Drivers for OSH interventions in small and medium-sized enterprises

The debate concerning occupational safety and health (OSH) interventions has recently focused on the need of improving the evaluation of interventions, and in particular on the need for providing information about why the intervention worked or not, under what circumstances and in which context. Key concepts in the analysis of the context are the drivers, i.e., those factors enabling, fostering or facilitating OSH interventions. However, the concept of driver for an OSH intervention is both confused and contested. Although the term is widely used, there is little consensus on how drivers should be understood, how important they are in different contexts and how they can facilitate interventions. This exploratory study based on interviews with the owner-managers and the safety officers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) gives an overview of the most characteristic drivers for OSH interventions. The results will be used to make an initial evaluation of SMEs' needs, and will help orient interventions and future research.     

Concordance of genetic and fin photo identification in the great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, off Mossel Bay, South Africa

Visual identification of naturally acquired marks has been a popular if subjective method of animal identification and population estimation over the last 40 years. Molecular genetics has also independently developed objective individual marking techniques during the same period. Here, we assess the concordance of individual great white shark (Carcharodon carharias) dorsal fin recognition and identification, using seven microsatellite loci as the independent unbiased arbiter, over a period of 5 years. As a monitoring technique, fin photographs offer a very good individual identification key for white sharks over a relatively short period of time (5 years), matching with genetic data in about 85% of cases, whilst caution and a continuously updated database is required for animal recognition over a longer period.     

A Novel Metric to Evaluate the Association Rules for Identification of Functional Dependencies in Complex Technical Infrastructures

Environment Systems and Decisions - Functional dependencies in complex technical infrastructures can cause unexpected cascades of failures, with major consequences on availability. For this reason,...     

A closed-form solution for the deposition of atmospheric particulate matter on electrical insulators

Environmental Fluid Mechanics - The present study provides a simplified closed-form solution for the deposition flux of atmospheric Particulate Matter on electrical insulators. Due to the lack of...     

Natural organic matter controls metal speciation and toxicity for marine organisms: a review

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Heavy metals are occurring in the aquatic environment as the result of natural or anthropogenic inputs, and depending on concentration, availability and resilience...     

Long-term neurodevelopmental and cardiovascular outcome after intrauterine transfusions for fetal anaemia: a review

Perinatal survival rates after intrauterine transfusions (IUT) for red cell alloimmunisation now exceed 90%, which demonstrates the safety and efficacy of one of the most successful procedures in fetal therapy. However, improved perinatal survival could lead to an increased number of children with long-term disabilities. The importance of long-term follow-up studies in fetal therapy lies in both the necessity of evaluation of antenatal management as well as in evidence-based preconceptional and prenatal counselling. This review describes the possible long-term cardiovascular and neurodevelopmental sequelae after IUT treatment for different indications including red cell alloimmunisation, parvovirus B19 infection, fetomaternal haemorrhage and twin anaemia-polycythaemia sequence. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A revised calculation of the econometric factors α- and β for the Extended Exergy Accounting method

Extended Exergy Accounting (“EEA”) is a method to compute the space- and time integral of the primary exergy required to produce a good or a service: the extended exergy of a commodity measures its “embodied exergy”, including externalities (Labour, Capital and Environmental Costa). A crucial point of the method is the calculation of two econometric coefficients, commonly referred to as “α” and “β”,used to calculate the extended exergy equivalents of Labour and Capital respectively. In previous applications of the EEA method, these coefficients have been assigned approximate values estimated on the basis of global system considerations. In this paper, a novel procedure is described that leads to the calculation of “exact” values of both econometric coefficients, based on detailed exergy- and monetary balances of the Society to which the EEA is applied. It is shown that both α and β depend in a non-trivial way from the consumption patterns, the technological level and the life- and socio-economic standards of each Country. It is also shown that the values are substantially different for developed (OECD) and underdeveloped Countries, and representative samples of values are calculated and critically analysed. On the basis of these new model coefficients, the specific exergy equivalents of Labour (ee_L) and of Capital (ee_K) are calculated, and shown to differ from the values used in previous EEA calculations.