People factor

This chapter is the first chapter in this book and serves as an introduction The first section of this chapter starts with a discussion of what is a medicinal chemist In this chapter the reader will notice far more attention to the people aspect of the discipline of medicinal chemistry than will be found in later chapters. This is by design. When expert practitioners in the field discuss success in medicinal chemistry the focus is usually very much on the person rather than on the technology. We admire the persistent drug hunters. We remember the individuals who do not give up easily. We appreciate those individuals with the interpersonal skills that facilitate an effective therapeutic project team. We admire those medicinal chemists who think out of the box and come up with the insights that transform a program. In this introduction I have tried to give some credit to this people factor. 

The secondary corrosion mechanism involves the contributions of people in different ways and the people factor should be rated as high in corrosion management. The various... 

Corrosion failure incorporating the people factor may also be analyzed in terms of fault-tree analysis as given below ... 

Corrosion economics and corrosion management forms the theme of the fifth chapter. Discounted cash flow calculations, depreciation, the declining balance method, double declining method, modified accelerated cost recovery system and present worth calculation procedures are given, together with examples. In the second part, corrosion management, including the people factor in corrosion failure is briefly presented. Some of the expert systems presently available in the literature are briefly discussed. 

There is no uniformity as to how permeability testing is carried out in the pharmaceutical industry. This suggests that there may not be a great deal of difference in the effectiveness of the various experimental and computational permeability prediction methods. The people factor can easily be as (or even more) important than purely technical factors. The goal in a permeability assay or calculation is to influence chemistry behavior, that is to direct chemistry synthesis toward more permeable compounds. Thus the best assay or calculation may be the one that chemists (for whatever reason) believe and act on. This means that issues such as capacity, ease of use, ease of interpretation and internal credibility can be the deciding factor for effectiveness. As previously discussed, PSA calculations can be used as a permeability filter. PSA calculations are not very accurate if the compound is highly conformationally flexible the compound is multiply charged and if intramolecular H-bond... 

Having discussed what constitutes GLP in terms of QA and QC, let us introduce the very important and not to be neglected people factor in all of this. 

Recent experiments (4) have shown that there are no significant age or gender-related differences in thermal environment preference when all other factors such as weight of clothing and activity level are the same. Whereas people often accept thermal environments outside of their comfort range, there is no evidence that they adapt to these other conditions. Their environmental preference does not change. Similarly there is no evidence that there is any seasonal or circadian rhythm influence on a person s thermal preference. 

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. 

Human perception creates difficulty ia the characterization of flavor people often, if not always, perceive flavors differently due to both psychological and physiological factors. For example, certain aryl thiocarbamates, eg, phenylthiocarbamide, taste exceedingly bitter to some people and are almost tasteless to others (5). This difference is genetically determined, and the frequency of its occurrence differs from one population to another 40% of U.S. Caucasians are nontasters, whereas only 3% of the Korean population caimot perceive the strong bitter taste of the aryl thiocarbamates (6). Similar differences were found ia the sense of smell for compounds such as menthol, carvone, and ethyl butyrate (7). 

Several aspects affect the extent and character of taste and smell. People differ considerably in sensitivity and appreciation of smell and taste, and there is lack of a common language to describe smell and taste experiences. A hereditary or genetic factor may cause a variation between individual reactions, eg, phenylthiourea causes a bitter taste sensation which may not be perceptible to certain people whose general abiUty to distinguish other tastes is not noticeably impaired (17). The variation of pH in saUva, which acts as a buffer and the charge carrier for the depolarization of the taste cell, may influence the perception of acidity differently in people (15,18). Enzymes in saUva can cause rapid chemical changes in basic food ingredients, such as proteins and carbohydrates, with variable effects on the individual. 

Ascorbic acid also forms soluble chelate complexes with iron (142—145). It seems ascorbic acid has no effect on high iron levels found in people with iron overload (146). It is well known, in fact, that ascorbic acid in the presence of iron can exhibit either prooxidant or antioxidant effects, depending on the concentration used (147). The combination of citric acid and ascorbic acid may enhance the iron load in aging populations. Iron overload may be the most important common etiologic factor in the development of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis, and possibly other disorders. The synergistic combination of citric acid and ascorbic acid needs further study, particularly because the iron overload produced may be correctable (147). 

Deficiency of Factor VII is relatively rare and inherited as an autosomal recessive disorder. Deficiency of Factor VII has been reported to be associated with bond abnormal bleeding and thrombotic tendencies. Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary emboli have been reported in affected individuals. There is a very high frequency of Factor VII deficiency in people with the Dubin-Johnson syndrome, which is a congenital disorder of Hver function. 

Congenital deficiency of Factor XII is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait. Deficiency of this factor is rarely associated with any coagulopathy. It has been observed that people deficient in this factor may have an increased frequency of thromboembolic compHcations. 

Congenital deficiency of Factor Xlll is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait and is frequendy recognized at birth because of delayed persistent hemorrhage from the umbiUcus. In Factor Xlll-deficient people wound healing is defective and wound dehiscence is common. 

Hypertension is one of the two principal risk factors of many cardiovascular diseases, such as coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and CHF. Individuals are considered hypertensive if their systoHc arterial blood pressure is over 140 mm Hg (18.7 Pa) or their diastoHc arterial blood pressure is over 90 mm Hg (12 Pa). Over 60 million people, or one-third of the adult population in the United States are estimated to be hypertensive (163). About 90% of these patients are classified as primary or essential hypertensive because the etiology of their hypertension is unknown. It is generally agreed that there is a very strong genetic or hereditary component to this disease. 

Factors that enter into any economic analysis of handhng-warehousing systems are (1) expected mechanical and economic life of the system (2) annual maintenance cost (3) capital requirements and expected return on investment (4) building-construction cost and land v ue (5) detailed analysis of each work position (to determine trade-offs of labor and equipment expected future costs and availability of labor are important) (6) relation of system control and personnel used in system (trade-offs of people versus mechanical control) (7) type of information system (computerized or manual) and (8) expected changed in product, container, unit pallet loads, and customer preferences during the life of the system. 

The second example of an air pollutant that affects the total body burden is carbon monoxide (CO). In addihon to CO in ambient air, there are other sources for inhalation. People who smoke have an elevated CO body burden compared to nonsmokers. Individuals indoors may be exposed to elevated levels of CO from incomplete combustion in heating or cooking stoves. CO gas enters the human body by inhalation and is absorbed directly into the bloodstream the total body burden resides in the circulatory system. The human body also produces CO by breakdown of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin breakdown gives every individual a baseline level of CO in the circulatory system. As the result of these factors, the body burden can fluctuate over a time scale of hours. 

An important factor, endorsed by many users, is the meeting location. This meeting should be held at the vendor s plant. It is important for the vendor s personnel to have some exposure to the user. This meeting is intended for the actual vendor working people to find out, first hand,... 

In addition to freedom from bottoming out , most people prefer a seat which effectively provides a soft surface with a firm interior. One measure of the relationship between such surface softness and inner support is the sag factor or support factor. In one commonly used test this is obtained by dividing the force required to compress a foam by 65% of its height by the force needed to obtain 25% sample compression. This generally increases with density but is typically <2.5 for a conventional slabstock foam but >2.5 for a high-resilience foam. 

To conclude, this sampling of the literature of risk perception, the comments of Covello, 1981 may be summarized. Surveys have been of small specialized groups - generally not representative of the population as a whole. There has been little attempt to analyze the effects of ethnicity, religion, sex, region age, occupation and other variables that may affect risk perception. People respond to surveys with the first thing that comes to mind and tend to stick to this answer. They provide an answer to any question asked even when they have no opinion, do not understand the question or have inconsistent beliefs. Surveys are influenced by the order of questions, speed of response, whether a verbal or numerical respon.se is required and by how the answer is posed. Few Studies have examined the relationships between perceptions of technological hazards and behavior which seems to be influenced by several factors such as positive identification with a leader, efficacy of social and action, physical proximity to arenas of social conflict. 

One of the most critical factors is draft. Many people at low activity levels (seated/standing) are very sensitive to air velocities, and therefore draft is a very common cause for occupant complaints in ventilated and air-conditioned spaces. Fluctuations of the air velocity have a significant influence on a person s sensation of draft. The fluctuations may be ex-... 

No accident has a simple cause. In this case a contributory factor was the inexperience of the operator, who had to ask someone to show him how the quench system worked. It had not been used for several years. Emergency equipment is usually used infrequently, and without regular training, people forget (or never learn) how to use it [6]. 

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