 human-hamster hybrid cells examined, 82.1% were euploid, of which 88.6% contained one copy of human chromosome 11, 6.2% contained two copies, and 5.2% contained 0 copies. This is compatible with mitotic nondisjunction in a small fraction of cells. Of the remaining 17.9% of cells, 85.2% were tetraploid cells with two copies of human chromosome 11. For all aberrations involving human chromosome 11 there was a linear relationship between yield and absorbed dose of 0.1 aberrations per chromosome per Gy. The yield of dicentrics, translocations, and terminal deletions that involve one lesion on the human chromosome was linear, while the yield of interstitial deletions that arise from two interacting lesions on the human chromosome was curvilinear. The frequencies of dicentrics and translocations were about equal, while there was a high (40-60%) incidence of incomplete exchanges between human and hamster chromosomes. Conclusions: Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) procedures allow for the efficient detection of a broad range of induced changes in target chromosomes. Symmetrical exchanges induced in G1

Quantitative Risk Assessment of Human Trichinellosis Caused by Consumption of Pork Meat Sausages in Argentina.

Science.gov (United States)

Sequeira, G J; Zbrun, M V; Soto, L P; Astesana, D M; Blajman, J E; Rosmini, M R; Frizzo, L S; Signorini, M L

2016-03-01

In Argentina, there are three known species of genus Trichinella; however, Trichinella spiralis is most commonly associated with domestic pigs and it is recognized as the main cause of human trichinellosis by the consumption of products made with raw or insufficiently cooked pork meat. In some areas of Argentina, this disease is endemic and it is thus necessary to develop a more effective programme of prevention and control. Here, we developed a quantitative risk assessment of human trichinellosis following pork meat sausage consumption, which may be used to identify the stages with greater impact on the probability of acquiring the disease. The quantitative model was designed to describe the conditions in which the meat is produced, processed, transported, stored, sold and consumed in Argentina. The model predicted a risk of human trichinellosis of 4.88 × 10(-6) and an estimated annual number of trichinellosis cases of 109. The risk of human trichinellosis was sensitive to the number of Trichinella larvae that effectively survived the storage period (r = 0.89), the average probability of infection (PPinf ) (r = 0.44) and the storage time (Storage) (r = 0.08). This model allowed assessing the impact of different factors influencing the risk of acquiring trichinellosis. The model may thus help to select possible strategies to reduce the risk in the chain of by-products of pork production. © 2015 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Radiological assessment of the inferior alveolar artery course in human corpse mandibles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bertl, Kristina [Medical University of Vienna, Division of Oral Surgery, Bernhard Gottlieb School of Dentistry, Vienna (Austria); Malmoe University, Department of Periodontology, Faculty of Odontology, Malmoe (Sweden); Hirtler, Lena [Medical University of Vienna, Center for Anatomy and Cell Biology, Department of Systematic Anatomy, Vienna (Austria); Dobsak, Toni [Medical University of Vienna, Division of Oral Surgery, Bernhard Gottlieb School of Dentistry, Vienna (Austria); Medical University of Vienna, Karl Donath Laboratory for Hard Tissue and Biomaterial Research, Division of Oral Surgery, Vienna (Austria); Austrian Cluster for Tissue Regeneration, Vienna (Austria); Heimel, Patrick [Medical University of Vienna, Karl Donath Laboratory for Hard Tissue and Biomaterial Research, Division of Oral Surgery, Vienna (Austria); Austrian Cluster for Tissue Regeneration, Vienna (Austria); Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Clinical and Experimental Traumatology, Vienna (Austria); Gahleitner, Andre [Medical University of Vienna, Division of Oral Surgery, Bernhard Gottlieb School of Dentistry, Vienna (Austria); Medical University of Vienna, Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Division of Osteoradiology, General Hospital, Vienna (Austria); Ulm, Christian [Medical University of Vienna, Division of Oral Surgery, Bernhard Gottlieb School of Dentistry, Vienna (Austria); Plenk, Hanns [Medical University of Vienna, Bone and Biomaterials Research, Institute for Histology and Embryology, Vienna (Austria)

2015-04-01

CT assessment of the entire course of the inferior alveolar artery (IAA) within the mandibular canal. After contrast medium injection (180 or 400 mg/ml iodine concentration) into the external carotid arteries of 15 fresh human cadaver heads, the main IAA's position in the canal (cranial, buccal, lingual or caudal) was assessed in dental CT images of partially edentulous mandibles. The course of the main IAA could be followed at both iodine concentrations. The higher concentration gave the expected better contrast, without creating artefacts, and improved visibility of smaller arteries, such as anastomotic sections, dental branches and the incisive branch. The main IAA changed its position in the canal more often than so far known (mean 4.3 times, SD 1.24, range 2-7), but with a similar bilateral course. A cranial position was most often detected (42 %), followed by lingual (36 %), caudal (16 %) and buccal (6 %). With this non-invasive radiologic method, the entire course of the main IAA in the mandibular canal could be followed simultaneously with other bone structures on both sides of human cadaver mandibles. This methodology allows one to amend existing anatomical and histological data, which are important for surgical interventions near the mandibular canal. (orig.)

Radiological assessment of the inferior alveolar artery course in human corpse mandibles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bertl, Kristina; Hirtler, Lena; Dobsak, Toni; Heimel, Patrick; Gahleitner, Andre; Ulm, Christian; Plenk, Hanns

2015-01-01

CT assessment of the entire course of the inferior alveolar artery (IAA) within the mandibular canal. After contrast medium injection (180 or 400 mg/ml iodine concentration) into the external carotid arteries of 15 fresh human cadaver heads, the main IAA's position in the canal (cranial, buccal, lingual or caudal) was assessed in dental CT images of partially edentulous mandibles. The course of the main IAA could be followed at both iodine concentrations. The higher concentration gave the expected better contrast, without creating artefacts, and improved visibility of smaller arteries, such as anastomotic sections, dental branches and the incisive branch. The main IAA changed its position in the canal more often than so far known (mean 4.3 times, SD 1.24, range 2-7), but with a similar bilateral course. A cranial position was most often detected (42 %), followed by lingual (36 %), caudal (16 %) and buccal (6 %). With this non-invasive radiologic method, the entire course of the main IAA in the mandibular canal could be followed simultaneously with other bone structures on both sides of human cadaver mandibles. This methodology allows one to amend existing anatomical and histological data, which are important for surgical interventions near the mandibular canal. (orig.)

Toxicity assessment of untreated/treated electroplating sludge using human and plant bioassay.

Science.gov (United States)

Orescanin, Visnja; Durgo, Ksenija; Mikelic, Ivanka Lovrencic; Halkijevic, Ivan; Kuspilic, Marin

2018-04-30

The purpose of this work was to assess the risk to the environment arising from the electroplating sludge from both chemical and toxicological point of view. Both approaches were used for the assessment of the treatment efficiency which consisted of CaO based solidification followed by thermal treatment at 400°C. The elemental composition was determined in the bulk samples and the leachates of untreated sludge. The toxicity of the leachate was determined using two human colorectal adenocarcinoma cell lines (Caco-2 and SW 480) and Hordeum vulgare L. based plant bioassay. The same toxicity tests were employed to the leachate of the treated sludge. Untreated sludge showed extremely high cytotoxic effect to both human and plant bio-system in dose-dependent manner. The percentages higher than 0.5% and 0.05% of the leachate caused significant cytotoxic effect on Caco-2 and SW 480 cells, respectively. The percentages of the leachate higher than 0.05% also showed significant toxic effect to H. vulgare L. bio-system with complete arrest of seed germination following the treatment with 100% to 5% of the leachate. The leachate of the treated sludge showed no toxicity to any of the test systems confirming the efficiency and justification of the employed procedures for the detoxification of electroplating sludge.

Construction of an integrated welfare assessment system (MacWel) for Macaques (Macaca spp.) in human husbandry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kirchner, Marlene; Bakker, Jaco

2015-01-01

of these non-human primate species in human husbandry. In collaboration with researchers of this field valid, reliable and feasible indicators were composed to a holistic assessment protocol; agreement was reached with a Delphi method. The four principles from Welfare Quality were used as definition for Animal...

Human Environmental Disease Network: A computational model to assess toxicology of contaminants.

Science.gov (United States)

Taboureau, Olivier; Audouze, Karine

2017-01-01

During the past decades, many epidemiological, toxicological and biological studies have been performed to assess the role of environmental chemicals as potential toxicants associated with diverse human disorders. However, the relationships between diseases based on chemical exposure rarely have been studied by computational biology. We developed a human environmental disease network (EDN) to explore and suggest novel disease-disease and chemical-disease relationships. The presented scored EDN model is built upon the integration of systems biology and chemical toxicology using information on chemical contaminants and their disease relationships reported in the TDDB database. The resulting human EDN takes into consideration the level of evidence of the toxicant-disease relationships, allowing inclusion of some degrees of significance in the disease-disease associations. Such a network can be used to identify uncharacterized connections between diseases. Examples are discussed for type 2 diabetes (T2D). Additionally, this computational model allows confirmation of already known links between chemicals and diseases (e.g., between bisphenol A and behavioral disorders) and also reveals unexpected associations between chemicals and diseases (e.g., between chlordane and olfactory alteration), thus predicting which chemicals may be risk factors to human health. The proposed human EDN model allows exploration of common biological mechanisms of diseases associated with chemical exposure, helping us to gain insight into disease etiology and comorbidity. This computational approach is an alternative to animal testing supporting the 3R concept.

Assessing Believability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Togelius, Julian; Yannakakis, Georgios N.; Karakovskiy, Sergey

2012-01-01

(or at least complementary) assessment might be made by an external observer that does not participate in the game, through comparing and ranking the performance of human and non-human agents playing a game. This assessment philosophy was embodied in the Turing Test Track of the recent Mario AI......We discuss what it means for a non-player character (NPC) to be believable or human-like, and how we can accurately assess believability. We argue that participatory observation, where the human assessing believability takes part in the game, is prone to distortion effects. For many games, a fairer...... Championship, where non-expert bystanders evaluated the human-likeness of several agents and humans playing a version of Super Mario Bros. We analyze the results of this competition. Finally, we discuss the possibilities for forming models of believability and of maximizing believability through adjusting game...

Human exposure to chemical mixtures: Challenges for the integration of toxicology with epidemiology data in risk assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Hernández, Antonio F; Tsatsakis, Aristidis M

2017-05-01

Little is known about the potential adverse effects from longterm exposure to complex mixtures at low doses, close to health-based reference values. Traditional chemical-specific risk assessment based on animal testing may be insufficient and the lack of toxicological studies on chemical mixtures remains a major regulatory challenge. Hence, new methodologies on cumulative risk assessment are being developed but still present major limitations. Evaluation of chemical mixture effects requires an integrated and systematic approach and close collaboration across different scientific fields, particularly toxicology, epidemiology, exposure science, risk assessment and statistics for a proper integration of data from all these disciplines. Well designed and conducted epidemiological studies can take advantage of this new paradigm and can provide insight to support the correlation between humans low-dose exposures and diseases, thus avoiding the uncertainty associated with extrapolation across species. In this regard, human epidemiology studies may play a significant role in the new vision of toxicity testing. However, this type of information has not been fully considered in risk assessment, mainly due to the inherent limitations of epidemiologic studies. An integrated approach of in vivo, in vitro and in silico data, together with systematic reviews or meta-analysis of high quality epidemiological studies will improve the robustness of risk assessment of chemical mixtures and will provide a stronger basis for regulatory decisions. The ultimate goal is that experimental and mechanistic data can lend support and biological plausibility to the human epidemiological observations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An overview of the evolution of human reliability analysis in the context of probabilistic risk assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bley, Dennis C.; Lois, Erasmia; Kolaczkowski, Alan M.; Forester, John Alan; Wreathall, John; Cooper, Susan E.

2009-01-01

Since the Reactor Safety Study in the early 1970's, human reliability analysis (HRA) has been evolving towards a better ability to account for the factors and conditions that can lead humans to take unsafe actions and thereby provide better estimates of the likelihood of human error for probabilistic risk assessments (PRAs). The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of recent reviews of operational events and advances in the behavioral sciences that have impacted the evolution of HRA methods and contributed to improvements. The paper discusses the importance of human errors in complex human-technical systems, examines why humans contribute to accidents and unsafe conditions, and discusses how lessons learned over the years have changed the perspective and approach for modeling human behavior in PRAs of complicated domains such as nuclear power plants. It is argued that it has become increasingly more important to understand and model the more cognitive aspects of human performance and to address the broader range of factors that have been shown to influence human performance in complex domains. The paper concludes by addressing the current ability of HRA to adequately predict human failure events and their likelihood

An overview of the evolution of human reliability analysis in the context of probabilistic risk assessment.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bley, Dennis C. (Buttonwood Consulting Inc., Oakton, VA); Lois, Erasmia (U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC); Kolaczkowski, Alan M. (Science Applications International Corporation, Eugene, OR); Forester, John Alan; Wreathall, John (John Wreathall and Co., Dublin, OH); Cooper, Susan E. (U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC)

2009-01-01

Since the Reactor Safety Study in the early 1970's, human reliability analysis (HRA) has been evolving towards a better ability to account for the factors and conditions that can lead humans to take unsafe actions and thereby provide better estimates of the likelihood of human error for probabilistic risk assessments (PRAs). The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of recent reviews of operational events and advances in the behavioral sciences that have impacted the evolution of HRA methods and contributed to improvements. The paper discusses the importance of human errors in complex human-technical systems, examines why humans contribute to accidents and unsafe conditions, and discusses how lessons learned over the years have changed the perspective and approach for modeling human behavior in PRAs of complicated domains such as nuclear power plants. It is argued that it has become increasingly more important to understand and model the more cognitive aspects of human performance and to address the broader range of factors that have been shown to influence human performance in complex domains. The paper concludes by addressing the current ability of HRA to adequately predict human failure events and their likelihood.

Selection of the important performance influencing factors for the assessment of human error under accident management situations in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, J. H.; Jung, W. J.

1999-01-01

This paper introduces the process and final results of selection of the important Performance Influencing Factors (PIFs) under emergency operation and accident management situations in nuclear power plants for use in the assessment of human errors. We collected two types of PIF taxonomies, one is the full set PIF list mainly developed for human error analysis, and the other is the PIFs for human reliability analysis (HRA) in probabilistic safety assessment (PSA). 5 PIF taxonomies among the full set PIF list and 10 PIF taxonomies among HRA methodologies (CREAM, SLIM, INTENT, were collected in this research. By reviewing and analyzing PIFs selected for HRA methodologies, the criterion could be established for the selection of appropriate PIFs under emergency operation and accident management situations. Based on this selection criteria, a new PIF taxonomy was proposed for the assessment of human error under emergency operation and accident management situations in nuclear power plants

Vulnerability assessment of urban ecosystems driven by water resources, human health and atmospheric environment

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Jing; Lu, Hongwei; Zhang, Yang; Song, Xinshuang; He, Li

2016-05-01

As ecosystem management is a hotspot and urgent topic with increasing population growth and resource depletion. This paper develops an urban ecosystem vulnerability assessment method representing a new vulnerability paradigm for decision makers and environmental managers, as it's an early warning system to identify and prioritize the undesirable environmental changes in terms of natural, human, economic and social elements. The whole idea is to decompose a complex problem into sub-problem, and analyze each sub-problem, and then aggregate all sub-problems to solve this problem. This method integrates spatial context of Geographic Information System (GIS) tool, multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method, ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operators, and socio-economic elements. Decision makers can find out relevant urban ecosystem vulnerability assessment results with different vulnerable attitude. To test the potential of the vulnerability methodology, it has been applied to a case study area in Beijing, China, where it proved to be reliable and consistent with the Beijing City Master Plan. The results of urban ecosystem vulnerability assessment can support decision makers in evaluating the necessary of taking specific measures to preserve the quality of human health and environmental stressors for a city or multiple cities, with identifying the implications and consequences of their decisions.

Assessment of communication abilities in multilingual children: Language rights or human rights?

Science.gov (United States)

Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena

2018-02-01

Communication involves a sender, a receiver and a shared code operating through shared rules. Breach of communication results from disruption to any of these basic components of a communicative chain, although assessment of communication abilities typically focuses on senders/receivers, on two assumptions: first, that their command of features and rules of the language in question (the code), such as sounds, words or word order, as described in linguists' theorisations, represents the full scope of linguistic competence; and second, that languages are stable, homogeneous entities, unaffected by their users' communicative needs. Bypassing the role of the code in successful communication assigns decisive rights to abstract languages rather than to real-life language users, routinely leading to suspected or diagnosed speech-language disorder in academic and clinical assessment of multilingual children's communicative skills. This commentary reflects on whether code-driven assessment practices comply with the spirit of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Quantitative evaluation of the impact of human reliability in risk assessment for nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Samanta, P.K.

1981-01-01

The role of human beings in the safe operation of a nuclear power plant has been a matter of concern. This study describes methods for the quantitative description of that role and its impact on the risk from nuclear power plants. The impact of human errors was calculated by observing the changes in risk parameters, such as core melt probability, release category probabilities, accident sequence probabilities and system unavailabilities due to changes in the contribution to unavailablity of human errors, within the framework of risk assessment methodology. It was found that for operational pressurized water reactors the opportunity for reduction in core melt probability by reducing the human error rates without simultaneous reduction of hardware failures is limited, but that core melt probability would significantly increase as human error rates increased. More importantly, most of the dominant accident sequences showed a significant increase in their probabilities with an increase in human error rates. Release categories resulting in high consequences showed a much larger sensitivity to human errors than categories resulting in low consequences. A combination of structural importance and reliability importance measure was used to describe the importance of individual errors

Graduate medical education in humanism and professionalism: a needs assessment survey of pediatric gastroenterology fellows.

Science.gov (United States)

Garvey, Katharine C; Kesselheim, Jennifer C; Herrick, Daniel B; Woolf, Alan D; Leichtner, Alan M

2014-01-01

The deterioration of humanism and professionalism during graduate medical training is an acknowledged concern, and programs are required to provide professionalism education for pediatric fellows. We conducted a needs assessment survey in a national sample of 138 first- and second-year gastroenterology fellows (82% response rate). Most believed that present humanism and professionalism education met their needs, but this education was largely informal (eg, role modeling). Areas for formal education desired by >70% included competing demands of clinical practice versus research, difficult doctor-patient relationships, depression/burnout, angry parents, medical errors, work-life balance, and the patient illness experience. These results may guide curricula to formalize humanism and professionalism education in pediatric gastroenterology fellowships.

Risk assessment for human health and terrestrial ecosystem under chronic radioactive pollution near regional radioactive waste storage

Science.gov (United States)

Lavrentyeva, G. V.; Katkova, M. N.; Shoshina, R. R.; Synzynys, B. I.

2017-01-01

An impact of the radioactive waste storage facility at the regional population was assessed under supervision of IAEA. It was made in accordance with the methodology for assessment of doses and risks to human storage using different scenarios of radionuclides releases into the environment. The following scenarios were considered: leakage of fluid, resuspension of dust, fire, flooding. Thy evaluation of radiation doses received and the risks to the human showed that the risk has been acceptable for all scenarios. An approach for an ecological risk assessment for terrestrial ecosystem is presented as five modules: selection of the ecosystem-receptor of radiation effects; determination of reference species of living organisms and their survival indices; the critical load as an absorbed dose rate is calculated from the dependence between the absorbed Sr-90 radiation dose rate and the coefficient of radioactive strontium accumulation in mollusc shells; the critical dose; risk is assessed from a part of the ecosystem territory with increased mollusc loading; uncertainties appeared at each stage of risk assessment are characterized. The risk of exposure to the repository on the ecosystem should be characterized as unacceptable.

Risk assessment for human health and terrestrial ecosystem under chronic radioactive pollution near regional radioactive waste storage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lavrentyeva, G V; Katkova, M N; Shoshina, R R; Synzynys, B I

2017-01-01

An impact of the radioactive waste storage facility at the regional population was assessed under supervision of IAEA. It was made in accordance with the methodology for assessment of doses and risks to human storage using different scenarios of radionuclides releases into the environment. The following scenarios were considered: leakage of fluid, resuspension of dust, fire, flooding. Thy evaluation of radiation doses received and the risks to the human showed that the risk has been acceptable for all scenarios. An approach for an ecological risk assessment for terrestrial ecosystem is presented as five modules: selection of the ecosystem-receptor of radiation effects; determination of reference species of living organisms and their survival indices; the critical load as an absorbed dose rate is calculated from the dependence between the absorbed Sr-90 radiation dose rate and the coefficient of radioactive strontium accumulation in mollusc shells; the critical dose; risk is assessed from a part of the ecosystem territory with increased mollusc loading; uncertainties appeared at each stage of risk assessment are characterized. The risk of exposure to the repository on the ecosystem should be characterized as unacceptable. (paper)

Unsteady-state human-body exergy consumption rate and its relation to subjective assessment of dynamic thermal environments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schweiker, Marcel; Kolarik, Jakub; Dovjak, Mateja

2016-01-01

of the present study confirmed previously indicated trends that lowest human body exergy consumption rate is associated with thermal sensation close to neutrality. Moreover, higher acceptability was in general associated with lower human body exergy consumption rate. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.......Few examples studied applicability of exergy analysis on human thermal comfort. These examples relate the human-body exergy consumption rate with subjectively obtained thermal sensation votes and had been based on steady-state calculation methods. However, humans are rarely exposed to steady...... between the human-body exergy consumption rate and subjective assessment of thermal environment represented by thermal sensation as well as to extend the investigation towards thermal acceptability votes. Comparison of steady-state and unsteady-state model showed that results from both models were...

Bioaccessibility and human health risk assessment of lead in soil from Daye City

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Q.; Li, F.; Xiao, M. S.; Cai, Y.; Xiong, L.; Huang, J. B.; Fu, J. T.

2018-01-01

Lead (Pb) in soil from 4 sampling sites of Daye City was studied. Bioaccessibilities of Pb in soil were determined by the method of simplified bioaccessible extraction test (SBET). Since traditional health risk assessment was built on the basis of metal total content, the risk may be overestimated. Modified human health risk assessment model considering bioaccessibility was built in this study. Health risk of adults and children exposure to Pb based on total contents and bioaccessible contents were evaluated. The results showed that bioaccessible content of Pb in soil was much lower than its total content, and the average bioaccessible factor (BF) was only 25.37%. The hazard indexes (HIs) for adults and children calculated by two methods were all lower than 1. It indicated that there were no no-carcinogenic risks of Pb for human in Daye. By comparing with the results, the average bioaccessible HIs for adults and children were lower than the total one, which was due to the lower hazard quotient (HQ). Proportions of non-carcinogenic risk exposure to Pb via different pathways have also changed. Particularly, the most main risk exposure pathway for adults turned from the oral ingestion to the inhalation.

Human biomonitoring after chemical incidents and during short-term maintenance work as a tool for exposure analysis and assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Bader, M; Van Weyenbergh, T; Verwerft, E; Van Pul, J; Lang, S; Oberlinner, C

2014-12-15

Human biomonitoring (HBM) is frequently used for the analysis and assessment of exposure to chemicals under routine working conditions. In recent years, HBM has also been applied to monitor the exposure of the general population, and of emergency responders in the aftermath of chemical incidents. Two examples of targeted HBM programs in the chemical industry are described and discussed in this paper: (1) analysis and assessment of the exposure of firefighters and chemical workers after the spill of p-chloroaniline from a burning chemical barrel, and (2) biomonitoring of maintenance workers potentially exposed to benzene during regular turnarounds. The results of these investigations underline that human biomonitoring contributes substantially to comprehensive exposure analyses, human health risk assessments and communication. In addition, regular HBM surveillance and feedback can assist in the continuous improvement of workplace safety measures and exposure control. In conclusion, data on accidental or short-term exposure to hazardous chemicals are an important source of information for the further development of limit and assessment values, the validation of biomarkers and of targeted HBM programs for both routine monitoring and disaster management. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Approaches to advancing quantitative human health risk assessment of environmental chemicals in the post-genomic era.

Science.gov (United States)

Chiu, Weihsueh A; Euling, Susan Y; Scott, Cheryl Siegel; Subramaniam, Ravi P

2013-09-15

The contribution of genomics and associated technologies to human health risk assessment for environmental chemicals has focused largely on elucidating mechanisms of toxicity, as discussed in other articles in this issue. However, there is interest in moving beyond hazard characterization to making more direct impacts on quantitative risk assessment (QRA)--i.e., the determination of toxicity values for setting exposure standards and cleanup values. We propose that the evolution of QRA of environmental chemicals in the post-genomic era will involve three, somewhat overlapping phases in which different types of approaches begin to mature. The initial focus (in Phase I) has been and continues to be on "augmentation" of weight of evidence--using genomic and related technologies qualitatively to increase the confidence in and scientific basis of the results of QRA. Efforts aimed towards "integration" of these data with traditional animal-based approaches, in particular quantitative predictors, or surrogates, for the in vivo toxicity data to which they have been anchored are just beginning to be explored now (in Phase II). In parallel, there is a recognized need for "expansion" of the use of established biomarkers of susceptibility or risk of human diseases and disorders for QRA, particularly for addressing the issues of cumulative assessment and population risk. Ultimately (in Phase III), substantial further advances could be realized by the development of novel molecular and pathway-based biomarkers and statistical and in silico models that build on anticipated progress in understanding the pathways of human diseases and disorders. Such efforts would facilitate a gradual "reorientation" of QRA towards approaches that more directly link environmental exposures to human outcomes. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Approaches to advancing quantitative human health risk assessment of environmental chemicals in the post-genomic era

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chiu, Weihsueh A., E-mail: chiu.weihsueh@epa.gov [National Center for Environmental Assessment, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington DC, 20460 (United States); Euling, Susan Y.; Scott, Cheryl Siegel; Subramaniam, Ravi P. [National Center for Environmental Assessment, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington DC, 20460 (United States)

2013-09-15

The contribution of genomics and associated technologies to human health risk assessment for environmental chemicals has focused largely on elucidating mechanisms of toxicity, as discussed in other articles in this issue. However, there is interest in moving beyond hazard characterization to making more direct impacts on quantitative risk assessment (QRA) — i.e., the determination of toxicity values for setting exposure standards and cleanup values. We propose that the evolution of QRA of environmental chemicals in the post-genomic era will involve three, somewhat overlapping phases in which different types of approaches begin to mature. The initial focus (in Phase I) has been and continues to be on “augmentation” of weight of evidence — using genomic and related technologies qualitatively to increase the confidence in and scientific basis of the results of QRA. Efforts aimed towards “integration” of these data with traditional animal-based approaches, in particular quantitative predictors, or surrogates, for the in vivo toxicity data to which they have been anchored are just beginning to be explored now (in Phase II). In parallel, there is a recognized need for “expansion” of the use of established biomarkers of susceptibility or risk of human diseases and disorders for QRA, particularly for addressing the issues of cumulative assessment and population risk. Ultimately (in Phase III), substantial further advances could be realized by the development of novel molecular and pathway-based biomarkers and statistical and in silico models that build on anticipated progress in understanding the pathways of human diseases and disorders. Such efforts would facilitate a gradual “reorientation” of QRA towards approaches that more directly link environmental exposures to human outcomes.

Approaches to advancing quantitative human health risk assessment of environmental chemicals in the post-genomic era

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chiu, Weihsueh A.; Euling, Susan Y.; Scott, Cheryl Siegel; Subramaniam, Ravi P.

2013-01-01

The contribution of genomics and associated technologies to human health risk assessment for environmental chemicals has focused largely on elucidating mechanisms of toxicity, as discussed in other articles in this issue. However, there is interest in moving beyond hazard characterization to making more direct impacts on quantitative risk assessment (QRA) — i.e., the determination of toxicity values for setting exposure standards and cleanup values. We propose that the evolution of QRA of environmental chemicals in the post-genomic era will involve three, somewhat overlapping phases in which different types of approaches begin to mature. The initial focus (in Phase I) has been and continues to be on “augmentation” of weight of evidence — using genomic and related technologies qualitatively to increase the confidence in and scientific basis of the results of QRA. Efforts aimed towards “integration” of these data with traditional animal-based approaches, in particular quantitative predictors, or surrogates, for the in vivo toxicity data to which they have been anchored are just beginning to be explored now (in Phase II). In parallel, there is a recognized need for “expansion” of the use of established biomarkers of susceptibility or risk of human diseases and disorders for QRA, particularly for addressing the issues of cumulative assessment and population risk. Ultimately (in Phase III), substantial further advances could be realized by the development of novel molecular and pathway-based biomarkers and statistical and in silico models that build on anticipated progress in understanding the pathways of human diseases and disorders. Such efforts would facilitate a gradual “reorientation” of QRA towards approaches that more directly link environmental exposures to human outcomes

An Evaluation of the Performance Diagnostic Checklist-Human Services to Assess an Employee Performance Problem in a Center-Based Autism Treatment Facility

Science.gov (United States)

Ditzian, Kyle; Wilder, David A.; King, Allison; Tanz, Jeanine

2015-01-01

The Performance Diagnostic Checklist-Human Services (PDC-HS) is an informant-based tool designed to assess the environmental variables that contribute to poor employee performance in human services settings. We administered the PDC-HS to 3 supervisors to assess the variables that contributed to poor performance by 4 staff members when securing…

Assessment of Human Bio-Behavior During Gait Process Using LifeMOD Software

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liliana Rogozea

2011-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper we present a set of observations concerning the
analysis and assessment of human bio-behavior during gait process. In the first part of the paper the fundamental and theoretical considerations of the gait process are approached and aspects connected to malfunctions are expressed. In the second part of the paper we present the modeling methodology using
the LifeMOD software, while in the third part the results and conclusions are presented.

Molecular biology methods in assessing radiation-induced hereditary risks in humans

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kiuru, A.

2004-12-01

Effort to predict the genetic consequences for humans of exposure to ionising radiation has been one of the most important issues of human genetics over the past 60 years. To date, there has been little experimental knowledge on the genetic risks of human exposure to ionising radiation. Radiation-induced deleterious hereditary effects have not been detected in human populations - not even among the offspring of atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This does not mean deleterious hereditary effects do not exist in humans, but rather that they are small and/or difficult to detect because the normal incidence of inherited abnormalities is quite high in the human population. Thus, assessment of radiation-induced hereditary risks in humans has been based on the common knowledge of human heredity and on animal experiments. However, recent data have suggested that hyper-variable tandem repeat minisatellite loci provide a useful and sensitive experimental approach for monitoring radiation-induced germline mutations in humans. In order to investigate the feasibility of the minisatellite mutation screening system in assessing radiation-induced hereditary risks in humans, we examined the amount of hereditary minisatellite mutations among the offspring of Estonian Chernobyl cleanup workers. The men studied received a median radiation dose of 109 mSv while working on the cleanup activities after the Chernobyl accident. We compared the minisatellite mutation rates of 155 children born to 147 Estonian Chernobyl cleanup workers after the accident to those of their 148 siblings born prior to it. In addition, 44 Estonian families, where the father had not been exposed to radiation, composed an additional control group. In all of these families, the paternity of the children was ascertained by using 5 minisatellite loci (APOB, HRAS, MCOB19, MCT118, and YNZ-22) in PCR-based analyses. Other 8 minisatellite loci (B6.7, CEB1, CEB15, CEB25, CEB36, MS1, MS31, and MS32) were used

Using a Coupled Human-Natural System to Assess the Vulnerability of the Karst Landform Region in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiang He

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Guizhou Plateau is a region in China that typically shows the contradictory human-earth system. A vulnerability assessment indicator system was constructed to explore the coupled human-natural system characteristic of the karst landform based on the grey correlation analysis mathematic model. The quantitative assessment results show that Qiandongnan and Tongren Districts belong to the slight degree of the sensitivity evaluation index. Bijie district belongs to the middle degree and the other districts of Guizhou Plateau belong to the light degree. In terms of the exposure and resilience evaluation index, only Guiyang City belongs to the slight degree and other districts are in the middle degree. Thus, Guizhou Plateau could be divided into three level zones based on the comprehensive vulnerability degree of the coupled human-natural system. The strong degree vulnerability zone includes Liupanshui City, Bijie City, Anshun City, and Qiannan District. The middle degree vulnerability zone includes the districts of Qiandongnan, Qianxinan, and Tongren and the city of Zunyi. The slight degree vulnerability zone only includes Guiyang City. The research results suggest that the coupled human-natural system in Guizhou Plateau has a high vulnerability.

Human Papilloma Viruses and Breast Cancer - Assessment of Causality.

Science.gov (United States)

Lawson, James Sutherland; Glenn, Wendy K; Whitaker, Noel James

2016-01-01

High risk human papilloma viruses (HPVs) may have a causal role in some breast cancers. Case-control studies, conducted in many different countries, consistently indicate that HPVs are more frequently present in breast cancers as compared to benign breast and normal breast controls (odds ratio 4.02). The assessment of causality of HPVs in breast cancer is difficult because (i) the HPV viral load is extremely low, (ii) HPV infections are common but HPV associated breast cancers are uncommon, and (iii) HPV infections may precede the development of breast and other cancers by years or even decades. Further, HPV oncogenesis can be indirect. Despite these difficulties, the emergence of new evidence has made the assessment of HPV causality, in breast cancer, a practical proposition. With one exception, the evidence meets all the conventional criteria for a causal role of HPVs in breast cancer. The exception is "specificity." HPVs are ubiquitous, which is the exact opposite of specificity. An additional reservation is that the prevalence of breast cancer is not increased in immunocompromised patients as is the case with respect to HPV-associated cervical cancer. This indicates that HPVs may have an indirect causal influence in breast cancer. Based on the overall evidence, high-risk HPVs may have a causal role in some breast cancers.

New approaches to assessing the effects of mutagenic agents on the integrity of the human genome

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elespuru, R.K.; Sankaranarayanan, K.

2007-01-01

Heritable genetic alterations, although individually rare, have a substantial collective health impact. Approximately 20% of these are new mutations of unknown cause. Assessment of the effect of exposures to DNA damaging agents, i.e. mutagenic chemicals and radiations, on the integrity of the human genome and on the occurrence of genetic disease remains a daunting challenge. Recent insights may explain why previous examination of human exposures to ionizing radiation, as in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, failed to reveal heritable genetic effects. New opportunities to assess the heritable genetic damaging effects of environmental mutagens are afforded by: (1) integration of knowledge on the molecular nature of genetic disorders and the molecular effects of mutagens; (2) the development of more practical assays for germline mutagenesis; (3) the likely use of population-based genetic screening in personalized medicine

Human error risk management for engineering systems: a methodology for design, safety assessment, accident investigation and training

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cacciabue, P.C.

2004-01-01

The objective of this paper is to tackle methodological issues associated with the inclusion of cognitive and dynamic considerations into Human Reliability methods. A methodology called Human Error Risk Management for Engineering Systems is presented that offers a 'roadmap' for selecting and consistently applying Human Factors approaches in different areas of application and contains also a 'body' of possible methods and techniques of its own. Two types of possible application are discussed to demonstrate practical applications of the methodology. Specific attention is dedicated to the issue of data collection and definition from specific field assessment

The use of biomonitoring data in exposure and human health risk assessment: benzene case study

OpenAIRE

Arnold, Scott M.; Angerer, Juergen; Boogaard, Peter J.; Hughes, Michael F.; O?Lone, Raegan B.; Robison, Steven H.; Robert Schnatter, A.

2013-01-01

A framework of ?Common Criteria? (i.e. a series of questions) has been developed to inform the use and evaluation of biomonitoring data in the context of human exposure and risk assessment. The data-rich chemical benzene was selected for use in a case study to assess whether refinement of the Common Criteria framework was necessary, and to gain additional perspective on approaches for integrating biomonitoring data into a risk-based context. The available data for benzene satisfied most of th...

Review of the state of the art of human biomonitoring for chemical substances and its application to human exposure assessment for food safety

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Choi, Judy; Mørck, Thit Aarøe; Polcher, Alexandra

2015-01-01

Human biomonitoring (HBM) measures the levels of substances in body fluids and tissues. Many countries have conducted HBM studies, yet little is known about its application towards chemical risk assessment, particularly in relation to food safety. Therefore a literature search was performed...... in several databases and conference proceedings for 2002 – 2014. Definitions of HBM and biomarkers, HBM techniques and requirements, and the possible application to the different steps of risk assessment were described. The usefulness of HBM for exposure assessment of chemical substances from food source...... safety areas (namely exposure assessment), and for the implementation of a systematic PMM approach. But further work needs to be done to improve usability. Major deficits are the lack of HBM guidance values on a considerable number of substance groups, for which health based guidance values (HBGVs) have...

Embedding human annoyance rate models in wireless smart sensors for assessing the influence of subway train-induced ambient vibration

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Ke; Zhang, Wei; Ding, Huaping; Kim, Robin E.; Spencer, Billie F., Jr.

2016-10-01

The operation of subway trains induces ambient vibrations, which may cause annoyance and other adverse effects on humans, eventually leading to physical, physiological, and psychological problems. In this paper, the human annoyance rate (HAR) models, used to assess the human comfort under the subway train-induced ambient vibrations, were deduced and the calibration curves for 5 typical use circumstances were addressed. An autonomous measurement system, based on the Imote2, wireless smart sensor (WSS) platform, plus the SHM-H, high-sensitivity accelerometer board, was developed for the HAR assessment. The calibration curves were digitized and embedded in the computational core of the WSS unit. Experimental validation was conducted, using the developed system on a large underground reinforced concrete frame structure adjoining the subway station. The ambient acceleration of both basement floors was measured; the embedded computation was implemented and the HAR assessment results were wirelessly transmitted to the central server, all by the WSS unit. The HAR distributions of the testing areas were identified, and the extent to which both basements will be influenced by the close-up subway-train’s operation, in term of the 5 typical use circumstances, were quantitatively assessed. The potential of the WSS-based autonomous system for the fast environment impact assessment of the subway train-induced ambient vibration was well demonstrated.

Identification and utilization of inter-species conserved (ISC probesets on Affymetrix human GeneChip® platforms for the optimization of the assessment of expression patterns in non human primate (NHP samples

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arnold Alma

2004-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background While researchers have utilized versions of the Affymetrix human GeneChip® for the assessment of expression patterns in non human primate (NHP samples, there has been no comprehensive sequence analysis study undertaken to demonstrate that the probe sequences designed to detect human transcripts are reliably hybridizing with their orthologs in NHP. By aligning probe sequences with expressed sequence tags (ESTs in NHP, inter-species conserved (ISC probesets, which have two or more probes complementary to ESTs in NHP, were identified on human GeneChip® platforms. The utility of human GeneChips® for the assessment of NHP expression patterns can be effectively evaluated by analyzing the hybridization behaviour of ISC probesets. Appropriate normalization methods were identified that further improve the reliability of human GeneChips® for interspecies (human vs NHP comparisons. Results ISC probesets in each of the seven Affymetrix GeneChip® platforms (U133Plus2.0, U133A, U133B, U95Av2, U95B, Focus and HuGeneFL were identified for both monkey and chimpanzee. Expression data was generated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs of 12 human and 8 monkey (Indian origin Rhesus macaque samples using the Focus GeneChip®. Analysis of both qualitative detection calls and quantitative signal intensities showed that intra-species reproducibility (human vs. human or monkey vs. monkey was much higher than interspecies reproducibility (human vs. monkey. ISC probesets exhibited higher interspecies reproducibility than the overall expressed probesets. Importantly, appropriate normalization methods could be leveraged to greatly improve interspecies correlations. The correlation coefficients between human (average of 12 samples and monkey (average of 8 Rhesus macaque samples are 0.725, 0.821 and 0.893 for MAS5.0 (Microarray Suite version 5.0, dChip and RMA (Robust Multi-chip Average normalization method, respectively. Conclusion It is

An empirical assessment of generational differences in basic human values.

Science.gov (United States)

Lyons, Sean T; Duxbury, Linda; Higgins, Christopher

2007-10-01

This study assessed generational differences in human values as measured by the Schwartz Value Survey. It was proposed that the two most recent generations, Millennials and Generation Xers, would value Self-enhancement and Openness to Change more than the two older generations, Baby Boomers and Matures, while the two older generations would value Self-transcendence and Conservation more. The hypotheses were tested with a combined sample of Canadian knowledge workers and undergraduate business students (N = 1,194). Two hypotheses were largely supported, although an unexpectedly large difference was observed between Millennials and Generation Xers with respect to Openness to Change and Self-enhancement. The findings suggest that generation is a useful variable in examining differences in social values.

Quantitative assessment of human and pet exposure to Salmonella associated with dry pet foods.

Science.gov (United States)

Lambertini, Elisabetta; Buchanan, Robert L; Narrod, Clare; Ford, Randall M; Baker, Robert C; Pradhan, Abani K

2016-01-04

Recent Salmonella outbreaks associated with dry pet foods and treats highlight the importance of these foods as previously overlooked exposure vehicles for both pets and humans. In the last decade efforts have been made to raise the safety of this class of products, for instance by upgrading production equipment, cleaning protocols, and finished product testing. However, no comprehensive or quantitative risk profile is available for pet foods, thus limiting the ability to establish safety standards and assess the effectiveness of current and proposed Salmonella control measures. This study sought to develop an ingredients-to-consumer quantitative microbial exposure assessment model to: 1) estimate pet and human exposure to Salmonella via dry pet food, and 2) assess the impact of industry and household-level mitigation strategies on exposure. Data on prevalence and concentration of Salmonella in pet food ingredients, production process parameters, bacterial ecology, and contact transfer in the household were obtained through literature review, industry data, and targeted research. A probabilistic Monte Carlo modeling framework was developed to simulate the production process and basic household exposure routes. Under the range of assumptions adopted in this model, human exposure due to handling pet food is null to minimal if contamination occurs exclusively before extrusion. Exposure increases considerably if recontamination occurs post-extrusion during coating with fat, although mean ingested doses remain modest even at high fat contamination levels, due to the low percent of fat in the finished product. Exposure is highly variable, with the distribution of doses ingested by adult pet owners spanning 3Log CFU per exposure event. Child exposure due to ingestion of 1g of pet food leads to significantly higher doses than adult doses associated with handling the food. Recontamination after extrusion and coating, e.g., via dust or equipment surfaces, may also lead to

Illustrative assessment of human health issues arising from the potential release of chemotoxic substances from a generic geological disposal facility for radioactive waste.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, James C; Thorne, Michael C; Towler, George; Norris, Simon

2011-12-01

Many countries have a programme for developing an underground geological disposal facility for radioactive waste. A case study is provided herein on the illustrative assessment of human health issues arising from the potential release of chemotoxic and radioactive substances from a generic geological disposal facility (GDF) for radioactive waste. The illustrative assessment uses a source-pathway-receptor methodology and considers a number of human exposure pathways. Estimated exposures are compared with authoritative toxicological assessment criteria. The possibility of additive and synergistic effects resulting from exposures to mixtures of chemical contaminants or a combination of radiotoxic and chemotoxic substances is considered. The case study provides an illustration of how to assess human health issues arising from chemotoxic species released from a GDF for radioactive waste and highlights potential difficulties associated with a lack of data being available with which to assess synergistic effects. It also highlights how such difficulties can be addressed.

Illustrative assessment of human health issues arising from the potential release of chemotoxic substances from a generic geological disposal facility for radioactive waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilson, James C; Towler, George; Thorne, Michael C; Norris, Simon

2011-01-01

Many countries have a programme for developing an underground geological disposal facility for radioactive waste. A case study is provided herein on the illustrative assessment of human health issues arising from the potential release of chemotoxic and radioactive substances from a generic geological disposal facility (GDF) for radioactive waste. The illustrative assessment uses a source–pathway–receptor methodology and considers a number of human exposure pathways. Estimated exposures are compared with authoritative toxicological assessment criteria. The possibility of additive and synergistic effects resulting from exposures to mixtures of chemical contaminants or a combination of radiotoxic and chemotoxic substances is considered. The case study provides an illustration of how to assess human health issues arising from chemotoxic species released from a GDF for radioactive waste and highlights potential difficulties associated with a lack of data being available with which to assess synergistic effects. It also highlights how such difficulties can be addressed.

In vivo assessment of the human cerebral microcirculation and its glycocalyx: A technical report.

Science.gov (United States)

Haeren, R H L; Rijkers, K; Schijns, O E M G; Dings, J; Hoogland, G; van Zandvoort, M A M J; Vink, H; van Overbeeke, J J

2018-06-01

The cerebral microcirculation and its glycocalyx, a matrix coating the luminal endothelium, are key regulators of capillary permeability and cerebral blood flow. Microvascular abnormalities are described in several neurological disorders. However, assessment of the cerebral microcirculation and glycocalyx has mainly been performed ex vivo. Here, the technical feasibility of in vivo assessment of the human cerebral microcirculation and its glycocalyx using sidestream dark field (SDF) imaging is discussed. Intraoperative assessment requires the application of a sterile drape covering the camera (slipcover). First, sublingual measurements with and without slipcover were performed in a healthy control to assess the impact of this slipcover. Subsequently, using SDF imaging, the sublingual (reference), cortical, and hippocampal microcirculation and glycocalyx were evaluated in patients who underwent resective brain surgery as treatment for drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy. Finally, vessel density, and the perfused boundary region (PBR), a validated gauge of glycocalyx health, were calculated using GlycoCheck © software. The addition of a slipcover affects vessel density and PBR values in a control subject. The cerebral measurements in five patients were more difficult to obtain than the sublingual ones. This was probably at least partly due to the introduction of a sterile slipcover. Results on vessel density and PBR showed similar patterns at all three measurement sites. This is the first report on in vivo assessment of the human cerebrovascular glycocalyx. Assessment of the glycocalyx is an additional application of in vivo imaging of the cerebral microcirculation using SDF technique. This method enables functional analysis of the microcirculation and glycocalyx, however the addition of a sterile slipcover affects the measurements. SDF imaging is a safe, quick, and straightforward technique to evaluate the functional cerebral microcirculation and glycocalyx

Are drug companies living up to their human rights responsibilities? Moving toward assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Gruskin, Sofia; Raad, Zyde

2010-09-28

The human rights responsibilities of drug companies have been considered for years by nongovernmental organizations, but were most sharply defined in a report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, submitted to the United Nations General Assembly in August 2008. The "Human Rights Guidelines for Pharmaceutical Companies in relation to Access to Medicines" include responsibilities for transparency, management, monitoring and accountability, pricing, and ethical marketing, and against lobbying for more protection in intellectual property laws, applying for patents for trivial modifications of existing medicines, inappropriate drug promotion, and excessive pricing. Two years after the release of the Guidelines, the PLoS Medicine Debate asks whether drug companies are living up to their human rights responsibilities. Sofia Gruskin and Zyde Raad from the Harvard School of Public Health say more assessment is needed of such responsibilities; Geralyn Ritter, Vice President of Global Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility at Merck & Co. argues that multiple stakeholders could do more to help States deliver the right to health; and Paul Hunt and Rajat Khosla introduce Mr. Hunt's work as the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to the highest attainable standard of health, regarding the human rights responsibilities of pharmaceutical companies and access to medicines.

The definition of commonly agreed stylized human intrusion scenarios for use in the long term safety assessments of radioactive waste disposal systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carboneras, P.

2002-01-01

Recent international advice on the treatment of human intrusion in relation to the safety of radioactive waste repositories is reviewed. The outstanding issues which need to be resolved in order to establish an agreed international approach to assessing the consequences and judging the impact of human intrusion are summarized. Finally, a way forward towards an internationally agreed assessment approach is proposed. (author)

A Prototype Public Speaking Skills Assessment: An Evaluation of Human-Scoring Quality. Research Report. ETS RR-15-36

Science.gov (United States)

Joe, Jilliam; Kitchen, Christopher; Chen, Lei; Feng, Gary

2015-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the evaluation of human-scoring quality for an assessment of public speaking skills. Videotaped performances given by 17 speakers on 4 tasks were scored by expert and nonexpert raters who had extensive experience scoring performance-based and constructed-response assessments. The Public Speaking Competence…

Human factors and ergonomics assessment of food pantry work: A case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Higgins, Nicholas A; Talone, Andrew B; Fraulini, Nicholas W; Smither, Janan A

2017-01-01

Research assessing work processes in food pantries has been limited to the client's experience and aspects of food donations [3-5]. Research on food pantries has yet to focus on understanding and evaluating worker-environment interaction. The present case study examined the interaction between workers and their work environment while performing common tasks in a food pantry. Data were collected through naturalistic observations and structured interviews. A task analysis was performed on the data. Several potential issues in the pantry were identified including with the workspace layout, environmental conditions, and signage. Human factors and ergonomics principles were then utilized to provide insights and recommendations (e.g., use of numbered rather than color-coded signage). Recommendations were provided to the case study food pantry for enhancing safety and productivity. Further research is needed to assess the generalizability of our findings to other food pantries.

Conceptual Framework To Extend Life Cycle Assessment Using Near-Field Human Exposure Modeling and High-Throughput Tools for Chemicals

Science.gov (United States)

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a decision-making tool that accounts for multiple impacts across the life cycle of a product or service. This paper presents a conceptual framework to integrate human health impact assessment with risk screening approaches to extend LCA to include n...

A GIS-based human health risk assessment for urban green space planning--an example from Grugliasco (Italy).

Science.gov (United States)

Poggio, Laura; Vrscaj, Borut

2009-11-15

The need to develop approaches for risk-based management of soil contamination, as well as the integration of the assessment of the human health risk (HHR) due to the soil contamination in the urban planning procedures has been the subject of recent attention of scientific literature and policy makers. The spatial analysis of environmental data offers multiple advantages for studying soil contamination and HHR assessment, facilitating the decision making process. The aim of this study was to explore the possibilities and benefits of spatial implementation of a quantitative HHR assessment methodology for a planning case in a typical urban environment where the soil is contaminated. The study area is located in the city of Grugliasco a part of the Turin (Italy) metropolitan area. The soils data were derived from a site specific soil survey and the land-use data from secondary sources. In the first step the soil contamination data were geo-statistically analysed and a spatial soil contamination data risk modelling procedure designed. In order to spatially assess the HHR computer routines were developed using GIS raster tools. The risk was evaluated for several different land uses for the planned naturalistic park area. The HHR assessment indicated that the contamination of soils with heavy metals in the area is not sufficient to induce considerable health problems due to typical human behaviour within the variety of urban land uses. An exception is the possibility of direct ingestion of contaminated soil which commonly occurs in playgrounds. The HHR evaluation in a planning case in the Grugliasco Municipality confirms the suitability of the selected planning option. The construction of the naturalistic park presents one solution for reducing the impacts of soil contamination on the health of citizens. The spatial HHR evaluation using GIS techniques is a diagnostic procedure for assessing the impacts of urban soil contamination, with which one can verify planning

Preliminary assessment of the gender aspects of disaster vulnerability and loss of human life in South Africa

OpenAIRE

Tandlich, Roman; Chirenda, Tatenda G; Srinivas, Chandra S S

2013-01-01

South Africa has reached a medium level of human development and has a heterogeneous situation with respect to disaster risk management. In this article, a preliminary assessment of the gender aspects of disaster vulnerability and fatalities is presented. The United Nations, the Health Systems Trust and Statistics South Africa were used as data sources for the following gender-segregated values: the life expectancy at birth, unemployment rates, the human development index values, the maternal...

A methodology for analysing human errors of commission in accident scenarios for risk assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, J. H.; Jung, W. D.; Park, J. K

2003-01-01

As the concern on the impact of the operator's inappropriate interventions, so-called Errors Of Commissions(EOCs), on the plant safety has been raised, the interest in the identification and analysis of EOC events from the risk assessment perspective becomes increasing accordingly. To this purpose, we propose a new methodology for identifying and analysing human errors of commission that might be caused from the failures in situation assessment and decision making during accident progressions given an initiating event. The proposed methodology was applied to the accident scenarios of YGN 3 and 4 NPPs, which resulted in about 10 EOC situations that need careful attention

Development of a physiologically based pharmacokinetic model for assessment of human exposure to bisphenol A

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Xiaoxia; Doerge, Daniel R.; Teeguarden, Justin G.; Fisher, Jeffrey W.

2015-01-01

A previously developed physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model for bisphenol A (BPA) in adult rhesus monkeys was modified to characterize the pharmacokinetics of BPA and its phase II conjugates in adult humans following oral ingestion. Coupled with in vitro studies on BPA metabolism in the liver and the small intestine, the PBPK model was parameterized using oral pharmacokinetic data with deuterated-BPA (d 6 -BPA) delivered in cookies to adult humans after overnight fasting. The availability of the serum concentration time course of unconjugated d 6 -BPA offered direct empirical evidence for the calibration of BPA model parameters. The recalibrated PBPK adult human model for BPA was then evaluated against published human pharmacokinetic studies with BPA. A hypothesis of decreased oral uptake was needed to account for the reduced peak levels observed in adult humans, where d 6 -BPA was delivered in soup and food was provided prior to BPA ingestion, suggesting the potential impact of dosing vehicles and/or fasting on BPA disposition. With the incorporation of Monte Carlo analysis, the recalibrated adult human model was used to address the inter-individual variability in the internal dose metrics of BPA for the U.S. general population. Model-predicted peak BPA serum levels were in the range of pM, with 95% of human variability falling within an order of magnitude. This recalibrated PBPK model for BPA in adult humans provides a scientific basis for assessing human exposure to BPA that can serve to minimize uncertainties incurred during extrapolations across doses and species. - Highlights: • A PBPK model predicts the kinetics of bisphenol A (BPA) in adult humans. • Serum concentrations of aglycone BPA are available for model calibration. • Model predicted peak BPA serum levels for adult humans were in the range of pM. • Model predicted 95% of human variability fell within an order of magnitude.

Assessment of physical activity of the human body considering the thermodynamic system.

Science.gov (United States)

Hochstein, Stefan; Rauschenberger, Philipp; Weigand, Bernhard; Siebert, Tobias; Schmitt, Syn; Schlicht, Wolfgang; Převorovská, Světlana; Maršík, František

2016-01-01

Correctly dosed physical activity is the basis of a vital and healthy life, but the measurement of physical activity is certainly rather empirical resulting in limited individual and custom activity recommendations. Certainly, very accurate three-dimensional models of the cardiovascular system exist, however, requiring the numeric solution of the Navier-Stokes equations of the flow in blood vessels. These models are suitable for the research of cardiac diseases, but computationally very expensive. Direct measurements are expensive and often not applicable outside laboratories. This paper offers a new approach to assess physical activity using thermodynamical systems and its leading quantity of entropy production which is a compromise between computation time and precise prediction of pressure, volume, and flow variables in blood vessels. Based on a simplified (one-dimensional) model of the cardiovascular system of the human body, we develop and evaluate a setup calculating entropy production of the heart to determine the intensity of human physical activity in a more precise way than previous parameters, e.g. frequently used energy considerations. The knowledge resulting from the precise real-time physical activity provides the basis for an intelligent human-technology interaction allowing to steadily adjust the degree of physical activity according to the actual individual performance level and thus to improve training and activity recommendations.

Assessing bear-human conflicts in the Yukon Territory

OpenAIRE

Lukie, Raechel Dawn

2010-01-01

Managing conflicts between bears and humans is vital for human safety and for the conservation of bears. This study investigated black bear (Ursus americanus) and grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) interactions with humans in 18 major communities of the Yukon Territory. I used an information theoretic approach to generate predictive models of the relative potential of bear-human interaction for the 9 conservation officer management regions in the Yukon Territory. I independently modeled interactions...

Assessment of benzene-induced hematotoxicity using a human-like hematopoietic lineage in NOD/Shi-scid/IL-2Rγnull mice.

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Masayuki Takahashi

Full Text Available Despite recent advancements, it is still difficult to evaluate in vivo responses to toxicants in humans. Development of a system that can mimic the in vivo responses of human cells will enable more accurate health risk assessments. A surrogate human hematopoietic lineage can be established in NOD/Shi-scid/IL-2Rγ(null (NOG mice by transplanting human hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (Hu-NOG mice. Here, we first evaluated the toxic response of human-like hematopoietic lineage in NOG mice to a representative toxic agent, benzene. Flow cytometric analysis showed that benzene caused a significant decrease in the number of human hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells in the bone marrow and the number of human leukocytes in the peripheral blood and hematopoietic organs. Next, we established chimeric mice by transplanting C57BL/6 mouse-derived bone marrow cells into NOG mice (Mo-NOG mice. A comparison of the degree of benzene-induced hematotoxicity in donor-derived hematopoietic lineage cells within Mo-NOG mice indicated that the toxic response of Hu-NOG mice reflected interspecies differences in susceptibilities to benzene. Responses to the toxic effects of benzene were greater in lymphoid cells than in myeloid cells in Mo-NOG and Hu-NOG mice. These findings suggested that Hu-NOG mice may be a powerful in vivo tool for assessing hematotoxicity in humans, while accounting for interspecies differences.

Preventive measures for safety and helth at work with the amphibious transporter PTS-M

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Nenad V. Kovačević

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, the knowledge of using the amphibious transporter STM-M ( STM-M is very limited. A small number of professional soldiers in the Serbian Armed Forces know how to use thisvery useful and high-quality military vehicle in a regular way. From the day onethis vehicle has remained in its basic shape without any modifications since it was made in the former Soviet Union. Today, the Serbian Armed Forces have only 12 of these vehicles in the operational use. The Serbian Armed Forces have two amphibious platoons in two pontoon batalions in the River Flotilla. As the author of this article was an officer in charge of maintaining this complex and “unusual” vehicle, the article deals with the provisions from the Regulations on preventive measures for safety and health while using work equipment (Ministry of Labour, 2012, applied to work with STM-Ms, The article makes a parallel between the provisions of the Regulations and the actual situation and specific conditions of using and maintaining STM-Ms . Introduction Some basic information about the STM-M is given here, twith Figure 1 of this vehicle and its tactical and technicalspecifications.The dangerous places onthe vehicle are presented as well. Mesuares and rules for safe work This part ofthe article presents all speciall tools on the STM-M that are used for safe work. Each piece of tool is described in detail -itslocationon the STM-M, its physical characteristics,  and most common mistakes during its use. Some measures for better maintenance and improved safety at work are also proposed. Conclusion The conclusion deals with the misuse and wrong maintenance of STM-Ms and gives some proposals for their better use. A critical commentary about the conditions of safety engineering in the Serbian Armed Forces can be found here as well.  

Modeling and Quantification of Team Performance in Human Reliability Analysis for Probabilistic Risk Assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jeffrey C. JOe; Ronald L. Boring

2014-06-01

Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) and Human Reliability Assessment (HRA) are important technical contributors to the United States (U.S.) Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) risk-informed and performance based approach to regulating U.S. commercial nuclear activities. Furthermore, all currently operating commercial NPPs in the U.S. are required by federal regulation to be staffed with crews of operators. Yet, aspects of team performance are underspecified in most HRA methods that are widely used in the nuclear industry. There are a variety of "emergent" team cognition and teamwork errors (e.g., communication errors) that are 1) distinct from individual human errors, and 2) important to understand from a PRA perspective. The lack of robust models or quantification of team performance is an issue that affects the accuracy and validity of HRA methods and models, leading to significant uncertainty in estimating HEPs. This paper describes research that has the objective to model and quantify team dynamics and teamwork within NPP control room crews for risk informed applications, thereby improving the technical basis of HRA, which improves the risk-informed approach the NRC uses to regulate the U.S. commercial nuclear industry.

Stable Isotope Technique to Assess Intake of Human Milk in Breastfed Infants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2014-01-01

This publication was developed by an international group of experts as an integral part of the IAEA’s efforts to contribute to the transfer of technology and knowledge in nutrition. Its aim is to assist Member States in their efforts to combat malnutrition by facilitating the use of relevant nuclear techniques. The stable (non-radioactive) isotope technique has been developed to assess intake of human milk in breastfed infants. The practical application of the stable isotope technique, based on analysis of deuterium by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR), is presented in this book

Combining environment and health information systems for the assessment of atmospheric pollution on human health.

Science.gov (United States)

Skouloudis, Andreas N; Kassomenos, Pavlos

2014-08-01

The use of emerging technologies for environmental monitoring with satellite and in-situ sensors have become essential instruments for assessing the impact of environmental pollution on human health, especially in areas that require high spatial and temporal resolution. This was until recently a rather difficult problem. Regrettably, with classical approaches the spatial resolution is frequently inadequate in reporting environmental causes and health effects in the same time scale. This work examines with new tools different levels of air-quality with sensor monitoring with the aim to associate those with severe health effects. The process established here facilitates the precise representation of human exposure with the population attributed in a fine spatial grid and taking into account environmental stressors of human exposure. These stressors can be monitored with innovative sensor units with a temporal resolution that accurately describes chronic and acute environmental burdens. The current understanding of the situation in densely populated areas can be properly analyzed, before commitments are made for reductions in total emissions as well as for assessing the effects of reduced trans-boundary fluxes. In addition, the data processed here with in-situ sensors can assist in establishing more effective regulatory policies for the protection of vulnerable population groups and the satellite monitoring instruments permit abatement strategies that are close to real-time over large geographical areas. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Towards a framework for assessment and management of cumulative human impacts on marine food webs.

Science.gov (United States)

Giakoumi, Sylvaine; Halpern, Benjamin S; Michel, Loïc N; Gobert, Sylvie; Sini, Maria; Boudouresque, Charles-François; Gambi, Maria-Cristina; Katsanevakis, Stelios; Lejeune, Pierre; Montefalcone, Monica; Pergent, Gerard; Pergent-Martini, Christine; Sanchez-Jerez, Pablo; Velimirov, Branko; Vizzini, Salvatrice; Abadie, Arnaud; Coll, Marta; Guidetti, Paolo; Micheli, Fiorenza; Possingham, Hugh P

2015-08-01

Effective ecosystem-based management requires understanding ecosystem responses to multiple human threats, rather than focusing on single threats. To understand ecosystem responses to anthropogenic threats holistically, it is necessary to know how threats affect different components within ecosystems and ultimately alter ecosystem functioning. We used a case study of a Mediterranean seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) food web and expert knowledge elicitation in an application of the initial steps of a framework for assessment of cumulative human impacts on food webs. We produced a conceptual seagrass food web model, determined the main trophic relationships, identified the main threats to the food web components, and assessed the components' vulnerability to those threats. Some threats had high (e.g., coastal infrastructure) or low impacts (e.g., agricultural runoff) on all food web components, whereas others (e.g., introduced carnivores) had very different impacts on each component. Partitioning the ecosystem into its components enabled us to identify threats previously overlooked and to reevaluate the importance of threats commonly perceived as major. By incorporating this understanding of system vulnerability with data on changes in the state of each threat (e.g., decreasing domestic pollution and increasing fishing) into a food web model, managers may be better able to estimate and predict cumulative human impacts on ecosystems and to prioritize conservation actions. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

Condition-based Human Reliability Assessment for digitalized control room

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kang, H. G.; Jang, S. C.; Eom, H. S.; Ha, J. J.

2005-04-01

In safety-critical systems, the generation failure of an actuation signal is caused by the concurrent failures of the automated systems and an operator action. These two sources of safety signals are complicatedly correlated. The failures of sensors or automated systems will cause a lack of necessary information for a human operator and result in error-forcing contexts such as the loss of corresponding alarms and indications. In the conventional analysis, the Human Error Probabilities (HEP) are estimated based on the assumption of 'normal condition of indications and alarms'. In order to construct a more realistic signal-generation failure model, we have to consider more complicated conditions in a more realistic manner. In this study, we performed two kinds of investigation for addressing this issue. We performed the analytic calculations for estimating the effect of sensors failures on the system unavailability and plant risk. For the single-parameter safety signals, the analysis result reveals that the quantification of the HEP should be performed by focusing on the 'no alarm from the automatic system and corresponding indications unavailable' situation. This study also proposes a Condition-Based Human Reliability Assessment (CBHRA) method in order to address these complicated conditions in a practical way. We apply the CBHRA method to the manual actuation of the safety features such as a reactor trip and auxiliary feedwater actuation in Korean Standard Nuclear Power Plants. In the case of conventional single HEP method, it is very hard to consider the multiple HE conditions. The merit of CBHRA is clearly shown in the application to the AFAS generation where no dominating HE condition exits. In this case, even if the HE conditions are carefully investigated, the single HEP method cannot accommodate the multiple conditions in a fault tree. On the other hand, the application result of the reactor trip in SLOCA shows that if there is a dominating condition, the use

Toxicovigilance: A new approach for the hazard identification and risk assessment of toxicants in human beings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Descotes, Jacques; Testud, Francois

2005-01-01

The concept of toxicovigilance encompasses the active detection, validation and follow-up of clinical adverse events related to toxic exposures in human beings. Poison centers are key players in this function as poisoning statistics are essential to define the cause, incidence and severity of poisonings occurring in the general population. In addition, the systematic search for unexpected shifts in the recorded causes of poisonings, e.g., following the introduction of a new product, or change in the formulation or recommended use of an old product, allows for a rapid detection of potential adverse health consequences and the implementation of preventive or corrective measures. However, toxicovigilance is genuinely a medical and not only a statistical approach of human toxicity issues. In contrast to epidemiology, toxicovigilance is based on the in-depth medical assessment of acute or chronic intoxications on an individual basis, which requires detailed information that poison centers can rarely obtain via emergency telephone calls and that epidemiologists cannot collect or process. Validation of this medical information must primarily be based on toxicological expertise to help identify causal links between otherwise unexplained pathological conditions and documented toxic exposures. Thus, toxicovigilance can contribute to hazard identification and risk assessment by providing medically validated data which are often overlooked in the process of risk assessment. So far, very few structured toxicovigilance systems have been set up and hopefully national and international initiatives will bridge this gap in our knowledge of the toxicity of many chemicals and commercial products in human beings

Toxicovigilance: a new approach for the hazard identification and risk assessment of toxicants in human beings.

Science.gov (United States)

Descotes, Jacques; Testud, François

2005-09-01

The concept of toxicovigilance encompasses the active detection, validation and follow-up of clinical adverse events related to toxic exposures in human beings. Poison centers are key players in this function as poisoning statistics are essential to define the cause, incidence and severity of poisonings occurring in the general population. In addition, the systematic search for unexpected shifts in the recorded causes of poisonings, e.g., following the introduction of a new product, or change in the formulation or recommended use of an old product, allows for a rapid detection of potential adverse health consequences and the implementation of preventive or corrective measures. However, toxicovigilance is genuinely a medical and not only a statistical approach of human toxicity issues. In contrast to epidemiology, toxicovigilance is based on the in-depth medical assessment of acute or chronic intoxications on an individual basis, which requires detailed information that poison centers can rarely obtain via emergency telephone calls and that epidemiologists cannot collect or process. Validation of this medical information must primarily be based on toxicological expertise to help identify causal links between otherwise unexplained pathological conditions and documented toxic exposures. Thus, toxicovigilance can contribute to hazard identification and risk assessment by providing medically validated data which are often overlooked in the process of risk assessment. So far, very few structured toxicovigilance systems have been set up and hopefully national and international initiatives will bridge this gap in our knowledge of the toxicity of many chemicals and commercial products in human beings.

Assessing impact of changes in human resources features on enterprise activities: simulation model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kalmykova Svetlana

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The need for creating programs of human resources development is shown; the impact of these programs on organizational effectiveness is taken into account. The stages of development tools and HRD programs on the basis of cognitive modelling are disclosed; these stages will help assess the impact of HR-practices on the key indicators of organization activity at the design stage. The method of HR-practices’ pre-selection in professional development of the employees is represented.

Malaysia's Human Rights Performance: Assessment of its First Session of Universal Periodic Review in the United Nations Human Rights Council

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ying Hooi Khoo

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Since its inception, the Universal Periodic Review (UPR has been subjected to a substantial amount of criticism. The mechanism began functioning in 2008, however there have been little made known about the roles and functions of the UPR. This article explicitly examines the first UPR process of Malaysia in 2009, in order to illustrate how the mechanism operates in practice by highlighting the engagement of Malaysia government with the stakeholders, the follow-up process and the main issues concerned. This article argues that in spite of the excellent diplomacy skills that portrayed by the Malaysian government in the UPR session, the human rights situation in the country has not been improved much. This paper seeks to determine how effective the UPR has been at encouraging human rights reforms nationally by analyzing and assessing the implementation actions of Malaysian government in response to their accepted UPR recommendations.

A relation between calculated human body exergy consumption rate and subjectively assessed thermal sensation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Simone, Angela; Kolarik, Jakub; Olesen, Bjarne W. [ICIEE/BYG, Technical University of Denmark (Denmark); Iwamatsu, Toshiya [Faculty of Urban Environmental Science, Tokyo Metropolitan University (Japan); Asada, Hideo [Architech Consulting Co., Tokyo (Japan); Dovjak, Mateja [Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia); Schellen, Lisje [Eindhoven University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning (Netherlands); Shukuya, Masanori [Laboratory of Building Environment, Tokyo City University, Yokohama (Japan)

2011-01-15

Application of the exergy concept to research on the built environment is a relatively new approach. It helps to optimize climate conditioning systems so that they meet the requirements of sustainable building design. As the building should provide a healthy and comfortable environment for its occupants, it is reasonable to consider both the exergy flows in building and those within the human body. Until now, no data have been available on the relation between human-body exergy consumption rates and subjectively assessed thermal sensation. The objective of the present work was to relate thermal sensation data, from earlier thermal comfort studies, to calculated human-body exergy consumption rates. The results show that the minimum human body exergy consumption rate is associated with thermal sensation votes close to thermal neutrality, tending to the slightly cool side of thermal sensation. Generally, the relationship between air temperature and the exergy consumption rate, as a first approximation, shows an increasing trend. Taking account of both convective and radiative heat exchange between the human body and the surrounding environment by using the calculated operative temperature, exergy consumption rates increase as the operative temperature increases above 24 C or decreases below 22 C. With the data available so far, a second-order polynomial relationship between thermal sensation and the exergy consumption rate was established. (author)

Conceptual Framework To Extend Life Cycle Assessment Using Near-Field Human Exposure Modeling and High-Throughput Tools for Chemicals.

Science.gov (United States)

Csiszar, Susan A; Meyer, David E; Dionisio, Kathie L; Egeghy, Peter; Isaacs, Kristin K; Price, Paul S; Scanlon, Kelly A; Tan, Yu-Mei; Thomas, Kent; Vallero, Daniel; Bare, Jane C

2016-11-01

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a decision-making tool that accounts for multiple impacts across the life cycle of a product or service. This paper presents a conceptual framework to integrate human health impact assessment with risk screening approaches to extend LCA to include near-field chemical sources (e.g., those originating from consumer products and building materials) that have traditionally been excluded from LCA. A new generation of rapid human exposure modeling and high-throughput toxicity testing is transforming chemical risk prioritization and provides an opportunity for integration of screening-level risk assessment (RA) with LCA. The combined LCA and RA approach considers environmental impacts of products alongside risks to human health, which is consistent with regulatory frameworks addressing RA within a sustainability mindset. A case study is presented to juxtapose LCA and risk screening approaches for a chemical used in a consumer product. The case study demonstrates how these new risk screening tools can be used to inform toxicity impact estimates in LCA and highlights needs for future research. The framework provides a basis for developing tools and methods to support decision making on the use of chemicals in products.

Environmental Modeling and Bayesian Analysis for Assessing Human Health Impacts from Radioactive Waste Disposal

Science.gov (United States)

Stockton, T.; Black, P.; Tauxe, J.; Catlett, K.

2004-12-01

Bayesian decision analysis provides a unified framework for coherent decision-making. Two key components of Bayesian decision analysis are probability distributions and utility functions. Calculating posterior distributions and performing decision analysis can be computationally challenging, especially for complex environmental models. In addition, probability distributions and utility functions for environmental models must be specified through expert elicitation, stakeholder consensus, or data collection, all of which have their own set of technical and political challenges. Nevertheless, a grand appeal of the Bayesian approach for environmental decision- making is the explicit treatment of uncertainty, including expert judgment. The impact of expert judgment on the environmental decision process, though integral, goes largely unassessed. Regulations and orders of the Environmental Protection Agency, Department Of Energy, and Nuclear Regulatory Agency orders require assessing the impact on human health of radioactive waste contamination over periods of up to ten thousand years. Towards this end complex environmental simulation models are used to assess "risk" to human and ecological health from migration of radioactive waste. As the computational burden of environmental modeling is continually reduced probabilistic process modeling using Monte Carlo simulation is becoming routinely used to propagate uncertainty from model inputs through model predictions. The utility of a Bayesian approach to environmental decision-making is discussed within the context of a buried radioactive waste example. This example highlights the desirability and difficulties of merging the cost of monitoring, the cost of the decision analysis, the cost and viability of clean up, and the probability of human health impacts within a rigorous decision framework.

ECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE HUMAN -TRANSFORMED SYSTEMS OF THE IRPIN RIVER

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Svitlana Madzhd

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Purpose: to learn the interaction of natural and anthropogenic factors and their consequences in the system “Natural environment (Irpin river – human-transformed environment (Nyvka river”. Methods: To assess the structural and functional changes of hydroecosystems, transformed under technogenic impact, hydrochemical, toxicological and biological techniques, as well as the methods of mathematical statistics for experimental data processing and summarization of obtained results, were applied. Results: it is proposed to determine the dynamics of the biotic self-regulation mechanism change under impact of the modifying (anthropogenic factors, by the example of the two-component system – “Natural environment (Irpin River – environment, transformed under technogenic impact (Nyvka River, the right-hand tributary of the Irpin River”. It is proposed to extend additionally the opportunities of the ecological assessment due to application of the integrating index – the index of ecological conformity. Discussion: obtained results stipulate necessity of the further investigation of structural and functional patterns of the Irpin River ecosystem in space and time. Assessment of anthropogenic factors impact on hydroecosystem condition will make it possible to correct the nature guard activity concerning the improvement of the fishery object ecological condition and recreation essence of the Irpin River. Integration of the Nyvka and Irpin Rivers into a single system “Natural environment – environment, transformed under technogenic impact” will make it possible to obtain the objective assessment of technogenic changes in hydroecosystems. Implementation of the index of ecological conformity will make it possible to estimate completely the inner processes in the rivers.

An assessment of prominent proposals to amend intellectual property regimes using a human rights framework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristian Timmermann

2014-12-01

Full Text Available A wide range of proposals to alleviate the negative effects of intellectual property regimes is currently under discussion. This article offers a critical evaluation of six of these proposals: the Health Impact Fund, the Access to Knowledge movement, prize systems, open innovation models, compulsory licenses and South-South collaborations. An assessment on how these proposals target the human rights affected by intellectual property will be provided. The conflicting human rights that will be individually discussed are the rights: to benefit from one’s own scientific work, to benefit from the advancement of science, to participate in scientific enterprises and to self-determination.

Histological methods for assessing myelin sheaths and axons in human nerve trunks.

Science.gov (United States)

Miko, T L; Gschmeissner, S E

1994-03-01

Although there are many histological techniques for assessing myelin sheaths and axons in paraffin embedded or frozen sections of the peripheral nervous system, modern approaches usually use plastic embedded material. Although plastic embedding is superior for small cutaneous branches, this method has limited value for histological assessment of nerve trunks. We report three methods which together yield a comprehensive approach for thorough and detailed investigation of human nerve trunks. The rapid osmication method permitted assessment of myelinated nerve fibers from frozen sections at operation, thus providing the surgeon with guidance on the extent of nerve resection. The modification presented here resulted in permanent slides, allowing comparison of results with those of the other two procedures. The new osmium-hematoxylin technique could be performed on paraffin embedded nerves. Paraffin, unlike plastic, permitted the study of the whole cross sectional area of the nerve in single sections. Moreover, the sharp image of the myelin permitted computerized morphometry. The significantly modified axonal silver impregnation technique was performed on frozen sections mounted on glass slides, as opposed to the time-consuming impregnation of free-floating sections. The latter technique had a high success rate and permitted semiquantitative assessment of axons in nerve trunks. These methods can be performed in any routine histology laboratory and resulted in greater accuracy compared to conventional methods.

A limited assessment of the ASEP human reliability analysis procedure using simulator examination results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gore, B.R.; Dukelow, J.S. Jr.; Mitts, T.M.; Nicholson, W.L.

1995-10-01

This report presents a limited assessment of the conservatism of the Accident Sequence Evaluation Program (ASEP) human reliability analysis (HRA) procedure described in NUREG/CR-4772. In particular, the, ASEP post-accident, post-diagnosis, nominal HRA procedure is assessed within the context of an individual's performance of critical tasks on the simulator portion of requalification examinations administered to nuclear power plant operators. An assessment of the degree to which operator perforn:Lance during simulator examinations is an accurate reflection of operator performance during actual accident conditions was outside the scope of work for this project; therefore, no direct inference can be made from this report about such performance. The data for this study are derived from simulator examination reports from the NRC requalification examination cycle. A total of 4071 critical tasks were identified, of which 45 had been failed. The ASEP procedure was used to estimate human error probability (HEP) values for critical tasks, and the HEP results were compared with the failure rates observed in the examinations. The ASEP procedure was applied by PNL operator license examiners who supplemented the limited information in the examination reports with expert judgment based upon their extensive simulator examination experience. ASEP analyses were performed for a sample of 162 critical tasks selected randomly from the 4071, and the results were used to characterize the entire population. ASEP analyses were also performed for all of the 45 failed critical tasks. Two tests were performed to assess the bias of the ASEP HEPs compared with the data from the requalification examinations. The first compared the average of the ASEP HEP values with the fraction of the population actually failed and it found a statistically significant factor of two bias on the average

Model for screening-level assessment of near-field human exposure to neutral organic chemicals released indoors.

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Zhang, Xianming; Arnot, Jon A; Wania, Frank

2014-10-21

Screening organic chemicals for hazard and risk to human health requires near-field human exposure models that can be readily parametrized with available data. The integration of a model of human exposure, uptake, and bioaccumulation into an indoor mass balance model provides a quantitative framework linking emissions in indoor environments with human intake rates (iRs), intake fractions (iFs) and steady-state concentrations in humans (C) through consideration of dermal permeation, inhalation, and nondietary ingestion exposure pathways. Parameterized based on representative indoor and adult human characteristics, the model is applied here to 40 chemicals of relevance in the context of human exposure assessment. Intake fractions and human concentrations (C(U)) calculated with the model based on a unit emission rate to air for these 40 chemicals span 2 and 5 orders of magnitude, respectively. Differences in priority ranking based on either iF or C(U) can be attributed to the absorption, biotransformation and elimination processes within the human body. The model is further applied to a large data set of hypothetical chemicals representative of many in-use chemicals to show how the dominant exposure pathways, iF and C(U) change as a function of chemical properties and to illustrate the capacity of the model for high-throughput screening. These simulations provide hypotheses for the combination of chemical properties that may result in high exposure and internal dose. The model is further exploited to highlight the role human contaminant uptake plays in the overall fate of certain chemicals indoors and consequently human exposure.

Endocrine effects of chemicals: aspects of hazard identification and human health risk assessment.

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Dekant, Wolfgang; Colnot, Thomas

2013-12-16

Hazard and risk assessment of chemicals with endocrine activity is hotly debated due to claimed non-monotonous dose-response curves in the low-dose region. In hazard identification a clear definition of "endocrine disruptors" (EDs) is required; this should be based on the WHO/IPCS definition of EDs and on adverse effects demonstrated in intact animals or humans. Therefore, endocrine effects are a mode of action potentially resulting in adverse effects; any classification should not be based on a mode of action, but on adverse effects. In addition, when relying on adverse effects, most effects reported in the low-dose region will not qualify for hazard identification since most have little relation to an adverse effect. Non-monotonous dose-response curves that had been postulated from limited, exploratory studies could also not be reproduced in targeted studies with elaborate quality assurance. Therefore, regulatory agencies or advisory bodies continue to apply the safety-factor method or the concept of "margin-of-exposure" based on no observed adverse effect levels (NOAELs) in the risk assessment of chemicals with weak hormonal activity. Consistent with this approach, tolerable levels regarding human exposure have been defined for such chemicals. To conclusively support non-monotonous dose-response curves, targeted experiments with a sufficient number of animals, determination of adverse endpoints, adequate statistics and quality control would be required. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Human Rights within Education: Assessing the Justifications

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McCowan, Tristan

2012-01-01

While respect for human rights has long been endorsed as a goal of education, only recently has significant attention been paid to the need to incorporate rights within educational processes. Current support for human rights within education, however, has a variety of motivations. This paper provides a theoretical exploration of these diverse…

Evaluating the Performance Diagnostic Checklist-Human Services to Assess Incorrect Error-Correction Procedures by Preschool Paraprofessionals

Science.gov (United States)

Bowe, Melissa; Sellers, Tyra P.

2018-01-01

The Performance Diagnostic Checklist-Human Services (PDC-HS) has been used to assess variables contributing to undesirable staff performance. In this study, three preschool teachers completed the PDC-HS to identify the factors contributing to four paraprofessionals' inaccurate implementation of error-correction procedures during discrete trial…

Developing a health and human rights training program for french speaking Africa: lessons learned, from needs assessment to a pilot program.

Science.gov (United States)

Chastonay, Philippe; Klohn, Axel Max; Zesiger, Véronique; Freigburghaus, Franziska; Mpinga, Emmanuel Kabengele

2009-08-24

The importance of human rights education has widely been recognized as one of the strategies for their protection and promotion of health. Yet training programs have not always taken into account neither local needs, nor public health relevance, nor pedagogical efficacy.The objectives of our study were to assess, in a participative way, educational needs in the field of health and human rights among potential trainees in six French-speaking African countries and to test the feasibility of a training program through a pilot test. Ultimately the project aims to implement a health and human rights training program most appropriate to the African context. Needs assessment was done according to four approaches: Revue of available data on health and human rights in the targeted countries; Country visits by one of the authors meeting key institutions; Focus group discussions with key-informants in each country; A questionnaire-based study targeting health professionals and human rights activists.Pilot training program: an interactive e-learning pilot program was developed integrating training needs expressed by partner institutions and potential trainees. Needs assessment showed high public health and human rights challenges that the target countries have to face. It also showed precise demands of partner institutions in regard to a health and human rights training program. It further allowed defining training objectives and core competencies useful to potential employers and future students as well as specific training contents.A pilot program allowed testing the motivation of students, the feasibility of an interactive educational approach and identifying potential difficulties. In combining various approaches our study was able to show that training needs concentrate around tools allowing the identification of basic human rights violations in the health system, the analysis of their causes and coordinated responses through specific intervention projects.

Developing a health and human rights training program for french speaking Africa: lessons learned, from needs assessment to a pilot program

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Freigburghaus Franziska

2009-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The importance of human rights education has widely been recognized as one of the strategies for their protection and promotion of health. Yet training programs have not always taken into account neither local needs, nor public health relevance, nor pedagogical efficacy. The objectives of our study were to assess, in a participative way, educational needs in the field of health and human rights among potential trainees in six French-speaking African countries and to test the feasibility of a training program through a pilot test. Ultimately the project aims to implement a health and human rights training program most appropriate to the African context. Methods Needs assessment was done according to four approaches: Revue of available data on health and human rights in the targeted countries; Country visits by one of the authors meeting key institutions; Focus group discussions with key-informants in each country; A questionnaire-based study targeting health professionals and human rights activists. Pilot training program: an interactive e-learning pilot program was developed integrating training needs expressed by partner institutions and potential trainees. Results Needs assessment showed high public health and human rights challenges that the target countries have to face. It also showed precise demands of partner institutions in regard to a health and human rights training program. It further allowed defining training objectives and core competencies useful to potential employers and future students as well as specific training contents. A pilot program allowed testing the motivation of students, the feasibility of an interactive educational approach and identifying potential difficulties. Conclusion In combining various approaches our study was able to show that training needs concentrate around tools allowing the identification of basic human rights violations in the health system, the analysis of their causes and

Identification of potentially hazardous human gene products in GMO risk assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Bergmans, Hans; Logie, Colin; Van Maanen, Kees; Hermsen, Harm; Meredyth, Michelle; Van Der Vlugt, Cécile

2008-01-01

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs), e.g. viral vectors, could threaten the environment if by their release they spread hazardous gene products. Even in contained use, to prevent adverse consequences, viral vectors carrying genes from mammals or humans should be especially scrutinized as to whether gene products that they synthesize could be hazardous in their new context. Examples of such potentially hazardous gene products (PHGPs) are: protein toxins, products of dominant alleles that have a role in hereditary diseases, gene products and sequences involved in genome rearrangements, gene products involved in immunomodulation or with an endocrine function, gene products involved in apoptosis, activated proto-oncogenes. For contained use of a GMO that carries a construct encoding a PHGP, the precautionary principle dictates that safety measures should be applied on a "worst case" basis, until the risks of the specific case have been assessed. The potential hazard of cloned genes can be estimated before empirical data on the actual GMO become available. Preliminary data may be used to focus hazard identification and risk assessment. Both predictive and empirical data may also help to identify what further information is needed to assess the risk of the GMO. A two-step approach, whereby a PHGP is evaluated for its conceptual dangers, then checked by data bank searches, is delineated here.

Factors for assessment of human health risk associated with remedial action at hazardous waste sites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stephenson, D.E.; King, C.M.; Looney, B.B.; Holmes, W.G.; Gordon, D.E.

1985-01-01

A risk assessment strategy that is cost effective and minimized human health risks was developed for closure of hazardous waste sites at the Savannah River Plant. The strategy consists of (1) site characterization, (2) contaminant transport modeling, and (3) determination of relative merits of alternative remedial actions according to the degree of health protection they provide

Comparability of Conflict Opportunities in Human-to-Human and Human-to-Agent Online Collaborative Problem Solving

Science.gov (United States)

Rosen, Yigal

2014-01-01

Students' performance in human-to-human and human-to-agent collaborative problem solving assessment task is investigated in this paper. A secondary data analysis of the research reported by Rosen and Tager (2013) was conducted in order to investigate the comparability of the opportunities for conflict situations in human-to-human and…

Human rights assessment in Parc Jean Marie Vincent, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Science.gov (United States)

Cullen, Kimberly A; Ivers, Louise C

2010-12-15

Months after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti, over one million remain homeless and living in spontaneous internally displaced person (IDP) camps. Billions of dollars from aid organizations and government agencies have been pledged toward the relief effort, yet many basic human needs, including food, shelter, and sanitation, continue to be unmet. The Sphere Project, "Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response," identifies the minimum standards to be attained in disaster response. From a human rights perspective and utilizing key indicators from the Sphere Project as benchmarks, this article reports on an assessment of the living conditions approximately 12 weeks after the earthquake in Parc Jean Marie Vincent, a spontaneous IDP camp in Port-au-Prince. A stratified random sample of households in the camp, proportionate to the number of families living in each sector, was selected. Interview questions were designed to serve as "key indicators" for the Sphere Project minimum standards. A total of 486 interviews were completed, representing approximately 5% of households in each of the five sectors of the camp. Our assessment identified the relative achievements and shortcomings in the provision of relief services in Parc Jean Marie Vincent. At the time of this survey, the Sphere Project minimum standards for access to health care and quantity of water per person per day were being met. Food, shelter, sanitation, and security were below minimum accepted standard and of major concern. The formal assessment reported here was completed by September 2010, and is necessarily limited to conditions in Haiti before the cholera outbreak in October. Copyright © 2010 Cullen and Ivers. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any

The slack test does not assess maximal shortening velocity of muscle fascicle in human.

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Hager, Robin; Dorel, Sylvain; Nordez, Antoine; Rabita, Giuseppe; Couturier, Antoine; Hauraix, Hugo; Duchateau, Jacques; Guilhem, Gaël

2018-06-14

The application of a series of extremely high accelerative motor-driven quick releases while muscles contract isometrically (i.e. slack test) has been proposed to assess unloaded velocity in human muscle. This study aimed to measure gastrocnemius medialis fascicle (V F ) and tendinous tissues shortening velocity during motor-driven quick releases performed at various activation levels to assess the applicability of the slack test method in human. Maximal fascicle shortening velocity and joint velocity recorded during quick releases and during fast contraction without external load (ballistic condition) were compared. Gastrocnemius medialis fascicle behaviour was investigated from 25 participants using high-frame rate ultrasound during quick releases performed at various activation levels (from 0% to 60% of maximal voluntary isometric torque) and ballistic contractions. Unloaded joint velocity calculated using the slack test method increased whereas V F decreased with muscle activation level (P≤0.03). Passive and low-level quick releases elicited higher V F values (≥ 41.4±9.7 cm.s -1 ) compared to ballistic condition (36.3±8.7 cm.s -1 ), while quick releases applied at 60% of maximal voluntary isometric torque produced the lowest V F These findings suggest that initial fascicle length, complex fascicle-tendon interactions, unloading reflex and motor-driven movement pattern strongly influence and limit the shortening velocity achieved during the slack test. Furthermore, V F elicited by quick releases is likely to reflect substantial contributions of passive processes. Therefore, the slack test is not appropriate to assess maximal muscle shortening velocity in vivo. © 2018. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

The influence of spatial resolution on human health risk co-benefit estimates for global climate policy assessments.

Science.gov (United States)

Shih, Hsiu-Ching; Crawford-Brown, Douglas; Ma, Hwong-wen

2015-03-15

Assessment of the ability of climate policies to produce desired improvements in public health through co-benefits of air pollution reduction can consume resources in both time and research funds. These resources increase significantly as the spatial resolution of models increases. In addition, the level of spatial detail available in macroeconomic models at the heart of climate policy assessments is much lower than that available in traditional human health risk modeling. It is therefore important to determine whether increasing spatial resolution considerably affects risk-based decisions; which kinds of decisions might be affected; and under what conditions they will be affected. Human health risk co-benefits from carbon emissions reductions that bring about concurrent reductions in Particulate Matter (PM10) emissions is therefore examined here at four levels of spatial resolution (Uniform Nation, Uniform Region, Uniform County/city, Health Risk Assessment) in a case study of Taiwan as one of the geographic regions of a global macroeceonomic model, with results that are representative of small, industrialized nations within that global model. A metric of human health risk mortality (YOLL, years of life lost in life expectancy) is compared under assessments ranging from a "uniform simulation" in which there is no spatial resolution of changes in ambient air concentration under a policy to a "highly spatially resolved simulation" (called here Health Risk Assessment). PM10 is chosen in this study as the indicator of air pollution for which risks are assessed due to its significance as a co-benefit of carbon emissions reductions within climate mitigation policy. For the policy examined, the four estimates of mortality in the entirety of Taiwan are 747 YOLL, 834 YOLL, 984 YOLL and 916 YOLL, under Uniform Taiwan, Uniform Region, Uniform County and Health Risk Assessment respectively; or differences of 18%, 9%, 7% if the HRA methodology is taken as the baseline. While

Human engineering guidelines for the evaluation and assessment of Video Display Units

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gilmore, W.E.

1985-07-01

This report provides the Nuclear Regulatory Commission with a single source that documents known guidelines for conducting formal Human Factors evaluations of Video Display Units (VDUs). The handbook is a ''cookbook'' of acceptance guidelines for the reviewer faced with the task of evaluating VDUs already designed or planned for service in the control room. The areas addressed are video displays, controls, control/display integration, and workplace layout. Guidelines relevant to each of those areas are presented. The existence of supporting research is also indicated for each guideline. A Comment section and Method for Assessment section are provided for each set of guidelines

Use of hydra for chronic toxicity assessment of waters intended for human consumption

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arkhipchuk, Victor V.; Blaise, Christian; Malinovskaya, Maria V.

2006-01-01

Methods developed with the cnidarian, Hydra attenuata (Pallas), have proven effective for screening acute toxicity in aqueous samples, whereas their use in revealing (sub)chronic toxic effects have had mitigated success. We therefore sought to explore manifestations of hydra mortality and abnormal morphological changes, as well as the reproductive capacity of hydras to further enhance the bioassay sensitivity and to assess (sub)chronic toxicity. These parameters were recorded following the onset of experiments after 8, 12 and 19-21 days of hydra exposure. Results obtained with potable waters (30 brands of bottled waters and artesian waters from 9 wells) showed chronic sublethal and lethal effects or reproduction rate inhibition for most samples. The effectiveness of the hydra toxicity test was demonstrated in comparison with other widely used bioassays. Our previous and present investigations suggest that hydra is a reliable and relevant test organism for the assessment of acute and chronic water toxicity. - Hydra is a reliable and relevant test organism for the assessment of acute and chronic toxicity of waters intended for human consumption

Human security in Sudan: The report of a Canadian Assessment Mission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harker, J.

2000-01-01

In October 1999 the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister for International Co-operation announced the creation of an assessment mission to Sudan to examine allegations about human rights abuses, including the practice of slavery and to investigate and report on alleged link between oil development and human rights violations, particularly in respect of the forced removal of populations around oil fields and oil-related developments. The investigation was the result of allegations concerning the forced relocation of civilian populations in the vicinity of the oil field in the interest of a more secure environment for oil extraction by the Government of Sudan and its partners, which include Talisman Energy Inc., a Canadian oil company. In creating the Mission, the Department of Foreign Affairs declared that if it became evident that oil extraction is exacerbating the conflict in Sudan, or the the human rights violations, the Government of Canada may consider applying economic and trade sanctions. This report contains the results of the Mission's observations and meetings with members of the Government of Sudan, opposition leaders, human rights, civil society, and diplomatic representatives, as well as displaced Southern Sudanese and the UN officials trying to help them. The Mission also thoroughly examined Talisman Energy Inc.'s operations in Sudan and the extent to which oil extraction is exacerbating conflict in that country. The overall conclusion of the Mission's investigation is that while the on-going civil war in Sudan is not about oil, oil has become a key factor, and it is exacerbating the conflict. With regard to the role of Talisman, the conclusion was that the company did not do all that it could to keep itself fully informed as to what was happening, and while some progress has been made in curbing human rights violations, the oil operations in which Talisman is involved add to the conflict and suffering. Several recommendations are made to

Human security in Sudan: The report of a Canadian Assessment Mission

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Harker, J.

2000-01-01

In October 1999 the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister for International Co-operation announced the creation of an assessment mission to Sudan to examine allegations about human rights abuses, including the practice of slavery and to investigate and report on alleged link between oil development and human rights violations, particularly in respect of the forced removal of populations around oil fields and oil-related developments. The investigation was the result of allegations concerning the forced relocation of civilian populations in the vicinity of the oil field in the interest of a more secure environment for oil extraction by the Government of Sudan and its partners, which include Talisman Energy Inc., a Canadian oil company. In creating the Mission, the Department of Foreign Affairs declared that if it became evident that oil extraction is exacerbating the conflict in Sudan, or the the human rights violations, the Government of Canada may consider applying economic and trade sanctions. This report contains the results of the Mission's observations and meetings with members of the Government of Sudan, opposition leaders, human rights, civil society, and diplomatic representatives, as well as displaced Southern Sudanese and the UN officials trying to help them. The Mission also thoroughly examined Talisman Energy Inc.'s operations in Sudan and the extent to which oil extraction is exacerbating conflict in that country. The overall conclusion of the Mission's investigation is that while the on-going civil war in Sudan is not about oil, oil has become a key factor, and it is exacerbating the conflict. With regard to the role of Talisman, the conclusion was that the company did not do all that it could to keep itself fully informed as to what was happening, and while some progress has been made in curbing human rights violations, the oil operations in which Talisman is involved add to the conflict and suffering. Several recommendations

Assessment of cytotoxicity of Portulaca oleracea Linn. against human colon adenocarcinoma and vero cell line

Science.gov (United States)

Mali, Prashant Y.

2015-01-01

Background: Portulaca oleracea Linn. (Portulacaceae) is commonly known as purslane in English. In traditional system it is used to cure diarrhea, dysentery, leprosy, ulcers, asthma, and piles, reduce small tumors and inflammations. Aim: To assess cytotoxic potential of chloroform extract of P. oleracea whole plant against human colon adenocarcinoma (HCT-15) and normal (Vero) cell line. Materials and Methods: Characterization of chloroform extract of P. oleracea by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was performed. Cytotoxicity (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay was used for assessment of cytotoxic potential of chloroform extract of P. oleracea. The concentrations of 1000–0.05 μg/ml were used in the experiment. Doxorubicin was considered as standard reference drug. Results: FTIR spectrum showed the peak at 1019.52 and 1396.21 center. The 50% cell growth inhibition (IC50) of chloroform extract of P. oleracea and doxorubicin was 1132.02 μg/ml and 460.13 μg/ml against human colon adenocarcinoma and 767.60 μg/ml and 2392.71 μg/ml against Vero cell line, respectively. Conclusion: Chloroform extract of P. oleracea whole plant was less efficient or does not have cytotoxic activity against human colon adenocarcinoma cell line. It was not safe to normal Vero cell line. But, there is a need to isolate, identify, and confirm the phytoconstituents present in extract by sophisticated analytical techniques. PMID:27833374

Development of a physiologically based pharmacokinetic model for assessment of human exposure to bisphenol A

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, Xiaoxia, E-mail: xiaoxia.yang@fda.hhs.gov [Division of Biochemical Toxicology, National Center for Toxicological Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Jefferson, AR 72079 (United States); Doerge, Daniel R. [Division of Biochemical Toxicology, National Center for Toxicological Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Jefferson, AR 72079 (United States); Teeguarden, Justin G. [Health Effects and Exposure Science, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352 (United States); Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331 (United States); Fisher, Jeffrey W. [Division of Biochemical Toxicology, National Center for Toxicological Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Jefferson, AR 72079 (United States)

2015-12-15

A previously developed physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model for bisphenol A (BPA) in adult rhesus monkeys was modified to characterize the pharmacokinetics of BPA and its phase II conjugates in adult humans following oral ingestion. Coupled with in vitro studies on BPA metabolism in the liver and the small intestine, the PBPK model was parameterized using oral pharmacokinetic data with deuterated-BPA (d{sub 6}-BPA) delivered in cookies to adult humans after overnight fasting. The availability of the serum concentration time course of unconjugated d{sub 6}-BPA offered direct empirical evidence for the calibration of BPA model parameters. The recalibrated PBPK adult human model for BPA was then evaluated against published human pharmacokinetic studies with BPA. A hypothesis of decreased oral uptake was needed to account for the reduced peak levels observed in adult humans, where d{sub 6}-BPA was delivered in soup and food was provided prior to BPA ingestion, suggesting the potential impact of dosing vehicles and/or fasting on BPA disposition. With the incorporation of Monte Carlo analysis, the recalibrated adult human model was used to address the inter-individual variability in the internal dose metrics of BPA for the U.S. general population. Model-predicted peak BPA serum levels were in the range of pM, with 95% of human variability falling within an order of magnitude. This recalibrated PBPK model for BPA in adult humans provides a scientific basis for assessing human exposure to BPA that can serve to minimize uncertainties incurred during extrapolations across doses and species. - Highlights: • A PBPK model predicts the kinetics of bisphenol A (BPA) in adult humans. • Serum concentrations of aglycone BPA are available for model calibration. • Model predicted peak BPA serum levels for adult humans were in the range of pM. • Model predicted 95% of human variability fell within an order of magnitude.

An assessment of the realism of digital human manikins used for simulation in ergonomics.

Science.gov (United States)

Nérot, Agathe; Skalli, Wafa; Wang, Xuguang

2015-01-01

In this study, the accuracy of the joint centres of the manikins generated by RAMSIS and Human Builder (HB), two digital human modelling (DHM) systems widely used in industry for virtual ergonomics simulation, was investigated. Eighteen variously sized females and males were generated from external anthropometric dimensions and six joint centres (knee, hip and four spine joints) were compared with their anatomic locations obtained from the three-dimensional reconstructed bones from a low-dose X-ray system. Both RAMSIS and HB could correctly reproduce external anthropometric dimensions, while the estimation of internal joint centres location presented an average error of 27.6 mm for HB and 38.3 mm for RAMSIS. Differences between both manikins showed that a more realistic kinematic linkage led to better accuracy in joint location. This study opens the way to further research on the relationship between the external body geometry and internal skeleton in order to improve the realism of the internal skeleton of DHMs, especially for a biomechanical analysis requiring information of joint load and muscle force estimation. This study assessed two digital human modelling (DHM) systems widely used in industry for virtual ergonomics. Results support the need of a more realistic human modelling, especially for a biomechanical analysis and a standardisation of DHMs.

Assessment of human health risk related to metals by the use of biomonitors in the province of Cordoba, Argentina

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carreras, Hebe A. [Departamento de Quimica, Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal, IMBIV/CONICET-UNC, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Av. Velez Sarsfield 1611, Ciudad Universitaria, X5016GCA Cordoba (Argentina)], E-mail: hcarreras@com.uncor.edu; Wannaz, Eduardo D.; Pignata, Maria L. [Departamento de Quimica, Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal, IMBIV/CONICET-UNC, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Av. Velez Sarsfield 1611, Ciudad Universitaria, X5016GCA Cordoba (Argentina)

2009-01-15

The evaluation of metal contents in the environment is of vital importance for the assessment of human exposure. Thus the species Usnea amblyoclada, Ramalina celastri and Tillandsia capillaris were tested as bioaccumulators of transition metals in the urban area of Cordoba city, Argentina. The level of metals on biomonitors was compared to that of total deposition samples. All three species discriminated zones within the urban area of Cordoba city with different pollution levels; they revealed high levels of Zn in the downtown area and confirmed high levels of some transition metals in an industrial area. The correlation analysis revealed that the lichen R. celastri had the highest correlation rates with total deposition samples, suggesting it is a valuable biomonitor of atmospheric pollution. A significant relationship was also observed between respiratory diseases in children and the contents of metal accumulated in R. celastri and T. capillaris, indicating their usefulness when assessing human exposure to metals. - Metal accumulation in epiphytes is correlated with human respiratory diseases.

Assessment of human health risk related to metals by the use of biomonitors in the province of Cordoba, Argentina

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carreras, Hebe A.; Wannaz, Eduardo D.; Pignata, Maria L.

2009-01-01

The evaluation of metal contents in the environment is of vital importance for the assessment of human exposure. Thus the species Usnea amblyoclada, Ramalina celastri and Tillandsia capillaris were tested as bioaccumulators of transition metals in the urban area of Cordoba city, Argentina. The level of metals on biomonitors was compared to that of total deposition samples. All three species discriminated zones within the urban area of Cordoba city with different pollution levels; they revealed high levels of Zn in the downtown area and confirmed high levels of some transition metals in an industrial area. The correlation analysis revealed that the lichen R. celastri had the highest correlation rates with total deposition samples, suggesting it is a valuable biomonitor of atmospheric pollution. A significant relationship was also observed between respiratory diseases in children and the contents of metal accumulated in R. celastri and T. capillaris, indicating their usefulness when assessing human exposure to metals. - Metal accumulation in epiphytes is correlated with human respiratory diseases

Simultaneous assessments of occurrence, ecological, human health, and organoleptic hazards for 77 VOCs in typical drinking water sources from 5 major river basins, China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Xichao; Luo, Qian; Wang, Donghong; Gao, Jijun; Wei, Zi; Wang, Zijian; Zhou, Huaidong; Mazumder, Asit

2015-01-01

Owing to the growing public awareness on the safety and aesthetics in water sources, more attention has been given to the adverse effects of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on aquatic organisms and human beings. In this study, 77 target VOCs (including 54 common VOCs, 13 carbonyl compounds, and 10 taste and odor compounds) were detected in typical drinking water sources from 5 major river basins (the Yangtze, the Huaihe, the Yellow, the Haihe and the Liaohe River basins) and their occurrences were characterized. The ecological, human health, and olfactory assessments were performed to assess the major hazards in source water. The investigation showed that there existed potential ecological risks (1.30 × 10 ≤ RQ_t_o_t_a_ls ≤ 8.99 × 10) but little human health risks (6.84 × 10"−"7 ≤ RQ_t_o_t_a_ls ≤ 4.24 × 10"−"4) by VOCs, while that odor problems occurred extensively. The priority contaminants in drinking water sources of China were also listed based on the present assessment criteria. - Highlights: • VOCs with various polarities were screened in typical water sources of China. • Ecological, human health and olfactory assessments were simultaneously performed. • The risk assessments were used to identify the major hazards by VOCs. • The detected VOCs posed potential ecological risks but little human health risks. • Odor problems occurred extensively in source water of China. - Detected VOCs with various polarities caused odor problems and posed potential ecological risks but little human health risks in drinking water sources in China.

Assessment of entrepreneurship pedagogy on entrepreneurship knowledge and entrepreneurial human capital asset: A conceptual model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chidimma Odira Okeke

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This study is an effort to propose a conceptual model to measure the impact assessment of entrepreneurship pedagogic. It delineates entrepreneurship education pedagogic into four dimensions and opined specific level for each dimension. Reviewing the entrepreneurship education programme, assessment of entrepreneurship pedagogic evaluates the structure that influence growth mindset development through embedded heuristic strategies, thus, the impact on entrepreneurship knowledge and entrepreneurial capital asset context is proposed. Affirming Fayolle, Gailly, and Lassa-Clerc conceptual affinity that entrepreneurship education share with learning theories and entrepreneurship pedagogical content knowledge were conceptualized to suggest some practical realism guidelines of what insightful philosophy of teaching entrepreneurship need to achieve. With direct synthesis of relevant literature, propositions relating to entrepreneurship pedagogic structure along with the institutional connectedness and associated dimensions of entrepreneurship pedagogic assessment outcome were postulated. Also, the paper proposes the need for further assessment of specific forms of pedagogic impact on entrepreneurial human capital asset.

The EPA's human exposure research program for assessing cumulative risk in communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Zartarian, Valerie G; Schultz, Bradley D

2010-06-01

Communities are faced with challenges in identifying and prioritizing environmental issues, taking actions to reduce their exposures, and determining their effectiveness for reducing human health risks. Additional challenges include determining what scientific tools are available and most relevant, and understanding how to use those tools; given these barriers, community groups tend to rely more on risk perception than science. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research and Development, National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) and collaborators are developing and applying tools (models, data, methods) for enhancing cumulative risk assessments. The NERL's "Cumulative Communities Research Program" focuses on key science questions: (1) How to systematically identify and prioritize key chemical stressors within a given community?; (2) How to develop estimates of exposure to multiple stressors for individuals in epidemiologic studies?; and (3) What tools can be used to assess community-level distributions of exposures for the development and evaluation of the effectiveness of risk reduction strategies? This paper provides community partners and scientific researchers with an understanding of the NERL research program and other efforts to address cumulative community risks; and key research needs and opportunities. Some initial findings include the following: (1) Many useful tools exist for components of risk assessment, but need to be developed collaboratively with end users and made more comprehensive and user-friendly for practical application; (2) Tools for quantifying cumulative risks and impact of community risk reduction activities are also needed; (3) More data are needed to assess community- and individual-level exposures, and to link exposure-related information with health effects; and (4) Additional research is needed to incorporate risk-modifying factors ("non-chemical stressors") into cumulative risk assessments. The products of this

Development of a procedure for qualitative and quantitative evaluation of human factors as a part of probabilistic safety assessments of nuclear power plants. Part A

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Richei, A.

1998-01-01

The objective of this project is the development of a procedure for the qualitative and quantitative evaluation of human factors in the probabilistic safety assessment for nuclear power plants. The Human Error Rate Assessment and Optimizing System (HEROS) is introduced. The evaluation of a task with HEROS is realized in the three evaluation levels, i.e. 'Management Structure', 'Working Environment' and 'Man-Machine-Interface'. The developed expert system uses the fuzzy set theory for an assessment. For the evaluation of cognitive tasks evaluation criteria are derived also. The validation of the procedure is based on three examples, reflecting the common practice of probabilistic safety assessments and including problems, which cannot, respectively - only insufficiently - be evaluated with the established human risk analysis procedures. HERO applications give plausible and comprehensible results. (orig.) [de

The Human Mars Mission: Transportation assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kos, Larry

1998-01-01

If funding is available, and for NASA planning purposes, the Human Mars Mission (HMM) is baselined to take place during the 2011 and 2013/2014 Mars opportunities. Two cargo flights will leave for Mars during the first opportunity, one to Mars orbit and the second to the surface, in preparation for the crew during the following opportunity. Each trans-Mars injection (TMI) stack will consist of a cargo/payload portion (currently coming in at between 65 and 78 mt) and a nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) stage (currently coming in at between 69 and 77 mt loaded with propellant) for performing the departure ΔVs to get on to the appropriate Mars trajectories. Three 66,700 N thrust NTP engines comprise the TMI stage for each stack and perform a ΔV ranging from 3580 to 3890 m/s as required by the trajectory (with gravity losses and various performance margins added to this for the total TMI ΔV performed). This paper will discuss the current application of this NTP stage to a Human Mars mission, and project what implications a nuclear trans-Earth injection (TEI) stage as well as a bi-modal NTP stage could mean to a human visit to Mars

Development of the Human Factors Skills for Healthcare Instrument: a valid and reliable tool for assessing interprofessional learning across healthcare practice settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Reedy, Gabriel B; Lavelle, Mary; Simpson, Thomas; Anderson, Janet E

2017-10-01

A central feature of clinical simulation training is human factors skills, providing staff with the social and cognitive skills to cope with demanding clinical situations. Although these skills are critical to safe patient care, assessing their learning is challenging. This study aimed to develop, pilot and evaluate a valid and reliable structured instrument to assess human factors skills, which can be used pre- and post-simulation training, and is relevant across a range of healthcare professions. Through consultation with a multi-professional expert group, we developed and piloted a 39-item survey with 272 healthcare professionals attending training courses across two large simulation centres in London, one specialising in acute care and one in mental health, both serving healthcare professionals working across acute and community settings. Following psychometric evaluation, the final 12-item instrument was evaluated with a second sample of 711 trainees. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a 12-item, one-factor solution with good internal consistency (α=0.92). The instrument had discriminant validity, with newly qualified trainees scoring significantly lower than experienced trainees ( t (98)=4.88, pSkills for Healthcare Instrument provides a reliable and valid method of assessing trainees' human factors skills self-efficacy across acute and mental health settings. This instrument has the potential to improve the assessment and evaluation of human factors skills learning in both uniprofessional and interprofessional clinical simulation training.

Utility of a human FcRn transgenic mouse model in drug discovery for early assessment and prediction of human pharmacokinetics of monoclonal antibodies

Science.gov (United States)

Avery, Lindsay B.; Wang, Mengmeng; Kavosi, Mania S.; Joyce, Alison; Kurz, Jeffrey C.; Fan, Yao-Yun; Dowty, Martin E.; Zhang, Minlei; Zhang, Yiqun; Cheng, Aili; Hua, Fei; Jones, Hannah M.; Neubert, Hendrik; Polzer, Robert J.; O'Hara, Denise M.

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Therapeutic antibodies continue to develop as an emerging drug class, with a need for preclinical tools to better predict in vivo characteristics. Transgenic mice expressing human neonatal Fc receptor (hFcRn) have potential as a preclinical pharmacokinetic (PK) model to project human PK of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Using a panel of 27 mAbs with a broad PK range, we sought to characterize and establish utility of this preclinical animal model and provide guidance for its application in drug development of mAbs. This set of mAbs was administered to both hemizygous and homozygous hFcRn transgenic mice (Tg32) at a single intravenous dose, and PK parameters were derived. Higher hFcRn protein tissue expression was confirmed by liquid chromatography-high resolution tandem mass spectrometry in Tg32 homozygous versus hemizygous mice. Clearance (CL) was calculated using non-compartmental analysis and correlations were assessed to historical data in wild-type mouse, non-human primate (NHP), and human. Results show that mAb CL in hFcRn Tg32 homozygous mouse correlate with human (r2 = 0.83, r = 0.91, p PK studies, enhancement of the early selection of lead molecules, and ultimately a decrease in the time for a drug candidate to reach the clinic. PMID:27232760

Comparison of methods for dependency determination between human failure events within human reliability analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cepis, M.

2007-01-01

The Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) is a highly subjective evaluation of human performance, which is an input for probabilistic safety assessment, which deals with many parameters of high uncertainty. The objective of this paper is to show that subjectivism can have a large impact on human reliability results and consequently on probabilistic safety assessment results and applications. The objective is to identify the key features, which may decrease of subjectivity of human reliability analysis. Human reliability methods are compared with focus on dependency comparison between Institute Jozef Stefan - Human Reliability Analysis (IJS-HRA) and Standardized Plant Analysis Risk Human Reliability Analysis (SPAR-H). Results show large differences in the calculated human error probabilities for the same events within the same probabilistic safety assessment, which are the consequence of subjectivity. The subjectivity can be reduced by development of more detailed guidelines for human reliability analysis with many practical examples for all steps of the process of evaluation of human performance. (author)

Comparison of Methods for Dependency Determination between Human Failure Events within Human Reliability Analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cepin, M.

2008-01-01

The human reliability analysis (HRA) is a highly subjective evaluation of human performance, which is an input for probabilistic safety assessment, which deals with many parameters of high uncertainty. The objective of this paper is to show that subjectivism can have a large impact on human reliability results and consequently on probabilistic safety assessment results and applications. The objective is to identify the key features, which may decrease subjectivity of human reliability analysis. Human reliability methods are compared with focus on dependency comparison between Institute Jozef Stefan human reliability analysis (IJS-HRA) and standardized plant analysis risk human reliability analysis (SPAR-H). Results show large differences in the calculated human error probabilities for the same events within the same probabilistic safety assessment, which are the consequence of subjectivity. The subjectivity can be reduced by development of more detailed guidelines for human reliability analysis with many practical examples for all steps of the process of evaluation of human performance

New experimental data on the human dermal absorption of Simazine and Carbendazim help to refine the assessment of human exposure.

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Bányiová, Katarína; Nečasová, Anežka; Kohoutek, Jiří; Justan, Ivan; Čupr, Pavel

2016-02-01

Due to their widespread usage, people are exposed to pesticides on a daily basis. Although these compounds may have adverse effects on their health, there is a gap in the data and the methodology needed to reliably quantify the risks of non-occupational human dermal exposure to pesticides. We used Franz cells and human skin in order to measure the dermal absorption kinetics (steady-state flux, lag time and permeability coefficient) of Carbendazim and Simazine. These parameters were then used to refine the dermal exposure model and a probabilistic simulation was used to quantify risks resulting from exposure to pesticide-polluted waters. The experimentally derived permeability coefficient was 0.0034 cm h(-1) for Carbendazim and 0.0047 cm h(-1) for Simazine. Two scenarios (varying exposure duration and concentration, i.e. environmentally relevant and maximum solubility) were used to quantify the human health risks (hazard quotients) for Carbendazim and Simazine. While no risks were determined in the case of either scenario, the permeability coefficient, which is concentration independent and donor, formulation, compound and membrane specific, may be used in other scenarios and exposure models to quantify more precisely the dermally absorbed dose during exposure to polluted water. To the best of our knowledge, the dermal absorption kinetics parameters defined here are being published for the first time. The usage of experimental permeability parameters in combination with probabilistic risk assessment thus provides a new tool for quantifying the risks of human dermal exposure to pesticides. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mining in the Alligator Rivers Region, northern Australia: Assessing potential and actual effects on ecosystem and human health

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dam, R.A. van; Humphrey, C.L.; Martin, P.

2002-01-01

This paper presents an overview of issues related to surface water contamination arising from uranium mining activities in the Alligator Rivers Region (ARR) of northern Australia, and a program of research and monitoring that must assess the potential and actual effects on ecosystem and human health. The program of assessing effects on aquatic ecosystems involves a four-tiered approach including the derivation of local water quality guideline trigger values, direct toxicity assessment of mine waters prior to their release, creekside or in situ monitoring for early warning of adverse effects during mine water release, and longer-term monitoring of macroinvertebrate and fish communities. Bioaccumulation in aquatic biota is also assessed, and is an issue of importance not only to ecosystem health, but also to the health of local Aboriginal people. The aquatic animals they consume represent potential sources of radiological dose, and as a result, a major component of the program to assess potential effects on human health is the prediction of doses to Aboriginal people living downstream of mining activities. Acknowledging the assumptions and uncertainties, the calculation of concentration factors for local aquatic (and other) food sources allows the prediction of potential radiological exposure to people following hypothetical mine water releases. The approaches described form the basis of best-practice protocols that are relevant at both regional and national levels

Assessing risks for integrated water resource management: coping with uncertainty and the human factor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. J. Polo

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Risk assessment for water resource planning must deal with the uncertainty associated with excess/scarcity situations and their costs. The projected actions for increasing water security usually involve an indirect "call-effect": the territory occupation/water use is increased following the achieved protection. In this work, flood and water demand in a mountainous semi-arid watershed in southern Spain are assessed by means of the stochastic simulation of extremes, when this human factor is/is not considered. The results show how not including this call-effect induced an underestimation of flood risk after protecting the floodplain of between 35 and 78 % in a 35-year planning horizon. Similarly, the pursued water availability of a new reservoir resulted in a 10-year scarcity risk increase up to 38 % when the trend of expanding the irrigated area was included in the simulations. These results highlight the need for including this interaction in the decision-making assessment.

Feasibility of assessing health state by detecting redox state of human body based on Chinese medicine constitution.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ling-Ru; Wang, Qi; Wang, Ji; Wang, Qian-Fei; Yang, Ling-Ling; Zheng, Lu-Yu; Zhang, Yan

2016-08-01

This article discussed the feasibility of assessing health state by detecting redox state of human body. Firstly, the balance of redox state is the basis of homeostasis, and the balance ability of redox can reflflect health state of human body. Secondly, the redox state of human body is a sensitive index of multiple risk factors of health such as age, external environment and psychological factors. It participates in the occurrence and development of multiple diseases involving metabolic diseases and nervous system diseases, and can serve as a cut-in point for treatment of these diseases. Detecting the redox state of high risk people is signifificantly important for early detection and treatment of disease. The blood plasma and urine could be selected to detect, which is convenient. It is pointed that the indexes not only involve oxidation product and antioxidant enzyme but also redox couple. Chinese medicine constitution reflflects the state of body itself and the ability of adapting to external environment, which is consistent with the connotation of health. It is found that there are nine basic types of constitution in Chinese population, which provides a theoretical basis of health preservation, preventive treatment of disease and personalized treatment. With the combination of redox state detection and the Chinese medicine constitution theory, the heath state can be systemically assessed by conducting large-scale epidemiological survey with classifified detection on redox state of human body.

Quantitative meta-analytic approaches for the analysis of animal toxicology and epidemiologic data in human health risk assessments

Science.gov (United States)

Often, human health risk assessments have relied on qualitative approaches for hazard identification to integrate evidence across multiple studies to conclude whether particular hazards exist. However, quantitative approaches for evidence integration, including the application o...

Cognitive environment simulation: An artificial intelligence system for human performance assessment: Modeling human intention formation: [Technical report, May 1986-June 1987

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Woods, D.D.; Roth, E.M.; Pople, H. Jr.

1987-11-01

This report documents the results of Phase II of a three phase research program to develop and validate improved methods to model the cognitive behavior of nuclear power plant (NPP) personnel. In Phase II a dynamic simulation capability for modeling how people form intentions to act in NPP emergency situations was developed based on techniques from artificial intelligence. This modeling tool, Cognitive Environment Simulation or CES, simulates the cognitive processes that determine situation assessment and intention formation. It can be used to investigate analytically what situations and factors lead to intention failures, what actions follow from intention failures (e.g., errors of omission, errors of commission, common mode errors), the ability to recover from errors or additional machine failures, and the effects of changes in the NPP person-machine system. The Cognitive Reliability Assessment Technique (or CREATE) was also developed in Phase II to specify how CES can be used to enhance the measurement of the human contribution to risk in probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) studies. 43 refs., 20 figs., 1 tab

Human Reliability Assessment and Human Performance Evaluation: Research and Analysis Activities at the U.S. NRC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramey-Smith, A.M.

1998-01-01

The author indicates the themes of the six programs identified by the US NRC mission on human performance and human reliability activities. They aim at developing the technical basis to support human performance, at developing and updating a model of human performance and human reliability, at fostering national and international dialogue and cooperation efforts on human performance evaluation, at conducting operating events analysis and database development, and at providing support to human performance and human reliability inspection

Constructing the Indicators of Assessing Human Vulnerability to Industrial Chemical Accidents: A Consensus-based Fuzzy Delphi and Fuzzy AHP Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Fatemi, Farin; Ardalan, Ali; Aguirre, Benigno; Mansouri, Nabiollah; Mohammadfam, Iraj

2017-04-10

Industrial chemical accidents have been increased in developing countries. Assessing the human vulnerability in the residents of industrial areas is necessary for reducing the injuries and causalities of chemical hazards. The aim of this study was to explore the key indicators for the assessment of human vulnerability in the residents living near chemical installations. The indicators were established in the present study based on the Fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) and Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP). The reliability of FDM and FAHP was calculated. The indicators of human vulnerability were explored in two sets of social and physical domains. Thirty-five relevant experts participated in this study during March-July 2015. According to experts, the top three indicators of human vulnerability according to the FDM and FAHP were vulnerable groups, population density, and awareness. Detailed sub-vulnerable groups and awareness were developed based on age, chronic or severe diseases, disability, first responders, and residents, respectively. Each indicator and sub-indicator was weighted and ranked and had an acceptable consistency ratio. The importance of social vulnerability indicators are about 7 times more than physical vulnerability indicators. Among the extracted indicators, vulnerable groups had the highest weight and the greatest impact on human vulnerability. however, further research is needed to investigate the applicability of established indicators and generalizability of the results to other studies. Fuzzy Delphi; Fuzzy AHP; Human vulnerability; Chemical hazards.

Aligning research assessment in the Humanities to the national Standard Evaluation Protocol Challenges and developments in the Dutch research landscape

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Prins, A.; Spaapen, J.; Van Vree, F

2016-07-01

The purpose of this session is a debate about innovation in comprehensive methods for the assessment of humanities research. Input will come from preliminary outcomes of an ongoing project in the Netherlands to find adequate indicators for humanities research that will fit in the national Standard Evaluation Protocol. The project includes processes of ‘bottom up’ data collection (that is, with input coming from the research community) and discussion with Humanities researchers, investigating the specific characteristics of publication and communication cultures in the Humanities, and the prospects for the use of quantitative and qualitative indicators. (Author)

Assessment of orthologous splicing isoforms in human and mouse orthologous genes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Horner David S

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Recent discoveries have highlighted the fact that alternative splicing and alternative transcripts are the rule, rather than the exception, in metazoan genes. Since multiple transcript and protein variants expressed by the same gene are, by definition, structurally distinct and need not to be functionally equivalent, the concept of gene orthology should be extended to the transcript level in order to describe evolutionary relationships between structurally similar transcript variants. In other words, the identification of true orthology relationships between gene products now should progress beyond primary sequence and "splicing orthology", consisting in ancestrally shared exon-intron structures, is required to define orthologous isoforms at transcript level. Results As a starting step in this direction, in this work we performed a large scale human- mouse gene comparison with a twofold goal: first, to assess if and to which extent traditional gene annotations such as RefSeq capture genuine splicing orthology; second, to provide a more detailed annotation and quantification of true human-mouse orthologous transcripts defined as transcripts of orthologous genes exhibiting the same splicing patterns. Conclusions We observed an identical exon/intron structure for 32% of human and mouse orthologous genes. This figure increases to 87% using less stringent criteria for gene structure similarity, thus implying that for about 13% of the human RefSeq annotated genes (and about 25% of the corresponding transcripts we could not identify any mouse transcript showing sufficient similarity to be confidently assigned as a splicing ortholog. Our data suggest that current gene and transcript data may still be rather incomplete - with several splicing variants still unknown. The observation that alternative splicing produces large numbers of alternative transcripts and proteins, some of them conserved across species and others truly species

Assessing the photoprotective effects of red ochre on human skin by in vitro laboratory experiments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Riaan F. Rifkin

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Archaeological indicators of cognitive complexity become increasingly prevalent during the African Middle Stone Age, with the habitual exploitation of red ochre widely viewed as a key feature of the emergence of modern human behaviour. Given that some of the uses of ochre remain ambiguous, we present the preliminary results of an ongoing study in which we explore the efficacy of red ochre as a photoprotective device or sunscreen. The capacity of ochre to inhibit the susceptibility of humans to the detrimental effects of ultraviolet radiation was confirmed through the in vitro calculation of the sun protection factor values of samples derived from the Kunene Region in Namibia and the Bokkeveld Group deposits, Western Cape Province, South Africa. Visible spectroscopy was employed to determine colourimetric parameters of samples and assess the correlation between ochre colour and sun protection factor. The possible role of ochre as a sunscreen agent for hominin populations, including modern humans, during the Middle Stone Age in Africa is explored. We conclude that the habitual use of red ochre as a photoprotective agent likely played a role in the ability of prehistoric humans to adapt to novel environmental circumstances.

Placenta Maps: In Utero Placental Health Assessment of the Human Fetus.

Science.gov (United States)

Miao, Haichao; Mistelbauer, Gabriel; Karimov, Alexey; Alansary, Amir; Davidson, Alice; Lloyd, David F A; Damodaram, Mellisa; Story, Lisa; Hutter, Jana; Hajnal, Joseph V; Rutherford, Mary; Preim, Bernhard; Kainz, Bernhard; Groller, M Eduard

2017-06-01

The human placenta is essential for the supply of the fetus. To monitor the fetal development, imaging data is acquired using (US). Although it is currently the gold-standard in fetal imaging, it might not capture certain abnormalities of the placenta. (MRI) is a safe alternative for the in utero examination while acquiring the fetus data in higher detail. Nevertheless, there is currently no established procedure for assessing the condition of the placenta and consequently the fetal health. Due to maternal respiration and inherent movements of the fetus during examination, a quantitative assessment of the placenta requires fetal motion compensation, precise placenta segmentation and a standardized visualization, which are challenging tasks. Utilizing advanced motion compensation and automatic segmentation methods to extract the highly versatile shape of the placenta, we introduce a novel visualization technique that presents the fetal and maternal side of the placenta in a standardized way. Our approach enables physicians to explore the placenta even in utero. This establishes the basis for a comparative assessment of multiple placentas to analyze possible pathologic arrangements and to support the research and understanding of this vital organ. Additionally, we propose a three-dimensional structure-aware surface slicing technique in order to explore relevant regions inside the placenta. Finally, to survey the applicability of our approach, we consulted clinical experts in prenatal diagnostics and imaging. We received mainly positive feedback, especially the applicability of our technique for research purposes was appreciated.

Deoxynivalenol Exposure in Norway, Risk Assessments for Different Human Age Groups

Science.gov (United States)

Sundheim, Leif; Lillegaard, Inger Therese; Fæste, Christiane Kruse; Brantsæter, Anne-Lise; Brodal, Guro; Eriksen, Gunnar Sundstøl

2017-01-01

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is the most common mycotoxin in Norwegian cereals, and DON is detected in most samples of crude cereal grain and cereal food commodities such as flour, bran, and oat flakes. The Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety assessed the risk for adverse effects of deoxynivalenol (DON) in different age groups of the domestic population. This review presents the main results from the risk assessment, supplemented with some recently published data. Impairment of the immune system together with reduced feed intake and weight gain are the critical effects of DON in experimental animals on which the current tolerable daily intake was established. Based on food consumption and occurrence data, the mean exposure to DON in years with low and high levels of DON in the flour, respectively, were in the range of or up to two times the Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) in 1-year-old infants and 2-year-old children. In years with high mean DON concentration, the high (95th-percentile) exposure exceeded the TDI by up to 3.5 times in 1-, 2- , 4-, and 9-year-old children. The assessment concluded that exceeding the TDI in infants and children is of concern. The estimated dietary DON intakes in adolescent and adult populations are in the range of the TDI or below, and are not a health concern. Acute human exposure to DON is not of concern in any age group. PMID:28165414

Deoxynivalenol Exposure in Norway, Risk Assessments for Different Human Age Groups

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leif Sundheim

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Deoxynivalenol (DON is the most common mycotoxin in Norwegian cereals, and DON is detected in most samples of crude cereal grain and cereal food commodities such as flour, bran, and oat flakes. The Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety assessed the risk for adverse effects of deoxynivalenol (DON in different age groups of the domestic population. This review presents the main results from the risk assessment, supplemented with some recently published data. Impairment of the immune system together with reduced feed intake and weight gain are the critical effects of DON in experimental animals on which the current tolerable daily intake was established. Based on food consumption and occurrence data, the mean exposure to DON in years with low and high levels of DON in the flour, respectively, were in the range of or up to two times the Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI in 1-year-old infants and 2-year-old children. In years with high mean DON concentration, the high (95th-percentile exposure exceeded the TDI by up to 3.5 times in 1-, 2- , 4-, and 9-year-old children. The assessment concluded that exceeding the TDI in infants and children is of concern. The estimated dietary DON intakes in adolescent and adult populations are in the range of the TDI or below, and are not a health concern. Acute human exposure to DON is not of concern in any age group.

A margin-of-exposure approach to assessment of noncancer risks of dioxins based on human exposure and response data.

Science.gov (United States)

Aylward, Lesa L; Goodman, Julie E; Charnley, Gail; Rhomberg, Lorenz R

2008-10-01

Risk assessment of human environmental exposure to polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/PCDFs) and other dioxin-like compounds is complicated by several factors, including limitations in measuring intakes because of the low concentrations of these compounds in foods and the environment and interspecies differences in pharmacokinetics and responses. We examined the feasibility of relying directly on human studies of exposure and potential responses to PCDD/PCDFs and related compounds in terms of measured lipid-adjusted concentrations to assess margin of exposure (MOE) in a quantitative, benchmark dose (BMD)-based framework using representative exposure and selected response data sets. We characterize estimated central tendency and upper-bound general U.S. population lipid-adjusted concentrations of PCDD/PCDFs from the 1970s and early 2000s based on available data sets. Estimates of benchmark concentrations for three example responses of interest (induction of cytochrome P4501A2 activity, dental anomalies, and neonatal thyroid hormone alterations) were derived based on selected human studies. The exposure data sets indicate that current serum lipid concentrations in young adults are approximately 6- to 7-fold lower than 1970s-era concentrations. Estimated MOEs for each end point based on current serum lipid concentrations range from 100 for dental anomalies-approximately 6-fold greater than would have existed during the 1970s. Human studies of dioxin exposure and outcomes can be used in a BMD framework for quantitative assessments of MOE. Incomplete exposure characterization can complicate the use of such studies in a BMD framework.

Characterization factors for global warming in life cycle assessment based on damages to humans and ecosystems.

Science.gov (United States)

De Schryver, An M; Brakkee, Karin W; Goedkoop, Mark J; Huijbregts, Mark A J

2009-03-15

Human and ecosystem health damage due to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is generally poorly quantified in the life cycle assessment of products, preventing an integrated comparison of the importance of GHGs with other stressor types, such as ozone depletion and acidifying emissions. In this study, we derived new characterization factors for 63 GHGs that quantify the impact of an emission change on human and ecosystem health damage. For human health damage, the Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) per unit emission related to malaria, diarrhea, malnutrition, drowning, and cardiovascular diseases were quantified. For ecosystem health damage, the Potentially Disappeared Fraction (PDF) over space and time of various species groups, including plants, butterflies, birds, and mammals, per unit emission was calculated. The influence of value choices in the modeling procedure was analyzed by defining three coherent scenarios, based on Cultural theory perspectives. It was found that the characterization factor for human health damage by carbon dioxide (CO2) ranges from 1.1 x 10(-2) to 1.8 x 10(+1) DALY per kton of emission, while the characterization factor for ecosystem damage by CO2 ranges from 5.4 x 10(-2) to 1.2 x 10(+1) disappeared fraction of species over space and time ((km2 x year)/kton), depending on the scenario chosen. The characterization factor of a GHG can change up to 4 orders of magnitude, depending on the scenario. The scenario-specific differences are mainly explained by the choice for a specific time horizon and stresses the importance of dealing with value choices in the life cycle impact assessment of GHG emissions.

Human Papilloma Viruses and Breast Cancer – Assessment of Causality

Science.gov (United States)

Lawson, James Sutherland; Glenn, Wendy K.; Whitaker, Noel James

2016-01-01

High risk human papilloma viruses (HPVs) may have a causal role in some breast cancers. Case–control studies, conducted in many different countries, consistently indicate that HPVs are more frequently present in breast cancers as compared to benign breast and normal breast controls (odds ratio 4.02). The assessment of causality of HPVs in breast cancer is difficult because (i) the HPV viral load is extremely low, (ii) HPV infections are common but HPV associated breast cancers are uncommon, and (iii) HPV infections may precede the development of breast and other cancers by years or even decades. Further, HPV oncogenesis can be indirect. Despite these difficulties, the emergence of new evidence has made the assessment of HPV causality, in breast cancer, a practical proposition. With one exception, the evidence meets all the conventional criteria for a causal role of HPVs in breast cancer. The exception is “specificity.” HPVs are ubiquitous, which is the exact opposite of specificity. An additional reservation is that the prevalence of breast cancer is not increased in immunocompromised patients as is the case with respect to HPV-associated cervical cancer. This indicates that HPVs may have an indirect causal influence in breast cancer. Based on the overall evidence, high-risk HPVs may have a causal role in some breast cancers. PMID:27747193

Utilizing relative potency factors (RPF) and threshold of toxicological concern (TTC) concepts to assess hazard and human risk assessment profiles of environmental metabolites: a case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Terry, C; Rasoulpour, R J; Knowles, S; Billington, R

2015-03-01

There is currently no standard paradigm for hazard and human risk assessment of environmental metabolites for agrochemicals. Using an actual case study, solutions to challenges faced are described and used to propose a generic concept to address risk posed by metabolites to human safety. A novel approach - built on the foundation of predicted human exposures to metabolites in various compartments (such as food and water), the threshold of toxicological concern (TTC) and the concept of comparative toxicity - was developed for environmental metabolites of a new chemical, sulfoxaflor (X11422208). The ultimate aim was to address the human safety of the metabolites with the minimum number of in vivo studies, while at the same time, ensuring that human safety would be considered addressed on a global regulatory scale. The third component, comparative toxicity, was primarily designed to determine whether the metabolites had the same or similar toxicity profiles to their parent molecule, and also to one another. The ultimate goal was to establish whether the metabolites had the potential to cause key effects - such as cancer and developmental toxicity, based on mode-of-action (MoA) studies - and to develop a relative potency factor (RPF) compared to the parent molecule. Collectively, the work presented here describes the toxicology programme developed for sulfoxaflor and its metabolites, and how it might be used to address similar future challenges aimed at determining the relevance of the metabolites from a human hazard and risk perspective. Sulfoxaflor produced eight environmental metabolites at varying concentrations in various compartments - soil, water, crops and livestock. The MoA for the primary effects of the parent molecule were elucidated in detail and a series of in silico, in vitro, and/or in vivo experiments were conducted on the environmental metabolites to assess relative potency of their toxicity profiles when compared to the parent. The primary metabolite

A Margin-of-Exposure Approach to Assessment of Noncancer Risks of Dioxins Based on Human Exposure and Response Data

OpenAIRE

Aylward, Lesa L.; Goodman, Julie E.; Charnley, Gail; Rhomberg, Lorenz R.

2008-01-01

Background Risk assessment of human environmental exposure to polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/PCDFs) and other dioxin-like compounds is complicated by several factors, including limitations in measuring intakes because of the low concentrations of these compounds in foods and the environment and interspecies differences in pharmacokinetics and responses. Objectives We examined the feasibility of relying directly on human studies of exposure and potential responses to...