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Preventing Workplace Incidents in Construction: Data Mining and Analytics Applications (Spon Research)
by Imriyas KamardeenThe construction industry is vital to any national economy; it is also one of the industries most susceptible to workplace incidents. The unacceptably high rates of incidents in construction have huge socio-economic consequences for the victims, their families and friends, co-workers, employers and society at large. Construction safety researchers have introduced numerous strategies, models and tools through scientific inquiries involving primary data collection and analyses. While these efforts are commendable, there is a huge potential to create new knowledge and predictive models to improve construction safety by utilising already existing data about workplace incidents. In this new book, Imriyas Kamardeen argues that more sophisticated approaches need to be deployed to enable improved analyses of incident data sets and the extraction of more valuable insights, patterns and knowledge to prevent work injuries and illnesses. The book aims to apply data mining and analytic techniques to past workplace incident data to discover patterns that facilitate the development of innovative models and strategies, thereby improving work health, safety and well-being in construction, and curtailing the high rate of incidents. It is essential reading for researchers and professionals in construction, health and safety and anyone interested in data analytics.
Prevention and Combating Mine Fires
by Sudhish Chandra BanerjeeThere is a growing concern about fires in mines, coal mines in particular. Attempts are being made to improve mine fire combat efforts and their prevention, taking advantage of developments in the fields of science and technology. This book looks at those developments and their applications.
The Prevention and Treatment of Missing Data in Clinical Trials
by National Research Council of the National AcademiesRandomized clinical trials are the primary tool for evaluating new medical interventions. Randomization provides for a fair comparison between treatment and control groups, balancing out, on average, distributions of known and unknown factors among the participants. Unfortunately, these studies often lack a substantial percentage of data. This missing data reduces the benefit provided by the randomization and introduces potential biases in the comparison of the treatment groups. Missing data can arise for a variety of reasons, including the inability or unwillingness of participants to meet appointments for evaluation. And in some studies, some or all of data collection ceases when participants discontinue study treatment. Existing guidelines for the design and conduct of clinical trials, and the analysis of the resulting data, provide only limited advice on how to handle missing data. Thus, approaches to the analysis of data with an appreciable amount of missing values tend to be ad hoc and variable. The Prevention and Treatment of Missing Data in Clinical Trials concludes that a more principled approach to design and analysis in the presence of missing data is both needed and possible. Such an approach needs to focus on two critical elements: (1) careful design and conduct to limit the amount and impact of missing data and (2) analysis that makes full use of information on all randomized participants and is based on careful attention to the assumptions about the nature of the missing data underlying estimates of treatment effects. In addition to the highest priority recommendations, the book offers more detailed recommendations on the conduct of clinical trials and techniques for analysis of trial data.
Prevention of Accidents and Unwanted Occurrences: Theory, Methods, and Tools in Safety Management, Second Edition
by Urban Kjellen Eirik AlbrechtsenThis new edition comes after about 15 years of development in the field of safety science and practice. The book addresses the question of how to improve risk assessments, investigations, and organizational learning inside companies in order to prevent unwanted occurrences. The book helps the reader in analyzing the subject from different scientific perspectives to demonstrate how they contribute to an overall understanding. It also gives a comprehensive overview of different methods and tools for use in safety practice and helps the reader in analyzing their scope, merits, and shortcomings. The book raises a number of critical issues to be addressed in the improvement process.
Prevention of Accidents at Work: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on the Prevention of Accidents at Work (WOS 2017), October 3-6, 2017, Prague, Czech Republic
by Ales Bernatik Lucie Kocurkova Kirsten JørgensenPrevention of Accidents at Work collects papers presented at the 9th International Conference on the Prevention of Accidents at Work (WOS 2017) held in Prague, Czech Republic, on October 3-6, 2017, organized by the VSB-Technical University of Ostrava. The conference on current issues within occupational safety is organized under the umbrella of Workingonsafety.net (WOS.net). WOS.net is an international network of decision-makers, researchers and professionals responsible for the prevention of accidents and trauma at work. The network aims to bring accident prevention experts together in order to facilitate the exchange of experience, new findings and best practices between different countries and sectors. WOS.net is supported by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA).The overall theme is safety management complexity in a changing society, with the motto: Do we need a holistic approach? Underlying topics include: Foundations of safety science: theories, principles, methods and tools; Research to practice: achievements, lessons learned and challenges; Risk management and safety culture: case studies, best practices and further needs; Safety regulation: reasonable practicable approach; Education and training: prerequisite for safety; Complexity and safety: multidisciplinarity and inter-stakeholder views. Prevention of Accidents at Work should be valuable to researchers, policy makers, safety professionals, labor inspectors, labor administrators and other experts in the prevention of occupational accidents.
Prevention of Accidents Through Experience Feedback
by Urban KjellenProviding a practical introduction to the basic theories and principals of accident prevention through diagnosis and feedback control, this book presents the various methods and tools of safety, health, and environment (SHE) practice where experience feedback is employed. These include methods of accident and near accident reporting and investigati
Prevention of Premature Staining in New Buildings
by Phil ParnhamThe appearance of ugly staining early in a buildings life, ruins an otherwise pleasing appearance, tarnishes the image of the owners and gives rise to costly refurbishment works. In this book Phil Parnham raises a number of questions that should be considered whenever a new building is being designed or built. These are: * why has staining become so prominent; * what causes premature staining; which parts of new buildings are likely to be affected; * how can it be avoided? By using a number of highly illustrated case studies, the author answers these questions and ends by suggesting measures that should be taken by all design and construction professionals to prevent premature staining.
Prevention of Reflective Cracking in Pavements
by A.Vanelstraete and L.FranckenCrack reflection through a road structure is one of the main causes of premature pavement deterioration. This is a widespread problem in many countries and highway maintenance authorities are having to find economic means of repairing and upgrading their pavements. This book is the eagerly awaited state-of-the-art report which considers all differe
Prevention of the Biological Contamination of Food: Processing/Distribution and Consumer Usage
by Thierry Bénézech Christine FailleThis book deals with risk management by focusing on microbiological risks. Throughout the food chain, foodstuff may be exposed to dangerous agents that can potentially affect its quality and thus the health of consumers. A good knowledge of the strategies and means of control implemented along the food chain after the primary production stage is a necessary condition and a prerequisite for any further improvement, but it is not sufficient. Indeed, in order to better prevent and therefore control these risks, it is essential to study both the phenomena of surface contamination and those relating to the elimination of this contamination by cleaning and disinfection operations in order to know the main mechanisms. Thanks to this, a certain number of innovations can already be proposed (new surfaces, new materials and cleaning and disinfection procedures, etc.) for future developments on an industrial or domestic scale.
Prevention of Thermal Cracking in Concrete at Early Ages
by R. SpringenschmidAn important new report from the RILEM Technical Committee 119. This book presents models and methods to determine thermal stresses and cracking risks in concrete. The possible influences on and causes of thermal cracking of concrete are discussed and cases of practical measures for avoiding cracking are detailed.
Preventive Biomechanics
by Christophe Then Gerhard SilberHow can we optimize a bedridden patient's mattress? How can we make a passenger seat on a long distance flight or ride more comfortable? What qualities should a runner's shoes have? To objectively address such questions using engineering and scientific methods, adequate virtual human body models for use in computer simulation of loading scenarios are required. The authors have developed a novel method incorporating subject studies, magnetic resonance imaging, 3D-CAD-reconstruction, continuum mechanics, material theory and the finite element method. The focus is laid upon the mechanical in vivo-characterization of human soft tissue, which is indispensable for simulating its mechanical interaction with, for example, medical bedding or automotive and airplane seating systems. Using the examples of arbitrary body support systems, the presented approach provides visual insight into simulated internal mechanical body tissue stress and strain, with the goal of biomechanical optimization of body support systems. This book is intended for engineers, manufacturers and physicians and also provides students with guidance in solving problems related to support system optimization.
Preventive Maintenance
by J. D. Patton Jr.This third edition of a best-selling classic shows how the investment in a preventive maintenance program repays a company in longer equipment life, smoother operation, planning, and scheduling. It includes information on computerized PM systems, enhanced techniques, and insights into preventive maintenance. The latest technology has improved equipment quality, reliability and dependability by fault-tolerance, redundant components, self-adjustments, and replacement of hydraulic and mechanical components by more reliable electronic and optical operations. Many components, however, still wear out, corrode, become punctured, vibrate excessively, become overheated by friction or dirt, or can even be damaged by humans. Fortunately, modern sensors and computers for condition monitoring and detection enable equipment to "call home" to report they need PM before they fail. The preventive maintenance advantage is that you will pay less now to do planned work when production is not pushing versus very expensive emergency repairs that may be required under disruptive conditions causing production to halt and loss of revenue. Good PM saves money over a product's life cycle. The book addresses major types of maintenance; advantages and disadvantages of PM; designing a PM program; economics of PM; nondestructive testing; scheduling; metrics; data issues; and much more.
Preventive Maintenance Technology for Asphalt Pavement (Springer Tracts on Transportation and Traffic #16)
by Feng Li Jinyan Feng Youxin Li Siqi ZhouThis book provides an overview of asphalt pavement maintenance, highlighting the key asphalt pavement maintenance technologies in China. It analyzes the trend toward preventive maintenance technologies and proposes technical guidelines and implementation rules for preventive maintenance. As such it is a valuable reference resource for technicians in related industries, both in China and abroad, as well as professionals involved in road infrastructure maintenance projects in countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.
Preventive Methods for Coastal Protection: Towards the Use of Ocean Dynamics for Pollution Control
by Ewald Quak Tarmo SoomereThe aim of the book is to present for non-specialist researchers as well as for experts a comprehensive overview of the background, key ideas, basic methods, implementation details and a selection of solutions offered by a novel technology for the optimisation of the location of dangerous offshore activities in terms of environmental criteria, as developed in the course of the BalticWay project. The book consists of two parts. The first part introduces the basic principles of ocean modeling and depicts the long way from the generic principles to the practical modeling of oil spills and of the propagation of other adverse impacts. The second part focuses on the techniques for solving the inverse problem of the quantification of offshore areas with respect to their potential to serve as a source of environmental danger to vulnerable regions (such as spawning, nursing or also tourist areas). The chapters are written in a tutorial style; they are mostly self-contained and understandable for non-specialist researchers and students. They are carefully peer-reviewed by international experts. The goal was to produce a book that highlights all key steps, methods, models and data sets it is necessary to combine in order to produce a practically usable technology and/or decision support system for a particular sea region. Thus the book is useful not only as a description and a manual of this particular technology but also as a roadmap highlighting the complicated technical issues of ocean modeling for practical purposes. It describes the approaches taken by the authors in an understandable way and thus is useful for educational purposes, such as a course in industrially and environmentally relevant applications of ocean modeling.
Prey (Fountas & Pinnell LLI Blue)
by Michael CrichtonIn the Nevada desert, an experiment has gone horribly wrong. A cloud of nanoparticles--micro-robots--has escaped from the laboratory. This cloud is self-sustaining and self-reproducing. It is intelligent and learns from experience. For all practical purposes, it is alive.It has been programmed as a predator. It is evolving swiftly, becoming more deadly with each passing hour.Every attempt to destroy it has failed.And we are the prey.
PRICAI 2021: 18th Pacific Rim International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, PRICAI 2021, Hanoi, Vietnam, November 8–12, 2021, Proceedings, Part III (Lecture Notes in Computer Science #13033)
by Fenrong Liu Guido Governatori Thanaruk Theeramunkong Duc Nghia PhamThis three-volume set, LNAI 13031, LNAI 13032, and LNAI 13033 constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the 18th Pacific Rim Conference on Artificial Intelligence, PRICAI 2021, held in Hanoi, Vietnam, in November 2021.The 93 full papers and 28 short papers presented in these volumes were carefully reviewed and selected from 382 submissions. PRICAI covers a wide range of topics in the areas of social and economic importance for countries in the Pacific Rim: artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing, knowledge representation and reasoning, planning and scheduling, computer vision, distributed artificial intelligence, search methodologies, etc. Part III includes two thematic blocks: Reinforcement Learning, followed by Vision and Perception.
PRICAI 2021: 18th Pacific Rim International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, PRICAI 2021, Hanoi, Vietnam, November 8–12, 2021, Proceedings, Part I (Lecture Notes in Computer Science #13031)
by Fenrong Liu Guido Governatori Thanaruk Theeramunkong Duc Nghia PhamThis three-volume set, LNAI 13031, LNAI 13032, and LNAI 13033 constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the 18th Pacific Rim Conference on Artificial Intelligence, PRICAI 2021, held in Hanoi, Vietnam, in November 2021.The 93 full papers and 28 short papers presented in these volumes were carefully reviewed and selected from 382 submissions. PRICAI covers a wide range of topics in the areas of social and economic importance for countries in the Pacific Rim: artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing, knowledge representation and reasoning, planning and scheduling, computer vision, distributed artificial intelligence, search methodologies, etc. Part I includes the following topical headings: AI Foundations / Decision Theory, Applications of AI, Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, Evolutionary Computation / Optimisation, Knowledge Representation and Reasoning.
PRICAI 2021: 18th Pacific Rim International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, PRICAI 2021, Hanoi, Vietnam, November 8–12, 2021, Proceedings, Part II (Lecture Notes in Computer Science #13032)
by Duc Nghia Pham Thanaruk Theeramunkong Guido Governatori Fenrong LiuThis three-volume set, LNAI 13031, LNAI 13032, and LNAI 13033 constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the 18th Pacific Rim Conference on Artificial Intelligence, PRICAI 2021, held in Hanoi, Vietnam, in November 2021.The 93 full papers and 28 short papers presented in these volumes were carefully reviewed and selected from 382 submissions. PRICAI covers a wide range of topics in the areas of social and economic importance for countries in the Pacific Rim: artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing, knowledge representation and reasoning, planning and scheduling, computer vision, distributed artificial intelligence, search methodologies, etc. Part II includes two thematic blocks: Natural Language Processing, followed by Neural Networks and Deep Learning.
The Price of Climate Change: Sustainable Financial Mechanisms
by Michael CurleyThe Price of Climate Change: Sustainable Financial Mechanisms presents a summary of the effects of global warming with specific emphasis on what these phenomena will cost and the price we must pay for trying to mitigate these processes. Some of these mitigation strategies include reducing our use of carbon by converting to non-carbon energy sources such as solar, wind, and nuclear, or lower-carbon sources such as natural gas. The book examines the financial implications of society adapting to the effects of climate change, including rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and desertification. Further, it addresses the costs to make buildings more resilient to climate change, such as flood considerations, improving durability against severe weather, bolstering insulation, and more. Sources of funding for any type of environmental projects, including those for climate change mitigation, are also examined. These include governmental budgets at the federal, state, and local levels, international development banks, international capital markets, and private funds. Features: Addresses global climate change issues from the standpoints of mitigation, adaptation, and resilience and the funding mechanisms for each. Describes different types of energy sources as well as their respective costs, including nuclear, solar, natural gas, and more. Examines the effects of agriculture on climate change as well as the potential ways it can be used to help mitigate the issue. The book’s straightforward approach will serve as a useful guide and reference for practicing professionals and can also be appreciated by the general public interested in climate change issues and mitigation strategies.
The Price of Oil
by Roberto F. AguileraDrawing on their extensive knowledge of the oil industry, Roberto F. Aguilera and Marian Radetzki provide an in-depth examination of the price of the world's most important commodity. They argue that although oil has experienced an extraordinary price increase over the past few decades, we have now reached a turning point where scarcity, uncertain supply and high prices will be replaced by abundance, undisturbed availability and suppressed price levels. They look at the potential of new global oil revolutions to bring the upward price push to an end and examine the implications of this turnaround for the world economy, as well as for politics, diplomacy, military interventions and the efforts to stabilize climate. This book will appeal to a wide readership of both academics and professionals working in the energy industry, as well as to general readers interested in the ongoing debate about oil prices.
Pricing of Ecosystem Services in Agriculture: A Basis of Crop Insurance
by Pratap Bhattacharyya Priyabrata Santra Debashis Mandal Biswajit MondalThe book deals with the pricing of ecosystem services provided by agriculture. All provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services are being covered in this title. Chapters in this contributed volume cover topics such as pricing of services from the soil, water, and nutrient management. Quantified monetary values of carbon sequestration and renewable energy applications in agriculture are covered with clear-cut methodologies. This book also links ecosystem service-based pricing with crop insurance. Improving the farmers’ livelihood is the central goal of the agricultural production system throughout the world. Under the climate change context, farms’ produce is now climate-vulnerable and heavily dependent on weather conditions. Moreover, we often neglect the contribution of several positive impacts of agricultural practices on ecosystems and natural resources. Therefore, there is a need to quantify and value these ecosystem services in agriculture. However, valuation and pricing the services in agriculture both tangible and intangible is a challenge. It is necessary to have clear-cut methodologies for pricing ecosystem services of agriculture in terms of net monetary benefits. The ecosystem service-based pricing could be a solid basis for calculating the insurance to farmers in case of occurrence of natural hazard and associated crop damage. This book is of interest to scholars, teachers, researchers, environmental scientists, watershed managers, capacity builders, and policymakers. The book also serves as effective reading material for undergraduate and graduate students of agriculture economics, ecology, agronomy, and environmental sciences. National and international agricultural scientists, policymakers will also find this to be useful.
Priests and Programmers: Technologies of Power in the Engineered Landscape of Bali
by J. Stephen Lansing William C. ClarkFor the Balinese, the whole of nature is a perpetual resource: through centuries of carefully directed labor, the engineered landscape of the island's rice terraces has taken shape. According to Stephen Lansing, the need for effective cooperation in water management links thousands of farmers together in hierarchies of productive relationships that span entire watersheds. Lansing describes the network of water temples that once managed the flow of irrigation water in the name of the Goddess of the Crater Lake. Using the techniques of ecological simulation modeling as well as cultural and historical analysis, Lansing argues that the symbolic system of Balinese temple rituals is not merely a reflection of utilitarian constraints but also a basic ingredient in the organization of production.
PRIMA 2020: 23rd International Conference, Nagoya, Japan, November 18–20, 2020, Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science #12568)
by Takahiro Uchiya Quan Bai Iván Marsá MaestreThis book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Principles and Practice of Multi-Agent Systems, PRIMA 2020, held in Nagoya, Japan, in November 2020. The 19 full papers presented and 13 short papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 50 submissions.Due to COVID-19, the conference was held online. The conference covers a wide range of ranging from foundations of agent theory and engineering aspects of agent systems, to emerging interdisciplinary areas of agent-based research.
PRIMA 2024: 25th International Conference, Kyoto, Japan, November 18–24, 2024, Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science #15395)
by Ryuta Arisaka Victor Sanchez-Anguix Sebastian Stein Reyhan Aydoğan Leon van der Torre Takayuki ItoThis book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Principles and Practice of Multi-Agent Systems, PRIMA 2024, held in Kyoto, Japan, during November 18–24, 2024. The 23 full papers and 10 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 76 submissions. They are organized in the following topical sections: coordination and cooperation; market approaches; logics; learning; agent-based modelling and simulation; computational social choice.
Primary and Secondary Manufacturing of Polymer Matrix Composites
by Kishore Debnath Inderdeep SinghThis book offers an insight into the primary and secondary manufacturing of different class of polymer matrix composites (PMCs). The major focus is on the fabrication of a variety of PMCs with substantial coverage of various processing techniques and related advantages and limitations. The book also describes secondary manufacturing processes such as machining and joining of PMCs and provides the know-how related to developing these techniques. It discusses recently commercialized tools and techniques and highlights the opportunities provided by the design and development of newer cutting tools and machining methods. The book covers material selection guidelines, product manufacturability, product development process, and cost-estimating techniques that help readers to understand where a process fits within the overall scheme and which is appropriate for a particular component. This book provides professionals with valuable information related to composites product manufacturing as well as state-of-the-art knowledge in this field.