Restraint use and seating position among children less than 13 years of age: Is it still a problem?

Introduction

The purpose of this study was to calculate national estimates and examine the extent to which children prematurely use adult seat belts and ride in the front seat of a vehicle during a 30 day period.

Methods

Data were obtained from a nationally representative cross-sectional random-digit-dial telephone survey that included child-specific questions on motor vehicle restraint use and seating position.

Results

Among children less than 13 years, parents reported an estimated 618,337 who rode unrestrained and more than one million who rode in the front seat of a vehicle at least some of the time in the past 30 days. During the same time period, close to 11 million children 8 years and younger reportedly used only adult seat belts.

Discussion

Our results highlight the need for continued outreach to parents regarding optimal restraint use and rear seating position for children every trip, every time.     

The need for work: Jahoda's latent functions of employment in a representative sample of the German population

Marie Jahoda's latent deprivation model was tested with a representative sample of the German population (N = 998). As expected, employees reported high levels of time structure, social contact, collective purpose, and activity not only in comparison to unemployed persons but also in comparison to persons who are out of the labor force (i.e., students, homemakers, retirees). Even unskilled manual workers reported more access to these “latent functions” than persons without employment. For the fifth of Jahoda's dimensions, identity/status, no significant differences between employed persons and persons who are out of the labor force could be identified. However, unemployed persons reported less status than all other groups did. Thus, Jahoda's model was clearly endorsed for four of the five latent functions of employment and partly endorsed for the fifth function. All variables in the model correlated significantly with distress, as expected. Demographic correlates of the manifest and latent functions were also analyzed: Access to the latent functions was best among young men from higher social classes who lived in an intimate relationship in a comparatively large household with children. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluating safety management and culture interventions to improve safety: Effective intervention strategies

The Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment provided subsidy over the period 2004–2008 to a number of companies to introduce changes aimed at reducing accidents by changing their safety culture and aspects of their safety management. As part of the programme a scientific evaluation was set up to assess the effectiveness of the interventions in 17 of the projects, covering 29 companies. Before and after studies were made of the companies, documenting the state of their safety management and risk control efforts and their accident rates before the intervention, the changes made over the study period and the resulting changes in a range of measures aimed at assessing the success of the changes. The analysis led to a categorisation of the projects according to their degree of success.This paper describes the patterns of interventions distinguishing between successful and not successful projects and discusses the mechanisms lying behind them. Interventions bringing about constructive dialogue between shop-floor and line management, providing motivation to line managers and strengthening the monitoring and learning loops in the safety management system (SM) appeared more successful. The amount of energy and creativity injected by top managers and, above all, by the coordinator (safety professional) appeared also to be a distinguishing factor.     

液液萃取-高效液相色谱法测定水中阿特拉津质量控制指标体系研究

文章采用液液萃取-高效液相色谱法,通过统计全国多家实验室的测定数据,对水中阿特拉津测试的精密度和准确度两大类共5个质控指标及其评价标准进行了研究,提出在概率P和γ均为0.90时,平行样、空白加标回收率平行样和样品加标回收率平行样最大相对偏差应分别控制在7.5%、10.5%和9.7%;空白加标浓度为0.1～20μg/L时,回收率应控制在59%～118%;样品测定浓度为未检出、加标浓度在0.2～20μg/L时,实际样品加标回收率应控制在73%～106%。     

鄂尔多斯市秋季大气PM2.5、PM10颗粒物中正构烷烃的组成分布与来源特征

利用气相色谱-质谱技术分析了秋季鄂尔多斯市居民区、工业区和清洁区5个采样点大气PM2,、PM10颗粒物中正构烷烃组分,运用Cmax、CPl、Cn(wax)分子地球化学参数对污染源进行了初步示踪研究,并对污染程度进行了判断.结果表明,鄂尔多斯市秋季大气PM2.5、PM10颗粒物上正构烷烃来源相对比较复杂,各功能区均不同程度的受到人为来源正构烷烃污染的影响.总体来说,工业区和居民区人为来源正构烷烃污染较重,这两个功能区污染状况基本相当,而清洁区受人为来源正构烷烃污染相对较小.在鄂尔多斯地区,气候因素尤其是风向因素对大气颗粒物上正构烷烃污染水平的影响比较大.通过与我国其它大中型城市进行对比发现,我国大部分城市市区大气PM2.5、PM10颗粒物中正构烷烃主要来自于人为污染排放.     

基于生态功能考虑的西北干旱地区生态需水研究

在当前生态需水研究的基础上,选取植被盖度作为衡量绿洲生态功能的主要指标,根据植被盖度和侵蚀率之间的关系,从生态系统的需水机理出发,提出了基于生态功能考虑的西北干旱地区生态需水量计算方法.以额济纳绿洲为例,计算了2000年额济纳绿洲生态需水,并与额济纳绿洲不同时期的生态需水进行了对比分析.     

A participatory approach to the establishment of a baseline scenario for a reforestation Clean Development Mechanism project

This paper is part of a two-year study to investigate the feasibility of initiating a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project in an indigenous community of Eastern Panamá, Ipetí-Emberá. We use participatory mapping and matrices as well as household surveys to develop a land-use/land-cover baseline scenario and examine the role of local participation in assessing land-use change. In Ipetí, land-use change has not occurred in a linear way over the last decades, and our data unveils socio-economic factors as potential key drivers of change. The concordance that we observed between geographic information and individual and collective perceptions of land-use change substantiates the possibility of using local knowledge in the establishment of baseline data for CDM projects. Our calculations suggest that the total carbon (C) stocks in the Tierra Colectiva (TC) of Ipetí-Emberá in 2004 represents a 47% reduction from the estimated C stock at the onset of settlement in the early 1970’s. Results from the participatory assessments predict that, in 2024 and in absence of a CDM project, the C stocks will decline from 301,859 t C in 2004 to 155,730 t C, which constitutes a reduction of 52%. The scenario with CDM estimates C stocks of 305,853 t C for 2024, a value slightly superior to the 2004 value. In the TC there is ground to believe that cattle ranching is likely to become an ever more important activity as the population is young and growing and cannot easily move elsewhere. Forests tend to be cleared for cultivation while pastures are established on short fallows. Our baseline scenario underlines the potential for a CDM project to make a significant difference in the future C stocks of this landscape.     

Issues Concerning Survival of Viruses on Surfaces

Viruses are the causative agents of an estimated 60% of human infections worldwide. The most common viral illnesses are produced by enteric and respiratory viruses. Transmission of these viruses from an infected person or animal to a new host can occur via several routes. Existing studies strongly suggest that contaminated fomites or surfaces play an important role in the spreading of viral diseases. The potential of viral spreading via contaminated surfaces depends particularly on the ability of the virus to maintain infectivity whilst it is in the environment. This is affected by a combination of biological, physical and chemical factors. This review summarises current knowledge about the influence of environmental factors on the survival and spread of viruses via contaminated surfaces.