System thinking applied to near misses: a review of industry-wide near miss reporting systems

Abstract

Learning from near misses is an important component of maintaining safe work systems. Within safety science it is widely accepted that a systems approach is the most appropriate for analysing incidents in sociotechnical systems. The aim of this article is to determine whether industry-level near miss reporting systems are consistent with systems thinking. Twenty systems were identified, from a range of work domains, and were evaluated against systems thinking-based criteria. While none of the reporting systems fulfilled the full set of criteria, all are able to identify actors and contributing factors proximal to events in sociotechnical systems and many capture information on how accidents were prevented. It is concluded that the explanatory power of near miss reporting systems is limited by the systems currently used to gather data. The article closes by outlining a research agenda designed to ensure that near miss reporting systems can fully align with the systems approach.     

富勒烯和碳纳米管在润滑体系中的研究进展

纳米材料改善润滑体系是摩擦学研究的热点之一.综述了富勒烯和碳纳米管改善流体润滑体系、固体润滑体系(固体膜、碳基、聚合物基、金属基、陶瓷基润滑体系)摩擦性能的研究进展.富勒烯和碳纳米管可使体系的摩擦系数减小、磨损率减小、硬度增大,从而优化摩擦性能.富勒烯和碳纳米管具有优良的自润滑性,有成为"分子滚珠(轴)"润滑添加剂的潜力.     

The initial motions for holonomic and nonholonomic mechanical systems

Whittaker first put forward a new approach, called the initial motions, to solve the differential equations of motion aimed at holonomic systems. Since most of the differential equations of motion for mechanical systems are nonlinear ordinary ones, which are difficult to find the analytic solutions. Fortunately, the concept of initial motions can manage these situations and study its subsequent motions. This work is devoted to discuss and investigate the initial motions for mechanical systems, particularly for nonholonomic systems. First, the differential equations for holonomic systems are formulated, and the formulation and solution of initial motions of the systems are proposed. Second, the differential equations of motion for nonholonomic systems are established, based on the new method of initial motions to obtain the initial values of high-order derivatives of generalized velocities, the formulation and solution of initial motions are introduced in the general nonholonomic systems and Chaplygin systems. The methods and results obtained are illustrated by a number of classical examples, both for holonomic and nonholonomic systems.     

Improved Systems Understanding by Similarities and Analogies

ABSTRACT

A set of definitions of systems engineering concepts is the point of departure of this article. Those definitions are generic and cover the system and its life cycle, the systems engineering discipline, and the systems engineering process. A systems engineer must be able to analyze and understand systems first on a conceptual level independent of technology, that is, a technology-free functional analysis. More detailed knowledge and deeper insight into a concrete technology are required later. The systems engineer must be able to move from one system project to another, sometimes with entirely different technologies and requirements. This article points to a need for greater flexibility and easier adaptability on the part of the systems engineer. This need implies that the knowledge base and professional toolbox for the systems engineer must meet this requirement also. A way this requirement can be met is by system similarity and the principle of analogy between functional characteristics of systems.     

Bioinspired Infrared Sensing Materials and Systems

Bioinspired engineering offers a promising alternative approach in accelerating the development of many man‐made systems. Next‐generation infrared (IR) sensing systems can also benefit from such nature‐inspired approach. The inherent compact and uncooled operation of biological IR sensing systems provides ample inspiration for the engineering of portable and high‐performance artificial IR sensing systems. This review overviews the current understanding of the biological IR sensing systems, most of which are thermal‐based IR sensors that rely on either bolometer‐like or photomechanic sensing mechanism. The existing efforts inspired by the biological IR sensing systems and possible future bioinspired approaches in the development of new IR sensing systems are also discussed in the review. Besides these biological IR sensing systems, other biological systems that do not have IR sensing capabilities but can help advance the development of engineered IR sensing systems are also discussed, and the related engineering efforts are overviewed as well. Further efforts in understanding the biological IR sensing systems, the learning from the integration of multifunction in biological systems, and the reduction of barriers to maximize the multidiscipline collaborations are needed to move this research field forward.     

工业摄影测量系统校准技术研究进展综述

摄影测量技术的逐渐成熟使得工业摄影测量系统的应用范围越来越广泛。然而,目前国内还未建立起摄影测量系统的校准规范或标准。本文总结了国内外与摄影测量系统校准技术相关的研究与应用,并在此基础上研究摄影测量系统的校准技术和方法、研制专用的标准器具和校准装置,拟制定一套完整的工业摄影测量系统校准规范,为摄影测量系统的制造和使用提供计量基础保障。     

A Review of Commercially Available Cost-Estimating Software Systems for the Construction Industry

ABSTRACT

A wide variety of estimating software systems for the construction industry is available on the market. Just as the needs of estimators vary greatly, so do the capabilities and applications of these systems. This article summarizes the results of a recent survey of commercially available cost-estimating software systems for the construction industry. The focus of this study is on the Australian market, although a few of the systems reviewed are from the United Kingdom and the United States. The study identifies a list of software features on which the systems are evaluated and summarizes these features in 17 commercially available estimating systems. The benefits of these systems are illustrated by example applications. The article then compares Australian estimating systems to U.K. and U.S. systems, based on similar studies performed by other researchers in those two countries. This article aims to assist users in identifying particular software features currently available from vendors and to provide a basis for the initial comparison of the systems reviewed. It illustrates the current level of development of commercially available computerized estimating systems found in most markets. It can help readers to become aware of the possibilities that now exist for computerized estimating.     

Intelligent transport systems and effects on road traffic accidents: state of the art

The results from several reviews have been presented and the aspects of road safety associated with intelligent transport systems (ITS) applications have been addressed. The attempt is to make a state-of-the-art regarding effects on accidents by categorising systems according to levels of evaluations methods that have been applied. These categories are effects on behaviour, effects on accidents by proxy/surrogate methods, accident studies from real traffic, effects on accident types and finally by meta-analysis where weighted estimates of effects on accidents can be calculated. Thirty-three IT systems including driver assistance systems/advanced driver assistance systems, in-vehicle information systems, in-vehicle data-collection systems and road telematics have been listed. Effects based on meta-analysis are estimated for 11 systems, and single accident studies are found for an additional 2 systems. For the remaining 20 systems, no studies from real road traffic have been identified. Effects on accidents of antilocking brake systems and electronic stability control (ESC) are presented in more detail according to their effects on certain accident types. ESC appears to be very efficient in reducing the number of accidents. Behavioural adaptations to ITS are considered and discussed, especially in terms of compensation mechanisms. Four hypotheses regarding prediction of effects on accidents are stated according to whether systems increase or decrease 'windows of opportunities' by calling upon a driver behaviour model where emotions play a central role     

From production systems to health care delivery systems: a retrospective look on similarities,difficulties and opportunities

Manufacturing systems have attracted substantial research attentions during the last 50 years. In recent years, there has been growing interest in health care systems research to improve efficiency, safety and care quality. The similarities identified between manufacturing systems and health care delivery systems heighten the importance of transferring the experience and knowledge in manufacturing to health care. In this paper, based on the lessons we learned and the experience we obtained during our journey from production systems research to health care delivery systems study, we discuss the similarities between production systems and health care delivery systems in system modelling, design, performance evaluation and continuous improvements and investigate the differences and difficulties that stem from variability, constraints, dynamics and human behaviour. Building upon these, the opportunities encompassing care operations, planning and scheduling, patient transitions, and safety and teamwork in health care delivery systems are discussed. Finally, the challenges and future directions are proposed. We expect this work to serve as a catalyst to stimulate more in-depth and comprehensive studies.     

Performance comparison of multiple product kanban control systems

Kanban control systems have been around for decades and have been used to control work-in-process of manufacturing systems. Lately many variations of the basic control system have been developed; however, much of the work in the development and comparison of control systems has focused on a single-stage manufacturing system producing a single product type. In this research, we present procedures for optimising multiple product kanban control systems, namely Base Stock, Traditional Kanban Control System and Extended Kanban Control System (both dedicated and shared type). We then conduct a detailed simulation study to compare the performance of the systems using a common total cost measure. Numerical results show that the dedicated and shared-extended kanban control systems outperform the other two systems. The study also shows that in spite of their different schematics and contrary to conventional wisdom, the performance of dedicated and shared-extended kanban control systems doesn’t differ much.     

Push and pull strategies for controlling multistage production systems

This study considers push and pull strategies to control multistage production systems with random processing times. Such systems are important as they mirror the level of complexity often encountered in practice. We start with definitions of push and pull systems, and develop a framework to compare multistage production systems based upon work-in-process (WIP) and throughput (TP) tradeoff. Surprisingly, we find that often push out performs pull, i.e. push systems accumulate less WIP than pull systems, while maintaining higher PT Concerning pull systems we find that WIP linearly increases in the number of stages and that WIP is not affected by variation in processing time. Concerning push systems we find that the release of material into the system in deterministic time intervals greatly improves performance.     

The Diffraction Theory of the Aberrations of Stigmatic Orthomorphic Optical or Electron Optical Systems Containing Toric Lenses or Quadrupoles

The diffraction theory of the aberrations of optical systems with an axis of rotational symmetry is now thoroughly established, and the extension to kindred electron optical systems is straightforward. In electron optics, however, certain types of systems containing quadrupoles are of importance, and such systems suffer from aberrations which affect only very oblique rays in axially symmetrical systems. The distortions of the wave surface which correspond to these new aberrations are listed in the present note, and Nijboer's expressions for the consequent disturbances in the image plane of a rotationally symmetrical system are supplemented accordingly. Only the special case—which is, nevertheless, an important one—of stigmatic systems, producing an image free of first-order distortion?, is considered. The analysis is applicable to electron optical orthogonal systems containing quadrupoles and optical systems containing parallel toric lenses alike.     

An analytical methodology for the dependability evaluation of non-Markovian systems with multiple components

Very often, in dependability evaluation, the systems under study are assumed to have a Markovian behavior. This assumption highly simplifies the calculations, but introduces significant errors when the systems contain deterministic or quasi-deterministic processes, as it often happens with industrial systems. Existing methodologies for non-Markovian systems, such as device stage method [1], the supplementary variables method or the imbedded Markov chain method [2] do not provide an effective solution to deal with this class of systems, since their usage is restricted to relatively simple and small systems.This paper presents an analytical methodology for the dependability evaluation of non-Markovian discrete state systems, containing both stochastic and deterministic processes, along with an associated systematic resolution procedure suitable for numerical processing. The methodology was initially developed in the context of a research work [3] addressing the dependability modeling, analysis and evaluation of large industrial information systems. This paper, extends the application domain to the evaluation of reliability oriented indexes and to the assessment of multiple components systems. Examples will be provided throughout the paper, in order to illustrate the fundamental concepts of the methodology, and to demonstrate its practical usefulness.     

非线性振动的模态方法

自从60年代Rosenberg 提出非线性振动系统模态概念以来,国外许多学者对之进行了大量的研究,取得了不少成果。但迄今为止,只研究了保守系统的模态,利用模态进行研究的也仅仅是系统的周期响应。我们将现有的非线性系统模态的概念加以发展,较系统地提出了一种利用非线性系统的模态研究非线性振动问题的方法——非线性振动的模态方法。该方法不仅适用于保守系统,而且适用于非保守自治系统和非自治系统;既可用来研究系统的周期响应,也可用来研究系统的非周期响应。     

Design and operation of single-loop dual-rail inter-bay material handling system

Asynchronized automated material handling systems, e.g. automated electrified monorail systems and automated guided vehicle systems, have been playing important roles in manufacturing. Reliability becomes a critical issue as manufacturing enterprises are moving toward automation. In the past, reliability tissue has not been analysed explicitly for these types of systems. In this research, a new measure was proposed to specify reliability. A mixed integer programming model was developed to design flow paths for a special class of material handling systems, i.e. single-loop dual-rail systems. The model can be used to design systems with higher reliability. The model and application procedure in design and analysis were demonstrated through two case studies.     

Throughput analysis of production systems: recent advances and future topics

Throughput analysis is important for the design, operation and management of production systems. A substantial amount of research has been devoted to developing analytical methods to estimate the throughput of production systems with unreliable machines and finite buffers. In this paper we summarise the recent studies in this area. In addition to the performance evaluation of serial lines, approximation methods for more complex systems, such as assembly/disassembly systems, parallel lines, split and merge, closed-loop systems, etc., are discussed. Moreover, we propose future research topics from the automotive manufacturing systems perspective.     

Nonlocally related PDE systems for one-dimensional nonlinear elastodynamics

Complete dynamical PDE systems of one-dimensional nonlinear elasticity satisfying the principle of material frame indifference are derived in Eulerian and Lagrangian formulations. These systems are considered within the framework of equivalent nonlocally related PDE systems. Consequently, a direct relation between the Euler and Lagrange systems is obtained. Moreover, other equivalent PDE systems nonlocally related to both of these familiar systems are obtained. Point symmetries of three of these nonlocally related PDE systems of nonlinear elasticity are classified with respect to constitutive and loading functions. Consequently, new symmetries are computed that are: nonlocal for the Euler system and local for the Lagrange system; local for the Euler system and nonlocal for the Lagrange system; nonlocal for both the Euler and Lagrange systems. For realistic constitutive functions and boundary conditions, new dynamical solutions are constructed for the Euler system that only arise as symmetry reductions from invariance under nonlocal symmetries.     

Life cycle optimization of building energy systems

A life cycle optimization model intended to potentially reduce the environmental impacts of energy use in commercial buildings is presented. A combination of energy simulation, life cycle assessment, and operations research techniques are used to develop the model. In addition to conventional energy systems, such as the electric grid and a gas boiler, cogeneration systems which concurrently generate power and heat are investigated as an alternative source of energy. Cogeneration systems appeared to be an attractive alternative to conventional systems when considering life cycle environmental criteria. Internal combustion engine and microturbine (MT) cogeneration systems resulted in a reduction of up to 38% in global warming potential compared with conventional systems, while solid oxide fuel cell and MT cogeneration systems resulted in a reduction of up to 94% in tropospheric ozone precursor potential (TOPP). Results include a Pareto-optimal frontier between reducing costs and reducing the selected environmental indicators.     

供应链系统仿真模型及优化

采用系统仿真的思想对供应链系统进行研究.建立了包括供应商、制造商及零售商的供应链系统仿真模型并对其进行了优化.通过运行该模型,可研究供应链系统的动态行为;分析随机因素对供应链系统的影响;识别供应链系统的瓶颈.仿真优化结果为管理者正确决策提供依据.