Moving FOCUS – The Fire Service Organizational Culture of Safety survey – From research to practice

Introduction: FOCUS, the Fire Service Organizational Culture of Safety survey, has evolved from a research to practice enterprise within the United States fire and rescue service. The FOCUS tool was developed through a FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Research & Development grant. Then it moved to practice in the field. To date over 35,000 firefighters have participated. A current FEMA Fire Prevention & Safety grant can support FOCUS assessment in up to 1,000 fire departments, with the potential of nearly 120,000 respondents. With each funding cycle, the goal of the FOCUS program is to grow and measure its research to practice impact. Methods: We describe how FOCUS safety culture results are disseminated to fire service stakeholders. By utilizing customized reports and a training curriculum we demonstrate how FOCUS is moving research to practice by: (1) illustrating how survey results can be delivered effectively to practitioners, (2) providing examples of how fire departments are using results, and (3) sharing the reactions of the fire service to the FOCUS instrument, reports, and our flagship data training curriculum – Culture Camp. Results' Conclusions: Qualitative and quantitative data are analyzed to demonstrate the impact and acceptance of the FOCUS report and Culture Camps. Stakeholders reflect on the report and the experience of having quantitative safety culture data. Culture Camps are evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively using a matching game exercise, pre/post-test, a fire department teach back, and a Qualtrics evaluation. Practical Applications: Traditionally, the fire service has focused on reducing negative safety outcomes. FOCUS is helping shift their attention further upstream in the prevention pathway through the measurement of important organizational outcomes. The research to practice evolution of the FOCUS program may hold utility for other occupational groups when considering how to steadily move occupational health and safety research to practice in the field for measurable impact.     

高职高专英语课程考试的改革与实践

目前,高职高专英语课程考试仍存在试题设计不太科学、考试内容与教学要求不一致等问题,本文结合高职高专办学目标以及教育考试的实际,提出了在高职高专教育英语考试改革过程中,应着重从改革考试评价、改革考试形式及评估方法等方面入手,使考试与教学形成良性互动,构建了新的教育考试模式。     

Increasing exfiltration from pervious concrete and temperature monitoring

Pervious concrete typically has an infiltration rate far exceeding any expectation of precipitation rate. The limiting factor of a retention based pervious concrete system is often defined by how quickly the underlying soil subgrade will infiltrate the water temporarily stored within the concrete and/or aggregate base. This issue is of particular importance when placing a pervious concrete system on compacted fine textured soils. This research describes the exfiltration from twelve pervious concrete plots constructed on a compacted clay soil in eastern Tennessee, USA. Several types of treatments were applied to the clay soil prior to placement of the stone aggregate base and pervious concrete in an attempt to increase the exfiltration rate, including: 1) control – no treatment; 2) trenched – soil trenched and backfilled with stone aggregate; 3) ripped – soil ripped with a subsoiler; and 4) boreholes – placement of shallow boreholes backfilled with sand. The average exfiltration rates were 0.8 cm d⁻¹ (control), 4.6 cm d⁻¹ (borehole), 10.0 cm d⁻¹ (ripped), and 25.8 cm d⁻¹ (trenched). The trenched treatment exfiltrated fastest, followed by the ripped and then the borehole treatments, although the ripped and borehole treatments were not different from one another at the 5% level of significance. The internal temperature of the pervious concrete and aggregate base was monitored throughout the winter of 2006–2007. Although the temperature of the pervious concrete dropped below freezing 24 times, freezing concrete temperatures never coincided with free water being present in the large pervious concrete pores. The coldest recorded air temperature was −9.9 °C, and the corresponding coldest recorded pervious concrete temperature was −7.1 °C. The temperature of the pervious concrete lagged diurnal air temperature changes and was generally buffered in amplitude, particularly when free water was present since the addition of water increases the thermal capacity of the pervious concrete greatly. The temperature of the aggregate base was further buffered to diurnal changes, and no freezing temperatures were recorded.     

流域水环境生态补偿实践与进展

流域水环境生态补偿是当前流域上下游实现经济利益、环境利益均衡及流域和谐的地方性政策。系统回顾了近年来国内地方性水环境生态补偿实践和进展,通过对各省地表水环境生态补偿在生态补偿标准、实施范围等的剖析。得出当前流域水环境生态补偿存在的主要问题是生态补偿考核因子、考核断面的设定行政干预的因素过多、生态补偿标准的测算缺乏理论依据、生态补偿金核算方法依据的基础不统一、生态补偿主客体不明确等。     

Methodological Basis of Ecological Safety Standards for the Technogenic Impact of Mineral Resource Exploitation

A new methodological approach to the development of biological and technological safety standards for the impact of underground mining on the natural biota is proposed.     

骨粉干燥烟尘治理研究及工程实践

本文以一骨粉干燥烟尘治理研究及工程实践为例。首次提出对除尘措施的１３条要求，采用三级除尘一级脱水的除尘系统。即重力沉降室－ＸＺＺ－４型旋风除尘器－ＣＣＪ／Ａ－１０型湿式冲激式除法器一重力扩散式脱水装置。较好地解决了这种烟尘的高温、高浓度、高湿、高分散度和粘性、疏水性、腐蚀性等技术问题。运行实践表明，本工程在骨粉干燥烟尘治理方面提供了一个可参考的范例。     

SENSORY RESEARCH FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SECONDARY MAXIMUM CONTAMINANT LEVELS1

ABSTRACT: Individuals naturally engage in sensory evaluation of water quality during daily consumption. Efforts to ensure that all consumers receive high quality water must attend to sensory evaluation; otherwise individuals can obtain repeated evidence of compromised quality that reduces confidence in public purveyors and regulating agencies. Sensory quality is currently regulated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) by promulgation of secondary maximum contaminant levels (SMCLs) governing taste and odor in drinking water. Efforts to establish new SMCLs for identified organic contaminants has been thwarted by a lack of research data even though standardized methods for sensory evaluation presently exist. The present paper recommends a broad based national research program designed to produce odor detection thresholds, flavor detection thresholds, flavor acceptability functions, flavor recognition thresholds, and flavor intensity functions for each current contaminant of concern which will provide a substantial basis for the desired SMCLs, and offer an unprecedented comparative evaluation of currently standardized sensory evaluation procedures.     

关于生态省建设的理论探讨

对生态省的概念、建设目标、建设生态省相关的生态学原理、生态省建设中如何处理人与自然的关系、生态省评价标准和指标体系等有关的理论问题进行了探讨。     

Water technology for specific water usage

BACKGROUND: Water is the basis for life and culture. In addition to the availability of water its quality has become a major issue in industrialized areas and in developing countries as well. Water usage has to be seen as part of the hydrological cycle. As a consequence water management has to be sustainable. The aim of the contribution is to give water usage oriented quality criteria and to focus on the technical means to achieve them. MAIN FEATURES: Water is used for many purposes, ranging from drinking and irrigation to a broad variety of technical processes. Most applications need specific hygienic, chemical and/or physical properties. RESULTS: To meet these demands separation and reaction principles are applied. The reuse of water and the application of water treatment with little or no waste and by-product formation is the way to go. Membrane separation and advanced oxidation including catalytic reactions are promising methods that apply natural processes in sustainable technical performance. Thus elimination of specific water constituents (e.g. salts and metals, microorganisms) and waste water cleaning (e.g. pollutants, nutrients and organic water) can be done efficiently. OUTLOOK: Learning from nature and helping nature with appropriate technology is a convincing strategy for sustainable water management.     

Clearing the air: The costs and consequences of higher CAFE standards and increased gasoline taxes

Concerns about energy security and climate change have sparked legislators’ interest in reducing gasoline consumption by increasing corporate average fuel-economy (CAFE) standards. Using an empirically rich simulation model and cost estimates for anticipated fuel-economy technologies, we estimate annual costs of reducing long-run gasoline consumption by 10% via a 3.8 miles per gallon increase in the standards, and the potential cost savings from allowing manufacturers to buy and sell fuel-economy credits. Maximum gasoline savings would be realized only after all existing vehicles were replaced, or 14 years in our model. A gasoline tax would produce greater immediate savings by encouraging people to drive less, and eventually to choose more-fuel-efficient vehicles. We demonstrate the advantage of a tax by comparing the cost of the higher CAFE standards over the first 14 years against the cost of a gasoline tax that would save the same amount of gasoline over that time.