• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.46 no.6
• /
• pp.803-816
• /
• 2014

Defense-in-depth is a fundamental safety principle for the design and operation of nuclear power plants. Despite its general appeal, defense-in-depth is not without its drawbacks, which include its potential for concealing the occurrence of hazardous states in a system, and more generally rendering the latter more opaque for its operators and managers, thus resulting in safety blind spots. This in turn translates into a shrinking of the time window available for operators to identify an unfolding hazardous condition or situation and intervene to abate it. To prevent this drawback from materializing, we propose in this work a novel safety principle termed "observability-in-depth". We characterize it as the set of provisions technical, operational, and organizational designed to enable the monitoring and identification of emerging hazardous conditions and accident pathogens in real-time and over different time-scales. Observability-in-depth also requires the monitoring of conditions of all safety barriers that implement defense-in-depth; and in so doing it supports sensemaking of identified hazardous conditions, and the understanding of potential accident sequences that might follow (how they can propagate). Observability-in-depth is thus an information-centric principle, and its importance in accident prevention is in the value of the information it provides and actions or safety interventions it spurs. We examine several "event reports" from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission database, which illustrate specific instances of violation of the observability-in-depth safety principle and the consequences that followed (e.g., unmonitored releases and loss of containments). We also revisit the Three Mile Island accident in light of the proposed principle, and identify causes and consequences of the lack of observability-in-depth related to this accident sequence. We illustrate both the benefits of adopting the observability-in-depth safety principle and the adverse consequences when this principle is violated or not implemented. This work constitutes a first step in the development of the observability-in-depth safety principle, and we hope this effort invites other researchers and safety professionals to further explore and develop this principle and its implementation.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.24-32
• /
• 2024

Background: Learning from incidents for accident prevention is a two-stage process, involving the investigation of past accidents to identify the causal factors, followed by the identification and implementation of remedial measures to address the identified causal factors. The focus of past research has been on the identification of causal factors, with limited focus on the identification and implementation of remedial measures. This research begins to contribute to this gap. The motivation for the research is twofold. First, previous analyses show the recurring nature of accidents within the Ghanaian mining industry, and the causal factors also remain the same. This raises questions on the nature and effectiveness of remedial measures identified to address the causes of past accidents. Secondly, without identifying and implementing remedial measures, the full benefits of accident investigations will not be achieved. Hence, this study aims to assess the nature of remedial measures proposed to address investigation causal factors. Method: The study adopted SMARTER from business studies with the addition of HMW (H - Hierarchical, M - Mapping, and W - Weighting of causal factors) to analyse the recommendations from 500 individual investigation reports across seven different mines in Ghana. Results: The individual and the work environment (79%) were mostly the focused during the search for causes, with limited focus on organisational factors (21%). Forty eight percentage of the recommendations were administrative, focussing on fixing the problem in the immediate affected area or department of the victim(s). Most recommendations (70.4%) were support activities that only enhance the effectiveness of control but do not prevent/mitigate the failure directly. Across all the mines, there was no focus on evaluating the performance of remedial measures after their implementation. Conclusion: Identifying sharp-end causes leads to proposing weak recommendations which fail to address latent organisational conditions. The study proposed a guide for effective planning and implementation of remedial actions.

• Korean Journal of School Psychology
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.317-349
• /
• 2021

This study was conducted to examine the reliability and validity of the internet (IOS-Q), Game (GOS-Q), and Smartphone (SOS-Q) Overuse Screening Questionnaires in a large community sample of adolescents. To achieve this goal, data from 9,336 middle school students (male: 4,796, female: 4,540) was divided into two groups and analyzed by conducting confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory factor analysis, respectively. We conducted another confirmatory factor analysis on a separate sample of data from 4,536 elementary school students (male: 2,260 male, female: 2,276) and 6,551 middle school students (male: 3,013, female: 3,538) from other populations. As a result of factor analysis, IOS-Q was consisted of 17 items, GOS-Q was consisted of 19 items, and SOS-Q was consisted of 18 items. The IOS-Q and GOS-Q factors were psychological dependence, failure to control use despite recognizing problems, dangerous use, and reduced interest in other areas while the SOS-Q factors were dangerous and obsessive use, failure to control use despite recognizing problems, reduced interest in other areas, and withdrawal/tolerance. Each factor reflected the major facets of behavioral addiction or impulse control disorder, and the questionnaires had good internal consistencies of .880-.915. Latent profile and ROC analyses were conducted to determine cutoff points for screening high-risk groups. Lastly, theoretical and practical implications as well as the limitations of this study were discussed.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.61 no.11
• /
• pp.366-370
• /
• 2018

Purpose: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most important diseases that cause significant mortality and morbidity in young children. Data on TB transmission from an infected child are limited. Herein, we report a case of disseminated TB in a child and conducted a contact investigation among exposed individuals. Methods: A 4-year-old child without Bacille Calmette-$Gu{\acute{e}}rin$ vaccination was diagnosed as having culture-proven disseminated TB. The child initially presented with symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease, and nosocomial and kindergarten exposures were reported. The exposed individuals to the index case were divided into 3 groups, namely household, nosocomial, or kindergarten contacts. Evaluation was performed following the Korean guidelines for TB. Kindergarten contacts were further divided into close or casual contacts. Chest radiography and tuberculin skin test or interferon-gamma-releasing assay were performed for the contacts. Results: We examined 327 individuals (3 household, 10 nosocomial, and 314 kindergarten contacts), of whom 18 (5.5%), the brother of the index patient, and 17 kindergarten children were diagnosed as having latent TB infection (LTBI). LTBI diagnosis was more frequent in the children who had close kindergarten contact with the index case (17.1% vs. 4.4%, P=0.007). None of the cases had active TB. Conclusion: This is the first reported case of TB transmission among young children from a pediatric patient with disseminated TB in Korea. TB should be emphasized as a possible cause of chronic diarrhea and failure to thrive in children. A national TB control policy has been actively applied to identify Korean children with LTBI.

• Journal of Korean Medical classics
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.79-90
• /
• 2018

Objectives : In present, various definitions of Zhongshu are being used interchangeably in Korea. The paper attempted to discover the disease of Zhongshu as studied by Lidongyuan, who was ahead of his time. Methods : A database of medical books has been studied to find Lidongyuan's writings on the disease of Zhongshu, and mentions about Li's works in past medical books. The paper contemplated the subject by defining the disease of Zhongshu and reviewing the disputes related to the subject. Results & Conclusions : Lidongyuan gave a detailed explanation on the fact that Zhangjiegu distinguished between Zhongshu and Zhongre, and this was influenced by Shangshu as mentioned in Taipinghuiminhejijufang. Therefore, it can be deduced that he was aware of the fact that summerheat-heat as latent summer heat syndrome is lurking inside the body, not being able to be released. According to the disease of Zhongshu by Lidongyuan, yin cold was receieved secondary after first receiving summerheat-heat. It is either summerheat damaged defensive qi, failure in storing the essence made defensive qi weak, or seasonal reasons have caused the defensive qi to be drained and leave the body exposed to damage by summerheat. This is because the fundamental main cause is the hitting of summerheat, since yin cold was received after the presence of summerheat-heat is made first. Many doctors in the following generation criticized that Lidongyuan's disease of Zhongshu cannot be named as a Zhongshu due to its similarity with Shanghan. However, they cannot be viewed as similar since it is a phenomenon where yin cold becomes congested while the body is weak and heat is generated in the body due to summerheat-heat. The doctors who said they were similar only focused on the external cause that was only the superficial issue. According to Lidongyuan's method, the right way to treat a Zhongshu disease is to use the method of tonifying the qi and eliminating the heat in conjunction with eliminating the internal dampness or treat the external syndrome, or to use a formula to tonify the qi and eliminate the fire heat before eliminating the internal dampness or treating the external syndrome.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.47-56
• /
• 2020

In this study, three levels of W/B(Water to Binder) ratio (0.37, 0.42, 0.47) and substitution ratio of GGBFS (Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag) rate (0 %, 30 %, 50 %) were considered to perform RCPT (Rapid Chloride Diffusion Test) at the 1,095 aged day. Accelerated chloride diffusion coefficient and passed charge of each concrete mixture were assessed according to Tang's method and ASTM C 1202, and improving behaviors of durability performance with increasing aged days are analyzed based on the test results of previous aged days from the preceding study. As the age of concrete increases, the passed charge and diffusion coefficient have been significantly reduced, and especially the concrete specimens containing GGBFS showed a significantly more reduction than OPC(Ordinary Portland Cement) concrete specimen by latent hydraulic activity. In the case of OPC concrete's results of passed charge, at the 1,095 days, two of them were still in the "Moderate" class. So, if only OPC is used as the binder of concrete, the resistance performance for chloride attack is weak. In this study, the time-parameters (m) were derived based on the results of the accelerated chloride diffusion coefficient, and the deterministic and probabilistic analysis for service life were performed by assuming the design variable as a probability function. For probabilistic service life analysis, durability failure probabilities were calculated using Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) to evaluate service life. The service life of probabilistic method were lower than that of deterministic method, since the target value of PDF (Probability of Durability Failure) was set very low at 10 %. If the target value of PDF suitable for the purpose of using structure can be set and proper variability can be considered for each design variable, it is believed that more economical durability design can be made.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.57-81
• /
• 2011

The purpose of this study was to explore the quality of life of musically talented students as measured by their external experiences (e.g., activities, companions) and internal experiences (e.g., flow, emotion). The participants in this study were 33 musically talented students (10 males, 23 females) aged 13 to 19. Study data were collected for 7 consecutive days using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), which employs a cellular-phone as a signaling device. The results were as follows: First, in response to the 1625 random signals, musically talented students reported that 40.9% of their time was spent on productive activities. An additional 33.4% of time was used for maintenance activities and the rest of their time was spent on leisure/social activities. Also, musically talented students reported that 48.5% of their time was spent alone. When they were alone, they spent a lot of time engaging in productive activities (44.3%). Second, in order to measure the flow of their life, two methods were used. One used a 4-channel flow model (i.e. apathy, boredom, flow, anxiety) and the other used 8 dimensions and conditions of the flow experience (i.e. concentration, self-consciousness disappears, action and awareness merge, distorted sense of time, freedom from worry about failure, clear goals, immediate feedback, balance between challenges and skills). According to the former, when engaged in music-related activities, musically talented students usually reported flow (54.0%), while they felt apathy (41.3%) for daily routines activities. According to the latter method, musically talented students experienced flow for most productive activities, while they experienced flow least for maintenance activities. Emotional variables of ESF are comprised of 10 semantic scales (i.e. happy-sad, strong-weak, active-passive, sociablelonely, proud-ashamed, involved-detached, excited-bored, clear-confused, relaxed-worried, cooperative-competitive). Musically talented students reported experiencing the most positive emotion for social activities and experiencing the most negative emotion for maintenance activities. Results of this study assert that musically talented students had to trade off immediate enjoyment for developing their special gifts. They could not afford as much time for socializing with friends, and they had to spend more time alone compared to their peers without such gifts. Consequently, they were found to deprive themselves of the spontaneous good times that teenagers usually thrive on. They were helped in this respect by their autotelic personality traits, especially their strong need for achievement and endurance. The downside, however, is that the moment-to-moment quality of their moods suffered. The argument concerning musically talented students applies for all adolescents. The choices that talented students must make between immediate gratification and long-term development, and between solitude and companionship, are the same choices every young person must make, regardless of her or his level of talent. All of us have gifts that are potentially useful and worthy of being appreciated. But to develop these latent talents we must cultivate them, and this takes time and the investment of mental energy. The lifestyle that musically talented students develop can show us some of the choices all of us must make in order to cultivate our gifts.