Assessing public opinion regarding potential ATV-related policies

Problem

States with laws regarding ATV use and safety have lower mortality and injury rates than states with few or no restrictions. Our objective was to assess the attitudes of registered Ohio voters concerning potential legislation regarding ATV use and safety to determine the feasibility of its enactment.

Method

A statewide telephone survey of 838 registered Ohio voters was conducted and results were weighted by region to accurately represent all Ohio voters.

Results

Registered voters were in favor of restricting the use of ATVs by children < 16 years (81%), prohibiting passengers on ATVs (81%), requiring helmets (78%), and requiring all ATV owners and users to take a safety class (77%). ATV riders indicated that a mandatory helmet law would increase helmet use.

Impact on Industry

Assessing public opinion regarding public health and safety laws is a critical first step when considering legislation to improve ATV safety.     

Contaminant exposure in outmigrant juvenile salmon from Pacific Northwest estuaries of the United States

To better understand the dynamics of contaminant uptake in outmigrant juvenile salmon in the Pacific Northwest, concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), DDTs, polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and organochlorine pesticides were measured in tissues and prey of juvenile chinook and coho salmon from several estuaries and hatcheries in the US Pacific Northwest. PCBs, DDTs, and PAHs were found in tissues (whole bodies or bile) and stomach contents of chinook and coho salmon sampled from all estuaries, as well as in chinook salmon from hatcheries. Organochlorine pesticides were detected less frequently. Of the two species sampled, chinook salmon had the highest whole body contaminant concentrations, typically 2--5 times higher than coho salmon from the same sites. In comparison to estuarine chinook salmon, body burdens of PCBs and DDTs in hatchery chinook were relatively high, in part because of the high lipid content of the hatchery fish. Concentrations of PCBs were highest in chinook salmon from the Duwamish Estuary, the Columbia River and Yaquina Bay, exceeding the NOAA Fisheries' estimated threshold for adverse health effects of 2400 ng/g lipid. Concentrations of DDTs were especially high in juvenile chinook salmon from the Columbia River and Nisqually Estuary; concentrations of PAH metabolites in bile were highest in chinook salmon from the Duwamish Estuary and Grays Harbor. Juvenile chinook salmon are likely absorbing some contaminants during estuarine residence through their prey, as PCBs, PAHs, and DDTs were consistently present in stomach contents, at concentrations significantly correlated with contaminant body burdens in fish from the same sites.     

Innovation in the Knowledge Age: implications for collaborative science

Current trends validate the notion that multifaceted, multimodal interdisciplinary collaborations lead to increased research productivity in publications and citations, compared to those achieved by individual researchers. Moreover, it may be that scientific breakthroughs are increasingly achieved by interdisciplinary research teams. Nonetheless, despite the perceived importance of collaboration and its bibliometric benefits, today’s scientists are still trained to be autonomous, work individually, and encourage their graduate students to do the same—perpetuating values which impede the creation of collaborative space between disciplines. As a consequence, scientists working in teams typically report serious obstacles to collaboration. This paper builds off of recent recommendations from a 2015 National Academies report on the state of team science which emphasizes greater definition of roles, responsibility, accountability, goals, and milestones. However, these recommendations do not address the subjective, relational components of collaboration which can drive innovation and creativity. The relational side of collaboration is key to understanding the capacity and capabilities of the knowledge workers, such as scientists and engineers, who comprise interdisciplinary research teams. The authors’ recommendations, grounded in organizational communication and knowledge worker literature, include a renewed focus on the process of organizing through communication rather than focusing on organization as an outcome or consequence of teamwork, leading and cultivating team members rather than managing them, and the need to address self-driven, rather than external, motivations to engage in knowledge work.     

Modeling the Effects of Tile Drain Placement on the Hydrologic Function of Farmed Prairie Wetlands

The early 2000s saw large increases in agricultural tile drainage in the eastern Dakotas of North America. Agricultural practices that drain wetlands directly are sometimes limited by wetland protection programs. Little is known about the impacts of tile drainage beyond the delineated boundaries of wetlands in upland catchments that may be in agricultural production. A series of experiments were conducted using the well‐published model WETLANDSCAPE that revealed the potential for wetlands to have significantly shortened surface water inundation periods and lower mean depths when tile is placed in certain locations beyond the wetland boundary. Under the soil conditions found in agricultural areas of South Dakota in North America, wetland hydroperiod was found to be more sensitive to the depth that drain tile is installed relative to the bottom of the wetland basin than to distance‐based setbacks. Because tile drainage can change the hydrologic conditions of wetlands, even when deployed in upland catchments, tile drainage plans should be evaluated more closely for the potential impacts they might have on the ecological services that these wetlands currently provide. Future research should investigate further how drainage impacts are affected by climate variability and change.     

Speciated Hydrocarbon Emissions from Small Utility Engines

ABSTRACT

Partially speciated hydrocarbon (HC) emissions data from several small utility engines, as measured by a Fourier Transform Infrared analyzer, are presented. The engines considered have nominal horsepower ratings between 3.7 and 9.3 kW. Both side-valve and overhead-valve engines are studied, and four different fuels are used in the engines. The results indicate that the small HCs present in the exhaust tend to be in the form of either methane or unsatur-ated HCs. Other small alkanes, such as ethane and propane, are present in only relatively small concentrations. In terms of ozone formation potential, the HCs in the form of methane will lead to little ozone, but the distribution of the C₂ and C₃ species is not ideal from an ozone reduction standpoint. It is also found that the presence of oxygen in the fuels appears to lead to somewhat more complete combustion, although the effects are not large. Finally, the overhead-valve engines appear to have lower HC emissions than side-valve engines, which is primarily due to higher operating A/F ratios and the engine geometry.     

Inhalation Transfer Factors for Air Pollution Health Risk Assessment

ABSTRACT

To facilitate routine health risk assessments, we develop the concept of an inhalation transfer factor (ITF). The ITF is defined as the pollutant mass inhaled by an exposed individual per unit pollutant mass emitted from an air pollution source. A cumulative population inhalation transfer factor (PITF) is also defined to describe the total fraction of an emitted pollutant inhaled by all members of the exposed population. In this paper, ITFs and PITFs are calculated for outdoor releases from area, point, and line sources, indoor releases in single zone and multizone indoor environments, and releases within motor vehicles. Typical PITFs for an urban area from emissions outdoors are ~10^-6–10^-3. PITFs associated with emissions in buildings or in moving vehicles are typically much higher, ~10^-3–10^-1.     

Cleanup and Complexity: Nuclear and Industrial Contamination at The Santa Susana Field Laboratory,California

Environmental Management - Environmental contamination, a legacy of industrial activity borne by numerous sites around the world, poses health risks for surrounding communities and presents serious...     

Epidemiology of subway-related fatalities in New York City, 1990-2003

Problem

Subway transit is a relatively safe mode of transportation, yet compared to all other forms of mass transit in the United States (U.S.), subways have the highest fatality rate. The aim of this paper is to characterize subway-related fatalities in order to identify opportunities for risk reduction.

Method

Medical examiner records for all New York City (NYC) subway-related deaths (1990-2003) were reviewed. Data were abstracted on decedents' demographics and autopsy findings, including laboratory findings.

Results

There were 668 subway-related fatalities, of these, 10 (1.5%) were homicides, 343 (51.3%) were determined to be suicides, and 315 (47.2%) were accidental. Although decedent characteristics varied between fatality categories, they were not particularly informative with regard to prevention.

Conclusion

Prevention strategies that focus on structural controls are likely to be most efficacious in improving the overall safety of the NYC subway systems.

Impact on industry

These findings suggest that structural rather than individual-level interventions would be most successful in preventing subway fatalities.     

Teenage driver crash incidence and factors influencing crash injury by rurality

BackgroundPrevious research has identified teenage drivers as having an increased risk for motor-vehicle crash injury compared with older drivers, and rural roads as having increased crash severity compared with urban roads. Few studies have examined incidence and characteristics of teen driver-involved crashes on rural and urban roads.MethodsAll crashes involving a driver aged 10 through 18 were identified from the Iowa Department of Transportation crash data from 2002 through 2008. Rates of overall crashes and fatal or severe injury crashes were calculated for urban, suburban, rural, and remote rural areas. The distribution of driver and crash characteristics were compared between rural and urban crashes. Logistic regression was used to identify driver and crash characteristics associated with increased odds of fatal or severe injury among urban and rural crashes.ResultsFor younger teen drivers (age 10 through 15), overall crash rates were higher for more rural areas, although for older teen drivers (age 16 through 18) the overall crash rates were lower for rural areas. Rural teen crashes were nearly five times more likely to lead to a fatal or severe injury crash than urban teen crashes. Rural crashes were more likely to involve single vehicles, be late at night, involve a failure to yield the right-of-way and crossing the center divider.ConclusionsIntervention programs to increase safe teen driving in rural areas need to address specific risk factors associated with rural roadways.Impact on IndustryTeen crashes cause lost work time for teen workers as well as their parents. Industries such as safety, health care, and insurance have a vested interest in enhanced vehicle safety, and these efforts should address risks and injury differentials in urban and rural roadways.