Safety culture: analysis of the causal relationships between its key dimensions

INTRODUCTION: Several fields are showing increasing interest in safety culture as a means of reducing accidents in the workplace. The literature shows that safety culture is a multidimensional concept. However, considerable confusion surrounds this concept, about which little consensus has been reached. METHOD: This study proposes a model for a positive safety culture and tests this on a sample of 455 Spanish companies, using the structural equation modeling statistical technique. RESULTS: Results show the important role of managers in the promotion of employees' safe behavior, both directly, through their attitudes and behaviors, and indirectly, by developing a safety management system. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: This paper identifies the key dimensions of safety culture. In addition, a measurement scale for the safety management system is validated. This will assist organizations in defining areas where they need to progress if they wish to improve their safety. Also, we stress that managers need to be wholly committed to and personally involved in safety activities, thereby conveying the importance the firm attaches to these issues.     

Dynamic response characteristics and structural optimization of isolation seal under the impact of gas explosion

Either in the chemical process plants or in the underground infrastructures, the isolation seal is regularly used to separate the working sections and inactive sections, or to isolate the possible explosion sites in order to avoid any domino effects. Due to differences in accumulation space or ignition point locations, pressure on the seal can vary when an explosion occurs. Thus, the safety and reliability of seals are crucial to maintaining safety in process industry. This paper focuses on seals constructed with concrete and loess materials, and examines the dynamic response characteristics of the gas explosion wave on the seal through sample experiments and numerical simulation metods. The study proposes an optimized design for the explosion-proof structure of the wedge-shaped and spherical seal, which can provide a technical basis for the explosion-proof and anti-explosion measures of various sealed walls. These research findings can also serve as a basis for improving the construction quality of seals.     

Age-dependent association between testosterone and crown UV coloration in male blue tits (Parus caeruleus)

The proximate basis of sexual traits can suggest mechanisms maintaining honesty in signalling. A central role hereby has been attributed to testosterone, although its importance for brightly coloured plumage has been questioned. We determined circulating testosterone levels in male blue tits captured at the start of breeding and demonstrated an age-dependent relationship between testosterone and male crown UV/blue coloration. In yearling males, testosterone increases with increasing ornamentation (higher UV chroma, higher chroma, more UV-shifted hue), whereas in older males, this relationship is negative, with less UV-ornamented males having higher testosterone. This pattern is robust since it occurred in 2 years, before and after egg laying, and in males sampled during the day and during the night, despite a tenfold difference in testosterone levels. Since more UV-ornamented young males gain higher within-pair paternity, while less UV-ornamented older males achieve more extra-pair matings, the results imply that higher testosterone is associated with reproductive success and attractiveness in both age classes. We hypothesise that this relationship could result from causal effects of testosterone on coloration or through associations with behaviour and suggest ways to test these hypotheses. Our results caution against premature dismissal of a potential role for testosterone in maintaining honesty of plumage signals.     

室内箱式变压器结构声污染及对策

通过对置于住宅楼底层室内箱式变压器引起的结构声污染进行调查实测，在对箱式变压器结构声传播进行声学分析基础上，提出了切实可行的防治对策，经实际工程应用验证，效果较好。对机房正上方住房主卧内降噪量为5.0dB，室内夜间噪声降为30.2dB，各层住户夜间烦恼度普遍从非常烦恼或烦恼降为有点烦恼和不大烦恼。这从噪声污染控制的角度证明了变配电房置于住宅楼等噪声敏感建筑物室内底层甚至更高楼层在技术上是可行性的。同时也为杭州市正在试点推广的箱式变压器置于噪声敏感建筑物底层提供了实践依据。     

Towards safer bicyclist responses to the presence of a truck near an urban loading zone: Analysis of bicyclist perceived level of comfort

IntroductionWhile sophisticated plans have been adopted nationally and globally to increase bicycling’s share of daily commutes, safety concerns have negatively impacted targeted bicycling growth. To investigate people’s preferences for bicycling in dense urban areas, it is important to recognize how bicycling perceived level of comfort (PLOC) is constructed and how it could relate to safe versus risky behavior while interacting with motorized modes of transportation. Method: To examine these issues, we analyzed results from an online survey with 342 participants. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to systematically investigate the construct of bicycling PLOC and simultaneously analyze bicyclists’ responses to the presence of a truck in the adjacent lane near an urban loading zone. Results: SEM estimation results indicated that participants who said that they engaged in more frequent distracted bicycling reported lower PLOC. On the other hand, those who felt that road users were more lawful and predictable, and who had more bicycling experience, reported higher levels of PLOC. Participants who bicycled for commuting purposes, who made shorter trips, who bicycled more frequently, and who had more exposure to downtown bicycling also reported higher levels of PLOC. Finally, findings showed that higher PLOC was significantly associated with the choice of a safe, rather than a risky response to the presence of a truck, suggesting that a way to improve bicyclist safety would be to build an environment that could increase bicyclists’ PLOC.     

The internationalisation of the Australian mineral industry in the 1990s

Overseas mineral exploration and mining investment by Australian companies increased dramatically from the early 1990s until 1997. In the wake of the Asian economic crisis and lower commodity prices it declined somewhat in 1998 and 1999. Reflecting their international competitiveness, Australian resource companies were actively involved in projects in about eighty nations in 1999. This study assesses the extent of growth in exploration and mining operations, the distribution between large and small companies and the changing regional focus which has been occurring. It also reflects on some of the key influences on this development. These include a strong domestic finance sector, supporting mining services provision, technological competitiveness, a growing attractiveness of offshore locations and increasing structural impediments at home.     

"无废城市"建设的结构模式与主要思路

从"无废城市"建设的现实约束与政策背景出发,结合国际社会在"无废城市"建设过程中已经积累的经验与方案,探析中国"无废城市"建设的必要性和可行性。在对"无废城市"基本定义与关键环节把握的前提下,基于协同联动与系统集成原则对"无废城市"建设的基本结构与运作模式进行模型建构,并重点阐释了基于废弃物减量化原则创新设计"无废城市"产业与能源布局、基于废弃物资源化原则建构"无废城市"废弃物智能管理系统、基于简约适度绿色生活理念建立"无废城市"创新治理模式等主要建设思路。     

Accumulation and relationship of metals in different soil aggregate fractions along soil profiles

Different aggregates vary in their ability to retain or adsorb metals in soil. Five soil profiles were sampled from different soil horizons and grouped, and the concentrations of Al, Mg, Ca, Fe, Mn, Cd, Cu and Pb were determined in six sizes of aggregates (> 2, 2-1, 1-0.6, 0.6-0.25, 0.25-0.053, < 0.053 mm). Significantly high (p < 0.05) structural stability indexes (SSI) and aggregate stability indexes (ASI) were recorded in the topsoil horizon, which may be attributed to the high soil organic matter (SOM) content in aggregates from topsoil. In addition, ASI and SSI were positively correlated (r = 0.569, p < 0.05) with each other, which indicated that the stability of soil aggregates could contribute to the structural stability of bulk soil. Moreover, accumulation factors (AF), principal component analysis (PCA) and Pearson's correlation coefficients were used for metal element assessment. The results indicated that SOM was not a key factor affecting the accumulation of Ca, Mg, Al, Fe, Mn, Pb, Cd and Cu in soil aggregates. In general, AF values for metal elements in microaggregates (< 0.25 mm) were high, which showed that metals preferred to accumulate in fine soil aggregates. The PCA and Pearson's correlation coefficients indicated that soil parent materials primarily controlled the distribution of Al, Ca, Fe, Mg and Mn, while materials derived from technogenic sources have important impacts on the distribution of Cd, Cu and Pb in soil aggregates along the soil profile.     

Assessing biological variation from the perspective of diversity

Particularly in ecological and evolutionary genetics, methods of discerning complex traits are improving at a considerable rate. As a consequence, the resolution of intrinsically qualitative traits such as species affiliation or genetic type is increasing to degrees that blur their distinction from continuously varying characteristics. The common notion of diversity, however, relies on distinct features such as the states of qualitative traits, and it aims to assess variation as a counting of these features or types. This situation brings up the question of whether and how the diversity perspective of variation can be broadened to cover higher levels of complexity without sacrificing its concept. The present paper suggests two approaches that refer to established criteria for measures of diversity and that complement each other. The partitions approach treats complexity through general measures of difference between trait states, and the relations approach rests on general binary relations that capture structural aspects of diversity. Both approaches are shown to consistently imply effective numbers of types even in cases where distinct types are not explicitly specified. Practically all of the common methods of measuring diversity can be classified into either of the two approaches, and new opportunities for analyses of the diversity of complex traits are provided. The latter analyses include those of diversity in subdivided collections. Other perspectives of variation (such as dispersion, variances, etc.) are discussed and analyzed for their distinction from the diversity perspective. In many cases, the distinction can be made apparent with the help of diversity portraits.