Divorce and parity progression following the death of a child: A register-based study from Finland

Most studies that have examined whether a child’s death influences parental relationship stability have used small-scale data sets and their results are inconclusive. A likely reason is that child loss affects not only the risk of parental separation, but also the risk of having another child. Hence parity progression and separation must be treated as two competing events in relation to child loss. The analysis in this paper used Finnish register data from 1971 to 2003, covering over 100,000 married couples whose durations of both first marriage and parenthood could be observed. We ran parity-specific Cox regressions in which process time started from the birth of each additional child. All marriages included women of childbearing age, none of whom had experienced any child death on entering the analysis. We find that child loss only modestly influences the divorce risk, whereas its effect on the risk of parity progression is considerable.     

Demography,Education, and Democracy: Global Trends and the Case of Iran

Reconstructions and projections of populations by age, sex, and educational attainment for 120 countries since 1970 are used to assess the global relationship between improvements in human capital and democracy. Democracy is measured by the Freedom House indicator of political rights. Similar to an earlier study on the effects of improving educational attainment on economic growth, the greater age detail of this new dataset resolves earlier ambiguities about the effect of improving education as assessed using a global set of national time series. The results show consistently strong effects of improving overall levels of educational attainment, of a narrowing gender gap in education, and of fertility declines and the subsequent changes in age structure on improvements in the democracy indicator. This global relationship is then applied to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Over the past two decades Iran has experienced the world's most rapid fertility decline associated with massive increases in female education. The results show that based on the experience of 120 countries since 1970, Iran has a high chance of significant movement toward more democracy over the following two decades.     

Body postures versus production requirements - the case of a fiberglass parts factory

This study aimed to perform an ergonomic analysis in a fiberglass parts factory. For this purpose, was used the methodology of Ergonomic Work Analysis (EWA). At the end of the study it was possible to identify some ways to the development of improvements in order to contribute to the transformation of working conditions in the sector analyzed.     

The importance of ergonomics in the design conceptual process: Daciano da Costa - a case study on practicing and teaching

This paper, which stems from a developing research project, aims to disseminate among the international scientific community the thought of Daciano da Costa (1930-2005) given the importance he conferred to Ergonomics, throughout his teaching career and his professional practice as a reference figure in the Design of the twentieth century in Portugal. We focus on the important role played by Ergonomics within the conceptual Design process, through the case study Daciano da Costa.What Daciano brought to the practice and teaching was a modernization of processes, a new perspective on the emerging themes of design, like ergonomics. Daciano believed that designing was providing a service. This task was understood as the building of a relationship with users. One of his distinguished features was the particular attention he paid to the unique aspects of the scale of proximity: the scale of the hand, of the immediate gesture, of the body. As a professor he insisted not so much on the end product, but rather on the recognition of the research process and how it was conducted. When designing, developing and supervising the exercises he set, ergonomic factors were one of his main concerns.     

Analysis on the relationship between the school furniture and the work surface lighting and the body posture of public Middle School students from João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of school furniture and work surface lighting on the body posture of two public Middle School students from Paraíba (Brazil). The target population included 8th grade groups involving 31 students. Brazilian standards for lighting levels, the CEBRACE standards for furniture measurements and the Postural Assessment Software (SAPO) for the postural misalignment assay were adopted for the measurements comparison. The statistic analysis includes analyses of parametric and non-parametric correlations. The results show that the students' most affected parts of the body were the spine, the regions of the knees and head and neck and about 90% of the students presented postural misalignment. The lighting levels were usually found below 300 lux, below recommended levels. Such results indicate the need of investments in more suitable school furniture and structural reforms aimed at improving the lighting in the classrooms, which could fulfill the students' profile and reduce their complaints.     

Ergonomic factors and production target evaluation in eucalyptus timber harvesting operations in mountainous terrains

There are several forest operations involved in Eucalyptus timber harvesting. This study was carried out during brush-cutting; tree felling, bucking, delimbing, piling and manual extraction operations, with the following objectives: a) analyzing, ergonomically, two systems of brush-cutting: one manual and the other semi-mechanized, using two different machines; b) ergonomically evaluating three different brands of pruner machines used in delimbing felled trees. c) determining the feasible target of productivity as a function of ergonomic factors relevant to establish the time of resting pauses for workers in manual and semi-mechanized timber harvesting systems in mountainous terrain. Brush-cutting, either manual or semimechanized, is an activity carried out prior to timber harvesting. It is usually a hard work, with low productivity when compared with mechanized systems. Pruner machines have been used by forest companies, due to the great possibilities to improve productivity, quality and the health of workers. Ergonomics is a discipline that promotes the adequacy of work to the physical and mental characteristics of human beings, seeking to design production systems and products considering relevant aspects, including social, organizational and environmental factors. Companies should consider the ergonomic factor in the determination of daily worker production targets.     

Are cutout handles used when available in real occupational settings? Description of grips and upper extremities movements during industrial box handling

In order to achieve better postures and decrease musculoskeletal risks adequate design of hand/box couplings for manual materials handling (MMH) are still needed. No studies evaluating upper limb movement thorough direct measurements during box handling in workplace were identified in the literature. In this study we describe the types of grip and movements adopted by ten workers when handling redesigned boxes with cutout handles between different heights on industrial pallets. The new handles were used by 90% of the workers through different types of grip. Electrogoniometric measurements showed relatively safe forearm and wrist movements, although elbow inadequate range of movement was recorded. Despite the good acceptance of the cutout by workers, the new design requires extra internal space in the boxes reducing applications for this alternative of box.     

Proposal for training of workers and researchers as from the participatory return of research results in workers' health

This study streams from a perspective of Workers' Health as a field of intervention where worker's experience on the process of illness is essential to understand and generate changes in the work process, and to contribute to develop knowledge in this area. We intended to collaborate in the training of researchers and nursing workers as a means of contributing to amplify their knowledge related to work and health conditions. As a motto to promote dialogue between researchers and workers, we organized workshops to discuss the results of an epidemiological study on the work-health relationships in nursing. Ten workshops were conducted at two federal public hospitals, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The main aspects discussed during the workshops revealed (i) work nuances for which the questionnaire was not sufficiently sensitive, (ii) some associations between different aspects of the survey, dealt with in the questionnaires, and (iii) recognition that some aspects shown in the epidemiological results were experienced at work. One can appreciate that the proposal presented here contributed to the training of researchers and workers, amplifying their knowledge and contributing to the development of the activity.     

Ergonomics and the inclusion of people with disabilities in a Brazilian workplace

The customization of a secretary workstation at a drama school was the objective of this case study. The investigation involved a 25-year-old illiterate woman with intellectual disabilities and low vision that had been been attending, for over 12 years, a state school for people with disabilities. The customization process, operationalized after a diagnosis was made, focused on environmental rearrangements, with the purpose of meeting the physical and social demands of the workstation. The results of this research are configured in an ergonomic analysis of work associated with an inventory of social skills, applied to people living directly with the participant. Preliminary evaluations indicated the degree of adjustment of labor demands to the personal characteristics of the participant in the customized job.     

The nexus between OSH and subcontracting

Subcontracting of specialized functions to external companies (e.g. cleaning or maintenance) is actually very common within several industries. These external companies' are called contractors and their contracting is often designated as outsourcing. Frequently contractors involve other companies (the sub-contractors) to assist them in fulfilling the contract, resulting in a complex chain of organizations focused on interchange of work - the contracting chain. Therefore in the same work site can coexist workers form the client-company and workers from the contractors and/or subcontractors. Since contractors perform their job in client's facilities, they can be exposed to hazards that are unknown to them. On other hand, workers of the client company can also be exposed to hazardous situations derived from the work performed by the contractors. The paper discusses how adequate occupational safety and health conditions can be assured when dealing with this kind of dynamic labor networks. Two case-studies and several examples coming from international literature will be presented.