A consideration for using workers’ heuristics to improve safety rules based on relationships between creative mental sets and rule-violating actions

This paper reports on the relationships between creative mental sets and rule-violating actions using questionnaires answered by 218 nursing workers. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted. The results revealed five factors of creative mental sets: curiosity, minutiae, inquiry, sensitivity, and courage. In addition, rule-violating actions were found to consist of three factors: violation of regulations, violation of local rules, and self-style. The results of multiple regression analyses showed a negative relation between curiosity and regular rule violation. Negative correlations were observed among minutiae, inquiry, and local rule violation. Furthermore, the mean score of local rule violation of a person who thinks that it is important for the work environment to offer high and excellent care is significantly higher than that of those who think that other environmental considerations are more important. The result elucidated the necessity of using workers’ heuristics in the process of improving safety rules as well as improving their acceptability to workers. This point is important and applicable not only in the field of patient safety management systems, but also in other fields.     

A new index for evaluation of cadmium pollution in birds and mammals

The degree of cadmium (Cd) contamination in wildlife is often used as an indicator in the environmental monitoring of Cd poisoning. However, previous studies have not clarified the correlation between levels in wildlife and levels in the environment by comparing levels among different species of animals; therefore, assessing the level of pollution in this manner is not considered a reliably accurate indicator of levels in the environment. The aim of this study was to establish a new indicator for the non-polluted warm-blooded animals, one that is not species-dependent, which will facilitate using different species for Cd monitoring. First, the previous publications regarding Cd contents in wildlife, 27 reports in which Cd contents were represented as arithmetic means and described for both kidney and liver were selected. A regression line (CSRL) between Cd contents of kidney and that of liver was obtained in a high correlation coefficient (R ² = 0.943, P < 0.01). The mean values from land and waterfowl, terrestrial mammals, seabirds, marine mammals, and non-polluted humans were located on the line and aligned in order. CSRL might allow an accurate determination of whether an animal is polluted by Cd. CSRL was confirmed using well-established and widely recognized pollution models such as Itai-itai patients and Cd-exposed experimental animals. The Cd contents from these models were located in different positions relative to CSRL depending on the level of contamination. Thus, this new indicator determining the Cd-pollution status of animals would be useful for environmental monitoring.     

Cadmium Contamination in Wild Birds as an Indicator of Environmental Pollution

Cadmium (Cd) is an environmental pollutant that has serioustoxicity in humans and animals and causes Itai-Itai disease.However, there is little available information on itscontamination in wildlife as an indicator of environmentalpollution. The Cd contents in the kidney and liver of 85 wildbirds from 9 different prefectures in Japan were investigated.The ranges of the Cd contents in the kidney and liver in allbirds were ND-174.4 and ND-21.2 g g^-1 dry wt.,respectively. The mean Cd contents were higher in theoil-contaminated birds than those in the non-contaminated ones.Furthermore, a strong correlation was obtained only between theCd contents in the kidney and those in the liver of theoil-contaminated seabirds and not in the other non-contaminatedones. These results suggest that wild birds reflect the levelof environmental contamination which should be monitored.     

Development of waste gasification and gas reforming system for municipal solid waste (MSW)

To achieve both high-efficiency power generation and high detoxification performance, advanced-type waste power generation plants such as pyrolysis and gas reforming plants are suggested. Further surveys on actual operational data of these plants are required in terms of reliability of the system when it is introduced to waste disposal sites. To verify the technical effectiveness of advanced-type waste power generation using the pyrolysis and gas reforming method, we evaluated 10?tons/day of municipal solid wastes (MSW) treated in a demonstration plant. A demonstration test was conducted over 100?days including 35?consecutive days of operation treating MSWs. The test results show high recycling performance and harmless nature of the plant which proves it to be an excellent waste recycling system. Major test results are as follows: (1) stabilization of waste treatment is possible with the wastes of various qualities, (2) clean gas is produced from the waste whose energy recovery ratio is approximately 40?%. (3) 99.3?% weight % of dried waste are recovered as valuable materials such as clean gas, char and metal, (4) total amount of dioxin emission to the outside of the plant is very small, down to 0.0051–0.018?μg?TEQ per ton waste.     

Chlordane residues in krill,fish and Weddell seal from the Antarctic

Chlordane compounds (CHLs) were quantitated in krill (Euphausia superba), benthic fish (Trematomus bernacchii) and Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddelli) collected around the Japanese Antarctic Research Station (Syowa Station: 69°00'S, 39°35'E). The concentrations of ZCHL (cis‐, trans‐chlordane+ cis‐, fraws‐nonachlor + oxych‐lordane) in krill was much lower than that of benthic fish. The ratio of SCHL to sum of SCHL, SDDT and PCBs decreased with the trophic levels. These results indicate that CHLs appear to be easily degraded in higher organisms.     

Isomer‐specific determination and toxic evaluation of potentially hazardous coplanar PCBs,dibenzofurans and dioxins in the tissues of “Yusho” PCB poisoning victim and in the causal oil

In the light of new discoveries on the extremely toxic non‐ortho coplanar 3,3’,4,4'‐tetra‐ (T₄CB), 3,3’,4,4’,5‐penta‐(P₅CB) and 3,3'4,4’,5,5'‐hexachlorobiphenyl (H₆CB) and their mono‐ and di‐ortho analogs, tissue samples of a Yusho poisoning victim and Yusho causal oils were subjected to a thorough congener/isomer‐specific investigation for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), polychlorinated dibenzo‐p‐dioxins (PCDDs). Among the many PCB congeners detected in Yusho oil, non‐ortho coplanar T₄CB constituted 3.1%, P₅CB‐0.17% and H₆CB‐0.0072% in total PCBs. Their concentrations in liver and adipose tissue were 130–700 (T₄CB), 54–720 (P₅CB) and 50–380 (H₆CB) pg/g on wet weight basis. The observed concentrations in adipose tissue were two to four fold higher than that detected in unexposed individuals. Among the PCDFs identified, toxic 2,3,7,8‐substituted isomers including 2,3,4,7,8‐P₅CDF were the dominant ones. Tetra‐ through hepta‐CDDs were detected in the oil, whereas octa‐CDD was the dominant isomer in the patient. A comparison with KC‐400 revealed enrichment of coplanar PCBs in Yusho oil along with toxic PCDFs. Enrichment was highest for 3,3'4,4'5,5'‐H₆CB followed by 3,3’,4,4'5‐P₅CB. A comparative toxic evaluation of these chemical groups in Yusho patient's adipose tissue based on “2,3,7,8‐T₄CDD Toxic Equivalent Analysis” revealed accountable toxic contribution from coplanar PCBs. This analysis also confirmed that 2,3,4,7,8‐P₅CDF was the principal causative agent in Yusho poisoning.     

The dynamics of mercury around an artisanal and small-scale gold mining area,Camarines Norte,Philippines

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - To elucidate the dynamics of mercury emitted and released by artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) activity and to estimate its impact on the...