The use of technology to address patterns of risk among teenage drivers

INTRODUCTION: The crash risk of teens is high, with fatal crash rates of teen drivers higher than any other age group. New approaches to reduce teen traffic fatalities are clearly needed. METHOD: A possible approach to reduce the incidence of teen driver crashes and fatalities is through the use of vehicle-based intelligent driver support systems. To be most effective, the system should address the behaviors associated with an overwhelming number of teen fatal crashes: speed, low seatbelt use, and alcohol impairment. In-vehicle technology also offers an opportunity to address the issue of inexperience through enforcement of certain Graduated Driver's License provisions. RESULTS: To fully understand the capability of such technologies, there should be a concerted effort to further their development, and human factors testing should take place to understand their effects on the driver. IMPACT: If successfully implemented, a Teen Driver Support System (TDSS), such as the one described here, could significantly decrease the number of teens killed in traffic crashes.     

基于随机模拟与三角模糊数耦合的重金属污染评价模型

基于河流环境系统中随机性、模糊性等多种不确定信息共存的特性,采用蒙特卡罗方法模拟三角模糊数,并将其应用到沉积物重金属污染评价领域,通过将各重金属实测含量及地球化学背景值三角模糊化,然后进行随机模拟,并结合各等级概率水平加权进行综合污染等级分析,建立了基于随机模拟与三角模糊数(SS-TFN)理论的沉积物重金属地累积指数评价模型.采用该模型对湘江长沙段沉积物中重金属污染状况进行评价.结果表明,Cd的污染程度最大,处于严重污染级别;其次为Zn和Hg,处于重度污染级别,并有向严重污染恶化的趋势;而其他重金属污染程度则较低.相对于确定性评价方法,该模型能够得出评价区域重金属地累积指数的可能值区间及其相应的概率水平,客观真实地综合表征沉积物中重金属分布及污染情况,为科学决策提供更多全面合理的信息.     

基于支持向量机的湖泊生态系统健康评价研究

利用支持向量机在处理分类问题、小样本问题和泛化推广方面的优势,构建了基于支持向量机的湖泊生态系统健康评价模型.同时,对广州市最大的人工湖——白云湖的水质及生物群落情况进行了监测,最后运用该模型对白云湖生态系统健康状况进行了评价.评价结果表明,白云湖生态系统处于病态状态,不能达到其净化水质的设计作用.建议从提高进水水质、实施湖区截污和丰富生物量3方面改善白云湖生态系统健康水平.与传统熵权综合健康指数法和熵权模糊综合评价法相比,所建模型更加客观、科学地评价了湖泊生态系统健康状况,能够为湖泊生态系统健康管理提供一定依据,具有广阔的应用前景.     

Remediation procedure used for contaminated soil and underground water: A case study from the chemical industry

This is a case study of contamination by a non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) that leaked from a chemical plant. The remediation procedure adopted for the initial phase of the plume migration was a plastic diaphragm wall coupled with a series of water extraction wells designed to avoid environmental impact on the surrounding ecosystems. Monitoring has shown that the containment is successful, and additional measures that contribute to accelerating remediation have been adopted. The authors wished to investigate how remediation might be further enhanced. The use of in situ aeration coupled with a system of soil vapor extraction (AS/SVE) has been chosen, since the remediation of sites with characteristics similar to those in this study, if based exclusively on dissolved-phase control, would take several decades to be completed. The transport of contaminant plumes has been simulated by using an analytical model to evaluate the effectiveness of the natural attenuation of the contaminant. The results of the simulation have confirmed the limited effectiveness of the natural attenuation of the contaminant, as well as the effective increase of remediation that would occur if the AS/SVE system is applied. A sensitivity analysis that included several combinations of increments of parameters that correspond to the decay rate of the source and the dissolved plume has simulated what might happen if the AS/SVE system is implemented.     

Choosing an appropriate soil-gas survey method

Three types of soil-gas surveys were performed over the same location at an industrial facility. The surveys performed were (1) a passive technique using buried collectors, (2) an active technique in which samples were collected in the field by pumping with subsequent analysis at a field laboratory, and (3) a screening technique that employed a hand-held survey instrument. Each of the surveys had desirable features, but there was considerable variability in the quality of data obtained, cost, and ease of performance. The passive and active surveys provided excellent detection limits, but the passive technique does not provide data in real time. The active survey was also time-consuming and required an analytical chemist in the field. Neither the active nor the passive survey were able to delineate the plume of contaminated groundwater. Consequently, the results from the rapid and inexpensive reconnaissance technique provided functionally equivalent data.Publication No. 3672, Environmental Sciences Division, ORNL.Operated by Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc. for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-840R21400.     

Quantifying progress toward a conservation assessment for all plants

The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC) set an ambitious target to achieve a conservation assessment for all known plant species by 2020. We consolidated digitally available plant conservation assessments and reconciled their scientific names and assessment status to predefined standards to provide a quantitative measure of progress toward this target. The 241,919 plant conservation assessments generated represent 111,824 accepted land plant species (vascular plants and bryophytes, not algae). At least 73,081 and up to 90,321 species have been assessed at the global scale, representing 21–26% of known plant species. Of these plant species, at least 27,148 and up to 32,542 are threatened. Eighty plant families, including some of the largest, such as Asteraceae, Orchidaceae, and Rubiaceae, are underassessed and should be the focus of assessment effort if the GSPC target is to be met by 2020. Our data set is accessible online (ThreatSearch) and is a baseline that can be used to directly support other GSPC targets and plant conservation action. Although around one‐quarter of a million plant assessments have been compiled, the majority of plants are still unassessed. The challenge now is to build on this progress and redouble efforts to document conservation status of unassessed plants to better inform conservation decisions and conserve the most threatened species.     

Using experimental reintroductions to resolve the roles of habitat quality and metapopulation dynamics on patch occupancy in fragmented landscapes

Declines of species in fragmented landscapes can potentially be reversed either by restoring connectivity or restoring local habitat quality. Models fitted to snapshot occupancy data can be used to predict the effectiveness of these actions. However, such inferences can be misleading if the reliability of the habitat and landscape metrics used is unknown. The only way to unambiguously resolve the roles of habitat quality and metapopulation dynamics is to conduct experimental reintroductions to unoccupied patches so that habitat quality can be measured directly from data on vital rates. We, therefore, conducted a 15-year study that involved reintroducing a threatened New Zealand bird to unoccupied forest fragments to obtain reliable data on their habitat quality and reassess initial inferences made by modeling occupancy against habitat and landscape metrics. Although reproductive rates were similar among fragments, subtle differences in adult survival rates resulted in λ (finite rate of increase) estimations of <0.9 for 9 of the 12 fragments that were previously unoccupied. This was the case for only 1 of 14 naturally occupied fragments. This variation in λ largely explained the original occupancy pattern, reversing our original conclusion from occupancy modeling that this occupancy pattern was isolation driven and suggesting that it would be detrimental to increase connectivity without improving local habitat quality. These results illustrate that inferences from snapshot occupancy should be treated with caution and subjected to testing through experimental reintroductions in selected model systems.     

Formulation of cleanup standards for trace elements with probability plots

Probability plots of trace element concentrations may be used to partition, or segregate, sample data into its constituent populations. Two populations are typically present in data from sites requiring remedial action, one representing clean, uncontaminated soil or sediment (background) and the other representing contaminated ground. The use of such plots in the analysis and evaluation of environmental data permits a statistical characterization of the background populations, from which defensible cleanup criteria may be developed. These criteria will be environmentally conservative, yet will minimize the amount of soil removed in a remedial action. An example is given from a successful cleanup of a surface impoundment.     

基于概率神经网络的城市湖泊生态系统健康评价研究

概率神经网络(PNN)是一种结构简单、训练简捷、应用十分广泛的人工神经网络,并且在水质分类等环境领域已取得一定研究成果.本文选取广州市最大的人工湖——白云湖作为研究对象,结合其水质监测数据及生物监测数据,建立概率神经网络模型对其进行湖泊生态系统健康评价,得到不同监测时间点的湖泊生态系统健康评价结果.分析表明:1白云湖生态系统比较脆弱,目前净化水质的效果有限;2各监测点的评价结果均呈季节性变化,丰水期湖泊生态系统健康状态好于枯水期,年际变化不显著.实验结果表明,利用概率神经网络对湖泊生态系统健康状态进行评价是可行的,与传统评价方法相比,其具有训练时间短、权重确定客观、输出结果稳定等优势,可以运用到更多相关领域.     

Harnessing the potential of integrated systematics for conservation of taxonomically complex,megadiverse plant groups

The value of natural history collections for conservation science research is increasingly recognized, despite their well-documented limitations in terms of taxonomic, geographic, and temporal coverage. Specimen-based analyses are particularly important for tropical plant groups for which field observations are scarce and potentially unreliable due to high levels of diversity-amplifying identification challenges. Specimen databases curated by specialists are rich sources of authoritatively identified, georeferenced occurrence data, and such data are urgently needed for large genera. We compared entries in a monographic database for the large Neotropical genus Myrcia in 2007 and 2017. We classified and quantified differences in specimen records over this decade and determined the potential impact of these changes on conservation assessments. We distinguished misidentifications from changes due to taxonomic remodeling and considered the effects of adding specimens and georeferences. We calculated the potential impact of each change on estimates of extent of occurrence (EOO), the most frequently used metric in extinction-risk assessments of tropical plants. We examined whether particular specimen changes were associated with species for which changes in EOO over the decade were large enough to change their conservation category. Corrections to specimens previously misidentified or lacking georeferences were overrepresented in such species, whereas changes associated with taxonomic remodeling (lumping and splitting) were underrepresented. Among species present in both years, transitions to less threatened status outnumbered those to more threatened (8% vs 3%, respectively). Species previously deemed data deficient transitioned to threatened status more often than to not threatened (10% vs 7%, respectively). Conservation scientists risk reaching unreliable conclusions if they use specimen databases that are not actively curated to reflect changing knowledge.