Evaluating a safety culture campaign: Some lessons from a Norwegian case

The focus of the present study is on the implementation and some of the results of an evaluation of a safety culture campaign that partly was aimed at increasing workmate interventions (care). I focus on three groups either working on or with a Norwegian offshore platform: onshore managers, crane operators and process operators. The research questions are: “Has the safety culture campaign contributed to new safety cultures related to care in the three groups, why/why not and what can we learn from this?”. The study indicates that two of the groups have developed new safety cultures that sensitize them to new hazards, motivate and legitimize new preventive practices. In accordance with the interpretive approach to culture in organizations, these changes are discussed in light of members’ of each group’s negotiation over the meaning and relevance of campaign efforts on workmate interventions. Lessons that can be learned from the study are discussed.     

极端嗜盐菌Halomonas elogata的分离鉴定及其降解偶氮染料活性兰BRF的条件优化研究

从新疆地区土壤中经驯化、分离纯化得到一株极端嗜盐菌,并对其形态特征、生理生化特性及16S rDNA同源性进行了检索比较,鉴定该菌株为伸长盐单胞菌(Halomonas elogata);其次,考察了不同因素对菌株降解偶氮染料--活性兰BRF的影响,比较了不同盐度条件下的降解率,并在30℃、5%盐度生长条件下采用单因素实验考察了该菌接菌量、染料初始浓度、初始pH等因素对活性兰BRF72h降解率的影响,采用正交试验L9(33)获得适宜的降解条件;最后,通过紫外-可见吸收光谱分析了降解产物.结果表明,该菌株耐盐范围为0～32%,最适生长盐度为5%～20%;在盐度为3%～25%条件下该菌株对活性兰BRF的降解率随着盐度的升高先升后降,5%盐度下的降解效果最佳;在30℃、5%盐度下适宜降解条件为:染料浓度100mg·L-1,pH=7,接菌量5%,72h的降解率为88.62%.紫外-可见光谱结果显示,降解产物的光谱与活性兰BRF的明显不同,可见光区的吸收峰消失,正己烷萃取液无紫外吸收,二氯甲烷萃取液出现两个紫外吸收峰,推测为芳胺类及杂环类等极性化合物;质谱分析证实,降解产物合苯甲基二胺、2,6-氨基苯酚等极性化合物.     

Climatic and genetic controls of yields of switchgrass, a model bioenergy species

The U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard calls for 136 billion liters of renewable fuels production by 2022. Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) has emerged as a leading candidate to be developed as a bioenergy feedstock. To reach biofuel production goals in a sustainable manner, more information is needed to characterize potential production rates of switchgrass. We used switchgrass yield data and general additive models (GAMs) to model lowland and upland switchgrass yield as nonlinear functions of climate and environmental variables. We used the GAMs and a 39-year climate dataset to assess the spatio-temporal variability in switchgrass yield due to climate variables alone. Variables associated with fertilizer application, genetics, precipitation, and management practices were the most important for explaining variability in switchgrass yield. The relationship of switchgrass yield with climate variables was different for upland than lowland cultivars. The spatio-temporal analysis showed that considerable variability in switchgrass yields can occur due to climate variables alone. The highest switchgrass yields with the lowest variability occurred primarily in the Corn Belt region, suggesting that prime cropland regions are the best suited for a constant and high switchgrass biomass yield. Given that much lignocellulosic feedstock production will likely occur in regions with less suitable climates for agriculture, interannual variability in yields should be expected and incorporated into operational planning.     

利用SPAMS研究石家庄市冬季连续灰霾天气的污染特征及成因

2014年11月18~26日石家庄市发生了连续的灰霾天气.利用位于石家庄市大气自动监测站(20 m)的单颗粒气溶胶质谱仪(SPAMS)分析了细颗粒物的化学组成,根据石家庄市大气污染物排放源谱库对主要成分进行了来源解析,并结合颗粒物质量浓度和气象条件研究了该地区冬季灰霾天气成因.结果表明,石家庄市大气细颗粒物来源分为7类,各源示踪离子:燃煤源为Al,工业源为OC、Fe、Pb,机动车尾气源为EC,扬尘源为Al、Ca、Si,生物质燃烧源为K和左旋葡聚糖,纯二次无机源为SO-4、NO-2和NO-3,餐饮源为HOC.灰霾期间大气中主要含有OC、HOC、EC、HEC、ECOC、富钾颗粒、矿物质和重金属等8类颗粒,其中OC和ECOC颗粒最多,分别占到总数的50%和20%以上,OC颗粒主要来自燃煤和工业工艺,ECOC颗粒主要来自燃煤和机动车尾气排放.灰霾发生时含有NH+4、SO-4、NO-2和NO-3等二次离子的颗粒物占比升高,其中含NH+4颗粒增幅最大;EC、OC与NO-3、SO-4、NH+4在灰霾天气下的混合程度均比干净天气高,其中与NH+4的混合程度加剧最为明显.冬季采暖期煤炭的大量燃烧、医化行业工艺过程及机动车尾气等污染源排放的一次气态污染物(SO2、NOx、NH3、VOCs)和一次颗粒物在静稳天气中难以扩散而迅速累积,气态污染物发生二次转化形成硝酸铵、硫酸铵,而颗粒物之间通过碰撞形成二次颗粒物并发生不同程度的混合,从而导致大气能见度下降,以上是石家庄市冬季灰霾形成的主要原因.     

Prenatal diagnosis of endocardial fibroelastosis

In a case of fetal heart failure caused by endocardial fibroelastosis, prenatal echocardiography clearly demonstrated; a thickened endocardium. We therefore suggest that an abnormal endocardium may be detected in utero by ultrasound, thus representing an important clue in the differential diagnosis of fetal nonimmune hydrops and in the evaluation of pregnancies at risk for endocardial fibroelastosis.     

Monte Carlo analysis of field water flow comparing uni- and bimodal effective hydraulic parameters for structured soil

Soil structure critically affects the hydrological behaviour of soils. In this paper, we examined the impact of areal heterogeneity of hydraulic properties of a structured soil on soil ensemble behaviour for various soil water flow processes with different top boundary conditions (redistribution and drainage plus evaporation and infiltration). Using a numerical solution of the Richards' equation in a stochastic framework, the ensemble characteristics and flow dynamics were studied for drying and wetting processes observed during a time interval of ten days when a series of relatively intense rainfall events occurred. The effects of using unimodal and bimodal interpretative models of hydraulic properties on the ensemble hydrological behaviour of the soil were illustrated by comparing predictions to mean water contents measured over time in several sites at field scale. Although the differences between unimodal and bimodal fitting are not significant in terms of goodness of fit, the differences in process predictions are considerable with the bimodal soil simulating water content measurements much better than unimodal soil. We also investigated the relative contribution of the soil variability of each parameter on the variance of the water contents obtained as the main output of the stochastic simulations. The variability of the structural parameter, weighting the two pore space fractions in the bimodal interpretative model, has the largest contribution to water content variance. The contribution of each parameter depends only partly on the coefficient of variation, much more on the sensitivity of the model to the parameters and on the flow process being observed. We observed that the contribution of the retention parameters to uncertainty increases during drainage processes; the opposite occurs with the hydraulic conductivity parameters.