Using an integrated process of data and modeling in HRA

The paper describes an approach taken to estimate the probabilities of failure associated with various railroad tasks to prevent accidents (principally collisions and derailments). These probabilities were estimated using an expert elicitation process that used partially relevant data available from a variety of databases and that were filtered and scaled to make them more directly relevant to the analyses being performed. Extensive qualitative studies were performed prior to the elicitation process to identify relevant contexts under which the tasks can be performed.     

Sociotechnical systems, risk management, and public health: comparing the North Battleford and Walkerton outbreaks

Accidents in different complex sociotechnical systems are rarely compared using the same theoretical framework for risk management. We conducted a comparative analysis of two Canadian public health disasters involving drinking water distribution systems, the North Battleford Cryptosporidium parvum outbreak in April 2001 and the Walkerton E. coli outbreak in May 2000. Both accidents resulted from a complex interaction between all levels of a complex sociotechnical system. However, the low-level physical and individual factors differed in the two cases, whereas, the high-level governmental and regulatory factors tended to be the same. These findings may have implications for the design of public policies to minimize risk in complex sociotechnical systems.     

A method of identifying latent human errors in work systems

Work system improvements are implemented in various manufacturing processes to prevent problems caused by human errors. However, they are almost always applied to problems which have already occurred. This paper examines a method of identifying latent human errors existing within the work systems beforehand. A procedure for applying failure mode and effect analysis to this identification problem was defined based on over 1000 empirical errors: a work system decomposition criterion and fundamental error modes for listing latent human errors, and then applied to three practical manufacturing processes in order to evaluate its effectiveness.     

Empirical comparison of image retrieval color similarity methods with human judgment

It is important to verify assumptions and methods of image retrieval against actual human behavior. A study was conducted to compare similarity methods of color histograms against human assessment of similarity. The similarity methods tested include basic histogram intersection, center histogram matching, locality histogram matching, and size-weighted histogram matching. 161 subjects participated in the empirical study. The findings, based on Spearman correlation analysis, showed that both the basic histogram intersection method and size-weighted histogram are very close to human assessment of similarity (Spearman correlation coefficient of 0.915). The other two are not close to human judgment on similarity. This study illustrates an alternative approach to evaluating matching algorithms. Unlike the usual measures of recall and precision, this approach emphasizes human validation. Fewer images are required with the use of statistical testing.     

Protein binding study of isoflavone, perillyl alcohol and S-ibuprofen by high-performance frontal analysis

High-performance frontal analysis (HPFA) was used for a protein binding study of isoflavones (daidzein, genistin, and genistein), enantiomers of perillyl alcohol and S-ibuprofen to human serum albumin (HSA). The analyses were performed on a Develosil and Inertsil 100-Diol-5 column (10 cm×4.6mm). Sodium phosphate solution (pH 7.4, ionic strength 0.17) was used as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 1 ml/min. To ensure the drug to be eluted as a trapezoidal peak with a plateau, injection volumes were each fixed up the zonal profile with an evident plateau appears. The unbound drug concentration was determined from a plateau height of the plateau region after that experimental data were fitted by Scatchard equation. The binding constants (K) and total binding affinities (nK) of drugs to HSA were calculated, respectively.     

Real-time control of video surveillance systems with program supervision techniques

In this article, we describe a knowledge-based controlled platform using program supervision techniques. This platform eases the creation and the configuration of video surveillance systems. Several issues need to be addressed to provide a correct system configuration: (1) to choose, among a library of programs, those which are best satisfying a given user request, (2) to assign a correct value for each program parameter, (3) to evaluate performances and to guarantee a performance rate which is satisfactory regarding end-user requirements. This platform is composed of three main components: the library of programs, the knowledge base and the control component. The knowledge is either given by experts or learnt by the system. The control is generic in the sense that it is independent of any application. To validate this platform, we have built and evaluated six video surveillance systems which are featured with three properties: adaptability, reliability and real-time processing.     

人支气管上皮靶细胞形态学参数的测量

支气管上皮靶细胞形态学参数对计算受氡子体照射的支气管的剂量是很重要的。本文介绍利用奥尔新兰-PAS 染色的外科切除人肺组织切片,测量基底细胞粘液细胞和的胞核深度与数目。结果表明,叶、段和小支气管的粘液细胞核深度分别为相应节段基底细胞的61%、69%和73%;此三节段粘液细胞的数目分别为基底细胞的53%、29%和28%,平均为37%。     

新经济增长理论对我国人力资本发展的借鉴

新经济增长理论为人力资本理论注入了新的内容,为各国如何利用人力资本发展经济提供了理论指导。分析了新经济增长理论中有关人力资本的理论,以此对我国经济和人力资本的发展提出了一些借鉴;收益递增模型。     

生活中的慢性杀手--石化合成洗剂

文章回顾了石化合成洗剂的发展历史，从经历的五代产品的发展过程中可以看出它经历了一个环保到不环保再到环保的曲折过程分析了石化合成洗剂的主要成分及其清洗去污的作用原理着重指出目前使用的石化合成洗剂虽然给生活带来便利，但同时也给人体健康和生态环境都造成严重的危害；倡导使用新型环保型的第五代洗剂已成为新世纪中清洗剂发展的必然趋势。     

人睫状神经营养因子基因克隆、表达、纯化及其生物活性

［摘 要］目的 克隆人睫状神经营养因子（hCNTF）基因，在大肠杆菌宿主系统中高效表达并纯化，获得具有生物活性的hCNTF蛋白。方法 以人染色体DNA为模板，经PCR扩增到编码CNTF成熟蛋白的cDNA序列，并克隆进原核表达载体 pBV220，在大肠杆菌 BL21（Gold）中进行表达，产物经 CM-Sepharose FF柱纯化后，以体外培养的鸡胚背根神经节（DRG）测定生物活性。结果 重组表达质粒pBV22Z- CNTF在大肠杆菌BL21（Gold）中获得了非融合的稳定、高效表达，目的蛋白占细胞总蛋白的45％左右，以可溶性和包涵体两种形式存在，表达上清及包涵体复性后经CM柱一步纯化纯度达90％以上；表达的重组hCNTF能促进培养的鸡胚背根神经节神经突起的生长。结论 基因工程rhCNTF的获得为进一步研究其结构功能关系和临床应用奠定基础。