New procedures of ergonomics design in a large oil company

This study presents the challenge involved in the negotiation and construction of a standard process in a major petroleum company that has the purpose of guiding the implementation of ergonomic studies in the development of projects, systemising the implementation of ergonomics design. The standard was created by a multi-disciplinary working group consisting of specialists in ergonomics, who work in a number of different areas of the company. The objective was to guide "how to" undertake ergonomics in all projects, taking into consideration the development of the ergonomic appraisals of work. It also established that all the process, in each project phase, should be accompanied by a specialist in ergonomics. This process as an innovation in the conception of projects in this company, signals a change of culture, and, for this reason requires broad dissemination throughout the several company leadership levels, and training of professionals in projects of ergonomics design. An implementation plan was also prepared and approved by the corporate governance, complementing the proposed challenge. In this way, this major oil company will implement new procedures of ergonomics design to promote health, safety, and wellbeing of the workforce, besides improving the performance and reliability of its systems and processes.     

Contributions from the activity analysis to the products development project: case study based on a project of innovation and comfort in aircraft's cabins

Comfort is an issue that has gained relevance within the aeronautical industry due to the necessity of manufacturers and airline companies of differentiating themselves in a market that has become more and more competitive each day. This study's aim is to analyze the comfort/discomfort of passengers, based on the analysis of the activities performed in the aircrafts' cabin during real flights, in order to create ergonomics requirements and a methodology of comfort analysis. The study has been performed during domestic commercial flights, and the adopted data collection techniques have been: the application of 219 questionnaires to passengers, 44 registrations of postures and actions through filmings and 12 semistructured interviews. The method has made possible the reconstruction of the user's action course in performing activities in real flight situations, and the calculation of the area occupied by the passenger during his or her actions. The integrated analysis of the results corroborates data from previous studies in which both the space made available to each passenger and the activity performed interfere in their perception of comfort. From this study it has been concluded that the method constitutes itself as an innovative tool within the process of aircrafts' cabins project enabling the calculation of the action space based on the reconstructed course.     

Leisure in Japan, 1986–2006: A Revival?

Japan is famous for long working hours. For decades the Japanese government has tried to influence how people spend their free time. In 5-yearly surveys since 1986 the government has surveyed ??quality of life,?? gauging how much time people spend daily in various activities, including ??leisure.?? Analyzing results from these time use surveys, from 2006 back to 1986, and controlling for labor market conditions, this study determines whether time spent on leisure activities has actually changed. Gains in some types of leisure have been fleeting. Yet in other respects leisure has been enhanced, with significant increases occurring in active recreational pastimes. Nevertheless, leisure remains elusive for mid-career employees. Moreover, there is a pronounced gender gap for leisure time.     

Lesbian mothers and their children: the third wave

Research regarding lesbian mothers and their children has gone through a transformation in the last forty years. The first wave of research examined lesbians who had become parents while in heterosexual relationships. The second wave examined women who became parents within the context of lesbian relationships. Both of these waves focused on family functioning and child outcome, using heterosexual-headed families as comparison groups. The third wave of research, which is now underway, is focusing on the unique challenges faced by these families, and how lesbian mothers are creating and raising their families on their own terms. This article explores the research as it has evolved over the years and the direction in which it is headed.     

Urban impacts on tropical island streams: Some key aspects influencing ecosystem response

Improving our understanding of the impacts of urbanization on tropical island streams is critical as urbanization becomes a dominant feature in tropical areas. Although the ??urban stream syndrome?? has been successful in summarizing urban impacts on streams, the response of some island streams is different to that expected. Here we review available information on urban impacts to tropical island streams and describe unique responses to urbanization. We identified three key aspects that play particularly important or unique roles in determining tropical-island stream integrity: biotic response to water pollution, movement barriers along the stream network, and altered geomorphology that results in habitat loss. As expected, water pollution negatively impacts stream ecosystems in tropical islands and in some regions impacts can be severe, as untreated wastewaters are directly discharged into streams. While aquatic insects show the expected responses to pollution, other native fauna (e.g., shrimps and fishes) appear to be less impacted by moderate levels of pollution. Movement barriers along the stream network are especially important as much of the tropical island fauna have diadromous (either amphidromous or catadromous) life histories. Most native freshwater mollusks, shrimps, and fishes inhabiting tropical islands are diadromous and depend on unimpeded connections between freshwater and marine environments to complete their life cycles. The presence of these species in urban streams is best explained by longitudinal connectivity rather than by the degree of urban impact. Finally, in streams that remain connected to marine environments, the presence of native shrimps and fishes is strongly related to the physical habitat. Fish assemblages in channelized and severely altered stream reaches are almost completely devoid of native fauna and tend to be dominated by non-native species. In contrast, relatively diverse shrimp and fish assemblages can be found in reaches that retain their physical habitat complexity, even when they are impacted by urbanization. Our understanding of urban impacts on tropical island streams remains limited. However, the identification of key aspects can help us better understand urban impacts on streams in tropical islands, and best focus our management and research efforts to protect these unique ecosystems.     

Skin lighteners, Black consumers and Jewish entrepreneurs in South Africa

This article considers the rise and decline of South Africa's lucrative and controversial skin-lighteners market through examination of the business history of the largest manufacturers, Abraham and Solomon Krok, and their evolving personas as millionaires and philanthropists. Such examination reveals how the country's skin-lighteners trade emerged as part of the broader growth of a black consumer market after the Second World War and how elements of that market became the target of anti-apartheid protests in subsequent decades. It also demonstrates how the Kroks' experiences as second-generation Jewish immigrants shaped their involvement in the trade and how, later, their self-identification as Jewish philanthropists informed their efforts to rehabilitate their reputations following South Africa's 1990 ban on all skin lighteners. Such efforts include the building of Johannesburg's highly acclaimed Apartheid Museum, modelled after the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This article explores the profound ironies that some South Africans see in the fact that a museum dedicated to commemorating those who suffered under and, ultimately, triumphed against state racism was financed by a family fortune generated through the sale of skin lighteners to black consumers.     

Limits to expansion: transnational corporations and territorial embeddedness in the Japanese temporary staffing market

Recent changes to employment legislation have combined with shifting macro‐economic conditions to drive dramatic growth in Japan's temporary staffing industry. Leading transnational staffing agencies have sought to capitalize on this growth as part of their wider globalization strategies but have faced substantial challenges both in entering the market and in their subsequent attempts at expansion. In this article, we explore the ways in which the particularities of the Japanese host market regulatory and institutional environment combine with the inherent characteristics of the temporary staffing business model to challenge the expansionary strategies of these firms. We argue that while transnational firms have sought to adapt their business practices and strategies to the Japanese case, the attributes of the Japanese staffing market mean they have been unable to make significant inroads into the dominant market shares held by their domestic rivals.     

Teenage employment and career readiness

Most American youth hold a job at some point during adolescence, but should they work? This article presents a broad overview of teenage employment in the United States. It begins by describing which teenagers work and for how long and then focuses attention on the consequences (both good and bad) of paid work in adolescence. It then presents recent nationally representative data from the Monitoring the Future Study suggesting that limited hours of paid work do not crowd out developmentally appropriate after-school activities. A review of the literature also supports the idea that employment for limited hours in good jobs can promote career readiness and positive development. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of youth work for practitioners and policymakers who are delivering career-related programming.     

Infant Distress and Regulatory Behaviors Vary as a Function of Attachment Security Regardless of Emotion Context and Maternal Involvement

Differences in infant distress and regulatory behaviors based on the quality of attachment to mother, emotion context (frustration versus fear), and whether or not mothers were actively involved in the emotion-eliciting tasks were examined in a sample of 98 16-month-old infants and their mothers. Dyads participated in the Strange Situation, a limiting task designed to elicit infant frustration, and a novelty task designed to elicit infant fear. Mothers were asked to remain uninvolved during the first minute of each task, and then instructed to engage with their infants as they wished for the remaining three minutes. Independent of concurrent maternal sensitivity, resistant infants were significantly more distressed than secure and avoidant infants. Avoidant infants engaged in fewer active mother-oriented regulation behaviors than secure and resistant infants and engaged in more self-soothing in the mother involved condition than the mother uninvolved condition. Resistant infants engaged in more physical comfort with their mothers and more venting than both secure and avoidant infants, and exhibited a smaller variety of adaptive non-mother-oriented strategies than did secure infants. There were few differences in infant distress and regulatory behaviors as a function of emotion task and maternal involvement. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.     

The effects of family stressors on substance use initiation in adolescence

Smoking and drinking are critical problems in adolescence that have long-term adverse impacts on health and socio-economic factors. We examine the extent to which family stresses influence the timing of initiation of smoking and drinking. Using national panel data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS) we capitalize on the survey design and use school-level fixed effects that control for the local environments, including prices of cigarettes and alcohol. In addition, we narrow our control group to classmates who will experience a similar stressor in the future. We find that a composite measure of family stressors when young increases the likelihood of initiating tobacco and alcohol use, with much of the impact attributable to parental divorce. In our baseline estimates, the composite stress measure is associated with a 30% increase in the likelihood of smoking and a 20% increase in drinking. When we control for multiple sources of confounding, the impact shrinks and remains significant for smoking but not for drinking. We conclude that studies which do not control for confounding are likely to significantly overestimate the impact of family stress on substance use. Our approach helps to move the literature forward by separating causal results from spurious associations.