THE CHALLENGES OF UNIVERSAL CHANGE, THE PRECONDITIONS FOR SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS AND THE DANGERS OF THE NEW ERA, IN REFERENCE TO THE MIDDLE EAST ARE EXPLORED IN THIS ARTICLE. SOLVING THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT, REGIONAL RECONSTRUCTION AND THE PEACE SETTLEMENT, AND THE FUTURE OF THE MIDDLE EAST ARE ALSO EXAMINED. IT CONCLUDES THAT A RARE OPPORTUNITY TO CREATE A NEW GOLDEN AGE IN THE MIDDLE EAST HAS ARISEN AFTER THE GULF WAR.
In the 1970s, concerns about the erosion of genetic diversity of crops led to the establishment of genebanks, repositories for the conservation of plant genetic material, which raise interesting questions about the ways in which biobanking constructs and shapes bioeconomies. Past theorizations have shown that biobanks are part of new bioeconomies that complicate distinctions between social and economic values, and play essential role by managing the different values and priorities In this thesis, I extend this approach to the conservation and use of crop germplasm. Plant genetic resources for food and agriculture circulate internationally in what I term the 'germplasm economy': a complex arrangement that is notable for including a novel multilateral system of mutual facilitated access and benefit sharing. Thus, here I analyse the practices and organisation of genebanks, as a means to explore their role in that economy. Based on an interpretive, discourse analysis of documents and 22 semi-structured, qualitative interviews (with actors involved in gene banking policy and practice in Europe), I argue that genebanks construct the shared pool of plant germplasm by constructing 'genetic resources' from germplasm, therefore creating a gene pool that is technically and politically available for sharing in accordance with national and international germplasm policy. In so doing, they manage the different value(s) associated with germplasm in ways that enable and justify the international germplasm economy. Hence, this work corroborates the perspective that biobanks of biological material manage and create the economies that they are part of. Yet, in addition, it suggests that genebanks themselves can be considered resources, and that this understanding is important in constructing the germplasm economy as one predicated on sharing Therefore, it suggests that analyses of biomaterial economies should take into consideration both studies of the bioeconomy and of the political economy of technoscience.
Objective Using eye tracking technology, this study sought to determine if differences in hazard statement (HS) compliance based on design elements are attributable to attention maintenance (AM). Background Recent empirical work has demonstrated counter-intuitive findings for HS designs embedded in procedures. Specifically, prevalent HS designs in procedures were associated with lower compliance. Method The current study utilized eye tracking technology to determine whether participants are attending to HSs differently based on the inclusion or absence of visually distinct HS design elements typically used for consumer products. We used two different designs that previously yielded the largest gap in HS compliance. In a fully-crossed design, 33 participants completed four rounds of tasks using four procedures with embedded HSs. To assess AM, eye tracking was used to measure gaze and fixation duration. Results The results indicated there are differences in AM between the two designs. The HSs that included elements traditionally considered effective in the consumer products literature elicited lower fixation duration times, and were associated with lower compliance. However, AM did not mediate the design effect on compliance. Conclusions The study results suggest the design of HSs are impacting individuals as early as the AM stage of the C-HIP model. The absence of HS design-AM-compliance mediation suggests other C-HIP elements more directly explain the HS design-compliance effects. Application These results provide more evidence that the communication of Health, Environment, and Safety information in procedures may need to be different from those on consumer products, suggesting design efficacy may be task dependent.
Objective The goal of this study is to assess machine learning for predicting procedure performance from operator and procedure characteristics. Background Procedures are vital for the performance and safety of high-risk industries. Current procedure design guidelines are insufficient because they rely on subjective assessments and qualitative analyses that struggle to integrate and quantify the diversity of factors that influence procedure performance. Method We used data from a 25-participant study with four procedures, conducted on a high-fidelity oil extraction simulation to develop logistic regression (LR), random forest (RF), and decision tree (DT) algorithms that predict procedure step performance from operator, step, readability, and natural language processing-based features. Features were filtered using the Boruta approach. The algorithms were trained and optimized with a repeated 10-fold cross-validation. After training, inference was performed using variable importance and partial dependence plots. Results The RF, DT, and LR algorithms with all features had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.78, 0.77, and 0.75, respectively, and significantly outperformed the LR with only operator features (LROP), with an AUC of 0.61. The most important features were experience, familiarity, total words, and character-based metrics. The partial dependence plots showed that steps with fewer words, abbreviations, and characters were correlated with correct step performance. Conclusion Machine learning algorithms are a promising approach for predicting step-level procedure performance, with acknowledged limitations on interpolating to nonobserved data, and may help guide procedure design after validation with additional data on further tasks. Application After validation, the inferences from these models can be used to generate procedure design alternatives.
Objective We aimed to identify opportunities for application of human factors knowledge base to mitigate disaster management (DM) challenges associated with the unique characteristics of the COVID-19 pandemic. Background The role of DM is to minimize and prevent further spread of the contagion over an extended period of time. This requires addressing large-scale logistics, coordination, and specialized training needs. However, DM-related challenges during the pandemic response and recovery are significantly different than with other kinds of disasters. Method An expert review was conducted to document issues relevant to human factors and ergonomics (HFE) in DM. Results The response to the COVID-19 crisis has presented complex and unique challenges to DM and public health practitioners. Compared to other disasters and previous pandemics, the COVID-19 outbreak has had an unprecedented scale, magnitude, and propagation rate. The high technical complexity of response and DM coupled with lack of mental model and expertise to respond to such a unique disaster has seriously challenged the response work systems. Recent research has investigated the role of HFE in modeling DM systems' characteristics to improve resilience, accelerating emergency management expertise, developing agile training methods to facilitate dynamically changing response, improving communication and coordination among system elements, mitigating occupational hazards including guidelines for the design of personal protective equipment, and improving procedures to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of response efforts. Conclusion This short review highlights the potential for the field's contribution to proactive and resilient DM for the ongoing and future pandemics.
Communities face unforeseen threats from natural and human‐made disasters. As disasters grow more intense and critical infrastructure increases in complexity, resilience has emerged as an essential attribute of incident management systems. Despite concerted efforts to examine government organizations and their associated policies, understanding resilience traits exhibited by hospitals and healthcare systems during disasters is limited. We employ two fundamental viewpoints of safety to assess what went wrong (Safety I) and right (Safety II) during Hurricane Harvey in a large regional hospital. Through qualitative analysis of semi‐structured interviews with hospital emergency management and operators, we examine both opportunities and challenges in six aspects of hospital incident management: organizational structure and functions; situational awareness; operating plans; human and physical resources; lessons learned from previous incidents; and leadership and high‐level decision making. The benefits of incorporating both the Safety I and Safety II frameworks in evaluating hospital incident response and the implications of this approach for disaster management policies are discussed.
Objective: Evaluation of effects of native language—native (L1) versus nonnative (L2)—on procedure performance. Background: Written procedures are used by global industries to facilitate accurate and safe performance of hazardous tasks. Often companies require that all employees be sufficiently literate in English and to use only English versions. Method: Industrial tasks were tested using a virtual reality industrial environment (Second Life®) to explore effects on procedural performance and safety statement adherence. Fifty-four engineering students (27 L2) participated in the study to explore the native language variable. The participants completed the procedures under time pressure and were scored according to procedure performance and hazard comprehension. Results: Analysis of eight procedures showed significant differences between L1 and L2 for procedure performance (specifically for L2 females). There were no language fluency or hazard comprehension differences found between the two groups. Conclusion: The results suggest that (a) the lower procedure performance of L2 readers was not due to English proficiency but more likely to time pressure; (b) implications regarding single language procedures are not fully understood, particularly with regard to gender differences. Application: This research is applicable to high-risk industries providing single language, time critical procedures to multilingual workforces.
Comparison of hospital admission causes for previously known (group A) and HIV‐infected patients diagnosed during in‐ward stay (group B), from 2009 to 2011. Retrospective evaluation of demographic, epidemiologic, clinical, immunologic, virologic and treatment parameters at time of admission. 1167 patients were admitted; of those 617 (52,9%) were HIV‐infected: 92% HIV‐1 and 8% HIV‐2. 83% had previously known HIV infection and 15% were diagnosed during hospital stay (missing data in 2%). 66% were male, mean age was 46 years and 52% were Portuguese. The most frequent transmission routes were heterosexual exposure (36%) and iv drug use (29%). Mean length of hospital stay was 17 days (group A) and 28 days (group B) (p = 0,004). At admission, the mean TCD4+ count was 280 cells/mm3 in group A, and 132 cells/mm3 in group B (p<0,001). The majority of group B patients had clinical or immunological AIDS criteria at admission (84%) while group A presented a 71% rate for the same parameter (p=0,011). In group A, 52% of patients were on antiretroviral therapy but of those only 33% presented undetectable HIV plasma RNA, non‐adherence being an important cause of therapeutic failure identified in 40% of cases. Respiratory infection was the principal cause of hospital admission in both groups (33% in group A vs. 35% in group B). The most prevalent nosological entities were community acquired pneumonia in group A (18,1% vs. 11,5%‐p=0,118) and Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia in group B (4% vs. 18%‐p<0,001). Mycobacterium tuberculosis was frequently identified as an agent of opportunistic infection (10% in group A vs. 24% in group B‐p=<0,001). HCV coinfection was a comorbidity found in 37% in group A vs. 11% in group B (p<0,001). Other relevant comorbidities were psychiatric disturbances (16% vs. 3%‐p=0,001) and neoplastic conditions (11% vs. 0%‐p=0,001), mostly present in group A. Mortality rate was not significantly different between groups (10% group A vs. 11% group B) (p=0,773). This analysis evidenced that, a significant percentage of HIV patients diagnosed at admission were late presenters. Slightly a half of patients with previous known HIV infection were prescribed cARV and only a third presented undetectable HIV viral load. Non‐adherence was a major concern in this population. Respiratory infections had a significant clinical impact in both groups, justifying the importance of vaccination prevention strategies in immunocompromised individuals.
Objective The objective of these studies was to identify hazard statement (HS) design elements in procedures that affected whether both workers and lab participants performed the associated hazard mitigation. Background Many of the incidents in high-risk industries are the result of issues with procedures (e.g., standard operating procedures; SOPs) workers use to support their performance. HSs in these procedures are meant to communicate potential work hazards and methods of mitigating those hazards. However, there is little empirical research regarding whether current hazard design guidelines for consumer products translate to procedures. Method Two experimental studies—(1) a laboratory study and (2) a high-fidelity simulation—manipulated the HS design elements present in procedures participants used while performing tasks. Participants' adherence to the mitigation of the hazard was compared for the HS designs. Results The guidelines for HSs from consumer products did not translate to procedures. Specifically, the presence of an alert icon, a box around the statement, and highlighting the statement did not improve adherence to HSs. Indeed, the only consistent finding was for the Icon, with its presence reliably predicting nonadherence in both studies. Additionally, the total number of design elements did not have a positive effect on adherence. Conclusion These findings indicate that more fundamental procedure HSs research is needed to identify effective designs as well as to understand the potential attentional mechanisms associated with these findings. Application The findings from these studies indicate that current regulations and guidelines should be revisited regarding hazard presentation in procedures.
