Modelling of occupational respirable crystalline silica exposure for quantitative exposure assessment in community-based case-control studies

We describe an empirical model for exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) to create a quantitative job-exposure matrix (JEM) for community-based studies. Personal measurements of exposure to RCS from Europe and Canada were obtained for exposure modelling. A mixed-effects model was elaborated, with region/country and job titles as random effect terms. The fixed effect terms included year of measurement, measurement strategy (representative or worst-case), sampling duration (minutes) and a priori exposure intensity rating for each job from an independently developed JEM (none, low, high). 23,640 personal RCS exposure measurements, covering a time period from 1976 to 2009, were available for modelling. The model indicated an overall downward time trend in RCS exposure levels of -6% per year. Exposure levels were higher in the UK and Canada, and lower in Northern Europe and Germany. Worst-case sampling was associated with higher reported exposure levels and an increase in sampling duration was associated with lower reported exposure levels. Highest predicted RCS exposure levels in the reference year (1998) were for chimney bricklayers (geometric mean 0.11 mg m(-3)), monument carvers and other stone cutters and carvers (0.10 mg m(-3)). The resulting model enables us to predict time-, job-, and region/country-specific exposure levels of RCS. These predictions will be used in the SYNERGY study, an ongoing pooled multinational community-based case-control study on lung cancer.     

What is the potential of trauma registry data to be used for road traffic injury surveillance and informing road safety policy?

Introduction

Information from hospital trauma registries is increasingly being used to support injury surveillance efforts. This research examines the potential of using trauma registry data for road traffic injury surveillance for different types of road users in terms of both the information collected and how representative trauma data are compared to two population-based road traffic injury data collections.

Methods

The three data collections were assessed against recommended variables to be collected for injury surveillance purposes and the representativeness of the distribution of road traffic-related injury data from the trauma registry was compared to hospital admission and road traffic authority data collections.

Results

Data from the trauma registry was largely not representative of the distribution of age groups or activities compared to the two population-based collections, but was representative for gender for some road user groups to at least one population-based data collection.

Conclusions

Trauma data could be used to supplement information from population-based data collections to inform road safety efforts.

Impact on Industry

Road safety policy makers should be aware of the potential and the limitations of using trauma registry data for road traffic injury surveillance.     

Can home gardens scale up into movements for social change? The role of home gardens in providing food security and community change in San Jose,California

Urban policymakers and sustainable food activists have identified urban agriculture as an important strategy for confronting a host of urban problems, including food insecurity, health disparities, access to urban green space and community economic revitalisation. Much recent work on urban agriculture has examined community and school gardens, but little research has been undertaken on home gardens as a solution to urban problems. This article examines a home-gardening programme in San Jose, California, La Mesa Verde, asking whether some of the benefits found in community gardens can be found in home gardens. Specifically, we look at financial, health and community benefits, examining the potential of home gardens to become forces for broader social change. We ask whether gardens can become agents of cultural preservation, self-determination, particularly for recent immigrants who use these spaces to build identities and work towards collective action and self-determination.     

The role of agency in sustainable local community development

Abstract

In this paper we question the importance of social capital as a primary indicator of a community's ability to engage in sustainable development as social capital can have both hindering and facilitating effects. We suggest that actor agency allows an individual or group to increase access to other critical forms of capital to overcome barriers and solve problems. We present ‘bonding’ social capital consisting of strong network ties as a negative in excess quantity as it can lead to the enforcement of social norms that hinder innovative change, and ‘bridging’ social capital consisting of weak network ties as a benefit that allows actors to bring about critical social changes. Communities achieve agency through a dynamic mix of bonding and bridging ties. We close with suggestions for fostering community agency and flag the need for further research in this area.     

Evaluating the process of triple bottom line reporting: Increasing the potential for change1

Abstract

This paper presents an evaluation framework that aims to improve the outcomes of triple bottom line (TBL) reporting. Currently, most assessments of TBL reporting focus on report content. Our view is that effective evaluation of TBL reporting should go beyond reports as the outputs of a process and focus on what is being learned through the process, the capacity- and relationship-building that might eventuate, and how this impacts on the development of sustainability. To enable more effective reflection of TBL reporting processes, we developed a set of evaluation criteria focused on the process of reporting. These criteria were identified from case studies of social, environmental and/or sustainability reporting processes documented in the literature. A large number of potential criteria were synthesised into three desired outcomes of TBL reporting and 10 prompts for discussion and reflection during evaluation. This evaluation framework should assist those dedicated to challenging assumptions that inhibit progress towards a sustainable future for society.     

Modeling natural attenuation of petroleum hydrocarbon contamination using alternate electron acceptors: Case study comparing bioplume iii with BIOSCREEN

Natural attenuation holds great promise as a cost‐effective means of remedying groundwater contamination at petroleum spill sites: this is particularly true at sites with sufficient background concentrations of alternate electron acceptors (nitrate and/or sulfate). The study reported in this article compared the results of a new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) numerical model (BIOPLUME III) with an updated EPA analytical model (BIOSCREEN Version 1.4) used to predict natural attenuation at an underground fuel spill site in Oklahoma. High background sulfate concentrations were shown to result in unrealistic predictions from both BIOSCREEN and BIOPLUME III. BIOSCREEN could be easily used with a data set not significantly enlarged from that used in a routine leaking fuel tank investigation. BIOPLUME III was much more difficult to use and did not yield reliable results. Results of this study indicate that the additional complexity of the BIOPLUME III model is not justified for simple sites.     

APPLICATION OF THE BASINS DATABASE AND NPSM MODEL ON A SMALL OHIO WATERSHED1

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Nonpoint Sources (BASINS) watershed management system. BASINS data were used with the NPSM model to predict discharge and sediment concentrations at the outlet of a 103 km² Ohio watershed. It was concluded that the NPSM model should always be calibrated but only a few of the parameters provided with BASINS needed to be calibrated. For a three‐year study period, there was a 2 percent underestimation of discharge using area weighted precipitation values and a 25 percent overestimation using the single station data in BASINS. A comparison of observed and predicted monthly discharge resulted in an r² of 0.86 with area‐weighted precipitation and an r² of 0.74 with the single station data. Calibrating the model to substantially improve sediment predictions was unsuccessful and we concluded that a calibration period of one year was too short. For the three‐year study period, the r² for sediment was 0.36 with a slope of 0.37 and an intercept of 18.8 mg/l. The mean observed and predicted sediment concentrations were 27.1 mg/l and 22.6 mg/l, respectively.