Unintentional non-traffic injury and fatal events: Threats to children in and around vehicles

Objective: There have been substantial reductions in motor vehicle crash–related child fatalities due to advances in legislation, public safety campaigns, and engineering. Less is known about non-traffic injuries and fatalities to children in and around motor vehicles. The objective of this study was to describe the frequency of various non-traffic incidents, injuries, and fatalities to children using a unique surveillance system and database.

Methods: Instances of non-traffic injuries and fatalities in the United States to children 0–14 years were tracked from January 1990 to December 2014 using a compilation of sources including media reports, individual accounts from families of affected children, medical examiner reports, police reports, child death review teams, coroner reports, medical professionals, legal professionals, and other various modes of publication.

Results: Over the 25-year period, there were at least 11,759 events resulting in 3,396 deaths. The median age of the affected child was 3.7 years. The incident types included 3,115 children unattended in hot vehicles resulting in 729 deaths, 2,251 backovers resulting in 1,232 deaths, 1,439 frontovers resulting in 692 deaths, 777 vehicles knocked into motion resulting in 227 deaths, 415 underage drivers resulting in 203 deaths, 172 power window incidents resulting in 61 deaths, 134 falls resulting in 54 deaths, 79 fires resulting in 41 deaths, and 3,377 other incidents resulting in 157 deaths.

Conclusions: Non-traffic injuries and fatalities present an important threat to the safety and lives of very young children. Future efforts should consider complementary surveillance mechanisms to systematically and comprehensively capture all non-traffic incidents. Continued education, engineering modifications, advocacy, and legislation can help continue to prevent these incidents and must be incorporated in overall child vehicle safety initiatives.     

Distribution of radionuclides in the guano sediments of Xisha Islands, South China Sea and its implication

Several natural and anthropogenic radionuclides (²¹⁰Pb, ²²⁶Ra and ¹³⁷Cs) in guano-phosphatic coral sediments and pure guano particles collected from Ganquan, Guangjin, Jinqing and Jinyin Islands of the Xisha archipelago, South China Sea, were analyzed. The Constant Initial Concentration (CIC) model and the Constant Rate of Supply (CRS) model were applied for age calculation. The average supply rate of ²¹⁰Pb was 126 Bq m⁻² a⁻¹, very close to the flux of northern hemisphere average (125 Bq m⁻² a⁻¹). The activities of anthropogenic radionuclides in the sediments were very low, indicating that human nuclear tests did not notably impact this region. The main source of radionuclides in the sediments was from atmospheric precipitation, and the organic matter derived from plant and produced by nutrient-rich guano could further enhance them.     

Inverse modeling of Asian Rn flux using surface air Rn concentration

When used with an atmospheric transport model, the ²²²Rn flux distribution estimated in our previous study using soil transport theory caused underestimation of atmospheric ²²²Rn concentrations as compared with measurements in East Asia. In this study, we applied a Bayesian synthesis inverse method to produce revised estimates of the annual ²²²Rn flux density in Asia by using atmospheric ²²²Rn concentrations measured at seven sites in East Asia. The Bayesian synthesis inverse method requires a prior estimate of the flux distribution and its uncertainties. The atmospheric transport model MM5/HIRAT and our previous estimate of the ²²²Rn flux distribution as the prior value were used to generate new flux estimates for the eastern half of the Eurasian continent dividing into 10 regions.The ²²²Rn flux densities estimated using the Bayesian inversion technique were generally higher than the prior flux densities. The area-weighted average ²²²Rn flux density for Asia was estimated to be 33.0 mBq m⁻² s⁻¹, which is substantially higher than the prior value (16.7 mBq m⁻² s⁻¹). The estimated ²²²Rn flux densities decrease with increasing latitude as follows: Southeast Asia (36.7 mBq m⁻² s⁻¹); East Asia (28.6 mBq m⁻² s⁻¹) including China, Korean Peninsula and Japan; and Siberia (14.1 mBq m⁻² s⁻¹). Increase of the newly estimated fluxes in Southeast Asia, China, Japan, and the southern part of Eastern Siberia from the prior ones contributed most significantly to improved agreement of the model-calculated concentrations with the atmospheric measurements. The sensitivity analysis of prior flux errors and effects of locally exhaled ²²²Rn showed that the estimated fluxes in Northern and Central China, Korea, Japan, and the southern part of Eastern Siberia were robust, but that in Central Asia had a large uncertainty.     

Combining sap flow and eddy covariance approaches to derive stomatal and non-stomatal O3 fluxes in a forest stand

Stomatal O₃ fluxes to a mixed beech/spruce stand (Fagus sylvatica/Picea abies) in Central Europe were determined using two different approaches. The sap flow technique yielded the tree-level transpiration, whereas the eddy covariance method provided the stand-level evapotranspiration. Both data were then converted into stomatal ozone fluxes, exemplifying this novel concept for July 2007. Sap flow-based stomatal O₃ flux was 33% of the total O₃ flux, whereas derivation from evapotranspiration rates in combination with the Penman-Monteith algorithm amounted to 47%. In addition to this proportional difference, the sap flow-based assessment yielded lower levels of stomatal O₃ flux and reflected stomatal regulation rather than O₃ exposure, paralleling the daily courses of canopy conductance for water vapor and eddy covariance-based total stand-level O₃ flux. The demonstrated combination of sap flow and eddy covariance approaches supports the development of O₃ risk assessment in forests from O₃ exposure towards flux-based concepts.     

污水处理厂一级A出水低温热能的回收与应用

阐述了国内外污水热能的应用现状,介绍了污水源热泵的工作原理、系统优越性、存在的问题。以工程实例证明污水源热泵是高效节能、经济可行、节能环保的新能源,对开发新的清洁能源、减少温室气体排放有重要价值。     

高铝粉煤灰提取氧化铝后硅钙渣用作水泥混合材

为了使高铝粉煤灰提取氧化铝后所产生的硅钙渣被大量的用作水泥混合材,通过水泥强度、水化放热和干缩性实验研究了原状硅钙渣和脱碱硅钙渣对水泥强度和稳定性的影响。结果表明,当硅钙渣掺量达30%时,硅钙渣水泥强度仍可满足P·C 32.5水泥要求。且随硅钙渣掺入量的增加,水泥早期水化放热速率增加的同时水泥累计水化放热量和干缩率还会显著降低。与原状硅钙渣相比,在同等掺量的情况下,脱碱硅钙渣更有利于保持水泥强度,降低其水化热和改善干缩性。     

南通地区冰后期泥沙沉积量和环境变化的初步研究

南通地区位于长江三角洲北翼,其冰后期的环境变化以最大海侵时期为界,之前为海侵期,表现为海水入侵,陆地面积减少。之后海面趋于稳定,长江泥沙在河口地区持续沉积的作用下,表现为南通地区的逐渐成陆过程。利用收集的84个分布于南通地区及附近的钻孔剖面资料,将其按不同厚度的沉积相进行整理,结合前人研究成果,根据不同的数据基础运用IDW（Inverse Distance Weighted）插值对南通地区冰后期沉积厚度分布和环境变化过程分别进行了初步研究。结果表明：南通地区古河谷区是冰后期主要的泥沙沉积区,沉积物厚度、体积和重量大于北翼地区,北翼前缘沉积要大于后缘。冰后期古河谷区沉积泥沙4 8922×108 t,北翼地区沉积泥沙1 0453×108 t,二者之比约为47〖DK〗∶10,泥沙沉积强度之比约2〖DK〗∶1。从冰后期海侵初期到最大海侵时期,再到南通成陆的晚期,南通地区水域面积比例先由622%上升到95%,再缩减到331%,陆地面积比例先由378%缩减到5%,而后又上升至669%。尽管钻孔资料可以为南通地区有历史记载之前的时期提供宏观的环境变化框架,但由于钻孔资料在测年数据及沉积相的划分方面分辨率较低,在表现南通地区历史时期的环境变化方面存在不足,需要结合考古、文物等历史资料和土壤分布等自然地理信息进行更为详细的研究     

三峡库区香溪河流域非点源营养盐输出变化的试验研究

综合三峡库区香溪河流域土地利用结构和水系特点,在三大支流出口处设置常规水质监测断面,于干流响滩处设置水文控制断面,通过断面水质水量监测,利用数字滤波法解析径流多源和污染多源,研究上游来流点源和非点源营养盐输出负荷变化。结果表明：受农业非点源污染影响,TN是高岚河（0788 mg/L）＞古夫河（0712 mg/L）＞南阳河（0567 mg/L）;南阳河受磷矿企业点源输入的影响,TP是南阳河（0323 mg/L）＞高岚河（0074 mg/L）＞古夫河（0053 mg/L）;断面流量与降雨量的相关系数〖WTBX〗R〖WTBZ〗2=0720 2;TN和TP非点源年负荷输出分别占总量的61%和40%的, 20100607次降雨径流监测分析发现此次降雨汇流期间营养盐TN和TP输出的非点源贡献率分别达752%和709%;营养盐负荷主要受径流量影响,TN和TP输出负荷与流量的相关系数分别是0963 6和0978 9     

Environmental assessment of garden waste management in the Municipality of Aarhus, Denmark

An environmental assessment of six scenarios for handling of garden waste in the Municipality of Aarhus (Denmark) was performed from a life cycle perspective by means of the LCA-model EASEWASTE. In the first (baseline) scenario, the current garden waste management system based on windrow composting was assessed, while in the other five scenarios alternative solutions including incineration and home composting of fractions of the garden waste were evaluated. The environmental profile (normalised to Person Equivalent, PE) of the current garden waste management in Aarhus is in the order of −6 to 8 mPE Mg⁻¹ ww for the non-toxic categories and up to 100 mPE Mg⁻¹ ww for the toxic categories. The potential impacts on non-toxic categories are much smaller than what is found for other fractions of municipal solid waste. Incineration (up to 35% of the garden waste) and home composting (up to 18% of the garden waste) seem from an environmental point of view suitable for diverting waste away from the composting facility in order to increase its capacity. In particular the incineration of woody parts of the garden waste improved the environmental profile of the garden waste management significantly.     

Experimental thermal storage research of organic binary phase change materials in building environment

This paper aims to reveal the heat transfer mechanism of low-temperature phase change material (PCM) and design PCM heat storage device in building heating environment. Firstly, low-temperature binary PCMs of lauric acid and stearic acid are prepared, and their thermal properties are investigated by DSC. Then, shell and tube latent heat thermal energy storage units are conducted, and heat transfer experiments are carried out to analyze the heat transfer mechanism of PCM. The results demonstrate that natural convection plays an important role in heat transfer process, and the heat storage efficiency of PCMs can be significantly enhanced by increasing the fin width and improving the inlet heat transfer fluid (HTF) temperature. Furthermore, some proposals are put forward to guide the design of PCM storage device in building heating environment.