I recently had the opportunity to visit Ft. McMurray, which is located about 300 miles north of Edmonton, in Northern Alberta, Canada. It’s not the northern most point on the road but you can see it from there. The area is a phenomenon because it contains the largest known cash of petroleum in the world. You didn’t know that? Well, neither did I until recently. The amount of oil sand in Alberta is enough-at their current rate of consumption-to provide Canada all of the petroleum it would need for the next 475 years. It’s enough oil to meet the needs of the entire planet for the next 15 years.

As the director of a national training program for plasterers, I help develop and implement training criteria and curriculum materials for young people just entering the trade. So, nothing gives me greater pleasure than to witness young men and women, who’ve got a few years under their belt, excelling at the craft-especially in a down economy! 

Basel, Switzerland – Health care professionals’ judgment varies significantly when they conduct medical evaluations to determine whether workers should receive disability benefits for an injury or illness, and standards are needed to improve the process, according to researchers from the University of Basel.

The RS360 workplace safety portfolio has been expanded with a new Remote Safeguarding Assessment Service designed for customers with less complex machine safeguarding requirements that need to be evaluated for CFR OSHA 1910, ANSI B11 series standards and NFPA 79/70E compliance.

Washington — A new software training module from NIOSH is intended to assist mine operators, miners and industry stakeholders with emergency decision-making during coal mine rescues.

Washington — The Environmental Protection Agency has released a draft of its human health and ecological risk assessments for glyphosate, a commonly used herbicide, and stated that it intends to seek public comment on the draft.

Sacramento, CA – California could become the first state to require professional cosmetics manufacturers to list ingredients – including hazardous chemicals – on their product labels.

Comprehensive checklist based on ANSI B11.TR1-1993 includes considerations for machine operation, installation and maintenance.

Macclesfield, England — Employees with asthma miss an average of almost 10% of their work hours, and most are restricted from performing their duties because of their symptoms, both of which negatively affect their emotional well-being, according to the findings of a recent study.

What is the difference between an electrical risk assessment, a shock assessment and an arc flash assessment?

Washington — The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking feedback on updated occupational exposure assessments for three seed treatment pesticides to which exposure may cause negative health effects.

Washington – NIOSH has developed a mobile app to help miners assess the ergonomics of three mining tasks: bagging, maintenance and repair, and haul truck operations.

Washington — NIOSH recently introduced checklists to help employers assess damp areas and identify mold.

Washington — NIOSH has updated its mobile app designed to help mine workers assess the ergonomics of common job tasks and identify potential worksite safety hazards.

Geneva — Nearly a quarter of workers worldwide have endured workplace violence or harassment, but only half of the victims discuss their experiences, results of a recent survey show.

Washington — The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is asking for comment on proposed enforcement guidance aimed at preventing and addressing worker harassment based on sex, race and other protected traits.

Washington — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration wants input from truckers as it shapes a study to analyze how common sexual assault and harassment are in the trucking industry.

Chicago — Chronic workplace harassment may increase the risk of coronary heart disease, arthritic/rheumatic conditions and migraines, results of a recent University of Illinois Chicago study show.

Washington — New guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is intended to prevent and address worker harassment based on sex, race and other protected traits, outlining when such behavior is against the law.

Not all risks hold equal weight. For example, focusing efforts on reducing the frequency of safety-related incidents doesn’t necessarily lead to a reduction in the severity of incidents.

This detailed white paper will help you increase the impact of your sexual harassment prevention training.

This white paper features helpful tips from J. J. Keller’s human resources experts, covering important sexual harassment prevention training topics such as the bystander approach, teaching civility, individual state training requirements and more.

Washington — Preventing harassment in the construction industry is the focus of a new guidance document from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Washington — More than 1 out of 6 female truck drivers experience harassment or discrimination daily, while almost a quarter have left the industry over personal safety concerns, a new report finds.

The US Food and Drug Administration proposed to revoke the regulation authorizing the use of brominated vegetable oil (BVO) in food. The agency concluded that the intended use of BVO in food is no longer considered safe after the results of studies conducted in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found the potential for adverse health effects in humans.

The updated list includes select food ingredients (including food and color additives), food contact substances and contaminants under FDA review.

Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) has requested CalRecycle's approval for an increase in carpet recycling fees, proposed to take effect February 1, 2025. The adjustment aims to meet new reserve requirements mandated by CalRecycle for year-end 2025.

A 4-storey reinforced concrete framed buildings was modelled in 3-dimensional analysis with the same sections and loadings for both rigid and weak foundations respectively using ETABS and FORM5 Softwares in accordance with Euro code provisions. The weak foundation was initially analysed and designed as a fixed column-foundation joint and later re-analysed and redesigned as a hinged column-fo...

Fulani herdsmen kidnapped four Christians in an attack on villages in north-central Nigeria.

Fulani herdsmen killed six Christians on Friday and Saturday in Benue state, Nigeria, after slaughtering 15 Christians in a nearby village two days earlier, sources said.

We know…we’ve been remiss, and it’s time to talk about the elephant in the room. Something Wild, as you know, is a chance to take a closer look at the wildlife, ecosystems and marvelous phenomena you can find in and around New Hampshire. But over the years there is one species in New Hampshire that we haven’t spent much time examining. A species, I think that has been conspicuous in its absence. Humans. So we’re grabbing the bull by the horns and digging in to a complex species that is an important part of the ecosystem. And we thought we’d start with a particular trait that’s been with us almost since the beginning: olfaction. The sense of smell among other sensory systems are relatively unchanged throughout mammalian history. As Nate Dominy, professor of anthropology and biological sciences at Dartmouth, says, “a lot of the traits we see in mammals are retention of those basic traits.” Dominy suggested our olfactory sense was really important to our proto-mammalian ancestors. Picture

UK assessment of technology-critical minerals and metals  British Geological Survey

The seventh blind test of crystal structure prediction (CSP) methods substantially increased the level of complexity of the target compounds relative to the previous tests organized by the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre. In this work, the performance of density-functional methods is assessed using numerical atomic orbitals and the exchange-hole dipole moment dispersion correction (XDM) for the energy-ranking phase of the seventh blind test. Overall, excellent performance was seen for the two rigid molecules (XXVII, XXVIII) and for the organic salt (XXXIII). However, for the agrochemical (XXXI) and pharmaceutical (XXXII) targets, the experimental polymorphs were ranked fairly high in energy amongst the provided candidate structures and inclusion of thermal free-energy corrections from the lattice vibrations was found to be essential for compound XXXI. Based on these results, it is proposed that the importance of vibrational free-energy corrections increases with the number of rotatable bonds.

This study validates the feasibility of applying a smearing method for the multi-slit very small angle neutron scattering instrument (MS-VSANS) at the China Spallation Neutron Source. Through analysis limited to a vertical range of 8 mm, the study demonstrates consistency between the predicted smearing function and experimental data, marking a significant milestone in utilizing real data from such instruments.

Besides traditional pinhole geometry, the multi-slit very small angle neutron scattering instrument (MS-VSANS) at the China Spallation Neutron Source also utilizes a multi-slit collimation system to focus neutrons. Using the special focusing structures, the minimum scattering vector magnitude (q) can reach 0.00028 Å−1. The special structures also lead to a significantly different smearing function. By comparing the results of theoretical calculations with experimental data, we have validated the feasibility of a smearing method based on a mature theory for slit smearing. We use the weight-averaged intensity of neutron wavelength as a representative to evaluate the effect from a broad wavelength distribution, concentrating on the effect from the geometry of the multi-slit structures and the detector. The consistency of the theoretical calculation of the smearing function with experimental VSANS scattering profiles for a series of polystyrene standards of different diameters proves the feasibility of the smearing method. This marks the inaugural use of real experimental data from an instrument employing a multi-slit collimation system.

Starting from [Mn(C5H4Br)(PPh3)(CO)2] (1a), the cymantrenyl thio­ethers [Mn(C5H4SMe)(PPh3)(CO)2] (1b) and [Mn{C5H4–nBr(SMe)n}(PPh3)(CO)2] (n = 1 for com­pound 2, n = 2 for 3 and n = 3 for 4) were obtained, using either n-butyllithium (n-BuLi), lithium diiso­propyl­amide (LDA) or lithium tetra­methyl­piperidide (LiTMP) as base, followed by electrophilic quenching with MeSSMe. Stepwise consecutive reaction of [Mn(C5Br5)(PPh3)(CO)2] with n-BuLi and MeSSMe led finally to [Mn{C5(SMe)5}(PPh3)(CO)2] (11), only the fifth com­plex to be reported containing a perthiol­ated cyclo­penta­dienyl ring. The mol­ecular and crystal structures of 1b, 3, 4 and 11 were determined and were studied for the occurrence of S⋯S and S⋯Br inter­actions. It turned out that although some inter­actions of this type occurred, they were of minor importance for the arrangement of the mol­ecules in the crystal.

For a reliable characterization of materials and systems featuring multiple structural levels, a broad length scale from a few ångström to hundreds of nanometres must be analyzed and an extended Q range must be covered in X-ray and neutron scattering experiments. For certain samples or effects, it is advantageous to perform such characterization with a single instrument. Neutrons offer the unique advantage of contrast variation and matching by D-labeling, which is of great value in the characterization of natural or synthetic polymers. Some time-of-flight small-angle neutron scattering (TOF-SANS) instruments at neutron spallation sources can cover an extended Q range by using a broad wavelength band and a multitude of detectors. The detectors are arranged to cover a wide range of scattering angles with a resolution that allows both large-scale morphology and crystalline structure to be resolved simultaneously. However, for such analyses, the SANS instruments at steady-state sources operating in conventional monochromatic pinhole mode rely on additional wide-angle neutron scattering (WANS) detectors. The resolution must be tuned via a system of choppers and a TOF data acquisition option to reliably measure the atomic to mesoscale structures. The KWS-2 SANS diffractometer at Jülich Centre for Neutron Science allows the exploration of a wide Q range using conventional pinhole and lens focusing modes and an adjustable resolution Δλ/λ between 2 and 20%. This is achieved through the use of a versatile mechanical velocity selector combined with a variable slit opening and rotation frequency chopper. The installation of WANS detectors planned on the instrument required a detailed analysis of the quality of the data measured over a wide angular range with variable resolution. This article presents an assessment of the WANS performance by comparison with a McStas [Willendrup, Farhi & Lefmann (2004). Physica B, 350, E735–E737] simulation of ideal experimental conditions at the instrument.

Presented here is an effective approach to desmearing slit ultra-small-angle neutron scattering (USANS) data, based on complementary small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements, leading to a seamless merging of these data sets. The study focuses on the methodological aspects of desmearing USANS data, which can then be presented in the conventional manner of SANS, enabling a broader pool of data analysis methods. The key innovation lies in the use of smeared SANS data for extrapolating slit USANS, offering a self-consistent integrand function for desmearing with Lake's iterative method. The proposed approach is validated through experimental data on porous anodized aluminium oxide membranes, showcasing its applicability and benefits. The findings emphasize the importance of accurate desmearing for merging USANS and SANS data in the crossover q region, which is particularly crucial for complex scattering patterns.

The National Research Council today released its assessment of U.S. doctoral programs, which includes data on over 5,000 programs in 62 fields at 212 universities nationwide.

While scientists have made remarkable advancements in astronomy and astrophysics since the beginning of this decade – notably the first detection of gravitational waves and the discovery of distant Earth-like planets – unforeseen constraints have slowed progress toward reaching some of the priorities and goals outlined in the Academies’ 2010 decadal survey of these disciplines, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

A new book from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine outlines how educators can develop and adapt student assessments for the classroom that reflect the approach to learning and teaching science described in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and similar standards.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is making progress toward achieving its statutory mission and goals, says a new congressionally mandated report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

The Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine today announced grant awards for seven new projects totaling $5.3 million.

The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to review the draft Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) – a congressionally mandated report that evaluates the state of climate science and the broad range of impacts of climate change in the United States every four years – and the draft Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR2) – a report that feeds into the overall assessment process developed by the USGCRP.

Sexual harassment in science, engineering, and medicine diminishes the integrity of the U.S. research enterprise.

Introducing drone operations into the nation’s airspace can provide substantial benefits to society, such as preventing derailments, inspecting cell phone towers, delivering medical devices to patients in cardiac distress, and assisting firefighters, says a new congressionally mandated report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

A systemwide change to the culture and climate in higher education is needed to prevent and effectively respond to sexual harassment, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.