When workplace safety depends on behavior change: Topics for behavioral safety research

Introduction

Comprehensive interventions that address public-health concerns invariably include behavior-change strategies. In occupational safety and health, behavioral safety is an approach designed to improve safety performance directly through peer observations of safe behaviors, goal setting, performance feedback, and celebrations or incentives for reaching safety goals. Although the basic components of behavioral safety processes have been studied and widely documented, the current safety literature reveals several gaps in knowledge. These gaps are associated mostly with wide practice variations among the common process elements and uncertainty about the influence of organizational and other external factors.

Impact to Industry

A major objective of this paper was to highlight not only key topic areas that warrant further research, but also to propose a list of research questions that are tied to uncertainties about various intervention practices. If only a portion of these topic areas and research questions are addressed through systematic reviews, field interventions, surveys, and laboratory-based studies, then the knowledge gained will significantly improve the delivery and effectiveness of behavioral safety interventions and thus their impact on worker health and safety.     

Synergistic influences of phase, density, and climatic variation on the dynamics of fluctuating populations

Although ecologists have long recognized that certain mammalian species exhibit high-amplitude, often multiannual, fluctuations in abundance, their causes have remained poorly understood and the subject of intense debate. A key contention has been the relative role of density-dependent and density-independent processes in governing population dynamics. We applied capture-mark-recapture analysis to 25 years of monthly trapping data from a fluctuating prairie vole Microtus ochrogaster population in Illinois, USA, to estimate realized population growth rates and associated vital rates (survival and recruitment) and modeled them as a function of vole density and density-independent climatic variation. We also tested for phase dependence and seasonality in the effects of the above processes. Variation in the realized population growth rate was best explained by phase-specific changes in vole density lagged by one month and mean monthly temperatures with no time lags. The underlying vital rates, survival and recruitment, were influenced by the additive and interactive effects of phase, vole density, and mean monthly temperatures. Our results are consistent with the observation that large-scale population fluctuations are characterized by phase-specific changes in demographic and physiological characteristics. Our findings also support the growing realization that the interaction between climatic variables and density-dependent factors may be a widespread phenomenon, and they suggest that the direction and magnitude of such interactive effects may be phase specific. We conclude that density-dependent and density-independent climatic variables work in tandem during each phase of density fluctuations to drive the dynamics of fluctuating populations.     

遗传资源获取与惠益分享:在兴都库什-喜马拉雅地区的机遇与挑战

在分析兴都库什-喜马拉雅地区生物资源和生物贸易特点基础上,本文就《国际生物多样性公约》框架下的《名古屋议定书》在本地区实施的主要机遇和挑战进行了分析。研究认为,本地区各国在具体执行议定书时面临的困难依然严峻,应该不断在议定书的法律框架下规范遗传资源以及相关传统知识的贸易、使用与共享机制。同时,不断完善法律体系建设,提高全民资源保护意识、建立良好信用制度,提高遗传资源获取和鉴定的科学技术水平。     

A critical appraisal of population viability analysis

Population viability analysis (PVA) is useful in management of imperiled species. Applications range from research design, threat assessment, and development of management frameworks. Given the importance of PVAs, it is essential that they be rigorous and adhere to widely accepted guidelines; however, the quality of published PVAs is rarely assessed. We evaluated the quality of 160 PVAs of 144 species of birds and mammals published in peer-reviewed journals from 1990 to 2017. We hypothesized that PVA quality would be lower with generic programs than with custom-built programs; be higher for those developed for imperiled species; change over time; and be higher for those published in journals with high impact factors (IFs). Each included study was evaluated based on answers to an evaluation framework containing 32 questions reflecting whether and to what extent the PVA study adhered to published PVA guidelines or contained important PVA components. All measures of PVA quality were generally lower for studies based on generic programs. Conservation status of the species did not affect any measure of PVA quality, but PVAs published in high IF journals were of higher quality. Quality generally declined over time, suggesting the quantitative literacy of PVA practitioners has not increased over time or that PVAs developed by unskilled users are being published in peer-reviewed journals. Only 18.1% of studies were of high quality (score >75%), which is troubling because poor-quality PVAs could misinform conservation decisions. We call for increased scrutiny of PVAs by journal editors and reviewers. Our evaluation framework can be used for this purpose. Because poor-quality PVAs continue to be published, we recommend caution while using PVA results in conservation decision making without thoroughly assessing the PVA quality.     

Spatiotemporal variation in survival rates: implications for population dynamics of yellow-bellied marmots

Spatiotemporal variation in age-specific survival rates can profoundly influence population dynamics, but few studies of vertebrates have thoroughly investigated both spatial and temporal variability in age-specific survival rates. We used 28 years (1976-2003) of capture-mark-recapture (CMR) data from 17 locations to parameterize an age-structured Cormack-Jolly-Seber model, and investigated spatial and temporal variation in age-specific annual survival rates of yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris). Survival rates varied both spatially and temporally, with survival of younger animals exhibiting the highest degree of variation. Juvenile survival rates varied from 0.52 +/- 0.05 to 0.78 +/- 0.10 among sites and from 0.15 +/- 0.14 to 0.89 +/- 0.06 over time. Adult survival rates varied from 0.62 +/- 0.09 to 0.80 +/- 0.03 among sites, but did not vary significantly over time. We used reverse-time CMR models to estimate the realized population growth rate (lamda), and to investigate the influence of the observed variation in age-specific survival rates on lamda. The realized growth rate of the population closely covaried with, and was significantly influenced by, spatiotemporal variation in juvenile survival rate. High variability in juvenile survival rates over space and time clearly influenced the dynamics of our study population and is also likely to be an important determinant of the spatiotemporal variation in the population dynamics of other mammals with similar life history characteristics.     

Environmental and Biological Assessment of Exposure to Benzene in Petroleum Workers

Occupational exposure to benzene was measured in two gasoline marketing terminals and five major refineries in Singapore. A total of 280 workers were monitored over two years. This assessment was carried out with two primary objectives: (1) To find out the extent of occupational exposure to benzene in the petroleum industry in Singapore, (2) To identify suitable biomarkers for monitoring of low levels of benzene exposure. The exposure was measured in five different categories of petroleum and petrochemical workers, i.e., truck drivers, despatch assistant, process operators, oil movements operators and laboratory technicians. The results revealed wide variations in exposure, from 0.01 to 13.6 ppm for personal time weighted average (TWA) exposure over the whole workshift. The exposure of truck drivers appeared to be the highest, with geometric mean (GM) of 1.98 ppm (ranged from 0.25 to 13.6 ppm). The average benzene exposure for process operators was relative low with a GM of 0.04 ppm. Lowest benzene exposure was found in the laboratory technicians, with a GM of 0.02 ppm. As cigarette smoking is known to affect metabolism of benzene, data analyses on the relationships with environmental exposure were conducted only on the 190 nonsmokers. The results showed that urinary trans, trans-muconic acid (ttMA), unmetabolized benzene in urine (UBZ) and benzene in blood (BBZ) were better biomarkers for low level benzene exposure as compared to urinary phenolic metabolites in urine, such as hydroquinone, phenol and catechol.     

Proximate causes of natal dispersal in female yellow-bellied marmots, Marmota flaviventris

We investigated factors influencing natal dispersal in 231 female yearling yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) using comprehensive analysis of 10 years (1983-1993) of radiotelemetry and 37 years (1963-1999) of capture-mark-recapture data. Only individuals whose dispersal status was verified, primarily by radiotelemetry, were considered. Univariate analyses revealed that six of the 24 variables we studied significantly influenced dispersal: dispersal was less likely when the mother was present, amicable behavior with the mother and play behavior were more frequent, and spatial overlap was greater with the mother, with matriline females, and with other yearling females. Using both univariate and multivariate analyses, we tested several hypotheses proposed as proximate causes of dispersal. We rejected inbreeding avoidance, population density, body size, social intolerance, and kin competition as factors influencing dispersal. Instead, our results indicate that kin cooperation, expressed via cohesive behaviors and with a focus on the mother, influenced dispersal by promoting philopatry. Kin cooperation may be an underappreciated factor influencing dispersal in both social and nonsocial species.     

The influence of disturbance events on survival and dispersal rates of Florida box turtles.

Disturbances have the potential to cause long-term effects to ecosystem structure and function, and they may affect individual species in different ways. Long-lived vertebrates such as turtles may be at risk from such events, inasmuch as their life histories preclude rapid recovery should extensive mortality occur. We applied capture-mark-recapture models to assess disturbance effects on a population of Florida box turtles (Terrapene carolina bauri) on Egmont Key, Florida, USA. Near the midpoint of the study, a series of physical disturbances affected the island, from salt water overwash associated with several tropical storms to extensive removal of nonindigenous vegetation. These disturbances allowed us to examine demographic responses of the turtle population and to determine if they affected dispersal throughout the island. Adult survival rates did not vary significantly either between sexes or among years of the study. Survival rates did not vary significantly between juvenile and adult turtles, or among years of the study. Furthermore, neither adult nor juvenile survival rates differed significantly between pre- and post-disturbance. However, dispersal rates varied significantly among the four major study sites, and dispersal rates were higher during the pre-disturbance sampling periods compared to post-disturbance. Our results suggest few long-term effects on the demography of the turtle population. Florida box turtles responded to tropical storms and vegetation control by moving to favorable habitats minimally affected by the disturbances and remaining there. As long as turtles and perhaps other long-lived vertebrates can disperse to non-disturbed habitat, and high levels of mortality do not occur in a population, a long life span may allow them to wait out the impact of disturbance with potentially little effect on long-term population processes.     

Associations between urinary cadmium levels,blood pressure,and hypertension: the ESTEBAN survey

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Cadmium is inconsistently associated with blood pressure (BP) and hypertension. Our study focuses to understand the association between urinary...     

Rapid quantitative monitoring method for the fish spoilage bacteria Pseudomonas

Pseudomonas spp. is a group of microorganisms commonly found in fish and other fresh foods and is involved in their spoilage process. The aim of this study was to develop a rapid and accurate quantitative assay for Pseudomonas spp. in fish using real-time PCR. The assay targets the carbamoyl phosphate synthase gene (carA) with SYBR green based real-time PCR. The selectivity of the assay was confirmed using 24 Pseudomonas strains and 55 non-pseudomonad strains. A linear quantification was established over seven orders of magnitude, from 40 - 4(7) copies reaction(-1). The assay was validated on cod samples collected during two shelf life trials and showed a high degree of correlation to the plate count method (rP = 0.891) where the difference between the methods was 0.04 log(10) CFU g(-1) on average. The study shows that it is possible to quantify accurately the specific spoilage organisms belonging to the genus Pseudomonas in fish using real-time PCR. The method takes less than 5 h from sampling to results. The short detection time of the method can provide the fish industry with an important tool for quality control and processing management.