Older Adults at Increased Risk as Pedestrians in Victoria,Australia: An Examination of Crash Characteristics and Injury Outcomes

Objectives: Engaging in active transport modes (especially walking) is a healthy and environmentally friendly alternative to driving and may be particularly beneficial for older adults. However, older adults are a vulnerable group: they are at higher risk of injury compared with younger adults, mainly due to frailty and may be at increased risk of collision due to the effects of age on sensory, cognitive, and motor abilities. Moreover, our population is aging, and there is a trend for the current cohort of older adults to maintain mobility later in life compared with previous cohorts. Though these trends have serious implications for transport policy and safety, little is known about the contributing factors and injury outcomes of pedestrian collision. Further, previous research generally considers the older population as a homogeneous group and rarely considers the increased risks associated with continued ageing.

Method: Collision characteristics and injury outcomes for 2 subgroups of older pedestrians (65–74 years and 75+ years) were examined by extracting data from the state police–reported crash dataset and hospital admission/emergency department presentation data over the 10-year period between 2003 and 2012. Variables identified for analysis included pedestrian characteristics (age, gender, activity, etc.), crash location and type, injury characteristics and severity, and duration of hospital stay. A spatial analysis of crash locations was also undertaken to identify collision clusters and the contribution of environmental features on collision and injury risk.

Results: Adults over 65 years were involved in 21% of all pedestrian collisions. A high fatality rate was found among older adults, particularly for those aged 75 years and older: this group had 3.2 deaths per 100,000 population, compared to a rate of 1.3 for 65- to 74-year-olds and 0.7 for adults below 65 years of age. Older pedestrian injuries were most likely to occur while crossing the carriageway; they were also more likely to be injured in parking lots, at driveway intersections, and on sidewalks compared to younger cohorts. Spatial analyses revealed older pedestrian crash clusters on arterial roads in urban shopping precincts. Significantly higher rates of hospital admissions were found for pedestrians over the age of 75 years and for abdominal, head, and neck injuries; conversely, older adults were underrepresented in emergency department presentations (mainly lower and upper extremity injuries), suggesting an increased severity associated with older pedestrian injuries. Average length of hospital stay also increased with increasing age.

Conclusion: This analysis revealed age differences in collision risk and injury outcomes among older adults and that aggregate analysis of older pedestrians can distort the significance of risk factors associated with older pedestrian injuries. These findings have implications that extend to the development of engineering, behavioral, and enforcement countermeasures to address the problems faced by the oldest pedestrians and reduce collision risk and improve injury outcomes.     

黄河三角洲海岸带生态承载力综合评价

为全面、深入认识黄河三角洲海岸带的海洋资源和生态环境特征、海洋产业结构及海洋经济发展的优势、劣势条件,选取工业废水排放量、固体废渣排放量、万元GDP能耗、岸线利用率、人均可开发海域面积、人均海岸线长度、海洋初级生产力、污染海域占海域总面积的比例、生物多样性指数、人口密度、人均海洋经济产值、GDP年均增速、科研与开发投入和环境保护支出等压力、状态、响应3类14个指标,采用压力-状态-响应模型对黄河三角洲海岸带生态承载力进行了综合量化评价.结果表明,2006-2010年黄河三角洲海岸带的承载指数和压力指数呈下降趋势,承压比则总体上呈上升趋势.根据评价结果,提出了构建高效生态产业体系、优化黄河三角洲产业空间布局、对传统产业进行生态化改造、发展新兴生态产业、保护黄河三角洲海岸带生态环境、对黄河三角洲海岸带海洋资源进行高效集约利用等提高黄河三角洲海岸带生态承载力的对策.     

高温职业危害风险分级与分级管理研究

为进一步研究高温作业职业危害风险强度,探讨高温作业环境条件下环境温度与劳动强度对劳动者健康的影响及其联合作用。采用高温环境模拟仓实验与建筑行业露天高温作业现场调研和测试相结合的方法,以高温环境和心血管体能负荷值(%CVL)作为高温作业危害风险分级的主要参照指标。提出了高温作业职业危害风险分级的技术方法和针对不同程度高温职业危害风险管理措施的具体建议,为保护高温作业劳动者安全与健康提供科学依据。     

通用电气风险评估模式在我国中小企业干预中的应用及效果评估

为提高对职业危害的识别和控制能力,采用跨国企业风险评估模式帮助我国中小企业改善职业健康与安全管理。选用通用电气环境健康安全管理体系中的11个相关元素作为评估工具,对企业开展干预,并评估效果。结果表明,干预效果较好,工人接触有害物质的水平明显降低,个体防护用品使用率和正确使用率有较大提高,职业危害风险评估符合率有明显提高。应用风险评估模式干预的示范企业,职业卫生现状得到有效改善,为企业管理提供了借鉴。     

Adaptive co-management and network learning in the Room for the River programme

Adaptive co-management and learning are paramount for integrated flood risk management. Relevant literature focuses on adaptation at the level of physical and societal systems. The level of projects and programmes is largely overlooked, but they comprise interventions that adapt our physical systems and they provide opportunities for learning to contribute to transitions of societal systems. This paper aims to increase understanding on how learning takes place and can be stimulated within a programme. The mixed-method case study of Room for the River, a €2.3 billion programme for flood risk management, shows that a programme can be organised using various governance arrangements to stimulate learning and be a means for adaptive co-management to deliver upon environmental objectives.     

水电厂设备设施风险的动态分级研究

为保障水电厂安全运行,根据水电厂设备设施构成要素,系统分析其风险,建立涵盖水轮机及其辅助设备、发电机及其辅助设备、计算机监控系统及自动装置、电气一次设备、电气二次设备、水工建筑物及金属结构、机具与防护设施等因素在内的评价指标体系。采用欧氏距离定义样本差异,标准化处理属性特征值,通过聚类迭代,开发水电厂设备设施风险的动态分级方法。研究结果表明:水电厂设备设施故障风险在每年的第2,3季度明显大于第1,4季度,并且随着时间推移,各季度设备设施故障风险同比有增加的趋势,风险分级结果与设备设施故障的变化趋势基本吻合。     

贮罐类重大危险源三维风险分级模型研究

为了实现重大危险源分级监管,基于风险管理理论,建立贮罐类重大危险源定性三维分级模型和风险定量分级模型。提出风险评价敏感性因素,选取可能性影响因素、严重性影响因素、敏感性影响因素3类风险评价指标。使用层次分析法(AHP)计算贮罐风险分级指标权重。根据风险可接受准则,将贮罐类重大危险源风险等级划分为4级,实现基于三维风险模型的贮罐类重大危险源快速分级。结果表明:用贮罐类重大危险源三维风险分级模型,通过简单数学模型计算贮罐风险值,能为企业提供风险分级标准,有助于实现政府对贮罐类重大危险源分级监管。     

地铁运营突发事件应急响应模式的马尔科夫链分析

为研究城市轨道交通网络化运营线路的风险传导规律和耦合关系,构建基于随机Petri网的同构马尔科夫链模型。通过模型分析突发事件应急响应模式中线路之间的相互影响,以及各线路启动突发事件应急响应模式对整个系统稳态的影响。结果表明,用该模型可从数学上研究城市轨道交通运营线路之间的传导规律和耦合关系,找出影响整个应急指挥系统效率的关键因素,最终提高地铁应对突发事件的能力。     

“In common nature”: an ethnography of climate adaptation in the Lesotho Highlands

In Lesotho, climate change adaptation funding is being managed and distributed by the same mechanisms which have traditionally operationalised humanitarian aid and international development assistance in the country. Lessons from the HIV/AIDS disaster, along with insights into the value of participatory approaches foregrounding the expertise of indigenous communities, must be heeded in order to ensure that those most affected by climate change have a say in how adaptation is carried out. This paper proposes that indigenous people have developed and actively maintained resilience strategies, encoded in social practices and farming techniques, designed out of long experience with climatic variability. Through case studies, indigenous resilience strategies are explored, with emphasis on the anarchistic, improvisational nature of traditional ecological knowledge. Future directions for policy-makers and practitioners dealing with climate change adaptation are suggested, namely the need to foreground indigenous knowledge and the experiences of frontlines experts in key policy arenas.     

北京市4种不同污水处理系统中病原菌变化研究

采用定量PCR技术,对北京市4种不同污水处理系统中大肠杆菌、军团菌和沙门氏菌随工艺及四季的数量变化进行了追踪研究,以评估病原菌的去除效果及污水回用的健康风险.结果发现,大肠杆菌在夏季进水和出水中的浓度分别在107~108copies·m L-1和105copies·m L-1左右;G-A/O系统对大肠杆菌的去除率最高,平均去除率达99.88%.军团菌在4个污水处理系统中进水浓度为104~105copies·m L-1,出水浓度约为104copies·m L-1,其在剩余污泥样品中浓度较高,达到105~106copies·m L-1.沙门氏菌进水浓度较低,为102~103copies·m L-1,且其在多个工艺段样品中未检出.季节变化对于病原菌的去除具有较大影响.研究表明,大肠杆菌在各污水处理系统中均可检出,且其分布具有一定的季节性,夏季的进出水中浓度相对较高;而军团菌和沙门氏菌浓度在各工艺中则并未呈现出明显的季节性变化.G-A/O系统对3种细菌的整体去除效果最为稳定,去除率较高.大肠杆菌在污水处理厂的出水及剩余污泥中浓度仍然较高,此外,冬季出水中也能检测到沙门氏菌的存在,因此,污水处理厂的出水和污泥排放仍存在一定的生态和健康风险.