Construction safety for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong

The construction industry of Hong Kong is experiencing an ageing problem and a labour shortage. To alleviate the shortage of construction workforce, the government has initiatives to assist ethnic minorities to join the construction industry. It is foreseeable that more people from the ethnic minorities will join the construction industry. The safety of workers from the ethnic minorities in construction has attracted growing research interest in many developed countries. Statistics show that workers from the ethnic minorities were nearly 30 percent more likely to have work-related injuries than local workers. However, in Hong Kong, official statistics on the safety of workers from the ethnic minorities are not available. This reflects the racial or ethnic insensitivity of the construction industry in Hong Kong. As the safety of ethnic minorities has not received the attention, this research seeking to contribute to efforts to improve the safety of workers from the ethnic minorities in the construction industry of Hong Kong is all the more urgent. This paper provides an initial report of a research project which focuses on improving the safety of ethnic minority construction workers. Qualitative and quantitative research methods applied in conducting the research are first discussed. Preliminary statistics of construction accidents involving ethnic minority construction workers will then be reported.

Genetic technologies and the regulation of reproductive decision-making in Australia

This article provides a critical analysis of the current Australian regulatory landscape at the interface between genetics and reproductive decision- making. The authors argue that a comparative analysis with other countries and international law and a contextual examination of the way law regulates concepts such as disease and health, abnormality and normality is necessary before we can develop appropriate policy and legislative responses in this area. Specific genetic testing technologies are considered including prenatal genetic testing, preimplantation genetic diagnosis and inheritable genetic modification. An increasing number of members of the Australian community are using genetic testing technologies when they decide to have a baby. The authors argue that as concepts of disease and health vary among members of the community and the potential to test for traits other than illness increases, a new tension arises between an ethic of individual choice and a role for government in regulating reproductive decision-making.

Globalising the body : globalisation and reproductive rights

Globalisation is a phenomenon of the contemporary world. Everywhere around us there seem to be signs of the power of the forces of globalisation: in our media and popular culture; in our international linkages across continents through international travel and telecommunications; in our globalised trade; and with the global movement of people, a process which itself ranges from the movement of international tourists to the international movement of refugees and other displaced persons. The processes of globalisation seem to simultaneously unify and divide us. There is no doubt that we live in a globalised world and that we are connected to others in previously unimaginable ways by transportation, telecommunications and economics. Yet, while this global context increasingly links us to others, there is also a very real sense in which separation, difference and the local have also gained a new significance; we are locked in a tension between the universal and the particular that has come to typify contemporary society. This article explores the meanings of globalisation and this dynamic – or tension – between the universal and the particular in terms of its implications for the body and, in particular, its significance for women and their reproductive rights.

What is a good project manager? An Aristotelian perspective

The purpose of this paper is to take a critical look at the question “what is a competent project manager?” and bring some fresh added-value insights. This leads us to analyze the definitions, and assessment approaches of project manager competence. Three major standards as prescribed by PMI, IPMA, and GAPPS are considered for review from an attribute-based and performance-based approach and from a deontological and consequentialist ethics perspectives. Two fundamental tensions are identified: an ethical tension between the standards and the related competence assessment frameworks and a tension between attribute and performance-based approaches. Aristotelian ethical and practical philosophy is brought in to reconcile these differences. Considering ethics of character that rises beyond the normative deontological and consequentialist perspectives is suggested. Taking the mediating role of praxis and phrónêsis between theory and practice into consideration is advocated to resolve the tension between performance and attribute-based approaches to competence assessment.

Alterations in cervical muscle activity in functional and stressful tasks in female office workers with neck pain

This study determined differences between computer workers with varying levels of neck pain in terms of work stressors, employee strain, electromyography (EMG) amplitude and heart rate response to various tasks. Participants included 85 workers (33, no pain; 38, mild pain; 14, moderate pain) and 22 non-working controls. Work stressors evaluated were job demands, decision authority, and social support. Heart rate was recorded during three tasks: copy-typing, typing with superimposed stress and a colour word task. Measures included electromyography signals from the sternocleidomastoid (SCM), anterior scalene (AS), cervical extensor (CE) and upper trapezius (UT) muscles bilaterally. Results showed no difference between groups in work stressors or employee strain measures. Workers with and without pain had higher measured levels of EMG amplitude in SCM, AS and CE muscles during the tasks than controls (all P < 0.02). In workers with neck pain, the UT had difficulty in switching off on completion of tasks compared with controls and workers without pain. There was an increase in heart rate, perceived tension and pain and decrease in accuracy for all groups during the stressful tasks with symptomatic workers producing more typing errors than controls and workers without pain. These findings suggest an altered muscle recruitment pattern in the neck flexor and extensor muscles. Whether this is a consequence or source of the musculoskeletal disorder cannot be determined from this study. It is possible that workers currently without symptoms may be at risk of developing a musculoskeletal disorder.

Physical activity patterns of inner-city elementary schoolchildren

Purpose This study aimed to objectively measure the physical activity (PA) characteristics of a racially and ethnically diverse sample of inner-city elementary schoolchildren and to examine the influence of sex, race/ethnicity, grade level, and weight status on PA. Methods A total of 470 students in grades 4-6 from six inner-city schools in Philadelphia wore an ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometer (Actigraph, Pensacola, FL) for up to 7 d. The resultant data were uploaded to a customized Visual Basic EXCEL macro to determine the time spent in sedentary (SED), light-intensity PA (LPA), and moderate- to vigorous-intensity PA (MVPA). Results On average, students accumulated 48 min of MVPA daily. Expressed as a percentage of monitoring time, students were sedentary for 63% of the time, in LPA 31% of the time, and in MVPA 6% of the time. Across all race/ethnicity and grade level groups, boys exhibited significantly higher levels of MVPA than girls did; fifth-grade boys exhibited significantly lower MVPA levels than fourth-and sixth-grade boys did, and sixth-grade girls exhibited significantly lower MVPA levels than fourth-and fifth-grade girls did. Hispanic children exhibited lower levels of MVPA than children from other racial/ethnic groups did, and overweight and obese children exhibited significantly lower MVPA levels than children in the healthy weight range did. Across the entire sample, only 24.3% met the current public health guidelines for PA. Physical inactivity was significantly greater among females, Hispanics, and overweight and obese students. Conclusions Fewer than one in four inner-city schoolchildren accumulated the recommended 60 min of MVPA daily. These findings highlight the need for effective and sustainable programs to promote PA in inner-city youth.

Numerical investigation on stable crack growth in plane stress

Large deformation finite element analysis has been carried out to investigate the stress-strain fields ahead of a growing crack for compact tension .a=W D 0:5/ and three-point bend .a=W D 0:1 and 0:5/ specimens under plane stress condition. The crack growth is controlled by the experimental J -integral resistance curves measured by Sun et al. The results indicate that the distributions of opening stress, equivalent stress and equivalent strain ahead of a growing crack are not sensitive to specimen geometry. For both stationary and growing cracks, similar distributions of opening stress and triaxiality can be found along the ligament. During stable crack growth, the crack-tip opening displacement (CTOD) resistance curve and the cohesive fracture energy in the fracture process zone are independent of specimen geometry and may be suitable criteria for characterizing stable crack growth in plane stress.

Effect of constraint on ductile crack growth and ductile-brittle fracture transition of a carbon steel

Ductile-brittle fracture transition was investigated using compact tension (CT) specimens from -70oC to 40oC for a carbon steel. Large deformation finite element analysis has been carried out to simulate the stable crack growth in the compact tension (CT, a/W=0.6), three point-point bend (SE(B), a/W=0.1) and centre-cracked tension (M(T), a/W=0.5) specimens. Experimental crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) resistance curve was employed as the crack growth criterion. Ductile tearing is sensitive to constraint and tearing modulus increases with reduced constraint level. The finite element analysis shows that path-dependence of J-integral occurs from the very beginning of crack growth and ductile crack growth elevates the opening stress on the remaining ligament. Cleavage may occur after some ductile crack growth due to the increase of opening stress. For both stationary and growing cracks, the magnitude of opening stress increases with increasing in-plane constraint. The ductile-brittle transition takes place when the opening stress ahead of the crack tip reaches the local cleavage stress as the in-plane constraint of the specimen increases.

Failure of discontinuous railhead edges due to plastic strain accumulation

Railhead is perhaps the highest stressed civil infrastructure due to the passage of heavily loaded wheels through a very small contact patch. The stresses at the contact patch cause yielding of the railhead material and wear. Many theories exist for the prediction of these mechanisms of continuous rails; this process in the discontinuous rails is relatively sparingly researched. Discontinuous railhead edges fail due to accumulating excessive plastic strains. Significant safety concern is widely reported as these edges form part of Insulated Rail Joints (IRJs) in the signalling track circuitry. Since Hertzian contact is not valid at a discontinuous edge, 3D finite element (3DFE) models of wheel contact at a railhead edge have been used in this research. Elastic–plastic material properties of the head hardened rail steel have been experimentally determined through uniaxial monotonic tension tests and incorporated into a FE model of a cylindrical specimen subject to cyclic tension load- ing. The parameters required for the Chaboche kinematic hardening model have been determined from the stabilised hysteresis loops of the cyclic load simulation and imple- mented into the 3DFE model. The 3DFE predictions of the plastic strain accumulation in the vicinity of the wheel contact at discontinuous railhead edges are shown to be affected by the contact due to passage of wheels rather than the magnitude of the loads the wheels carry. Therefore to eliminate this failure mechanism, modification to the contact patch is essential; reduction in wheel load cannot solve this problem.

Corner and finger formation in Hele-Shaw flow with kinetic undercooling regularisation

We examine the effect of a kinetic undercooling condition on the evolution of a free boundary in Hele--Shaw flow, in both bubble and channel geometries. We present analytical and numerical evidence that the bubble boundary is unstable and may develop one or more corners in finite time, for both expansion and contraction cases. This loss of regularity is interesting because it occurs regardless of whether the less viscous fluid is displacing the more viscous fluid, or vice versa. We show that small contracting bubbles are described to leading order by a well-studied geometric flow rule. Exact solutions to this asymptotic problem continue past the corner formation until the bubble contracts to a point as a slit in the limit. Lastly, we consider the evolving boundary with kinetic undercooling in a Saffman--Taylor channel geometry. The boundary may either form corners in finite time, or evolve to a single long finger travelling at constant speed, depending on the strength of kinetic undercooling. We demonstrate these two different behaviours numerically. For the travelling finger, we present results of a numerical solution method similar to that used to demonstrate the selection of discrete fingers by surface tension. With kinetic undercooling, a continuum of corner-free travelling fingers exists for any finger width above a critical value, which goes to zero as the kinetic undercooling vanishes. We have not been able to compute the discrete family of analytic solutions, predicted by previous asymptotic analysis, because the numerical scheme cannot distinguish between solutions characterised by analytic fingers and those which are corner-free but non-analytic.

Centrobin regulates the assembly of functional mitotic spindles

The proper function of the spindle is crucial to the high fidelity of chromosome segregation and is indispensable for tumor suppression in humans. Centrobin is a recently identified centrosomal protein that has a role in stabilizing the microtubule structure. Here we functionally characterize the defects in centrosome integrity and spindle assembly in Centrobin-depleted cells. Centrobin-depleted cells show a range of spindle abnormalities including unfocused poles that are not associated with centrosomes, S-shaped spindles and mini spindles. These cells undergo mitotic arrest and subsequently often die by apoptosis, as determined by live cell imaging. Co-depletion of Mad2 relieves the mitotic arrest, indicating that cells arrest due to a failure to silence the spindle checkpoint in metaphase. Consistent with this, Centrobin-depleted metaphase cells stained positive for BubR1 and BubR1 S676. Staining with a panel of centrosome markers showed a loss of centrosome anchoring to the mitotic spindle. Furthermore, these cells show less cold-stable microtubules and a shorter distance between kinetochore pairs. These results show a requirement of Centrobin in maintaining centrosome integrity, which in turn promotes anchoring of mitotic spindle to the centrosomes. Furthermore, this anchoring is required for the stability of microtubule–kinetochore attachments and biogenesis of tension-ridden and properly functioning mitotic spindle.

Mandatory reporting laws

As part of the effort to protect children from significant abuse and neglect, each state and territory in Australia has enacted legislation commonly known as "mandatory reporting laws". There is much confusion about the nature and effects of these laws, both generally and within each jurisdiction. Accordingly, the main aim of this chapter is to review and explain the legislative principles across Australia. In doing so, the chapter will identify differences between the state and territory laws and will situate the laws as part of a system of responses to the whole spectrum of child abuse and neglect. We will also highlight the need for effective reporter training and public awareness, especially given the tension between the widely perceived need for a community response to child abuse and neglect and the simultaneous concern to avoid unnecessary reporting of innocuous events and situations.

Engineering the mechanical properties of graphene nanotube hybrid structures through structural modulation

The excellent multi-functional properties of carbon nanotube (CNT) and graphene have enabled them as appealing building blocks to construct 3D carbon-based nanomaterials or nanostructures. The recently reported graphene nanotube hybrid structure (GNHS) is one of the representatives of such nanostructures. This work investigated the relationships between the mechanical properties of the GNHS and its structure basing on large-scale molecular dynamics simulations. It is found that increasing the length of the constituent CNTs, the GNHS will have a higher Young’s modulus and yield strength. Whereas, no strong correlation is found between the number of graphene layers and Young’s modulus and yield strength, though more graphene layers intends to lead to a higher yield strain. In the meanwhile, the presences of multi-wall CNTs are found to greatly strengthen the hybrid structure. Generally, the hybrid structures exhibit a brittle behavior and the failure initiates from the connecting regions between CNT and graphene. More interestingly, affluent formations of monoatomic chains and rings are found at the fracture region. This study provides an in-depth understanding of the mechanical performance of the GNHSs while varying their structures, which will shed lights on the design and also the applications of the carbon-based nanostructures.

Portrayals of child abuse scandals in the media in Australia and England : impacts on practice, policy, and systems

This article describes how the media have played a key role in placing the issue of child maltreatment and the problems associated with child protection high on public and political agendas over the last 50 years. It also describes how the influence of the media is far from unambiguous. Although the media has been crucial in bringing the problems into the open, it often does so in particular ways. In being so concerned with scandals and tragedies in a variety of institutionalized and community settings, the media have portrayed the nature of child maltreatment in ways which deflect attention from many of its core characteristics and causes. A focus on the media is important because of the power the media have to help transform the private into the public, but at the same time, to undermine trust, reputation, and legitimacy of the professionals working in the field. This concern is key for those working in the child protection field and has been a source of tension in public policy in both Australia and England for many years...

In pursuit of an architecture realism

The noble idea of studying seminal works to ‘see what we can learn’ has turned in the 1990s into ‘let’s see what we can take’ and in the last decade a more toxic derivative ‘what else can’t we take’. That is my observation as a student of architecture in the 1990s, and as a practitioner in the 2000s. In 2010, the sense that something is ending is clear. The next generation is rising and their gaze has shifted. The idea of classification (as a means of separation) was previously rejected by a generation of Postmodernists; the usefulness of difference declined. It’s there in the presence of plurality in the resulting architecture, a decision to mine history and seize in a willful manner. This is a process of looking back but never forward. It has been a mono-culture of absorption. The mono-culture rejected the pursuit of the realistic. It is a blanket suffocating all practice of architecture in this country from the mercantile to the intellectual. Independent reviews of Australia’s recent contributions to the Venice Architecture Biennales confirm the malaise. The next generation is beginning to reconsider classification as a means of unification. By acknowledging the characteristics of competing forces it is possible to bring them into a state of tension. Seeking a beautiful contrast is a means to a new end. In the political setting, this is described by Noel Pearson as the radical centre[1]. The concept transcends the political and in its most essential form is a cultural phenomenon. It resists the compromised position and suggests that we can look back while looking forward. The radical centre is the only demonstrated opportunity where it is possible to pursue a realistic architecture. A realistic architecture in Australia may be partially resolved by addressing our anxiety of permanence. Farrelly’s built desires[2] and Markham’s ritual demonstrations[3] are two ways into understanding the broader spectrum of permanence. But I think they are downstream of our core problem. Our problem, as architects, is that we are yet to come to terms with this place. Some call it landscape others call it country. Australian cities were laid out on what was mistaken for a blank canvas. On some occasions there was the consideration of the landscape when it presented insurmountable physical obstacles. The architecture since has continued to work on its piece of a constantly blank canvas. Even more ironic is the commercial awards programs that represent a claim within this framework but at best can only establish a dialogue within itself. This is a closed system unable to look forward. It is said that Melbourne is the most European city in the southern hemisphere but what is really being described there is the limitation of a senseless grid. After all, if Dutch landscape informs Dutch architecture why can’t the Australian landscape inform Australian architecture? To do that, we would have to acknowledge our moribund grasp of the meaning of the Australian landscape. Or more precisely what Indigenes call Country[4]. This is a complex notion and there are different ways into it. Country is experienced and understood through the senses and seared into memory. If one begins design at that starting point it is not unreasonable to think we can arrive at an end point that is a counter trajectory to where we have taken ourselves. A recent studio with Masters students confirmed this. Start by finding Country and it would be impossible to end up with a building looking like an Aboriginal man’s face. To date architecture in Australia has overwhelmingly ignored Country on the back of terra nullius. It can’t seem to get past the picturesque. Why is it so hard? The art world came to terms with this challenge, so too did the legal establishment, even the political scene headed into new waters. It would be easy to blame the budgets of commerce or the constraints of program or even the pressure of success. But that is too easy. Those factors are in fact the kind of limitations that opportunities grow out of. The past decade of economic plenty has, for the most part, smothered the idea that our capitals might enable civic settings or an architecture that is able to looks past lot line boundaries in a dignified manner. The denied opportunities of these settings to be prompted by the Country they occupy is criminal. The public realm is arrested in its development because we refuse to accept Country as a spatial condition. What we seem to be able to embrace is literal and symbolic gestures usually taking the form of a trumped up art installations. All talk – no action. To continue to leave the public realm to the stewardship of mercantile interests is like embracing derivative lending after the global financial crisis.Herein rests an argument for why we need a resourced Government Architect’s office operating not as an isolated lobbyist for business but as a steward of the public realm for both the past and the future. New South Wales is the leading model with Queensland close behind. That is not to say both do not have flaws but current calls for their cessation on the grounds of design parity poorly mask commercial self interest. In Queensland, lobbyists are heavily regulated now with an aim to ensure integrity and accountability. In essence, what I am speaking of will not be found in Reconciliation Action Plans that double as business plans, or the mining of Aboriginal culture for the next marketing gimmick, or even discussions around how to make buildings more ‘Aboriginal’. It will come from the next generation who reject the noxious mono-culture of absorption and embrace a counter trajectory to pursue an architecture of realism.