Managing the cost of emissions for durable,carbon-containing products

We recognize that carbon-containing products do not decay and release CO₂ to the atmosphere instantaneously, but release that carbon over extended periods of time. For an initial production of a stock of carbon-containing product, we can treat the release as a probability distribution covering the time over which that release occurs. The probability distribution that models the carbon release predicts the amount of carbon that is released as a function of time. The use of a probability distribution in accounting for the release of carbon to the atmosphere realizes a fundamental shift from the idea that all carbon-containing products contribute to a single pool that decays in proportion to the size of the stock. Viewing the release of carbon as a continuous probabilistic process introduces some theoretical opportunities not available in the former paradigm by taking advantage of other fields where the use of probability distributions has been prevalent for many decades. In particular, theories developed in the life insurance industry can guide the development of pricing and payment structures for dealing with the costs associated with the oxidation and release of carbon. These costs can arise from a number of proposed policies (cap and trade, carbon tax, social cost of carbon, etc), but in the end they all result in there being a cost to releasing carbon to the atmosphere. If there is a cost to the emitter for CO₂ emissions, payment for that cost will depend on both when the emissions actually occur and how payment is made. Here we outline some of the pricing and payment structures that are possible which result from analogous theories in the life insurance industry. This development not only provides useful constructs for valuing sequestered carbon, but highlights additional motivations for employing a probability distribution approach to unify accounting methodologies for stocks of carbon containing products.     

CSHM: Web-based safety and health monitoring system for construction management

INTRODUCTION: This paper describes a web-based system for monitoring and assessing construction safety and health performance, entitled the Construction Safety and Health Monitoring (CSHM) system. METHOD: The design and development of CSHM is an integration of internet and database systems, with the intent to create a total automated safety and health management tool. A list of safety and health performance parameters was devised for the management of safety and health in construction. A conceptual framework of the four key components of CSHM is presented: (a) Web-based Interface (templates); (b) Knowledge Base; (c) Output Data; and (d) Benchmark Group. RESULTS: The combined effect of these components results in a system that enables speedy performance assessment of safety and health activities on construction sites. With the CSHM's built-in functions, important management decisions can theoretically be made and corrective actions can be taken before potential hazards turn into fatal or injurious occupational accidents. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: As such, the CSHM system will accelerate the monitoring and assessing of performance safety and health management tasks.     

Handedness, Hand Roles, and Hand Injuries at Work

Hand injuries form a significant proportion of all workplace injuries. They are costly to treat, and lead to significant loss of time at work. This paper has two parts. First, there is a review of the literature that discusses prevalence of hand injury, and the significance of hand roles and handedness in industrial injuries. The second part represents an initial attempt to document the roles of the two hands in a particular industry, the metal manufacturing industry. The purpose of this survey of 30 different work stations in seven different industrial plants was to see whether there is a significant bias in terms of movement requirements for one or the other hand, leading to a possible differential risk of injury for the left and right hands. Overall, there was no clear bias favoring the right hand in activities assigned to the hands in seven different movement categories (MTM). However, the location of emergency controls favored the right hand unequivocally. The implications of biases favoring the left/right hand for safety of machine operation are discussed in the light of current findings on left/right hand performance in right- and lefthanders.     

CH4/CO2 ratios indicate highly efficient methane oxidation by a pumice landfill cover-soil

Landfills that generate too little biogas for economic energy recovery can potentially offset methane (CH₄) emissions through biological oxidation by methanotrophic bacteria in cover soils. This study reports on the CH₄ oxidation efficiency of a 10-year old landfill cap comprising a volcanic pumice soil. Surface CH₄ and CO₂ fluxes were measured using field chambers during three sampling intervals over winter and summer. Methane fluxes were temporally and spatially variable (?0.36 to 3044 mg CH₄ m^?2 h^?1); but were at least 15 times lower than typical literature CH₄ fluxes reported for older landfills in 45 of the 46 chambers tested. Exposure of soil from this landfill cover to variable CH₄ fluxes in laboratory microcosms revealed a very strong correlation between CH₄ oxidation efficiency and CH₄/CO₂ ratios, confirming the utility of this relationship for approximating CH₄ oxidation efficiency. CH₄/CO₂ ratios were applied to gas concentrations from the surface flux chambers and indicated a mean CH₄ oxidation efficiency of 72%. To examine CH₄ oxidation with soil depth, we collected 10 soil depth profiles at random locations across the landfill. Seven profiles exhibited CH₄ removal rates of 70–100% at depths <60 cm, supporting the high oxidation rates observed in the chambers. Based on a conservative 70% CH₄ oxidation efficiency occurring at the site, this cover soil is clearly offsetting far greater CH₄ quantities than the 10% default value currently adopted by the IPCC.     

Rapid amino acid cycling in arctic and antarctic soils

Amino acids constitute one of the largest inputs of organic nitrogen (N) to most polar soils and have been hypothesized to be important in regulating vegetational succession and productivity in Arctic ecosystems. Our understanding of amino acid cycling in these soils, however, is poor. The aim of this study was to investigate the size and rate of turnover of the amino acid pool in a range of Arctic and Antarctic soils. Our results indicate that in polar soils with either high or low ornithogenic inputs the amino acid pool is small in comparison to the inorganic N pool (NO^–₃ and NH⁺₄). The free amino acid pool constituted only a small proportion of the total dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) pool in these soils. Here we show that these low concentrations may be due to rapid use by the soil microbial community in both Arctic and Antarctic soils. The turnover of the amino acid pool in soil was extremely rapid, with a half-life ranging from 2 to 24 h, indicating that this N pool can be turned over many hundred times each summer when polar soils are frequently unfrozen. The implications of amino acids in N cycling and plant and microbial nutrition are discussed.