Academic literature on the topic 'Extreme Work Environment'
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Journal articles on the topic "Extreme Work Environment"
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McNeese, Nathan J., Nancy J. Cooke, Steven Shope, and Ashley Knobloch. "The Extreme Environment of High Altitude Gas Ballooning." Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting 60, no. 1 (September 2016): 1409–13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1541931213601324.
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Extreme environments often profoundly impact one’s cognition and subsequently the ability to make accurate and correct decisions. Although we are beginning to understand how these environments impact individual and team cognition, more specific work conducted in real extreme environments is needed to further understand this relationship. In this paper, we present data collected in the extreme environment of gas ballooning. Recently, the Two Eagles gas ballooning project set two absolute world records: longest duration in a gas balloon and longest distance in a gas balloon. During this project, our research team was able to collect cognitive abilities data and data on the effects of multiple stressors in the environment. We present the overall project along with some insights from the data. We also highlight lessons learned from attempting to collect data in an extreme environment.
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Cheung, Stephen S., Jason K. W. Lee, and Juha Oksa. "Thermal stress, human performance, and physical employment standards." Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism 41, no. 6 (Suppl. 2) (June 2016): S148—S164. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/apnm-2015-0518.
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Many physically demanding occupations in both developed and developing economies involve exposure to extreme thermal environments that can affect work capacity and ultimately health. Thermal extremes may be present in either an outdoor or an indoor work environment, and can be due to a combination of the natural or artificial ambient environment, the rate of metabolic heat generation from physical work, processes specific to the workplace (e.g., steel manufacturing), or through the requirement for protective clothing impairing heat dissipation. Together, thermal exposure can elicit acute impairment of work capacity and also chronic effects on health, greatly contributing to worker health risk and reduced productivity. Surprisingly, in most occupations even in developed economies, there are rarely any standards regarding enforced heat or cold safety for workers. Furthermore, specific physical employment standards or accommodations for thermal stressors are rare, with workers commonly tested under near-perfect conditions. This review surveys the major occupational impact of thermal extremes and existing employment standards, proposing guidelines for improvement and areas for future research.
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Rajgopal, Srihari, Daniel Zula, Steven Garverick, and Mehran Mehregany. "A Silicon Carbide Accelerometer for Extreme Environment Applications." Materials Science Forum 600-603 (September 2008): 859–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/msf.600-603.859.
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A polycrystalline silicon carbide (poly-SiC) surface-micromachined capacitive accelerometer is designed, fabricated and tested. Leveraging the superior thermo-mechanical and chemical resistance properties of SiC, the device is a first step toward cost-effective implementation of a new class of extreme environment accelerometers, for example for high temperature vibration and shock measurements, even thought this initial work is at room temperature. The accelerometer described herein is designed for a range of 5000 g and a bandwidth of 18 kHz, specifications consistent with commercially available piezoelectric devices for high-level mechanical impact measurements. Test results demonstrate the sensor achieving a resolution of 350 mg/√Hz at 1kHz with a sensitivity of 12 μV/g and a bandwidth of 10 kHz at room temperature.
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Ulaganathan, Chandradevi, Neena Nambiar, Kimberly Cornett, Robert L. Greenwell, Jeremy A. Yager, Benjamin S. Prothro, Kevin Tham, et al. "A SiGe BiCMOS Instrumentation Channel for Extreme Environment Applications." VLSI Design 2010 (February 16, 2010): 1–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2010/156829.
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An instrumentation channel is designed, implemented, and tested in a 0.5-μm SiGe BiCMOS process. The circuit features a reconfigurable Wheatstone bridge network that interfaces an assortment of external sensors to signal processing circuits. Also, analog sampling is implemented in the channel using a flying capacitor configuration. The analog samples are digitized by a low-power multichannel A/D converter. Measurement results show that the instrumentation channel supports input signals up to 200 Hz and operates across a wide temperature range of -180°C to 125°C. This work demonstrates the use of a commercially available first generation SiGe BiCMOS process in designing circuits suitable for extreme environment applications.
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Meslec, Nicoleta, Jacco Duel, and Joseph Soeters. "The role of teamwork on team performance in extreme military environments: an empirical study." Team Performance Management: An International Journal 26, no. 5/6 (July 20, 2020): 325–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/tpm-02-2020-0009.
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Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the extent to which teamwork (developed either during an initial training phase or during a subsequent deployment phase) is influenced by the nature of the team’s environment (extreme vs non-extreme) and the extent to which teamwork is one of the explaining mechanisms for team performance. Design/methodology/approach Data was collected from 60 teams at 2 time-points: training phase in The Netherlands or Germany and deployment phase (in locations such as Afghanistan and Bosnia-Herzegovina). Findings This study’s results indicate that when teams consider working in extreme environments, they develop higher levels of teamwork as compared to teams expecting to work in non-extreme environments. These differences remain stable also during the deployment phase, such that teams operating in extreme environments will continue to have higher levels of teamwork as compared to teams operating in non-extreme environments. Originality/value With this study, the authors contribute to the teamwork quality research stream by empirically studying how teamwork quality develops in unique military contexts such as extreme environments. Studies in such contexts are relatively rare.
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Al-Zubaidy, S. N., S. Tokbolat, and R. Tokpatayeva. "Passive Design of Buildings for Extreme Weather Environment." International Journal of Renewable Energy Development 2, no. 1 (February 2, 2013): 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.14710/ijred.2.1.1-11.
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Buildings account for nearly 40% of the end-use energy consumption and carbonemissions globally. Buildings, once built, are used at least for several decades. The building sectortherefore holds a significant responsibility for implementing strategies to increase energyefficiency and reduce carbon emissions and thus contribute to global efforts directed towardmitigating the adverse effects of climate change. The work presented in this paper is a part ofcontinuing efforts to identify, analyze and promote the design of low energy, sustainable buildingswith special reference to the Kazakhstan locality. Demonstration of improved environmentalconditions and impact on energy savings will be outlined through a case study incorporating apassive design approach and detailed computational fluid dynamics analysis for an existingbuilding complex. The influence of orientation and configuration is discussed with reference toenergy efficiency and associated wind comfort and safety. The effect of these aspects on energyconsumption and comfortable wind environment has been assessed using CFD analysis and provedto be affective. Single building and multiple building configurations have been analyzed andcompared. According to the findings, multiple building configurations have better wind conditionswhen compared with a single standing building. With respect to orientation the former one shouldbe modeled with the fully surrounded side of a “box” opposite to the predominant wind directionwhereas the latter one should be located with the rear side opposite to the wind direction. Thus,results indicated that there is a considerable influence of passive design and orientation on energyefficiency, wind comfort and safety. Careful consideration and application of the findings canpotentially lead to considerable decrease of energy consumption and, therefore, allow savingmoney and the environment at the same time.
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Ali, Rawshan, Alban Kuriqi, and Ozgur Kisi. "Human–Environment Natural Disasters Interconnection in China: A Review." Climate 8, no. 4 (March 26, 2020): 48. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cli8040048.
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This study aimed to assess the interrelationship among extreme natural events and their impacts on environments and humans through a systematic and quantitative review based on the up-to-date scientific literature. Namely, the main goal was to add additional knowledge to the existing evidence of the impacts related to floods, droughts, and landslides on humans and the environment in China; this in order to identify knowledge gaps in research and practice to aid in improving the adaptation and mitigation measures against extreme natural events in China. In this study, 110 documents were analyzed in the evaluation of several impacts triggered by extreme events. Records were obtained from Scopus and Web of Science and examined with a text mining instrument to assess the pattern of publications over the years; the problems linked to extreme weather events were investigated, and the study gaps were discussed. This paper extends work by systematically reviewing recent evidence related to floods, droughts, and landslides in China. We listed the critical studies that focused on the impact of extreme events on both humans and the environment described in current reviews. The findings revealed that goods safety, social safety, and financial losses are of significant concern to the scientific community due to extreme natural events, which from our analysis resulted in being more frequent and intense. It is still underdeveloped to implement distant sensing and imaging methods to monitor and detect the impact of severe weather occurrences. There are still significant study gaps in the fields of the effects of extreme weather events. The analysis result shows that extreme events are increased during the time, so more in-depth investigation and efforts on adaptation, mitigation measures, and strategical governance plans are desperately required.
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Shakir, Muhammad, Shuoben Hou, Raheleh Hedayati, Bengt Gunnar Malm, Mikael Östling, and Carl-Mikael Zetterling. "Towards Silicon Carbide VLSI Circuits for Extreme Environment Applications." Electronics 8, no. 5 (May 3, 2019): 496. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/electronics8050496.
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A Process Design Kit (PDK) has been developed to realize complex integrated circuits in Silicon Carbide (SiC) bipolar low-power technology. The PDK development process included basic device modeling, and design of gate library and parameterized cells. A transistor–transistor logic (TTL)-based PDK gate library design will also be discussed with delay, power, noise margin, and fan-out as main design criterion to tolerate the threshold voltage shift, beta ( β ) and collector current ( I C ) variation of SiC devices as temperature increases. The PDK-based complex digital ICs design flow based on layout, physical verification, and in-house fabrication process will also be demonstrated. Both combinational and sequential circuits have been designed, such as a 720-device ALU and a 520-device 4 bit counter. All the integrated circuits and devices are fully characterized up to 500 °C. The inverter and a D-type flip-flop (DFF) are characterized as benchmark standard cells. The proposed work is a key step towards SiC-based very large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuits implementation for high-temperature applications.
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N. Kulkarni, Madhukar. "Social Work Practices in Human Resource Management." Ushus - Journal of Business Management 5, no. 1 (January 10, 2005): 21–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.12725/ujbm.7.3.
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Social Impact : The social structure in India, under the onslaught of the globalization is crumbling yielding place to individualism, materialism and consumerism. The joint family system is almost a thing of past, replaced by the nuclear family. Growing literacy of women, women entering into employment market for, career and to support the family in these days of higher cost of living has created the need for and existence of double income families. Increasing consumerism has changed the value systems and home/social environment where, 'I, 'me' and 'myself' is becoming a new personal agenda and slogan. No one have time for the other. Higher competition has brought in growing insecurity and fast paced life. Increased working hours and materialistic life style has spurred emotional disconnect, bringing to centre stage emotional trauma, despair and helplessness. Atrocities on women are increasing, women is being comodified, crime rate is growing and mental health of the society is under severe threat. The divorce and suicide rates are growing and the society is becoming internally hollow in the midst of material surplus. India is going from one extreme of social security under socialistic philosophy to the other extreme social insecurity under the capitalism oriented globalized environment.
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HOSSAIN, Saira, and Nazmin SULTANA. "Burnout in Secondary School Teachers: The Contribution of the Work Environment." International Journal of Psychology and Educational Studies 9, no. 4 (October 20, 2022): 1368–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.52380/ijpes.2022.9.4.755.
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Burnout can be defined as a distressing psychological state that an individual experiences from extreme and prolonged job stress. The present study explores the work climate factors contributing to teacher burnout at secondary schools in Bangladesh. A cross-sectional online survey was used to collect data from 300 teachers. Maslach Burnout Inventory- Educators Survey MBI-ES and Perceived Work Climate Survey (PWCS) survey were used to measure burnout and perception of work climate. The results from the multiple regression analysis revealed 3 three work climate factors: Innovation, Professional growth, and Recreation, which significantly influence at least one of the three components of teacher burnout and the overall burnout score. The study has implications for understanding the burnout-inducing factors and ensuring a better work climate for teachers in Bangladeshi schools.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic "Extreme Work Environment"
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Khan, Saeed Ullah. "La peur de l'échec des équipes dans les situations à haut risque." Electronic Thesis or Diss., Pau, 2025. http://www.theses.fr/2025PAUU2007.
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Cette étude examine les liens entre le travail et son environnement, et leurs effets sur la gestion des ressources humaines. La recherche concerne les équipes en environnements à haut risque, confrontées à des dangers physiques et psychologiques sévères. Depuis plus de 50 ans, les chercheurs ont étudié les équipes dans divers domaines comme l'exploration spatiale, les urgences médicales et les missions en mer, en se concentrant sur la performance.Cependant, cette étude explore le lien entre les performances de l'équipe et les environnements hostiles avec une forte peur de l'échec. La recherche a adopté une approche multidisciplinaire pour analyser la relation entre les facteurs de stress, le stress et la contrainte dans ces contextes spécifiques.Cette étude analyse les erreurs causées par la peur de l'échec au niveau individuel et collectif, en se basant sur le modèle IPO de McGrath (1965) et la théorie de la conservation des ressources de Hobfoll (1989). En utilisant une approche multivariée et longitudinale, l'auteur étudie l'impact des ressources individuelles et collectives sur les résultats à long terme. La conscience individuelle de la sécurité et de la cohésion d'équipe, ainsi que le comportement utile, influencent l'efficacité à long terme des équipes.L'étude examine l'effet du crossover en étudiant la peur de l'échec et la dynamique des ressources sur les performances individuelles et collectives de l'équipe. Nous utilisons une méthodologie multi-niveau et basée sur les données pour identifier les modèles et mécanismes des processus, soulignant l'importance stratégique de la gestion des ressources pour atténuer les effets négatifs de l'anxiété liée à l'échec dans un contexte hostile.Les données de la recherche ont été collectées auprès des équipes de vaccination anti-polio travaillant dans des zones à haut risque du Balochistan, le long de la frontière entre le Pakistan et l'Afghanistan. Ces zones ont été identifiées comme dangereuses pour les agents de vaccination anti-polio en raison des attaques terroristes. Les données ont été recueillies en trois phases sur trois mois auprès de 72 équipes de vaccination dans des zones à risque élevé, puis analysées avec la méthode DSEM dans Mplus (v. 8.11).Les résultats suggèrent que la sensibilisation à la sécurité et la formation à la cohésion d'équipe pourraient atténuer les effets négatifs de l'anxiété liée à l'échec. Favoriser la cohésion par l'entraide améliore les performances en cas de difficulté. De plus, cette étude souligne l'importance de comprendre les interactions entre les équipes et d'optimiser les stratégies de ressources pour garantir le succès à long terme dans des environnements stressants.Les résultats de cette recherche sont importants à la fois théoriquement et pratiquement. Les actions prises en gestion d'équipe doivent éviter les conséquences graves de l'échec.Je veux que vous résumiez cette phrase en français, en la rendant plus courte, plus condensée et plus concise. Prenez votre temps, soyez attentif, respirez profondément avant de réécrire la phrase. La phrase que vous produirez sera en français, aura le même contenu, aucune information ne sera ajoutée ou supprimée, et sera exempte d'erreurs orthographiques et grammaticalesThis study examines how employment and its surroundings affect human resources. The research examines high-risk teams facing serious physical and psychological threats. Teams in space exploration, medical crises, and deep-sea submarines have been studied for over 50 years, focussing on performance.This study seeks to link objective team performance to tough environments where failure is feared. The study examined the relationship between stressors (severe environment), stress (Fear of failure), and strain (number of mistakes) in such circumstances using organisational behaviour, psychology, and safety management.This study uses the input-process-output (IPO) model (McGrath, 1965) and the conservation of resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 1989) to examine individual and team mistakes caused by fear of failure. It examines how individual and team resources affect long-term results using a multilevel and longitudinal approach. Individual safety awareness and team cohesion as level 2 or between-level mediators affect teams' long-term performance, with helpful conduct as a moderator.In addition to the crossover effect, the study examines how fear of failure and resource dynamics impact team performance and individual team members. We employ a multi-level, data-driven approach to explore the patterns and mechanisms that underlie these processes, emphasising the strategic relevance of resource management in minimising hostile environment-induced fear of failure.The study included data from polio vaccination teams in high-risk areas of Balochistan, particularly near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, which UNICEF and other health organisations say is a terrorist hotspot. Mplus (version 8.11) was used to analyse data from 72 high-risk polio teams in three waves over three months using Dynamic Structural Equation Modelling (DSEM).The findings suggest that safety awareness and team cohesion trainings help reduce fear of failure. Teamwork via assisting behaviour improves performance under challenging settings. For long-term success in high-stakes contexts, the study emphasises understanding inter-team dynamics and refining resource allocation strategies.This study's conclusions are important for theoretical frameworks and practical implementations, especially in team management situations where failure can be disastrous.Extreme Environment, Team, Performance, COR theory, multilevel, longitudinal, DSEM
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Cham, Belinda. "Endurance in Extreme Work Environments." Thesis, Curtin University, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/85805.
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Extreme work environments represent complex and challenging settings in which optimal performance is required rather than optional. This thesis advances knowledge of how demands and constraints within extreme work environments impact sustained human performance over time. This thesis establishes a theoretical framework of endurance that models ongoing human performance in extreme work-life systems; and provides empirical evidence on the different ways complex work demands can impact short- and long-term endurance in real-world extreme work environments.
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Clack, Katinka. "Empowering leadership and safety behaviour in extreme work environments." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/62690.
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Research purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which both employees and leaders in extreme environments perceive the same levels of safety participation. Furthermore, this study examines the association between empowering leadership and team performance as well as empowering leadership and safety participation. Research design, approach and methods This study follows a quantitative approach as its main purpose is to establish relationships between constructs. As such, correlations and multiple regression analyses were conducted. Convenience sampling was applied to obtain the data. Firefighters and their immediate line officers (lieutenants) were surveyed. Five fire departments in small to medium cities were chosen in the Great Lakes and south-eastern regions in the United States (US). Questionnaires were distributed to 263 firemen, of which 186 were firefighters and 78 were their line officers/lieutenants. Main findings Results indicated that a positive association does not exist between firefighters' perceptions of safety participation and their leaders' perception of safety participation when control variables are added. Therefore, no significant relationship exists between firefighters' perceptions of safety participation and their leaders' perception of safety participation. Furthermore, the results also showed a positive association does not exist between empowering leadership and safety participation when control variables are added. Consequently, no significant relationship exists between firefighters' reports of empowering leadership and lieutenants' reports of safety participation. Lastly, regarding empowering leadership and team performance, the results did not support a direct relationship between these two constructs. Limitations The results should be interpreted bearing in mind that they are applicable to the United States of America and may not be generalised to the South African context. Additionally, very little research has been conducted on empowering leadership and safety behaviour in extreme environments, and therefore the literature review was limited to other organisational environments. Lastly, only three cultural groups (White, Black and Hispanic) and only men participated in this study, so results may not be generalisable to other demographic groups. The study was only positioned in extreme environments, specifically in firefighting, therefore it is unclear whether the results can be generalised to other work environments. Future Research It is suggested that this study is replicated, firstly because little research has been done in extreme environments but, secondly, that it also be specifically replicated in South Africa. Indicated by the data, a lieutenant's age has a positive association with how he perceives his team's safety participation. This could be due to various reasons. For example, the more experienced the lieutenant the more comfortable he gets towards the extreme environment. Lastly, it is suggested that research is conducted to determine other leadership styles which could be effective in extreme environments. Conclusion Insight was given into the empowering leadership style in terms of team performance and safety behaviour. Furthermore, the relation between firefighters' perceptions of safety participation and their leaders' perceptions of safety participation was not confirmed.Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2017.
Human Resource Management
MCom
Unrestricted
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Müller, Malin. "Functional workwear for miners working in the worlds largest underground mine : In what way can the future workwear for an extreme mine environment improve safety, facilitate the work flow as well as increase the comfort for workers situated more than 1045 meter below ground?" Thesis, Umeå universitet, Institutionen Designhögskolan, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-91808.
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PROBLEM This is my graduating thesis from the bachelor program in Industrial Design from Umeå Institute of design. In this project I have looked at in what way the future work wear for an extreme mine environment could improve safety, facilitate the workflow as well as increase the comfort for workers situated more than 1045 meters below ground. I have collaborated with LKAB in Kiruna, Sweden. LKAB is a mining company, exporting iron ore from the worlds largest underground iron ore mine. In the Kiruna mine, a new main level was recently opened at the level of 1365 meters. The extreme conditions down at this depth have created new challenges when it comes to work wear for the employees. METHODS AND FINDING RESULT During the project I have used several methods, all following a typical Industrial Design methodology. I started with visiting the mine, having a look at the entire process and talking to workes. After this I wrote a brief for the project, containing information on what the problem is today. I made an other trip to the mine to host a Pin-Point meeting and a workshop together with workers from different positions and work places within the mine. This to gain a further and more specific understanding in the problem -s. The workshop I hosted was to see what they themselves thought would be good solutions. Other methods I've used is survey, sketch ideation, evaluations with users, interviews, observations, visits to manufacturers, visit to the industrial wash / warehouse and mock-ups. I divided the problems in to categories: The fit of the clothes Ability to carry tools Material Functions / Adjustments The project has resulted in a concept of a new trouser and a new jacket for the workers at the LKAB iron or mine in Kiruna. The garments are of a lighter more durable material than the garments used today. The jacket and the trouser have now more specific pockets and are placed in better positions than earlier. I also tried to place seams better, this to avoid any discomfort and work related injuries. One of the problems today was that the jacket for some, created a pressure over the neck. I've added adjustment possibilities to the garments and inserted "softed" materials in some places to increase level of comfort. The result is portrayed as a full size model, in a women’s fit. RESULT The project has resulted in a concept of a new trouser and a new jacket for the workers at the LKAB iron or mine in Kiruna. The garments are of a lighter more durable material than the garments used today. The jacket and the trouser have now more specific pockets and are placed in better positions than earlier. I also tried to place seams better, this to avoid any discomfort and work related injuries. One of the problems today was that the jacket for some, created a pressure over the neck. I've added adjustment possibilities to the garments and inserted "softed" materials in some places to increase level of comfort. The result is portrayed as a full size model, in a women’s fit.
Books on the topic "Extreme Work Environment"
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1959-, Flecker Jörg, ed. Changing working life and the appeal of the extreme right. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate Pub. Co., 2007.
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Borgenicht, David. The worst-case scenario survival handbook: Extreme junior edition. Mankato, Minnesota: Smart Apple Media, 2015.
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Pinker, Susan. The sexual paradox: Extreme men, gifted women and the real gender gap. Toronto: Random House Canada, 2008.
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Butterfield, Moira. Extreme planet. Chelsea, London: WeldonOwen Publishing, an imprint of Bonnier Publishing Group, 2015.
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Balag, James. Extreme ice now: Vanishing glaciers and changing climate : a progress report. Washington, D.C: National Geographic Society, 2009.
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IEEE, International Workshop on Safety Security and Rescue Robotics (5th 2007 Rome Italy). 2007 IEEE International Workshop on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics: Rome, Italy, 27-29 September 2007. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Service Center, 2007.
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IEEE International Workshop on Safety, Security and Rescue Robotics (5th 2007 Rome, Italy). 2007 IEEE International Workshop on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics: Rome, Italy, 27-29 September 2007. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Service Center, 2007.
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IEEE International Workshop on Safety, Security and Rescue Robotics (5th 2007 Rome, Italy). 2007 IEEE International Workshop on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics: Rome, Italy, 27-29 September 2007. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Service Center, 2007.
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IEEE International Workshop on Safety, Security and Rescue Robotics (5th 2007 Rome, Italy). 2007 IEEE International Workshop on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics: Rome, Italy, 27-29 September 2007. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Service Center, 2007.
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Marone, Eduardo, Ricardo de Camargo, and Julio Salcedo Castro. Coastal Hazards, Risks, and Marine Extreme Events. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190676889.013.34.
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This article describes the threat costal hazards pose to existing life in light of climate change and natural disaster. It includes an overview of flooding, extreme waves, and other water-related stressors. The article discusses how human-induced risks in the coastal zone, resulting from mismanaged urbanization, persistent pollution, and overexploitation of resources, exacerbate matters and pose extra pressure on the environment, science, and society. Ways of measurement and reaction to these events, as well as best practices for preparedness, are discussed. Businesses, individuals, and ecosystems are under threat of destruction from these circumstances. The article also emphasizes the need to make scientific work in this field accessible and understandable to society and decisión makers.
Book chapters on the topic "Extreme Work Environment"
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Mancl, Dennis, and Steven D. Fraser. "The Future of Work: Agile in a Hybrid World." In Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming – Workshops, 63–70. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland, 2023. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48550-3_7.
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AbstractAn agile organization adapts what they are building to match their customer’s evolving needs. Agile teams also adapt to changes in their organization’s work environment. The latest change is the evolving environment of “hybrid” work – a mix of in-person and virtual staff. Team members might sometimes work together in the office, work from home, or work in other locations, and they may struggle to sustain a high level of collaboration and innovation. It isn’t just pandemic social distancing – many of us want to work from home to eliminate our commute and spend more time with family. Are there learnings and best practices that organizations can use to become and stay effective in a hybrid world? An XP 2022 panel organized by Steven Fraser (Innoxec) discussed these questions in June 2022. The panel was facilitated by Hendrik Esser (Ericsson) and featured Alistair Cockburn (Heart of Agile), Sandy Mamoli (Nomad8), Nils Brede Moe (SINTEF), Jaana Nyfjord (Spotify), and Darja Smite (Blekinge Institute of Technology).
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Mancl, Dennis, and Steven D. Fraser. "COVID-19’s Influence on the Future of Agile." In Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming – Workshops, 309–16. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58858-8_32.
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Abstract As a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the way the world works, collaborates, and plays has changed. Commerce has stalled with travel, hospitality, education, retail, and health sectors particularly affected. This paper is based on an XP 2020 panel organized by Steven Fraser and featuring Aino Corry, Steve McConnell, and Rachel Reinitz. The panel discussed the impact of COVID-19 on knowledge workers, the acceleration of digital workplace transformation, and anticipated long term effects from the pandemic in the context of agile practices. Four key observations emerged from the discussion: First, virtual collaboration between those working from home is enabled by a variety of communication tools – substituting for face-to-face interactions. Second, agile work practices are harder to perform given the virtual nature of meetings and interactions. Third, communication tools are not always adequate for high-bandwidth or informal interactions, such as brainstorming, side discussions, or hallway conversations. Fourth, forming new teams and onboarding staff is challenging in a virtual work environment.
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Balogun, R. Ayodeji, E. Adesanya Adefisan, Z. Debo Adeyewa, and E. Chilekwu Okogbue. "Thermodynamic Environment During the 2009 Burkina Faso and 2012 Nigeria Flood Disasters: Case Study." In African Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation, 1705–20. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45106-6_143.
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AbstractCritical or extreme atmospheric conditions which could result in flood disasters are important output for numerical weather forecast. This research applied thermodynamic variables to investigate the environment of two flood scenarios in West Africa as captured by the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) satellite. Results from the two case studies of flood events, in (i) Burkina Faso and (ii) Nigeria savannah, investigated in this research work, indicated that the September 1st 2009 flood, which was as a result of a single volumetric rainfall event of 408,070.60 ((mm/h)*km2) with 65% convective region in Burkina Faso, was initiated by interactions between extremely large lower tropospheric wind shear and cold pool dynamics. The case of the Nigeria savannah floods between July and September, 2012, was triggered by both continuous rainfall and release of water from the lagdo dam in Cameroon, which affected most of the communities in the river Benue axis. The continuous rainfalls were found to be as a result of extremely high convergence of moisture in the river Benue axis at different locations and periods. One of such rainfall events, as captured by TRMM satellite during September 29, 2012 in the Nigeria rainforest zone, indicated that the volumetric rainfall is 351,310.9 ((mm/h)*km2) with only 34% convective portion. From these results, it can be deduced that a combination of thermodynamic environmental variables, volume rainfall, and other satellite-derived convective parameters could provide important information for flood forecasting.
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Grehan, Helena, Belinda Smaill, and Michael J. Ostwald. "Creatively Reimagining Place and Community in a World of Extreme Weather." In Arts, Research, Innovation and Society, 183–97. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland, 2024. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56114-6_14.
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AbstractThis chapter explores connections between place, community and narrative in the context of a world beset by extreme weather events. Drawing on insights and readings from three disciplines—theatre studies, screen studies and architecture—the chapter constructs a rich picture of the ways these fields contribute to definitions of place and can potentially enhance disaster preparedness and recovery activities. Edward S. Casey’s theories of place and community provide a connecting thread throughout the chapter, along with his ideas about selfhood, “implacement” and the environment as a source of danger. As both an example of a work that begins to address these themes and a catalyst for discussion, the chapter examines the television series Fires (Ayres et al., Fires [TV Series]. Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2021), which dramatises the 2019–2020 Black Summer fire season in Australia. Starting with a broad view of the context depicted in this series, the focus then shifts to individual experience and finally emotional responses. The chapter concludes by considering future research opportunities through which the disciplines of theatre studies, screen studies and architecture can leverage applications of advanced technology to contribute to disaster preparedness, responsiveness and recovery.
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Milardi, Martino. "Adaptive Building Technologies for Building Envelopes Under Climate Change Conditions." In The Urban Book Series, 695–702. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2023. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29515-7_62.
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AbstractFollowing the widespread recognition of the urgency of environmental and energy issues, cities, now under the influence of the pandemic crisis, are called to cope with them through adaptation strategies to future scenarios that are constantly changing. At the same time, the implementation of adaptive building envelopes seems to be a promising alternative to achieve higher quality levels in the built environment, especially to counter and mitigate climate change, in line with EU directives. Adaptive envelopes can modify physical or chemical characteristics, exploiting environmental stimuli such as solar heat, temperature, airspeed, or atmospheric humidity. In this scenario, the experimental research in progress wants to define a new adaptive model by using innovative materials. It can be applied to curtain wall systems, intended as an element vulnerable to the effects of extreme events in a Mediterranean climate and more stressed by external energy flows. In this work, the author presents some parts of the research results, in which a necessary phase involved the reasoned recognition of adaptive materials for extreme applications or materials that can respond actively to possible external stresses. Research efforts are focused on the choice of the most suitable material to define the levels of environmental adaptability of the model, its constructability, and technological characterization. Finally, the performance verification of the adaptive model will be carried out at the TCLab section of the BFL of the Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria to develop prototypical lines that can facilitate the new approach to high environmental quality adaptive envelopes.
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Fernando, Rohan. "Artificial Intelligence Capabilities and Hyperselfish Intelligence, the Possible Impacts, and Why Humans Need Industry 5.0." In Translational Systems Sciences, 113–49. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore, 2024. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-9730-5_6.
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AbstractThis chapter explores the nature of intelligence itself, conceptualizing it as a massive operating system that functions on biological technology as human intelligence (HI), or digital technology as artificial intelligence (AI). Through the lens of biological technology, the operating system contains many different biological individuals, each with an evolved range of dimensional “capabilities” needed to exist in the world environment. The operating system itself can be considered a hyperselfish intelligence (HYPERINT) development system that is relentlessly evolving, and exploitatively optimizing the development of the highest performing technologies within the world environment, regardless of the needs of individuals or a species, in order to ruthlessly maximize its capabilities. This chapter argues that HYPERINT is driving humans towards a situation where AI technologies could rapidly lead to the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI) with super intelligence that vastly exceeds HI and human controllability. Strong global regulation of AI is needed to protect human civilization from the most extreme risks of AI and AGI. In conclusion, the chapter argues that the global community must make a transition out of Industry 4.0, which focuses on progressive total automation of human work, and move towards the goals of Industry 5.0, which are more human-centric and globally sustainable.
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Cinquepalmi, Federico, and Giuseppe Piras. "Earth Observation Technologies for Mitigating Urban Climate Changes." In The Urban Book Series, 589–600. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2023. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29515-7_53.
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AbstractSince 2010 United Nations declared that for the first time in history up to 50% of mankind is living in urban areas, implying that challenges connected with global changes need to be evaluated primarily within urban systems, using the most advanced available technologies. Earth observation is nowadays the most promising field of research assisting urban planners, city managers, and building designers in their work of improving urban resilience to cope with climate change effects, and the long-term changes connected with extreme climatic events. Even though the deep understanding of the functioning of urban systems is a key factor for improving the quality of life at all levels, urban development is still poorly monitored globally, and reliable and comparable satellite urban data across countries is still limited, slowing down international comparative research. The Copernicus UE programme, replacing the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme, recognizes the strategic importance of Earth observation for emergency management. Copernicus programme provides global, continuous, autonomous, high quality, wide-area Earth and Atmosphere observation. Copernicus links Space observations to ground-based and atmospheric data collection and processing, providing operational services in the fields of environment, ground infrastructures, civil protection, and security, supporting the implementation of a large number of sectorial and transversal public policies. Of the six thematic macro-areas of the present programme observation and ground monitoring of the European urban systems lies in the first thematic area of the land monitoring service. The enormous and continuous data generation from the Copernicus programme is allowing the construction of an accurate and up-to-date database to the state of health of our cities and surrounding environments, providing research materials simply inconceivable only a few decades ago.
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Rinauro, Sandro. "Imperialist Italian geography currents in the work of Roberto Almagià and his ambiguous relationship with the fascist regime." In Rethinking Geographical Explorations in Extreme Environments, 72–89. London: Routledge, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003095965-6.
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Poth, Alexander, Jan Jacobsen, and Andreas Riel. "A Systematic Approach to Agile Development in Highly Regulated Environments." In Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming – Workshops, 111–19. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58858-8_12.
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Abstract For established domains within highly regulated environments, a systematic approach is needed to scale agile methods and assure compliance with regulatory requirements. The presented approach works adequately in small agile teams – independently of the underlying method such as Scrum, Kanban, etc. – and is scalable to more and bigger teams or even entire subsidiaries. It is based on a compliance and a quality risk dimension respectively. Both dimensions are needed to fit regulatory requirements in our finance example with more than 100 developers in one subsidiary.
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Pinzari, Flavia, and Beata Gutarowska. "Extreme Colonizers and Rapid Profiteers: The Challenging World of Microorganisms That Attack Paper and Parchment." In Microorganisms in the Deterioration and Preservation of Cultural Heritage, 79–113. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69411-1_4.
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AbstractMicroorganisms form the backbone of life on Earth. Over billions of years, they have colonized and shaped every possible niche on the planet. Microbes have modelled both the land and the sea, and have created favourable conditions for multicellular organisms to thrive in. Our understanding of how microbial diversity is distributed across natural environments and how microbes affect ecosystems is constantly evolving as public databases are set up and new techniques based on massive sequencing are developed. The microbiome found in a particular anthropogenic environment is generally much less complex than those found in natural ones: there is less competition and the main actors are often linked to survival mechanisms regulated by a few limiting factors. Despite this simplicity, it is very difficult to link cause and effect when seeking to identify the role of individual organisms. In the case of biodeterioration of paper and parchment, even when analysing the individual components of a simple phenomenon, it is not always easy to understand the mechanisms at play. Works of art are unique objects and the elements that determine the arrival and establishment of one or more microorganisms and the direction that the biodeterioration process takes are always different. In some cases, however, there are common denominators and predictable mechanisms. The variables that come into play are examined below.
Conference papers on the topic "Extreme Work Environment"
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Chien, Kun-Chieh, Mehmet Kepenekci, Andrew Tunell, and Chih-Hao Chang. "Fabrication of Sapphire Nanostructures with Anti-Glare, Dust-Mitigating, and Scratch Resistant Properties." In Frontiers in Optics, FTh3C.5. Washington, D.C.: Optica Publishing Group, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1364/fio.2024.fth3c.5.
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This work reports sapphire nanostructures with broadband and omnidirectional antireflection properties. The structures also mitigate dust adhesion and has increased surface scratch resistance and can find applications in protective windows in extreme environment.
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Ivanov, Alexander, and Maria Ivanova. "ONLINE SERVICES FOR URBAN ENVIRONMENT MONITORING." In 24th SGEM International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference 2024, 139–48. STEF92 Technology, 2024. https://doi.org/10.5593/sgem2024/2.1/s08.18.
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Urban meteorological parameters and traffic emissions are characterized by microterritorial variability. Online weather and traffic information is the basis for creating online services to provide users with information about the toxicological risk, noise effects and thermal stress risk. The purpose of this work is to assess the possibilities of online environmental modeling. The methodology includes special field studies to select model parameters, developing models for online calculations of noise levels, concentrations of pollutants from traffic flows and microterritorial changes in temperature and wind speed, as well as tools for providing processing and storage of information. As a result, it was found that the concentration of nitrogen and carbon oxides in the roadside zone reaches maximum permissible values, which corresponds to the modeling results. The noise level exceeds 70 dBA and also corresponds to the simulation results. The effective temperature mitigation inside closed-canopy green areas compared to open space is several Celsius degrees and provides protection from thermal stress in accordance with the proposed model. The result of the work is the development of a test version of three services, including calculation of the concentration of pollutants during traffic congestion; calculation of the noise level produced by intensive traffic flow and calculation of the effective temperature during thermal stress for the hottest summertime. It is during thickening of traffic flows that the highest concentrations of pollutants are observed and at this time the risks of toxicological and noise effects are significant. The research conditions correspond in time and space to the highest level of local environmental risk. To perform online calculations, in addition to the parameters obtained during field studies, real-time information about the weather and traffic flow speed is required. The online services can be used both for users to make immediate decisions and for city policies to reduce emissions risks and to create urban green islands of thermal safety with a closed canopy that protects during extreme heat
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Aires, Jeremy, Shannah Withrow-Maser, and Nicholas Peters. "Utilizing Advanced Air Mobility Rotorcraft Tools for Wildfire Applications." In Vertical Flight Society 80th Annual Forum & Technology Display, 1–20. The Vertical Flight Society, 2024. http://dx.doi.org/10.4050/f-0080-2024-1079.
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Over the past decade, due in large part to heavy investment in the field of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), significant progress in rotorcraft-focused modeling tools has been made. Such progress has notably increased AAM rotorcraft modeling capabilities in the topics of conceptual design, preliminary design, and more recently flight dynamics. Yet, due to recent and persistent increases in extreme weather events, an emerging interest has been raised in utilizing such modeling capabilities for aiding in emergency relief efforts and other public good missions. This paper uses wildfire fighting as a representative public good mission and demonstrates the relevance of the NASA Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology (RVLT) rotorcraft toolchain to such missions. An emphasis is placed on flight dynamics modeling and control because of the hazards and challenges associated with the atmospheric environment of wildfires. In this work, the NASA FlightCODE tool was used to analyze both a UH-60 and the NASA six-passenger quadrotor reference model hovering in an experimentally informed wildfire turbulent environment. Preliminary results of this study estimate actuator usage exceedances and disturbance rejection capabilities of the vehicles' translational rate command systems. Leveraging the RVLT toolchain, refinement and expansion of this work could lead to handling qualities envelope estimation and design optimization for wildfire turbulent environments. This would provide pilots with additional information to make real-time decisions in high-risk scenarios and begins preparations for simulating these dangerous environments for pilot training and experimentation.
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Utu, Ilie, Nicolae Daniel Fita, Marius Daniel Marcu, Florin Muresan-Grecu, and Adrian Mihai Schiopu. "OCCUPATIONAL RISK ASSESSMENT IN 400/220/110/20 KV PORTILE DE FIER POWER SUBSTATION FROM ROMANIA." In 24th SGEM International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference 2024, 579–86. STEF92 Technology, 2024. https://doi.org/10.5593/sgem2024/5.1/s21.72.
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Regardless of its type and size, any organization is faced with risks that can affect the achievement of its objectives in terms of activities, strategic initiatives, operations, processes and projects, with different consequences on strategic, operational, financial results and image and reputation. All activities of an organization involve risks, and risk management is the process of substantiating the decision, by taking into account the effects of uncertainty on the materialization of objectives and determining the necessary measures and actions. The process involves the use of logical and systematic methods for continuous communication-consultation, context-setting, identification, analysis, evaluation and treatment of risks associated with any activities, processes, functions, products, services or values, monitoring and risk review. Any work environment must be safe and healthy, and this is not always the case for too many workers. Every day many examples of workers whose health is exposed to the action of risk factors include dust, gaseous noxies, vibrations and extreme temperatures. The primary aim of this study is to assess and quantify the occupational risks at the 400/220/110/20 kV Portile de Fier power substation in Romania, identifying key risk factors and proposing measures to mitigate them. The assessment is carried out using the National Research and Development Institute of Occupational Safety � NRDIOS Bucharest method, in order to establish the risk/safety levels in a quantitative manner, based on a systemic analysis and on the assessment of risks of accidents and professional diseases. The role of Occupational Risks Assessment for power substation at very high voltage is to generate the national economy electricity, well-being, and safety work and health environment, workers and workplaces secured, and security of industrial and power process, in order to optimally operate the national economy and ensure energy security. This involves multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary knowledge from the authors: power substation, safety work, energy security and risk management (assessment).
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Thota, Abhinav, Bernhard Haubold, Scott Michael, Thomas Doak, Sen Xu, and Robert Henschel. "Making campus bridging work for researchers." In XSEDE '13: Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment: Gateway to Discovery. New York, NY, USA: ACM, 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2484762.2484803.
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Alam, Md Fasiul, Serafeim Katsikas, and Stathes Hadjiefthymiades. "An advanced system architecture for the maintenance work in extreme environment." In 2015 IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering (ISSE). IEEE, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/syseng.2015.7302790.
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Barbey, A., M. Covil, E. Dahl-Hansen, D. Dawson, G. de Jong, F. Dugelay, D. S. Jones, et al. "Health Aspects of Work In Extreme Cold Within The E & P Industry." In SPE International Conference on Health, Safety, and Environment in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production. Society of Petroleum Engineers, 1998. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/46685-ms.
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Dahl-Hansen, Erik, Alex Barbey, Laurent Arnulf, Mike Covil, Geert de Jong, Francois Dugelay, Stephen Jones, et al. "Health Aspects of Work in Extreme Climates within the E&P Industry: The Heat." In SPE International Conference on Health, Safety and Environment in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production. Society of Petroleum Engineers, 2000. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/61018-ms.
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Qiao, Yidan, Deng Kai Chen, Wenyi Liao, Lin Ma, and Haotian Li. "Dynamic Assessment Method for Group Decision-making Errors in Extreme Work Environment Driven by Team Cognitive Model." In 15th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE 2024). AHFE International, 2024. http://dx.doi.org/10.54941/ahfe1004880.
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Due to the task demands, team operating in extreme environments is socially isolated, subject to prolonged physical constraints, and exposed to significant risks. The cognitive functional structure of team was focused, and the submarine team was regarded as a social interaction unit. The cluster of Performance Shaping Factors (PSFs) was reconstructed, incorporating the Team-PSFs groups. In terms of member variability, the three-parameter Weibull distribution function was used to construct the human time performance distribution function. The quantitative models of different team cognitive failure modes were constructed that consider the communication information elements within the team, including individual independent transmission, communication shared transmission, and information transmission. The proposed methodology was validated through simulation in a typical task of manned submarine unpowered diving.
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Duggirala, Vyas, Venkateswara Reddy, Arun Muley, Michael Stoia, and Doug Vanaffelen. "CFD Modeling of Additively Manufactured Extreme Environment Heat Exchangers for Waste Heat Recuperation." In ASME Turbo Expo 2024: Turbomachinery Technical Conference and Exposition. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2024. http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/gt2024-121284.
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Abstract Advanced Brayton cycle-based Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) system for a targeted energy efficiency of 20–50%, and gravimetric power densities of 1.6–1.9 kW/kg are attractive propositions for future airplane designs. One of the critical challenges for the maturation of these technologies is the need to achieve highly compact heat exchangers capable of operation under extreme pressure and temperature environments. The current work presents CFD modeling strategies for the design and development of additively manufactured Extreme Environment Heat Exchangers (EEHX). Modeling and simulation-driven design improvements to the heat exchanger (HX) are implemented to achieve a power density of 15 kW/kg under the extreme environment of 800°C inlet temperature and 80 bar pressure with supercritical CO2 as the working fluid. Various CFD based modeling methods are described, starting from selecting, rating, and sizing heat transfer (HT) surfaces, followed by detailed core modeling through periodic and end-section models. Further, a novel porous media-based modeling approach with a high-fidelity manifold model is implemented to generate optimal manifold profiles while minimizing flow maldistribution through the core. Comprehensive physical testing of the additively manufactured heat exchanger prototypes has been used to validate the developed numerical models within 5–10% of pressure drop and heat transfer predictions.
Reports on the topic "Extreme Work Environment"
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Parker, Michael, Alex Stott, Brian Quinn, Bruce Elder, Tate Meehan, and Sally Shoop. Joint Chilean and US mobility testing in extreme environments. Engineer Research and Development Center (U.S.), November 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.21079/11681/42362.
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Vehicle mobility in cold and challenging terrains is of interest to both the US and Chilean Armies. Mobility in winter conditions is highly vehicle dependent with autonomous vehicles experiencing additional challenges over manned vehicles. They lack the ability to make informed decisions based on what they are “seeing” and instead need to rely on input from sensors on the vehicle, or from Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) or satellite data collections. This work focuses on onboard vehicle Controller Area Network (CAN) Bus sensors, driver input sensors, and some externally mounted sensors to assist with terrain identification and overall vehicle mobility. Analysis of winter vehicle/sensor data collected in collaboration with the Chilean Army in Lonquimay, Chile during July and August 2019 will be discussed in this report.
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Thurston, Alison, Logan Gonzalez, Flora Laurent, Elizabeth Corriveau, and Robyn Barbato. Isolation and characterization of bacterial isolates from Alaskan permafrost for synthetic biology applications. Engineer Research and Development Center (U.S.), September 2023. http://dx.doi.org/10.21079/11681/47645.
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Operations in the Artic and other cold regions require technologies that can perform reliably under extreme cold conditions. Permafrost and frozen soils harbor a wide range of microorganisms that have adapted to extremely low temperatures and have unique metabolic capabilities relevant to military operations and that could be exploited to develop biotechnologies optimized for cold environments. Cold-tolerant bacteria (psychrophiles and psychrotrophs) are critical to the development of synthetic biology technologies meant to work in cold environments like the Arctic. Using bacteria isolated from Alaskan permafrost, we applied an experimental pipeline to test the best candidates for use as biological platforms, or chassis, for low-temperature synthetic biology. Since synthetic biology constructs will perform only as well as their chassis, it is critical that circuits expected to perform under extreme cold conditions are housed in chassis that are adapted to those conditions. We identified one permafrost isolate, PTI8, related to Rhodococcus fascians, that is capable of growing from −1°C to at least 25°C and which we experimentally confirmed to uptake and express the broad host range plasmid pBTK519, suggesting PTI8 is a candidate for use as a novel cold-adapted chassis for synthetic biology.
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Charalambous, H., D. Oropeza, and J. Cahill. Statement of Work: Near-net shaping of high-density, complex, spatially-tailored ceramics for extreme environments. Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), September 2024. http://dx.doi.org/10.2172/2473629.
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Baxter, W., Amanda Barker, Samuel Beal, Lauren Bosche, Ryan Busby, Zoe Courville, Elias Deeb, et al. A comprehensive approach to data collection, management, and visualization for terrain characterization in cold regions. Engineer Research and Development Center (U.S.), February 2024. http://dx.doi.org/10.21079/11681/48212.
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As global focus shifts to northern latitudes for their enhanced access to newly viable resources, US Army operational readiness in these extreme environments is increasingly important. Rapid and accurate intelligence on the conditions influencing operations in these regions is essential to mission success and warfighter safety. Arctic and boreal environments are highly heterogeneous, including changing extents of frozen versus thawing ground, snow, and ice that affect ground trafficability and visibility, terrain physics, and physicochemical properties of water and soil. Furthermore, projected climatic warming in these regions makes the timing of seasonal transitions increasingly uncertain. Broad coverage of long-term datasets is critical for assessing spatial and temporal variability in these northern environments at the landscape-scale. However, decadal measurements are difficult to acquire, manage, and visualize in the field setting. Here, we present a synopsis of data collection, management, and visualization for long-term permafrost, snow, vegetation, geophysics, and biogeochemical data from Alaska and review related literature. We also synthesize short-term data from various permafrost affected sites in the US and northern Europe to further assess the state of northern landscapes. Altogether, this work provides a comprehensive approach for high-latitude field site management to accurately inform mission-related operations in extreme northern environments.
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Trubac, Kathryn, Randall Reynolds, Timothy Cooke, Caylin Hartshorn, Douglas Punt, Christopher Donnelly, and Caitlin Callaghan,. Cold regions vehicle start : next-generation lithium-ion battery technologies for Stryker vehicles. Engineer Research and Development Center (U.S.), November 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.21079/11681/45921.
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Operating vehicles in extremely cold environments is a significant problem for not only the public but also the military. The Department of Defense has encountered issues when trying to reliably cold start large, heavy-duty military vehicles, specifically the M1126 Stryker Combat Vehicle, in cold regions. As noted in previous work, the issue stems from the current battery technology’s limited temperature range. This current project utilized the protocol established in the previous phase to evaluate next-generation lithium-ion battery technologies for use in cold regions. Selected battery technologies met necessary military specifications for use in large military combat vehicles and were evaluated using a mechanical load system developed in previous work to simulate the starting of a Stryker engine. This work also evaluated the performance of the existing battery technology of a Stryker under Alaskan winter temperatures, which will verify the accuracy of the simulated cold room testing on the mechanical load system. The results of the tests showed that while the system was able to reliably operate down to −20°C, the battery management system encountered challenges at the lower end of the temperature range. This technology has a potential to reliably support cold regions operations but needs further evaluation.
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Furman, Alex, Jan Hopmans, Shmuel Assouline, Jirka Simunek, and Jim Richards. Soil Environmental Effects on Root Growth and Uptake Dynamics for Irrigated Systems. United States Department of Agriculture, February 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.32747/2011.7592118.bard.
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Root water uptake is perhaps the most important unknown in the mass balance of hydrological and agricultural systems. The understanding and the ability to predict root uptake and the way it is influence by environmental conditions has great potential in increasing water and fertilizer use efficiency and allowing better control of water and contaminant leach towards groundwater. This BARD supported research is composed of several components, including a) intensive laboratory work for the quantification of root uptake and the way it is controlled by environmental conditions; b) development of tools for laboratory and field use that can help in sensing very low water fluxes and water content, which is a necessity for studying root uptake; c) development of capabilities to model compensated root uptake; and d) development of a database that will allow calibration of such a model. In addition some auxiliary research was performed as reported later. Some of the components, and especially the modeling and the HPP development, were completed in the framework of the project and even published in the international literature. The completed components provide a modeling environment that allows testing root compensated uptake modeling, a tool that is extremely important for true mechanistic understanding of root uptake and irrigation design that is based on mechanistic and not partially based myth. The new button HPP provides extended level of utilization of this important tool. As discussed below, other components did not get to maturity stage during the period of the project, but comprehensive datasets were collected and will be analyzed in the near future. A comprehensive dataset of high temporal and spatial resolution water contents for two different setups was recorded and should allow us understanding f the uptake at these fine resolutions. Additional important information about root growth dynamics and its dependence in environmental conditions was achieved in both Israel and the US. Overall, this BARD supported project provided insight on many important phenomena related to root uptake and to high resolution monitoring in the vadose zone. Although perhaps not to the level that we initially hoped for, we achieved better understanding of the related processes, better modeling capabilities, and better datasets that will allow continuation of this effort in the near future.
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Sherman, Amir, Rebecca Grumet, Ron Ophir, Nurit Katzir, and Yiqun Weng. Whole genome approach for genetic analysis in cucumber: Fruit size as a test case. United States Department of Agriculture, December 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.32747/2013.7594399.bard.
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The Cucurbitaceae family includes a broad array of economically and nutritionally important crop species that are consumed as vegetables, staple starches and desserts. Fruit of these species, and types within species, exhibit extensive diversity as evidenced by variation in size, shape, color, flavor, and others. Fruit size and shape are critical quality determinants that delineate uses and market classes and are key traits under selection in breeding programs. However, the underlying genetic bases for variation in fruit size remain to be determined. A few species the Cucurbitaceae family were sequenced during the time of this project (cucumber was already sequenced when the project started watermelon and melon sequence became available during the project) but functional genomic tools are still missing. This research program had three major goals: 1. Develop whole genome cucumber and melon SNP arrays. 2. Develop and characterize cucumber populations segregating for fruit size. 3. Combine genomic tools, segregating populations, and phenotypic characterization to identify loci associated with fruit size. As suggested by the reviewers the work concentrated mostly in cucumber and not both in cucumber and melon. In order to develop a SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) array for cucumber, available and newly generated sequence from two cucumber cultivars with extreme differences in shape and size, pickling GY14 and Chinese long 9930, were analyzed for variation (SNPs). A large set of high quality SNPs was discovered between the two parents of the RILs population (GY14 and 9930) and used to design a custom SNP array with 35000 SNPs using Agilent technology. The array was validated using 9930, Gy14 and F1 progeny of the two parents. Several mapping populations were developed for linkage mapping of quantitative trait loci (QTL) for fruit size These includes 145 F3 families and 150 recombinant inbred line (RILs F7 or F8 (Gy14 X 9930) and third population contained 450 F2 plants from a cross between Gy14 and a wild plant from India. The main population that was used in this study is the RILs population of Gy14 X 9930. Phenotypic and morphological analyses of 9930, Gy14, and their segregating F2 and RIL progeny indicated that several, likely independent, factors influence cucumber fruit size and shape, including factors that act both pre-anthesis and post-pollination. These include: amount, rate, duration, and plane of cell division pre- and post-anthesis and orientation of cell expansion. Analysis of F2 and RIL progeny indicated that factors influencing fruit length were largely determined pre-anthesis, while fruit diameter was more strongly influenced by environment and growth factors post-anthesis. These results suggest involvement of multiple genetically segregating factors expected to map independently onto the cucumber genome. Using the SNP array and the phenotypic data two major QTLs for fruit size of cucumber were mapped in very high accuracy (around 300 Kb) with large set of markers that should facilitate identification and cloning of major genes that contribute to fruit size in cucumber. In addition, a highly accurate haplotype map of all RILS was created to allow fine mapping of other traits segregating in this population. A detailed cucumber genetic map with 6000 markers was also established (currently the most detailed genetic map of cucumber). The integration of genetics physiology and genomic approaches in this project yielded new major infrastructure tools that can be used for understanding fruit size and many other traits of importance in cucumber. The SNP array and genetic population with an ultra-fine map can be used for future breeding efforts, high resolution mapping and cloning of traits of interest that segregate in this population. The genetic map that was developed can be used for other breeding efforts in other populations. The study of fruit development that was done during this project will be important in dissecting function of genes that that contribute to the fruit size QTLs. The SNP array can be used as tool for mapping different traits in cucumber. The development of the tools and knowledge will thus promote genetic improvement of cucumber and related cucurbits.
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Herbert, Siân. Donor Support to Electoral Cycles. Institute of Development Studies (IDS), April 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.19088/k4d.2021.043.
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This rapid literature review explains the stages of an election cycle, and how donors provide support to electoral cycles. It draws mainly on policy guidance websites and papers due to the questions of this review and the level of analysis taken (global-level, donor-level). It focuses on publications from the last five years, and/or current/forthcoming donor strategies. The electoral cycle and its stages are well-established policy concepts for which there is widespread acceptance and use. Donor support to electoral cycles (through electoral assistance and electoral observation) is extremely widespread, and the dominant donors in this area are the multilateral organisations like the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU), and also the United States (US). While almost all bilateral donors also carry out some work in this area, “almost all major electoral support programmes are provided jointly with international partners” (DFID, 2014, p.5). Bilateral donors may provide broader support to democratic governance initiatives, which may not be framed as electoral assistance, but may contribute to the wider enabling environment. All of the donors reviewed in this query emphasise that their programmes are designed according to the local context and needs, and thus, beyond the big actors - EU, UN and US, there is little overarching information on what the donors do in this area. While there is a significant literature base in the broad area of electoral support, it tends to be focussed at the country, programme, or thematic, level, rather than at the global, or donor, level taken by this paper. There was a peak in global-level publications on this subject around 2006, the year the electoral cycle model was published by the European Commission, International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). This review concludes by providing examples of the electoral assistance work carried out by five donors (UN, EU, US, UK and Germany).
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Jalkanen, Jukka-Pekka, Erik Fridell, Jaakko Kukkonen, Jana Moldanova, Leonidas Ntziachristos, Achilleas Grigoriadis, Maria Moustaka, et al. Environmental impacts of exhaust gas cleaning systems in the Baltic Sea, North Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea area. Finnish Meteorological Institute, 2024. http://dx.doi.org/10.35614/isbn.9789523361898.
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Description: Shipping is responsible for a range of different pressures affecting air quality, climate, and the marine environment. Most social and economic analyses of shipping have focused on air pollution assessment and how shipping may impact climate change and human health. This risks that policies may be biased towards air pollution and climate change, whilst impacts on the marine environment are not as well known. One example is the sulfur regulation introduced in January 2020, which requires shipowners to use a compliant fuel with a sulfur content of 0.5% (0.1% in SECA regions) or use alternative compliance options (Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems, EGCS) that are effective in reducing sulfur oxide (SOx) emissions to the atmosphere. The EGCS cleaning process results in large volumes of discharged water that includes a wide range of contaminants. Although regulations target SOx removal, other pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), metals and combustion particles are removed from the exhaust to the wash water and subsequently discharged to the marine environment. Based on dilution series of the Whole Effluent Testing (WET), the impact of the EGCS effluent on marine invertebrate species and on phytoplankton was found to vary between taxonomic groups, and between different stages of the invertebrate life cycle. Invertebrates were more affected than phytoplankton, and the most sensitive endpoint detected in the present project was the fertilisation of sea urchin eggs, which were negatively affected at a sample dilution of 1 : 1,000,000. Dilutions of 1: 100,000 were harmful to early development of several of the tested species, including mussels, polychaetes, and crustaceans. The observed effects at these low concentrations of EGCS effluent were reduced egg production, and deformations and abnormal development of the larvae of the species. The ecotoxicological data produced in the EMERGE project were used to derive Predicted No Effect Concentration values. Corresponding modelling studies revealed that the EGCS effluent can be considered as a single entity for 2-10 days from the time of discharge, depending on the environmental conditions like sea currents, winds, and temperature. Area 10-30 km outside the shipping lanes will be prone to contaminant concentrations corresponding to 1 : 1,000,000 dilution which was deemed harmful for most sensitive endpoints of WET experiments. Studies for the Saronikos Gulf (Aegean Sea) revealed that the EGCS effluent dilution rate exceeded the 1 : 1,000,000 ratio 70% of the time at a distance of about 10 km from the port. This was also observed for 15% of the time within a band of 10 km wide along the shipping lane extending 500 km away from the port of Piraeus. When mortality of adult specimens of one of the species (copepod Acartia tonsa) was used as an endpoint it was found to be 3-4 orders of magnitude less sensitive to EGCS effluent than early life stage endpoints like fertilisation of eggs and larval development. Mortality of Acartia tonsa is commonly used in standard protocols for ecotoxicological studies, but our data hence shows that it seriously underestimates the ecologically relevant toxicity of the effluent. The same is true for two other commonly used and recommended endpoints, phytoplankton growth and inhibition of bioluminescence in marine bacteria. Significant toxic effects were reached only after addition of 20-40% effluent. A marine environmental risk assessment was performed for the Öresund region for baseline year 2018, where Predicted Environmental Concentrations (PECs) of open loop effluent discharge water were compared to the PNEC value. The results showed modelled concentrations of open loop effluent in large areas to be two to three orders of magnitude higher than the derived PNEC value, yielding a Risk Characterisation Ratio of 500-5000, which indicates significant environmental risk. Further, it should be noted that between 2018-2022 the number of EGCS vessels more than quadrupled in the area from 178 to 781. In this work, the EGCS discharges of the fleet in the Baltic Sea, North Sea, the English Channel, and the Mediterranean Sea area were studied in detail. The assessments of impacts described in this document were performed using a baseline year 2018 and future scenarios. These were made for the year 2050, based on different projections of transport volumes, also considering the fuel efficiency requirements and ship size developments. From the eight scenarios developed, two extremes were chosen for impact studies which illustrate the differences between a very high EGCS usage and a future without the need for EGCS while still compliant to IMO initial GHG strategy. The scenario without EGCS leads to 50% reduction of GHG emissions using low sulfur fuels, LNG, and methanol. For the high EGCS adoption scenario in 2050, about a third of the fleet sailing the studied sea areas would use EGCS and effluent discharge volumes would be increased tenfold for the Baltic Sea and hundredfold for the Mediterranean Sea when compared to 2018 baseline discharges. Some of the tested species, mainly the copepods, have a central position in pelagic food webs as they feed on phytoplankton and are themselves the main staple food for most fish larvae and for some species of adult fish, e.g., herring. The direct effect of the EGSE on invertebrates will therefore have an important indirect effect on the fish feeding on them. Effects are greatest in and near shipping lanes. Many important shipping lanes run close to shore and archipelago areas, and this also puts the sensitive shallow water coastal ecosystems at risk. It should be noted that no studies on sub-lethal effects of early 19 life stages in fish were included in the EMERGE project, nor are there any available data on this in the scientific literature. The direct toxic effects on fish at the expected concentrations of EGCS effluent are therefore largely unknown. According to the regional modelling studies, some of the contaminants will end up in sediments along the coastlines and archipelagos. The documentation of the complex chemical composition of EGCS effluent is in sharp contrast to the present legislation on threshold levels for content in EGCS effluent discharged from ships, which includes but a few PAHs, pH, and turbidity. Traditional assessments of PAHs in environmental and marine samples focus only on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) list of 16 priority PAHs, which includes only parent PAHs. Considering the complex PAHs assemblages and the importance of other related compounds, it is important to extend the EPA list to include alkyl-PAHs to obtain a representative monitoring of EGCS effluent and to assess the impact of its discharges into the marine environment. An economic evaluation of the installation and operational costs of EGCS was conducted noting the historical fuel price differences of high and low sulfur fuels. Equipment types, installation dates and annual fuel consumption from global simulations indicated that 51% of the global EGCS fleet had already reached break-even by the end of 2022, resulting in a summarised profit of 4.7 billion €2019. Within five years after the initial installation, more than 95% of the ships with open loop EGCS reach break-even. The pollutant loads from shipping come both through atmospheric deposition and direct discharges. This underlines the need of minimising the release of contaminants by using fuels which reduce the air emissions of harmful components without creating new pollution loads through discharges. Continued use of EGCS and high sulfur fossil fuels will delay the transition to more sustainable options. The investments made on EGCS enable ships to continue using fossil fuels instead of transitioning away from them as soon as possible as agreed in the 2023 Dubai Climate Change conference. Continued carriage of residual fuels also increases the risk of dire environmental consequences whenever accidental releases of oil to the sea occur.
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Gender mainstreaming in local potato seed system in Georgia. International Potato Center, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.4160/9789290605645.
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This report presents the study findings associated with the project “Enhancing Rural Livelihoods in Georgia: Introducing Integrated Seed Health Approaches to Local Potato Seed Systems” in Georgia. It also incorporates information from the results of gender training conducted within the framework of the USAID Potato Program in Georgia. The study had three major aims: 1) to understand the gender-related opportunities and constraints impacting the participation of men and women in potato seed systems in Georgia; 2) to test the multistakeholder framework for intervening in root, tuber, and banana (RTB) seed systems as a means to understand the systems themselves and the possibilities of improving gender-related interventions in the potato seed system; and 3) to develop farmers’ leadership skills to facilitate women’s active involvement in project activities. Results of the project assessment identified certain constraints on gender mainstreaming in the potato seed system: a low level of female participation in decision-making processes, women’s limited access to finances that would enable their greater involvement in larger scale potato farming, and a low awareness of potato seed systems and of possible female involvement in associated activities. Significantly, the perception of gender roles and stereotypes differs from region to region in Georgia; this difference is quite pronounced in the target municipalities of Kazbegi, Marneuli, and Akhalkalaki, with the last two having populations of ethnic minorities (Azeri and Armenian, respectively). For example, in Marneuli, although women are actively involved in potato production, they are not considered farmers but mainly as assistants to farmers, who are men. This type of diversity (or lack thereof) results in a different understanding of gender mainstreaming in the potato seed system as well. Based on the training results obtained in three target regions—Akhalkalaki, Akhaltsikhe, and Marneuli—it is evident that women are keen on learning new technologies and on acquiring updated agricultural information, including on potato production. It is also clear that women spend as much time as men do on farming activities such as potato production, particularly in weeding and harvesting. However, women are heavily burdened with domestic work, and they are not major decision-makers with regard to potato variety selection, agricultural investments, and product sales, nor with the inclusion of participants in any training provided. Involving women in project activities will lead to greater efficiency in the potato production environment, as women’s increased knowledge will certainly contribute to an improved production process, and their new ideas will help to improve existing production systems, through which women could also gain confidence and power. As a general recommendation, it is extremely important to develop equitable seed systems that take into consideration, among other factors, social context and the cultural aspects of local communities. Thus, understanding male and female farmers’ knowledge may promote the development of seed systems that are sustainable and responsive to farmers’ needs and capacities.