New methods for identification of disinfection byproducts of toxicological relevance: Progress and future directions

Disinfection byproducts (DBPs) represent a ubiquitous source of chemical exposure in disinfected water. While over 700 DBPs have been identified, the drivers of toxicity remain poorly understood. Additionally, ever evolving water treatment practices have led to a continually growing list of DBPs. Advancement of analytical technologies have enabled the identification of new classes of DBPs and the quantification of these chemically diverse sets of DBPs. Here we summarize advances in new workflows for DBP analysis, including sample preparation, chromatographic separation with mass spectrometry (MS) detection, and data processing. To aid in the selection of techniques for future studies, we discuss necessary considerations for each step in the strategy. This review focuses on how each step of a workflow can be optimized to capture diverse classes of DBPs within a single method. Additionally, we highlight new MS-based approaches that can be powerful for identifying novel DBPs of toxicological relevance. We discuss current challenges and provide perspectives on future research directions with respect to studying new DBPs of toxicological relevance. As analytical technologies continue to advance, new strategies will be increasingly used to analyze complex DBPs produced in different treatment processes with the aim to identify potential drivers of toxicity.     

铁路机车乘务员睡眠状况调研

为进一步了解机车乘务员睡眠状况及影响因素,以更好改善职工睡眠状况、为保证行车安全提供依据。采用阿森斯失眠量表及睡眠呼吸障碍问卷等心理测量法,选取某铁路局集团公司864名机车乘务员开展相关调研。结果表明,机车乘务员睡眠问题较严重,有失眠和可疑失眠的机车乘务员合计占调查人员总数的96.5%;睡眠问题主要表现为睡不好和睡觉中打呼噜,分别占调查中有失眠问题机车乘务员总数的86.7%和65.3%;工作环境和工作压力大导致的睡眠问题是机车乘务员失眠的主要原因,体重指数超标与患阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停风险的机车乘务员占有失眠问题人员总数比例较高。进而提出加大睡眠健康宣传、降低职工体重指数及患阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停的风险、改善机车乘务员工作环境、提高职工自我心理调节能力等改善职工睡眠质量的建议。     

Altitudinal Distribution of Meltwater and Its Effects on Glacio‐Hydrology in Glacierized Catchments,Central Asia

In glacierized catchments, elevation is correlated with meltwater through its association with temperature, precipitation, and glacier hypsometry. The revelation of the altitudinal distribution of meltwater, unattended and not fully understood in previous work, might provide a better understanding of climate change impacts on glacio‐hydrology. Here, critical zone approach was defined and applied in 12 glacierized catchments of the Tien Shan–Pamir–Karakorum Mountains, Central Asia using manually calibrated glacier‐enhanced Soil and Water Assessment Tool model over 1966–2005. The critical zone, a sequence of elevation bands with above‐average snow and glacier melt, contributes maximum meltwater to total runoff. The critical zone shared 37%–95% (average = 80%) of meltwater contributions to total runoff, although its size was only 13%–30% of the total elevational relief. The critical zone controlled 76% and 82% variability in relative changes of glacier area and total runoff at the catchment scale, respectively. The increase in temperature was identified as the dominant driver for variations in total runoff in all catchments except Vakhsh and Yurungkash, where precipitation change remained dominant. Overall, glacier hypsometry limited the first‐order control of meltwater distributions on glacio‐hydrology. It is concluded that critical zone approach can interpret the proxy role of elevation to affect water availability under climate and glacier area change in glacierized catchments.     

Understanding farmers' influence on land-use change using a participatory Bayesian network approach in a pre-Alpine region in Switzerland

Land-use models can be used to assess the importance of different drivers of land-use change. Local actors make land-use decisions on the basis of both biophysical and policy aspects, but they can also be considered as autonomous drivers as their attitudes and beliefs influence land-use substantially. We use a Bayesian network-based Land-use Modeling Approach (BLUMAP) to analyze influences of local actor characteristics on land-use change in a spatially explicit manner. Our analysis shows that local actor characteristics have a greater influence on land-use change than changes in agricultural policy schemes. Furthermore, focusing on the probabilities of land-use occurrence under different scenarios facilitates the quantification of influences of local actor characteristics on land-use changes and aids in the detection of where land-use changes are more likely to occur. We demonstrate that local actor characteristics could override land-use policy trends; thus, greater consideration should be paid to actors in land-use development processes.     

How do significant others influence our driving? A descriptive study of ego–alter dyads in a college population

Objectives: The purpose of this investigation was to describe the mutual influences between drivers and their significant others in a sample of college students, using a social network perspective.

Methods: A web-based survey was made of 65 dyads of drivers and their significant others, in order to examine areas of mutual influence concerning driving. Measures were taken of their frequency of risky driving, including how often they drive, talk on the cell phone, or text with each other while driving. They were also asked whether they have influenced or been influenced by each other to drive safer or in a more risky manner.

Results: The dyads were very similar in how frequently they drive as well as talk to each other on the phone while driving. However, they were unlikely to feel that their driving was influenced by each other, with only 17% of the drivers and 19% of the significant others saying that they have been overtly influenced by (or have influenced) each other's driving behavior often or most of the time. Yet, most (67.7% and 72.1%) said they have ever encouraged or been encouraged by each other to drive more safely, mainly by being told to reduce their speed. In both sets of drivers in these dyads, talking to and texting their significant other while driving was related to risky driving.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that a similarity exits in the driving patterns of young drivers and their significant others, especially concerning talking to each other on the phone while driving. The largest degree of overt social influence appears to center around avoidance of behaviors perceived to be associated with getting a traffic citation. Implications for safety campaign development and future research are presented.     

A new approach to managing work-related road traffic injury: The development of a health investment framework

Objective: Statistics indicate that employees commuting or traveling as part of their work are overrepresented in workplace injury and death. Despite this, many organizations are unaware of the factors within their organizations that are likely to influence potential reductions in work-related road traffic injury.

Methods: This article presents a multilevel conceptual framework that identifies health investment as the central feature in reducing work-related road traffic injury. Within this framework, we explore factors operating at the individual driver, workgroup supervisor, and organizational senior management levels that create a mutually reinforcing system of safety.

Results: The health investment framework identifies key factors at the senior manager, supervisor, and driver levels to cultivating a safe working environment. These factors are high-performance workplace systems, leader–member exchange and autonomy, trust and empowerment, respectively. The framework demonstrates the important interactions between these factors and how they create a self-sustaining organizational safety system.

Conclusions: The framework aims to provide insight into the future development of interventions that are strategically aligned with the organization and target elements that facilitate and enhance driver safety and ultimately reduce work-related road traffic injury and death.     

生产力与生物多样性关系的研究进展

生产力和生物多样性是生态系统两个基本属性。然而,几十年来,人们一直在争论它们之间的相互关系及其潜在机制。论文综述过去有关两者关系的控制实验、meta分析、多点观测研究和潜在机制,发现两者关系主要表现为单峰关系、正相关关系、负相关关系、无关系、“U”型关系,并且关于它们关系的潜在机制也没有普遍共识。同时,两者关系及其潜在机制均对尺度具有很强依赖性。分析其原因,可能生产力与生物多样性的关系不是简单或直接因果关系,而是由相互关联的、多变量过程共同控制。因此,应放弃固定化二元模式,开展多元化驱动因素的生物多样性研究,加强人类对复杂生态系统过程的理解,提供更具意义的生物多样性保护和管理指导。     

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.     

Key beliefs influencing young drivers’ engagement with social interactive technology on their smartphones: A qualitative study

Objective: The main aim of this study was to identify young drivers’ underlying beliefs (i.e., behavioral, normative, and control) regarding initiating, monitoring/reading, and responding to social interactive technology (i.e., functions on a Smartphone that allow the user to communicate with other people).

Method: This qualitative study was a beliefs elicitation study in accordance with the theory of planned behavior and sought to elicit young drivers’ behavioral (i.e., advantages, disadvantages), normative (i.e., who approves, who disapproves), and control beliefs (i.e., barriers, facilitators) that underpin social interactive technology use while driving. Young drivers (N = 26) aged 17 to 25 years took part in an interview or focus group discussion.

Results: Though differences emerged between the 3 behaviors of initiating, monitoring/reading, and responding for each of the behavioral, normative, and control belief categories, the strongest distinction was within the behavioral beliefs category (e.g., communicating with the person that they were on the way to meet was an advantage of initiating; being able to determine whether to respond was an advantage of monitoring/reading; and communicating with important people was an advantage of responding). Normative beliefs were similar for initiating and responding behaviors (e.g., friends and peers more likely to approve than other groups) and differences emerged for monitoring/reading (e.g., parents were more likely to approve of this behavior than initiating and responding). For control beliefs, there were differences between the beliefs regarding facilitators of these behaviors (e.g., familiar roads and conditions facilitated initiating; having audible notifications of an incoming communication facilitated monitoring/reading; and receiving a communication of immediate importance facilitated responding); however, the control beliefs that presented barriers were consistent across the 3 behaviors (e.g., difficult traffic/road conditions).

Conclusion: The current study provides an important addition to the extant literature and supports emerging research that suggests that initiating, monitoring/reading, and responding may indeed be distinct behaviors with different underlying motivations.