Population-based assessment of a vehicle fleet with seat belts providing lower shoulder belt forces than today

Objective: The objective of this study was to quantify the population-based effects of a lower shoulder belt load limit on front row occupants in frontal car crashes.

Method: Crashes of modern vehicles from the GIDAS (German In-Depth Accident Study) are corrected for bias and projected to the national level. Injury risk functions are computed for the injury severity levels Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale (MAIS) 2+, MAIS 3+, and fatal, stratified by 2 age cohorts (16–44 years of age and 45 years or older). To assess the field effectivity of a “softer belt,” the projected crash frequency data are modified separately for the 2 age cohorts such that its risk structure represents the risk of a softer belt. Given those 2 samples, the field effectivity of a softer belt is derived for several shares of the younger age cohort according to the injury severity levels MAIS 2+, MAIS 3+, and fatal.

Results: The injury risk distribution of the projected crash frequency data, represented here by the injury risk functions obtained, fits well into the injury risk distribution of other data sets (Sweden, United States, and Japan) given in the literature. The relative effects of a lower belt force are stable over the different ratios of the younger and old age cohorts. At the MAIS 2+ level, a lower belt force can significantly reduce the number of injuries (about 10%). A lower belt force does not significantly affect the number of MAIS 3+ injuries. A lower belt force can, however, more than double the number of fatal injuries.

Conclusions: Because the number of fatal injuries rises dramatically due to lower belt force, the reduction in the number of MAIS 2+ injuries comes at a very high cost. Therefore, whether reducing the belt force limit is the right approach is questionable.     

Chemosensory mate recognition may facilitate prolonged mate guarding by male snow skinks, Niveoscincus microlepidotus

We provide evidence that male lizards can use chemosensory cues to identify individual females and probably therefore maintain long-term associations with these females in the wild. In the laboratory, males preferentially followed the scent trail of their vitellogenic female “partner” rather than that of another vitellogenic female. Our 5-year field study of the small viviparous scincid lizard (Niveoscincus microlepidotus) in alpine Tasmania showed that sexually mature males and females commonly formed “pairs” for long periods (on average 29 days). These pairs occurred primarily during the mating season, always involved one adult male and one adult female, and usually involved vitellogenic rather than gravid females. Our laboratory experiments suggest that a significant factor in maintaining those prolonged partnerships is male scent trailing of partners. Received: 28 October 1997 / Accepted after revision: 28 May 1998     

The carbon sequestration potential of tree crop plantations

Carbon (C) conservation and sequestration in many developing countries needs to be accompanied by socio-economic improvements. Tree crop plantations can be a potential path for coupling climate change mitigation and economic development by providing C sequestration and supplying wood and non-wood products to meet domestic and international market requirements at the same time. Financial compensation for such plantations could potentially be covered by the Clean Development Mechanism under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) Kyoto Protocol, but its suitability has also been suggested for integration into REDD?+?(reducing emissions from deforestation, forest degradation and enhancement of forest C stocks) currently being negotiated under the United Nations FCCC. We assess the aboveground C sequestration potential of four major plantation crops – cocoa (Theobroma cacao), oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), rubber (Hevea brasiliensis), and orange (Citrus sinesis) – cultivated in the tropics. Measurements were conducted in Ghana and allometric equations were applied to estimate biomass. The largest C potential was found in the rubber plantations (214 tC/ha). Cocoa (65 tC/ha) and orange (76 tC/ha) plantations have a much lower C content, and oil palm (45 tC/ha) has the lowest C potential, assuming that the yield is not used as biofuel. There is considerable C sequestration potential in plantations if they are established on land with modest C content such as degraded forest or agricultural land, and not on land with old-growth forest. We also show that simple C assessment methods can give reliable results, which makes it easier for developing countries to partake in REDD?+ or other payment schemes.     

Energy flow model of an oxygen-deficient estuary on the Swedish west coast

The estuary Byfjord (Sweden) is characterized by high primary production, a well developed meiofauna compared to the macrofauna, high epifaunal biomass, a low number of herbivorous copepods and a small fish stock. A simplified energy flow model of the ecosystem of the fjord is given. The energy transfer is approximated to 15%. About one-fourth-300 (metric) tons of carbon — of the annual primary production is suggested to be directly consumed and to produce 5 tons of zooplankton carbon and 40 tons of epifaunal (mainly Mytilus edulis) carbon. About 500 tons of carbon from the detritus pool are probably utilized in animal production. This amount will produce 5 tons of zooplankton carbon, 6 tons of meiofaunal carbon, and 3 tons of carbon from the benthic macrofauna. Production of fish is estimated at 0.3 ton carbon per year. M. edulis seems to be the only food resource in the fjord worth harvesting by man.     

Accounting for Climate Change: Introduction

The assessment of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted to and removed from the atmosphere is high on both political and scientific agendas internationally. As increasing international concern and cooperation aim at policy-oriented solutions to the climate change problem, several issues have begun to arise regarding verification and compliance under both proposed and legislated schemes meant to reduce the human-induced global climate impact. The approaches to addressing uncertainty introduced in this article attempt to improve national inventories or to provide a basis for the standardization of inventory estimates to enable comparison of emissions and emission changes across countries. Authors of the accompanying articles use detailed uncertainty analyses to enforce the current structure of the emission trading system and attempt to internalize high levels of uncertainty by tailoring the emissions trading market rules. Assessment of uncertainty can help improve inventories and manage risk. Through recognizing the importance of, identifying and quantifying uncertainties, great strides can be made in the process of Accounting for Climate Change.     

The Relationship Between Shift Work Schedules and Spillover in a Sample of Nurses

The aim of the present study was to estimate spillover effects between the work and the family sphere in a sample of nurses (N = 2058). Hierarchical regression analyses investigated whether shift work schedules were associated with negative or positive spillover, both from family to work and vice versa, controlling for demographic factors, job demands and decision latitude. With daytime work as a reference group, all types of shift work (day and evening shift, night shift only and rotating 3 shift) were associated with higher negative work-to-family spillover. Night work was associated with significantly less negative family-to-work spillover. None of the different shift work schedules were related to any type of positive spillover. The results indicate that working outside of daytime hours is less compatible with workers’ family lives, compared to working ordinary day shifts. On the other hand, working night shifts only was associated with reduced negative family-to-work spillover.     

A one year study of the seasonal variations of sDDT and PCB levels in fish from heated and unheated areas near a nuclear power plant

An investigation of the influence of excess heat discharge from a nuclear power plant on the residual levels of the sDOT and PCB in roach and perch has been made during a period of one year. A seasonal variation of the residual concentrations was observed, with the highest levels during spring and early summer and lower more stable levels in the autumn. Significantly higher levels of the sDDT and PCB was observed in perch from the cooling water recipient as compared to values in perch from the intake area. No significant differences could however be verified for roach. The result stress the importance that, in a monitoring program, a sampling period with stable ecological conditions is selected.     

Environmental change in the Sahel: reconciling contrasting evidence and interpretations

The Sahel has been the object of intensive international research since the drought of the early 1970s. A considerable part of the research has focused on environmental change in general and land degradation, land cover change and climate change in particular. Rich and diverse insights from many different scientific disciplines about these three domains have been put forward. One intriguing feature is that an agreement on the overall trends of environmental change does not appear to emerge: questions such as whether the Sahel is greening, cropland is encroaching on rangelands, drought persists remain contested in the scientific literature, and arguments are supported by contrasting empirical evidence. The paper explores the generic reasons behind this situation in a systematic manner. We distinguish between divergences in interpretations emerging from (1) conceptualizations, definitions and choice of indicators, (2) biases, for example, related to selection of study sites, methodological choices, measurement accuracy, perceptions among interlocutors, and selection of temporal and spatial scales of analysis. The analysis of the root causes for different interpretations suggests that differences in findings could often be considered as complementary insights rather than mutually exclusive. This will have implications for the ways in which scientific results can be expected to support regional environmental policies and contribute to knowledge production.     

Distribution Equilibrium of Mercury (II) Chloride between Water and Air Applied to Flue Gas Scrubbing

ABSTRACT

In the literature, different values of the distribution coefficient K_H for HgCl₂ between water and air are present in a range that spans more than 3 orders of magnitude. In order to determine if a waste incineration scrubber solution could become saturated with regard to HgCl₂, an accurate experimental determination of the distribution constant of HgCl₂ at elevated temperatures is needed. In this work, the coefficient has been determined at four different temperatures between 10 and 50 °C. The Arrhenius expression obtained is 5.5 x 10⁵ x exp[-(8060 ± 2200)/7] with a corresponding enthalpy for the process HgCl₂(aq)<» HgCl₂(g) of 67 ± 20 kJ/mole. K_H at 293 K was found to be ~5 x 10^-7 atm M^-1, which is in almost perfect agreement with an earlier study. Applying the obtained K_H values to waste incineration scrubber conditions shows that no major saturation effect will occur.