Physical injury risks associated with drinking water arsenic treatment.

We estimated the number of transportation deaths that would be associated with water treatment in Albuquerque to meet the EPA's recently proposed revisions of the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for arsenic. Vehicle mileage was estimated for ion exchange, activated alumina, and iron coagulation/microfiltration water treatment processes to meet an MCL of 0.020 mg/L, 0.010 mg/L, 0.005 mg/L, and 0.003 mg/L. Local crash, injury, and death rates per million vehicle miles were used to estimate the number of injuries and deaths. Depending on the water treatment options chosen, we estimate that meeting an arsenic MCL of 0.005 mg/L will result in 143 to 237 crashes, 58 to 98 injuries, and 0.6 to 2.6 deaths in Albuquerque over a 70-year period, resulting in 26 to 113 years of life lost. The anticipated health benefits for Albuquerque residents from a 0.005 mg/L arsenic MCL, estimated using either a multistage Weibull or Poisson model, ranged from 3 to 80 arsenic-related bladder and lung cancer deaths prevented over a 70-year period, adding between 43 and 1,123 years of life. Whether a revised arsenic MCL increases or reduces overall loss of life in Albuquerque depends on the accuracy of EPA's cancer risk assessment. If the multistage Weibull model accurately estimates the benefits, the years of life added is comparable or lower than the anticipated years lost due to transportation associated with the delivery of chemicals, disposal of treatment waste, and operation of the water treatment system. Coagulation/microfiltration treatment will result in substantially fewer transportation deaths than either ion exchange or activated alumina.     

INQUIRY

The following interview with Elise Miller, M.Ed., was conducted in December 2006. Ms. Miller is founder and executive director of the national Institute for Children's Environmental Health. As part of the Institute's programs, she serves as the Collaborative on Health and the Environment's (CHE's) national coordinator for the Learning and Developmental Disabilities Initiative, chair of the CHE Coordinating Committee of national and regional working groups, and chair of CHE-Northwest. In addition, Ms. Miller currently serves on the national board of directors of the Children's Environmental Health Network as well as the professional advisory boards of the Learning Disabilities Association of America, the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow, and the Healthy Schools Network, Inc.     

Commonalities,Conflicts and Contradictions in Organizational Masculinities: Exploring the Gendered Genesis of the Challenger Disaster*

Les auteurs reviennent sur la controverse qui a entouré le lancement, en 1986, de la navette spatiale Challenger afin de montrer de quelle manière les rapports masculins - en particulier entre les gestionnaires et les ingénieurs - ont contribué a générer cette crise au sein de la NASA. L'analyse des rapports de force fondés sur le sexe, entre les hommes principalement, révèle comment l'émergence de comportements masculins particuliers, et la fagon dont ils sont reproduits, justifiés ou remis en cause, varie selon le contexte. Les auteurs examinent ensuite les points communs et les différences entre ces comportements masculins. Enfin, ils étudient les contradictions éventuelles, à la base de ces comportements masculins, ainsi que leurs consequences sur les rapports de travail. The events surrounding the 1986 decision to launch the Space Shuttle Challenger are reconstructed to illustrate how multiple masculinities, particularly between and among managers and engineers, contributed to that organizational crisis. An analysis of gendered power relations—especially among men—reveals how the construction of particular forms of “masculinities,” and the ways in which they are reproduced, rationalized or resisted, vary as a result of contextual changes. Commonalities and differences among these masculinities are discussed. We close by exploring possible contradictions in the construction of organizational masculinities and their implications for organizational practice.     

Segmentation,Mobility and the Spatial Distribution of Activities

Abstract. The paper discusses the relationship between labor economics' segmentation theory and the polarization theories of regional economics. It is argued that labor market segmentation and regional disparities are fundamentally related and that one is both cause and consequence of the other. The argument is developed around the locational requirements of various functions of entreprises on the one hand and worker's schooling and migration decisions on the other. As can be shown, interregional labor mobility that is usually considered to be an important factor in equilibrating regional disparities enforces the interregional differentiation in a model allowing for a segmented labor market. The paper closes with reference of a few fundamental hypotheses that can be derived from the model and cites empirical evidence supporting this view.     

Negative situation appraisal and mental well-being among refugees in Germany: Serial mediation by religious coping and sense of coherence

It has been widely demonstrated that pre- and post-migration experiences can be highly traumatic for refugees. The purpose of this study was to assess the mediating effects of religious coping and sense of coherence on the association of negative dysfunctional situation appraisal and mental well-being among refugees. Paper surveys were completed by 600 people representing various refugee groups (mostly from Mashreq Countries) in German Bavaria, aged 18–65. Mediation analysis revealed that negative religious coping and sense of coherence singly and serially mediated the relationship between negative dysfunctional situation appraisal and well-being, whereas positive religious coping did not have statistically significant relationships with these variables. The data obtained suggest that the negative religious coping style and sense of coherence are two important targets for future experimental studies, and interventions on them may bring the synergistic effect on improving mental well-being in refugees.