Prioritizing prevention opportunities in the Washington State construction industry, 2003-2007

Objective

This study compares construction industry groups in Washington State by injury severity and cost, and ranks industry groups according to potential for prevention.

Methods

All Washington State workers' compensation compensable claims with date of injury between 2003 and 2007 were classified into North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) industry groups. Claims were then aggregated by injury type and industry groups were ranked according to a prevention index (PI). The PI is the average of the rank orders of the claim count and the claim incidence rate. A lower PI indicates a higher need for prevention activities. The severity rate was calculated as the number of days of time loss per 10,000 full-time equivalents (FTEs).

Results

For all injury types, construction industry groups occupy 7 of the top 15 PI ranks in Washington State. The severity rate among construction industry groups was twice that for non-construction groups for all injury types. Foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors (NAICS 2381) ranked highest in prevention potential and severity among construction industry groups for most common injury types including falls from elevation, fall on same level, struck by/against, and musculo-skeletal disorders of the neck, back, and upper extremity (WMSDs). Median claim costs by injury type were generally higher among construction industry groups.

Conclusions

The construction industry in Washington State has a high severity rate and potential for prevention. The methods used for characterizing these industry groups can be adapted for comparison within and between other industries and states.

Impact on Industry

These data can be used by industry groups and employers to identify higher cost and higher severity injury types. Knowledge about the relative frequencies and costs associated with different injury types will help employers and construction industry associations make better informed decisions about where prevention efforts are most needed and may have the greatest impact. The results of this study can also be used by industry stakeholders to cooperatively focus on high cost and high severity injuries and explore best practices, interventions, and solutions as demonstrated by efforts to prevent musculoskeletal disorders in masonry (Entzel, Albers, & Welch, 2007). Initiating construction industry groups to focus on high cost and high severity injuries may also help prevent other types of injuries.     

Hot Spots of Perforated Forest in the Eastern United States

National assessments of forest fragmentation satisfy international biodiversity conventions, but they do not identify specific places where ecological impacts are likely. In this article, we identify geographic concentrations (hot spots) of forest located near holes in otherwise intact forest canopies (perforated forest) in the eastern United States, and we describe the proximate causes in terms of the nonforest land-cover types contained in those hot spots. Perforated forest, defined as a 0.09-ha unit of forest that is located at the center of a 7.29-ha neighborhood containing 60–99% forest with relatively low connectivity, was mapped over the eastern United States by using land-cover maps with roads superimposed. Statistically significant (P < 0.001) hot spots of high perforation rate (perforated area per unit area of forest) were then located by using a spatial scan statistic. Hot spots were widely distributed and covered 20.4% of the total area of the 10 ecological provinces examined, but 50.1% of the total hot-spot area was concentrated in only two provinces. In the central part of the study area, more than 90% of the forest edge in hot spots was attributed to anthropogenic land-cover types, whereas in the northern and southern parts it was more often associated with seminatural land cover such as herbaceous wetlands.     

生态足迹分析方法及其在国内的应用

生态足迹分析方法是90年代提出的可以定量的反映一个国家、地区、城市的可持续发展程度分析的计算模型。本文介绍了生态足迹模型的理论依据和计算方法,分析了生态足迹分析方法在我国的应用,并且指出了生态足迹分析方法的优缺点及其改进。     

Use of Microbial Community to Evaluate Performance of a Wetland System in Treating Pb/Zn Mine Drainage

The performance of a wetland system in treating lead (Pb)/zinc (Zn) mine drainage was evaluated by using the polyurethane foam unit (PFU) microbial community (method), which has been adopted by China as a standardized procedure for monitoring water quality. The wetland system consisted of four cells with three dominant plants: Typha latifolia, Phragmites australis and Paspalum distichum. Physicochemical characteristics [pH, EC, content of total suspended solid (TSS) and metals (Pb, Zn, Cd, and Cu)] and PFU microbial community in water samples had been investigated from seven sampling sites. The results indicated that the concentrations of Pb, Zn, Cd, Cu, and TSS in the mine drainage were gradually reduced from the inlet to the outlet of the wetland system and 99%, 98%, 75%, 83%, and 68% of these metals and TSS respectively, had been reduced in concentration after the drainage passed through the wetland system. A total of 105 protozoan species were identified, the number of protozoa species and the diversity index (DI) gradually increased, while the heterotrophic index (HI) gradually decreased from the inlet to the outlet of the wetland system. The results indicated that DI, HI, and total number species of protozoa could be used as biological indicators indicating the improvement of water quality.     

经济欠发达地区的可持续发展战略

在人类面临多种生存危机的今天，经济欠发达地区应重视发展中“不可持续”观念和行为，控制人口数量，提高人口质量，规范政府行为，树立一种全新、科学和适度的富裕观，并通过有节制，保护性地发展生产，走上可持续发展的轨道。     

Synergistic Techniques for Better Understanding and Classifying the Environmental Structure of Landscapes

The desire to capture natural regions in the landscape has been a goal of geographic and environmental classification and ecological land classification (ELC) for decades. Since the increased adoption of data-centric, multivariate, computational methods, the search for natural regions has become the search for the best classification that optimally trades off classification complexity for class homogeneity. In this study, three techniques are investigated for their ability to find the best classification of the physical environments of the Mt. Lofty Ranges in South Australia: AutoClass-C (a Bayesian classifier), a Kohonen Self-Organising Map neural network, and a k-means classifier with homogeneity analysis. AutoClass-C is specifically designed to find the classification that optimally trades off classification complexity for class homogeneity. However, AutoClass analysis was not found to be assumption-free because it was very sensitive to the user-specified level of relative error of input data. The AutoClass results suggest that there may be no way of finding the best classification without making critical assumptions as to the level of class heterogeneity acceptable in the classification when using continuous environmental data. Therefore, rather than relying on adjusting abstract parameters to arrive at a classification of suitable complexity, it is better to quantify and visualize the data structure and the relationship between classification complexity and class homogeneity. Individually and when integrated, the Self-Organizing Map and k-means classification with homogeneity analysis techniques also used in this study facilitate this and provide information upon which the decision of the scale of classification can be made. It is argued that instead of searching for the elusive classification of natural regions in the landscape, it is much better to understand and visualize the environmental structure of the landscape and to use this knowledge to select the best ELC at the required scale of analysis.     

家庭农场土地征收补偿问题研究

随着未来家庭农场数量的逐渐增加与经营土地面积的不断扩大,与快速城镇化相伴随的土地征收区域不可避免会与家庭农场经营的土地范围相交叉或重叠。家庭农场主通过整合作为集体经济组织成员分得的承包地和市场化交易获得的承包地实现土地适度规模经营,因此,在家庭农场土地被征收时,应确保家庭农场主获得科学合理的补偿标准,并妥善处理家庭农场主与拥有不同类型农地权利的众多相关主体之间的利益分配关系。本文采用文献资料法和理论分析法,区分点状征地、线状征地和面状征地三种不同情况,分析了家庭农场土地征收的后期生产经营影响,在土地承包关系"长久不变"的政策框架下,深入剖析了家庭农场土地征收涉及的农地权利类型。然后,构建起家庭农场土地征收补偿标准理论模型,以及家庭农场主、政府、集体经济组织、农民等权利主体之间的收益分配理论模型。具体而言,家庭农场主根据自有土地、通过土地流转获得的土地、通过土地退出获得的土地所占的比重以及不同类型土地权利所对应的价值标准分得相应的征地补偿收益;政府通过税收参与征地补偿收益分配;集体经济组织凭借土地所有者身份依法分得相应比例的补偿收益;农民获得的征地补偿收益为承包经营权价值扣除其让渡给家庭农场主的农地权利价值后的剩余部分。最后,本文从四个方面提出了相应的对策和建议:1做好家庭农场发展规划;2提高征地补偿标准并将间接损失纳入补偿范围;3建立家庭农场规模化经营土地的征收补偿收益分配机制;4保障抵押权人(金融机构)对征地补偿享有优先受偿权。     

地貌对矿区环境,灾害的影响与对策

论述了地貌对矿区环境、灾害的产生及发展的影响，并以中国几个矿区的实例论述这一问题，同时，提出一些减缓影响的对策．     

农村发展中水污染成因调查研究——以江苏省为例

在中国农村发展过程中,水环境污染已严重制约了当前农村经济的健康持续发展,探究农村地区水污染的成因,寻求解决污染的对策已十分迫切。本文在对江苏省农村水环境污染现状进行调查的基础上,运用AHP层次分析法分析现阶段江苏农村发展过程中水污染的形成机理,包括经济发展因素、社会公众因素、政策法规因素,并提出相关结论与建议。     

威海市生态环境特色及其发展策略

论述了影响威海市生态环境建设的因素 ,在充分分析这些因素的优势及劣势基础上 ,对威海生态环境及可持续发展城市建设提出了一系列实施策略 ,为威海市地区生态环境发展方向的调节提供参考依据