Since the mid-1990s, the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has sponsored a research program on alternative detection technologies for railroad right-of-way (ROW) and highway-rail grade crossing applications. In support of this effort, the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center) of the U.S. DOT Research and Innovative T...

Chongqing Engineering Technology Research Center for Information Management in Development, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing, China Chongqing Key Laboratory of Electronic Commerce & Supply Chain System, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing, China School of Yinxing International Hospitality Management, Chengdu University of Information Technology, Chengd...

It is needless for occupational health doctors and scientists to mention about the importance of risk assessment of hazardous substances used in workplaces. Since the US Supreme Court sentenced the " benzene verdict " requiring better ground for the occupational exposure limit (OEL) for benzene in 1980, the research and scientific knowledge on risk assessment for hazardous substances have been ...

In order to fulfill the objectives of environmental protection, today's focus on quantitative recycling rates must be amended by a more qualitative approach. Because modern products represent a mix of numerous and sometimes hazardous substances, ways must be explored to remove detrimental substances during recycling and to establish "clean cycles". On the one hand, such a "clean cycle" strategy...

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) [42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.], as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) [Pub. L. 99–499], requires that the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) develop jointly with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in order of priority, a list of hazardous substances mos...

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) [42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.], as amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) [Pub. L. 99–499], requires that the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) develop jointly with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in order of priority, a list of hazardous substances mos...

Trimethyl tin chloride (TMTC) is a highly toxic organotin compound that affects four main target organs: the brain, liver, immune system and skin. Exposure can occur by inhalation, ingestion or direct skin absorption. Trimethyl tin is but one of many hazardous substances with potentially serious health consequences to which individuals working in research laboratories may be exposed. We report ...

Current hazardous waste disposal policies in the Home Health Care setting were evaluated as it related to the need for better regulation of hazardous materials entering residential waste streams. It was found that all waste materials from home care visits with the exception of “sharps,” were placed directly into residential waste streams. Therefore, large volumes of potentially hazardous waste ...

Decision making in environmental problems is a complex task due to multiple and often conflicting criteria, varying measurements, qualitative and quantitative input parameters, and lack of exact data. In this paper, we propose a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) model based on an integrated fuzzy approach in the context of Hazardous Waste Recycling (HWR). The proposed method: (a) takes into...