Measuring mining safety with injury statistics: lost workdays as indicators of risk

PROBLEM: Mining in the United States remains one of the most hazardous industries, despite significant reductions in fatal injury rates over the last century. Coal mine fatality rates, for example, have dropped almost a thousand-fold since their peak in 1908. While incidence rates are very important indicators, lost worktime measures offer an alternative metric for evaluating job safety and health performance. The first objective of this study examined the distributions and summary statistics of all injuries reported to the Mine Safety and Health Administration from 1983 through 2004. Over the period studied (1983-2004), there were 31,515,368 lost workdays associated with mining injuries, for an equivalent of 5,700 person-years lost annually. The second objective addressed the problem of comparing safety program performance in mines for situations where denominator data were lacking. By examining the consequences of injuries, comparisons can be made between disparate operations without the need for denominators. Total risk in the form of lost workday sums can help to distinguish between lower- and higher-risk operations or time periods. METHOD: Our method was to use a beta distribution to model the losses and to compare underground coal mining to underground metal/nonmetal mining from 2000 to 2004. RESULTS: Our results showed the probability of an injury having 10 or more lost workdays was 0.52 for coal mine cases versus 0.35 for metal/nonmetal mine cases. In addition, a comparison of injuries involving continuous mining machines over 2001-2002 versus 2003-2004 showed that the ratio of average losses in the later period to those in the earlier period was approximately 1.08, suggesting increasing risks for such operations. DISCUSSION: This denominator-free safety measure will help the mining industry more effectively identify higher-risk operations and more realistically evaluate their safety improvement programs. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Attention to a variety of metrics concerning the performance of a job safety and health program will enhance industry's ability to manage these programs and reduce risk.     

Policing the drunk driver: measuring law enforcement involvement in reducing alcohol-impaired driving

INTRODUCTION: With many thousands of deaths still annually attributable to driving under the influence (DUI), it remains imperative that we continually address the problem of producing and sustaining effective countermeasures, and that we subject these efforts to empirical scrutiny. This article presents relevant findings from state-wide datasets. RESULTS: A formula generating a potentially useful metric for assessing aspects of the DUI prosecutorial chain is presented, focusing on the rate of proactive DUI arrests. While in need of cautious interpretation due to issues of inherent inaccuracies in large databases, small numbers of crashes and/or arrests in multiple jurisdictions, and the lack of replication in other states, the analyses show no relationship between the level of DUI arrest activity and DUI-related crashes. This finding brings into question the efficacy of the many millions of dollars devoted each year to targeted DUI enforcement, as it is currently being implemented. CONCLUSIONS: Results are discussed in terms of developing adequate disincentives to DUI so as to raise general deterrence via dramatic increases in proactive DUI enforcement and then engaging in pervasive and persistent social marketing of such efforts to maximize the perception that arrest and punishment for DUI is always imminent, that penalties will be swift, certain, and severe. It is echoed that accurate data need to be collected at all levels of the DUI arrest and prosecution process in every jurisdiction within a state, so as to facilitate the empirical assessment of countermeasure efficacy in reducing alcohol-related crashes. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Given that this work needs to be replicated, the impact on the traffic safety industry is potentially huge. The present data indicate that law enforcement efforts to further abate DUI-related crashes are apparently ineffective, though likely necessary to maintain reductions achieved in the 80s and early 90s. Thus, to attain additional systematic reductions, a dramatic increase in enforcement will be necessary as will a diversification of abatement efforts, including an increase in aggressive social marketing tactics to positively impact our traffic safety culture by making DUI universally unacceptable (for a discussion of this latter issue and on the use of positive reinforcement to change driver behavior, see Dula & Geller, 2007).     

秦皇岛市环境空气中主要污染物变化趋势分析及控制对策

根据秦皇岛市"十五"期间环境空气质量监测数据,分析秦皇岛市环境空气中主要污染物尘类、二氧化硫和二氧化氮的发展态势,.建议采取改善能源结构,提高清洁能源使用比例;提高锅炉脱硫除尘效率;加强机动车辆监管,对尾气超标的机动车进行治理;规范各类施工工地的管理,减少扬尘的产生等有效措施控制污染物上升之趋势.     

旋转水射流冲击压强的实验分析

利用测压排摄像自动读数法,测量了水垫式旋转磨料射流喷嘴所产生旋转射流的冲击压强。该方法对测压排内水面标志物进行连续摄像,然后利用计算机程序对所摄图像自动读数,可以用较低的成本较好地实现非恒定压强的测量。实验结果表明,对于水垫式旋转磨料射流喷嘴产生的旋转射流,切向入流与轴向入流流量之比（流量比）及之和（总流量）是其冲击压强的控制性因素,前者控制其分布和大小,后者只对其大小有影响;各股切向入流的流量不均匀性对射流冲击压强时均值的影响很小;冲击压强脉动强度随着作用位置到射流中心距离的增大而减小。     

胶囊-聚氨酯联合封孔测压技术的研究与应用

基于现有封孔测压技术的分析,提出一种胶囊-聚氨酯联合封孔测压技术。该技术利用弹性封孔胶囊和聚氨酯材料形成两级封堵,强化封孔质量,减少钻孔暴露时间。通过现场对比试验,结果表明,该技术能够快速、有效完成钻孔的封堵,实现快速测压,相对于现有的水泥砂浆封孔测压法,其具有测压准确度高、耗时短、成本低等优点,可较好的满足煤层瓦斯压力测定的需求。     

几种土壤重金属污染评价方法的对比

土壤重金属污染评价是土壤环境管理的基础性工作,采用合理的污染评价方法,才能识别土壤重金属污染状况,满足土壤环境管理和决策需要。选择单因子指数法、地质累积指数法、次生原生比值法和富集因子法四种方法进行对比分析,并进行实例计算和结果对比评价。结果表明:单因子指数法简单灵活,评价结果能直观反映土壤的污染情况,是比较实用的评价方法,但其将污染等级与元素实际含量简单地看成线性关系,导致评价结果较其它方法偏高。地质累积指数法是在单因子指数法基础上改进而来,计算公式较为简洁,污染评价结果较单因子指数法低。次生原生比值法突出元素形态的影响,未考虑元素总量和背景值,导致评价结果不能有效地与其它评价方法进行比较,在部分数据上还会出现污染浓度高却得到污染等级低的结论。富集因子法不仅考虑了元素的背景值,而且以地球化学过程中人为污染少、化学性质稳定、分析结果精确度高的Fe、Al、Si等元素作为参比元素,评价结果与地质累积指数法具有高度一致性,能够很好地体现土壤污染状况,但参比元素的实测值不易获取。研究结果可为土壤重金属污染评价方法的选取与改进提供基础数据。     

战场电磁兼容预测中的接收机建模研究

目的建立战场电磁兼容预测分析的接收机数学模型,包括接收机频率选择性模型、敏感度门限模型、互调模型及与接收机有关的修正系数计算模型等。方法在分析接收机干扰类型的基础上,建立上述数学模型,并探讨模型中的参数获取方法。结果给出了频率选择性模型分段折线斜率常数的获取方法,并对相关的互调系数、保护比等重要参数的实验测量方法进行了分析。结论建模结果可支持战场电磁接收装备仿真,为战场电磁兼容预测分析奠定基础。     

沉积物质量综合评价及应用证据权重法的案例分析

水体沉积物是水生生态系统重要的组成部分,沉积物污染将影响整个水生生态系统,因此有必要构建科学全面的水体沉积物质量评价方法,为环境污染修复与监管提供科学依据。已有文献报道了多种沉积物质量评价方法。其中,证据权重法通过对不同的证据进行测定与整合,弥补了传统评价方法的不足,可以对沉积物质量进行科学全面的评价。本文对证据权重法中化学分析、生物毒性和底栖生物群落结构3种证据的测量方法、赋权方法、证据整合与信息解译方法进行了系统评述,并以淡水河为例介绍了用多目标决策理想点法(TOPSIS)整合数据进行沉积物质量综合评价的方法。     

活性污泥羟氨氧化还原酶粗酶提取及活性测定方法的优化研究

污水生物脱氮过程中N_2O的产生与活性污泥中细菌的羟氨氧化还原酶(Hydroxylamine oxidoreductase,HAO)活性有着密切关系.但目前活性污泥中细菌的HAO提取和活性测定方法尚未建立.本文首先探索了在25℃、酶活性反应液电子受体供体配比1∶1和终止剂选用2 mol·L~(-1)HCl条件下超声或高压破碎细胞法对HAO粗酶活性的影响,结果表明高压破碎比超声破碎获取的粗酶活性高(p0.01).在此基础上,我们进一步优化了高压破碎下压力大小、破碎次数和裂解液用量的参数.粗酶提取液中DNA含量、酶活力及酶比活力结果进行多因素方差分析表明压力大小(50、110或160 MPa)、破碎次数(1、2或3次)和裂解液用量(2、5或10 m L)均对脱氮活性污泥破碎效果、酶活性和比活力有显著影响(p0.01);综合DNA含量、酶活力及酶比活力结果看,110 MPa压力条件下,加5 m L裂解液破碎2次更适合污水生物处理中HAO的提取和活性测定,既节省时间,又能较好的保持酶活性.     

The Importance of the Chosen Technique to Estimate Diffuse Solar Radiation by Means of Regression

The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) is one of the widely used methods which is used for estimating the diffuse solar radiation. However, in order to use the OLS method in the estimation, the dataset must provide certain assumptions. In this study, alternative robust methods have been described and they were compared with the OLS method, which is used for estimating diffuse radiation frequently in an application. At the end of the analysis, the R² value obtained by the OLS method is less than the values obtained by M regression models. In other words, the explanation of the dependent value is weak when the OLS method is used. Finally, it can be said that the most appropriate method is Andrews for estimating the diffuse solar radiation.