This study of the contribution of working-class fiction to the debate on class conflict in Britain is based on four novels written by two ex-miners between 1929 and 1939: The Gate of a Strange Field (1929) and Last Cage Down (1935), by Harold Heslop, and Cwmardy (1937) and We Live (1939), by Lewis Jones. These novels represent, in work­ing-class fiction, a unique combination of an archetypal working-class occupation, min­ing, with central features of the 1930s cultural discourse, the role of political ideology in literature. This study takes as its starting point the perception of these novels as having a spe­cifically communicative function in the social and cultural context of the 1930s. It recognises their role in articulating the radical voice of the miner in the conflict of inter­ests between capital and labour as exemplified by the coal industry. I also argue that the novels are influenced by the polarised discourse of British social and cultural life in this period. Cultural context is not seen simply as a reflection of 1930s attitudes and ideas, but also in relation to a tradition of working-class and miners' fiction that appropriates accepted literary forms for specific needs, in this case, the articulation of miners' griev­ances in the 1930s, seen in terms of class conflict. This conjuncture of historical and contemporary cultural discourses acts as the organising principle of the first part of this study. The four novels are analysed in terms of a sub-genre classification of the realist novel: the roman à thèse. This approach facilitates an analysis focusing on the deter­mining influence of ideology as a totalising concept affecting the structure, content and message of these novels. I argue that the prime purpose of these novels is to constrain interpretation to a desired outcome, as represented by the doctrine inherent in the text. Two types of roman à thèse are distinguished: the apprenticeship, which builds on the precepts of the Bildungsroman, and the confrontational, which is non-transformational, depicting scenes of class conflict. The apprenticeship model consists of two types of exemplary narrative: positive and negative. This study demonstrates that, by applying the analytical model of a positive apprenticeship to Cwmardy, the narrative structures of the novel limit the potential for interpretation to the doctrinal assumptions underlying the text. The reader is expected to identify with the class-conscious insights gained by the hero. The Gate of a Strange Field, in contrast, acts as a cautionary tale, illustrating the consequences of embracing a false doctrine. Both We Live and Last Cage Down are considered as novels of confrontation in which the primary conflict between capital and labour is modified by a secondary conflict within labour on the question of ways and means of achieving a socialist society. The conclusion reached is that these novels can only be understood in relation to the polarised social and cultural attitudes of the 1930s, and in relation to their place in a history of miners' literature that appropriates literary forms to engage in a debate on the class nature of British society. / digitalisering@umu

Rationale/Objective: Excess lung cancer risks associated with exposure to inhaled radon decay products among uranium miners has well been established. Although ingestion is also a potentially important route of exposure, the relationship between ingested radon decay products and gastrointestinal cancer risks are not well examined. The objective of this study is to determine the relationship between exposure to radon decay products and the incidence and mortality of gastrointestinal (esophagus, stomach, and colorectal) cancer among men employed as uranium miners in Ontario. Secondly, to determine whether the duration of exposure (dose rate), years since last exposure and age at first exposure modify these associations. Methods: A cohort of miners who had ever worked in an Ontario uranium mine between 1954 and 1996 was created using the Mining Master File and the National Dose Registry. Cumulative radon exposures measured in Working Level Months (WLM) were previously estimated for each miner. Cancer diagnoses (1964-2004) and cancer deaths (1954-2004) occurring in Ontario were determined by probabilistic record linkage with the Ontario Cancer Registry. To calculate person-years at risk, non-cancer deaths were also ascertained from the Ontario mortality file for the period between 1954 and 2004. Poisson regression methods for grouped data were used to estimate the relative risks (RR) and 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) by exposure level. Results/Conclusions: The final cohort consisted of 28,273 Ontario uranium miners. By the end of 2004, 34 miners had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer, 86 with stomach cancer, and 359 with colorectal cancer. There were 40 deaths due to esophageal cancer, 69 from stomach cancer, and 176 from colorectal cancer. When comparing the highest cumulative exposure category (>40 WLM) to the referent group (0 WLM), significant increases in both stomach (RRIncidence= 2.30, 95% CI;1.02-5.17 and RRMortality=2.90, 95% CI;1.11-7.63) and colorectal cancers (RRIncidence =1.56, 95% CI;1.07-2.27 and RRMortality =1.74, 95% CI;1.01-2.99) after adjusting for age at risk and period effects. However, no relationships were observed for esophageal cancer. Suggestive evidence of modifying effects of these associations by duration of employment (dose rate) and years since last exposure for colorectal cancer was also observed.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [254]-267). Also available on the Internet.

"This report was originally submitted as a thesis at the University of British Columbia ..." Thesis at University of British Columbia on planning future mining communities that would depend for their existence solely on the exploitation of mineral deposits. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 92-106).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [254]-267). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 1999. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 114 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 109-114).

Commissioned for this report is Ramboll, Bridge and Tunnel Unit in Stockholm. The idea throughout the work has been to primarily help bridge designers compiling advice and instructions on how fatigue verification for railway bridges in reinforced concrete shall be performed under the new rules, the Eurocodes. After the introduction of the Eurocodes in 2011 has major problems emerged among designers around Sweden. In some areas, it differs in the calculation rules compared with rules from the Swedish Transport Administration and the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning calculation. Fatigue verification is one area where the new calculation rules are different from the past. A large part of the report has been to interpret and find the relevant information in the Eurocodes concerning fatigue. When questions or doubts have surfaced, this has been discussed with Elisabeth Helsing at the Swedish Transport Administration and bridge designers at Ramboll. The result is a report where the structure is organized in the way that the bridge designers can move from cover to cover and realize that fatigue verification in reality follows the same order as the report's sections. The issues have been resolved and reported regularly through the report with complementary findings as a result. Some of the greatest advances in the report are the load combinations to be used for the method for fatigue verification, how the dynamic factor and the magnification factor should be used and how the trainloads to be designed for each method for fatigue verification.

Research shows miners can be exposed to foot-transmitted vibration (FTV) when operating various pieces of underground mining equipment, and case reports suggest workers are experiencing symptoms similar to those of hand-arm vibration syndrome in their feet. A field study was conducted to measure and document FTV exposure associated with operating underground mining equipment, and probable health risks were determined based on both ISO 2631-1 (1997) for WBV and ISO 5349-1 (2004) for HAV. Seventeen participating operator’s also reported musculoskeletal discomfort. Seventeen male participants ranging between 24-61 years of age, with an average height and mass of 175.0cm and 88.2kg volunteered for the study. Seventeen pieces of equipment were tested; 1 locomotive, 1 crusher, 9 bolter drills (4 scissor platforms, 2 Maclean, 2 Boart/basket, and 1 RDH), and 6 jumbo drills. Including all seventeen pieces of underground mining equipment, the vibration acceleration ranged from 0.13-1.35m/s2 with dominant frequencies between 1.25-250Hz according to ISO 2631-1. According to ISO 5349-1 vibration acceleration ranged from 0.14-3.61m/s2 with dominant frequencies between 6.3-250Hz. Furthermore, the magnitude of FTV measured on the jumbo drills with grated platforms (#5 and #6) was less than FTV measured from the jumbo drills with, solid metal surfaces. Additionally, twelve of the seventeen equipment operators indicated a complaint of discomfort in their lower body (specifically at the level of the knee or lower). The health risk analysis based on ISO 2631-1 indicated that one operator (bolter drill #9) was exposed to vibration above the criterion value, while the health risk analysis based on ISO 5349-1 indicated iv that two operators (jumbo drill #1 and bolter drill #1) were exposed to vibration above the criterion value. Operators reported very severe or severe discomfort; however, the same operators were not the operators of the equipment with FTV exposure levels above the ISO standards, leaving evidence to suggest that the standards are not properly assessing injury risk to vibration exposure via the feet. Future research is needed to develop a standard specific for FTV and to determine the link between early musculoskeletal injury reporting and the onset of vibration white foot. To do so, a better understanding of the biodynamic response of the foot to FTV is needed. A laboratory study was conducted to 1) measure and document transmissibility of FTV from (a) floor-to-ankle (lateral malleolus), and (b) floor-to-metatarsal, during exposure to six levels of vibration (25Hz, 30Hz, 35Hz, 40Hz, 45Hz, and 50Hz) while standing, and 2) to determine whether independent variables (vibration exposure frequency, mass, arch type) influence transmissibility (dependent variable) through the foot. A two-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted. There was a significant interaction between transmissibility location and exposure frequency (λ = 0.246, F (5,25) = 15.365, p = 0.0001). There were significant differences in mean transmissibility between the ankle and metatarsal at 40Hz [t(29) = 4.116, p = 0.00029], 45Hz [t(29) = 6.599, p = 0.00000031], and 50Hz [t(29) = 8.828, p = 0.000000001]. The greatest transmissibility at the metatarsal occurred at 50Hz and at the ankle (lateral malleolus) transmissibility was highest from 25-30Hz, indicating the formation of a local resonance at each location. v Future research should focus on identifying resonance frequencies at different locations on the feet. This information is needed to develop an exposure guideline to help protect workers from exposure to FTV, and to develop personal protective equipment capable of attenuating harmful FTV exposure frequencies.

No description available.

The author's Habilitationsschrift--Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, 1980/81. First published in: Bayern in der NS-Zeit. (Bd.) 4. Herrschaft und Gesellschaft im Konflikt, Teil C. 1981. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [383]-399) and index.