Suicide by crashing into a heavy vehicle: Focus on professional drivers using in-depth crash data

Objective: Road traffic suicides typically involve a passenger car driver crashing his or her vehicle into a heavy vehicle, because death is almost certain due to the large mass difference between these vehicles. For the same reason, heavy-vehicle drivers typically suffer minor injuries, if any, and have thus received little attention in the research literature. In this study, we focused on heavy-vehicle drivers who were involved as the second party in road suicides in Finland.

Methods: We analyzed 138 road suicides (2011–2016) involving a passenger car crashing into a heavy vehicle. We used in-depth road crash investigation data from the Finnish Crash Data Institute.

Results: The results showed that all but 2 crashes were head-on collisions. Almost 30% of truck drivers were injured, but only a few suffered serious injuries. More than a quarter reported sick leave following their crash. Injury insurance compensation to heavy-vehicle drivers was just above €9,000 on average. Material damage to heavy vehicles was significant, with average insurance compensation paid being €70,500. Three out of 4 truck drivers reported that drivers committing suicide acted abruptly and left them little opportunity for preventive action.

Conclusions: Suicides by crashing into heavy vehicles can have an impact on drivers’ well-being; however, it is difficult to see how heavy-vehicle drivers could avoid a suicide attempt involving their vehicle.     

Loss of plant species richness and habitat connectivity in grasslands associated with agricultural change in Finland

The drastic loss of seminatural grasslands and the decrease in species diversity in Europe during the 20th century are closely linked to social-economic factors. Development in agricultural production drives land-use changes, and thus controls the capacity of landscapes to maintain biodiversity. In this study, we link agricultural production changes to landscape fragmentation and species diversity. Our results show that the termination of grazing on seminatural grassland caused significant changes in landscape structure and a decline in the number of vascular plant species. The decline of grazed grasslands has been driven mainly by farm-level economic efficiency and profitability interests, which have been connected with agricultural policy measures. Since 1995, when Finland joined the European Union, the area of grazed patches in our study area has again increased as a result of a support scheme for the management of seminatural grasslands.     

Relationships of the dimensions of sustainability as measured by the sustainable society index framework

This article presents a study of the interrelationships between the different dimensions of sustainability as measured by the sustainable society index framework. We examine the statistical relationships between the four indices making up the sustainable society index framework. The analysis uses the complete existing data set provided by Sustainable Society Foundation for the years 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012 and for 151 countries. While the time period where data are available is quite short, we can make some preliminary observations about the apparent trends in the interrelationships of the different dimensions of sustainability. This study shows that the three dimensions of sustainability are far from all being synergic and positively correlated. There is a strong negative correlation between human well-being and environmental well-being. This is problematic from the point of view of the Brundtland Commission’s three-pillar definition of sustainability. However, the trade-off relationship between economic and environmental development measured by the economic well-being index and environmental well-being index is decreasing and the dimensions are becoming more de-linked. This trend is promising from the sustainability perspective.     

Climate Warming and Pikeperch Year-Class Catches in the Baltic Sea

Climate change scenarios concerning the Baltic Sea predict increase in surface water temperatures. Pikeperch (Sander lucioperca (L.)) inhabits the coastal areas of the northern Baltic Sea and is an important fish species for the Finnish fisheries. The year-class strength of pikeperch varies strongly between years and significantly depends on water temperature. We aimed to study the effects of changing temperature conditions on pikeperch fisheries and distribution based on commercial catch data from the period 1980–2008 in the Finnish coastal areas of the Baltic Sea. The results indicated that warmer summers will produce stronger pikeperch year-classes that consequently contribute significantly to the future catches. The average temperature in June–July explained 40% of the variation in the year-class catches in the Gulf of Finland and 73% in July–August in the Archipelago Sea. During the study period, the distribution of pikeperch catches expanded toward north along the coasts of the Bothnian Sea.     

Occupational risk identification using hand-held or laptop computers.

This paper describes the Work Environment Profile (WEP) program and its use in risk identification by computer. It is installed into a hand-held computer or a laptop to be used in risk identification during work site visits. A 5-category system is used to describe the identified risks in 7 groups, i.e., accidents, biological and physical hazards, ergonomic and psychosocial load, chemicals, and information technology hazards. Each group contains several qualifying factors. These 5 categories are colour-coded at this stage to aid with visualization. Risk identification produces visual summary images the interpretation of which is facilitated by colours. The WEP program is a tool for risk assessment which is easy to learn and to use both by experts and nonprofessionals. It is especially well adapted to be used both in small and in larger enterprises. Considerable time is saved as no paper notes are needed.     

Occupational Risk Identification Using Hand-Held or Laptop Computers

This paper describes the Work Environment Profile (WEP) program and its use in risk identification by computer. It is installed into a hand-held computer or a laptop to be used in risk identification during work site visits. A 5-category system is used to describe the identified risks in 7 groups, i.e., accidents, biological and physical hazards, ergonomic and psychosocial load, chemicals, and information technology hazards. Each group contains several qualifying factors. These 5 categories are colour-coded at this stage to aid with visualization. Risk identification produces visual summary images the interpretation of which is facilitated by colours. The WEP program is a tool for risk assessment which is easy to learn and to use both by experts and nonprofessionals. It is especially well adapted to be used both in small and in larger enterprises. Considerable time is saved as no paper notes are needed.     

Macroalgal communities face the challenge of changing biotic interactions: review with focus on the Baltic Sea

In diverse littoral communities, biotic interactions play an important role in community regulation. This article reviews how eutrophication modifies biotic interactions in littoral macroalgal communities. Eutrophication causes blooms of opportunistic algae, increases epibiotism, and affects regulation by grazers. Opportunistic algae and epibionts harm colonization and growth of perennial algae. Grazing regulates the density and species composition of macroalgal communities, especially at the early stage of algal colonization. Eutrophication supports higher grazer densities by increasing the availability and quality of algae to grazers. This may, on the one hand, enhance the capability of grazers to regulate and counteract the increase of harmful, bloom-forming macroalgae; on the other hand, it may increase grazing pressure on perennial species, with a poor tolerance of grazing. In highly eutrophic conditions, bloom-forming algae may also escape grazing control and accumulate. Increasing epibiotism and grazing threaten in particular the persistence of habitat-forming perennials such as the bladderwrack. An interesting property of biotic interactions is that they do not remain fixed but are able to evolve, as the traits of the interacting species adapt to each other and to abiotic conditions. The potential of plants and grazers to adapt is crucial to their chances to survive in changing environment.     

与芬兰农业变化有关的草地中植物种类丰富度和生境连通度的降低

20世纪中,欧洲半天然草地严重减少,物种多样性降低,这与社会-经济因素密切相关.农业生产的发展驱动着土地利用的变化,从而控制着景观维持生物多样性的能力.本研究中,我们把农业生产变化和景观破碎化、物种多样性联系在一起.结果表明,半天然草地的停止放牧引起了景观结构的显著变化,并使维管束植物种的数目降低.放牧草场数量的下降主要是受与农业政策措施有关的农场水平的经济效果和收益率的影响.自1995年芬兰加入欧盟以来,由于对半天然草地经营有了扶持政策,我们研究地区中放牧斑块的面积又一次增加了.     

Latitudinal gradients in niche breadth and position—regional patterns in freshwater fish

The latitudinal gradient in diversity is widely acknowledged, but the mechanisms contributing to this pattern are still poorly known. Given that the species have environmental optima, a central issue is how species’ niche parameters, i.e. niche breadth and niche position, vary along the latitudinal gradient. In this study, we examined the determinants of fish distribution and the variability in species’ niche breadth and position along latitudinal gradient using a regional data set of boreal lakes. Results of the Outlying Mean Index analysis showed that the fish community structure was jointly controlled by a number of environmental factors, ranging from water chemistry and temperature to local physical factors such as lake area and depth. Corroborating the number of earlier findings, the regional occupancy of species was more strongly governed by the niche position than the niche breadth, although both showed a significant relationship with the regional distribution. When the latitudinal variability in niche parameters of the main taxonomic groups was analysed, both percids and cyprinids, being cool water species, showed significant decrease in niche breadth northwards as we predicted. By contrast, the niche position and latitude were non-significantly correlated in percids and salmonids, and negatively correlated in cyprinids, the latter showing the opposite pattern as we predicted. However, even if only a part of our predictions was supported, the results generally implied that the examination of latitudinal variability in the niche properties is potentially highly rewarding, not only in estimation of present community structure in lakes but also for predictions of species’ responses to climate change.     

Risk and mitigation of self-heating and spontaneous combustion in underground coal storage

While the self-heating and spontaneous combustion of coal is a known challenge at coal mines and storage sites, there are known methods for mitigating this challenge for typical open stockpile storage. However, closing the storage will reduce access for corrective action, and it is then important to manage the storage and its transport system with added attention without unduly adding cost or hindering availability. This paper aims to discuss the risk, prevention and extinguishing of fires in closed coal storage facilities, particularly in light of the experience with the Salmisaari underground rock storage facility in Finland. The observed autoignition events have indicated an array of contributing factors, some of which are unique to underground silo storage facilities. On the other hand, many features of the storage facilities can be compared with other extant closed storage systems. The factors affecting fire risk are described and the associated fault and event trees are outlined for autoignition at underground storage. Drawing upon the experiences with past events of self-heating and spontaneous combustion, recommendations are given on cost-effective preventive, corrective and other mitigating action for minimising fire risk and promoting storage availability.