Abstract: Injuries in professional sports occur on a regular basis. Some may be minor while others can cause huge impact on a player’s career and earning potential. In soccer, there is a high risk of players picking up injuries during game time. This research work seeks to help soccer players reduce the risk of getting injured by predicting the likelihood of injury while playing in the near future and then providing recommendations for intervention. The injury prediction tool will use a soccer player’s number of minutes played on the field, number of appearances, distance covered and performance data for the current and previous seasons as variables to conduct statistical analysis and provide injury predictive results using a machine learning linear regression model.
Abstract: Shorelines are vulnerable to significant environmental impacts from oil spills. Stranded oil can cause potential short- to long-term detrimental effects along beaches that include injuries to ecosystem, socio-economic and cultural resources. In this study, a three-dimensional (3D) numerical modeling approach is developed to evaluate the fate and transport of spilled oil for hypothetical oiled shoreline cases under various combinations of beach geomorphology and environmental conditions. The developed model estimates the spatial and temporal distribution of spilled oil for the various test conditions, using the finite volume method and considering the physical transport (dispersion and advection), sinks, and sorption processes. The model includes a user-friendly interface for data input on variables such as beach properties, environmental conditions, and physical-chemical properties of spilled oil. An experimental meso-scale tank design was used to test the developed model for dissolved petroleum hydrocarbon within shorelines. The simulated results for effects of different sediment substrates, oil types, and shoreline features for the transport of spilled oil are comparable to that obtained with a commercially available model. Results show that the properties of substrates and the oil removal by shoreline effects have significant impacts on oil transport in the beach area. Sensitivity analysis, through the application of the one-step-at-a-time method (OAT), for the 3D model identified hydraulic conductivity as the most sensitive parameter. The 3D numerical model allows users to examine the behavior of oil on and within beaches, assess potential environmental impacts, and provide technical support for decisions related to shoreline clean-up operations.
Abstract: An effective emergency response to accidents with chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or explosive materials (CBRNE) that represent highly dynamic situations needs immediate actions within limited time, information and resources. The aim of the study is to provide the foundation for division of unsafe area into risk zones according to the impact of hazardous parameters (heat radiation, thermal dose, overpressure, chemical concentrations). A decision on the boundary values for three risk zones is based on the vulnerability analysis that covered a variety of accident scenarios containing the release of a toxic or flammable substance which either evaporates, ignites and/or explodes. Critical values are selected for the boundary definition of the Red, Orange and Yellow risk zones upon the examination of harmful effects that are likely to cause injuries of varying severity to people and different levels of damage to structures. The obtained results provide the basis for creating a comprehensive real-time risk map for a decision support at CBRNE operations.
Abstract: Loosening of bolted joints in rotating machines can adversely affect their performance, cause mechanical damage, and lead to injuries. In this paper, two potential loosening phenomena in rotating applications are discussed. First, ‘precession,’ is governed by thread/nut contact forces, while the second is based on inertial effects of the fastened assembly. These mechanisms are reviewed within the context of historical usage of left-handed fasteners in rotating machines which appears absent in the literature and common machine design texts. Historically, to prevent loosening of wheel nuts, vehicle manufacturers have used right-handed and left-handed threads on different sides of the vehicle, but most modern vehicles have abandoned this custom and only use right-handed, tapered lug nuts on all sides of the vehicle. Other classical machines such as the bicycle continue to use different handed threads on each side while other machines such as, bench grinders, circular saws and brush cutters still use left-handed threads to fasten rotating components. Despite the continued use of left-handed fasteners, the rationale and analysis of left-handed threads to mitigate self-loosening of fasteners in rotating applications is not commonly, if at all, discussed in the literature or design textbooks. Without scientific literature to support these design selections, these implementations may be the result of experimental findings or aged institutional knowledge. Based on a review of rotating applications, historical documents and mechanical design references, a formal study of the paradoxical nature of left-handed threads in various applications is merited.
Abstract: In this study, a comparison of Range Of Motion (ROM) of middle and long-distance runners and swimmers has been made. The mobility of the various joints is essential for the quick movement of any sportsman. Knowledge of a ROM helps in preventing injuries, in repeating the movement, and in generating speed and power. ROM varies among individuals, and it is influenced by factors such as gender, age, and whether the motion is performed actively or passively. ROM for running and swimming, both performed with due consideration on speed, plays an important role. The time of generation of speed and mobility of the particular joints are very important for both kinds of athletes. The difficulties that happen during running and swimming in the direction of motion is changed. In this study, data were collected for a total of 102 subjects divided into three groups: control group (22), middle and long-distance runners (40), and swimmers (40), and their ages are between 12 to 18 years. The swimmers have higher ROM in shoulder joint flexion, extension, abduction, and adduction movement. Middle and long-distance runners have significantly greater ROM from Control Group in the left shoulder joint flexion with a 5.82 mean difference. Swimmers have significantly higher ROM from the Control Group in the left shoulder joint flexion with 24.84 mean difference and swimmers have significantly higher ROM from the Middle and Long distance runners in left shoulder flexion with 19.02 mean difference. The picture will be clear after a more detailed investigation.
Abstract: Interest in the development of appropriate safety culture in the oil and gas industry has taken centre stage among stakeholders in the industry. Human behaviour has been identified as a major contributor to occupational accidents, where abnormal activities associated with safety management are taken as normal behaviour. Poor safety culture is one of the major factors that influence employee’s safety behaviour at work, which may consequently result in injuries and accidents and strengthening such a culture can improve workers safety performance. Nigeria oil and gas industry has contributed to the growth and development of the country in diverse ways. However, in terms of safety and health of workers, this industry is a dangerous place to work as workers are often exposed to occupational safety and health hazard. To ascertain the impact of employees’ safety and how it impacts health and safety compliance within the local industry, online safety culture survey targeting frontline workers within the industry was administered covering major subjects that include; perception of management commitment and style of leadership; safety communication method and its resultant impact on employees’ behaviour; employee safety commitment and training needs. The preliminary result revealed that 54% of the participants feel that there is a lack of motivation from the management to work safely. In addition, 55% of participants revealed that employers place more emphasis on work delivery over employee’s safety on the installation. It is expected that the study outcome will provide measures aimed at strengthening and sustaining safety culture in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
Abstract: Badminton is one type of racket sports that requires repetitive overhead motion, with the shoulder in abduction/external rotation and requires players to perform jumps, lunges, and quick directional changes. These characteristics could be stressful for body regions that may cause badminton injuries. Regarding racket players including badminton players, there have not been any studies that have utilized medical check-up to evaluate epidemiology and mechanism of injuries. In addition, epidemiology of badminton injury in school age badminton players is unknown. The first purpose of this study was to investigate the badminton injuries, physical fitness parameters, and intensity of shoulder pain using medical check-up so that the mechanisms of shoulder injuries might be revealed. The second purpose of this study was to survey the distribution of badminton injuries in elementary school age players so that injury prevention can be implemented as early as possible. The results of this study revealed that shoulder pain occurred in all players, and present shoulder pain players had smaller weight, greater shoulder external rotation (ER) gain, significantly thinner circumference of upper limbs and greater trunk extension. Identifying players with specific of these factors may enhance the prevention of badminton injury. This study also shows that there are high incidences of knee, ankle, plantar, and shoulder injury or pain in elementary school age badminton players. Injury prevention program might be implemented for elementary school age players.
Abstract: This paper discusses a brain controlled robotic gait
trainer for neurorehabilitation of Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) patients.
Patients suffering from Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI) become unable to
execute motion control of their lower proximities due to degeneration
of spinal cord neurons. The presented approach can help SCI patients
in neuro-rehabilitation training by directly translating patient motor
imagery into walkers motion commands and thus bypassing spinal
cord neurons completely. A non-invasive EEG based brain-computer
interface is used for capturing patient neural activity. For signal
processing and classification, an open source software (OpenVibe)
is used. Classifiers categorize the patient motor imagery (MI) into
a specific set of commands that are further translated into walker
motion commands. The robotic walker also employs fall detection
for ensuring safety of patient during gait training and can act as a
support for SCI patients. The gait trainer is tested with subjects, and
satisfactory results were achieved.
Abstract: In the mining environment, tailings dam embankment is among the hazards and risk areas. The tailings dam embankment could fail and result to damages to facilities, human injuries or even fatalities. Periodic monitoring of the dam embankment is needed to help assess the safety of the tailings dam embankment. Artificial intelligence techniques such as fractals can be used to analyse the stability of the monitored dataset from survey measurement techniques. In this paper, the fractal dimension (D) was determined using D = 2-H. The Hurst parameters (H) of each monitored prism were determined by using a time domain of rescaled range programming in MATLAB software. The fractal dimensions of each monitored prism were determined based on the values of H. The results reveal that the values of the determined H were all within the threshold of 0 ≤ H ≤ 1 m. The smaller the H, the bigger the fractal dimension is. Fractal dimension values ranging from 1.359 x 10-4 m to 1.8843 x 10-3 m were obtained from the monitored prisms on the based on the tailing dam embankment dataset used. The ranges of values obtained indicate that the tailings dam embankment is stable.
Abstract: The study reported here investigated social cognitive theory (SCT) in the context of Vocational Rehab (VR) for people with disabilities. The prime purpose was to increase knowledge of VR phenomena and make recommendations for improving VR services. The sample consisted of 242 persons with Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI) who completed questionnaires. A further 32 participants were Trainers. Analysis of questionnaire data was carried out using factor analysis, multiple regression analysis, and thematic analysis. The analysis suggested that, in motivational terms, and consistent with research carried out in other academic contexts, self-efficacy was the best predictor of VR performance. The author concludes that that VR self-efficacy predicted VR training performance.
Abstract: Knee orthotics play an important role in aiding in the recovery of those with knee injuries, especially athletes. However, structural knee orthotics is often very expensive, ranging between $300 and $800. The primary reason for this project was to answer the question: can 3D printed orthotics represent a viable and cost-effective alternative to present structural knee orthotics? The primary objective for this research project was to design a knee orthotic for athletes with knee injuries for a low-cost under $100 and evaluate its effectiveness. The initial design for the orthotic was done in SolidWorks, a computer-aided design (CAD) software available at Loyola Marymount University. After this design was completed, finite element analysis (FEA) was utilized to understand how normal stresses placed upon the knee affected the orthotic. The knee orthotic was then adjusted and redesigned to meet a specified factor-of-safety of 3.25 based on the data gathered during FEA and literature sources. Once the FEA was completed and the orthotic was redesigned based from the data gathered, the next step was to move on to 3D-printing the first design of the knee brace. Subsequently, physical therapy movement trials were used to evaluate physical performance. Using the data from these movement trials, the CAD design of the brace was refined to accommodate the design requirements. The final goal of this research means to explore the possibility of replacing high-cost, outsourced knee orthotics with a readily available low-cost alternative.
Abstract: Resilience Engineering is a new paradigm of safety management that proposes to change the way of managing the safety to focus on the things that go well instead of the things that go wrong. Many complex and high-risk sectors such as air traffic control, health care, nuclear power plants, railways or emergencies, have applied this new vision of safety and have obtained very positive results. In the construction sector, safety management continues to be a problem as indicated by the statistics of occupational injuries worldwide. Therefore, it is important to improve safety management in this sector. For this reason, it is proposed to apply Resilience Engineering to the construction sector. The Construction Phase Health and Safety Plan emerges as a key element for the planning of safety management. One of the key tools of Resilience Engineering is the Resilience Assessment Grid that allows measuring the four essential abilities (respond, monitor, learn and anticipate) for resilient performance. The purpose of this paper is to develop a questionnaire based on the Resilience Assessment Grid, specifically on the ability to learn, to assess whether a Construction Phase Health and Safety Plans helps companies in a construction site to implement this ability. The research process was divided into four stages: (i) initial design of a questionnaire, (ii) validation of the content of the questionnaire, (iii) redesign of the questionnaire and (iii) application of the Delphi method. The questionnaire obtained could be used as a tool to help construction companies to evolve from Safety-I to Safety-II. In this way, companies could begin to develop the ability to learn, which will serve as a basis for the development of the other abilities necessary for resilient performance. The following steps in this research are intended to develop other questions that allow evaluating the rest of abilities for resilient performance such as monitoring, learning and anticipating.
Abstract: Analysis of fire data is a way for the implementation of any plan to improve the level of safety in cities. Such an analysis is able to reveal signs of changes in a given period and can be used as a measure of safety. The information of about 66,341 fires (from 2002 to 2012) released by Tehran Safety Services and Fire-Fighting Organization and data on the population and the number of households provided by Tehran Municipality and the Statistical Yearbook of Iran were extracted. Using the data, the fire changes, the rate of injuries, and mortality rate were determined and analyzed. The rate of injuries and mortality rate of fires per one million population of Tehran were 59.58% and 86.12%, respectively. During the study period, the number of fires and fire stations increased by 104.38% and 102.63%, respectively. Most fires (9.21%) happened in the 4th District of Tehran. The results showed that the recorded fire data have not been systematically planned for fire prevention since one of the ways to reduce injuries caused by fires is to develop a systematic plan for necessary actions in emergency situations. To determine a reliable source for fire prevention, the stages, definitions of working processes and the cause and effect chains should be considered. Therefore, a comprehensive statistical system should be developed for reported and recorded fire data.
Abstract: Thermal injuries remain a global health problem and a common issue encountered in forensic pathology. They are a devastating cause of morbidity and mortality in children and adults especially in developing countries, causing permanent disfigurement, scarring and grievous hurt. Burns have always been a matter of legal concern in cases of suicidal burns, self-inflicted burns for false accusation and homicidal attempts. Assessment of burn injuries as well as rating permanent disabilities and disfigurement following thermal injuries for the benefit of compensation claims represents a challenging problem. This necessitates the development of reliable scoring systems to yield an expected likelihood of permanent disability or fatal outcome following burn injuries. The study was designed to identify the risk factors of mortality in acute burn patients and to evaluate the applicability of FLAMES (Fatality by Longevity, APACHE II score, Measured Extent of burn, and Sex) and BOBI (Belgian Outcome in Burn Injury) model scores in predicting the outcome. The study was conducted on 100 adult patients with acute burn injuries admitted to the Burn Unit of Alexandria Main University Hospital, Egypt from October 2014 to October 2015. Victims were examined after obtaining informed consent and the data were collected in specially designed sheets including demographic data, burn details and any associated inhalation injury. Each burn patient was assessed using both BOBI and FLAMES scoring systems. The results of the study show the mean age of patients was 35.54±12.32 years. Males outnumbered females (55% and 45%, respectively). Most patients were accidently burnt (95%), whereas suicidal burns accounted for the remaining 5%. Flame burn was recorded in 82% of cases. As well, 8% of patients sustained more than 60% of total burn surface area (TBSA) burns, 19% of patients needed mechanical ventilation, and 19% of burnt patients died either from wound sepsis, multi-organ failure or pulmonary embolism. The mean length of hospital stay was 24.91±25.08 days. The mean BOBI score was 1.07±1.27 and that of the FLAMES score was -4.76±2.92. The FLAMES score demonstrated an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.95 which was significantly higher than that of the BOBI score (0.883). A statistically significant association was revealed between both predictive models and the outcome. The study concluded that both scoring systems were beneficial in predicting mortality in acutely burnt patients. However, the FLAMES score could be applied with a higher level of accuracy.
Abstract: The experiment was carried out in Valença, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, to evaluate the selectivity and weed control of carotenoid biosynthesis inhibiting herbicides applied alone or in combination with atrazine in elephant grass crop. The treatments were as follows: mesotrione (0.072 and 0.144 kg ha-1 + 0.5% v/v mineral oil - Assist®), tembotrione (0.075 and 0.100 kg ha-1 + 0.5% v/v mineral oil - Aureo®), atrazine + mesotrione (1.25 + 0.072 kg ha-1 + 0.5% v/v mineral oil - Assist®), atrazine + tembotrione (1.25 + 0.100 kg ha-1 + 0.5% v/v mineral oil - Aureo®), atrazine + mesotrione (1.25 + 0.072 kg ha-1), atrazine + tembotrione (1.25 + 0.100 kg ha-1) and two controls (hoed and unhoed check). Two application rates of mesotrione with the addition of mineral oil or the tank mixture of atrazine plus mesotrione, with or without the addition of mineral oil, did not provide injuries capable to reduce elephant grass forage yield. Tembotrione was phytotoxic to elephant grass when applied with mineral oil. Atrazine and tembotrione in a tank-mix, with or without mineral oil, were also phytotoxic to elephant grass. All treatments provided satisfactory weed control.
Abstract: People on construction scaffoldings work in dynamically changing, often unfavourable climate. Additionally, this kind of work is performed on low stiffness structures at high altitude, which increases the risk of accidents. It is therefore desirable to define the parameters of the work environment that contribute to increasing the construction worker occupational safety level. The aim of this article is to present how changes in microclimate parameters on scaffolding can impact the development of dangerous situations and accidents. For this purpose, indicators based on the human thermal balance were used. However, use of this model under construction conditions is often burdened by significant errors or even impossible to implement due to the lack of precise data. Thus, in the target model, the modified parameter was used – apparent environmental temperature. Apparent temperature in the proposed Scaffold Use Risk Assessment Model has been a perceived outdoor temperature, caused by the combined effects of air temperature, radiative temperature, relative humidity and wind speed (wind chill index, heat index). In the paper, correlations between component factors and apparent temperature for facade scaffolding with a width of 24.5 m and a height of 42.3 m, located at south-west side of building are presented. The distribution of factors on the scaffolding has been used to evaluate fitting of the microclimate model. The results of the studies indicate that observed ranges of apparent temperature on the scaffolds frequently results in a worker’s inability to adapt. This leads to reduced concentration and increased fatigue, adversely affects health, and consequently increases the risk of dangerous situations and accidental injuries
Abstract: The motorcycle has become one of the most common type of vehicles used on the road, particularly in the Asia region, including Malaysia, due to its size-convenience and affordable price. This study focuses only on crashes involving motorcycles with passenger cars consisting 43 real world crashes obtained from in-depth crash investigation process from June 2016 till July 2017. The study collected and analyzed vehicle and site parameters obtained during crash investigation and injury information acquired from the patient-treating hospital. The investigation team, consisting of two personnel, is stationed at the Emergency Department of the treatment facility, and was dispatched to the crash scene once receiving notification of the related crashes. The injury information retrieved was coded according to the level of severity using the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) and classified into different body regions. The data revealed that weekend crashes were significantly higher for the night time period and the crash occurrence was the highest during morning hours (commuting to work period) for weekdays. Bad weather conditions play a minimal effect towards the occurrence of motorcycle – passenger vehicle crashes and nearly 90% involved motorcycles with single riders. Riders up to 25 years old are heavily involved in crashes with passenger vehicles (60%), followed by 26-55 year age group with 35%. Male riders were dominant in each of the age segments. The majority of the crashes involved side impacts, followed by rear impacts and cars outnumbered the rest of the passenger vehicle types in terms of crash involvement with motorcycles. The investigation data also revealed that passenger vehicles were the most at-fault counterpart (62%) when involved in crashes with motorcycles and most of the crashes involved situations whereby both of the vehicles are travelling in the same direction and one of the vehicles is in a turning maneuver. More than 80% of the involved motorcycle riders had sustained yellow severity level during triage process. The study also found that nearly 30% of the riders sustained injuries to the lower extremities, while MAIS level 3 injuries were recorded for all body regions except for thorax region. The result showed that crashes in which the motorcycles were found to be at fault were more likely to occur during night and raining conditions. These types of crashes were also found to be more likely to involve other types of passenger vehicles rather than cars and possess higher likelihood in resulting higher ISS (>6) value to the involved rider. To reduce motorcycle fatalities, it first has to understand the characteristics concerned and focus may be given on crashes involving passenger vehicles as the most dominant crash partner on Malaysian roads.
Abstract: Western corn rootworm – WCR (Diabrotica virgifera sp.virgifera, Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) is economically the most important pest of maize worldwide. WCR natural population is already very abundant on Serbian fields, and keeps increasing each year. Tolerance is recognized by larger root size and bigger root regrowth. Severe larval injuries cause lack of compensatory regrowth and lead to reduction of plant growth and yield. The aim of this research was to evaluate tolerance of commercial Serbian maize hybrid NS 640, under natural WCR infestation and under conditions of artificial infestation, and to obtain the information about its tolerance to WCR larval feeding in two consecutive years. Field experiments were conducted in 2015 and 2016, in Bečej (Vojvodina province, Serbia). In experimental field, 96 plants were selected, marked and arranged in 48 pairs. Each pair represented two plants. The first plant was artificially infested with 4 mL WCR egg suspension in agar (550 eggs plant-1) in the root zone (D plant). The second plant represented control plant (C plant) with injection of 4 mL distilled water in root zone. The experimental field was inspected weekly. A hybrid tolerance was assessed based on root injury level and root mass. Root injury was rated using the Node-Injury Scale 1-6, during the last field inspection (September – October). Comparing the root injuries on D and C plants in 2015, more severe damages were recorded on D plants (12 plants - rate 5 and 17 plants - rate 6) compared to C plants (2 plants - rate 5 and 8 plants - rate 6). Also, the highest number of plants with healthy roots (rate 1), was registered in the control (25 plants), while only 4 D plants were rated as injury level 1. In 2016, root injuries caused by WCR larvae on D and C plants did not differ significantly. The reason is the difference in climatic conditions between the years. The 2015 was extremely dry and more suitable for WCR larval development and movement in the soil, compared to 2016. Thus, more severe damages appeared on artificially infested plants (D plants). Root mass was in strong correlation with the level of root injury, but did not differ significantly between D and C plants, in both years.
Abstract: The seat belt is a vital tool in improving traffic safety conditions and minimising injuries due to traffic accidents. Most developing countries are facing a big problems associated with the human and financial losses due to traffic accidents. One way to minimise these losses is the use of seat belts by passengers both in the front and rear seats of a vehicle; however, at the same time, close to nothing is known about the rates of seat belt utilisation among rear seat passengers in many developing countries. Therefore, there is a need to estimate these rates in order to know the extent of this problem and how people interact with traffic safety measures like seat belts and find demographic characteristics that contribute to wearing or non-wearing of seat belts with the aim of finding solutions to improve wearing rates. In this paper, an observational study was done to gather data on restraints use in motor vehicle rear seats in eight observational stations in a rapidly developing country, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and estimate a use rate for the whole country. Also, a questionnaire was used in order to study demographic characteristics affecting the wearing of seatbelts in rear seats. Results of the observational study showed that the overall wearing/usage rate was 12.3%, which is considered very low when compared to other countries. Survey results show that single, male, less educated passengers from Arab and South Asian backgrounds use seat belts reportedly less than others. Finally, solutions are put forward to improve this wearing rate based on the results of this study.
Abstract: One of the key problems facing in the analysis of Computed Tomography (CT) images is the poor contrast of the images. Image enhancement can be used to improve the visual clarity and quality of the images or to provide a better transformation representation for further processing. Contrast enhancement of images is one of the acceptable methods used for image enhancement in various applications in the medical field. This will be helpful to visualize and extract details of brain infarctions, tumors, and cancers from the CT image. This paper presents a comparison study of five contrast enhancement techniques suitable for the contrast enhancement of CT images. The types of techniques include Power Law Transformation, Logarithmic Transformation, Histogram Equalization, Contrast Stretching, and Laplacian Transformation. All these techniques are compared with each other to find out which enhancement provides better contrast of CT image. For the comparison of the techniques, the parameters Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Mean Square Error (MSE) are used. Logarithmic Transformation provided the clearer and best quality image compared to all other techniques studied and has got the highest value of PSNR. Comparison concludes with better approach for its future research especially for mapping abnormalities from CT images resulting from Brain Injuries.