Handrail
A handrail is a rail, designed to be grasped by the hand so as to provide stability or support. Handrails are used while ascending or descending stairways and escalators in order to prevent injurious falls. Handrails are supported by posts or mounted directly to walls. Similar items not covered in this article include bathroom handrails—which help to prevent falls on slippery, wet floors—other grab bars, for instance, in ships' galleys, barres, which serve as training aids for ballet dancers. Guard rails and balustrades line drop-offs and other dangerous areas, keeping people and vehicles out; the oldest known handrail was uncovered by French archaeologist Pierre St. Jamaine in an Assyrian ruin in southern Iraq in the city-state Nippur. British Standard and British Standard Code of Practice are harmonized to European Normal series. Handrail height is set between 1 metre. Further details may be found on the UK government website. Various model codes—The International Code Council and National Fire Protection Association —and accessibility standards—ANSI A117.1 and the Americans With Disabilities Act Standards for Accessible Design —refer to handrail dimensions.
Current versions of these codes and standards now agree that handrail is defined as either a circular cross section with an outside diameter of 1¼" minimum and 2" maximum or a non-circular cross section with a perimeter dimension of 4" minimum and 6¼" maximum and a cross section dimension of 2¼" maximum. In addition, the International Residential Code includes a definition of a "Type II" handrail that allows for handrail with a perimeter dimension greater than 6¼"; the IRC and residential portion of the 2009 IBC define Type II handrail as follows: Type II. Handrails with a perimeter greater than 6¼ inches shall provide a graspable finger recess area on both sides of the profile; the finger recess shall begin within a distance of 3/4 inch measured vertically from the tallest portion of the profile and achieve a depth of at least 5/16 inch within 7/8 inch below the widest portion of the profile. This required depth shall continue for at least 3/8 inch to a level, not less than 1¾ inches below the tallest portion of the profile.
The minimum width of the handrail above the recess shall be 1¼ inches to a maximum of 2¾ inches. Edges shall have a minimum radius of 0.01 inch. Handrails are located at a height between 34" and 38". In areas where children are the principal users of a building or facility, the 2010 ADASAD recommends that a second set of handrails at a maximum height of 28" measured to the top of the gripping surface from the ramp surface or stair nosing can assist in preventing accidents; the distance between the wall and handrail gripping surface is governed by local code with the most common requirement being 1½" minimum. The National Fire Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration require that the distance between the wall and handrail be a minimum of 2¼"; the 1992 Americans With Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines stated that there was to be an absolute dimension of 1½" between a handrail and a wall. This was a "grab bar" dimension, part of the 1986 ANSI A117.1. ANSI changed the notation to 1½" minimum in 1990.
This was not corrected in 2010 with the approval of the new ADASAD which now calls for a 1½" minimum clearance. Codes generally require that there be a 1½" clearance between the underside of the handrail and any obstruction—including the horizontal bracket arm. There is an allowance however for variations in the handrail size—for every 1/2" of additional perimeter dimension over 4", 1/8" may be subtracted from the clearance requirement. Handrails are to support a continuous load of 50 plf or a concentrated load of 200 pounds applied at the top of the handrail. Top of gripping surfaces of handrails shall be 34 inches minimum and 38 inches maximum vertically above walking surfaces, stair nosings, ramp surfaces. Handrails shall be at a consistent height above walking surfaces, stair nosings, ramp surfaces; when children are the principal users in a building or facility, a second set of handrails at an appropriate height can assist them and aid in preventing accidents. A maximum height of 28 inches measured to the top of the gripping surface from the ramp surface or stair nosing is recommended for handrails designed for children.
Sufficient vertical clearance between upper and lower handrails, 9 inches minimum, should be provided to help prevent entrapment. Baluster Guard rail Hanging strap Mobile Safety Steps
Integrated Authority File
The Integrated Authority File or GND is an international authority file for the organisation of personal names, subject headings and corporate bodies from catalogues. It is used for documentation in libraries and also by archives and museums; the GND is managed by the German National Library in cooperation with various regional library networks in German-speaking Europe and other partners. The GND falls under the Creative Commons Zero licence; the GND specification provides a hierarchy of high-level entities and sub-classes, useful in library classification, an approach to unambiguous identification of single elements. It comprises an ontology intended for knowledge representation in the semantic web, available in the RDF format; the Integrated Authority File became operational in April 2012 and integrates the content of the following authority files, which have since been discontinued: Name Authority File Corporate Bodies Authority File Subject Headings Authority File Uniform Title File of the Deutsches Musikarchiv At the time of its introduction on 5 April 2012, the GND held 9,493,860 files, including 2,650,000 personalised names.
There are seven main types of GND entities: LIBRIS Virtual International Authority File Information pages about the GND from the German National Library Search via OGND Bereitstellung des ersten GND-Grundbestandes DNB, 19 April 2012 From Authority Control to Linked Authority Data Presentation given by Reinhold Heuvelmann to the ALA MARC Formats Interest Group, June 2012
Iraq
Iraq the Republic of Iraq, is a country in Western Asia, bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Kuwait to the southeast, Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the southwest and Syria to the west. The capital, largest city, is Baghdad. Iraq is home to diverse ethnic groups including Arabs, Assyrians, Shabakis, Armenians, Mandeans and Kawliya. Around 95% of the country's 37 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan and Mandeanism present; the official languages of Iraq are Kurdish. Iraq has a coastline measuring 58 km on the northern Persian Gulf and encompasses the Mesopotamian Alluvial Plain, the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range and the eastern part of the Syrian Desert. Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf; these rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers known as Mesopotamia, is referred to as the cradle of civilisation.
It was here that mankind first began to read, create laws and live in cities under an organised government—notably Uruk, from which "Iraq" is derived. The area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian, Sumerian and Babylonian empires, it was part of the Median, Hellenistic, Sassanid, Rashidun, Abbasid, Mongol, Safavid and Ottoman empires. The country today known as Iraq was a region of the Ottoman Empire until the partition of the Ottoman Empire in the 20th century, it was made up of three provinces, called vilayets in the Ottoman language: Mosul Vilayet, Baghdad Vilayet, Basra Vilayet. In April 1920 the British Mandate of Mesopotamia was created under the authority of the League of Nations. A British-backed monarchy joining these vilayets into one Kingdom was established in 1921 under Faisal I of Iraq; the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from the UK in 1932. In 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created.
Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party from 1968 until 2003. After an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party was removed from power, multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005; the US presence in Iraq ended in 2011, but the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country. Out of the insurgency came a destructive group calling itself ISIL, which took large parts of the north and west, it has since been defeated. Disputes over the sovereignty of Iraqi Kurdistan continue. A referendum about the full sovereignty of Iraqi Kurdistan was held on 25 September 2017. On 9 December 2017, then-Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory over ISIL after the group lost its territory in Iraq. Iraq is a federal parliamentary republic consisting of one autonomous region; the country's official religion is Islam. Culturally, Iraq has a rich heritage and celebrates the achievements of its past in both pre-Islamic as well as post-Islamic times and is known for its poets.
Its painters and sculptors are among the best in the Arab world, some of them being world-class as well as producing fine handicrafts, including rugs and carpets. Iraq is a founding member of the UN as well as of the Arab League, OIC, Non-Aligned Movement and the IMF; the Arabic name العراق al-ʿIrāq has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name. One dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk and is thus of Sumerian origin, as Uruk was the Akkadian name for the Sumerian city of Urug, containing the Sumerian word for "city", UR. An Arabic folk etymology for the name is "well-watered. During the medieval period, there was a region called ʿIrāq ʿArabī for Lower Mesopotamia and ʿIrāq ʿAjamī, for the region now situated in Central and Western Iran; the term included the plain south of the Hamrin Mountains and did not include the northernmost and westernmost parts of the modern territory of Iraq. Prior to the middle of the 19th century, the term Eyraca Arabic was used to describe Iraq.
The term Sawad was used in early Islamic times for the region of the alluvial plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, contrasting it with the arid Arabian desert. As an Arabic word, عراق means "hem", "shore", "bank", or "edge", so that the name by folk etymology came to be interpreted as "the escarpment", viz. at the south and east of the Jazira Plateau, which forms the northern and western edge of the "al-Iraq arabi" area. The Arabic pronunciation is. In English, it is either or, the American Heritage Dictionary, the Random House Dictionary; the pronunciation is heard in US media. In accordance with the 2005 Constitution, the official name of the state is the "Republic of Iraq". Between 65,000 BC and 35,000 BC northern Iraq was home to a Neanderthal culture, archaeological remains of which have been discovered at Shanidar Cave This same region is the location of a number of pre-Neolithic cemeteries, dating from 11,000 BC. Since 10,000 BC, Iraq was one of centres of a Caucasoid Neolithic culture (k
National Fire Protection Association
The National Fire Protection Association is a United States trade association, albeit with some international members, that creates and maintains private, copyrighted standards and codes for usage and adoption by local governments. The association was formed in 1896 by a group of insurance firms, its purpose was to standardize the then-new fire sprinkler systems. In 2018, the NFPA claims to have 50,000 members and c. 9,000 volunteers working with the organization through its 250 technical committees. The association's official mascot Sparky; the association's codes and standards include: NFPA 30, Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code NFPA 70, National Electrical Code NFPA 70B, Recommended Practice for Electrical Equipment Maintenance NFPA 70E, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace NFPA 72, National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code NFPA 77, Recommended Practice on Static Electricity NFPA 101, Life Safety Code NFPA 704, Standard System for the Identification of the Hazards of Materials for Emergency Response NFPA 921, Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations NFPA 1001, Standard for Fire Fighter Professional Qualifications NFPA 1123, Code for Fireworks Display NFPA 1600, Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity/Continuity of Operations Programs NFPA 1670, Standard on Operations and Training for Technical Search and Rescue Incidents NFPA 1901, Standard for Automotive Fire Apparatus Sparky the Fire Dog is the official mascot of the National Fire Protection Association.
Created in 1951 to promote fire safety education for children, he is a Dalmatian dressed in firefighting gear. A children's book written about Sparky by Don Hoffman was published in 2011, he serves as the spokesdog for Fire Prevention Week each October in the United States and Canada. Official website Official website for Sparky the Fire Dog Child education resources
National Diet Library
The National Diet Library is the national library of Japan and among the largest libraries in the world. It was established in 1948 for the purpose of assisting members of the National Diet of Japan in researching matters of public policy; the library is similar in scope to the United States Library of Congress. The National Diet Library consists of two main facilities in Tōkyō and Kyōtō, several other branch libraries throughout Japan; the National Diet Library is the successor of three separate libraries: the library of the House of Peers, the library of the House of Representatives, both of which were established at the creation of Japan's Imperial Diet in 1890. The Diet's power in prewar Japan was limited, its need for information was "correspondingly small"; the original Diet libraries "never developed either the collections or the services which might have made them vital adjuncts of genuinely responsible legislative activity". Until Japan's defeat, the executive had controlled all political documents, depriving the people and the Diet of access to vital information.
The U. S. occupation forces under General Douglas MacArthur deemed reform of the Diet library system to be an important part of the democratization of Japan after its defeat in World War II. In 1946, each house of the Diet formed its own National Diet Library Standing Committee. Hani Gorō, a Marxist historian, imprisoned during the war for thought crimes and had been elected to the House of Councillors after the war, spearheaded the reform efforts. Hani envisioned the new body as "both a'citadel of popular sovereignty'", the means of realizing a "peaceful revolution"; the Occupation officers responsible for overseeing library reforms reported that, although the Occupation was a catalyst for change, local initiative pre-existed the Occupation, the successful reforms were due to dedicated Japanese like Hani. The National Diet Library opened in June 1948 in the present-day State Guest-House with an initial collection of 100,000 volumes; the first Librarian of the Diet Library was the politician Tokujirō Kanamori.
The philosopher Masakazu Nakai served as the first Vice Librarian. In 1949, the NDL became the only national library in Japan. At this time the collection gained an additional million volumes housed in the former National Library in Ueno. In 1961, the NDL opened at its present location in Nagatachō, adjacent to the National Diet. In 1986, the NDL's Annex was completed to accommodate a combined total of 12 million books and periodicals; the Kansai-kan, which opened in October 2002 in the Kansai Science City, has a collection of 6 million items. In May 2002, the NDL opened a new branch, the International Library of Children's Literature, in the former building of the Imperial Library in Ueno; this branch contains some 400,000 items of children's literature from around the world. Though the NDL's original mandate was to be a research library for the National Diet, the general public is the largest consumer of the library's services. In the fiscal year ending March 2004, for example, the library reported more than 250,000 reference inquiries.
As Japan's national library, the NDL collects copies of all publications published in Japan. Moreover, because the NDL serves as a research library for Diet members, their staffs, the general public, it maintains an extensive collection of materials published in foreign languages on a wide range of topics; the NDL has eight major specialized collections: Modern Political and Constitutional History. The Modern Political and Constitutional History Collection comprises some 300,000 items related to Japan's political and legal modernization in the 19th century, including the original document archives of important Japanese statesmen from the latter half of the 19th century and the early 20th century like Itō Hirobumi, Iwakura Tomomi, Sanjō Sanetomi, Mutsu Munemitsu, Terauchi Masatake, other influential figures from the Meiji and Taishō periods; the NDL has an extensive microform collection of some 30 million pages of documents relating to the Occupation of Japan after World War II. This collection include the documents prepared by General Headquarters and the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, the Far Eastern Commission, the United States Strategic Bombing Survey Team.
The Laws and Preliminary Records Collection consists of some 170,000 Japanese and 200,000 foreign-language documents concerning proceedings of the National Diet and the legislatures of some 70 foreign countries, the official gazettes, judicial opinions, international treaties pertaining to some 150 foreign countries. The NDL maintains a collection of some 530,000 books and booklets and 2 million microform titles relating to the sciences; these materials include, among other things, foreign doctoral dissertations in the sciences, the proceedings and reports of academic societies, catalogues of technical standards, etc. The NDL has a collection of 440,000 maps of Japan and other countries, including the topographica
Stair nosing
Nosing is the horizontal, protruding edge of a stair where most foot traffic occurs. These stair parts can be manufactured from a variety of materials including aluminum and wood. Additional benefits are gained if the stair nosing is of a contrasting color to the rest of the stair tread; this is to give a visual warning to pedestrians of the change in height from step to step or from landing to step. Some zoning laws require it only on the top and bottom step of a flight while others require every step to have a contrasting front. Another benefit of this product is durability. A step with stair nosing installed will wear more than a naked step. Since the nose of a stair gets more impact and contact than any other part of the step it would wear more than the rest of the step; the step’s nosing is designed to stand up to more impact than the bare stair tread without cracking, wearing or breaking. Nothing will last forever, but your stairs will last longer with quality nose protection than they will without them.
Stair nosing in commercial and industrial settings, is fitted with a non-slip surface to increase traction and prevent injury or death from slips and falls. The National Safety Council reports that there are over one million stair-related accidents every year. Installing anti-slip nosing is a proven method of accident prevention. Many states have introduced laws and mandates that require new staircase construction to include an abrasive surface or stair tread to minimize the risk of stairway related incidents. One notable instance of this type of building regulation is'Title 24, Part 2, Section 2-3326' of the California Energy Commission's "Building Energy Efficiency Program"; the regulation contains a detailed set of rules that must be followed when installing new steps in settings like municipal buildings, industrial plants, etc. The most recognizable standard in California's Title 24 building code is the need for a slip-resistant tread or nosing, of contrasting color from the steps; this regulation affects not only existing stairs as well.
The purpose of this is to increase the discernibility of each step to prevent accidents for those who may be visually-impaired
Mobile safety steps
Mobile Safety Steps, sometimes called warehouse steps, differ from Ladders in that they are self-supporting structures with a platform and are mobile, using wheels or castors making them easy to move. They have the advantage over standard ladders in that the operative can have one hand free when moving up and down the steps and both hands free if there is a top level platform. On smaller steps there will be a handrail and castors which retract when weight is applied making them stable, they are used in schools, hospitals and libraries. If they are between 4 and 15 steps they will be configured to have a top platform, will have surrounding handrails - this style of safety step can be used at a maximum working height of 5 metres; because they are sturdy and easy to move they have a wide variety of uses - for example in a warehouse DIY Hardware store and various types of factories. Single or double ended; as with standard mobile safety steps they have wheels which can be secured by a hand operated lever, but will have a larger platform.
This allows for activities like maintenance work on walls and aircraft. The double ended. Mobile safety steps are manufactured from steel and have a painted finish. A new European Standard was published in August 2013 known as EN131-7 that covers mobile ladders with a platform known in the UK as Mobile Safety Steps; the UK preparation of the new standard is entrusted to the B/512 technical committee that includes the HSE, Trading Standards and the Ladder Association who are a non-profit trade body representing the UK industry on the safe use of ladders and their standards development
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the 
