Sensitivity analysis aims to characterize factors (i.e., model inputs) accounting for the amount of uncertainty in model output. Input factors are usually assumed to be independent, which may lead to incorrect conclusions. In this study, a combined sensitivity analysis approach, composed of the Sobol’ and Importance Measurement (IM) methods, is applied on a pesticide environmental risk indicato...

Public health systems aim to improve the health of a population at a cost whose limits are set, one way or another, by society. To ensure that the health of a population is improved, clinical procedures that are supported by scientific evidence of a more favorable outcome (risk/benefit ratio) compared to any other alternative should be used. To ensure that the outcomes are achieved at an accept...

Currently, a high percentage of accidents in railway systems are accounted to human factors. As a consequence, safety engineers try to take into account this factor in risk assessment. However, human reliability data are very difficult to quantify, thus, qualitative methods are often used in railway system’s risk assessments. Modeling of human errors through probabilistic approaches has shown s...

In our societies, the number of senior citizens living on their own is increasing steadily. The lack of permanent attention results in the late detection of emergency situations. Labour-intensive care is already a high burden for the society, therefore it seems reasonable to promote technology that helps to detect and react in case of emergency situations that elderly people may encounter. In t...

In order for companies to improve the maturity level of their development process, they need to design new methods or adapt the existing ones. This research aims to deliver a proof of concept of how incremental method engineering supports the maturation of methods in a product software company. We show how the adaptation of a method can lead to a higher maturity level. We assessed the method of...

INTRODUCTION The accidents at Texas City and Buncefield remind us of the importance of human factors in preventing major accident hazards in the Process Industry. Much of the advice focuses on organisational factors required to ensure a motivated and competent workforce working within a good safety culture. Another key area that is often overlooked is the design of plants, processes and procedu...

This study investigates business-to-customer (B2C) electronic commerce services from a quality management persp ective. We propose a nov el quality management approach that is based on human factors engineering to manage e-commerce service quality and operate according to customer needs. First, we screen credible quality requirements and determine their weights by integrati ng Kano’s model with...

Despite significant advances in risk management, routing hazardous materials (hazmat) has relied on relatively simpler methods. In this paper, we formally introduce an advanced risk measure, called conditional valueat-risk (CVaR), applied to truck routing problems for hazmat transportation. We find that CVaR offers a flexible, risk-averse, and computationally tractable routing method that is ad...

BACKGROUND With the increasingly severe energy shortage and climate change problems, developing wind power has become a key energy development strategy and an inevitable choice to protect the ecological environment worldwide. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of low back pain (LBP) and analyze its risk factors among operation and maintenance personnel in wind farms (OM...

This study utilized a participatory ergonomics approach to examine the ergonomic hazards and reduce musculoskeletal symptoms for librarians in the East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library. A variety of research activities were conducted, including: ergonomics training and tests, observations, work environment and health questionnaires, and focus group discussions. A total of 39 employees from 9 dif...