Methodological proposal for occupational health and safety actions in research laboratories with nanotechnologies activities

Nanotechnologies is a multidisciplinary set of techniques to manipulate matter on nanoscale level, more precisely particles below 100 nm whose characteristic due to small size is essentially different from those found in macro form materials. Regarding to these new properties of the materials there are knowledge gaps about the effects of these particles on human organism and the environment. Although it still being considered emerging technology it is growing increasingly fast as well as the number of products using nanotechnologies in some production level and so the number of researchers involved with the subject. Given this scenario and based on literature related, a comprehensive methodology for health and safety at work for researching laboratories with activities in nanotechnologies was developed, based on ILO structure guidelines for safety and health at work system on which a number of nanospecific recommendations were added to. The work intends to offer food for thought on controlling risks associated to nanotechnologies.     

Structuring software anthropometric variables on CD Rom as a facilitator of the process of design of work situations

The environment where everyday activities are developed, these should be appropriate and the individual who will execute them, for greater efficiency of their work and even if you feel safe, comfortable and satisfied when interacting with that space, expending less energy to this interaction. Given this context, this study aims to structure a software with the results obtained in the field, from anthropometric measure to subsidize the furniture industry in manufacturing of furniture, definition work situations, considering the different anthropometric measurements made between 2001 and 2010, using data from this sample of adults aged 18 to 65 years old and children between 6 and 11 years old. It was convenient to make the software with a site, only instead of staying on the Web has been recorded on CD Rom. Tests with the prototype allow navigation through the structure of the software. The data needed to implement the remaining modules were also raised. Issues related to system layout and usability of the interface also were not considered, because it is an initial prototype.     

Ergonomic and usability analysis on a sample of automobile dashboards

This is a research study based on an analysis which sets out to identify and pinpoint ergonomic and usability problems found in a sample of automobile dashboards. The sample consisted of three dashboards, of three different makes and characterized as being a popular model, an average model and a luxury model. The examination was conducted by observation, with the aid of photography, notes and open interview, questionnaires and performing tasks with users, the bases of which are on the principles laid down by methodologies. From this it was possible to point to the existence of problems such as: complaints about the layout, lighting, colors, available area, difficult access to points of interaction, such as buttons, and the difficult nomenclature of dials. Later, the findings and recommendations presented show the need for a further, deeper study, using more accurate tools, a larger sample of users, and an anthropometric study focused on the dashboard, since reading and understanding it have to be done quickly and accurately, and that more attention be given to the study of automobile dashboards, particularly in the most popular vehicles in order to maintain the standards of usability, and drivers' comfort and safety.     

Low back pain disability and stay at work: contradiction or necessity?

The incidence of occupational diseases in the population is high and factors such as long working hours, poor posture, psychological and physical stress can contribute to its development. Among work-related musculoskeletal disorders, back pain has a high prevalence. The aim of the present study was to quantify and characterize pain complaints and to identify individuals with low back pain, in order to assess the degree of disability. Participated 226 employees of an institution of higher education. They answered a general questionnaire about location and quantification of pain complaints visual analog scale for pain and the Quebec Disability Questionnaire. Of all the workers, 69.60% had some type of musculoskeletal complaint; of those, 15.41% had low back pain. Considering workers who had back pain, 54.9% were female, 52.94% are under 30 years old and 43.14% between 1 and 5 years of work. As for the final score for the degree of disability, 41.17% had minimal disability and 37.25% moderate disability. The present study found large number of pain complaints and high prevalence of low back pain, resulting in individual's inability and difficulties in performing work activities.     

Care of older people in migration contexts: local and transnational arrangements between Peru and Spain

Care arrangements for the elderly are becoming a main social process in contemporary societies due to socio-political and lifestyle changes over the last few decades. The family and the State play a basic role in the construction of care systems and in the establishment of strategies to access care resources. In the present context of migration, these resources interact at a transnational level, challenging family and State migratory regimes. These new realities need the recognition of basic international social rights, as the experiences of Peruvians living in a migration context in Spain show.     

Hand therapy and ergonomics: integration of approaches in vocational rehabilitation and promotion of decent work in Brazil

Among the indicators of Decent Work in Brazil, the one referring to the "Safe Working Environment" was the only which had no improvement in the time series analyzed by the International Labor Organisation. There is an increased number of accidents with significant economic and social impacts. Given that many of these accidents involve the hands and cause functional sequels, this paper presents an integration between the approaches of Hand Therapy and Ergonomics in order to facilitate the process of rehabilitation and reintegration, as well as acting to prevent further accidents, thus contributing to the promotion of Decent Work in the country, particularly with regard to safety and health at work and equal opportunities.     

On a criticism of the profile likelihood function

The profile likelihood function is often criticized for giving strange or unintuitive results. In the cases discussed here these are due to the use of density functions that have singularities. These singularities are naturally inherited by the profile likelihood function. It is therefore apparently important to be reminded that likelihood functions are proportional to probability functions, and so cannot have singularities. When this issue is addressed, then the profile likelihood poses no problems of this sort. This is of particular importance since the profile likelihood is a commonly used method for dealing with separate estimation of parameters.