The CO2 abatement cost curve for the Thailand cement industry

The cement industry is one of the largest carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitters in the Thai industry. The cement sector accounted for about 20,633 kilotonnes (ktonnes) CO₂ emissions in 2005 in Thailand. A bottom-up CO₂ abatement cost curve (ACC) is constructed in this study for the Thai cement industry to determine the potentials and costs of CO₂ abatement, taking into account the costs and CO₂ abatement of different technologies. The period of 2010–2025 is chosen as the scenario period. We analyzed 41 CO₂ abatement technologies and measures for the cement industry. Using the bottom-up CO₂ ACC model, the cost-effective annual CO₂ abatement potential for the Thai cement industry during the 15 year scenario period (2010–2025) is equal to 3095 ktonnes CO₂/year. This is about 15% of the Thai cement industry’s total CO₂ emissions in 2005. The total technical annual CO₂ abatement potential is 3143 ktonnes CO₂/year, which is about 15.2% of the Thai cement industry’s total CO₂ emissions in 2005. We also conducted a sensitivity analysis for the discount rate parameter.     

New Methodology for an Expert-Designed Map From International Classification of Diseases (ICD) to Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) 3+ Severity Injury

Objective: There has been a longstanding desire for a map to convert International Classification of Diseases (ICD) injury codes to Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) codes to reflect the severity of those diagnoses. The Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM) was tasked by European Union representatives to create a categorical map classifying diagnoses codes as serious injury (Abbreviated Injury Scale [AIS] 3+), minor/moderate injury (AIS 1/2), or indeterminate. This study's objective was to map injury-related ICD-9-CM (clinical modification) and ICD-10-CM codes to these severity categories.

Methods: Approximately 19,000 ICD codes were mapped, including injuries from the following categories: amputations, blood vessel injury, burns, crushing injury, dislocations/sprains/strains, foreign body, fractures, internal organ, nerve/spinal cord injury, intracranial, laceration, open wounds, and superficial injury/contusion. Two parallel activities were completed to create the maps: (1) An in-person expert panel and (2) an electronic survey. The panel consisted of expert users of AIS and ICD from North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The panel met in person for 5 days, with follow-up virtual meetings to create and revise the maps. Additional qualitative data were documented to resolve potential discrepancies in mapping. The electronic survey was completed by 95 injury coding professionals from North America, Spain, Australia, and New Zealand over 12 weeks. ICD-to-AIS maps were created for: ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM. Both maps indicated whether the corresponding AIS 2005/Update 2008 severity score for each ICD code was AIS 3+, 1/2, or indeterminable. Though some ICD codes could be mapped to multiple AIS codes, the maximum severity of all potentially mapped injuries determined the final severity categorization.

Results: The in-person panel consisted of 13 experts, with 11 Certified AIS specialists (CAISS) with a median of 8 years and an average of 15 years of coding experience. Consensus was reached for AIS severity categorization for all injury-related ICD codes. There were 95 survey respondents, with a median of 8 years of injury coding experience. Approximately 15 survey responses were collected per ICD code. Results from the 2 activities were compared, and any discrepancies were resolved using additional qualitative and quantitative data from the in-person panel and survey results, respectively.

Conclusions: Robust maps of ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM injury codes to AIS severity categories (3+ versus <3) were successfully created from an in-person panel discussion and electronic survey. These maps provide a link between the common ICD diagnostic lexicons and the AIS severity coding system and are of value to injury researchers, public health scientists, and epidemiologists using large databases without available AIS coding.     

Learning lessons from the 2011 Van Earthquake to enhance healthcare surge capacity in Turkey

Historically, Turkey has adopted a reactive approach to natural hazards which resulted in significant losses. However, following the 1999 Kocaeli Earthquake, a more proactive approach has been adopted. This study aims to explore the way this new approach operates on the ground. A multinational and multidisciplinary team conducted a field investigation following the 2011 Van Earthquake to identify lessons to inform healthcare emergency planning in Turkey and elsewhere. The team interviewed selected stakeholders including, healthcare emergency responders, search and rescue services, ambulance services, and health authority representatives, in addition to conducting a focus group. Data were analysed according to an open coding process and SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat) analysis. The findings suggest that the approach succeeded in developing a single vision by consolidating official efforts in a more structured way, mobilising many governmental and non-governmental organisations, securing significant amounts of resources including physical and human, and increasing the resilience and flexibility of infrastructure to expand its capacity. However, more attention is required to the development of stronger management procedures and acquisition of further resources.     

Pro-Environmental Beach Driving is Uncommon and Ineffective in Reducing Disturbance to Beach-Dwelling Birds

Vehicles on beaches cause numerous deleterious effects to coastal wildlife. These impacts may, hypothetically, be lessened if drivers act to reduce disturbance. Since it is unknown to what extent such behavior occurs, and whether it can reduce disturbance, we quantified the behavior of drivers who encountered birds on open-coast, sandy beaches in eastern Australia and the consequent bird responses. Drivers of commercial tourist buses never slowed or altered course (“evaded birds”) to avoid disturbing birds; conversely, 34 % of drivers of private cars did evade birds. Drivers of vehicles with fishing rod holders tended (P = 0.09) to evade birds more frequently than non-fishing vehicles. Evasion, when it occurred, was modest, and did not significantly decrease the intensity of bird response or the probability of escapes on the wing. Voluntary behavioral adjustments to alleviate impacts on wildlife may be unworkable, suggesting that other solutions (e.g., beach closures) might be the only effective and feasible way to reduce disturbance to birds on ocean beaches.