Average person

Odors are characterized by quaUty and intensity. Descriptive quaUties such as sour, sweet, pungent, fishy, and spicy are commonly used. Intensity is deterrnined by how much the concentration of the odoriferous substance exceeds its detection threshold (the concentration at which most people can detect an odor). Odor intensity is approximately proportional to the logarithm of the concentration. However, several factors affect the abiUty of an individual to detect an odor the sensitivity of a subject s olfactory system, the presence of other masking odors, and olfactory fatigue (ie, reduced olfactory sensitivity during continued exposure to the odorous substance). In addition, the average person s sensitivity to odor decreases with age. 

Process workers often complain that valves are inaccessible. Emergency valves should always be readily accessible but other valves, if they are operated, say, once a year or less often, can be out of reach. It is reasonable to expect workers to get a ladder or scramble into a pipe trench at this frequency. Designers should remember that if a valve is just within reach of an average person then half of the population cannot reach it. Equipment should be placed such that at least 95% of the population can reach it. Guidance on specific measurements to achieve this objective is available in a number of standard human factors textbooks (see Bibliography). 

Certain assumptions are usually made about an "average" person s attributes for risk assessments applied to large groups of individuals. List the standard values usually assigned to represent the "average" values for the following. 

Those with a normal diet take in food in the forms of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Because it has a low water content and produces so many ATP molecules, fat yields 9.3 Calories per gram while carbohydrates and proteins yield less than half as much (4.1 and 4.3 calorics per gi-am respectively). Thus, we get a huge number of calories from a small quantity of fat eaten. The average person in the United States has a diet with 50 percent of the calories in the form of carbohydrates, 35 percent in the form of fat and 15 percent in the form of protein. We need about 1 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight per day to replace body proteins that are broken down. A 70 kg person... 

When hydrogen is proposed as a future fuel, the average person may ask about the Hindcnhurg, the Challenger, or even the hydrogen bomb. Clearly, consumers will not accept hydrogen or any new fuel unless it is as safe as our current fuels. 

I feel I have failed more than the average person. 

C14-0028. In running a mile, an average person consumes about 500 kJ of free energy, (a) How many moles of ATP does this represent (b) Assuming 38% conversion efficiency, how many grams of glucose must be burned ... 

The human body generates a steady flow of acidic by-products during its normal metabolic processes. Foremost among these is carbon dioxide, which is a major product of the reactions the body uses to produce energy (see Section 14-). An average person produces from 10 to 20 mol (440 to 880 g) of CO2 every day. Blood carries CO2 from the cells to the lungs to be exhaled. In aqueous solution, dissolved CO2 is in equilibrium with carbonic acid H2 O + CO2 H2 CO3... 

Ask the average person in the street what a catalyst is, and he or she will probably tell you that a catalyst is what one has under the car to clean up the exhaust. Indeed, the automotive exhaust converter represents a very successful application of catalysis it does a great job in removing most of the pollutants from the exhaust leaving the engines of cars. However, catalysis has a much wider scope of application than abating pollution. 

Sodium chloride is a white, crystalline substance held together by the electrostatic forces between its two constituents, sodium ions and chloride ions. Salt is essential for human life. An average person has almost a quarter pound of it distributed throughout his or her body. Many of the sodium ions are found in the blood, where, among other things, they regulate blood pressure. Because salt is lost in sweat and urine, a normal diet requires us to consume it regularly. 

The array of proposed standards differ in details, but the approaches are the same in two important ways (a) no account is taken of possible technological or medical advances during the next millennia (b) the level of harm to be avoided in the distant future is miniscule compared to the level of harm that society accepts with a shrug today - for example, the dose of about 2 mSv per year that the average person in the US. now receives from indoor radon, with projected lung cancer fatalities in excess of 15,000 per year. 

Just how much is a part per billion One ppb is approximately equivalent to traveling 1 ft (0.4m) on ajoumey from the earth to the moon. It is equivalent to 1 mill (0.10) in a professional s life earnings (assuming an average of 25,000/yr for 40 years). It is equivalent to approximately 2.2 sec out of an average person s life (70 yrs). This is very small, but it is at these concentrations that we must monitor pollution. 

If the average person throws away 3.5 pounds of trash every day, how much trash would the average person throw away in one week ... 

The average person should consume 15 calories per pound of body weight each day. For example, a 130-pound person should consume 1,950 calories each day (15 calories/pound x 130 lbs = 1,950 calories). Approximately 30% of those calories should come from fat (1,950 calories x 0.30 = 585 calories/day). To illustrate the huge number of calories contained in the energy-dense fast food that is conveniently available, let s consider a standard meal from a popular fast-food chain3 ... 

An equilibrium factor of 0.35, derived from measurements made during the local surveys, has been assumed to typify conditions in UK dwellings. This value has been used to convert the average radon concentrations measured in the national survey to potential alpha-energy concentration of radon decay-products. On average, persons in the UK spend 75% of their time in their homes and 15% of their time elsewhere indoors (Brown, 1983). The occupancy factor of 0.75, together with an equilibrium factor of 0.35, results in an annual exposure of 1.3 10"5 J h m"3 (0.0037 Working Level Months,... 

Each liter of air normally contains a few atoms each of 218Po, 211+Pb, 211+Bi and 211+Po, which are the short-lived decay products of the radioactive noble gas radon. When inhaled, these atoms can be deposited on the lining of the respiratory tract, causing irradiation of the tissue due to further radioactive decay. This irradiation accounts for about one half of the average persons dose... 

The presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the environment is of obvious concern and, apart from specific occupational environments, human exposure to these compounds derives from combustion products released into the atmosphere. Estimates of the total annual benzo[aJpyrene emissions in the United States range from 900 tons (19) to about 1300 tons (20). These totals are derived from heat and power generation (37-38%), open-refuse burning (42-46%), coke production (15-19%) and motor vehicle emissions (1-1.5%) (19,20). Since the vast majority of these emissions are from stationary sources, local levels of air pollution obviously vary. Benzo[aJpyrene levels of less than 1 pg/1,000 m correspond to clean air (20). At this level, it can be estimated that the average person would inhale about 0.02 pg of benzo[aJpyrene per day, and this could increase to 1.5 pg/day in polluted air (21). 

Average person near Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessor 24 4 2... 

Fire fighting equipment should be mounted at heights that are easily accessible by the average person. This includes portable fire extinguishers, hose connections to fire hydrants, access to emergency shutoff valves, emergency stop/ESD push buttons, etc. 

It s a struggle to be on the road and feel like there s no safe place for me on the planet. Sometimes I drive an hour and a half to find a good place to park. Good sleep is so important to recovering my health that I probably am a little more willing than the average person to go to extremes to get that. And it has paid off. Today I can hike and I can sit for normal periods. 

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