Identifying best practices states in motorcycle rider education and licensing

PROBLEM: After decreasing to a historic low in 1997, motorcycle crash-related fatalities are increasing. Although causes remain unclear, motorcycle rider education and licensing play key roles in reducing motorcycle crashes and injuries. Yet, little is known about what constitutes effective rider training and licensing. This study develops a model of best practices in motorcycle rider education and licensing and combines primary and secondary data to identify states that most closely adhere to this model. Evidence on the validity of the model is also examined. METHOD: States were rated along three areas of best practices: (a) program administration; (b) rider education; and (c) licensing based on 2001 data collected for a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)-sponsored study. RESULTS: Results indicate wide variation in states' adherence to best practices; several states meet most, others very few. When the areas of best practices are considered separately, a state tends to behave similarly on all three. Initial evidence supports the validity of the model, with high best practices states having the lowest rates of motorcycle fatalities. IMPACT ON TRAFFIC SAFETY: As motorcycle-related crashes increase and state and federal support for rider education programs diminishes, it is critical that states identify deficiencies in their program and learn from successful states about efficient, cost-effective strategies for increasing best practices in motorcycle rider education and licensing.     

Pyrolysis of polyethylene mixed with paper and wood: Interaction effects on tar, char and gas yields

In the present study the interactions between the main constituents of the refuse derived fuel (plastics, paper, and wood) during pyrolysis were studied. Binary mixtures of polyethylene-paper and polyethylene/sawdust have been transformed into pellets and pyrolyzed. Various mixtures with different composition were analyzed and pyrolysis products (tar, gas, and char) were collected. The mixtures of wood/PE and paper/PE have a different behavior. The wood/PE mixtures showed a much reduced interaction of the various compounds because the yields of pyrolysis products of the mixture can be predicted as linear combination of those of the pure components. On the contrary, a strong char yield increase was found at a low heating rate for paper/PE mixtures. In order to explain the results, the ability of wood and paper char to adsorb and convert the products of PE pyrolysis into was studied. Adsorption and desorption tests were performed on the char obtained by paper and wood by using n-hexadecane as a model compound for the heavy products of PE pyrolysis.     

Predicting dioxin-like PCBs soil contamination levels using milk of grazing animal as indicator

Dioxin-like PCBs (dl-PCBs) are ubiquitous persistent organic pollutants of recognized negative effects on human health. Assessing highly polluted areas should be an important public health issue. This study proposes to use the milk of grazing animals as a bioindicator of dl-PCB contamination in the environment. The hypothesis is that milk concentration of dl-PCBs are related to soil concentrations of these compounds, and that soils are generally reflective of a larger environmental issue of dl-PCB contamination. In this study, we evaluate the possibility of predicting soil concentrations using milk of sheep, cows and buffalos in a spatial model. For this purpose, samples of soil and milk collected in Campania (Italy) were introduced in a GIS platform to perform geostatistical analysis for building a simple predictive model. The ordinary least squares regressions (OLS) showed a statistically significant correlation (p < 0.05) between soil and milk contamination. However, this relationship was spatially variable. Thus, a geographically weighted regression (GWR) was performed, obtaining R² values of 0.91, 0.77 and 0.66 for sheep’s, buffalo’s and cow’s milk respectively. Assessed the mathematical relationships between the variables, new data was introduced to evaluate the performance of the model. Predictions of soil contamination with dl-PCBs using sheep’s, cow’s and buffalo’s milk showed a mean error of 23%, 25% and 36% respectively. According to these results the sheep’s milk can be considered the best bioindicator of dl-PCBs contamination among the three species. The results of this project evidence the potentialities of the proposed approach to assess bioindicator performance in a spatial predictive model.     

Mercury and methyl mercury in higher fungi and their relation with the substrata in a cinnabar mining area

195 specimens of higher fungi and their substrata collected in the Hg mining area of M.Amiata and around Siena (Central Italy), were analyzed for their total Hg content. Whereas wood decomposers and many species of mycorrhizal fungi accumulated the metal at a very low rate, some mycorrhizal species and all the humus decomposers may accumulate up to 100 μg.g^?1d.w. of Hg and in the least contaminated sites, up to 63 times as much Hg as the substratum. Instead in mineralized areas the concentration factor rarely exceeded 1. The methyl mercury content of 35 species (almost all edible), ranged between 0.01 and 3.7 μg.g^?1 d.w..The possible significance of these findings and the toxicologic implications for local co$\text{n}$ sumers are considered.     

Is aridity restricting deforestation and land uses in the South American Dry Chaco?

In this paper, we explored how aridity influences the regional deforestation and land-use patterns (i.e. crops/pastures) in South American Dry Chaco. To do this, we contrasted land use during last decade (2001–2012) with a spatially explicit aridity index, which we complemented with a crop water balance model. Land-use classifications were performed by considering the temporal variability of NDVI from MODIS satellites, showing that 40 and 60% of deforested land was assigned to crops and pastures, respectively. Results indicate that although the regional deforestation pattern was not associated with the aridity gradient, with drier areas similarly deforested as wetter areas, contrasting differences were observed in the use of this land, with crops mostly located (90%) in wetter areas and pastures evenly distributed across the whole aridity gradient. This research highlighted the strong effect of water limitations on the land-use option after deforestation and may help to set the basis for future land-use planning policies.     

Thermoplastic Blends Based on Poly(Butylene Succinate-co-Adipate) and Different Collagen Hydrolysates from Tanning Industry—II: Aerobic Biodegradation in Composting Medium

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - Two different raw hydrolyzed collagens (HCs), by-products of the Tannery industry, were investigated in blends with a bioplastic, as poly(butylene...