A traffic safety evaluation of California's traffic violator school citation dismissal policy

Introduction

This study evaluated California's traffic violator school (TVS) citation dismissal policy.

Method

This study identified and compared two large samples of drivers either completing a TVS (N = 210,015) or convicted of a traffic citation (N = 168,563).

Results

Prior to adjudication, the TVS group had characteristics (e.g., lower prior conviction rate and smaller proportion of males) that were predictive of a lower subsequent crash risk. However, the TVS group exhibited significantly more crashes than did the convicted group in the subsequent one-year period. The difference (4.83%) increased to 10% after adjusting for the more favorable characteristics of the TVS group. The TVS group also had a higher adjusted subsequent crash rate at each prior driver record entry level, reflecting a loss in the general and specific deterrence of the non-conviction masked status of TVS dismissed citations. It was reported that the TVS dismissal policy results in approximately 12,300 additional crashes annually with economic costs of approximately $398,000,000.

Conclusions

The avoidance of licensing actions resulting from the dismissal policy assists in explaining why the driving public is exposed to an increased crash risk. A number of recommendations are offered to reduce the negative traffic safety impact of the TVS citation dismissal policy.     

Evaluating and structuring indicators for wetland assessment

Wetland assessment has been a popular field of research worldwide. However, various indicators have been used in wetland assessment for different purposes and backgrounds and also because of the research limitations. Therefore, a more comprehensive, sound, and efficient indicator system is needed for researchers’ referencing to evaluate wetlands. After an extensive review of wetland assessment literatures, the reported indicators were evaluated using the developed assessment system, based on the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) with three main goals: nature protection, function utilization, and sustainable development. Each indicator was evaluated using two methods. The first method was to study the percentage of the indicator application, and the second was to assess the weighted ratios assigned to the indicators according to principles of comparability, typicality, sensibility, and availability. The results of these two methods were compared to study the commonalities and specialties of the indicators. They also showed that some indicators were widely used, including biodiversity, weather and climate, hydrological change, and the output of wetland. On the other hand, other sustainable indicators were easily ignored, such as environmental carrying capacity and wetland planning. Furthermore, an indicator system for wetland assessment was structured and strategized to discuss how to choose indicators for wetland assessment under different conditions. The proposed approach can be used to guide the process of wetland assessments in the future.     

EDTA滴定法测定水中总硬度缓冲溶液配制的改进

针对EDTA滴定法测定水中总硬度(简称"标准法")时,存在的缓冲溶液配制繁琐、耗时长的问题,提出了缓冲溶液配制的改进方法(简称"改进法").改进法很好地克服了标准法的不足.通过地表水、地下水以及总硬度标准样品的比对测定,两法测定结果无显著差异.     

应用气箱脉冲袋除尘器净化铝电解含氟烟气的实践与研究

介绍了改进型气箱脉冲袋除尘器在铝电解烟气净化工程上的成功应用,实践结果表明,在保证净化效果的前提下,采用改进型气箱脉冲袋除尘器作为净化设备,可使其一次投资、能耗、年维修费与其他型式布袋除尘器相比均有所降低,为铝电解烟气净化工程扩大了除尘器的选择范围.     

磨料磨具工厂除尘存在的问题及对策

总结了实际工作中发现的磨料磨具工厂通风除尘系统存在的问题,结合工程实际,提出了解决这些问题的改 进措施.同时对磨料磨具工厂通风除尘系统的特点做了介绍,为磨料磨具工厂通风除尘工作提供了参考依据.     

关于"环境贴现率"问题的探讨

推导一个描述私人利润率和社会利润率之间的新公式。该公式涉及的２个相关的环境参数为：环境投资占国民收入的百分比（λ）;从环境投资角度出发定义的环境改善的弹性（η）。公式表明,从环境的观点出发,社会利润率或环境贴率应该随则系统地降低。此外,本文还引用了“环境阻力”的概念来论述模型的意义,同时还简要地讨论了环境阻力的计算方法。     

石灰湿式洗涤法脱硫的应用研究

本文介绍了石灰湿式洗涤法脱硫的改进思路 ,通过采用三级串联喷淋、低液气比和投加防垢剂等办法 ,成功解决了设备管道结垢问题。实践表明 ,该法具有工艺简单、投资省、操作简便、运行费用低、脱硫率高等特点。     

室内空气监测中的存在问题及对策

阐述了在室内环境空气监测中关于监测标准的选择和室内空气监测要素的确定,分析了在执行过程标准中和规范监测市场中存在的问题,并就如何改进提出了建议,其目的是提高室内监测服务的质量,确保监测结果准确可靠。     

Influence of lactic acid on the two-phase anaerobic digestion of kitchen wastes

To evaluate the influence of lactic acid on the methanogenesis, anaerobic digestion of kitchen wastes was firstly conducted in a two-phase anaerobic digestion process, and performance of two digesters fed with lactic acid and glucose was subsequently compared. The results showed that the lactic acid was the main fermentation products of hydrolysis-acidification stage in the two-phase anaerobic digestion process for kitchen wastes. The lactic acid concentration constituted approximately 50% of the chemical oxygen demand （COD） concentration in the hydrolysis-acidification liquid. The maximum organic loading rate was lower in the digester fed with lactic acid than that fed with glucose. Volatile fatty acids （VFAs） and COD removal were deteriorated in the methanogenic reactor fed with lactic acid compared to that fed with glucose. The specific methanogenic activity （SMA） declined to 0.343 g COD/（gVSS-d） when the COD loading were designated as 18.8 g/（L-d） in the digester fed with lactic acid. The propionic acid accumulation occurred due to the high concentration of lactic acid fed. It could be concluded that avoiding the presence of the lactic acid is necessary in the hydrolysis-acidification process for the improvement of the two-phase anaerobic digestion process of kitchen wastes.