Design and implementation of ergonomic performance measurement system at a steel plant in India

Management of Tata Steel, the largest steel making company of India in the private sector, felt the need to develop a framework to determine the levels of ergonomic performance at its different workplaces. The objectives of the study are manifold: to identify and characterize the ergonomic variables for a given worksystem with regard to work efficiency, operator safety, and working conditions, to design a comprehensive Ergonomic Performance Indicator (EPI) for quantitative determination of the ergonomic status and maturity of a given worksystem. The study team of IIT Kharagpur consists of three faculty members and the management of Tata Steel formed a team of eleven members for implementation of EPI model. In order to design and develop the EPI model with total participation and understanding of the concerned personnel of Tata Steel, a three-phase action plan for the project was prepared. The project consists of three phases: preparation and data collection, detailed structuring and validation of EPI model. Identification of ergonomic performance factors, development of interaction matrix, design of assessment tool, and testing and validation of assessment tool (EPI) in varied situations are the major steps in these phases. The case study discusses in detail the EPI model and its applications.     

Off-farm labour decision of Canadian farm operators: Urbanization effects and rural labour market linkages

Understanding the factors affecting off-farm labour decisions of census-farm operators has significant implications for rural development and farm income support policy. We examine the off-farm labour decisions of Canadian farm operators using micro-level data from the 2001 Census of Agriculture combined with community level data from the 2001 Census of Population. While confirming some of the findings of previous research with respect to the effects of human capital and farm characteristics on off-farm work participation, this study shows the differential impact of those variables for operators of smaller and larger holdings. Family, community and regional characteristics appear more relevant in determining the joint decision to work off-farm and operate a smaller holding, compared to the decision to work off-farm and operate a larger farm. Results suggest that, once other factors are accounted for, proximity to urban centres does not have a positive effect on the joint decisions to participate in off-farm work and to operate a holding. This joint decision, in fact, is more related to the dynamics of the local labour market. A major implication of these findings is that while urban centers might represent an engine of growth for overall rural income through employment opportunities for the non-farm workforce, the non-farm income of farm operators is more likely to be affected by policy initiatives that address directly the dynamics of labour markets in the community where the operator lives.     

The Incarcerated Parent: Examining Mother-Child Conflict at the Margins through a Bio-Ecological Lens

ABSTRACT

This study examined conflict, parenting communication style, and attitudes regarding the parent-child relationship for a marginalized special population: incarcerated mothers and their children. Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological perspective served as a guiding framework, based on its ability to consider family interactions across ecological contexts, both proximal and distal to the developing child’s home setting. Fifty incarcerated mothers in the central U.S. provided in-depth interviews and individual self-report surveys. Findings indicate that incarcerated mothers most frequently used an authoritative parenting communication style in conflict situations that ended positively, and authoritarian style in conflict that ended negatively. Authoritative parenting was associated with incarcerated mothers’ reports of greater satisfaction with parenting. Study findings suggest that parenting communication style can help support efforts to reduce recidivism. Contextualizing these findings within Bronfenbrenner’s model, the present study affirms the role of proximal as well as distal factors governing relational communication between incarcerated mothers and their children.     

Functional principal component analysis of spatially correlated data

This paper focuses on the analysis of spatially correlated functional data. We propose a parametric model for spatial correlation and the between-curve correlation is modeled by correlating functional principal component scores of the functional data. Additionally, in the sparse observation framework, we propose a novel approach of spatial principal analysis by conditional expectation to explicitly estimate spatial correlations and reconstruct individual curves. Assuming spatial stationarity, empirical spatial correlations are calculated as the ratio of eigenvalues of the smoothed covariance surface Cov\((X_i(s),X_i(t))\) and cross-covariance surface Cov\((X_i(s), X_j(t))\) at locations indexed by i and j. Then a anisotropy Matérn spatial correlation model is fitted to empirical correlations. Finally, principal component scores are estimated to reconstruct the sparsely observed curves. This framework can naturally accommodate arbitrary covariance structures, but there is an enormous reduction in computation if one can assume the separability of temporal and spatial components. We demonstrate the consistency of our estimates and propose hypothesis tests to examine the separability as well as the isotropy effect of spatial correlation. Using simulation studies, we show that these methods have some clear advantages over existing methods of curve reconstruction and estimation of model parameters.     

Health Literacy and Happiness: A Community-based Study

The relationship between health literacy and happiness was explored using a cross-sectional survey of community-dwelling older primary-care patients. Health literacy status was estimated with the following previously validated question: “How confident are you in filling out medical forms by yourself?” Happiness was measured using an adapted Subjective Happiness Scale. Of all patients (n = 383), 62% were younger than 65, 28% were men, and 39% were African–American. In bivariate analysis, health literacy was positively correlated with happiness (Spearman’s ρ = 0.261; p < 0.001). Multivariable logistic regression revealed that lowest-quartile happiness was associated with poverty (OR: 2.25; 95% CI: 1.17–4.31), unfavorable self-rated health (OR: 4.16; 95% CI: 2.34–7.40), and lower health literacy (OR: 2.31; 95% CI: 1.23–4.32). The results suggest that inadequate health literacy may be an obstacle to happiness above and beyond its effect on poverty and health, and offers partial support for the inclusion of general and health literacy scores in composite quality-of-life and human development indices. Though alternative explanations are possible, we speculate that the association between health literacy and happiness might be mediated by a sense of personal control.     

怀特海的道德哲学

怀特海哲学既是一种科学哲学、宗教哲学、审美哲学,也是一种道德哲学。怀特海的道德哲学深于对当代文明危机的反思,并力图为道德文明提供一种宇宙论支持。这种支持最核心的意蕴便是把道德直觉和科学直觉、宗教直觉及审美直觉整合为一种统一的、一以贯之的世界观。     

Crossing borders: family migration strategies and routes from Burma to the US

Over the last 35 years, the US has been the top recipient country for refugee resettlement. Despite political ambivalence about refugee admittance and their integration into America’s sociocultural fabric, little is known in refugee literature about how receiving countries’ refugee and asylum policies structure refugee migratory processes and flows from countries of origin. Based on 21 in-depth interviews and group discussions with Chin-Burmese families, this paper traces migratory strategies and routes from Northern Burma to the US by examining the role of class, family dynamics, cross-border connections and social capital in migratory decision-making for irregular border-crossings and endurance as transit migrants. Additionally, I analyse the critical functions of intermediary social actors and institutions, particularly faith and community-based organisations, for gaining entry to destination countries. I show that examining Chin refugees’ agency and pre-migratory motives demonstrates the heterogeneity of the refugee population, justifying Chimamanda Adichie’s claim that ‘nobody is just a refugee’.     

Relational contracts for household formation,fertility choice and separation

This paper applies the theory of relational contracts to a model in which a couple decides upon fertility and subsequently on continuation of the relationship. We formalize the idea that within-household-cooperation can be supported by selfinterest. Since the costs of raising children—a household public good—are unequally distributed between partners, a conflict between individually optimal and efficient decisions exists. Side-payments can support cooperation but are not legally enforceable and thus have to be part of an equilibrium. This requires stable relationships and credible punishment threats.Within this framework, we analyze the effects of separation costs and post-separation alimony payments on couples’ fertility decisions. We derive the predictions that higher separation costs and higher alimony payments facilitate cooperation and hence increase fertility. We present empirical evidence based on a recent German reform that reduced rights to post-divorce alimony payments. We find that this reform reduced in-wedlock fertility.     

Shame and the city – ‘looting’, emotions and social structure

The sociology of violence is an emerging field but one in which there remains a tension between structural explanations and phenomenological‐situational ones that focus on the micro conditions of violence. This article proposes an analytical framework for connecting these levels through a critical appropriation of Scheff's theory of the shame‐rage cycle. It argues that while shame is a significant condition for violent action, Scheff does not have a theory of violence in itself but treats the connections between shame‐rage and violence as largely self‐evident. While emotions such as shame have agental properties, as Scheff and others argue, these need to be situated within structural and cultural conditions that are likely to evoke shame. Moreover, to develop Scheff's approach further, violence needs to be understood as being communicative and invoking normative justifications, which mediate the effects of shame‐rage. This analysis is developed with reference to recent instances of collective disorder, especially the English riots in August 2011, which is based on published research and media accounts from participants. The acquisition of consumer goods through ‘looting’ was public performance in spaces where a ‘moral holiday’ permitted a brief revaluation of the social order. Through this example the article shows how an underlying configuration of inequality, exclusion and shame coalesced into events in which the violence was a form of performative communication. This articulated ‘ugly feelings’ that invoked normative justification for participation, at least at the time of the disturbances. The discussion provides an integrated account of structural‐emotional conditions for violence combined with the dynamics of situated actions within particular spaces. It aims to do two things – to provide a framework for analysing the structural and affective bases for violence and to offer a nuanced understanding of ‘violence’ with reference to public disorder.