No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The human factor/human element starts to have a key role in accidents and incidents during shipments at sea. Investigations show that poor communications increasingly are the root for many tragedies. A possible reason for communication constraints is the growing trend to employ multicultural crews. This thesis aims to document this new challenge in the maritime industry and to endeavour to show how the Maritime Education and Training (MET) can address the problem. The lack of a company crewing policy entails a variation in management standards; it causes confusion. Therefore, it is commonly advised that a common working language be used and expressed in the company policy. It is not only substandard communication that lies behind accidents but also a lack of cultural awareness and “wrong” stereotyping. This is a worrying situation. Researchers in the maritime field have tried to quantify and describe the risks and identify possible benefits with multicultural crews. Disappointingly, the results show a strong disharmony. The industry appears not to be capable of coping with diversity or hesitates to balance eventual advantages with eventual risks. The reason could be that past research studies rather confuse the industry, instead of giving useful guidance. The research strategy, that has been used to find pros and cons in multicultural crews, perhaps has not been the best suited. This thesis aims to propagate for a professionally applied inductive strategy to phenomena related to human factor constraints in the shipping industry. This thesis is also urging MET institutions to conduct courses in cultural awareness and increase the learning goal in English to something more than bare basic. With World Maritime University (WMU) students as the prime research object, it has been found that studying in a multicultural environment is not problem free but instead creates an opportunity to increase the students’ communicative competence. This research study looks at the aspects of psychology, language and pedagogy to conclude that there is a need for courses in cultural awareness. Most likely, multicultural crews in the shipping industry are an irreversible trend. The solutions presented in this thesis focus on communications and cultural awareness and the point made is that, if courses in these two subject areas are not introduced in MET, a mixed crew will continue to be a risk factor hazarding safety at sea. The implication of the results, from a WMU point of view, is that extended understanding of different cultures is a needed subject for both students and teachers. The present, high level of study contact time makes the need for such courses even more important.

M.S.

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No description available.

An evaluation was made of the performance of 48 11 x 63 11 , reversible, doubleface, wing-type, two-way entry, nailed red-oak, stevedore pallets of two designs assembled with four different nails. Special consideration was given to Brazilian situations in the light of the interest of the author in the industrial potential of Brazil. The pallets of improved design had their top and bottom leading-edge deckboards backed up by follow-up deckboards. Furthermore, four nails, instead of three, were used for fastening the leading-edge deckboards and three nai Is, instead of two, were used for fastening the inner deckboards to each stringer. The sequence of tests on each pallet started with the initial stiffness test, followed by the rigidity test, the impact-incline deckboard-stringer separation test, and the follow-up static stiff,!'1ess and load-carrying capacity tests. The pallets of improved design were better than those of conventional design during all tests performed. The influence of the nails on pallet performance was significantly different only during the performance of the rigidity and impact-incline tests. During the latter test, the pallets of improved design assembled with 311 helically threaded hardened-steel nails were, on the average, 66 times better than the conventional pallets assembled with the Brazilian 2 ½” helically fluted nails. Recommendations were advanced, suggesting that the study be continued and that special consideration be given to the wood species available in Brazil for pallet assembly, to the use of improved nails, and to the environmental conditions under which stevedore pallets are exposed. / Master of Science

The Pallet Design System (PDS) is a widely accepted engineering procedure for comparing the performance of competing pallet designs. As part of a new version of the PDS, the objective of this study was to develop a durability model for pallets with structural panel decking. An accelerated rough material handling test system, "the VPI unit-load material handling FasTrack" , was developed to simulate pallets used in the unit-load material handling environments. 100 pallets representing 14 different designs were tested in the "FasTrack." Damages to these pallets were recorded after each test cycle. A procedure relating damage to repair cost was developed. The effect of panel-deck pallet design on the resistance to damage was evaluated in terms of the total number of damaged parts and average damage cost or repair cost. Test results indicate that panel grade and type, species of related wood parts, size of stringer and deckboards, joints, and pallet configurations affect the resistance of panel deck pallet to damage. The plots of average total damage cost, Cu adjusted for repair as a function of test cycle, U, fit the equation: Ct = aU - 1. The equation provided good fits to all the pallet designs tested. Using the initial purchase prices, the average cost and the economic life were calculated for all the pallet designs. The VPI "FasTrack" was calibrated based on the number of physical handlings and the amortized life. Three typical in-field handling environments were compared with the VPI "FasTrack". It concluded that the 30-cycle test period in the VPI "FasTrack" simulates between 2 to 5 years of field uses depending on the field handling system being simulated. Thirty Canadian Pallet Council (CPC) pallets with known 7 years of amortized life in the field were tested in the VPI "FasTrack". The 30-cycle test in the VPI system simulated 6 years of use in the similar handling environment of the CPC pallet used by the grocery industry in Canada. The average total damage costs for different pallet designs were related to pallet structural characteristics using multivariate regression analysis. The shear resistance through the thickness of the top panel deck, bottom deck flexural strength, pallet flexural strength, fastener withdrawal resistance, and pallet configuration were used to predict the total damage cost. A multiple regression model was developed. The model was verified by comparing the predicted values with the tested values of 12 panel deck pallets representing 2 designs. The results indicated that the model is reliable for the future predictions. / Master of Science

Pallet repair and reinforcement with metal connector plates (MCPs) may reduce wood waste while providing pallet users with quality, economical pallets. The study objectives were to evaluate the effect of MCP repair and reinforcement on pallet performance, and to evaluate preliminary standards for repair and reinforcement of pallets with MCPs. Whole pallets and pallet components were tested. Stringers and notched segments were tested in static bending, while end feet were tested for resistance to fork tine impact. Whole pallets were evaluated with a test protocol that simulated the effects of long-term handling. Stringers, repaired at notch corners, had greater strength, but less stiffness than the original stringers. Notch reinforcement with MCPs resulted in stringers with greater strength and stiffness than equivalent unreinforced stringers. No consistent species-width effect was found for strength of plated stringers. MCP-repair of above-notch failures did not restore the original strength or stiffness of notched segments. However, these repairs may be satisfactory since above-notch failures are secondary in frequency of occurrence. No differences were found between performance of plates used to repair stringers and notched segments. Both repaired and reinforced end feet had greater impact resistance than the equivalent original or unreinforced end feet. Wood species, rather than stringer width, had a greater influence on MCP performance. In general, tests of whole pallets supported the results from component tests which suggests that component testing may be a practical means of assessing the effect of repair and reinforcement techniques on pallet performance. / Master of Science