scholarly journals Pollution Characteristics of Microplastics in Soils in Southeastern Suburbs of Baoding City, China

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 845 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuan Du ◽  
Handong Liang ◽  
Zhanping Li ◽  
Jie Gong
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Ferrous Metal ◽  
Reference Method ◽  
Negative Ion ◽  
Risk Level ◽  
Environmental Media ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Water Ecosystems ◽  
The Impact

Microplastics (MPs) are emerging pollutants that exist in different environmental media. Because of their wide range and large potential environmental hazards, they have attracted widespread attention in recent years. At present, the research on MP is mostly concentrated on the water ecosystems, and the impact on soil ecosystems is less studied. In this study, 12 typical soil samples from southeastern suburbs of Baoding city were investigated and characterized by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) combined with mass high resolution mode and positive and negative ion imaging mode. Four types of MPs, poly (propylene) (PP), poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC), poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET), and poly (amide 6) (PA6), were quickly identified, of which PET and PA6 accounted for the largest proportion of both up to 30.2%; the particle size of the obtained MPs ranged from 0 to 35 μm, of which the proportion of <10 μm MPs was more than 26.3%, while that of 20–25 μm and 25–35 μm MPs was relatively small (17.83% and 9.3%, respectively). Risk assessment results of the MP in the soil showed that the risk level of MPs in the non-ferrous metal industrial parks and in concentrated with small workshops areas is relatively high, and attention should be paid to such areas. In addition, the study provides a reference method for the investigation and risk assessment of MPs in terrestrial soils, coastal beaches, and sediments.

A MODELING SYSTEM FOR CLIMATE CHANGE RISK ASSESSMENT, MANAGEMENT AND HEDGING IN COASTAL AREAS

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergei Soldatenko ◽  
Sergei Soldatenko ◽  
Genrikh Alekseev ◽  
Genrikh Alekseev ◽  
Alexander Danilov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Coastal Areas ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
System Structure ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Risk Modeling ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Adverse Weather ◽  
The Impact

Every aspect of human operations faces a wide range of risks, some of which can cause serious consequences. By the start of 21st century, mankind has recognized a new class of risks posed by climate change. It is obvious, that the global climate is changing, and will continue to change, in ways that affect the planning and day to day operations of businesses, government agencies and other organizations and institutions. The manifestations of climate change include but not limited to rising sea levels, increasing temperature, flooding, melting polar sea ice, adverse weather events (e.g. heatwaves, drought, and storms) and a rise in related problems (e.g. health and environmental). Assessing and managing climate risks represent one of the most challenging issues of today and for the future. The purpose of the risk modeling system discussed in this paper is to provide a framework and methodology to quantify risks caused by climate change, to facilitate estimates of the impact of climate change on various spheres of human activities and to compare eventual adaptation and risk mitigation strategies. The system integrates both physical climate system and economic models together with knowledge-based subsystem, which can help support proactive risk management. System structure and its main components are considered. Special attention is paid to climate risk assessment, management and hedging in the Arctic coastal areas.

Applying the risk principle to optimize accuracy and equity in correctional risk assessment: Results From a Simulation

2021 ◽  
pp. 0306624X2098652
Author(s):  
Grant Duwe
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Predictive Accuracy ◽  
Ethnic Disparities ◽  
Simulated Data ◽  
Risk Assessments ◽  
Risk Level ◽  
Risk Levels ◽  
Risk Principle ◽  
Changes In Risk ◽  
The Impact

As the use of risk assessments for correctional populations has grown, so has concern that these instruments exacerbate existing racial and ethnic disparities. While much of the attention arising from this concern has focused on how algorithms are designed, relatively little consideration has been given to how risk assessments are used. To this end, the present study tests whether application of the risk principle would help preserve predictive accuracy while, at the same time, mitigate disparities. Using a sample of 9,529 inmates released from Minnesota prisons who had been assessed multiple times during their confinement on a fully-automated risk assessment, this study relies on both actual and simulated data to examine the impact of program assignment decisions on changes in risk level from intake to release. The findings showed that while the risk principle was used in practice to some extent, the simulated results showed that greater adherence to the risk principle would increase reductions in risk levels and minimize the disparities observed at intake. The simulated data further revealed the most favorable outcomes would be achieved by not only applying the risk principle, but also by expanding program capacity for the higher-risk inmates in order to adequately reduce their risk.

scholarly journals Marine Litter in Transitional Water Ecosystems: State of The Art Review Based on a Bibliometric Analysis

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monia Renzi ◽  
Valentina H. Pauna ◽  
Francesca Provenza ◽  
Cristina Munari ◽  
Michele Mistri
Keyword(s):  
Natural Capital ◽  
Habitat Type ◽  
Statistical Analyses ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Marine Litter ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Urban Impacts ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Water Ecosystems ◽  
The Impact

Transitional water ecosystems (TWEs), despite their ecological and economic importance, are largely affected by human pressures that could be responsible for significant inputs of litter in the marine environment. Plastic input in coastal ponds, lagoons, river deltas and estuaries, could be driven by a wide range of human activities such as agriculture, waste disposal, municipal and industrial wastewater effluents, aquaculture, fishing and touristic activities and urban impacts. However, it remains unknown what the impact of plastic input in these TWEs could have on natural capital and, therefore, the ability for an ecosystem to provide goods and services to human beings. Given the large interest with regards to the conservation of transitional water ecosystems and the clear exposure risk to plastic and microplastic pollution, this study aims to perform: (i) a bibliometric analyses on existing literature regarding the levels of marine litter in such environments; (ii) a selection among the available literature of homogeneous data; and (iii) statistical analyses to explore data variability. Results suggest that: (i) research on microplastics in these ecosystems did not begin to be published until 2013 for lagoons, 2014 for river mouths and 2019 for coastal ponds. The majority of articles published on studies of microplastics in lagoons did not occur until 2019; (ii) sediments represent the matrix on which sampling and extraction variability allow the statistical analyses on data reported by the literature; (iii) the Analysis of Similarities (ANOSIM) test two-way evidenced that the level of protection of marine and terrestrial areas produced similar values while the habitat type showed low significance in terms of its effect on microplastic levels, shape and size in sediments.

scholarly journals Impact probability under aleatory and epistemic uncertainties

2020 ◽  
Vol 132 (11-12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Tardioli ◽  
Davide Farnocchia ◽  
Massimiliano Vasile ◽  
Steve R. Chesley
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Orbital Evolution ◽  
Upper Bounds ◽  
Force Model ◽  
Statistical Distributions ◽  
Unknown Parameters ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Parametric Families ◽  
The Impact

AbstractWe present an approach to estimate an upper bound for the impact probability of a potentially hazardous asteroid when part of the force model depends on unknown parameters whose statistical distribution needs to be assumed. As case study, we consider Apophis’ risk assessment for the 2036 and 2068 keyholes based on information available as of 2013. Within the framework of epistemic uncertainties, under the independence and non-correlation assumption, we assign parametric families of distributions to the physical properties of Apophis that define the Yarkovsky perturbation and in turn the future orbital evolution of the asteroid. We find $${\mathrm{IP}}\le 5\times 10^{-5}$$ IP ≤ 5 × 10 - 5 for the 2036 keyhole and $${\mathrm{IP}}\le 1.6\times 10^{-5}$$ IP ≤ 1.6 × 10 - 5 for the 2068 keyhole. These upper bounds are largely conservative choices due to the rather wide range of statistical distributions that we explored.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the Impact of Spatial and Environmental Accident Factors on Severity Patterns of Road Segments

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maen Qaseem Ghadi ◽  
Árpád Török
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Clustering ◽  
Decision Rules ◽  
Black Spot ◽  
Risk Level ◽  
Accident Risk ◽  
Severity Level ◽  
The Road ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Road Segments

Several studies have examined a wide range of accident risk factors affecting road safety. The purpose of this study is to examine the main traffic accident factors that affect the severity of road segments. The practical objective of the article is to assist specialists in identifying risk patterns both from a spatial and casualty point of view. To achieve the desired goals, accidents of a road network have been analyzed through three major steps; segmentation, black spot identification, and decision analysis. A new spatial clustering methodology has been used to divide accidents into smaller groups (or clusters) based on their spatial aggregations. The spatial characteristics are argued to be an important factor, in revealing the heterogeneity between accident data. Then, the empirical Bayesian has been applied to rank the resulted segments by severity level. During this step, the technique of decision rules has been applied to identify the main contributors to accidents in certain segments. The result shows that there is a significant relationship between the accident severity level and the traffic and geometrical characteristics (i.e. speed limits, average daily traffic, path shape) of road segments. The results also revealed that the closer the road to secure and non-hazardous road environmental conditions, the lower the risk level of the road segment.

Evolution of river pollutions under the influence of local hydro-climatic changes - the example of the Bienne River (Jura Mountain, France)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elie Dhivert ◽  
François Gibon ◽  
Karine Hochart ◽  
Bertrand Devillers
Keyword(s):  
Climatic Changes ◽  
Fish Mortality ◽  
Risk Level ◽  
Rainfall Regime ◽  
Pollution Levels ◽  
Resilience Process ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
River Quality ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
The Impact

&lt;p&gt;In application of the EU Water Framework Directive, many actions have been undertaken in order to reduce pollution levels in river systems. However, for certain catchments, the resilience process is not occurring as expected. In the Bienne River basin, metals discharge has plummeted since the 1990s, following the implementation of a better industrial waste management, as well as an important industrial restructuring. Nevertheless, this river has been regularly affected by massive fish mortality over the 2012-2019 period. This phenomenon, never identified before, is becoming recurrent. Organic tissues sampled in dead fish contained high concentrations of metals in association with other toxics. In this context, this study introduces a transdisciplinary approach in order to: (i) analyse spatial and temporal evolutions of pollutions in the Bienne River, (ii) evaluate potential ecotoxicological impacts associated, (iii) identify interactions with local hydro-climatic changes. Metallic and organic pollutants were analysed over different stations and at multi-temporal scales, associating sedimentary archives, suspended matters and passive water samplers. These analyses highlight the impact on the river quality of both current and legacy pollutions, particularly during prolonged low-water periods and high discharge events. Ecotoxicological analyses emphasize a severe risk level in the case of polluted sediments remobilization, especially because of heavy metals and PAH contamination. Geochemical evidence of such remobilization events has been recorded over the last decade in a sedimentary core sampled in the downstream part of the Bienne River. Hydrological data recorded in the Bienne River gauging stations since 1971 attests of an important year-to-year variability, although changes in the river discharge distribution are ongoing. Data has shown a higher frequency of both the lowest and the highest outflows over the 2012-2019 period compared to the rest of the hydrological recording. Hydro-climatic variables coming from in-situ measurements and satellite data (GPM-IMERG6) has also shown significant modifications in the rainfall regime over this period, especially in the augmentation of dry spells and heavy rainfall episodes. Those modifications agree well with the discharge change observations. This study brings out knock-on impacts of combined geochemical, ecotoxicological and hydro-sedimentary issues on the fate of aquatic ecosystems, especially under the influence of local hydro-climatic changes and their implications on hydrological regimes. Those results aim at reducing uncertainties concerning the evolution of the river quality by highlighting such a tipping point for environmental conditions. In addition, such a study helps us to grasp the complexity of local stakes regarding the multiple interests of a wide range of stakeholders and policy makers involved on the field.&lt;/p&gt;

Agent of Opportunity Risk Mitigation: People, Engineering, and Security Efficacy

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 291-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret E. Graham ◽  
Michael G. Tunik ◽  
Brenna M. Farmer ◽  
Carly Bendzans ◽  
Aileen M. McCrillis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Front Door ◽  
Security Controls ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Access Controls ◽  
Survey Interviews ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTBackground: Agents of opportunity (AO) are potentially harmful biological, chemical, radiological, and pharmaceutical substances commonly used for health care delivery and research. AOs are present in all academic medical centers (AMC), creating vulnerability in the health care sector; AO attributes and dissemination methods likely predict risk; and AMCs are inadequately secured against a purposeful AO dissemination, with limited budgets and competing priorities. We explored health care workers' perceptions of AMC security and the impact of those perceptions on AO risk.Methods: Qualitative methods (survey, interviews, and workshops) were used to collect opinions from staff working in a medical school and 4 AMC-affiliated hospitals concerning AOs and the risk to hospital infrastructure associated with their uncontrolled presence. Secondary to this goal, staff perception concerning security, or opinions about security behaviors of others, were extracted, analyzed, and grouped into themes.Results: We provide a framework for depicting the interaction of staff behavior and access control engineering, including the tendency of staff to “defeat” inconvenient access controls. In addition, 8 security themes emerged: staff security behavior is a significant source of AO risk; the wide range of opinions about “open” front-door policies among AMC staff illustrates a disparity of perceptions about the need for security; interviewees expressed profound skepticism concerning the effectiveness of front-door access controls; an AO risk assessment requires reconsideration of the security levels historically assigned to areas such as the loading dock and central distribution sites, where many AOs are delivered and may remain unattended for substantial periods of time; researchers' view of AMC security is influenced by the ongoing debate within the scientific community about the wisdom of engaging in bioterrorism research; there was no agreement about which areas of the AMC should be subject to stronger access controls; security personnel play dual roles of security and customer service, creating the negative perception that neither role is done well; and budget was described as an important factor in explaining the state of security controls.Conclusions: We determined that AMCs seeking to reduce AO risk should assess their institutionally unique AO risks, understand staff security perceptions, and install access controls that are responsive to the staff's tendency to defeat them. The development of AO attribute fact sheets is desirable for AO risk assessment; new funding and administrative or legislative tools to improve AMC security are required; and security practices and methods that are convenient and effective should be engineered.(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2010;4:291-299)

scholarly journals A New Method Based on Field Strength for Road Infrastructure Risk Assessment

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Yi Li ◽  
Yuren Chen
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Field Strength ◽  
Driving Safety ◽  
Risk Level ◽  
Strength Model ◽  
Risk Area ◽  
Driver Behaviour ◽  
Road Infrastructure ◽  
Strength Models ◽  
The Impact

Because road infrastructures have significant impact on driving safety, their risk levels need to be evaluated dynamically according to drivers’ perception. To achieve this, this paper proposes two field strength models to quantify the impact of road infrastructures on drivers. First, road infrastructures are classified into two types (continuous and discrete). Then, two field strength models for these types are proposed. Continuous field strength model describes the impact of long-belt-shape infrastructure by differential and integral methods. Discrete field strength model describes the static and dynamic characteristics of infrastructures. This model includes four parameters: mass of vehicles, mass of infrastructures, warning level, and kinetic energy of road infrastructures. The field strength is a relative concept, which changes with vehicle state. At the end of this paper, risk assessment principles are listed to clarify the nature of road infrastructure risk evaluation. A workflow of risk assessment and a case study are presented to illustrate the application of this novel method. The result of this study shows that ① the field strength is positively related to its risk level; ② the distribution of road infrastructure risks explains driver behaviour correctly; ③ drivers tend to keep driving in low-risk area. These findings help to explain the impact mechanism of road infrastructures on drivers, which can be applied in AI-based driving assistance system in the future.

scholarly journals Development and Validation of HOSHRA Index for Occupational Safety and Health Risk Assessment in Hospitals

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehdi Jahangiri ◽  
Amirreza Mostafavi ◽  
Alireza Choobineh ◽  
Mahnaz Shakerisn ◽  
Hamid Reza Tabatabaei ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Health Risk ◽  
Health Risk Assessment ◽  
Content Validity ◽  
Occupational Safety ◽  
Occupational Safety And Health ◽  
Risk Level ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Safety And Health ◽  
Wide Range

Background: Despite huge advances in science, technology, and medical equipment, numerous concerns grow over healthcare workers (HCWs) since they are exposed to a wide range of biological hazards due to the nature of their work. Objectives: The current study aimed at developing and validating an index to assess the risk of occupational safety and health (OSH) in hospitals and healthcare settings. Methods: In the current cross-sectional study, an index called the hospital occupational safety, and health risk assessment (HOSHRA) was developed and validated through the face and content validity as well as internal consistency and inter-rater reliability. Ultimately, the developed index was utilized to assess OSH risks in 36 teaching hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Results: The mean score of the HOSHRA index among the selected hospitals was 71.53 ± 5.93, indicating that the OSH risks were at a moderate level. According to the HOSHRA action levels, OSH risk level for ergonomic hazards was high, but it was moderate for physical, chemical, ergonomic, and psychological ones. In terms of physical hazard subcategories, the risk of electrical hazard, as well as fire and explosion, was high, but it was moderate for fall and slip, and radiation. Conclusions: The developed observation-based method showed an acceptable content validity and reliability for OSH risk assessment of hospitals. The HOSHRA index could also be used for hospitals as an applicable measure to improve their OSH.

Application of Gustav in Entertainment Places Fire Risk Assessment

2014 ◽  
Vol 668-669 ◽  
pp. 1413-1416
Author(s):  
Yun Tao Zhao ◽  
Jia Wang
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Fire Risk ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Risk Level ◽  
Risk Levels ◽  
Full Life Cycle ◽  
Fire Risk Assessment ◽  
The Impact

Entertainment places have special structure; large fire load, personnel-intensive features, and function layout often change in the process of operation, so the fire risk level will change frequently. The current fire risk assessment studies for only one stage in entertainment places without considering the impact of risk factors at different stages. For this situation, this paper presents a fire risk assessment method in entertainment places based on full life cycle, divides the entertainment places into different stages, analyzes risk factors at different stages, and then uses the method of Gustav to get the fire risk levels of different stages. The assessment results show that the level of fire risk in entertainment places are different at different stages, you can take the appropriate risk control measures against fire risk factors at different stages, which has important guiding significance for fire risk management in entertainment places.

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