Interstitial Lung Diseases in the U.S. Mining Industry: Using MSHA Data to Examine Trends and the Prevention Effects of Compliance with Health Regulations, 1996–2015

Given the recent increase in dust‐induced lung disease among U.S. coal miners and the respiratory hazards encountered across the U.S. mining industry, it is important to enhance an understanding of lung disease trends and the organizational contexts that precede these events. In addition to exploring overall trends reported to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the current study uses MSHA's enforcement database to examine whether or not compliance with health regulations resulted in fewer mine‐level counts of these diseases over time. The findings suggest that interstitial lung diseases were more prevalent in coal mines compared to other mining commodities, in Appalachian coal mines compared to the rest of the United States, and in underground compared to surface coal mines. Mines that followed a relevant subset of MSHA's health regulations were less likely to report a lung disease over time. The findings are discussed from a lung disease prevention strategy perspective.     

论公众环境权的非排他性

非排他性是公众环境权的核心特性。为适应环境权理论的纵深化发展，除了从外部视角审视环境权的属性、内容、定位等特征之外，应当从内部结构对环境权本质特性予以剖析。生态环境具有公共物品属性，导致生态环境治理受到外部性理论与搭便车效应的制约。由于生态环境具有公众共用性，既有的环境权利理论应当接受非排他性与非竞争性两大特征的改造。公众环境权的非排他性体现在主体的不特定性、客体的非拥挤性和内容的共享性等方面。将公众环境权理解为公众对作为公众共用物的生态环境享有的非排他性权利，意味着可从保障权利主体的非排他性与客体的非拥挤性两个面向来实现对公众环境权的保护。     

论生态环境损害赔偿诉讼与环境公益诉讼之衔接

在现行司法实践中,我国对生态环境损害之救济采取的是生态环境损害赔偿诉讼与环境公益诉讼并行的"双轨制"模式.通过分析典型案件可以发现,现行立法未能为化解生态环境损害赔偿诉讼与环境公益诉讼之间的制度"碰撞"提供明确的规范指南,导致"两诉"之间时常会陷入管辖冲突与衔接困境.生态环境损害赔偿诉讼的模糊属性以及相关立法规定的缺失,是导致"两诉"衔接陷入困境之根由.为此,应当在准确识别生态环境损害赔偿诉讼性质之前提下,通过立法对"两诉"之间的顺位规则、索赔主体机制等核心规范予以明确.具体而言,未来我国应当明确生态环境损害赔偿诉讼优于环境公益诉讼的顺位规则,并建立"行政机关—环保组织—检察机关"三位一体且逐层递进的索赔主体结构,最大程度发挥"两诉"之制度合力.     

Child protection and fathering where there is domestic violence: Contradictions and consequences

Children live in different contexts of protection and vulnerability when exposed to domestic violence. The negative impacts for many children are consistent and widely acknowledged. However, the implication that this requires men who use violence to address their fathering has been slower to emerge. This article draws from 69 in‐depth qualitative interviews with men, women, and workers across four men's behaviour change programmes in rural Victoria, Australia. Particular attention is given to men's attitudes to their fathering and the formal and informal consequences they experienced as a result of their violence and its impact on their fathering. Although most men came to recognize that their violence impacted their children, they failed to make the connection that the involvement of statutory child protection services in their lives was a direct consequence of their abusive behaviour. This article explores this disconnection by fathers who use violence, their attitude to the involvement of statutory child protection services, and identifies the implications for social work practitioners in addressing this issue.     

Causal dynamics of poverty reproduction in EU countries

This study investigated causal mechanisms of poverty reproduction in EU countries by placing emphasis on the parental background effect on sons’ poverty risk after having controlled for endogeneity among observable and non‐observable effects of the involved mechanisms. The countries under investigation were old EU member states representing the four welfare regimes in the EU. Having employed path models and utilised EU‐SILC 2005 data, the analysis yielded no statistically significant direct effect of parental background on sons’ poverty risk in Denmark. Greece, however, exhibited a statistically significant and quite strong direct effect. Germany and the United Kingdom stood in‐between. Moreover, the analysis found indirect channels through which the parental background affects sons’ poverty risk. These findings are expected to enrich the academic discourse and inform the policy‐making process on poverty reproduction and social protection in the EU.     

Do Interactions Between Environmental Chemicals and the Human Microbiome Need to Be Considered in Risk Assessments?

One of the most dynamic and fruitful areas of current health‐related research concerns the various roles of the human microbiome in disease. Evidence is accumulating that interactions between substances in the environment and the microbiome can affect risks of disease, in both beneficial and adverse ways. Although most of the research has concerned the roles of diet and certain pharmaceutical agents, there is increasing interest in the possible roles of environmental chemicals. Chemical risk assessment has, to date, not included consideration of the influence of the microbiome. We suggest that failure to consider the possible roles of the microbiome could lead to significant error in risk assessment results. Our purpose in this commentary is to summarize some of the evidence supporting our hypothesis and to urge the risk assessment community to begin considering and influencing how results from microbiome‐related research could be incorporated into chemical risk assessments. An additional emphasis in our commentary concerns the distinct possibility that research on chemical–microbiome interactions will also reduce some of the significant uncertainties that accompany current risk assessments. Of particular interest is evidence suggesting that the microbiome has an influence on variability in disease risk across populations and (of particular interest to chemical risk) in animal and human responses to chemical exposure. The possible explanatory power of the microbiome regarding sources of variability could reduce what might be the most significant source of uncertainty in chemical risk assessment.     

Needed: a new international for a just transition and against fascism

ABSTRACT

We urgently need a new global solidarity movement, but it will not be shaped like the old ones, with failing solidarity when it is most needed or at the service of anti-imperialist regimes. What we need, urgently, is a global movement for a just transition, combining social and environmental justice, as well as a strong movement against re-emerging fascism, in North and South.     

HDDA: DataSifter: statistical obfuscation of electronic health records and other sensitive datasets

There are no practical and effective mechanisms to share high-dimensional data including sensitive information in various fields like health financial intelligence or socioeconomics without compromising either the utility of the data or exposing private personal or secure organizational information. Excessive scrambling or encoding of the information makes it less useful for modelling or analytical processing. Insufficient preprocessing may compromise sensitive information and introduce a substantial risk for re-identification of individuals by various stratification techniques. To address this problem, we developed a novel statistical obfuscation method (DataSifter) for on-the-fly de-identification of structured and unstructured sensitive high-dimensional data such as clinical data from electronic health records (EHR). DataSifter provides complete administrative control over the balance between risk of data re-identification and preservation of the data information. Simulation results suggest that DataSifter can provide privacy protection while maintaining data utility for different types of outcomes of interest. The application of DataSifter on a large autism dataset provides a realistic demonstration of its promise practical applications.     

Child protection social workers' constructions of children and childhood: An integrative review

Social workers' constructions of children and childhood are central to how professionals interact with children and support their needs. The aim of this integrative review was to provide a comprehensive portrayal of child protection social workers' constructions of children and childhood. We analysed and synthesized 35 empirical studies with samples of social workers in the child protection domain where issues regarding the child or the child's situation were the study focus. The findings show that children and youth are constructed as a generalized group viewed in light of their parents. We see a fragmented and context‐free child produced by causal shortcuts strongly informed by specific and, at times, simplified and biased psychological knowledge. Moreover, we identify constructions of the child in need of protection and thereby position children as objects for intervention, separating that from children as subjects in their own rights. Although the participatory child is visible in the data material, the actual practice of involving children seems arbitrary.     

河南省生态环境建设的现状及对策研究

河南省自然生态环境的特征是气候条件和地貌类型复杂多样。近十几年来，河南省各级政府致力于生态环境保护和建设，取得了重大突破，但也出现和暴露了不少发展中的问题。今后河南省各级政府需要积极采取多种措施，推进生态环境保护和建设，实现河南可持续发展。