AR goggles make crime scene investigation a desk job

OpenAIRE

Aron, Jacob; NORTHFIELD, Dean

2012-01-01

CRIME scene investigators could one day help solve murders without leaving the office. A pair of augmented reality glasses could allow local police to virtually tag objects in a crime scene, and build a clean record of the scene in 3D video before evidence is removed for processing.\\ud The system, being developed by Oytun Akman and colleagues at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, consists of a head-mounted display receiving 3D video from a pair of attached cameras controll...

Credible investigation of air accidents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smart, K.

2004-01-01

Within the United Kingdom the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has been used as a model for the other transport modes accident investigation bodies. Government Ministers considered that the AAIB's approach had established the trust of the public and the aviation industry in its ability to conduct independent and objective investigations. The paper will examine the factors that are involved in establishing this trust. They include: the investigation framework; the actual and perceived independence of the accident investigating body; the aviation industry's safety culture; the qualities of the investigators and the quality of their liaison with bereaved families those directly affected by the accidents they investigate

32 CFR 634.29 - Traffic accident investigation reports.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Traffic accident investigation reports. 634.29... records. Installation law enforcement officials will record traffic accident investigations on Service/DLA... traffic accident investigation reports pertaining to accidents investigated by military police that...

Traffic accidents: an econometric investigation

OpenAIRE

Tito Moreira; Adolfo Sachsida; Loureiro Paulo

2004-01-01

Based on a sample of drivers in Brasilia's streets, this article investigates whether distraction explains traffic accidents. A probit model is estimated to determine the predictive power of several variables on traffic accidents. The main conclusion drawn from this study is that the proxies used to measure distraction, such as the use of cell phones and cigarette smoking in a moving vehicle, are significant factors in determining traffic accidents.

32 CFR 636.13 - Traffic accident investigation reports.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Traffic accident investigation reports. 636.13... Stewart, Georgia § 636.13 Traffic accident investigation reports. In addition to the requirements in § 634... record traffic accident investigations on DA Form 3946 (Military Police Traffic Accident Report) and DA...

The Importance of Bloodstain Pattern Analysis in the Investigation of Road Traffic Accidents: A Case Report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Younis M. Albalooshi

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Bloodstain pattern analysis has become a field of specialization in Forensic sciences and plays an important role in the reconstruction of events at a crime scene. Research, books, and articles have been published on the analysis and interpretation of bloodstain patterns We present a case study of a road traffic accident in which bloodstain pattern analysis helped us to solve the discrepancy between reports produced by forensic examiners and by the forensic biology department. The case was of a 22-year-old man who died immediately and a 31- year-old woman who survived a road traffic accident. They were both found outside their overturned car and it was impossible to ascertain from initial observations which of the victims was driving the car at the time of the accident. An external examination of the man revealed multiple injuries, and the cause of his death was severe brain injury. The woman survived with a fracture of the forearm, dislocated clavicle bone, and other minor injuries. After initial examination of the car and based on the pattern of injuries the deceased received, forensic examiner concluded that the man was the driving the car at the time of accident. On the other hand, the forensic DNA analysis of bloodstains obtained from the driver's seat matched that of the woman, suggesting that she was the driver. This apparent discrepancy directed the forensic examiner to carry out a bloodstain pattern analysis on the driver's seat. The bloodstain pattern analysis helped resolve the discrepancy and enabled the investigators to identify the driver correctly. This case report emphasizes the importance of bloodstain pattern analysis in the reconstruction of cases involving road traffic accidents.

Accident Investigation on a Large Construction Project: An Ethnographic Case Study

OpenAIRE

Oswald, David; Smith, Simon; Sherratt, Fred

2015-01-01

Unsafe acts are believed to account for approximately 80 to 90 percent of accidents. This paper will investigate this issue through exploring the reasoning behind the unsafe acts that resulted in a minor accident on a large construction project (+$1B) in the UK. The study described here, part of a wider PhD project, was undertaken using an ethnographic approach. Participant observation enabled the researcher to be involved in the whole accident investigation process including witness statemen...

The effect of road and environmental characteristics on pedestrian hit-and-run accidents in Ghana.

Science.gov (United States)

Aidoo, Eric Nimako; Amoh-Gyimah, Richard; Ackaah, Williams

2013-04-01

The number of pedestrians who have died as a result of being hit by vehicles has increased in recent years, in addition to vehicle passenger deaths. Many pedestrians who were involved in road traffic accident died as a result of the driver leaving the pedestrian who was struck unattended at the scene of the accident. This paper seeks to determine the effect of road and environmental characteristics on pedestrian hit-and-run accidents in Ghana. Using pedestrian accident data extracted from the National Road Traffic Accident Database at the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ghana, a binary logit model was employed in the analysis. The results from the estimated model indicate that fatal accidents, unclear weather, nighttime conditions, and straight and flat road sections without medians and junctions significantly increase the likelihood that the vehicle driver will leave the scene after hitting a pedestrian. Thus, integrating median separation and speed humps into road design and construction and installing street lights will help to curb the problem of pedestrian hit-and-run accidents in Ghana. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Application of forensic image analysis in accident investigations.

Science.gov (United States)

Verolme, Ellen; Mieremet, Arjan

2017-09-01

Forensic investigations are primarily meant to obtain objective answers that can be used for criminal prosecution. Accident analyses are usually performed to learn from incidents and to prevent similar events from occurring in the future. Although the primary goal may be different, the steps in which information is gathered, interpreted and weighed are similar in both types of investigations, implying that forensic techniques can be of use in accident investigations as well. The use in accident investigations usually means that more information can be obtained from the available information than when used in criminal investigations, since the latter require a higher evidence level. In this paper, we demonstrate the applicability of forensic techniques for accident investigations by presenting a number of cases from one specific field of expertise: image analysis. With the rapid spread of digital devices and new media, a wealth of image material and other digital information has become available for accident investigators. We show that much information can be distilled from footage by using forensic image analysis techniques. These applications show that image analysis provides information that is crucial for obtaining the sequence of events and the two- and three-dimensional geometry of an accident. Since accident investigation focuses primarily on learning from accidents and prevention of future accidents, and less on the blame that is crucial for criminal investigations, the field of application of these forensic tools may be broader than would be the case in purely legal sense. This is an important notion for future accident investigations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Multidisciplinary perspective on accident investigation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Basnyat, S.; Chozos, N.; Palanque, P.

2006-01-01

The increasing complexity of many computer-controlled application processes is placing increasing demands on the investigation of adverse events. At the same time, there is a growing realisation that accident investigators must consider a wider range of contributory and contextual factors that help to shape human behaviour in the causes of safety-related incidents. A range of techniques have been developed to address these issues. For example (as we show in this paper), task modelling techniques have been extended from human computer interaction and systems design to analyse the causes and consequences of operator 'error'. Similarly, barrier analysis has been widely used to identify the way in which defences either protected or failed to protect a target system from potential hazards. Many barriers fail from common causes, including misconceptions that can be traced back to early stages in the development of a safety-critical system. For instance, unwarranted assumptions can be made about the impact of training on operator behaviour in emergency situations. Similarly, barrier analysis can also be used before a system has been designed to inform the system model and make it more tolerant to errors by incorporating human and technical barriers into the design. Task models often uncover deep-rooted problems, for instance, in workload allocation across many different aspects of an interactive control system. It can be difficult to use barrier and task analysis to trace these common causes that lie behind the failure of many different defences. In order to deal with this complex combination of contributory factors and systems, we promote the use of abstraction (via models) as a way of representing these components and their interrelations whether it is design, construction or investigation. We use, to formally model an abstraction of the system. Additionally, the system model (described using a dialect of high-level Petri-nets) allows to reason about the system and to

Multidisciplinary perspective on accident investigation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Basnyat, S. [LIIHS-IRIT, Universite Paul Sabatier, 118, route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 4 (France)]. E-mail: basnyat@irit.fr; Chozos, N. [Dept. of Computing Science, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, Scotland (United Kingdom)]. E-mail: nick@dcs.gla.ac.uk; Palanque, P. [LIIHS-IRIT, Universite Paul Sabatier, 118, route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 4 (France)]. E-mail: palanque@irit.fr

2006-12-15

The increasing complexity of many computer-controlled application processes is placing increasing demands on the investigation of adverse events. At the same time, there is a growing realisation that accident investigators must consider a wider range of contributory and contextual factors that help to shape human behaviour in the causes of safety-related incidents. A range of techniques have been developed to address these issues. For example (as we show in this paper), task modelling techniques have been extended from human computer interaction and systems design to analyse the causes and consequences of operator 'error'. Similarly, barrier analysis has been widely used to identify the way in which defences either protected or failed to protect a target system from potential hazards. Many barriers fail from common causes, including misconceptions that can be traced back to early stages in the development of a safety-critical system. For instance, unwarranted assumptions can be made about the impact of training on operator behaviour in emergency situations. Similarly, barrier analysis can also be used before a system has been designed to inform the system model and make it more tolerant to errors by incorporating human and technical barriers into the design. Task models often uncover deep-rooted problems, for instance, in workload allocation across many different aspects of an interactive control system. It can be difficult to use barrier and task analysis to trace these common causes that lie behind the failure of many different defences. In order to deal with this complex combination of contributory factors and systems, we promote the use of abstraction (via models) as a way of representing these components and their interrelations whether it is design, construction or investigation. We use, to formally model an abstraction of the system. Additionally, the system model (described using a dialect of high-level Petri-nets) allows to reason about the

Deepwater Horizon Accident Investigation Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2010-09-01

On the evening of April 20, 2010, a well control event allowed hydrocarbons to escape from the Macondo well onto Transocean's Deepwater Horizon, resulting in explosions and fire on the rig. Eleven people lost their lives, and 17 others were injured. The fire, which was fed by hydrocarbons from the well, continued for 36 hours until the rig sank. Hydrocarbons continued to flow from the reservoir through the wellbore and the blowout preventer (BOP) for 87 days, causing a spill of national significance. BP Exploration and Production Inc. was the lease operator of Mississippi Canyon Block 252, which contains the Macondo well. BP formed an investigation team that was charged with gathering the facts surrounding the accident, analyzing available information to identify possible causes and making recommendations to enable prevention of similar accidents in the future. The BP investigation team began its work immediately in the aftermath of the accident, working independently from other BP spill response activities and organizations. The ability to gather information was limited by a scarcity of physical evidence and restricted access to potentially relevant witnesses. The team had access to partial real-time data from the rig, documents from various aspects of the Macondo well's development and construction, witness interviews and testimony from public hearings. The team used the information that was made available by other companies, including Transocean, Halliburton and Cameron. Over the course of the investigation, the team involved over 50 internal and external specialists from a variety of fields: safety, operations, subsea, drilling, well control, cementing, well flow dynamic modeling, BOP systems and process hazard analysis. This report presents an analysis of the events leading up to the accident, eight key findings related to the causal chain of events and recommendations to enable the prevention of a similar accident. The investigation team worked separately

Deepwater Horizon Accident Investigation Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2010-09-15

On the evening of April 20, 2010, a well control event allowed hydrocarbons to escape from the Macondo well onto Transocean's Deepwater Horizon, resulting in explosions and fire on the rig. Eleven people lost their lives, and 17 others were injured. The fire, which was fed by hydrocarbons from the well, continued for 36 hours until the rig sank. Hydrocarbons continued to flow from the reservoir through the wellbore and the blowout preventer (BOP) for 87 days, causing a spill of national significance. BP Exploration and Production Inc. was the lease operator of Mississippi Canyon Block 252, which contains the Macondo well. BP formed an investigation team that was charged with gathering the facts surrounding the accident, analyzing available information to identify possible causes and making recommendations to enable prevention of similar accidents in the future. The BP investigation team began its work immediately in the aftermath of the accident, working independently from other BP spill response activities and organizations. The ability to gather information was limited by a scarcity of physical evidence and restricted access to potentially relevant witnesses. The team had access to partial real-time data from the rig, documents from various aspects of the Macondo well's development and construction, witness interviews and testimony from public hearings. The team used the information that was made available by other companies, including Transocean, Halliburton and Cameron. Over the course of the investigation, the team involved over 50 internal and external specialists from a variety of fields: safety, operations, subsea, drilling, well control, cementing, well flow dynamic modeling, BOP systems and process hazard analysis. This report presents an analysis of the events leading up to the accident, eight key findings related to the causal chain of events and recommendations to enable the prevention of a similar accident. The investigation team worked

Energy Analysis of Road Accidents Based on Close-Range Photogrammetry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alejandro Morales

2015-11-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an efficient and low-cost approach for energy analysis of road accidents using images obtained using consumer-grade digital cameras and smartphones. The developed method could be used by security forces in order to improve the qualitative and quantitative analysis of traffic accidents. This role of the security forces is crucial to settle arguments; consequently, the remote and non-invasive collection of accident related data before the scene is modified proves to be essential. These data, taken in situ, are the basis to perform the necessary calculations, basically the energy analysis of the road accident, for the corresponding expert reports and the reconstruction of the accident itself, especially in those accidents with important damages and consequences. Therefore, the method presented in this paper provides the security forces with an accurate, three-dimensional, and scaled reconstruction of a road accident, so that it may be considered as a support tool for the energy analysis. This method has been validated and tested with a real crash scene simulated by the local police in the Academy of Public Safety of Extremadura, Spain.

Investigation report on causes of radiation underexposure accident at Yamagata University Hospital and Prevention of Similar accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2005-01-01

The accident in the title was announced on February 18, 2004 by the hospital, which asked its investigation immediately. The group based on 4 academic societies concerned, thereby started investigations of the in-house reports on the accident and of subsequent hospital visit in March, which involved hearing from personnel concerned, physical/technological examinations and clinical evaluation, with respect to the hospital system for radiation treatment, flow of the treatment, accident details, estimation of the actual expose dose and classification of patients. The investigational group found for the actual number of patients underexposed to be 36 (63, in the in-house report) in 1,377. The cause of the accident was thought essentially the input error for the correct power coefficient 1.032 to be a wrong one 1.320 for 15 x 15 cm 4 MV X-ray. The error had been overlooked by the contract operator from the introduction of the treatment planning equipment in 1999. For prevention, setting up of quality assurance (QA) program by the hospital, the user itself, was pointed out necessary. Making the guideline for introducing the new equipment was conceivably an important work of the trader. (N.I.)

Investigation into information flow during the accident at Three Mile Island

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1981-01-01

This report was prepared in response to a request from NRC Chairman Ahearne that directed the Office of Inspection and Enforcement to resume its investigation of information flow during the accident at Three Mile Island (TMI) that occurred on March 28, 1979. This investigation was resumed on March 21, 1980. The transfer of information among individuals, agencies, and personnel from Metropolitan Edison was analyzed to ascertain what knowledge was held by various individuals of the specific events, parameters, and systems during the accident at TMI. Maximum use was made of existing records, and additional interviews were conducted to clarify areas that had not been pursued during earlier investigations. Although the passage of time between the accident and post-accident interviews hampered precise recollections of events and circumstances, the investigation revealed that information was not intentionally withheld during the accident and that the system for effective transfer of information was inadequate during the accident

An investigation of awareness on the Fukushima nuclear accident and Radioactive contamination

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ha, Jeong Chul; Song, Young Ju [Dept. of Consumer Safety, Korea Consumer Agency, Eumseong (Korea, Republic of)

2016-05-15

The objective of this study was to investigate Korean people's awareness about impact of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in Japan and radioactive contamination caused by it. The respondents of the survey were 600 adults who resided in the Seoul metropolitan area. The survey results show that the majority of respondents were concerned about impact of radiation leakage that might have an effect on our environment. They were worried about radioactive contamination of foodstuffs, particularly fishery products and preferred to acquire information through TV(49.8%) or the Internet(31.3%). Meanwhile, respondents mentioned that the information on the Fukushima nuclear accident and radioactive contamination had not been sufficient and they didn't know well about the follow-up measures of the government on the accident. Most respondents answered that information on radioactive contamination levels and safety of foods and environment was most needed. The results of this study could be useful to enhance awareness on radioactivity and improve risk communication on nuclear power plant accidents.

The official report of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2012-07-01

In October 2011, the Act regarding Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission was enacted to investigate the Fukushima accident with the authority to request documents and request the legislative branch to use its investigative powers to obtain any necessary documents or evidence required. In December 2011, chairman and nine other members were appointed. After a six-month investigation, Commission had concluded. 'In order to prevent future disasters, fundamental reforms must take place covering both the structure of electric power industry and the structure of related government and regulatory agencies as well as operation processes, for both normal and emergency situations'. Main parts of report consisted of overview, conclusions and recommendations, and six findings; (1) was the accident preventable?, (2) Escalation of the accident, (3) Emergency response to the accident, (4) Spread of the damage, (5) Organizational issues in accident prevention and response and (6) the legal system. Based on the above findings, Commission made seven recommendations regarding (1) Monitoring of the nuclear regulatory body by the National Diet, (2) Reform the crisis management system, (3) Government responsibility for public health and welfare, (4) Monitoring the operators, (5) Criteria for the new regulatory body, (6) Reforming laws related to nuclear energy and (7) Develop a system of independent investigation commissions. National Diet's thorough debate and deliberate on these recommendation was highly encouraged for the future. (T. Tanaka)

Mirth and Murder: Crime Scene Investigation as a Work Context for Examining Humor Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Roth, Gene L.; Vivona, Brian

2010-01-01

Within work settings, humor is used by workers for a wide variety of purposes. This study examines humor applications of a specific type of worker in a unique work context: crime scene investigation. Crime scene investigators examine death and its details. Members of crime scene units observe death much more frequently than other police officers…

Introduction of the Space Shuttle Columbia Accident, Investigation Details, Findings and Crew Survival Investigation Report

Science.gov (United States)

Chandler, Michael

2010-01-01

As the Space Shuttle Program comes to an end, it is important that the lessons learned from the Columbia accident be captured and understood by those who will be developing future aerospace programs and supporting current programs. Aeromedical lessons learned from the Accident were presented at AsMA in 2005. This Panel will update that information, closeout the lessons learned, provide additional information on the accident and provide suggestions for the future. To set the stage, an overview of the accident is required. The Space Shuttle Columbia was returning to Earth with a crew of seven astronauts on 1Feb, 2003. It disintegrated along a track extending from California to Louisiana and observers along part of the track filmed the breakup of Columbia. Debris was recovered from Littlefield, Texas to Fort Polk, Louisiana, along a 567 statute mile track; the largest ever recorded debris field. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) concluded its investigation in August 2003, and released their findings in a report published in February 2004. NASA recognized the importance of capturing the lessons learned from the loss of Columbia and her crew and the Space Shuttle Program managers commissioned the Spacecraft Crew Survival Integrated Investigation Team (SCSIIT) to accomplish this. Their task was to perform a comprehensive analysis of the accident, focusing on factors and events affecting crew survival, and to develop recommendations for improving crew survival, including the design features, equipment, training and procedures intended to protect the crew. NASA released the Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report in December 2008. Key personnel have been assembled to give you an overview of the Space Shuttle Columbia accident, the medical response, the medico-legal issues, the SCSIIT findings and recommendations and future NASA flight surgeon spacecraft accident response training. Educational Objectives: Set the stage for the Panel to address the

What are the factors that contribute to road accidents? An assessment of law enforcement views, ordinary drivers' opinions, and road accident records.

Science.gov (United States)

Rolison, Jonathan J; Regev, Shirley; Moutari, Salissou; Feeney, Aidan

2018-06-01

What are the main contributing factors to road accidents? Factors such as inexperience, lack of skill, and risk-taking behaviors have been associated with the collisions of young drivers. In contrast, visual, cognitive, and mobility impairment have been associated with the collisions of older drivers. We investigated the main causes of road accidents by drawing on multiple sources: expert views of police officers, lay views of the driving public, and official road accident records. In Studies 1 and 2, police officers and the public were asked about the typical causes of road traffic collisions using hypothetical accident scenarios. In Study 3, we investigated whether the views of police officers and the public about accident causation influence their recall accuracy for factors reported to contribute to hypothetical road accidents. The results show that both expert views of police officers and lay views of the driving public closely approximated the typical factors associated with the collisions of young and older drivers, as determined from official accident records. The results also reveal potential underreporting of factors in existing accident records, identifying possible inadequacies in law enforcement practices for investigating driver distraction, drug and alcohol impairment, and uncorrected or defective eyesight. Our investigation also highlights a need for accident report forms to be continuously reviewed and updated to ensure that contributing factor lists reflect the full range of factors that contribute to road accidents. Finally, the views held by police officers and the public on accident causation influenced their memory recall of factors involved in hypothetical scenarios. These findings indicate that delay in completing accident report forms should be minimised, possibly by use of mobile reporting devices at the accident scene. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Eye tracking to evaluate evidence recognition in crime scene investigations.

Science.gov (United States)

Watalingam, Renuka Devi; Richetelli, Nicole; Pelz, Jeff B; Speir, Jacqueline A

2017-11-01

Crime scene analysts are the core of criminal investigations; decisions made at the scene greatly affect the speed of analysis and the quality of conclusions, thereby directly impacting the successful resolution of a case. If an examiner fails to recognize the pertinence of an item on scene, the analyst's theory regarding the crime will be limited. Conversely, unselective evidence collection will most likely include irrelevant material, thus increasing a forensic laboratory's backlog and potentially sending the investigation into an unproductive and costly direction. Therefore, it is critical that analysts recognize and properly evaluate forensic evidence that can assess the relative support of differing hypotheses related to event reconstruction. With this in mind, the aim of this study was to determine if quantitative eye tracking data and qualitative reconstruction accuracy could be used to distinguish investigator expertise. In order to assess this, 32 participants were successfully recruited and categorized as experts or trained novices based on their practical experiences and educational backgrounds. Each volunteer then processed a mock crime scene while wearing a mobile eye tracker, wherein visual fixations, durations, search patterns, and reconstruction accuracy were evaluated. The eye tracking data (dwell time and task percentage on areas of interest or AOIs) were compared using Earth Mover's Distance (EMD) and the Needleman-Wunsch (N-W) algorithm, revealing significant group differences for both search duration (EMD), as well as search sequence (N-W). More specifically, experts exhibited greater dissimilarity in search duration, but greater similarity in search sequences than their novice counterparts. In addition to the quantitative visual assessment of examiner variability, each participant's reconstruction skill was assessed using a 22-point binary scoring system, in which significant group differences were detected as a function of total

Biomass accident investigations – missed opportunities for learning and accident prevention

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hedlund, Frank Huess

2017-01-01

The past decade has seen a major increase in the production of energy from biomass. The growth has been mirrored in an increase of serious biomass related accidents involving fires, gas explosions, combustible dust explosions and the release of toxic gasses. There are indications that the number...... of bioenergy related accidents is growing faster than the energy production. This paper argues that biomass accidents, if properly investigated and lessons shared widely, provide ample opportunities for improving general hazard awareness and safety performance of the biomass industry. The paper examines...... selected serious accidents involving biogas and wood pellets in Denmark and argues that such opportunities for learning were missed because accident investigations were superficial, follow-up incomplete and information sharing absent. In one particularly distressing case, a facility saw a repeat accident...

29 CFR 1960.29 - Accident investigation.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... reflective of the seriousness of the accident. (b) In any case, each accident which results in a fatality or... evidence uncovered during accident investigations which would be of benefit in developing a new OSHA...

Investigation on accident management measures for VVER-1000 reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tusheva, P.; Schaefer, F.; Rohde, U.; Reinke, N.

2009-01-01

A consequence of a total loss of AC power supply (station blackout) leading to unavailability of major active safety systems which could not perform their safety functions is that the safety criteria ensuring a secure operation of the nuclear power plant would be violated and a consequent core heat-up with possible core degradation would occur. Currently, a study which examines the thermal-hydraulic behaviour of the plant during the early phase of the scenario is being performed. This paper focuses on the possibilities for delay or mitigation of the accident sequence to progress into a severe one by applying Accident Management Measures (AMM). The strategy 'Primary circuit depressurization' as a basic strategy, which is realized in the management of severe accidents is being investigated. By reducing the load over the vessel under severe accident conditions, prerequisites for maintaining the integrity of the primary circuit are being created. The time-margins for operators' intervention as key issues are being also assessed. The task is accomplished by applying the GRS thermal-hydraulic system code ATHLET. In addition, a comparative analysis of the accident progression for a station blackout event for both a reference German PWR and a reference VVER-1000, taking into account the plant specifics, is being performed. (authors)

Handle With Care: 10 Common School Accidents

Science.gov (United States)

Bryer, Judith E.

1978-01-01

Accidents, mishaps, injuries can happen in any classroom, cafeteria, gym, hallway, playground and the teacher is probably the first adult to arrive on the scene. These guidelines on how to respond to 10 common school accidents explain what steps to take. (Author/RK)

Study on Developments in Accident Investigation Methods: A Survey of the 'State-of-the-Art'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hollnagel, Erik; Speziali, Josephine

2008-01-01

The objective of this project was to survey the main accident investigation methods that have been developed since the early or mid-1990s. The motivation was the increasing frequency of accidents that defy explanations in simple terms, for instance cause-effect chains or 'human error'. Whereas the complexity of socio-technical systems is steadily growing across all industrial domains, including nuclear power production, accident investigation methods are only updated when their inability to account for novel types of accidents and incidents becomes inescapable. Accident investigation methods therefore typically lag behind the socio-technological developments by 20 years or more. The project first compiled a set of methods from the recognised scientific literature and in major major research and development programs, excluding methods limited to risk assessment, technological malfunctions, human reliability, and safety management methods. An initial set of 21 methods was further reduced to seven by retaining only prima facie accident investigation methods and avoiding overlapping or highly similar methods. The second step was to develop a set of criteria used to characterise the methods. The starting point was Perrow's description of normal accidents in socio-technical systems, which used the dimensions of coupling, going from loose to tight, and interactions, going from linear to complex. For practical reasons, the second dimension was changed to that of tractability or how easy it is to describe the system, where the sub-criteria are the level of detail, the availability of an articulated model, and the system dynamics. On this basis the seven selected methods were characterised in terms of the systems - or conditions - they could account for, leading to the following four groups: methods suitable for systems that are loosely coupled and tractable, methods suitable for systems that are tightly coupled and tractable, methods suitable for systems that are loosely

A Tool for Safety Officers Investigating " simple" Accidents

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Kirsten

2010-01-01

Most workplace accidents that happen in enterprises are simple and seldom result in serious injuries. Very often these kinds of workplace accidents are not investigated, and if they are, then the investigation is very brief, with comments such as that it was the victim’s own fault or just...... accidents normally caused by apparent banalities occur much more frequently and with a higher rate of fatalities, disablements and other serious injuries than the ostensibly most dangerous kinds of accidents. In 1999 a practical tool for use by safety officers was developed; this tool is based...... on the investigation methods applied in major accidents, but comprises a simpler and more user-friendly presentation. The tool involves three steps: Mapping the facts, analysing the events, and developing preventive solutions. Practical application of the tool has shown that it affords managers and workers...

Emergency patients receiving anaesthesiologist-based pre-hospital treatment and subsequently released at the scene

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Højfeldt, S G; Sørensen, L P; Mikkelsen, Søren

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND: The Mobile Emergency Care Unit in Odense, Denmark consists of a rapid response car, manned with an anaesthesiologist and an emergency medical technician. Eleven per cent of the patients are released at the scene following treatment. The aim of the study was to investigate which...... investigated. In each patient, diagnosis as well as any renewed contact with the Mobile Emergency Care Unit or the hospital within 24 h was registered. RESULTS: ONE THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED NINE: patients were released at the scene. Diagnoses within the category 'examination and investigation' [International...... with the Mobile Emergency Care Unit within 24 h. Of the 143 victims of traffic accidents, 19 (13%) required renewed contact with the emergency department and one required admission to hospital (0.7%). Of all 1609 patients, four died within 24 h of contact (0.2%). CONCLUSION: Patients treated and released...

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident final report of the AESJ investigation committee

CERN Document Server

Atomic Energy Society of Japan

2015-01-01

The Magnitude 9 Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, followed by a massive tsunami struck  TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and triggered an unprecedented core melt/severe accident in Units 1 – 3. The radioactivity release led to the evacuation of local residents, many of whom still have not been able to return to their homes. As a group of nuclear experts, the Atomic Energy Society of Japan established the Investigation Committee on the Nuclear Accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, to investigate and analyze the accident from scientific and technical perspectives for clarifying the underlying and fundamental causes, and to make recommendations. The results of the investigation by the AESJ Investigation Committee has been compiled herewith as the Final Report. Direct contributing factors of the catastrophic nuclear incident at Fukushima Daiichi NPP initiated by an unprecedented massive earthquake/ tsunami – inadequacies in tsunami measures, severe accident ma...

Evaluation of factors associated with the difficulty in finding receiving hospitals for traffic accident patients at the scene treated by emergency medical services: a population-based study in Osaka City, Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Katayama, Yusuke; Kitamura, Tetsuhisa; Kiyohara, Kosuke; Iwami, Taku; Kawamura, Takashi; Hayashida, Sumito; Ogura, Hiroshi; Shimazu, Takeshi

2017-10-01

Although the prolongation of the time between injury and hospital arrival of traffic accident patients can influence their prognosis, factors associated with the difficulty in hospital acceptance of these patients have not been sufficiently evaluated in Japan. We retrospectively analyzed the population-based ambulance records of all traffic accident patients for whom the Osaka Municipal Fire Department (Osaka City, Japan) dispatched an ambulance in 2013. We defined "cases with difficulty in hospital acceptance" as cases that required ≥4 calls by emergency medical service personnel at the scene before receiving hospital acceptance. We included patient characteristics (age, sex, coma status, and trauma severity judged by emergency medical service personnel), time factors (day/night or weekday/holiday and weekends), and accident location for multivariable logistic regression analysis to assess factors associated with the difficulty in hospital acceptance. Among 13,427 traffic accident patients, 2,033 (15.1%) were cases with difficulty in hospital acceptance. Pediatric patients (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.265; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.060-1.509), male sex (adjusted OR, 1.260; 95% CI, 1.135-1.398), moderate-grade trauma (adjusted OR, 2.241; 95% CI, 1.972-2.547), severe-grade trauma (adjusted OR, 2.057; 95% CI, 1.249-3.388), holidays and weekends (adjusted OR, 1.702; 95% CI, 1.539-1.882), and night-time (adjusted OR, 2.720; 95% CI, 2.443-3.027) were positively associated with difficulty in hospital acceptance. Using population-based ambulance records from a large urban community in Japan, we showed that the difficulty in hospital acceptance of patients at the scene of traffic accidents was positively associated with several prehospital factors.

An outline of the interim report of the investigation committee on the accident at Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshioka, Hitoshi

2012-01-01

Interim report of the Investigation Committee of the Accident at Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations (NPSs) was published in December 26, 2011. The Japanese cabinet approved ten committee members including the author in May 2011. The committee interviewed more than 400 people over a total of 900 hours of hearings with about 40 staffs consisting of administrative team and three investigation teams of social system, root causes of the accident and countermeasures to prevent damage expansion of the accident. Interim report concluded 'the accident at Fukushima NPSs was caused by failures of every provision against reactor severe accident'. The failures appeared on (1) function of supervisory system for emergency response, (2) Fukushima Daiichi NPSs on-site disaster response especially related with operation of isolation condenser of unit 1 and high-pressure coolant injection system of unit 3, (3) Fukushima Daiichi NPSs off-site disaster response such the government failed to make use of data on the radioactive plumes released from the plant for evacuations, and (4) preparedness against tsunami and severe accident management. Possible worst or best simulation cases were also discussed. With no human support available on-site, workers might not have been able to prevent the meltdowns. Final report was due at the end of July 2012. (T. Tanaka)

32 CFR 634.28 - Traffic accident investigation.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Traffic accident investigation. 634.28 Section... ENFORCEMENT AND CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS MOTOR VEHICLE TRAFFIC SUPERVISION Traffic Supervision § 634.28 Traffic accident investigation. Installation law enforcement personnel must make detailed investigations of...

An analysis on human factor issues in criticality accident at a uranium processing plant. Investigation on human behavior contributing to the criticality accident. Interim report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sasou, Kuonihide; Goda, Hideki; Hirotsu, Yuko

1999-01-01

At 10:30 am, September 30th, 1999, a criticality accident occurred in a conversion building of a uranium processing plant in Tokai, Ibaraki prefecture. 69 people including 3 workers who then worked at the building, 3 fire fighters who dispatched to rescue them were exposed to the radiation. People with a 350 m-radius of the site were recommended to evacuate themselves from the region to a temporarily prepared evacuation center. And about one hundred thousand people within a 10 km-radius were also advised to stay inside of their home. Nuclear Safety Commission's Accident Investigation Committee is investigating causes of this accident and have been revealing that deviation from government-authorized processing method and negligence of its illegal procedure had contributed to the accident. The influence of this accident is expanding not only to the plant operating company, local people but also to Japanese nuclear power policy, the whole nuclear industry in Japan. Especially pervasion of 'Safety Culture' is strongly being required. This report analyses latent factors of some human behavior directly contributing to the criticality accident. It also mentions that 4 critical points on the poor climate for safety in the work place, the inadequate safety management, the unsuitable equipment and the production-biased company's policy are the latent factors of this accident. It also finds that the poor climate and the production-biased policy are the most important factors. It can be said that some people directly or indirectly having caused the accident are the victims of them. (author)

Review of the TMI-2 accident evaluation and vessel investigation projects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ladekarl Thomsen, Knud

1998-03-01

The results of the TMI-2 Accident Evaluation Programme and the Vessel Investigation Project have been reviewed as part of a literature study on core meltdown and in-vessel coolability. The emphasis is placed on the late phase melt progression, which is of special relevance to the NKS-sponsored RAK-2.1 project on Severe Accident Phenomenology. The body of the report comprises three main sections, The TMI-2 Accident Scenario, Core Region and Relocation Path Investigations, and Lower Head Investigations. In the final discussion, the lower head gap formation mechanism is explained in terms of thermal contraction and fracturing of the debris crust. This model seems more plausible than the MAAP model based on creep expansion of the lower head. (au) 1 tab., 33 ills., 31 refs.

Investigating accidents involving aircraft manufactured from polymer composite materials

Science.gov (United States)

Dunn, Leigh

This study looks into the examination of polymer composite wreckage from the perspective of the aircraft accident investigator. It develops an understanding of the process of wreckage examination as well as identifying the potential for visual and macroscopic interpretation of polymer composite aircraft wreckage. The in-field examination of aircraft wreckage, and subsequent interpretations of material failures, can be a significant part of an aircraft accident investigation. As the use of composite materials in aircraft construction increases, the understanding of how macroscopic failure characteristics of composite materials may aid the field investigator is becoming of increasing importance.. The first phase of this research project was to explore how investigation practitioners conduct wreckage examinations. Four accident investigation case studies were examined. The analysis of the case studies provided a framework of the wreckage examination process. Subsequently, a literature survey was conducted to establish the current level of knowledge on the visual and macroscopic interpretation of polymer composite failures. Relevant literature was identified and a compendium of visual and macroscopic characteristics was created. Two full-scale polymer composite wing structures were loaded statically, in an upward bending direction, until each wing structure fractured and separated. The wing structures were subsequently examined for the existence of failure characteristics. The examination revealed that whilst characteristics were present, the fragmentation of the structure destroyed valuable evidence. A hypothetical accident scenario utilising the fractured wing structures was developed, which UK government accident investigators subsequently investigated. This provided refinement to the investigative framework and suggested further guidance on the interpretation of polymer composite failures by accident investigators..

Worst accident in the world. Chernobyl: the end of the nuclear dream

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hawkes, N; Lean, G; Leigh, D; McKie, R; Pringle, P; Wilson, A

1986-01-01

This is the full story of Chernobyl, before, during and after the reactor accident in April 1986. The scene is set at Chernobyl in the Ukraine. The nature of radioactivity, the risks and the health hazards posed by radioactivity and the world-wide nuclear energy scene are then discussed, followed by the particular nuclear situation in Russia. This includes the background to the nuclear power industry in Russia - its history, personnel and management, and ultimately the building of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The accident itself is then explained, minute by minute. The consequences, both short-term and long-term, on the immediate area and the rest of Europe are discussed. These are the medical effects on humans, the effects on the environment and the effect on the nuclear policies of the whole world.

Investigation of the possible effect of the Chernobyl accident on Irish mortality rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crowley, M.J.; Reville, W.J.

1989-01-01

Radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl accident reached Ireland in May 1986 and caused serious concern with regard to its possible effects on health. Reports of a large scale American study claim an almost immediate effect of Chernobyl fallout in terms of increased mortality rates. A study of Irish mortality rates reported a substantial increase in numbers of deaths during the three months immediately post-Chernobyl. The present study investigates whether there is a statistically significant basis for the reported increase in mortality in Ireland. No discernible evidence was found for increased mortality rates in Ireland during 1986, following the Chernobyl accident. The initial report of increased mortality rates was based on provisional mortality registration statistics and not on actual day to day data. (author)

32 CFR 636.12 - Traffic accident investigation.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Traffic accident investigation. 636.12 Section... ENFORCEMENT AND CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS MOTOR VEHICLE TRAFFIC SUPERVISION (SPECIFIC INSTALLATIONS) Fort Stewart, Georgia § 636.12 Traffic accident investigation. In addition to the requirements in § 634.28 of...

Report from investigation committee on the accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations of Tokyo Electric Power Company

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koshizuka, Seiichi

2012-01-01

Government's Investigation Committee on the Accident at Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations of Tokyo Electric Power Company published its final report on July 23, 2012. Results of investigation combined final report and interim report published on December 26, 2011. The author was head of accident accuse investigation team mostly in charge of site response, prior measure and plant behavior. This article reported author related technical investigation results focusing on site response and prior measures against tsunamis of units 1-3 of Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations. Misunderstanding of working state of isolation condenser of unit 1, unsuitability of alternative water injection at manual stop of high-pressure coolant injection (HPCI) system of unit 3 and improper prior measure against tsunami and severe accident were pointed out in interim report. Improper monitoring of suppression chamber of unit 2 and again unsuitable work for HPCI system of unit 3 were reported in final report. Thorough technical investigation was more encouraged to update safety measures of nuclear power stations. (T. Tanaka)

Investigate the causes of transport and tramming accidents on coal mines.

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Rushworth, AM

1999-03-01

Full Text Available Transport and tramming accidents on coal mines in South Africa are a major component in the overall pattern of colliery accidents. Furthermore, there is now a widespread acceptance that human error is a common cause of failure in accident patterns...

The Role of Forensic Botany in Solving a Case: Scientific Evidence on the Falsification of a Crime Scene.

Science.gov (United States)

Aquila, Isabella; Gratteri, Santo; Sacco, Matteo A; Ricci, Pietrantonio

2018-05-01

Forensic botany can provide useful information for pathologists, particularly on crime scene investigation. We report the case of a man who arrived at the hospital and died shortly afterward. The body showed widespread electrical lesions. The statements of his brother and wife about the incident aroused a large amount of suspicion in the investigators. A crime scene investigation was carried out, along with a botanical morphological survey on small vegetations found on the corpse. An autopsy was also performed. Botanical analysis showed some samples of Xanthium spinosum, thus leading to the discovery of the falsification of the crime scene although the location of the true crime scene remained a mystery. The botanical analysis, along with circumstantial data and autopsy findings, led to the discovery of the real crime scene and became crucial as part of the legal evidence regarding the falsity of the statements made to investigators. © 2017 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Non-vehicular homicides masquerading as road traffic accidents.

Science.gov (United States)

Zine, K U; Mugadlimath, Anand B; Sane, Mandar Ramchandra; Bhuyyar, Chandrashekhar; Rathod, S N

2016-03-01

Interfering with or planting evidence to disguise the cause of a death is not uncommon in forensic practice. Homicides staged as road accidents are, however, rarely encountered by crime scene investigators. We report two homicides which were presented as road traffic accidents. Case 1: Dead body of a 35-year-old male was brought for autopsy with history of road traffic accident. Primary police inquiry suggested that the victim was knocked down by a speeding four-wheeler, while walking by the side of a high way with his friends. On postmortem examination the deceased's death was found due to homicidal smothering staged as a road traffic accident. Case 2: Dead body of 40-year-old male was brought for autopsy with history of road traffic accident. It was an unwitnessed crush by a speeding four-wheeler. However, on postmortem examination, the deceased was found to have died from homicidal multiple stab wounds with his death staged as a road traffic accident. Importance of meticulous autopsy to determine accurately the cause of death is emphasized. © The Author(s) 2015.

ACCOUNT OF ROAD CONDITIONS WHILE INVESTIGATING TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. D. Selioukov

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The paper considers problems on better traffic safety at government, authority, engineering and driver activity levels, account of road conditions while investigating traffic accidents. The paper also provides road defects mentioned in forensic transport examinations of traffic accidents.

The investigation on the mass media reports on the JCO accident in the major atomic energy countries and Asian countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1999-12-01

The JCO (Japan Conversion Organization) accident is the worst one in the history of the atomic energy developments in Japan. The many reports about the accident appeared in the 44 mass media in the world from Sep. 30 to Oct. 14, 1999. Chronological statistics of issued 522 articles are listed under particular criteria. Some of them were based on wrong knowledge and/or overestimations about the accident based on delivered articles by the news agency. Some of others gave critics over the total atomic energy industries of Japan, especially on safety managements and so-called similar Japan syndromes. This investigation gives emphasis on the articles based on wrong knowledge. We identified the countries and the newspaper publishers and the news agencies those gave wrong descriptions. Total 25 articles used the words [explosion] and [fire], which were delivered from the Kyodo News Service. Some of the Asian newspaper wrote that a large quantity of radioactivity, radioactive material and/or nuclear fuels was released. Some other news publishers said the accident was happened at fuel reprocessing facilities, when the waste fuel rods were under cutting. Critics delivered in the individual countries were summarized, i.e. USA, Canada, France, UK, German, Russia, Australia, China, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Taiwan and the news agencies. One of the key issues is the exact information release for the press corps on the early stage of the accidents. The second point is to recognize the different status on atomic energy in the individual countries, when Japan want to explain their domestic situations. Accidents of atomic energy gave many impacts on various aspects to other countries. Japan should understand the neighborhood by collecting world information on atomic energy and analyzing them. Summaries of 522 articles appeared in the mass media were attached in this investigation among the report of 180 pages. (Tanaka, Y.)

Molecular identification of blow flies recovered from human cadavers during crime scene investigations in Malaysia.

Science.gov (United States)

Kavitha, Rajagopal; Nazni, Wasi Ahmad; Tan, Tian Chye; Lee, Han Lim; Isa, Mohd Noor Mat; Azirun, Mohd Sofian

2012-12-01

Forensic entomology applies knowledge about insects associated with decedent in crime scene investigation. It is possible to calculate a minimum postmortem interval (PMI) by determining the age and species of the oldest blow fly larvae feeding on decedent. This study was conducted in Malaysia to identify maggot specimens collected during crime scene investigations. The usefulness of the molecular and morphological approach in species identifications was evaluated in 10 morphologically identified blow fly larvae sampled from 10 different crime scenes in Malaysia. The molecular identification method involved the sequencing of a total length of 2.2 kilo base pairs encompassing the 'barcode' fragments of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI), cytochrome oxidase II (COII) and t-RNA leucine genes. Phylogenetic analyses confirmed the presence of Chrysomya megacephala, Chrysomya rufifacies and Chrysomya nigripes. In addition, one unidentified blow fly species was found based on phylogenetic tree analysis.

Study on Developments in Accident Investigation Methods: A Survey of the 'State-of-the-Art'

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hollnagel, Erik; Speziali, Josephine (Ecole des Mines de Paris, F-06904 Sophia Antipolis (France))

2008-01-15

The objective of this project was to survey the main accident investigation methods that have been developed since the early or mid-1990s. The motivation was the increasing frequency of accidents that defy explanations in simple terms, for instance cause-effect chains or 'human error'. Whereas the complexity of socio-technical systems is steadily growing across all industrial domains, including nuclear power production, accident investigation methods are only updated when their inability to account for novel types of accidents and incidents becomes inescapable. Accident investigation methods therefore typically lag behind the socio-technological developments by 20 years or more. The project first compiled a set of methods from the recognised scientific literature and in major major research and development programs, excluding methods limited to risk assessment, technological malfunctions, human reliability, and safety management methods. An initial set of 21 methods was further reduced to seven by retaining only prima facie accident investigation methods and avoiding overlapping or highly similar methods. The second step was to develop a set of criteria used to characterise the methods. The starting point was Perrow's description of normal accidents in socio-technical systems, which used the dimensions of coupling, going from loose to tight, and interactions, going from linear to complex. For practical reasons, the second dimension was changed to that of tractability or how easy it is to describe the system, where the sub-criteria are the level of detail, the availability of an articulated model, and the system dynamics. On this basis the seven selected methods were characterised in terms of the systems - or conditions - they could account for, leading to the following four groups: methods suitable for systems that are loosely coupled and tractable, methods suitable for systems that are tightly coupled and tractable, methods suitable for systems that

Investigation on the health effects and radioactive contamination after the Chernobyl accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagataki, Shigenobu; Yokoyama, Naokata

1996-01-01

In the screening of the thyroid diseases in the radiation cohort, it is essential to make correct diagnosis, to measure radiation dose in every subjects and to analyze the dose response relationship by the most appropriate statistical method. Based on experiences of atomic bomb survivors in Nagasaki, children around Chernobyl area were examined. In the Chernobyl accident, various investigations were supported by many international organizations and groups in the world. More than 80,000 children were screened in 5 diagnostic centers; Klincy in Russia, Mogilev and Gomel in Beralus and Kiev and Korosten in Ukraine. Children with thyroid cancer confirmed by histology were 2 in Mogilev. 19 in Gomel, 6 in Kiev, 5 in Korosten and 4 in Klincy until the end of 1994. The prevalence of thyroid cancer was remarkably high (lowest 100 and highest 1,000/million children), compared to the other parts of the world (0.2 to 5/millions/year). However, there was no dose response relationship between the prevalence of thyroid diseases and whole body 137 Cs radioactivity or the soil 137 Cs radio contaminated levels. Although a significant correlation between thyroid cancer and reconstructed thyroid 131 I dose was presented, there are no previous reports to prove that 131 I produces thyroid cancer in human. It is concluded about childhood thyroid cancer around Chernobyl that; it is confirmed that there are many children with thyroid cancer in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia and its diagnosis is correct. The increases of the incidence of thyroid cancer after the Chernobyl accident is probable confirmed. It is suspected but no confirmed that cause of thyroid cancer is the radioactive fallout of Chernobyl accident. Investigation on internal radiation and short lived isotopes along with 131 I may be important to elucidate the cause of thyroid cancer. (K.H.)

The Effect of Scene Variation on the Redundant Use of Color in Definite Reference

Science.gov (United States)

Koolen, Ruud; Goudbeek, Martijn; Krahmer, Emiel

2013-01-01

This study investigates to what extent the amount of variation in a visual scene causes speakers to mention the attribute color in their definite target descriptions, focusing on scenes in which this attribute is not needed for identification of the target. The results of our three experiments show that speakers are more likely to redundantly…

Investigations on accidents with massive water ingress exemplified by the pebble bed reactor PNP-500

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moormann, R.

1986-01-01

A computer code is used for analyses of massive water ingress accidents in the High-Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor concept PNP-500 with pebble bed core. The analyses are mainly focussed on graphite corrosion processes. For the investigated accidents a correct reactor shut down in assumed. The mass of water ingressing into the primary circuit is varied between 1000 and 7500 kg (i.e., up to hypothetical values). The dependence of accident consequences on parameters such as intensity and starting time of the afterheat removal system or kinetic values of the chemical processes is examined. The results show that even under pessimistic assumptions the extent of the graphite corrosion is relatively low; significant damaging of fuel elements or graphite components does not occur. A primary circuit depressurization, combined with local burning of water gas, would probably not affect the fission product retention potential of the (gastight) containment. Summing up, the risk caused by these accidents remains small. (orig.) [de

THE USE OF AVIATION ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION REPORTS AS EVIDENCE IN COURT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sorana POP PĂUN

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Air transport is an essential part of the international society, constituting a liaison between people and continents and an important contributor to the world economy and globalization. Aircraft operation has grown in complexity needing for a safety level to be maintained and constantly grown. Along with the development of the aviation industry, the legal system in the aviation field has registered significant challenges, one of them being the claims related to air crashes which are contested. The investigation process of an accident or incident has become not only important for the safety of operations but also to the establishment of legal fault and blame. The article proposes to present the principles of conducting and accident and incident investigation, the value of the report and new developments in relation to the recent case law on the use of the accident investigation report in Court.

Spent fuel transportation accident: a state's involvement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neuweg, M.

1978-01-01

On February 9, 1978 at 8:20 p.m., the duty officer for the Illinois Radiological Assistance Team was notified that a shipment containing uranium and plutonium was involved in an accident near Gibson City, Illinois on Route 54. It was reported that a pig containing an unknown amount of uranium and plutonium was involved. The Illinois District 6A State Police were called to the scene and secured the area. The duty officer in the meantime learned after numerous telephone calls, approximately 1 hour after the first notice was received, that the pig actually was a 48,000 pound cask containing 6 spent fuel rods and the tractor-trailer had split apart and was blocking one lane of the highway. The shipment had departed from Dresden Nuclear Power Station, Morris, Illinois, enroute to Babcox and Wilcox in Lynchburg, Virginia. Initial reports indicated the vehicle had split apart. Actually, the semi-trailer bed had buckled beneath the cask due to apparent excess stress. The cask remained entirely intact and was not damaged, but the state highway was closed to traffic. The State Radiological Assistance Team was dispatched and arrived on the scene at 12:45 a.m. Immediate radiation monitoring revealed a reading of 4 milliroentgen per hour at 10 feet from the cask. No contamination existed nor was anyone exposed to radiation unnecessarily. The cask was transferred to a Tri-State semi-trailer vehicle the following morning at approximately 6:30 a.m. At 9:30 a.m., February 10, the new vehicle was again enroute to its destination. This incident demonstrated typical occurrences involving transportation radiation accident: misinformation and/or lack of information on the initial response notification, inaccuracies of radiation monitorings at the scene of the accident, inconsistencies concerning the occurrences of the accident and unfamiliar terminology utilized by personnel first on the scene, i.e., pig, cask, vehicle split apart, etc

Accident investigation board report on the May 14, 1997, chemical explosion at the Plutonium Reclamation Facility, Hanford Site,Richland, Washington - final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gerton, R.E.

1997-01-01

On May 14, 1997, at 7:53 p.m. (PDT), a chemical explosion occur-red in Tank A- 109 in Room 40 of the Plutonium Reclamation Facility (Facility) located in the 200 West Area of the Hanford Site, approximately 30 miles north of Richland, Washington. The inactive processing Facility is part of the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP). On May 16, 1997, Lloyd L. Piper, Deputy Manager, acting for John D. Wagoner, Manager, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Richland Operations Office (RL), formally established an Accident Investigation Board (Board) to investigate the explosion in accordance with DOE Order 225. 1, Accident Investigations. The Board commenced its investigation on May 15, 1997, completed the investigation on July 2, 1997, and submitted its findings to the RL Manager on July 26, 1997. The scope of the Board's investigation was to review and analyze the circumstances of the events that led to the explosion; to analyze facts and to determine the causes of the accident; and to develop conclusions and judgments of need that may help prevent a recurrence of the accident. The scope also included the application of lessons learned from similar accidents within DOE. In addition to this detailed report, a companion document has also been prepared that provides a concise summary of the facts and conclusions of this report, with an emphasis on management issues (DOE/RL-97-63)

Multidisciplinary accident investigation : volume 1

Science.gov (United States)

1976-09-01

The final report of the Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team of the Maryland Medical-Legal Foundation, Inc. is presented. The report describes the methodology, results, discussions, conclusions and recommendations pertaining to the investiga...

Modeling secondary accidents identified by traffic shock waves.

Science.gov (United States)

Junhua, Wang; Boya, Liu; Lanfang, Zhang; Ragland, David R

2016-02-01

The high potential for occurrence and the negative consequences of secondary accidents make them an issue of great concern affecting freeway safety. Using accident records from a three-year period together with California interstate freeway loop data, a dynamic method for more accurate classification based on the traffic shock wave detecting method was used to identify secondary accidents. Spatio-temporal gaps between the primary and secondary accident were proven be fit via a mixture of Weibull and normal distribution. A logistic regression model was developed to investigate major factors contributing to secondary accident occurrence. Traffic shock wave speed and volume at the occurrence of a primary accident were explicitly considered in the model, as a secondary accident is defined as an accident that occurs within the spatio-temporal impact scope of the primary accident. Results show that the shock waves originating in the wake of a primary accident have a more significant impact on the likelihood of a secondary accident occurrence than the effects of traffic volume. Primary accidents with long durations can significantly increase the possibility of secondary accidents. Unsafe speed and weather are other factors contributing to secondary crash occurrence. It is strongly suggested that when police or rescue personnel arrive at the scene of an accident, they should not suddenly block, decrease, or unblock the traffic flow, but instead endeavor to control traffic in a smooth and controlled manner. Also it is important to reduce accident processing time to reduce the risk of secondary accident. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Investigating of the effect of Biorhythm on work-related Accidents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Arab

2014-07-01

Conclusion: Findings of this research showed that bad and critical days of individuals’ biorhythms cycle influence the occurrence of accidents. Therefore, by training and increasing the knowledge of workers regarding biological cycle and its effects on mental, emotional and physical status, each person effects can make some changes to theire work plans during days that they do not feel well, physically or mentally, in order to prevent the likely accidents.

Study on spraying water soluble resin to reduce pollution for Fukushima daiichi NPP accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Qiong; Guo Ruiping; Zhang Chunming; Han Fujuan; Hua Jie; Zhang Jiankui

2012-01-01

After Fukushima nuclear accident, Tokyo electric power company used the method of spraying water soluble resin synthesis at the scene of the accident, to restrain and control the spread of the radioactive dust, by forming consolidation layer in pollution area surface. This paper briefly introduced the accident, motivation of spraying water soluble resin, spraying range and implementation process. According to the relevant report on Fukushima nuclear accident, the effect of spraying water soluble resin for reducing pollution was analyzed. The mechanism of reducing pollution for water soluble resin and the application prospect were discussed. Spraying water soluble resin for fixing radioactive dust has reasonable reducing pollution effect. It is worth to use as reference and study in China. (authors)

Accident investigation practices in Europe--main responses from a recent study of accidents in industry and transport.

Science.gov (United States)

Roed-Larsen, Sverre; Valvisto, T; Harms-Ringdahl, L; Kirchsteiger, C

2004-07-26

Europe has during recent years been shocked by disasters from natural events and technical breakdowns. The consequences have been comprehensive, measured by lost lives, injuries, and material and environmental damage. ESReDA wanted in 2000--by setting up a special expert group on accident investigation--to clarify the state of art of accident investigation practices and to map the use of thoroughly accident investigation in order to learn lessons from past disasters and prevent new ones. The scope was to cover three sectors in the society: transport, production processes and storage of hazardous materials, and energy production. The main method used was a questionnaire, which was sent in 2001 to about 150 organisations. About 50 replies were analysed. The replies showed great variations but also similarities, among others in definition of accident and incident, the objectives of the investigation team, criteria used to start an investigation, the status of the investigation organisation, the flow of information, the composition of the investigation team, and the use of internal or international procedures or rules. Several methods (in total 14 different methods were mentioned) were used for carrying out accident /incident investigations. Most of the respondents were willing to co-operate in one or another way with ESReDA. Although there are important biases in the material, the results from questionnaire are important inputs to the future work of ESReDA Expert group in this field. 3 safety approaches have been identified.

Evaluating advancements in accident investigations using a novel framework

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Karanikas, N.; Soltani, P.; de Boer, R.J.; Roelen, A.

2015-01-01

Safety is monitored by various proactive and reactive methods, including the investigation of adverse accidents and incidents, which are collectively known as safety investigations. In this study we demonstrate how accident and incident investigation reports can be useful to identify implicit safety

Effects of scene content and layout on the perceived light direction in 3D spaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Ling; Pont, Sylvia C; Heynderickx, Ingrid

2016-08-01

The lighting and furnishing of an interior space (i.e., the reflectance of its materials, the geometries of the furnishings, and their arrangement) determine the appearance of this space. Conversely, human observers infer lighting properties from the space's appearance. We conducted two psychophysical experiments to investigate how the perception of the light direction is influenced by a scene's objects and their layout using real scenes. In the first experiment, we confirmed that the shape of the objects in the scene and the scene layout influence the perceived light direction. In the second experiment, we systematically investigated how specific shape properties influenced the estimation of the light direction. The results showed that increasing the number of visible faces of an object, ultimately using globally spherical shapes in the scene, supported the veridicality of the estimated light direction. Furthermore, symmetric arrangements in the scene improved the estimation of the tilt direction. Thus, human perception of light should integrally consider materials, scene content, and layout.

Multidisciplinary accident investigation : volume 2

Science.gov (United States)

1976-05-01

The Task II final report for 1974 of the Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation : Team of the Maryland Medical-Legal Foundation, Inc. is presented. This report describes some preliminary findings emanating from a series of comprehensive, multivaria...

Strategies for dealing with resistance to recommendations from accident investigations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lundberg, J.; Rollenhagen, C.; Hollnagel, E.

2012-01-01

Accident investigation reports usually lead to a set of recommendations for change. These recommendations are, however, sometimes resisted for reasons such as various aspects of ethics and power. When accident investigators are aware of this, they use several strategies to overcome the resistance....... This paper describes strategies for dealing with four different types of resistance to change. The strategies were derived from qualitative analysis of 25 interviews with Swedish accident investigators from seven application domains. The main contribution of the paper is a better understanding of effective...... strategies for achieving change associated with accident investigation. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved....

Strategies for dealing with resistance to recommendations from accident investigations.

Science.gov (United States)

Lundberg, Jonas; Rollenhagen, Carl; Hollnagel, Erik; Rankin, Amy

2012-03-01

Accident investigation reports usually lead to a set of recommendations for change. These recommendations are, however, sometimes resisted for reasons such as various aspects of ethics and power. When accident investigators are aware of this, they use several strategies to overcome the resistance. This paper describes strategies for dealing with four different types of resistance to change. The strategies were derived from qualitative analysis of 25 interviews with Swedish accident investigators from seven application domains. The main contribution of the paper is a better understanding of effective strategies for achieving change associated with accident investigation. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Computer Based Road Accident Reconstruction Experiences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milan Batista

2005-03-01

Full Text Available Since road accident analyses and reconstructions are increasinglybased on specific computer software for simulationof vehicle d1iving dynamics and collision dynamics, and forsimulation of a set of trial runs from which the model that bestdescribes a real event can be selected, the paper presents anoverview of some computer software and methods available toaccident reconstruction experts. Besides being time-saving,when properly used such computer software can provide moreauthentic and more trustworthy accident reconstruction, thereforepractical experiences while using computer software toolsfor road accident reconstruction obtained in the TransportSafety Laboratory at the Faculty for Maritime Studies andTransport of the University of Ljubljana are presented and discussed.This paper addresses also software technology for extractingmaximum information from the accident photo-documentationto support accident reconstruction based on the simulationsoftware, as well as the field work of reconstruction expertsor police on the road accident scene defined by this technology.

The role of forensic botany in crime scene investigation: case report and review of literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Aquila, Isabella; Ausania, Francesco; Di Nunzio, Ciro; Serra, Arianna; Boca, Silvia; Capelli, Arnaldo; Magni, Paola; Ricci, Pietrantonio

2014-05-01

Management of a crime is the process of ensuring accurate and effective collection and preservation of physical evidence. Forensic botany can provide significant supporting evidences during criminal investigations. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the importance of forensic botany in the crime scene. We reported a case of a woman affected by dementia who had disappeared from nursing care and was found dead near the banks of a river that flowed under a railroad. Two possible ways of access to crime scene were identified and denominated "Path A" and "Path B." Both types of soil and plants were identified. Botanical survey was performed. Some samples of Xanthium Orientalis subsp. Italicum were identified. The fall of woman resulted in external injuries and vertebral fracture at autopsy. The botanical evidence is important when crime scene and autopsy findings are not sufficient to define the dynamics and the modality of death. © 2014 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

In-depth investigation of escalator riding accidents in heavy capacity MRT stations.

Science.gov (United States)

Chi, Chia-Fen; Chang, Tin-Chang; Tsou, Chi-Lin

2006-07-01

In 2000, the accident rate for escalator riding was about 0.815 accidents per million passenger trips through Taipei Metro Rapid Transit (MRT) heavy capacity stations. In order to reduce the probability and severity of escalator riding accidents and enhance the safety of passengers, the Drury and Brill model [Drury, C.G., Brill, M., 1983. Human factors in consumer product accident investigation. Hum. Factors 25 (3), 329-342] for in-depth investigation was adopted to analyze the 194 escalator riding accidents in terms of victim, task, product and environment. Prevention measures have been developed based on the major causes of accidents and other related contributing factors. The results from the analysis indicated that the majority of the escalator riding accidents was caused by passengers' carrying out other tasks (38 cases, including carrying luggage 24 cases, looking after accompany persons 9 cases, and 5 others), loss of balance (26 cases, 13.4%), not holding the handrail (20 cases, 10.3%), unhealthy passengers (18 cases, 9.3%), followed by people struck by other passenger (16 cases, 8.2%). For female passengers aged 15-64 years, their rushing for trains accidents could have been prevented by wearing safer footwear or by appropriate signing being provided indicating the location and traveling direction of escalators. Female passengers aged 65 years and above whose accidents were caused by loss of balance, should be encouraged to take the elevator instead. To prevent entrapment injuries, following a stricter design code can be most effective. Further in-depth accident investigation is suggested to cover the activity of the victim prior to the accident, any involved product, the location of the accident on the escalator, any medical treatment, what went wrong, opinion of the respondent on the causes of the accident, and personal characteristics of the passengers. Also, management must trade off productivity and safety appropriately to prevent "Organizational

HOW TO SECURE BASIC EVIDENCE AFTER AN AVIATION ACCIDENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert KONIECZKA

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This article attempts to provide a synthesis of basic directions indispensable to accurately collecting evidence after an aviation accident. The proper collection procedure ensures the avoidance of the loss of evidence critical for an investigation carried out by law enforcement agencies and/or the criminal justice system, which includes the participation of aviation expert investigators. Proper and complete evidence is also used to define the cause of the accident in the proceedings conducted by Państwowa Komisja Badania Wypadków Lotniczych (State Committee for Aviation Incidents Investigation, The State Committee for Aviation Incidents Investigation, hereafter referred to as the PKBWL. The methodology of securing evidence refers to the evidence collected at the scene of an accident right after its occurrence, and also to the evidence collected at other sites. It also includes, within its scope, additional materials that are essential to furthering the investigation process, although their collection does not require any urgent action. Furthermore, the article explains the meaning of particular pieces of evidence and their possible relevance to the investigation process.

Independent accident investigation: a modern safety tool

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stoop, John A.

2004-01-01

Historically, safety has been subjected to a fragmented approach. In the past, every department has had its own responsibility towards safety, focusing either on working conditions, internal safety, external safety, rescue and emergency, public order or security. They each issued policy documents, which in their time were leading statements for elaboration and regulation. They also addressed safety issues with tools of various nature, often specifically developed within their domain. Due to a series of major accidents and disasters, the focus of attention is shifting from complying with quantitative risk standards towards intervention in primary operational processes, coping with systemic deficiencies and a more integrated assessment of safety in its societal context. In The Netherlands recognition of the importance of independent investigations has led to an expansion of this philosophy from the transport sector to other sectors. The philosophy now covers transport, industry, defense, natural disaster, environment and health and other major occurrences such as explosions, fires, and collapse of buildings or structures. In 2003 a multi-sector covering law will establish an independent safety board in The Netherlands. At a European level, mandatory investigation agencies are recognized as indispensable safety instruments for aviation, railways and the maritime sector, for which EU Directives are in place or being progressed [Transport accident and incident investigation in the European Union, European Transport Safety Council, ISBN 90-76024-10-3, Brussel, 2001]. Due to a series of major events, attention has been drawn to the consequences of disasters, highlighting the involvement of rescue and emergency services. They also have become subjected to investigative efforts, which in return, puts demands on investigation methodology. This paper comments on an evolutionary development in safety thinking and of safety boards, highlighting some consequences for strategic

The time course of natural scene perception with reduced attention.

Science.gov (United States)

Groen, Iris I A; Ghebreab, Sennay; Lamme, Victor A F; Scholte, H Steven

2016-02-01

Attention is thought to impose an informational bottleneck on vision by selecting particular information from visual scenes for enhanced processing. Behavioral evidence suggests, however, that some scene information is extracted even when attention is directed elsewhere. Here, we investigated the neural correlates of this ability by examining how attention affects electrophysiological markers of scene perception. In two electro-encephalography (EEG) experiments, human subjects categorized real-world scenes as manmade or natural (full attention condition) or performed tasks on unrelated stimuli in the center or periphery of the scenes (reduced attention conditions). Scene processing was examined in two ways: traditional trial averaging was used to assess the presence of a categorical manmade/natural distinction in event-related potentials, whereas single-trial analyses assessed whether EEG activity was modulated by scene statistics that are diagnostic of naturalness of individual scenes. The results indicated that evoked activity up to 250 ms was unaffected by reduced attention, showing intact categorical differences between manmade and natural scenes and strong modulations of single-trial activity by scene statistics in all conditions. Thus initial processing of both categorical and individual scene information remained intact with reduced attention. Importantly, however, attention did have profound effects on later evoked activity; full attention on the scene resulted in prolonged manmade/natural differences, increased neural sensitivity to scene statistics, and enhanced scene memory. These results show that initial processing of real-world scene information is intact with diminished attention but that the depth of processing of this information does depend on attention. Copyright © 2016 the American Physiological Society.

The scene and the unseen: manipulating photographs for experiments on change blindness and scene memory: image manipulation for change blindness.

Science.gov (United States)

Ball, Felix; Elzemann, Anne; Busch, Niko A

2014-09-01

The change blindness paradigm, in which participants often fail to notice substantial changes in a scene, is a popular tool for studying scene perception, visual memory, and the link between awareness and attention. Some of the most striking and popular examples of change blindness have been demonstrated with digital photographs of natural scenes; in most studies, however, much simpler displays, such as abstract stimuli or "free-floating" objects, are typically used. Although simple displays have undeniable advantages, natural scenes remain a very useful and attractive stimulus for change blindness research. To assist researchers interested in using natural-scene stimuli in change blindness experiments, we provide here a step-by-step tutorial on how to produce changes in natural-scene images with a freely available image-processing tool (GIMP). We explain how changes in a scene can be made by deleting objects or relocating them within the scene or by changing the color of an object, in just a few simple steps. We also explain how the physical properties of such changes can be analyzed using GIMP and MATLAB (a high-level scientific programming tool). Finally, we present an experiment confirming that scenes manipulated according to our guidelines are effective in inducing change blindness and demonstrating the relationship between change blindness and the physical properties of the change and inter-individual differences in performance measures. We expect that this tutorial will be useful for researchers interested in studying the mechanisms of change blindness, attention, or visual memory using natural scenes.

A Serious Game for Traffic Accident Investigators

Science.gov (United States)

Binsubaih, Ahmed; Maddock, Steve; Romano, Daniela

2006-01-01

In Dubai, traffic accidents kill one person every 37 hours and injure one person every 3 hours. Novice traffic accident investigators in the Dubai police force are expected to "learn by doing" in this intense environment. Currently, they use no alternative to the real world in order to practice. This paper argues for the use of an…

Investigation of accidents within construction zones in Louisiana.

Science.gov (United States)

1981-07-01

This investigation is to analyze construction and maintenance work zone accidents by reviewing accident data to determine if deficiencies exist and recommend possible corrective measures for future traffic control applications. To accomplish this, a ...

32 CFR 634.30 - Use of traffic accident investigation report data.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Use of traffic accident investigation report data... § 634.30 Use of traffic accident investigation report data. (a) Data derived from traffic accident... accidents (collision diagram) will be examined. (b) Law enforcement personnel and others who prepare traffic...

Report of investigation regarding accident in Tomsk reprocessing facilities in Russia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-01-01

At 1258 on April 6, 1993, the explosion accident of a welded tank occurred in the military reprocessing facilities in Tomsk, Siberia District, Russia. Japan carried out the investigation of the effect on the environmental radiation in Japan, dispatched the investigation mission to Russia, and explained the way of thinking on securing the safety of Japanese reprocessing plants to local communities. Science and Technology Agency organized the working group for investigating the accident, which exerted efforts to collect the information, analyze and examine it. This report is the summary of its results. The explosion occurred in the tank for adjusting the acid concentration of the solution to be supplied to the solvent extraction shop, and the building was destructed. No one died or was injured. The results of the radioactivity examination are reported. The process of the accident was inferred, and described. The factors that caused the accident were the mixing of organic impurities the use of the diluting liquid containing aromatic hydrocarbon, the contact of nitric acid with organic substances at high temperature, in sufficient agitation at the time of pouring nitric acid and so on. The safety countermeasures in Japanese reprocessing plants and the response by Japan based on the accident are described. (K.I.)

Challenging the immediate causes: A work accident investigation in an oil refinery using organizational analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Beltran, Sandra Lorena; Vilela, Rodolfo Andrade de Gouveia; de Almeida, Ildeberto Muniz

2018-01-01

In many companies, investigations of accidents still blame the victims without exploring deeper causes. Those investigations are reactive and have no learning potential. This paper aims to debate the historical organizational aspects of a company whose policy was incubating an accident. The empirical data are analyzed as part of a qualitative study of an accident that occurred in an oil refinery in Brazil in 2014. To investigate and analyse this case we used one-to-one and group interviews, participant observation, Collective Analyses of Work and a documentary review. The analysis was conducted on the basis of concepts of the Organizational Analysis of the event and the Model for Analysis and Prevention of Work Accidents. The accident had its origin in the interaction of social and organizational factors, among them being: excessively standardized culture, management tools and outcome indicators that give a false sense of safety, the decision to speed up the project, the change of operator to facilitate this outcome and performance management that encourages getting around the usual barriers. The superficial accident analysis conducted by the company that ignored human and organizational factors reinforces the traditional safety culture and favors the occurrence of new accidents.

Review of On-Scene Management of Mass-Casualty Attacks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Annelie Holgersson

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Background: The scene of a mass-casualty attack (MCA entails a crime scene, a hazardous space, and a great number of people needing medical assistance. Public transportation has been the target of such attacks and involves a high probability of generating mass casualties. The review aimed to investigate challenges for on-scene responses to MCAs and suggestions made to counter these challenges, with special attention given to attacks on public transportation and associated terminals. Methods: Articles were found through PubMed and Scopus, “relevant articles” as defined by the databases, and a manual search of references. Inclusion criteria were that the article referred to attack(s and/or a public transportation-related incident and issues concerning formal on-scene response. An appraisal of the articles’ scientific quality was conducted based on an evidence hierarchy model developed for the study. Results: One hundred and five articles were reviewed. Challenges for command and coordination on scene included establishing leadership, inter-agency collaboration, multiple incident sites, and logistics. Safety issues entailed knowledge and use of personal protective equipment, risk awareness and expectations, cordons, dynamic risk assessment, defensive versus offensive approaches, and joining forces. Communication concerns were equipment shortfalls, dialoguing, and providing information. Assessment problems were scene layout and interpreting environmental indicators as well as understanding setting-driven needs for specialist skills and resources. Triage and treatment difficulties included differing triage systems, directing casualties, uncommon injuries, field hospitals, level of care, providing psychological and pediatric care. Transportation hardships included scene access, distance to hospitals, and distribution of casualties. Conclusion: Commonly encountered challenges during unintentional incidents were added to during MCAs

Traffic Accident Investigation: A Suitable Theme for Teaching Mechanics.

Science.gov (United States)

Tao, P. K.

1987-01-01

Suggests the development of curriculum materials on the applications of physics to traffic accident investigations as a theme for teaching mechanics. Describes several standard investigation techniques and the physics principles involved, along with some sample exercises. (TW)

Strategies for dealing with resistance to recommendations from accident investigations

OpenAIRE

Lundberg, Jonas; Rollenhagen, Carl; Hollnagel, Erik; Rankin, Amy

2012-01-01

Accident investigation reports usually lead to a set of recommendations for change. These recommendations are, however, sometimes resisted for reasons such as various aspects of ethics and power. When accident investigators are aware of this, they use several strategies to overcome the resistance. This paper describes strategies for dealing with four different types of resistance to change. The strategies were derived from qualitative analysis of 25 interviews with Swedish accident investigat...

The time course of natural scene perception with reduced attention

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Groen, I.I.A.; Ghebreab, S.; Lamme, V.A.F.; Scholte, H.S.

Attention is thought to impose an informational bottleneck on vision by selecting particular information from visual scenes for enhanced processing. Behavioral evidence suggests, however, that some scene information is extracted even when attention is directed elsewhere. Here, we investigated the

THE POLICE CONSIDERATIONS IN HANDLING TRAFFIC ACCIDENT CASE WHICH RESULT IN SOMEONE’S DEATH IN KLATEN DISTRICT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bayu Adi Wicaksana

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract The case that often gain pros and cons in the legal field in today’s world are cases related to negligence. Negligence is usually done by most people that in case of a traffic accident. The Police must have the understanding about the formulation of the crime in relation to their duty in determine the status of the suspect, because the lack of understanding on the formulation of criminal offense would be influential in revealing the relationship of an action and its consequence. The issue to be examined is the Police consideration in dealing with traffic accident which resulted in someone’s death due to a negligence. In order to prove the alleged suspect several things must be done such as investigating the crime the crime scene, listening to witnesses and choosing applicable legal articles. The obstacle faced by the police to process the traffic accident case is related to the witness and the suspect. Keywords : Police, Traffic Accident, Negligence

Investigating the Differences of Single-Vehicle and Multivehicle Accident Probability Using Mixed Logit Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bowen Dong

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Road traffic accidents are believed to be associated with not only road geometric feature and traffic characteristic, but also weather condition. To address these safety issues, it is of paramount importance to understand how these factors affect the occurrences of the crashes. Existing studies have suggested that the mechanisms of single-vehicle (SV accidents and multivehicle (MV accidents can be very different. Few studies were conducted to examine the difference of SV and MV accident probability by addressing unobserved heterogeneity at the same time. To investigate the different contributing factors on SV and MV, a mixed logit model is employed using disaggregated data with the response variable categorized as no accidents, SV accidents, and MV accidents. The results indicate that, in addition to speed gap, length of segment, and wet road surfaces which are significant for both SV and MV accidents, most of other variables are significant only for MV accidents. Traffic, road, and surface characteristics are main influence factors of SV and MV accident possibility. Hourly traffic volume, inside shoulder width, and wet road surface are found to produce statistically significant random parameters. Their effects on the possibility of SV and MV accident vary across different road segments.

CFD investigating the air ingress accident for a HTGR simulation of graphite corrosion oxidation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferng, Y.M.; Chi, C.W.

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► A CFD model is proposed to investigate graphite oxidation corrosion in the HTR-10. ► A postulated air ingress accident is assumed in this paper. ► Air ingress flowrate is the predicted result, instead of the preset one. ► O 2 would react with graphite on pebble surface, causing the graphite corrosion. ► No fuel exposure is predicted to be occurred under the air ingress accident. - Abstract: Through a compressible multi-component CFD model, this paper investigates the characteristics of graphite oxidation corrosion in the HTR-10 core under the postulated accident of gas duct rupture. In this accident, air in the steam generator cavity would enter into the core after pressure equilibrium is achieved between the core and the cavity, which is also called as the air ingress accident. Oxygen in the air would react with graphite on pebble surface, subsequently resulting in oxidation corrosion and challenging fuel integrity. In this paper, characteristics of graphite oxidation corrosion during the air ingress accident can be reasonably captured, including distributions of graphite corrosion amount on the different cross-sections, time histories of local corrosion amount at the monitoring points and overall corrosion amount in the core, respectively. Based on the transient simulation results, the corrosion pattern and its corrosion rate would approach to the steady-state conditions as the accident continuously progresses. The total amount of graphite corrosion during a 3-day accident time is predicted to be about 31 kg with the predicted asymptotic corrosion rate. This predicted value is less than that from the previous work of Gao and Shi.

Safety and Health Standard 110: Incident/accident reporting and investigation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sones, K. [West Kootenay Power, BC (Canada)

1999-10-01

Incident/accident reporting requirements in effect at West Kootenay Power are discussed. Details provided include definitions of low risk, high risk, and critical events, the incidents to be reported, the nature of the reports, the timelines, the investigation to be undertaken for each type of incident/accident, counselling services available to employees involved in serious incidents, and the procedures to be followed in accidents involving serious injury to non-employees. The emphasis is on the `critical five` high risk events and the procedures relating to them.

Features of the traffic accidents happened in the province of Aydın between 2005 and 2011.

Science.gov (United States)

Dirlik, Musa; Bostancıoğlu, Başak Çakır; Elbek, Tülay; Korkmaz, Bedir; Çallak Kallem, Füsun; Gün, Berk

2014-09-01

In this study, it was aimed to analyze the traffic accidents with postmortem examinations and autopsies. From the one thousand eight hundred and fifteen forensic autopsies, reports of 334 traffic accidents were searched. Features such as the scene of the accident, type of the accident, type of the vehicles involved in the accident, the year, season, day and hour of the accident, the positions of the victims in the traffic, concomitant orthopedic injuries, whether autopsy was performed, and cause of death were investigated. Among the one thousand eight hundred and fifteen forensic death cases, observed cause of death was determined to be traffic accidents in 334 (18.4%) cases. Male cases accounted 84.1%, and male to female ratio was 5.3 to 1. From the reports, 32.6% of the accidents happened in summer and most commonly during holidays (33%). The rate of the accidents happened in the city center was 35.3% and 32.9% of these cases died due to pedestrian collision. Moreover, it was determined that the most injured person was the driver. Automobiles took the lead in the causes of the traffic accidents. It is realized that traffic accident-related deaths have a substantial place among forensic deaths and continue to be an important public health problem. It is conspicuous that improving public education on traffic safety, increasing traffic management and control measures are of great significance.

Forensic DNA Phenotyping: Predicting human appearance from crime scene material for investigative purposes.

Science.gov (United States)

Kayser, Manfred

2015-09-01

Forensic DNA Phenotyping refers to the prediction of appearance traits of unknown sample donors, or unknown deceased (missing) persons, directly from biological materials found at the scene. "Biological witness" outcomes of Forensic DNA Phenotyping can provide investigative leads to trace unknown persons, who are unidentifiable with current comparative DNA profiling. This intelligence application of DNA marks a substantially different forensic use of genetic material rather than that of current DNA profiling presented in the courtroom. Currently, group-specific pigmentation traits are already predictable from DNA with reasonably high accuracies, while several other externally visible characteristics are under genetic investigation. Until individual-specific appearance becomes accurately predictable from DNA, conventional DNA profiling needs to be performed subsequent to appearance DNA prediction. Notably, and where Forensic DNA Phenotyping shows great promise, this is on a (much) smaller group of potential suspects, who match the appearance characteristics DNA-predicted from the crime scene stain or from the deceased person's remains. Provided sufficient funding being made available, future research to better understand the genetic basis of human appearance will expectedly lead to a substantially more detailed description of an unknown person's appearance from DNA, delivering increased value for police investigations in criminal and missing person cases involving unknowns. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sensory substitution: the spatial updating of auditory scenes ‘mimics’ the spatial updating of visual scenes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Achille ePasqualotto

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Visual-to-auditory sensory substitution is used to convey visual information through audition, and it was initially created to compensate for blindness; it consists of software converting the visual images captured by a video-camera into the equivalent auditory images, or ‘soundscapes’. Here, it was used by blindfolded sighted participants to learn the spatial position of simple shapes depicted in images arranged on the floor. Very few studies have used sensory substitution to investigate spatial representation, while it has been widely used to investigate object recognition. Additionally, with sensory substitution we could study the performance of participants actively exploring the environment through audition, rather than passively localising sound sources. Blindfolded participants egocentrically learnt the position of six images by using sensory substitution and then a judgement of relative direction task (JRD was used to determine how this scene was represented. This task consists of imagining being in a given location, oriented in a given direction, and pointing towards the required image. Before performing the JRD task, participants explored a map that provided allocentric information about the scene. Although spatial exploration was egocentric, surprisingly we found that performance in the JRD task was better for allocentric perspectives. This suggests that the egocentric representation of the scene was updated. This result is in line with previous studies using visual and somatosensory scenes, thus supporting the notion that different sensory modalities produce equivalent spatial representation(s. Moreover, our results have practical implications to improve training methods with sensory substitution devices.

Utilisation of a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) for equestrian accidents in a regional major trauma network in the United Kingdom.

Science.gov (United States)

McQueen, Carl; Crombie, Nick; Cormack, Stef; George, Arun; Wheaton, Steve

2015-05-01

The utilisation of Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) in response to equestrian accidents has been an integral part of operations for many years throughout the UK. The recent establishment of major trauma networks in the UK has placed great emphasis on the appropriate tasking of HEMS units to cases where added benefit can be provided and the incidence of time critical injury in cases of equestrian accidents has been shown to be low. This study assesses the impact made on the utilisation of the different HEMS resources for cases of equestrian accidents within the West Midlands following the launch of the regional trauma network. We present a retrospective analysis of all equestrian accidents attended by Midlands Air Ambulance (MAA) between 1 April 2012 and 1 April 2013. Data were abstracted from the MAA operational database relating to mission activations/scene attendances; team configuration (physician led and Critical Care Paramedic (CCP) led); on-scene interventions; mission timings and patient conveyance by helicopter. A total of 114 activations involved equestrian accidents (6% of overall workload). The contribution of equestrian accidents to overall workload was similar for physician led and CCP-led (69/1069) platforms (5% vs. 6%, p=0.50). Only three patients (3%) required pre-hospital RSI during the period analysed and there were no recorded cases of ketamine administration for analgesia/conscious sedation. In approximately half of all scene attendances patients did not require any medication to be administered by the HEMS team. The vast majority of incidents occurred in rural locations with over 80% of patients conveyed to hospital by helicopter. The average mission time for scene attendances resulting in conveyance by helicopter was in excess of 90 min on both types of platform. There is a clear requirement for the design and implementation of informed and intelligent tasking models to respond to the need for assistance in equestrian accidents

Type A Accident Investigation Board report on the January 17, 1996, electrical accident with injury in Technical Area 21 Tritium Science and Fabrication Facility Los Alamos National Laboratory. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-04-01

An electrical accident was investigated in which a crafts person received serious injuries as a result of coming into contact with a 13.2 kilovolt (kV) electrical cable in the basement of Building 209 in Technical Area 21 (TA-21-209) in the Tritium Science and Fabrication Facility (TSFF) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). In conducting its investigation, the Accident Investigation Board used various analytical techniques, including events and causal factor analysis, barrier analysis, change analysis, fault tree analysis, materials analysis, and root cause analysis. The board inspected the accident site, reviewed events surrounding the accident, conducted extensive interviews and document reviews, and performed causation analyses to determine the factors that contributed to the accident, including any management system deficiencies. Relevant management systems and factors that could have contributed to the accident were evaluated in accordance with the guiding principles of safety management identified by the Secretary of Energy in an October 1994 letter to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and subsequently to Congress

Type A Accident Investigation Board report on the January 17, 1996, electrical accident with injury in Technical Area 21 Tritium Science and Fabrication Facility Los Alamos National Laboratory. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1996-04-01

An electrical accident was investigated in which a crafts person received serious injuries as a result of coming into contact with a 13.2 kilovolt (kV) electrical cable in the basement of Building 209 in Technical Area 21 (TA-21-209) in the Tritium Science and Fabrication Facility (TSFF) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). In conducting its investigation, the Accident Investigation Board used various analytical techniques, including events and causal factor analysis, barrier analysis, change analysis, fault tree analysis, materials analysis, and root cause analysis. The board inspected the accident site, reviewed events surrounding the accident, conducted extensive interviews and document reviews, and performed causation analyses to determine the factors that contributed to the accident, including any management system deficiencies. Relevant management systems and factors that could have contributed to the accident were evaluated in accordance with the guiding principles of safety management identified by the Secretary of Energy in an October 1994 letter to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and subsequently to Congress.

Accident investigation board report on the May 14, 1997, chemical explosion at the Plutonium Reclamation Facility, Hanford Site,Richland, Washington - summary report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gerton, R.E.

1997-01-01

This report is a summary of the Accident Investigation Board Report on the May 14, 1997, Chemical Explosion at the Plutonium Reclamation Facility, Hanford Site, Richland, Washington (DOE/RL-97-59). The referenced report provides a greater level of detail and includes a complete discussion of the facts identified, analysis of those facts, conclusions derived from the analysis, identification of the accident's causal factors, and recommendations that should be addressed through follow-up action by the U.S. Department of Energy and its contractors. This companion document provides a concise summary of that report, with emphasis on management issues. Evaluation of emergency and occupational health response to, and radiological and chemical releases from, this accident was not within the scope of this investigation, but is the subject of a separate investigation and report (see DOE/RL-97-62)

The influence of color on emotional perception of natural scenes.

Science.gov (United States)

Codispoti, Maurizio; De Cesarei, Andrea; Ferrari, Vera

2012-01-01

Is color a critical factor when processing the emotional content of natural scenes? Under challenging perceptual conditions, such as when pictures are briefly presented, color might facilitate scene segmentation and/or function as a semantic cue via association with scene-relevant concepts (e.g., red and blood/injury). To clarify the influence of color on affective picture perception, we compared the late positive potentials (LPP) to color versus grayscale pictures, presented for very brief (24 ms) and longer (6 s) exposure durations. Results indicated that removing color information had no effect on the affective modulation of the LPP, regardless of exposure duration. These findings imply that the recognition of the emotional content of scenes, even when presented very briefly, does not critically rely on color information. Copyright © 2011 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Investigating accidents involving aircraft manufactured from polymer composite materials

OpenAIRE

Dunn, Leigh

2013-01-01

This thesis looks into the examination of polymer composite wreckage from the perspective of the aircraft accident investigator. It develops an understanding of the process of wreckage examination as well as identifying the potential for visual and macroscopic interpretation of polymer composite aircraft wreckage. The in-field examination of aircraft wreckage, and subsequent interpretations of material failures, can be a significant part of an aircraft accident investigation. ...

Investigation of primary-to-secondary leakage accident on the PSB-VVER integral test facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lipatov, I.A.; Dremin, G.I.; Galtchanskaya, S.A.; Chmal, I.I.; Moloshnikov, A.S.; Gorbunov, Y.S.; Antonova, A.I.; Elkin, I.V.

2001-01-01

The full text follows. The paper presents the main results from the test on primary-to-secondary leakage of 100 mm in equivalent diameter. The test was performed on the PSB-VVER integral test facility. PSB-VVER is a 4-loops scaled down model of primary system of NPP with VVER-1000 Russian type reactor. Volume - power scale is about 1/300 while elevation scale is 1/1. All components of the primary system of the reference NPP are modeled on PSB-VVER. Both passive (accumulators) and active (high and low pressure) ECCSs, pressurizer spray and relief circuits, feed water system and atmospheric dumping system (ADS) as well as the primary circuit gas remove emergency system are also simulated. The primary-to-secondary leakage was simulated using an external break line which connects the upper part of the hot header to SG water volume. The break line included a break nozzle (a cylindrical channel d = 5.8 mm, l/d = 10 with sharp inlet edge), quick-acting valve and two-phase mass flow rate measurement system. In addition loss of off-site power at the moment when a scram-signal is generated was assumed in the experiment. Thus the accident is to be considered as a beyond-design-basic one. The loss of off-site power results in the following: -main circulation pump shutdown; -pressurizer heaters switching off; -HPIS water cooling flow rate and number of points of water injection are reduced The study focuses on the adequacy of the associated accident management (AM) procedure developed by EDO ''GIDROPRESS'' as a General Designer of VVER-type reactors. The AM-procedure was adopted to the PSB-VVER test facility conditions using CATHARE (France) and DINAMIKA (Russia) codes analysis. The AM-procedure in PSB-VVER is as follows: after about 30 min of the onset of the accident, when the accident type and the localization of the SG affected become evident for the operator, he closes all the main steam isolation valves, inhibits the ADS actuation in the affected SG and begins to remove

The effect of vehicle characteristics on road accidents

CERN Document Server

Jones, I S

2016-01-01

The Effect of Vehicle Characteristics on Road Accidents investigates whether vehicle characteristics related to handling and stability contribute to road accidents. Using multiple regression analysis, this book addresses driver and vehicle effects separately in order to define both the magnitude of the handling/accident causation problem as well as the relative importance of the various performance measures. This monograph is comprised of six chapters and begins with detailed studies of accidents to determine the circumstances which lead to loss of control or overturning of a car on the road, and which accidents are likely to be influenced by the handling and stability characteristics of cars. Accident rates for these types of accident are then examined for the more popular models of car. Measures of vehicle handling and stability related to accident rates are also discussed. This text will be a useful resource for motorists and road engineers as well as transportation officials.

47 CFR 80.1127 - On-scene communications.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

....1127 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND SPECIAL RADIO SERVICES STATIONS IN THE MARITIME SERVICES Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) Operating Procedures for Distress and Safety Communications § 80.1127 On-scene communications. (a) On-scene communications...

Colour agnosia impairs the recognition of natural but not of non-natural scenes.

Science.gov (United States)

Nijboer, Tanja C W; Van Der Smagt, Maarten J; Van Zandvoort, Martine J E; De Haan, Edward H F

2007-03-01

Scene recognition can be enhanced by appropriate colour information, yet the level of visual processing at which colour exerts its effects is still unclear. It has been suggested that colour supports low-level sensory processing, while others have claimed that colour information aids semantic categorization and recognition of objects and scenes. We investigated the effect of colour on scene recognition in a case of colour agnosia, M.A.H. In a scene identification task, participants had to name images of natural or non-natural scenes in six different formats. Irrespective of scene format, M.A.H. was much slower on the natural than on the non-natural scenes. As expected, neither M.A.H. nor control participants showed any difference in performance for the non-natural scenes. However, for the natural scenes, appropriate colour facilitated scene recognition in control participants (i.e., shorter reaction times), whereas M.A.H.'s performance did not differ across formats. Our data thus support the hypothesis that the effect of colour occurs at the level of learned associations.

Estimation of fatality and injury risk by means of in-depth fatal accident investigation data.

Science.gov (United States)

Yannis, George; Papadimitriou, Eleonora; Dupont, Emmanuelle; Martensen, Heike

2010-10-01

In this article the factors affecting fatality and injury risk of road users involved in fatal accidents are analyzed by means of in-depth accident investigation data, with emphasis on parameters not extensively explored in previous research. A fatal accident investigation (FAI) database is used, which includes intermediate-level in-depth data for a harmonized representative sample of 1300 fatal accidents in 7 European countries. The FAI database offers improved potential for analysis, because it includes information on a number of variables that are seldom available, complete, or accurately recorded in road accident databases. However, the fact that only fatal accidents are examined requires for methodological adjustments, namely, the correction for two types of effects on a road user's baseline risk: "accident size" effects, and "relative vulnerability" effects. Fatality and injury risk can be then modeled through multilevel logistic regression models, which account for the hierarchical dependences of the road accident process. The results show that the baseline fatality risk of road users involved in fatal accidents decreases with accident size and increases with the vulnerability of the road user. On the contrary, accident size increases nonfatal injury risk of road users involved in fatal accidents. Other significant effects on fatality and injury risk in fatal accidents include road user age, vehicle type, speed limit, the chain of accident events, vehicle maneuver, and safety equipment. In particular, the presence and use of safety equipment such as seat belt, antilock braking system (ABS), and electronic stability program (ESP) are protection factors for car occupants, especially for those seated at the front seats. Although ABS and ESP systems are typically associated with positive effects on accident occurrence, the results of this research revealed significant related effects on accident severity as well. Moreover, accident consequences are more severe

Investigation of primary-to-secondary leakage accident on the PSB-VVER integral test facility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lipatov, I.A.; Dremin, G.I.; Galtchanskaya, S.A.; Chmal, I.I.; Moloshnikov, A.S.; Gorbunov, Y.S.; Antonova, A.I. [Electrogorsk Research and Engineering Center, EREC, Moscow (Russian Federation); Elkin, I.V. [RRC ' ' Kurchatov Institute, Moscow (Russian Federation)

2001-07-01

The full text follows. The paper presents the main results from the test on primary-to-secondary leakage of 100 mm in equivalent diameter. The test was performed on the PSB-VVER integral test facility. PSB-VVER is a 4-loops scaled down model of primary system of NPP with VVER-1000 Russian type reactor. Volume - power scale is about 1/300 while elevation scale is 1/1. All components of the primary system of the reference NPP are modeled on PSB-VVER. Both passive (accumulators) and active (high and low pressure) ECCSs, pressurizer spray and relief circuits, feed water system and atmospheric dumping system (ADS) as well as the primary circuit gas remove emergency system are also simulated. The primary-to-secondary leakage was simulated using an external break line which connects the upper part of the hot header to SG water volume. The break line included a break nozzle (a cylindrical channel d = 5.8 mm, l/d = 10 with sharp inlet edge), quick-acting valve and two-phase mass flow rate measurement system. In addition loss of off-site power at the moment when a scram-signal is generated was assumed in the experiment. Thus the accident is to be considered as a beyond-design-basic one. The loss of off-site power results in the following: -main circulation pump shutdown; -pressurizer heaters switching off; -HPIS water cooling flow rate and number of points of water injection are reduced The study focuses on the adequacy of the associated accident management (AM) procedure developed by EDO ''GIDROPRESS'' as a General Designer of VVER-type reactors. The AM-procedure was adopted to the PSB-VVER test facility conditions using CATHARE (France) and DINAMIKA (Russia) codes analysis. The AM-procedure in PSB-VVER is as follows: after about 30 min of the onset of the accident, when the accident type and the localization of the SG affected become evident for the operator, he closes all the main steam isolation valves, inhibits the ADS actuation in the affected SG

THE FUNCTION AND PURPOSE OF AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION ACCORDING TO THE INTERNATIONAL AIR LAW

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Atip Latipulhayat

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The main objective of an aircraft accident investigation is to find out the most probable causes of such accident. This represents a technical investigation in nature. At the practical level, however, this report is often used as legal evidence before the court. This paper argues that the main purpose of an aircraft acccident investigation is technical in nature and judicial investigation is carried out when the technical investigation found elements of crime that has been alleged as the most probable cause of the accident.   Menurut Konvensi Chicago 1944, tujuan utama suatu investigasi kecelakaan pesawat udara adalah untuk menemukan penyebab terjadinya kecelakaan tersebut. Jadi, investigasi ini bersifat teknis. Namun, laporan investigasi ini seringkali dijadikan alat bukti di pengadilan khususnya apabila faktor kesalahan manusia dianggap sebagai penyebab utama terjadinya kecelakaan tersebut. Investigasi teknis berubah menjadi investigasi yuridis. Tulisan ini berpendapat bahwa hakikat investigasi kecelakaan pesawat udara adalah bersifat teknis dan investigasi yuridis hanya akan dilakukan apabila laporan investigasi teknis menunjukkan adanya elemen kriminal.

Lessons learned from accidents investigations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zuniga-Bello, P. [Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACYT), Mexico City (Mexico); Croft, J. [National Radiological Protection Board (United Kingdom); Glenn, J

1997-12-31

Accidents from three main practices: medical applications, industrial radiography and industrial irradiators are used to illustrate some common causes of accidents and the main lessons to be learned. A brief description of some of these accidents is given. Lessons learned from the described accidents are approached by subjects covering: safety culture, quality assurance, human factors, good engineering practice, defence in depth, security of sources, safety assessment and monitoring and verification compliance. (author)

Lessons learned from accident investigations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zuniga-Bello, P.; Croft, J.R.; Glenn, J.

1998-01-01

Accidents in three main practices - medical applications, industrial radiography and industrial irradiators - are used to illustrate some common causes of accidents and the main lessons to be learned from them. A brief description of some of these accidents is given. Lessons learned from the accidents described are approached bearing in mind: safety culture, quality assurance, human factors, good engineering practice, defence in depth, security of sources, safety assessment and monitoring and verification compliance. (author)

Investigations of radioactivity level variations in Armenia after the Chernobyl accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nalbandyan, A.

2006-01-01

The problem of radioactive pollution of biosphere has been acquiring a special topicality after nuclear weapon testing and NPP-induced accidents that have already brought to global pollution of the Earth with radioactive substances. One of visual examples of regional radioactive pollution is dispersion of emissions all over the territory of Central Europe after the Chernobyl accident, which aftermaths impacted Armenia, as well. Monitoring investigations in the Ararat Valley showed a precise peak of gross radioactivity of atmospheric fallout in 1986 - the year of Chernobyl accident. Gross mean annual radioactivity was established 1783 10 7 Bq/KXm 2 yr. Later, a sharp fall in the activity was observed. Mostly, radioactive fallout consisted of short-lived radionuclides. Measurements for 1986-1987 showed that gross β-radioactivity level in soils amounted to 977-1022 Bq/KXg, repeated measurements in 1991 allowed establishing 640-656 Bq/KXg. A precise indicator of radioactive emissions that reached Armenia after the Chernobyl accident was a short-lived radionuclide 134 Cs (T 1 /2=2.07 yr) identified in soils. Measurements made 2 years later showed half as much decay of 134 Cs, and in some points established were its traces only. 137 Cs/134 Cs ratio in varied 1.4 to 1.8 in atmospheric fallout and 2.1 to 33.4 in soils. Thus, monitoring investigations evidence a regional character of Chernobyl emission dispersion, this being proved by investigations of radioactivity level variations in Armenia, too

Criticality accident of nuclear fuel facility. Think back on JCO criticality accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naito, Keiji

2003-09-01

This book is written in order to understand the fundamental knowledge of criticality safety or criticality accident of nuclear fuel facility by the citizens. It consists of four chapters such as critical conditions and criticality accident of nuclear facility, risk of criticality accident, prevention of criticality accident and a measure at an occurrence of criticality accident. A definition of criticality, control of critical conditions, an aspect of accident, a rate of incident, damage, three sufferers, safety control method of criticality, engineering and administrative control, safety design of criticality, investigation of failure of safety control of JCO criticality accident, safety culture are explained. JCO criticality accident was caused with intention of disregarding regulation. It is important that we recognize the correct risk of criticality accident of nuclear fuel facility and prevent disasters. On the basis of them, we should establish safety culture. (S.Y.)

Comparing Species Composition of Passive Trapping of Adult Flies with Larval Collections from the Body during Scene-Based Medicolegal Death Investigations

Science.gov (United States)

Sanford, Michelle R.

2017-01-01

Collection of insects at the scene is one of the most important aspects of forensic entomology and proper collection is one of the biggest challenges for any investigator. Adult flies are highly mobile and ubiquitous at scenes, yet their link to the body and the time of colonization (TOC) and post-mortem interval (PMI) estimates is not well established. Collection of adults is widely recommended for casework but has yet to be rigorously evaluated during medicolegal death investigations for its value to the investigation. In this study, sticky card traps and immature collections were compared for 22 cases investigated by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, Houston, TX, USA. Cases included all manner of death classifications and a range of decomposition stages from indoor and outdoor scenes. Overall, the two methods successfully collected at least one species in common only 65% of the time, with at least one species unique to one of the methods 95% of the time. These results suggest that rearing of immature specimens collected from the body should be emphasized during training to ensure specimens directly associated with the colonization of the body can be identified using adult stages if necessary. PMID:28338605

Aircraft accident investigation: the decision-making in initial action scenario.

Science.gov (United States)

Barreto, Marcia M; Ribeiro, Selma L O

2012-01-01

In the complex aeronautical environment, the efforts in terms of operational safety involve the adoption of proactive and reactive measures. The process of investigation begins right after the occurrence of the aeronautical accident, through the initial action. Thus, it is in the crisis scenario, that the person responsible for the initial action makes decisions and gathers the necessary information for the subsequent phases of the investigation process. Within this scenario, which is a natural environment, researches have shown the fragility of rational models of decision making. The theoretical perspective of naturalistic decision making constitutes a breakthrough in the understanding of decision problems demanded by real world. The proposal of this study was to verify if the initial action, after the occurrence of an accident, and the decision-making strategies, used by the investigators responsible for this activity, are characteristic of the naturalistic decision making theoretical approach. To attend the proposed objective a descriptive research was undertaken with a sample of professionals that work in this activity. The data collected through individual interviews were analyzed and the results demonstrated that the initial action environment, which includes restricted time, dynamic conditions, the presence of multiple actors, stress and insufficient information is characteristic of the naturalistic decision making. They also demonstrated that, when the investigators make their decisions, they use their experience and the mental simulation, intuition, improvisation, metaphors and analogues cases, as strategies, all of them related to the naturalistic approach of decision making, in order to satisfy the needs of the situation and reach the objectives of the initial action in the accident scenario.

Database on aircraft accidents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nishio, Masahide; Koriyama, Tamio

2012-09-01

The Reactor Safety Subcommittee in the Nuclear Safety and Preservation Committee published the report 'The criteria on assessment of probability of aircraft crash into light water reactor facilities' as the standard method for evaluating probability of aircraft crash into nuclear reactor facilities in July 2002. In response to the report, Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization has been collecting open information on aircraft accidents of commercial airplanes, self-defense force (SDF) airplanes and US force airplanes every year since 2003, sorting out them and developing the database of aircraft accidents for latest 20 years to evaluate probability of aircraft crash into nuclear reactor facilities. This year, the database was revised by adding aircraft accidents in 2010 to the existing database and deleting aircraft accidents in 1991 from it, resulting in development of the revised 2011 database for latest 20 years from 1991 to 2010. Furthermore, the flight information on commercial aircrafts was also collected to develop the flight database for latest 20 years from 1991 to 2010 to evaluate probability of aircraft crash into reactor facilities. The method for developing the database of aircraft accidents to evaluate probability of aircraft crash into reactor facilities is based on the report 'The criteria on assessment of probability of aircraft crash into light water reactor facilities' described above. The 2011 revised database for latest 20 years from 1991 to 2010 shows the followings. The trend of the 2011 database changes little as compared to the last year's one. (1) The data of commercial aircraft accidents is based on 'Aircraft accident investigation reports of Japan transport safety board' of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. 4 large fixed-wing aircraft accidents, 58 small fixed-wing aircraft accidents, 5 large bladed aircraft accidents and 114 small bladed aircraft accidents occurred. The relevant accidents for evaluating

Estimating the Influence of Accident Related Factors on Motorcycle Fatal Accidents using Logistic Regression (Case Study: Denpasar-Bali

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wedagama D.M.P.

2010-01-01

Full Text Available In Denpasar the capital of Bali Province, motorcycle accident contributes to about 80% of total road accidents. Out of those motorcycle accidents, 32% are fatal accidents. This study investigates the influence of accident related factors on motorcycle fatal accidents in the city of Denpasar during period 2006-2008 using a logistic regression model. The study found that the fatality of collision with pedestrians and right angle accidents were respectively about 0.44 and 0.40 times lower than collision with other vehicles and accidents due to other factors. In contrast, the odds that a motorcycle accident will be fatal due to collision with heavy and light vehicles were 1.67 times more likely than with other motorcycles. Collision with pedestrians, right angle accidents, and heavy and light vehicles were respectively accounted for 31%, 29%, and 63% of motorcycle fatal accidents.

Accident Journalism and Traffic Safety Education: A Three-Phase Investigation of Accident Reporting in the Canadian Daily Press.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilde, Gerald J. S.; Ackersviller, Melody J.

A study examined the potential for development of a traffic accident-reporting form in the Canadian daily press that strengthens concern for road safety in the general population and enhances knowledge, attitudes, and behavior leading to greater safety. The investigation was conducted on three levels: a content analysis, a readership analysis, and…

IR characteristic simulation of city scenes based on radiosity model

Science.gov (United States)

Xiong, Xixian; Zhou, Fugen; Bai, Xiangzhi; Yu, Xiyu

2013-09-01

Reliable modeling for thermal infrared (IR) signatures of real-world city scenes is required for signature management of civil and military platforms. Traditional modeling methods generally assume that scene objects are individual entities during the physical processes occurring in infrared range. However, in reality, the physical scene involves convective and conductive interactions between objects as well as the radiations interactions between objects. A method based on radiosity model describes these complex effects. It has been developed to enable an accurate simulation for the radiance distribution of the city scenes. Firstly, the physical processes affecting the IR characteristic of city scenes were described. Secondly, heat balance equations were formed on the basis of combining the atmospheric conditions, shadow maps and the geometry of scene. Finally, finite difference method was used to calculate the kinetic temperature of object surface. A radiosity model was introduced to describe the scattering effect of radiation between surface elements in the scene. By the synthesis of objects radiance distribution in infrared range, we could obtain the IR characteristic of scene. Real infrared images and model predictions were shown and compared. The results demonstrate that this method can realistically simulate the IR characteristic of city scenes. It effectively displays the infrared shadow effects and the radiation interactions between objects in city scenes.

Lateralized discrimination of emotional scenes in peripheral vision.

Science.gov (United States)

Calvo, Manuel G; Rodríguez-Chinea, Sandra; Fernández-Martín, Andrés

2015-03-01

This study investigates whether there is lateralized processing of emotional scenes in the visual periphery, in the absence of eye fixations; and whether this varies with emotional valence (pleasant vs. unpleasant), specific emotional scene content (babies, erotica, human attack, mutilation, etc.), and sex of the viewer. Pairs of emotional (positive or negative) and neutral photographs were presented for 150 ms peripherally (≥6.5° away from fixation). Observers judged on which side the emotional picture was located. Low-level image properties, scene visual saliency, and eye movements were controlled. Results showed that (a) correct identification of the emotional scene exceeded the chance level; (b) performance was more accurate and faster when the emotional scene appeared in the left than in the right visual field; (c) lateralization was equivalent for females and males for pleasant scenes, but was greater for females and unpleasant scenes; and (d) lateralization occurred similarly for different emotional scene categories. These findings reveal discrimination between emotional and neutral scenes, and right brain hemisphere dominance for emotional processing, which is modulated by sex of the viewer and scene valence, and suggest that coarse affective significance can be extracted in peripheral vision.

Comparison of different methods for work accidents investigation in hospitals: A Portuguese case study.

Science.gov (United States)

Nunes, Cláudia; Santos, Joana; da Silva, Manuela Vieira; Lourenço, Irina; Carvalhais, Carlos

2015-01-01

The hospital environment has many occupational health risks that predispose healthcare workers to various kinds of work accidents. This study aims to compare different methods for work accidents investigation and to verify their suitability in hospital environment. For this purpose, we selected three types of accidents that were related with needle stick, worker fall and inadequate effort/movement during the mobilization of patients. A total of thirty accidents were analysed with six different work accidents investigation methods. The results showed that organizational factors were the group of causes which had the greatest impact in the three types of work accidents. The methods selected to be compared in this paper are applicable and appropriate for the work accidents investigation in hospitals. However, the Registration, Research and Analysis of Work Accidents method (RIAAT) showed to be an optimal technique to use in this context.

Scenes of the self, and trance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan M. Broekman

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Trance shows the Self as a process involved in all sorts and forms of life. A Western perspective on a self and its reifying tendencies is only one (or one series of those variations. The process character of the self does not allow any coherent theory but shows, in particular when confronted with trance, its variability in all regards. What is more: the Self is always first on the scene of itself―a situation in which it becomes a sign for itself. That particular semiotic feature is again not a unified one but leads, as the Self in view of itself does, to series of scenes with changing colors, circumstances and environments. Our first scene “Beyond Monotheism” shows semiotic importance in that a self as determining component of a trance-phenomenon must abolish its own referent and seems not able to answer the question, what makes trance a trance. The Pizzica is an example here. Other social features of trance appear in the second scene, US post traumatic psychological treatments included. Our third scene underlines structures of an unfolding self: beginning with ‘split-ego’ conclusions, a self’s engenderment appears dependent on linguistic events and on spoken words in the first place. A fourth scene explores that theme and explains modern forms of an ego ―in particular those inherent to ‘citizenship’ or a ‘corporation’. The legal consequences are concentrated in the fifth scene, which considers a legal subject by revealing its ‘standing’. Our sixth and final scene pertains to the relation between trance and commerce. All scenes tie together and show parallels between Pizzica, rights-based behavior, RAVE music versus disco, commerce and trance; they demonstrate the meaning of trance as a multifaceted social phenomenon.

Observations on radioactivity from the Chernobyl accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cambray, R.S.; Cawse, P.A.; Garland, J.A.; Gibson, J.A.B.; Johnson, P.; Lewis, G.N.J.; Newton, D.; Salmon, L.; Wade, B.O.

1987-02-01

A preliminary study of radioactivity from the Chernobyl accident for the Department of the Environment was started in June 1986 which involved taking on an opportunistic basis, samples of air, rain, grass and soil in the UK. This study was integrated into a programme of other investigations funded by the Departments of Health and Social Security and of Energy including measurements on people, in air, deposition and soil overseas, on deposition to buildings and the derivation where possible of parameters of interest in accident assessment. This report is a comprehensive account of all these initial investigations and presented in fulfilment of the Preliminary Study under DoE contract PECD 7/9/359. (author)

Ambient visual information confers a context-specific, long-term benefit on memory for haptic scenes.

Science.gov (United States)

Pasqualotto, Achille; Finucane, Ciara M; Newell, Fiona N

2013-09-01

We investigated the effects of indirect, ambient visual information on haptic spatial memory. Using touch only, participants first learned an array of objects arranged in a scene and were subsequently tested on their recognition of that scene which was always hidden from view. During haptic scene exploration, participants could either see the surrounding room or were blindfolded. We found a benefit in haptic memory performance only when ambient visual information was available in the early stages of the task but not when participants were initially blindfolded. Specifically, when ambient visual information was available a benefit on performance was found in a subsequent block of trials during which the participant was blindfolded (Experiment 1), and persisted over a delay of one week (Experiment 2). However, we found that the benefit for ambient visual information did not transfer to a novel environment (Experiment 3). In Experiment 4 we further investigated the nature of the visual information that improved haptic memory and found that geometric information about a surrounding (virtual) room rather than isolated object landmarks, facilitated haptic scene memory. Our results suggest that vision improves haptic memory for scenes by providing an environment-centred, allocentric reference frame for representing object location through touch. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cognitive organization of roadway scenes : an empirical study.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gundy, C.M.

1995-01-01

This report describes six studies investigating the cognitive organization of roadway scenes. These scenes were represented by still photographs taken on a number of roads outside of built-up areas. Seventy-eight drivers, stratified by age and sex to simulate the Dutch driving population,

Investigation into the March 28, 1979 Three Mile Island accident by Office of Inspection and Enforcement (Investigative Report No. 50-320/79-10)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1979-07-01

On March 28, 1979, the Three Mile Island Unit 2 Nuclear Power Plant experienced the most severe accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history. This report sets forth the facts concerning the events of the accident determined as a result of an investigation by the NRC Office of Inspection and Enforcement. The IE investigation is limited to two aspects of the accident: (1) Those related operational actions by the licensee during the period from before the initiating event until approximately 8:00 p.m., March 28, when primary coolant flow was re-established by starting a reactor coolant pump, and (2) Those steps taken by the licensee to control the release of radioactive material to the off-site environs, and to implement his emergency plan during the period from the initiation of the event to midnight, March 30. These investigation periods were selected because they include the licensee actions which most significantly affected the accident sequence and its results

Diamond Fire: Serious Accident Investigation Report

Science.gov (United States)

John Waconda; Ivan Pupulidy; Leonard Diaz; Robin Broyles; Roberta Junge; James Saveland

2012-01-01

This incident is effectively two studies. The first study, and the reason the Serious Accident Investigation Team was assembled, was due to a fatality, which the autopsy later determined to have been caused by a heart attack. The team was not aware of the cause of death for over 4 weeks after the incident occurred. However, the observed and reported cases of heat...

Accumulating and remembering the details of neutral and emotional natural scenes.

Science.gov (United States)

Melcher, David

2010-01-01

In contrast to our rich sensory experience with complex scenes in everyday life, the capacity of visual working memory is thought to be quite limited. Here our memory has been examined for the details of naturalistic scenes as a function of display duration, emotional valence of the scene, and delay before test. Individual differences in working memory and long-term memory for pictorial scenes were examined in experiment 1. The accumulation of memory for emotional scenes and the retention of these details in long-term memory were investigated in experiment 2. Although there were large individual differences in performance, memory for scene details generally exceeded the traditional working memory limit within a few seconds. Information about positive scenes was learned most quickly, while negative scenes showed the worst memory for details. The overall pattern of results was consistent with the idea that both short-term and long-term representations are mixed together in a medium-term 'online' memory for scenes.

Investigation of an accident in a resins manufacturing site: The role of accelerator on polymerisation of methyl methacrylate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Casson, Valeria, E-mail: valeria.casson.moreno@gmail.com [Alma Mater Studiorum—Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, Mineraria e delle Tecnologie Ambientali, Bologna (Italy); Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Via Marzolo 9, 35131 Padova (Italy); Snee, Tim, E-mail: Tim.Snee@hsl.gsi.gov.uk [Health and Safety Laboratory, Harpur Hill, Buxton, Derbyshire SK 179 JN (United Kingdom); Maschio, Giuseppe, E-mail: giuseppe.maschio@unipd.it [Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Via Marzolo 9, 35131 Padova (Italy)

2014-04-01

Highlights: • The accelerator produces an increase in the initial rate of polymerisation. • The accelerator increases the extent of polymerisation in certain conditions. • The accelerator decreases the induction time due to the presence of inhibitor. • Runaway reaction is more likely to occur in presence of the accelerator. • The experimental data support the hypothesis about the accident. - Abstract: This paper analyzes the effect of an accelerator on the polymerisation of methyl methacrylate (MMA). This study is based on the results of an investigation of an accident in a manufacturing site for resins located in the United Kingdom. As sequence of event to cause the accident the following was assumed: during an unattended batch process a runaway undesired polymerisation of methyl methacrylate occurred, generating rapid vaporisation of monomer, which in contact with an ignition source, led to an explosion followed by a fire. Since no initiator for the polymerisation reaction had been jet added to the blend, it was supposed that the accelerator contributed to the onset of the undesired polymerisation. The accelerator involved in the accident t has therefore been tested by differential scanning calorimetry and adiabatic calorimetry. The experimental data allowed the authors to prove the hypothesis made and to define safety ranges for the polymerisation reaction.

The work of the South Manchester Accident Rescue Team (SMART).

Science.gov (United States)

Redmond, A D

1990-01-01

Skills acquired in the hospital do not necessarily translate to the scene of an accident. However, training in certain hospital specialties, particularly accident and emergency medicine, will expose doctors to dealing with very ill patients in a less rigidly structured environment. The operating theatre is a disciplined and controlled environment. Skill in anaesthesia, monitoring and operating, if tested only in these circumstances may be found to be gravely inadequate when exposed to the fluctuant and hostile environment at the site. Doctors who wish to do this sort of work or are designated to do it, must undergo regular and frequent training, especially if they are not trained in accident and emergency departments. This has long been recognised by the British Association for Immediate Care. In combination with the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh they have now established a diploma in Immediate Medical Care. In urban areas the need for a doctor to attend at the scene of an accident is usually limited to entrapment. These occasions are likely to be infrequent and this can result in a lack of preparedness for such events. Interhospital transfer, primarily from peripheral hospitals to the specialist services of a teaching hospital, often involves critically ill and injured patients. The management of these cases by the mobile team provides regular, frequent exposure to working in a 'hostile' environment. Relationships with the rescue services are developed and staff become familiar with equipment and call-out procedures. The care of transported patients is improved. None of our patients have died in transit or within 6 h of arrival at base.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Investigation Effect of Biorhythm on Work-Related Accidents in The Metal Industry (A Short Report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ehsanollah Habibi

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Biorhythm is one of the newest subjects in the field of cognition of mental ergonomics which can be very effective in reduction of work-related accidents or mistakes with no apparent reason. With evaluating Biorhythm individuals can intervention action to reduce job accidents carried out. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the relationship Biorhythm and work-related accidents in the metal industry. This research is a cross-sectional and analytical-descriptive in the metal industrial Isfahan city of 120 work-related accidents during 2015. The required information was collected from available documents in HSE unit of the company biorhythm charts were drawn based on a date of accidents and participants birthdays, using natural Biorhythm Software V3.02 Conduct. Finally، the data were analyzed using spss version 20 and descriptive statistics.This study showed that the frequency of accidents in critical days and negative section of physical cycle was more than expected. Also the frequency of accidents in critical days and negative section of emotional and intellectual cycles was less than expected. Most type of injury, including cuts to 35.8 percent and the lowest type of injury was torsion with 5 percent. Most limb injury, hands and fingers with 51.7 percent and the lowest limb injury were back at 2.5 percent. Accidents outbreak in physical cycles was 38.3 percent. These 120 accidents in additionally were causing 120 loss of working days in effect accident. Most percent of loss of working days were for 20 to 30 days with of 39.2 percent. Most percent of loss of working days were for 20 to 30 days with of 39.2 percent. Due to the physical nature of the work activities in the metal industry can be stated that the study showed that in physical work activities, frequency of accidents in critical days and negative section of physical cycle in which the person is not physically ready to do the job was more than expected. Therefore, by training

An investigation of the closure problem applied to reactor accident source terms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brearley, I.R.; Nixon, W.; Hayns, M.R.

1987-01-01

The closure problem, as considered here, focuses attention on the question of when in current research programmes enough has been learned about the source terms for reactor accident releases. Noting that current research is tending to reduce the estimated magnitude of the aerosol component of atmospheric, accidental releases, several possible criteria for closure are suggested. Moreover, using the reactor accident consequence model CRACUK, the effect of gradually reducing the aerosol release fractions of a pressurized water reactor (PWR2) source term (as defined in the WASH-1400 study) is investigated and the implications of applying the suggested criteria to current source term research discussed. (author)

Mortality Rates of Traumatic Traffic Accident Patients at the University Hospital

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Atilla Senih MAYDA

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The aim of the study is to estimate hospitalization and mortality rates in patients admitted to the University Hospital due to traffic accidents, and to determine the mean cost of the applicants in the hospital due to traffic accident. In this retrospective study data were obtained from the records of a university research and practice hospital. There were 802 patients admitted to emergency and other outpatient clinics of the University Hospital because of traffic accidents throughout the year 2012. Out of these patients, 166 (20.7% were hospitalized, and the annual mortality rate was 0.87%. The total cost was 322,545.2 euro and 402.2 euro per patient. Road traffic accident detection reports covered only the numbers of fatal injuries and injuries that happened at the scene of accidents. Determination of the number of the dead and wounded with overall mortality rate would be supposed to reveal the magnitude of public health problem caused by traffic accidents.

Psychosocial reconstruction inventory : a postdictal instrument in aircraft accident investigation.

Science.gov (United States)

1972-01-01

A new approach to the investigation of aviation accidents has recently been initiated, utilizing a follow-on to the psychological autopsy. This approach, the psychosocial reconstruction inventory, enables the development of a dynamic, retrospective p...

Emotional and neutral scenes in competition: orienting, efficiency, and identification.

Science.gov (United States)

Calvo, Manuel G; Nummenmaa, Lauri; Hyönä, Jukka

2007-12-01

To investigate preferential processing of emotional scenes competing for limited attentional resources with neutral scenes, prime pictures were presented briefly (450 ms), peripherally (5.2 degrees away from fixation), and simultaneously (one emotional and one neutral scene) versus singly. Primes were followed by a mask and a probe for recognition. Hit rate was higher for emotional than for neutral scenes in the dual- but not in the single-prime condition, and A' sensitivity decreased for neutral but not for emotional scenes in the dual-prime condition. This preferential processing involved both selective orienting and efficient encoding, as revealed, respectively, by a higher probability of first fixation on--and shorter saccade latencies to--emotional scenes and by shorter fixation time needed to accurately identify emotional scenes, in comparison with neutral scenes.

Incidence of posttraumatic stress disorder after traffic accidents in Germany.

Science.gov (United States)

Brand, Stephan; Otte, Dietmar; Petri, Maximilian; Decker, Sebastian; Stübig, Timo; Krettek, Christian; Müller, Christian W

2014-01-01

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is possibly an overlooked diagnosis of victims suffering from traffic accidents sustaining serious to severe injuries. This paper investigates the incidence of PTSD after traffic accidents in Germany. Data from an accident research unit were analyzed in regard to collision details, and preclinical and clinical data. Preclinical data included details on crash circumstances and estimated injury severity as well as data on victims' conditions (e.g. heart rate, blood pressure, consciousness, breath rate). Clinical data included initial assessment in the emergency department, radiographic diagnoses, and basic life parameters comparable to the preclinical data as well as follow-up data on the daily ward. Data were collected in the German-In-Depth Accident Research study, and included gender, type of accident (e.g. type of vehicle, road conditions, rural or urban area), mental disorder, and AIS (Abbreviated Injury Scale) head score. AIS represent a scoring system to measure the injury severity of traffic accident victims. A total 258 out of 32807 data sets were included in this analysis. Data on accident and victims was collected on scene by specialized teams following established algorithms. Besides higher AIS Head scores for male motorcyclists compared to all other subgroups, no significant correlation was found between the mean maximum AIS score and the occurrence of PTSD. Furthermore, there was no correlation between higher AIS head scores, gender, or involvement in road traffic accidents and PTSD. In our study the overall incidence of PTSD after road traffic accidents was very low (0.78% in a total of 32.807 collected data sets) when compared to other published studies. The reason for this very low incidence of PTSD in our patient sample could be seen in an underestimation of the psychophysiological impact of traffic accidents on patients. Patients suffering from direct experiences of traumatic events such as a traffic accident

Dynamics of scene representations in the human brain revealed by magnetoencephalography and deep neural networks

Science.gov (United States)

Cichy, Radoslaw Martin; Khosla, Aditya; Pantazis, Dimitrios; Oliva, Aude

2017-01-01

Human scene recognition is a rapid multistep process evolving over time from single scene image to spatial layout processing. We used multivariate pattern analyses on magnetoencephalography (MEG) data to unravel the time course of this cortical process. Following an early signal for lower-level visual analysis of single scenes at ~100 ms, we found a marker of real-world scene size, i.e. spatial layout processing, at ~250 ms indexing neural representations robust to changes in unrelated scene properties and viewing conditions. For a quantitative model of how scene size representations may arise in the brain, we compared MEG data to a deep neural network model trained on scene classification. Representations of scene size emerged intrinsically in the model, and resolved emerging neural scene size representation. Together our data provide a first description of an electrophysiological signal for layout processing in humans, and suggest that deep neural networks are a promising framework to investigate how spatial layout representations emerge in the human brain. PMID:27039703

A LOOK INSIDE COOPERATION BETWEEN PROSECUTORS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT DURING CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dževad Mahmutović

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with crime scene investigation as a measure of inquiry, conceptually and substantially, subjects of investigation, as well as their mutual relations. The analysis of the existing legal framework suggests that the current Criminal Procedure Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina offers the appropriate basis for the cooperation between prosecutors and law enforcement. However, previous practice indicates certain shortcomings in the cooperation and coordination between prosecutors and law enforcement. With this paper, the authors wanted to examine the opinions of direct actors on this matter. The results show that they are satisfied with the legal regulation of their mutual relations during investigations, and they express positive opinions in terms of their cooperation. Of course, the possibility of improving that cooperation is also noted, and the methods of achieving it should be identified in further research.

Database on aircraft accidents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nishio, Masahide; Koriyama, Tamio

2013-11-01

The Reactor Safety Subcommittee in the Nuclear Safety and Preservation Committee published 'The criteria on assessment of probability of aircraft crash into light water reactor facilities' as the standard method for evaluating probability of aircraft crash into nuclear reactor facilities in July 2002. In response to this issue, Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization has been collecting open information on aircraft accidents of commercial airplanes, self-defense force (SDF) airplanes and US force airplanes every year since 2003, sorting out them and developing the database of aircraft accidents for the latest 20 years to evaluate probability of aircraft crash into nuclear reactor facilities. In this report the database was revised by adding aircraft accidents in 2011 to the existing database and deleting aircraft accidents in 1991 from it, resulting in development of the revised 2012 database for the latest 20 years from 1992 to 2011. Furthermore, the flight information on commercial aircrafts was also collected to develop the flight database for the latest 20 years from 1992 to 2011 to evaluate probability of aircraft crash into reactor facilities. The method for developing the database of aircraft accidents to evaluate probability of aircraft crash into reactor facilities is based on the report 'The criteria on assessment of probability of aircraft crash into light water reactor facilities' described above. The 2012 revised database for the latest 20 years from 1992 to 2011 shows the followings. The trend of the 2012 database changes little as compared to the last year's report. (1) The data of commercial aircraft accidents is based on 'Aircraft accident investigation reports of Japan transport safety board' of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. The number of commercial aircraft accidents is 4 for large fixed-wing aircraft, 58 for small fixed-wing aircraft, 5 for large bladed aircraft and 99 for small bladed aircraft. The relevant accidents

Fixations on objects in natural scenes: dissociating importance from salience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bernard Marius e’t Hart

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The relation of selective attention to understanding of natural scenes has been subject to intense behavioral research and computational modeling, and gaze is often used as a proxy for such attention. The probability of an image region to be fixated typically correlates with its contrast. However, this relation does not imply a causal role of contrast. Rather, contrast may relate to an object’s importance for a scene, which in turn drives attention. Here we operationalize importance by the probability that an observer names the object as characteristic for a scene. We modify luminance contrast of either a frequently named (common/important or a rarely named (rare/unimportant object, track the observers’ eye movements during scene viewing and ask them to provide keywords describing the scene immediately after.When no object is modified relative to the background, important objects draw more fixations than unimportant ones. Increases of contrast make an object more likely to be fixated, irrespective of whether it was important for the original scene, while decreases in contrast have little effect on fixations. Any contrast modification makes originally unimportant objects more important for the scene. Finally, important objects are fixated more centrally than unimportant objects, irrespective of contrast.Our data suggest a dissociation between object importance (relevance for the scene and salience (relevance for attention. If an object obeys natural scene statistics, important objects are also salient. However, when natural scene statistics are violated, importance and salience are differentially affected. Object salience is modulated by the expectation about object properties (e.g., formed by context or gist, and importance by the violation of such expectations. In addition, the dependence of fixated locations within an object on the object’s importance suggests an analogy to the effects of word frequency on landing positions in reading.

Radio Wave Propagation Scene Partitioning for High-Speed Rails

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bo Ai

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Radio wave propagation scene partitioning is necessary for wireless channel modeling. As far as we know, there are no standards of scene partitioning for high-speed rail (HSR scenarios, and therefore we propose the radio wave propagation scene partitioning scheme for HSR scenarios in this paper. Based on our measurements along the Wuhan-Guangzhou HSR, Zhengzhou-Xian passenger-dedicated line, Shijiazhuang-Taiyuan passenger-dedicated line, and Beijing-Tianjin intercity line in China, whose operation speeds are above 300 km/h, and based on the investigations on Beijing South Railway Station, Zhengzhou Railway Station, Wuhan Railway Station, Changsha Railway Station, Xian North Railway Station, Shijiazhuang North Railway Station, Taiyuan Railway Station, and Tianjin Railway Station, we obtain an overview of HSR propagation channels and record many valuable measurement data for HSR scenarios. On the basis of these measurements and investigations, we partitioned the HSR scene into twelve scenarios. Further work on theoretical analysis based on radio wave propagation mechanisms, such as reflection and diffraction, may lead us to develop the standard of radio wave propagation scene partitioning for HSR. Our work can also be used as a basis for the wireless channel modeling and the selection of some key techniques for HSR systems.

PC Scene Generation

Science.gov (United States)

Buford, James A., Jr.; Cosby, David; Bunfield, Dennis H.; Mayhall, Anthony J.; Trimble, Darian E.

2007-04-01

AMRDEC has successfully tested hardware and software for Real-Time Scene Generation for IR and SAL Sensors on COTS PC based hardware and video cards. AMRDEC personnel worked with nVidia and Concurrent Computer Corporation to develop a Scene Generation system capable of frame rates of at least 120Hz while frame locked to an external source (such as a missile seeker) with no dropped frames. Latency measurements and image validation were performed using COTS and in-house developed hardware and software. Software for the Scene Generation system was developed using OpenSceneGraph.

Investigation and evaluation for environmental impact at Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2012-01-01

In 2012, JNES investigated the weather data and the environmental monitoring data and constructed the method to specify contribution of the environmental impact from each plant based on the dose analysis result at Unit 1-3 of Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident. JNES calculated the dose rate in an accident early stage based on analysis of a monitoring data. Moreover, JNES evaluated the dose by additional release of the radioactive material in case of assuming the loss of coolant injection to a nuclear reactor by the request of NISA. (author)

Crime Scenes as Augmented Reality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sandvik, Kjetil

2010-01-01

Using the concept of augmented reality, this article will investigate how places in various ways have become augmented by means of different mediatization strategies. Augmentation of reality implies an enhancement of the places' emotional character: a certain mood, atmosphere or narrative surplus......, physical damage: they are all readable and interpretable signs. As augmented reality the crime scene carries a narrative which at first is hidden and must be revealed. Due to the process of investigation and the detective's ability to reason and deduce, the crime scene as place is reconstructed as virtual...

Semantic guidance of eye movements in real-world scenes.

Science.gov (United States)

Hwang, Alex D; Wang, Hsueh-Cheng; Pomplun, Marc

2011-05-25

The perception of objects in our visual world is influenced by not only their low-level visual features such as shape and color, but also their high-level features such as meaning and semantic relations among them. While it has been shown that low-level features in real-world scenes guide eye movements during scene inspection and search, the influence of semantic similarity among scene objects on eye movements in such situations has not been investigated. Here we study guidance of eye movements by semantic similarity among objects during real-world scene inspection and search. By selecting scenes from the LabelMe object-annotated image database and applying latent semantic analysis (LSA) to the object labels, we generated semantic saliency maps of real-world scenes based on the semantic similarity of scene objects to the currently fixated object or the search target. An ROC analysis of these maps as predictors of subjects' gaze transitions between objects during scene inspection revealed a preference for transitions to objects that were semantically similar to the currently inspected one. Furthermore, during the course of a scene search, subjects' eye movements were progressively guided toward objects that were semantically similar to the search target. These findings demonstrate substantial semantic guidance of eye movements in real-world scenes and show its importance for understanding real-world attentional control. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cybersickness in the presence of scene rotational movements along different axes.

Science.gov (United States)

Lo, W T; So, R H

2001-02-01

Compelling scene movements in a virtual reality (VR) system can cause symptoms of motion sickness (i.e., cybersickness). A within-subject experiment has been conducted to investigate the effects of scene oscillations along different axes on the level of cybersickness. Sixteen male participants were exposed to four 20-min VR simulation sessions. The four sessions used the same virtual environment but with scene oscillations along different axes, i.e., pitch, yaw, roll, or no oscillation (speed: 30 degrees/s, range: +/- 60 degrees). Verbal ratings of the level of nausea were taken at 5-min intervals during the sessions and sickness symptoms were also measured before and after the sessions using the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ). In the presence of scene oscillation, both nausea ratings and SSQ scores increased at significantly higher rates than with no oscillation. While individual participants exhibited different susceptibilities to nausea associated with VR simulation containing scene oscillations along different rotational axes, the overall effects of axis among our group of 16 randomly selected participants were not significant. The main effects of, and interactions among, scene oscillation, duration, and participants are discussed in the paper.

Investigations of Human and Organizational Factors in hazardous vapor accidents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Yanfu; Faghih Roohi, Shahrzad; Hu Xiuming; Xie Min

2011-01-01

Highlights: → HFACS provides a systematic guideline in accident investigations. The hierarchal structure of HFACS forces investigators to seek out latent HOFs. → Bayesian Network enhances the ability of the HFACS by allowing experts to quantify the degree of relationships among the HOFs. → The fuzzy AHP helps to reduce the subjective biases by avoiding the need to give explicit probability values for the variables' states. - Abstract: This paper presents a model to assess the contribution of Human and Organizational Factor (HOF) to accidents. The proposed model is made up of two phases. The first phase is the qualitative analysis of HOF responsible for accidents, which utilizes Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) to seek out latent HOFs. The hierarchy of HOFs identified in the first phase provides inputs for the analysis in the second phase, which is a quantitative analysis using Bayesian Network (BN). BN enhances the ability of HFACS by allowing investigators or domain experts to measure the degree of relationships among the HOFs. In order to estimate the conditional probabilities of BN, fuzzy analytical hierarchy process and decomposition method are applied in the model. Case studies show that the model is capable of seeking out critical latent human and organizational errors and carrying out quantitative analysis of accidents. Thereafter, corresponding safety prevention measures are derived.

Safety-critical human factors issues derived from analysis of the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi accident investigation reports

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sakuda, Hiroshi; Takeuchi, Michiru

2013-01-01

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident on March 11, 2011 had a large impact both in and outside Japan, and is not yet concluded. After Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s (TEPCO's) Fukushima accident, electric power suppliers have taken measures to respond in the event that the same state of emergency occurs - deploying mobile generators, temporary pumps and hoses, and training employees in the use of this equipment. However, it is not only the “hard” problems including the design of equipment, but the “soft” problems such as organization and safety culture that have been highlighted as key contributors in this accident. Although a number of organizations have undertaken factor analysis of the accident and proposed issues to be reviewed and measures to be taken, a systematic overview about electric power suppliers' organization and safety culture has not yet been undertaken. This study is based on three major reports: the report by the national Diet of Japan Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission (the Diet report), the report by the Investigation Committee on the Accident at Fukushima Nuclear Power Stations of Tokyo Electric Power Company (Government report), and the report by the non-government committee supported by the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation (Non-government report). From these reports, the sections relevant to electric power suppliers' organization and safety culture were extracted. These sections were arranged to correspond with the prerequisites for the ideal organization, and 30 issues to be reviewed by electric power suppliers were extracted using brainstorming methods. It is expected that the identified issues will become a reference for every organization concerned to work on preventive measures hereafter. (author)

Investigation of evaluation method for marine radiological impact during an accident

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-08-15

In 2012, JNES carried out to investigate the measurement information of radionuclide released to the ocean at Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident, the foreign regulation for marine radiological impact, and the evaluation method for release and diffusion to the ocean at the accident inside and outside Japan. (author)

Fatal accidents analysis in Peruvian mining industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Candia, R. C.; Hennies, W. T.; Azevedo, R. c.; Almeida, I.G.; Soto, J. F.

2010-01-01

Although reductions in the tax of injuries and accidents have been observed in recent years, Mining is still one of the highest risks industries. The basic causes for occurrence of fatalities can be attributed to unsafe conditions and unsafe acts. In this scene is necessary to identify safety problems and to aim the effective solutions. On the other hand, the developing countries dependence on primary industries as mining is evident. In the Peruvian economy, approximately 16% of the GNP and more than 50% of the exportations are due to the mining sector, detaching its competitive position in the worldwide mining. This paper presents fatal accidents analysis in the Peruvian mining industry, having as basis the register of occurred fatal accidents since year 2000 until 2007, identifying the main types of accidents occurred. The source of primary information is the General Mining Direction (DGM) of the Peruvian Mining and Energy Ministry (MEM). The majority of victims belongs to tertiary contractor companies that render services for mine companies. The results of the analysis show also that the majority of accidents happened in the underground mines, and that it is necessary to propose effective solutions to manage risks, aiming at reducing the fatal accidents taxes. (Author)

The investigation on the public panic caused from the Fukushima nuclear accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liao Li; Wang Yilong; He Xu

2012-01-01

March 11, 2011, a huge earthquake and tidal waves in Japan lead to dangerous levels of nuclear leakage at Fukushima nuclear plant, the nuclear accident also cause public panic m many countries. To investigate the reason of the public panic, we employ the theories of sociology and psychology, analyzed that the public panic come from Ignorant Panic. Herd Behavior, Primacy Effect, Stereotype Activation Effect, and the superposition of these effects. In addition, we proposed three measures to the public panic: First, we should emphasize the safety of nuclear power and establish the positive image of nuclear power Second, we should emphasize the popular science of nuclear power so that nu clear power can be accepted in the public; Third, we should enhance the psychological intervention system for nuclear safe emergency and improve the effect of psychological intervention

Scene complexity: influence on perception, memory, and development in the medial temporal lobe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaoqian J Chai

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Regions in the medial temporal lobe (MTL and prefrontal cortex (PFC are involved in memory formation for scenes in both children and adults. The development in children and adolescents of successful memory encoding for scenes has been associated with increased activation in PFC, but not MTL, regions. However, evidence suggests that a functional subregion of the MTL that supports scene perception, located in the parahippocampal gyrus (PHG, goes through a prolonged maturation process. Here we tested the hypothesis that maturation of scene perception supports the development of memory for complex scenes. Scenes were characterized by their levels of complexity defined by the number of unique object categories depicted in the scene. Recognition memory improved with age, in participants ages 8-24, for high, but not low, complexity scenes. High-complexity compared to low-complexity scenes activated a network of regions including the posterior PHG. The difference in activations for high- versus low- complexity scenes increased with age in the right posterior PHG. Finally, activations in right posterior PHG were associated with age-related increases in successful memory formation for high-, but not low-, complexity scenes. These results suggest that functional maturation of the right posterior PHG plays a critical role in the development of enduring long-term recollection for high-complexity scenes.

Lateral car collisions : characteristics of lateral car collisions based on SWOV accident investigation.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

1979-01-01

During 1976 and part of 1977 the Dutch institute for road safety research SWOV carried out the field work for an accident study involving passenger cars. The purpose of this crash injury investigation was to evaluate the influence of relevant crash safety factors (like safety belts and head

Psychophysiological and other factors affecting human performance in accident prevention and investigation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klinestiver, L.R.

1980-01-01

Psychophysiological factors are not uncommon terms in the aviation incident/accident investigation sequence where human error is involved. It is highly suspect that the same psychophysiological factors may also exist in the industrial arena where operator personnel function; but, there is little evidence in literature indicating how management and subordinates cope with these factors to prevent or reduce accidents. It is apparent that human factors psychophysological training is quite evident in the aviation industry. However, while the industrial arena appears to analyze psychophysiological factors in accident investigations, there is little evidence that established training programs exist for supervisors and operator personnel

Semantic guidance of eye movements in real-world scenes

OpenAIRE

Hwang, Alex D.; Wang, Hsueh-Cheng; Pomplun, Marc

2011-01-01

The perception of objects in our visual world is influenced by not only their low-level visual features such as shape and color, but also their high-level features such as meaning and semantic relations among them. While it has been shown that low-level features in real-world scenes guide eye movements during scene inspection and search, the influence of semantic similarity among scene objects on eye movements in such situations has not been investigated. Here we study guidance of eye movemen...

Investigation program on PWR-steel-containment behavior under accident conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krieg, R.; Eberle, F.; Goeller, B.; Gulden, W.; Kadlec, J.; Messemer, G.; Mueller, S.; Wolf, E.

1983-10-01

This report is a first documentation of the KfK/PNS activities and plans to investigate the behaviour of steel containments under accident conditions. The investigations will deal with a free standing spherical containment shell built for the latest type of a German pressurized water reactor. The diameter of the containment shell is 56 m. The minimum wall thickness is 38 mm. The material used is the ferritic steel 15MnNi63. According to the actual planning the program is concerned with four different problems which are beyond the common design and licensing practice: Containment behavior under quasi-static pressure increase up to containment failure. Containment behavior under high transient pressures. Containment oscillations due to earthquake loadings; consideration of shell imperfections. Containment buckling due to earthquake loadings. The investigation program consists of both theoretical and experimental activities including membrane tests allowing for very high plastic strains and oscillation tests with a thin-walled, high-accurate spherical shell. (orig.) [de

Stocks and energy shocks : the impact of energy accidents on stock market value

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Scholtens, B.; Boersen, A.

We investigate how financial market participants value energy accidents. We employ an event study to look into the response of stock markets to 209 accidents. These accidents were derived from Sovacool's (2008) database on major energy accidents from 1907 to 2007. It appears that the stock market in

The Influence of Color on the Perception of Scene Gist

Science.gov (United States)

Castelhano, Monica S.; Henderson, John M.

2008-01-01

In 3 experiments the authors used a new contextual bias paradigm to explore how quickly information is extracted from a scene to activate gist, whether color contributes to this activation, and how color contributes, if it does. Participants were shown a brief presentation of a scene followed by the name of a target object. The target object could…

Scene Integration Without Awareness: No Conclusive Evidence for Processing Scene Congruency During Continuous Flash Suppression.

Science.gov (United States)

Moors, Pieter; Boelens, David; van Overwalle, Jaana; Wagemans, Johan

2016-07-01

A recent study showed that scenes with an object-background relationship that is semantically incongruent break interocular suppression faster than scenes with a semantically congruent relationship. These results implied that semantic relations between the objects and the background of a scene could be extracted in the absence of visual awareness of the stimulus. In the current study, we assessed the replicability of this finding and tried to rule out an alternative explanation dependent on low-level differences between the stimuli. Furthermore, we used a Bayesian analysis to quantify the evidence in favor of the presence or absence of a scene-congruency effect. Across three experiments, we found no convincing evidence for a scene-congruency effect or a modulation of scene congruency by scene inversion. These findings question the generalizability of previous observations and cast doubt on whether genuine semantic processing of object-background relationships in scenes can manifest during interocular suppression. © The Author(s) 2016.

Scene-Based Contextual Cueing in Pigeons

Science.gov (United States)

Wasserman, Edward A.; Teng, Yuejia; Brooks, Daniel I.

2014-01-01

Repeated pairings of a particular visual context with a specific location of a target stimulus facilitate target search in humans. We explored an animal model of such contextual cueing. Pigeons had to peck a target which could appear in one of four locations on color photographs of real-world scenes. On half of the trials, each of four scenes was consistently paired with one of four possible target locations; on the other half of the trials, each of four different scenes was randomly paired with the same four possible target locations. In Experiments 1 and 2, pigeons exhibited robust contextual cueing when the context preceded the target by 1 s to 8 s, with reaction times to the target being shorter on predictive-scene trials than on random-scene trials. Pigeons also responded more frequently during the delay on predictive-scene trials than on random-scene trials; indeed, during the delay on predictive-scene trials, pigeons predominately pecked toward the location of the upcoming target, suggesting that attentional guidance contributes to contextual cueing. In Experiment 3, involving left-right and top-bottom scene reversals, pigeons exhibited stronger control by global than by local scene cues. These results attest to the robustness and associative basis of contextual cueing in pigeons. PMID:25546098

A case of death of the driver due to environmental asphyxia by liquid nitrogen leakage in the cabin of the car during a road accident

Science.gov (United States)

Raczkowska, Zuzanna; Samojłowicz, Dorota

2013-01-01

Nitrogen causes environmental asphyxia by displacing oxygen in the air leading to death. The study presents a case of a death of a driver death who was transporting flasks with liquid nitrogen that depressurized during an accident. The mechanism and cause of death were determined based on the result of the autopsy and histopathologic examination. The authors emphasize the relevance of accident scene inspection during establishing the cause of death in similar cases.

On the results of investigating cause of sodium leak accident in prototype fast breeder reactor 'Monju' in Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1997-01-01

The sodium leak accident in the secondary system of Monju occurred on December 8, 1995. The task force for investigating the accident was established in Nuclear Safety Bureau, and on May 23, 1996, the May report on the results of investigation was published. In order to elucidate the details of the fact that only one thermometer in the secondary system was broken and the reaction of leaked sodium with steel materials, the investigation was continued. In this report, also the results of these additional investigations are included. First, the accident of this time is outlined. As for the cause of the occurrence of sodium leak, the examination of the fracture surface of the broken thermometer, the high cycle fatigue due to hydrodynamic vibration, the investigation of the design, manufacture and installation of the thermometer, and the evaluation of secondary system thermometers which were not broken are reported. The cause that only one thermometer was broken was the way of its insertion which made the restraint of vibration amplitude ineffective. As the effects of sodium leak, the pile of sodium compound on floor liner, the damage of ducts and gratings, and the color change of concrete walls were observed. The burning experiment due to sodium leak was carried out to confirm the effects. (K.I.)

Three-dimensional measurement system for crime scene documentation

Science.gov (United States)

Adamczyk, Marcin; Hołowko, Elwira; Lech, Krzysztof; Michoński, Jakub; MÄ czkowski, Grzegorz; Bolewicki, Paweł; Januszkiewicz, Kamil; Sitnik, Robert

2017-10-01

Three dimensional measurements (such as photogrammetry, Time of Flight, Structure from Motion or Structured Light techniques) are becoming a standard in the crime scene documentation process. The usage of 3D measurement techniques provide an opportunity to prepare more insightful investigation and helps to show every trace in the context of the entire crime scene. In this paper we would like to present a hierarchical, three-dimensional measurement system that is designed for crime scenes documentation process. Our system reflects the actual standards in crime scene documentation process - it is designed to perform measurement in two stages. First stage of documentation, the most general, is prepared with a scanner with relatively low spatial resolution but also big measuring volume - it is used for the whole scene documentation. Second stage is much more detailed: high resolution but smaller size of measuring volume for areas that required more detailed approach. The documentation process is supervised by a specialised application CrimeView3D, that is a software platform for measurements management (connecting with scanners and carrying out measurements, automatic or semi-automatic data registration in the real time) and data visualisation (3D visualisation of documented scenes). It also provides a series of useful tools for forensic technicians: virtual measuring tape, searching for sources of blood spatter, virtual walk on the crime scene and many others. In this paper we present our measuring system and the developed software. We also provide an outcome from research on metrological validation of scanners that was performed according to VDI/VDE standard. We present a CrimeView3D - a software-platform that was developed to manage the crime scene documentation process. We also present an outcome from measurement sessions that were conducted on real crime scenes with cooperation with Technicians from Central Forensic Laboratory of Police.

The ART of CSI: An augmented reality tool (ART) to annotate crime scenes in forensic investigation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Streefkerk, J.W.; Houben, M.; Amerongen, P. van; Haar, F. ter; Dijk, J.

2013-01-01

Forensic professionals have to collect evidence at crime scenes quickly and without contamination. A handheld Augmented Reality (AR) annotation tool allows these users to virtually tag evidence traces at crime scenes and to review, share and export evidence lists. In an user walkthrough with this

Effect of Smoking Scenes in Films on Immediate Smoking

Science.gov (United States)

Shmueli, Dikla; Prochaska, Judith J.; Glantz, Stanton A.

2010-01-01

Background The National Cancer Institute has concluded that exposure to smoking in movies causes adolescent smoking and there are similar results for young adults. Purpose This study investigated whether exposure of young adult smokers to images of smoking in films stimulated smoking behavior. Methods 100 cigarette smokers aged 18–25 years were randomly assigned to watch a movie montage composed with or without smoking scenes and paraphernalia followed by a10-minute recess. The outcome was whether or not participants smoked during the recess. Data were collected and analyzed in 2008 and 2009. Results Smokers who watched the smoking scenes were more likely to smoke during the break (OR3.06, 95% CI=1.01, 9.29). In addition to this acute effect of exposure, smokers who had seen more smoking in movies before the day of the experiment were more likely to smoke during the break (OR 6.73; 1.00–45.25 comparing the top to bottom percentiles of exposure) were more likely to smoke during the break. Level of nicotine dependence (OR 1.71; 1.27–2.32 per point on the FTND scale), “contemplation” (OR 9.07; 1.71–47.99) and “precontemplation” (OR 7.30; 1.39–38.36) stages of change, and impulsivity (OR 1.21; 1.03–1.43), were also associated with smoking during the break. Participants who watched the montage with smoking scenes and those with a higher level of nicotine dependence were also more likely to have smoked within 30 minutes after the study. Conclusions There is a direct link between viewing smoking scenes and immediate subsequent smoking behavior. This finding suggests that individuals attempting to limit or quit smoking should be advised to refrain from or reduce their exposure to movies that contain smoking. PMID:20307802

Short report: the effect of expertise in hiking on recognition memory for mountain scenes.

Science.gov (United States)

Kawamura, Satoru; Suzuki, Sae; Morikawa, Kazunori

2007-10-01

The nature of an expert memory advantage that does not depend on stimulus structure or chunking was examined, using more ecologically valid stimuli in the context of a more natural activity than previously studied domains. Do expert hikers and novice hikers see and remember mountain scenes differently? In the present experiment, 18 novice hikers and 17 expert hikers were presented with 60 photographs of scenes from hiking trails. These scenes differed in the degree of functional aspects that implied some action possibilities or dangers. The recognition test revealed that the memory performance of experts was significantly superior to that of novices for scenes with highly functional aspects. The memory performance for the scenes with few functional aspects did not differ between novices and experts. These results suggest that experts pay more attention to, and thus remember better, scenes with functional meanings than do novices.

European Council of Legal Medicine (ECLM) principles for on-site forensic and medico-legal scene and corpse investigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Cusack, D; Ferrara, S D; Keller, E; Ludes, B; Mangin, P; Väli, M; Vieira, N

2017-07-01

Forensic medical practitioners need to define the general principles governing procedures to be used for the on-site examination of a body where the death has occurred in unnatural, violent or suspicious circumstances. These principles should be followed whenever a medical expert is required to perform an on-site corpse inspection and should be utilised as a set of general guidelines to be adapted to the specific situation in hand and interpreted using common sense and scientific knowledge of the relevant procedures and facts of the case. The aim of these principles is to ensure that forensic evidence at the scene of a death is properly observed and assessed and all necessary relevant evidence gathered in order to ensure that a comprehensive report is available to the judicial authority (investigating judge or coroner) in the justice system. The on-site corpse inspection by a forensic practitioner is a mandatory and essential stage of the forensic and medico-legal autopsy, as it may provide important information for subsequent investigation stages.

Analysis on relation between safety input and accidents

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

YAO Qing-guo; ZHANG Xue-mu; LI Chun-hui

2007-01-01

The number of safety input directly determines the level of safety, and there exists dialectical and unified relations between safety input and accidents. Based on the field investigation and reliable data, this paper deeply studied the dialectical relationship between safety input and accidents, and acquired the conclusions. The security situation of the coal enterprises was related to the security input rate, being effected little by the security input scale, and build the relationship model between safety input and accidents on this basis, that is the accident model.

The anatomy of the crime scene

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sandvik, Kjetil

simulated. The selected series range from more colourful and para-psychological based methods of investigation in series such as The Profiler and Medium to more realistic practises such as those found in series like Unit One and CSI. This analysis will be broadened by applying knowledge about how real...... scenes in order to reconstruct how the actual crime may have taken place. The profiling expert of the investigation team places herself in the role of the criminal, trying to gain insight into the criminal's psychology, way of thinking and reasoning and so on (like detective Lacour does in the Danish TV...

The impact of environmental factors on traffic accidents in Iran.

Science.gov (United States)

Lankarani, Kamran B; Heydari, Seyed Taghi; Aghabeigi, Mohammad Reza; Moafian, Ghasem; Hoseinzadeh, Amin; Vossoughi, Mehrdad

2014-07-01

Road traffic crashes are the third highest cause of mortality in Iran. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of roadway environmental factors on traffic crash. This cross-sectional study was conducted in Iran between March 21, 2010 and December 30, 2010. The data on road traffic crashes were obtained from the Traffic Police Department records. These records were classified to control for the main confounders related to the type of crash and roadway environmental factors. Roadway environmental factors included crash scene light, weather, place of accident, the defects and geometrics of roadway and road surface. The study included 542,863 traffic crashes. The proportions of road traffic crash which led to injury were 24.44% at sunrise and 27.16% at sunset compared with 5.43% and 1.43% deaths at sunrise and sunset respectively. In regard to day time accidents, the proportions were 20.50% injuries and 0.55% deaths. The statistical analysis of the results showed that the ratio of injuries and deaths were significantly higher at sunrise and sunset than those occurring during daytime (P less than 0.001). The highest rate of death (5.07%) was due to dusty weather compared to 5.07% for other weather conditions (P less than 0.001). The highest mortality rate (3.45%) occurred on oily surfaces (P less than 0.001). The defective traffic signs were responsible for 30,046 injuries and 5.58% deaths, and road narrowing accounted for 22,775 injuries and, 4.23% deaths which indicated that the roadway defects inflict most frequent injuries and deaths. The lowest (0.74 %) and highest (3.09%) proportion of traffic crash- related deaths were due to flat straight and winding uphill/downhill roads respectively (P less than 0.001). Sunrise, sunset, dusty weather, oily road surfaces and winding uphill/downhill road were hazardous environmental factors. This study provides an insight into the potential impacts of environmental factors on road traffic accidents and underlines the

Investigation of the management of the wastes from plant accident

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-08-15

The accident in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant discharged large amount of radio-nuclides and contaminated wide areas in and out of the site. The decontamination, storage, treatment and disposal of generated wastes are now under planning. Though regulations for the radioactive wastes arisen from normal operation and decommissioning of nuclear facilities have been prepared, it is necessary to make amendment of those regulations to deal with wastes from the severe accident which may have much different features on nuclides contents, or possible accompanying hazardous chemical materials. Characteristics of wastes from accidents in foreign nuclear installations, and the treatment and the disposal of those wastes were surveyed by literature and radionuclide migration from the assumed temporally storage yards of the disaster debris was analyzed for consideration of future regulation. (author)

Investigation of evaluation method for marine radiological impact during an accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-01-01

In 2012, JNES investigated the evaluation method, long-term seawater and marine deposition for release and diffusion to the ocean at the accident, and marine impact assessment code, in Japan and overseas. Also, the foreign regulations for marine radiological impact (direct release to ocean from the facilities and fallout on marine, etc.) were investigated. Furthermore, the index (e.g., intervention level) at emergency control in USA and Europe were investigated. (author)

Investigation of evaluation method for marine radiological impact during an accident

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2013-08-15

In 2012, JNES investigated the evaluation method, long-term seawater and marine deposition for release and diffusion to the ocean at the accident, and marine impact assessment code, in Japan and overseas. Also, the foreign regulations for marine radiological impact (direct release to ocean from the facilities and fallout on marine, etc.) were investigated. Furthermore, the index (e.g., intervention level) at emergency control in USA and Europe were investigated. (author)

The roles of scene gist and spatial dependency among objects in the semantic guidance of attention in real-world scenes.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Chia-Chien; Wang, Hsueh-Cheng; Pomplun, Marc

2014-12-01

A previous study (Vision Research 51 (2011) 1192-1205) found evidence for semantic guidance of visual attention during the inspection of real-world scenes, i.e., an influence of semantic relationships among scene objects on overt shifts of attention. In particular, the results revealed an observer bias toward gaze transitions between semantically similar objects. However, this effect is not necessarily indicative of semantic processing of individual objects but may be mediated by knowledge of the scene gist, which does not require object recognition, or by known spatial dependency among objects. To examine the mechanisms underlying semantic guidance, in the present study, participants were asked to view a series of displays with the scene gist excluded and spatial dependency varied. Our results show that spatial dependency among objects seems to be sufficient to induce semantic guidance. Scene gist, on the other hand, does not seem to affect how observers use semantic information to guide attention while viewing natural scenes. Extracting semantic information mainly based on spatial dependency may be an efficient strategy of the visual system that only adds little cognitive load to the viewing task. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Regulation Plans on Severe Accidents developed by KINS Severe Accident Regulation Preparation TFT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Kyun Tae; Chung, Ku Young; Na, Han Bee

2016-01-01

Some nuclear power plants in Fukushima Daiichi site had lost their emergency reactor cooling function for long-time so the fuels inside the reactors were molten, and the integrity of containment was damaged. Therefore, large amount of radioactive material was released to environment. Because the social and economic effects of severe accidents are enormous, Korean Government already issued 'Severe Accident Policy' in 2001 which requires nuclear power plant operators to set up 'Quantitative Safety Goal', to do 'Probabilistic Safety Analysis', to install 'Severe Accident Countermeasures' and to make 'Severe Accident Management Plan'. After the Fukushima disaster, a Special Safety Inspection was performed for all operating nuclear power plants of Korea. The inspection team from industry, academia, and research institutes assessed Korean NPPs capabilities to cope with or respond to severe accidents and emergency situation caused by natural disasters such as a large earthquake or tsunami. As a result of the special inspection, about 50 action items were identified to increase the capability to cope with natural disaster and severe accidents. Nuclear Safety Act has been amended to require NPP operators to submit Accident Management Plant as part of operating license application. The KINS Severe Accident Regulation Preparation TFT had first investigated oversea severe accident regulation trend before and after the Fukushima accident. Then, the TFT has developed regulation draft for severe accidents such as Severe accident Management Plans, the required design features for new NPPs to prevent severe accident against multiple failures and beyond-design external events, countermeasures to mitigate severe accident and to keep the integrity of containment, and assessment methodology on safety assessment plan and probabilistic safety assessment

A “JUST CULTURE”? CONFLICTS OF INTEREST IN THE INVESTIGATION OF AVIATION ACCIDENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomasz BALCERZAK

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The sole purpose of air accident investigations should be the prevention of accidents and other incidents in the future, without apportioning blame or liability. A civil aviation safety system is based on feedback and lessons learned from accidents and incidents, while requiring the strict application of rules on confidentiality in order to ensure the availability of valuable sources of information in the future. Therefore, related data, especially sensitive safety information, should be protected in an appropriate manner. Information provided by an individual in the framework of a safety investigation should not be used against them, in full respect of constitutional principles, and national and international law. Each “involved person” who knows about an accident or serious incident should promptly notify the competent state authority for carrying out an investigation of the event. “Involved person” refers to one of the following: the owner; a member of the crew; the operator of the aircraft involved in an accident or serious incident; any person involved in the maintenance, design, manufacture of that aircraft or in the training of its crew; any person involved in air traffic control, providing flight information or providing airport services, which provided services for the aircraft concerned; staff of the national civil aviation authority; or staff of the European Aviation Safety Agency. In terms of the protection level of the organization (employer, employees who report an event or submit an application to the investigation cannot bear any prejudice from their employer because of information provided by the applicant. The protection does not cover (exclusions: infringement with wilful misconduct (direct intent, recklessness infringement; infringement committed by a clear and serious disregard of the obvious risks; and serious professional negligence, i.e., the failure to provide unquestionably duty of care required under the

Utilization of the IAIA (Investigation and Analysis of Incidents and Accidents) method in the investigation of the P-36 platform accident; Utilizacao do metodo IAIA (Investigacao e Analise de Acidentes e Incidentes) na investigacao do acidente ocorrido na plataforma P-36

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Teles, Marcus de Barros [ARCE - Agencia Reguladora de Servicos Publicos Delegados do Estado do Ceara, Fortaleza, CE (Brazil)

2004-07-01

In the beginning of XXI century the Brazilian oil industry report a big accident involving that which was the biggest petroleum platform of the world. With capacity production of 180.000 barrels a day and capacity compression of 7,2 million cubic meter a day of natural gas, the off-shore platform P-36 was situated on Roncador field, in Campos basin, operating in 1360 meters of water. As consequences, eleven deaths with irreparable traumas to the families, friends and worker partners, one billion dollars in prejudices to brazilian country, environmental damages by oil leak and injuries to PETROBRAS reputation in Brazil and in the world. The method of investigation and analysis of incidents and accidents - IAIA is very wide and its philosophy contain a lot of topics, since basic concepts, investigation actions, analysis action and diagnosis by the general kind of fail. Using this method and taking advantage from the report elaborated by the commission organized by ANP - Agencia Nacional do Petroleo and DPC - Diretoria de Portos e Costas, responsible for the investigation and analysis of the accident occurred with P-36, this paper identify the direct and indirect causes of the accident, in attempt to avoid new similar situations. (author)

DSI--Dance Scene Investigation: Exploring a Time in Dance History as Dancer, Choreographer, Historian, and Critic

Science.gov (United States)

Spear-Jones, Gwen

2008-01-01

This article provides a brief description of a dance program at the Old Donation Center Dance Education Program in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The mission of DSI--Dance Scene Investigation--is to nurture the full development of each student's dance potential through intense involvement in every aspect of the art. The program provides differentiated…

Investigation of Qom Rural Area Water Network Accident in 2010 and Minimization Approaches of Accident Frequencies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hossein Jafari Mansoorian

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Background & Aims of the Study : Accidents in water networks can lead to increase the uncounted water, costs of repair, maintenance, restoration and enter water contaminants to water network. The aim of this study is to survey the accidents of Qom rural water network and choose the right approaches to reduce the number of accidents. Materials & Methods: In this cross-sectional study, four sector of Qom province (Markazi, Dastjerd, Kahak and Qahan, were assessed over a period of 8 months (July – January 2010. This study was conducted through questionnaire of Ministry of Energy. Results: The total number of accidents was 763. The highest number of accidents in the four sectors was related to Markazi sector with 228 accidents. According to the time of the accident, the highest and lowest number of accident was related to September (19.7% and November (6.8%, respectively. According to the location of the accident on network, the highest and lowest number of accident was related to distribution network (64% and connections (17.5% and transmission pipe (18.34%, respectively. According to the type of the accident, the highest and lowest number of accident was related to breaking (47.8% and gasket failure (1.2%, respectively. Considering with the pipes’ material, the highest and lowest number of accident was related to polyethylene pipes (93% and steel and cast iron pipes (0.5%, 0.5%, respectively. Conclusions: Due to the high break rate of Polyethylene pipes, it is recommended to be placed in priority of leak detection and rehabilitation.   .

On preparation for accident management in LWR power stations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-01-01

Nuclear Safety Commission received the report from Reactor Safety General Examination Committee which investigated the policy of executing the preparation for accident management. The basic policy on the preparation for accident management was decided by Nuclear Safety Commission in May, 1992. This Examination Committee investigated the policy of executing the preparation for accident management, which had been reported from the administrative office, and as the result, it judged the policy as adequate, therefore, the report is made. The course to the foundation of subcommittee is reported. The basic policy of the examination on accident management by the subcommittee conforming to the decision by Nuclear Safety Commission, the measures of accident management which were extracted for BWR and PWR facilities, the examination of the technical adequacy of selecting accident sequences in BWR and PWR facilities and the countermeasures to them, the adequacy of the evaluation of the possibility of executing accident management measures and their effectiveness and the adequacy of the evaluation of effect to existing safety functions, the preparation of operation procedure manual, and education and training plan are reported. (K.I.)

Framework of passive millimeter-wave scene simulation based on material classification

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Hyuk; Kim, Sung-Hyun; Lee, Ho-Jin; Kim, Yong-Hoon; Ki, Jae-Sug; Yoon, In-Bok; Lee, Jung-Min; Park, Soon-Jun

2006-05-01

Over the past few decades, passive millimeter-wave (PMMW) sensors have emerged as useful implements in transportation and military applications such as autonomous flight-landing system, smart weapons, night- and all weather vision system. As an efficient way to predict the performance of a PMMW sensor and apply it to system, it is required to test in SoftWare-In-the-Loop (SWIL). The PMMW scene simulation is a key component for implementation of this simulator. However, there is no commercial on-the-shelf available to construct the PMMW scene simulation; only there have been a few studies on this technology. We have studied the PMMW scene simulation method to develop the PMMW sensor SWIL simulator. This paper describes the framework of the PMMW scene simulation and the tentative results. The purpose of the PMMW scene simulation is to generate sensor outputs (or image) from a visible image and environmental conditions. We organize it into four parts; material classification mapping, PMMW environmental setting, PMMW scene forming, and millimeter-wave (MMW) sensorworks. The background and the objects in the scene are classified based on properties related with MMW radiation and reflectivity. The environmental setting part calculates the following PMMW phenomenology; atmospheric propagation and emission including sky temperature, weather conditions, and physical temperature. Then, PMMW raw images are formed with surface geometry. Finally, PMMW sensor outputs are generated from PMMW raw images by applying the sensor characteristics such as an aperture size and noise level. Through the simulation process, PMMW phenomenology and sensor characteristics are simulated on the output scene. We have finished the design of framework of the simulator, and are working on implementation in detail. As a tentative result, the flight observation was simulated in specific conditions. After implementation details, we plan to increase the reliability of the simulation by data collecting

Infectious Disease Information Collection System at the Scene of Disaster Relief Based on a Personal Digital Assistant.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ya-Pin; Gao, Hong-Wei; Fan, Hao-Jun; Wei, Wei; Xu, Bo; Dong, Wen-Long; Li, Qing-Feng; Song, Wen-Jing; Hou, Shi-Ke

2017-12-01

The objective of this study was to build a database to collect infectious disease information at the scene of a disaster through the use of 128 epidemiological questionnaires and 47 types of options, with rapid acquisition of information regarding infectious disease and rapid questionnaire customization at the scene of disaster relief by use of a personal digital assistant (PDA). SQL Server 2005 (Microsoft Corp, Redmond, WA) was used to create the option database for the infectious disease investigation, to develop a client application for the PDA, and to deploy the application on the server side. The users accessed the server for data collection and questionnaire customization with the PDA. A database with a set of comprehensive options was created and an application system was developed for the Android operating system (Google Inc, Mountain View, CA). On this basis, an infectious disease information collection system was built for use at the scene of disaster relief. The creation of an infectious disease information collection system and rapid questionnaire customization through the use of a PDA was achieved. This system integrated computer technology and mobile communication technology to develop an infectious disease information collection system and to allow for rapid questionnaire customization at the scene of disaster relief. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:668-673).

Investigation of Zircaloy-2 oxidation model for SFP accident analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nemoto, Yoshiyuki, E-mail: nemoto.yoshiyuki@jaea.go.jp [Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 2-4 Shirakata, Ohaza, Tokai-mura, Naka-gun, Ibaraki, 319-1195 (Japan); Kaji, Yoshiyuki; Ogawa, Chihiro; Kondo, Keietsu [Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 2-4 Shirakata, Ohaza, Tokai-mura, Naka-gun, Ibaraki, 319-1195 (Japan); Nakashima, Kazuo; Kanazawa, Toru; Tojo, Masayuki [Global Nuclear Fuel – Japan Co., Ltd., 2-3-1, Uchikawa, Yokosuka-shi, Kanagawa, 239-0836 (Japan)

2017-05-15

The authors previously conducted thermogravimetric analyses on Zircaloy-2 in air. By using the thermogravimetric data, an oxidation model was constructed in this study so that it can be applied for the modeling of cladding degradation in spent fuel pool (SFP) severe accident condition. For its validation, oxidation tests of long cladding tube were conducted, and computational fluid dynamics analyses using the constructed oxidation model were proceeded to simulate the experiments. In the oxidation tests, high temperature thermal gradient along the cladding axis was applied and air flow rates in testing chamber were controlled to simulate hypothetical SFP accidents. The analytical outputs successfully reproduced the growth of oxide film and porous oxide layer on the claddings in oxidation tests, and validity of the oxidation model was proved. Influence of air flow rate for the oxidation behavior was thought negligible in the conditions investigated in this study. - Highlights: •An oxidation model of Zircaloy-2 in air environment was developed. •The oxidation model was validated by the comparison with oxidation tests using long cladding tubes in hypothetical spent fuel pool accident condition. •The oxidation model successfully reproduced the typical oxidation behavior in air.

Use of casual tree method for investigation of incidents and accidents involving radioactive materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vasconcelos, Vanderley de; Senne Junior, Murillo; Marques, Raissa Oliveira

2013-01-01

There are many methodologies used for investigation of accidents to facilitate the search of the factors that cause these events in different areas of industry. These can be called proactive methods, if they are used before the occurrence of the events, or reactive methods that are applied after the occurrence of the incident or accident, and are used as a basis of information to prevent further events. One of these methods is the Causal Tree Method (CTM). The basic idea of this technique is that incidents and accidents result from variations in usual processes. These variations can be related to the individual, the task, the material or the environment. The tree starts with the end event (incident or accident) and works backwards. The facts relating to the end event are used in the construction of the causal tree. The end event is the starting point and only the facts that contributed to the incident or accident should be selected. The analyst has to identify and list the variations and then display them in the analytic tree, showing causal relations. The objective of this paper is to test the application of the CTM method in investigation of incidents and accidents involving radioactive materials, in order to evaluate its efficiency on finding the typical factors causing these events. (author)

Regulation Plans on Severe Accidents developed by KINS Severe Accident Regulation Preparation TFT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Kyun Tae; Chung, Ku Young; Na, Han Bee [KINS, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-05-15

Some nuclear power plants in Fukushima Daiichi site had lost their emergency reactor cooling function for long-time so the fuels inside the reactors were molten, and the integrity of containment was damaged. Therefore, large amount of radioactive material was released to environment. Because the social and economic effects of severe accidents are enormous, Korean Government already issued 'Severe Accident Policy' in 2001 which requires nuclear power plant operators to set up 'Quantitative Safety Goal', to do 'Probabilistic Safety Analysis', to install 'Severe Accident Countermeasures' and to make 'Severe Accident Management Plan'. After the Fukushima disaster, a Special Safety Inspection was performed for all operating nuclear power plants of Korea. The inspection team from industry, academia, and research institutes assessed Korean NPPs capabilities to cope with or respond to severe accidents and emergency situation caused by natural disasters such as a large earthquake or tsunami. As a result of the special inspection, about 50 action items were identified to increase the capability to cope with natural disaster and severe accidents. Nuclear Safety Act has been amended to require NPP operators to submit Accident Management Plant as part of operating license application. The KINS Severe Accident Regulation Preparation TFT had first investigated oversea severe accident regulation trend before and after the Fukushima accident. Then, the TFT has developed regulation draft for severe accidents such as Severe accident Management Plans, the required design features for new NPPs to prevent severe accident against multiple failures and beyond-design external events, countermeasures to mitigate severe accident and to keep the integrity of containment, and assessment methodology on safety assessment plan and probabilistic safety assessment.

Aspects Concerning The Rules And The Investigation Of Traffic Accidents As Work Accidents

Science.gov (United States)

Tarnu, Lucian Ioan

2015-07-01

When Romania joined the European Union, it was imposed that the Romanian legislation in the field of the security and health at work be in line with the European one. The concept of health as it is defined by the International Body of Health, refers to a good physical, mental and social condition. The improvement of the activity of preventing the traffic accidents as work accidents must have as basis the correct and accurate evaluation of risks of getting injured. The goal of the activity of prevention and protection is to ensure the best working conditions, the prevention of accidents and occupational diseases and the adjustment to the scientific and technological progress. In the road transport sector, as in any other sector, it is very important to pay attention to working conditions to ensure a workforce motivated and well qualified. Some features make it a more difficult sector risk management than other sectors. However, if one takes into account how it works in practice this sector and the characteristics of drivers and how they work routinely, risks, dangers and threats can be managed efficiently and with great success.

Utilization of the atmospheric release advisory capability (ARAC) services during and after the Three Mile Island accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knox, J.B.; Dickerson, M.H.; Greenly, G.D.; Gudiksen, P.H.; Sullivan, T.J.

1980-01-01

At 0820 PST on 28 March 1979, the Department of Energy's Emergency Operations Center advised the Atmospheric Release Advisory Capability (ARAC) that the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, had experienced an accident some four hours earlier, resulting in the atmospheric release of xenon-133 and krypton-88. This report describes ARAC's response to the Three Mile Island accident, including the role ARAC played throughout the 20 days that real-time assessments were made available to the Department of Energy on-scene commander. It also describes the follow-up population-dose calculations performed for the President's Commission on Three Mile Island. At the request of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a questionnaire addressing the usefulness of ARAC products during the accident was sent to ARAC-product users. A summary of the findings from this questionnaire, along with recommendations for improving ARAC service, is also presented. The accident at Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, is discussed in the context of a well-planned emergency response by local and Federal officials

Oculomotor capture during real-world scene viewing depends on cognitive load.

Science.gov (United States)

Matsukura, Michi; Brockmole, James R; Boot, Walter R; Henderson, John M

2011-03-25

It has been claimed that gaze control during scene viewing is largely governed by stimulus-driven, bottom-up selection mechanisms. Recent research, however, has strongly suggested that observers' top-down control plays a dominant role in attentional prioritization in scenes. A notable exception to this strong top-down control is oculomotor capture, where visual transients in a scene draw the eyes. One way to test whether oculomotor capture during scene viewing is independent of an observer's top-down goal setting is to reduce observers' cognitive resource availability. In the present study, we examined whether increasing observers' cognitive load influences the frequency and speed of oculomotor capture during scene viewing. In Experiment 1, we tested whether increasing observers' cognitive load modulates the degree of oculomotor capture by a new object suddenly appeared in a scene. Similarly, in Experiment 2, we tested whether increasing observers' cognitive load modulates the degree of oculomotor capture by an object's color change. In both experiments, the degree of oculomotor capture decreased as observers' cognitive resources were reduced. These results suggest that oculomotor capture during scene viewing is dependent on observers' top-down selection mechanisms. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Unconscious analyses of visual scenes based on feature conjunctions.

Science.gov (United States)

Tachibana, Ryosuke; Noguchi, Yasuki

2015-06-01

To efficiently process a cluttered scene, the visual system analyzes statistical properties or regularities of visual elements embedded in the scene. It is controversial, however, whether those scene analyses could also work for stimuli unconsciously perceived. Here we show that our brain performs the unconscious scene analyses not only using a single featural cue (e.g., orientation) but also based on conjunctions of multiple visual features (e.g., combinations of color and orientation information). Subjects foveally viewed a stimulus array (duration: 50 ms) where 4 types of bars (red-horizontal, red-vertical, green-horizontal, and green-vertical) were intermixed. Although a conscious perception of those bars was inhibited by a subsequent mask stimulus, the brain correctly analyzed the information about color, orientation, and color-orientation conjunctions of those invisible bars. The information of those features was then used for the unconscious configuration analysis (statistical processing) of the central bars, which induced a perceptual bias and illusory feature binding in visible stimuli at peripheral locations. While statistical analyses and feature binding are normally 2 key functions of the visual system to construct coherent percepts of visual scenes, our results show that a high-level analysis combining those 2 functions is correctly performed by unconscious computations in the brain. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Combined Influence of Visual Scene and Body Tilt on Arm Pointing Movements: Gravity Matters!

Science.gov (United States)

Scotto Di Cesare, Cécile; Sarlegna, Fabrice R.; Bourdin, Christophe; Mestre, Daniel R.; Bringoux, Lionel

2014-01-01

Performing accurate actions such as goal-directed arm movements requires taking into account visual and body orientation cues to localize the target in space and produce appropriate reaching motor commands. We experimentally tilted the body and/or the visual scene to investigate how visual and body orientation cues are combined for the control of unseen arm movements. Subjects were asked to point toward a visual target using an upward movement during slow body and/or visual scene tilts. When the scene was tilted, final pointing errors varied as a function of the direction of the scene tilt (forward or backward). Actual forward body tilt resulted in systematic target undershoots, suggesting that the brain may have overcompensated for the biomechanical movement facilitation arising from body tilt. Combined body and visual scene tilts also affected final pointing errors according to the orientation of the visual scene. The data were further analysed using either a body-centered or a gravity-centered reference frame to encode visual scene orientation with simple additive models (i.e., ‘combined’ tilts equal to the sum of ‘single’ tilts). We found that the body-centered model could account only for some of the data regarding kinematic parameters and final errors. In contrast, the gravity-centered modeling in which the body and visual scene orientations were referred to vertical could explain all of these data. Therefore, our findings suggest that the brain uses gravity, thanks to its invariant properties, as a reference for the combination of visual and non-visual cues. PMID:24925371

Adaptive attunement of selective covert attention to evolutionary-relevant emotional visual scenes

OpenAIRE

Fernández-Martín, Andrés (UNIR); Gutiérrez-García, Aida; Capafons, Juan; Calvo, Manuel G

2017-01-01

We investigated selective attention to emotional scenes in peripheral vision, as a function of adaptive relevance of scene affective content for male and female observers. Pairs of emotional neutral images appeared peripherally with perceptual stimulus differences controlled while viewers were fixating on a different stimulus in central vision. Early selective orienting was assessed by the probability of directing the first fixation towards either scene, and the time until first fixation. Emo...

The Impact of Heat Waves on Occurrence and Severity of Construction Accidents.

Science.gov (United States)

Rameezdeen, Rameez; Elmualim, Abbas

2017-01-11

The impact of heat stress on human health has been extensively studied. Similarly, researchers have investigated the impact of heat stress on workers' health and safety. However, very little work has been done on the impact of heat stress on occupational accidents and their severity, particularly in South Australian construction. Construction workers are at high risk of injury due to heat stress as they often work outdoors, undertake hard manual work, and are often project based and sub-contracted. Little is known on how heat waves could impact on construction accidents and their severity. In order to provide more evidence for the currently limited number of empirical investigations on the impact of heat stress on accidents, this study analysed 29,438 compensation claims reported during 2002-2013 within the construction industry of South Australia. Claims reported during 29 heat waves in Adelaide were compared with control periods to elicit differences in the number of accidents reported and their severity. The results revealed that worker characteristics, type of work, work environment, and agency of accident mainly govern the severity. It is recommended that the implementation of adequate preventative measures in small-sized companies and civil engineering sites, targeting mainly old age workers could be a priority for Work, Health and Safety (WHS) policies.

The Impact of Heat Waves on Occurrence and Severity of Construction Accidents

Science.gov (United States)

Rameezdeen, Rameez; Elmualim, Abbas

2017-01-01

The impact of heat stress on human health has been extensively studied. Similarly, researchers have investigated the impact of heat stress on workers’ health and safety. However, very little work has been done on the impact of heat stress on occupational accidents and their severity, particularly in South Australian construction. Construction workers are at high risk of injury due to heat stress as they often work outdoors, undertake hard manual work, and are often project based and sub-contracted. Little is known on how heat waves could impact on construction accidents and their severity. In order to provide more evidence for the currently limited number of empirical investigations on the impact of heat stress on accidents, this study analysed 29,438 compensation claims reported during 2002–2013 within the construction industry of South Australia. Claims reported during 29 heat waves in Adelaide were compared with control periods to elicit differences in the number of accidents reported and their severity. The results revealed that worker characteristics, type of work, work environment, and agency of accident mainly govern the severity. It is recommended that the implementation of adequate preventative measures in small-sized companies and civil engineering sites, targeting mainly old age workers could be a priority for Work, Health and Safety (WHS) policies. PMID:28085067

Scene incongruity and attention.

Science.gov (United States)

Mack, Arien; Clarke, Jason; Erol, Muge; Bert, John

2017-02-01

Does scene incongruity, (a mismatch between scene gist and a semantically incongruent object), capture attention and lead to conscious perception? We explored this question using 4 different procedures: Inattention (Experiment 1), Scene description (Experiment 2), Change detection (Experiment 3), and Iconic Memory (Experiment 4). We found no differences between scene incongruity and scene congruity in Experiments 1, 2, and 4, although in Experiment 3 change detection was faster for scenes containing an incongruent object. We offer an explanation for why the change detection results differ from the results of the other three experiments. In all four experiments, participants invariably failed to report the incongruity and routinely mis-described it by normalizing the incongruent object. None of the results supports the claim that semantic incongruity within a scene invariably captures attention and provide strong evidence of the dominant role of scene gist in determining what is perceived. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident on goshawk reproduction

Science.gov (United States)

Murase, Kaori; Murase, Joe; Horie, Reiko; Endo, Koichi

2015-01-01

Although the influence of nuclear accidents on the reproduction of top predators has not been investigated, it is important that we identify the effects of such accidents because humans are also top predators. We conducted field observation for 22 years and analysed the reproductive performance of the goshawk (Accipiter gentilis fujiyamae), a top avian predator in the North Kanto area of Japan, before and after the accidents at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that occurred in 2011. The reproductive performance declined markedly compared with the pre-accident years and progressively decreased for the three post-accident study years. Moreover, it was suggested that these declines were primarily caused by an increase in the air dose rate of radio-active contaminants measured under the nests caused by the nuclear accidents, rather than by other factors. We consider the trends in the changes of the reproductive success rates and suggest that internal exposure may play an important role in the reproductive performance of the goshawk, as well as external exposure. PMID:25802117

Accident Investigation and Analysis - a roadmap for organisational learning -

OpenAIRE

Jacinto, Celeste

2016-01-01

1. Scope & Objective Scope: The investigation of occupational accidents has long been a matter of discussion, mainly among specialists, but its translation into company practice has only registered real growth on the turn of the new millennium, essentially as a natural consequence of the H&S (Health & Safety) emerging management systems. In Europe, the many H&S Directives have also played a central role in this field by bringing about new requirements and creating new needs. This trend has...

Investigating the multi-causal and complex nature of the accident causal influence of construction project features.

Science.gov (United States)

Manu, Patrick A; Ankrah, Nii A; Proverbs, David G; Suresh, Subashini

2012-09-01

Construction project features (CPFs) are organisational, physical and operational attributes that characterise construction projects. Although previous studies have examined the accident causal influence of CPFs, the multi-causal attribute of this causal phenomenon still remain elusive and thus requires further investigation. Aiming to shed light on this facet of the accident causal phenomenon of CPFs, this study examines relevant literature and crystallises the attained insight of the multi-causal attribute by a graphical model which is subsequently operationalised by a derived mathematical risk expression that offers a systematic approach for evaluating the potential of CPFs to cause harm and consequently their health and safety (H&S) risk implications. The graphical model and the risk expression put forth by the study thus advance current understanding of the accident causal phenomenon of CPFs and they present an opportunity for project participants to manage the H&S risk associated with CPFs from the early stages of project procurement. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Coping with Perceived Ethnic Prejudice on the Gay Scene

Science.gov (United States)

Jaspal, Rusi

2017-01-01

There has been only cursory research into the sociological and psychological aspects of ethnic/racial discrimination among ethnic minority gay and bisexual men, and none that focuses specifically upon British ethnic minority gay men. This article focuses on perceptions of intergroup relations on the gay scene among young British South Asian gay…

Safety investigation of team performance in accidents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petkov, G.; Todorov, V.; Takov, T.; Petrov, V.; Stoychev, K.; Vladimirov, V.; Chukov, I.

2004-01-01

The paper presents the capacities of the performance evaluation of teamwork (PET) method. Its practicability and efficiency are illustrated by retrospective human reliability analyse of the famous nuclear and maritime accidents. A quantitative assessment of operators' performance on the base of thermo-hydraulic (T/H) calculations and full-scope simulator data for set of NPP design basic accidents with WWER is demonstrated. The last data are obtained on the 'WWER-1000' full-scope simulator of Kozloduy NPP during the regular practical training of the operators' teams. An outlook on the 'evaluation system of main control room (MCR) operators' reliability' project, based on simulator data of operators' training is given

Effects of Car Accidents on Three-Lane Traffic Flow

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianzhong Chen

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A three-lane traffic flow model is proposed to investigate the effect of car accidents on the traffic flow. The model is an extension of the full velocity difference (FVD model by taking into account the lane changing. The extended lane-changing rules are presented to model the lane-changing behaviour. The cases that the car accidents occupy the exterior or interior lane, the medium lane, and two lanes are studied by numerical simulations. The time-space diagrams and the current diagrams are presented, and the traffic jams are investigated. The results show that the car accident has a different effect on the traffic flow when it occupies different lanes. The car accidents have a more serious effect on the whole road when they occupy two lanes. The larger the density is, the greater the influence on the traffic flow becomes.

Utilising E-on Vue and Unity 3D scenes to generate synthetic images and videos for visible signature analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Madden, Christopher S.; Richards, Noel J.; Culpepper, Joanne B.

2016-10-01

This paper investigates the ability to develop synthetic scenes in an image generation tool, E-on Vue, and a gaming engine, Unity 3D, which can be used to generate synthetic imagery of target objects across a variety of conditions in land environments. Developments within these tools and gaming engines have allowed the computer gaming industry to dramatically enhance the realism of the games they develop; however they utilise short cuts to ensure that the games run smoothly in real-time to create an immersive effect. Whilst these short cuts may have an impact upon the realism of the synthetic imagery, they do promise a much more time efficient method of developing imagery of different environmental conditions and to investigate the dynamic aspect of military operations that is currently not evaluated in signature analysis. The results presented investigate how some of the common image metrics used in target acquisition modelling, namely the Δμ1, Δμ2, Δμ3, RSS, and Doyle metrics, perform on the synthetic scenes generated by E-on Vue and Unity 3D compared to real imagery of similar scenes. An exploration of the time required to develop the various aspects of the scene to enhance its realism are included, along with an overview of the difficulties associated with trying to recreate specific locations as a virtual scene. This work is an important start towards utilising virtual worlds for visible signature evaluation, and evaluating how equivalent synthetic imagery is to real photographs.

Eye movements and attention in reading, scene perception, and visual search.

Science.gov (United States)

Rayner, Keith

2009-08-01

Eye movements are now widely used to investigate cognitive processes during reading, scene perception, and visual search. In this article, research on the following topics is reviewed with respect to reading: (a) the perceptual span (or span of effective vision), (b) preview benefit, (c) eye movement control, and (d) models of eye movements. Related issues with respect to eye movements during scene perception and visual search are also reviewed. It is argued that research on eye movements during reading has been somewhat advanced over research on eye movements in scene perception and visual search and that some of the paradigms developed to study reading should be more widely adopted in the study of scene perception and visual search. Research dealing with "real-world" tasks and research utilizing the visual-world paradigm are also briefly discussed.

Feature diagnosticity and task context shape activity in human scene-selective cortex.

Science.gov (United States)

Lowe, Matthew X; Gallivan, Jason P; Ferber, Susanne; Cant, Jonathan S

2016-01-15

Scenes are constructed from multiple visual features, yet previous research investigating scene processing has often focused on the contributions of single features in isolation. In the real world, features rarely exist independently of one another and likely converge to inform scene identity in unique ways. Here, we utilize fMRI and pattern classification techniques to examine the interactions between task context (i.e., attend to diagnostic global scene features; texture or layout) and high-level scene attributes (content and spatial boundary) to test the novel hypothesis that scene-selective cortex represents multiple visual features, the importance of which varies according to their diagnostic relevance across scene categories and task demands. Our results show for the first time that scene representations are driven by interactions between multiple visual features and high-level scene attributes. Specifically, univariate analysis of scene-selective cortex revealed that task context and feature diagnosticity shape activity differentially across scene categories. Examination using multivariate decoding methods revealed results consistent with univariate findings, but also evidence for an interaction between high-level scene attributes and diagnostic visual features within scene categories. Critically, these findings suggest visual feature representations are not distributed uniformly across scene categories but are shaped by task context and feature diagnosticity. Thus, we propose that scene-selective cortex constructs a flexible representation of the environment by integrating multiple diagnostically relevant visual features, the nature of which varies according to the particular scene being perceived and the goals of the observer. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effects of alcohol intoxication on attention and memory for visual scenes.

Science.gov (United States)

Harvey, Alistair J; Kneller, Wendy; Campbell, Alison C

2013-01-01

This study tests the claim that alcohol intoxication narrows the focus of visual attention on to the more salient features of a visual scene. A group of alcohol intoxicated and sober participants had their eye movements recorded as they encoded a photographic image featuring a central event of either high or low salience. All participants then recalled the details of the image the following day when sober. We sought to determine whether the alcohol group would pay less attention to the peripheral features of the encoded scene than their sober counterparts, whether this effect of attentional narrowing was stronger for the high-salience event than for the low-salience event, and whether it would lead to a corresponding deficit in peripheral recall. Alcohol was found to narrow the focus of foveal attention to the central features of both images but did not facilitate recall from this region. It also reduced the overall amount of information accurately recalled from each scene. These findings demonstrate that the concept of alcohol myopia originally posited to explain the social consequences of intoxication (Steele & Josephs, 1990) may be extended to explain the relative neglect of peripheral information during the processing of visual scenes.

Interaction between scene-based and array-based contextual cueing.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenbaum, Gail M; Jiang, Yuhong V

2013-07-01

Contextual cueing refers to the cueing of spatial attention by repeated spatial context. Previous studies have demonstrated distinctive properties of contextual cueing by background scenes and by an array of search items. Whereas scene-based contextual cueing reflects explicit learning of the scene-target association, array-based contextual cueing is supported primarily by implicit learning. In this study, we investigated the interaction between scene-based and array-based contextual cueing. Participants searched for a target that was predicted by both the background scene and the locations of distractor items. We tested three possible patterns of interaction: (1) The scene and the array could be learned independently, in which case cueing should be expressed even when only one cue was preserved; (2) the scene and array could be learned jointly, in which case cueing should occur only when both cues were preserved; (3) overshadowing might occur, in which case learning of the stronger cue should preclude learning of the weaker cue. In several experiments, we manipulated the nature of the contextual cues present during training and testing. We also tested explicit awareness of scenes, scene-target associations, and arrays. The results supported the overshadowing account: Specifically, scene-based contextual cueing precluded array-based contextual cueing when both were predictive of the location of a search target. We suggest that explicit, endogenous cues dominate over implicit cues in guiding spatial attention.

Leading-edge forensic DNA analyses and the necessity of including crime scene investigators, police officers and technicians in a DNA elimination database.

Science.gov (United States)

Lapointe, Martine; Rogic, Anita; Bourgoin, Sarah; Jolicoeur, Christine; Séguin, Diane

2015-11-01

In recent years, sophisticated technology has significantly increased the sensitivity and analytical power of genetic analyses so that very little starting material may now produce viable genetic profiles. This sensitivity however, has also increased the risk of detecting unknown genetic profiles assumed to be that of the perpetrator, yet originate from extraneous sources such as from crime scene workers. These contaminants may mislead investigations, keeping criminal cases active and unresolved for long spans of time. Voluntary submission of DNA samples from crime scene workers is fairly low, therefore we have created a promotional method for our staff elimination database that has resulted in a significant increase in voluntary samples since 2011. Our database enforces privacy safeguards and allows for optional anonymity to all staff members. We also offer information sessions at various police precincts to advise crime scene workers of the importance and success of our staff elimination database. This study, a pioneer in its field, has obtained 327 voluntary submissions from crime scene workers to date, of which 46 individual profiles (14%) have been matched to 58 criminal cases. By implementing our methods and respect for individual privacy, forensic laboratories everywhere may see similar growth and success in explaining unidentified genetic profiles in stagnate criminal cases. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Role of Binocular Disparity in Rapid Scene and Pattern Recognition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matteo Valsecchi

2013-04-01

Full Text Available We investigated the contribution of binocular disparity to the rapid recognition of scenes and simpler spatial patterns using a paradigm combining backward masked stimulus presentation and short-term match-to-sample recognition. First, we showed that binocular disparity did not contribute significantly to the recognition of briefly presented natural and artificial scenes, even when the availability of monocular cues was reduced. Subsequently, using dense random dot stereograms as stimuli, we showed that observers were in principle able to extract spatial patterns defined only by disparity under brief, masked presentations. Comparing our results with the predictions from a cue-summation model, we showed that combining disparity with luminance did not per se disrupt the processing of disparity. Our results suggest that the rapid recognition of scenes is mediated mostly by a monocular comparison of the images, although we can rely on stereo in fast pattern recognition.

Post-test investigation result on the WWER-1000 fuel tested under severe accident conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goryachev, A.; Shtuckert, Yu.; Zwir, E.; Stupina, L.

1996-01-01

The model bundle of WWER-type were tested under SFD condition in the out-of-pile CORA installation. The objective of the test was to provide an information on the WWER-type fuel bundles behaviour under severe fuel damage accident conditions. Also it was assumed to compare the WWER-type bundle damage mechanisms with these experienced in the PWR-type bundle tests with aim to confirm a possibility to use the various code systems, worked our for PWR as applied to WWER. In order to ensure the possibility of the comparison of the calculated core degradation parameters with the real state of the tested bundle, some parameters have been measured on the bundle cross-sections under examination. Quantitative parameters of the bundle degradation have been evaluated by digital image processing of the bundle cross-sections. The obtained results are shown together with corresponding results obtained by the other participants of this investigation. (author). 3 refs, 13 figs

The Impact of Heat Waves on Occurrence and Severity of Construction Accidents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rameez Rameezdeen

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The impact of heat stress on human health has been extensively studied. Similarly, researchers have investigated the impact of heat stress on workers’ health and safety. However, very little work has been done on the impact of heat stress on occupational accidents and their severity, particularly in South Australian construction. Construction workers are at high risk of injury due to heat stress as they often work outdoors, undertake hard manual work, and are often project based and sub-contracted. Little is known on how heat waves could impact on construction accidents and their severity. In order to provide more evidence for the currently limited number of empirical investigations on the impact of heat stress on accidents, this study analysed 29,438 compensation claims reported during 2002–2013 within the construction industry of South Australia. Claims reported during 29 heat waves in Adelaide were compared with control periods to elicit differences in the number of accidents reported and their severity. The results revealed that worker characteristics, type of work, work environment, and agency of accident mainly govern the severity. It is recommended that the implementation of adequate preventative measures in small-sized companies and civil engineering sites, targeting mainly old age workers could be a priority for Work, Health and Safety (WHS policies.

Use of PSA and severe accident assessment results for the accident management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jang, S. H.; Kim, H. G.; Jang, H. S.; Moon, S. K.; Park, J. U.

1993-12-01

The objectives for this study are to investigate the basic principle or methodology which is applicable to accident management, by using the results of PSA and severe accident research, and also facilitate the preparation of accidents management program in the future. This study was performed as follows: derivation of measures for core damage prevention, derivation of measures for accident mitigation, application of computerized tool to assess severe accident management

Use of PSA and severe accident assessment results for the accident management

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jang, S H; Kim, H G; Jang, H S; Moon, S K; Park, J U [Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

1993-12-15

The objectives for this study are to investigate the basic principle or methodology which is applicable to accident management, by using the results of PSA and severe accident research, and also facilitate the preparation of accidents management program in the future. This study was performed as follows: derivation of measures for core damage prevention, derivation of measures for accident mitigation, application of computerized tool to assess severe accident management.

The lifesaving potential of specialized on-scene medical support for urban tactical operations.

Science.gov (United States)

Metzger, Jeffery C; Eastman, Alexander L; Benitez, Fernando L; Pepe, Paul E

2009-01-01

Since the 1980s, the specialized field of tactical medicine has evolved with growing support from numerous law-enforcement and medical organizations. On-scene backup from tactical emergency medical support (TEMS) providers has not only permitted more immediate advanced medical aid to injured officers, victims, bystanders, and suspects, but also allows for rapid after-incident medical screening or minor treatments that can obviate an unnecessary transport to an emergency department. The purpose of this report is to document one very explicit benefit of TEMS deployment, namely, a situation in which a police officer's life was saved by the routine on-scene presence of specialized TEMS physicians. In this specific case, a police officer was shot in the anterior neck during a law-enforcement operation and became moribund with massive hemorrhage and compromised airway. Two TEMS physicians, who had been integrated into the tactical law-enforcement team, were on scene, controlled the hemorrhage, and provided a surgical airway. By the time of arrival at the hospital, the patient had begun purposeful movements and, within 12 hours, was alert and oriented. Considering the rapid decline in the patient's condition, it was later deemed by quality assurance reviewers that the on-scene presence of these TEMS providers was lifesaving.

Iconic memory for the gist of natural scenes.

Science.gov (United States)

Clarke, Jason; Mack, Arien

2014-11-01

Does iconic memory contain the gist of multiple scenes? Three experiments were conducted. In the first, four scenes from different basic-level categories were briefly presented in one of two conditions: a cue or a no-cue condition. The cue condition was designed to provide an index of the contents of iconic memory of the display. Subjects were more sensitive to scene gist in the cue condition than in the no-cue condition. In the second, the scenes came from the same basic-level category. We found no difference in sensitivity between the two conditions. In the third, six scenes from different basic level categories were presented in the visual periphery. Subjects were more sensitive to scene gist in the cue condition. These results suggest that scene gist is contained in iconic memory even in the visual periphery; however, iconic representations are not sufficiently detailed to distinguish between scenes coming from the same category. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Research on hyperspectral dynamic scene and image sequence simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Dandan; Liu, Fang; Gao, Jiaobo; Sun, Kefeng; Hu, Yu; Li, Yu; Xie, Junhu; Zhang, Lei

2016-10-01

This paper presents a simulation method of hyperspectral dynamic scene and image sequence for hyperspectral equipment evaluation and target detection algorithm. Because of high spectral resolution, strong band continuity, anti-interference and other advantages, in recent years, hyperspectral imaging technology has been rapidly developed and is widely used in many areas such as optoelectronic target detection, military defense and remote sensing systems. Digital imaging simulation, as a crucial part of hardware in loop simulation, can be applied to testing and evaluation hyperspectral imaging equipment with lower development cost and shorter development period. Meanwhile, visual simulation can produce a lot of original image data under various conditions for hyperspectral image feature extraction and classification algorithm. Based on radiation physic model and material characteristic parameters this paper proposes a generation method of digital scene. By building multiple sensor models under different bands and different bandwidths, hyperspectral scenes in visible, MWIR, LWIR band, with spectral resolution 0.01μm, 0.05μm and 0.1μm have been simulated in this paper. The final dynamic scenes have high real-time and realistic, with frequency up to 100 HZ. By means of saving all the scene gray data in the same viewpoint image sequence is obtained. The analysis results show whether in the infrared band or the visible band, the grayscale variations of simulated hyperspectral images are consistent with the theoretical analysis results.

Investigation of air cleaning system response to accident conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andrae, R.W.; Bolstad, J.W.; Foster, R.D.; Gregory, W.S.; Horak, H.L.; Idar, E.S.; Martin, R.A.; Ricketts, C.I.; Smith, P.R.; Tang, P.K.

1980-01-01

Air cleaning system response to the stress of accident conditions are being investigated. A program overview and hghlight recent results of our investigation are presented. The program includes both analytical and experimental investigations. Computer codes for predicting effects of tornados, explosions, fires, and material transport are described. The test facilities used to obtain supportive experimental data to define structural integrity and confinement effectiveness of ventilation system components are described. Examples of experimental results for code verification, blower response to tornado transients, and filter response to tornado and explosion transients are reported

Analysis on the nitrogen drilling accident of Well Qionglai 1 (II: Restoration of the accident process and lessons learned

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yingfeng Meng

2015-12-01

Full Text Available All the important events of the accident of nitrogen drilling of Well Qionglai 1 have been speculated and analyzed in the paper I. In this paper II, based on the investigating information, the well log data and some calculating and simulating results, according to the analysis method of the fault tree of safe engineering, the every possible compositions, their possibilities and time schedule of the events of the accident of Well Qionglai 1 have been analyzed, the implications of the logging data have been revealed, the process of the accident of Well Qionglai 1 has been restored. Some important understandings have been obtained: the objective causes of the accident is the rock burst and the induced events form rock burst, the subjective cause of the accident is that the blooie pipe could not bear the flow burden of the clasts from rock burst and was blocked by the clasts. The blocking of blooie pipe caused high pressure in wellhead, the high pressure made the blooie pipe burst, natural gas came out and flared fire. This paper also thinks that the rock burst in gas drilling in fractured tight sandstone gas zone is objective and not avoidable, but the accidents induced from rock burst can be avoidable by improving the performance of the blooie pipe, wellhead assemblies and drilling tool accessories aiming at the downhole rock burst.

Reconstruction and simplification of urban scene models based on oblique images

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, J.; Guo, B.

2014-08-01

We describe a multi-view stereo reconstruction and simplification algorithms for urban scene models based on oblique images. The complexity, diversity, and density within the urban scene, it increases the difficulty to build the city models using the oblique images. But there are a lot of flat surfaces existing in the urban scene. One of our key contributions is that a dense matching algorithm based on Self-Adaptive Patch in view of the urban scene is proposed. The basic idea of matching propagating based on Self-Adaptive Patch is to build patches centred by seed points which are already matched. The extent and shape of the patches can adapt to the objects of urban scene automatically: when the surface is flat, the extent of the patch would become bigger; while the surface is very rough, the extent of the patch would become smaller. The other contribution is that the mesh generated by Graph Cuts is 2-manifold surface satisfied the half edge data structure. It is solved by clustering and re-marking tetrahedrons in s-t graph. The purpose of getting 2- manifold surface is to simply the mesh by edge collapse algorithm which can preserve and stand out the features of buildings.

The Effects of Linguistic Labels Related to Abstract Scenes on Memory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kentaro Inomata

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Boundary extension is the false memory beyond the actual boundary of a picture scene. Gagnier (2011 suggested that a linguistic label has no effect on the magnitude of boundary extension. Although she controlled the timing of the presentation or information of the linguistic label, the information of stimulus was not changed. In the present study, the depiction of the main object was controlled in order to change the contextual information of a scene. In experiment, the 68 participants were shown 12 pictures. The stimulus consisted pictures that depicted the main object or did not depict the main object, and half of them were presented with linguistic description. Participants rated the object-less pictures more closely than the original pictures, when the former were presented with linguistic labels. However, when they were presented without linguistic labels, boundary extension did not occur. There was no effect of labels on the pictures that depicted the main objects. On the basis of these results, the linguistic label enhances the representation of the abstract scene like a homogeneous field or a wall. This finding suggests that boundary extension may be affected by not only visual information but also by other sensory information mediated by linguistic representation.

The effects of scene characteristics, resolution, and compression on the ability to recognize objects in video

Science.gov (United States)

Dumke, Joel; Ford, Carolyn G.; Stange, Irena W.

2011-03-01

Public safety practitioners increasingly use video for object recognition tasks. These end users need guidance regarding how to identify the level of video quality necessary for their application. The quality of video used in public safety applications must be evaluated in terms of its usability for specific tasks performed by the end user. The Public Safety Communication Research (PSCR) project performed a subjective test as one of the first in a series to explore visual intelligibility in video-a user's ability to recognize an object in a video stream given various conditions. The test sought to measure the effects on visual intelligibility of three scene parameters (target size, scene motion, scene lighting), several compression rates, and two resolutions (VGA (640x480) and CIF (352x288)). Seven similarly sized objects were used as targets in nine sets of near-identical source scenes, where each set was created using a different combination of the parameters under study. Viewers were asked to identify the objects via multiple choice questions. Objective measurements were performed on each of the scenes, and the ability of the measurement to predict visual intelligibility was studied.

Large Break LOCA Accident Management Strategies for Accidents With Large Containment Leaks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sdouz, Gert

2006-01-01

The goal of this work is the investigation of the influence of different accident management strategies on the thermal-hydraulics in the containment during a Large Break Loss of Coolant Accident with a large containment leak from the beginning of the accident. The increasing relevance of terrorism suggests a closer look at this kind of severe accidents. Normally the course of severe accidents and their associated phenomena are investigated with the assumption of an intact containment from the beginning of the accident. This intact containment has the ability to retain a large part of the radioactive inventory. In these cases there is only a release via a very small leakage due to the un-tightness of the containment up to cavity bottom melt through. This paper represents the last part of a comprehensive study on the influence of accident management strategies on the source term of VVER-1000 reactors. Basically two different accident sequences were investigated: the 'Station Blackout'- sequence and the 'Large Break LOCA'. In a first step the source term calculations were performed assuming an intact containment from the beginning of the accident and no accident management action. In a further step the influence of different accident management strategies was studied. The last part of the project was a repetition of the calculations with the assumption of a damaged containment from the beginning of the accident. This paper concentrates on the last step in the case of a Large Break LOCA. To be able to compare the results with calculations performed years ago the calculations were performed using the Source Term Code Package (STCP), hydrogen explosions are not considered. In this study four different scenarios have been investigated. The main parameter was the switch on time of the spray systems. One of the results is the influence of different accident management strategies on the source term. In the comparison with the sequence with intact containment it was

Fixation and saliency during search of natural scenes: the case of visual agnosia.

Science.gov (United States)

Foulsham, Tom; Barton, Jason J S; Kingstone, Alan; Dewhurst, Richard; Underwood, Geoffrey

2009-07-01

Models of eye movement control in natural scenes often distinguish between stimulus-driven processes (which guide the eyes to visually salient regions) and those based on task and object knowledge (which depend on expectations or identification of objects and scene gist). In the present investigation, the eye movements of a patient with visual agnosia were recorded while she searched for objects within photographs of natural scenes and compared to those made by students and age-matched controls. Agnosia is assumed to disrupt the top-down knowledge available in this task, and so may increase the reliance on bottom-up cues. The patient's deficit in object recognition was seen in poor search performance and inefficient scanning. The low-level saliency of target objects had an effect on responses in visual agnosia, and the most salient region in the scene was more likely to be fixated by the patient than by controls. An analysis of model-predicted saliency at fixation locations indicated a closer match between fixations and low-level saliency in agnosia than in controls. These findings are discussed in relation to saliency-map models and the balance between high and low-level factors in eye guidance.