Cycling Skill Inventory: Assessment of motor–tactical skills and safety motives

Abstract

Objective: It is well established within the traffic psychology literature that a distinction can be made between driving skill and driving style. The majority of self-report questionnaires have been developed for car drivers, whereas only limited knowledge exists on the riding skill and style of cyclists. Individual differences in cycling skills need to be understood in order to apply targeted interventions.

Methods: This study reports on a psychometric analysis of the Cycling Skill Inventory (CSI), a self-report questionnaire that asks cyclists to rate themselves from definitely weak to definitely strong on 17 items. Herein, we administered the CSI using an online crowdsourcing method, complemented with respondents who answered the questionnaire using paper and pencil (n?=?1,138 in total). Our analysis focuses on understanding the major sources of variance of the CSI and its correlates with gender, age, exposure, and self-reported accident involvement as a cyclist.

Results: The results showed that 2 components underlie the item data: Motor–tactical skills and safety motives. Correlational analyses indicated that participants with a higher safety motives score were involved in fewer self-reported cycling accidents in the past 3 years. The analysis also confirmed well-established gender differences, with male cyclists having lower safety motives but higher motor–tactical skills than female cyclists.

Conclusions: The nomological network of the CSI for cyclists is similar to that of the Driving Skill Inventory for car drivers. Safety motives are a predictor of self-reported accident involvement among cyclists.     

核医学“三废”排放对环境的影响及防护

核医学放射性"三废"的排放对周围环境产生的辐射影响,通过采取控制排放节点、放置衰变、监测总放水平等防护措施,确保废物达标进入环境,保持环境良好。     

浙江省核电建设与环境安全的协调性分析

浙江省缺乏常规能源,在能源结构中,火电比重已经过大,加快核电发展,是我省电力发展的必然选择。继中国第一座自行设计、建造的核电站--秦山核电站之后,浙江省第二座核电站三门核电站的两台目前国内最先进的百万千瓦级压水堆技术机组也即将在2015年投入运营。加速核电建设不仅保证能源安全、调整能源结构,而且能实现节能减排、减少环境污染,建设环境友好型、资源节约型社会、推动经济社会又好又快发展。我省核电建设应通过加强核电站的安全检查、设计建设中安全措施保障、解决核电建设存在的相关问题和加强监测网络的建设等,促进浙江省的核电建设与环境安全协调发展。     

Investigation of trace element atmospheric pollution by nuclear analytical techniques at a global scale: harmonized approaches supported by the IAEA

In the framework of the IAEA programmes, Member States involved in air pollution studies using nuclear analytical techniques have harmonized their methodologies. Participants characterising chemical composition of size fractionated airborne particulate matter based their methodology on a common type of air sampler, centralised data collection and evaluation, and the same kind of data processing. Institutions involved in biomonitoring air pollution identified appropriate organisms to be applied at a regional scale, and harmonized procedures for sample preparation and analysis, as well as data processing and presentation. Both metrology approaches have been validated and disseminated in many Member States.     

Risk factors in urban road traffic accidents

INTRODUCTION: The urban road traffic accident (RTA) risks for the city of Zagreb, Croatia, from 1999 through 2000 were analyzed with the aim of reducing the increasing injury incidence. METHOD: Simple and bivariate analysis using chi(2), odds ratio, and confidence interval of 95% was used to determine risks in three outcome groups: killed, severely, and mildly injured. RESULTS: There were 528 RTA victims consisting of 260 severely, 213 mildly injured, and 55 killed at the scene of an accident and during transportation. More fatal accidents occurred during night hours (OR=3.78; 95% CI, 2.08-6.85), on urban road links (OR=2.33; 95% CI, 1.30-4.19), and at exceeding speed limit (OR=2.56; 95% CI, 1.43-4.61). More people were injured than killed on urban junctions (OR=5.27; 95% CI, 2.21-12.57). The highest combined risk of dying or being severely injured was found in males, driving at excessive speed, on urban links, and during bad visibility (OR=16.15; 95% CI, 3.901-66.881). CONCLUSION: These results will influence the urban traffic police enforcement measures, which will change inappropriate behavior of drivers and protect the least experienced road users.     

LNG供气站重大事故风险及定量评价

为对LNG供气站进行综合评价,分析了LNG站的事故因素及其来源.根据事故特征,采用冲击波超压和火球热辐射评估模型.采用蒙特卡罗随机模拟方法(Monte-Carlo)确定模型中源项的数据分布及概率.编制事故危害程度和危害范围的计算程序,并对某LNG站进行了定量风险评价(QRA)计算.计算确定了空间各点的事故概率分布、风险等级及LNG供气站的综合风险指数.计算结果表明,某LNG站的死亡事故率为6.94人,平均个人风险为0.609×10-3人·次/a,符合风险标准.     

Après Paris: Breakthrough innovation as the primary moral obligation of rich countries

While the notion of differentiated responsibility has always included an element of technological transfer, the growing disparity between the deployment of non-scalable renewable energy sources in the rich countries and the massive expansion of fossil infrastructure elsewhere has brought new urgency to issues of climate leadership. Breakthrough innovation into technologies capable of providing an abundance of clean energy now appears necessary not only to broaden energy access but also to ensure that fossil fuels are quickly displaced globally (including in those countries that have failed to take climate change seriously). Moreover, it is reasonable to expect that a climatechanged world in itself will demand abundant energy to facilitate everything from carbon dioxide removal to mass desalination for agriculture and other adaptation measures. Considering the moral and political impossibility of treating sustained poverty as the “solution” to the climate crisis, this paper suggests that rich countries have a moral obligation to invest in breakthrough innovation into technologies that are compatible with a future global economic convergence around OECD-levels.     

Reinforcing the rules or integrating behavioural responses into road planning

Road planning is based on technical rules, know-how acquired from experience and professional expertise. A more ergonomics approach to road planning and safety analyses the psychological procedures used by the drivers. Every intervention on road network has an influence on safety. Increasing the coherency of all the interventions in the same area is the only possible way of producing areas with a better level of security. This paper deals with safety procedures, diagnostics and tools which can be used at different levels of intervention.     

A survey on occupational accidents’ reporting and registration systems in the European Union

This paper presents the results of a survey on the procedures for reporting occupational accidents in the EU countries. It focuses particularly on the reporting and registration systems, as well as on the main characteristics of National Databases being used for the production of official statistics. The survey shows that many European countries have different methods and procedures for collecting and compiling data on occupational accidents, which inevitably pose problems when comparing accident statistics between the EU member states.The paper includes a brief review of the main goals and achievements of the European Project ESAW (European Statistics on Accidents at Work), which was launched in 1990 by the Eurostat (European Statistics), for the harmonisation of occupational accidents’ statistics among the member states. It is believed that the new variables being introduced by the harmonised methodology will quickly affect the way in which managers and insurance companies carry out their current procedures in several EU member states.The International Labour Organisation (ILO) recommendations and the future trends are also analysed. In conclusion, the study identifies opportunities for further development and research in the reporting and registration systems of occupational accidents.