Railroad studies

These figures can be used for predictive purposes to extrapolate average major incident conditions to situations under study, provided the actual conditions under study correspond reasonably well with average major incident conditions. Such a condition may be broadly described as a spill of some tens of tons of a hydrocarbon in an environment with local concentrations of obstructions and/or partial confinement, for example, the site of an average refinery or chemical plant with dense process equipment or the site of a railroad marshaling yard with a large number of closely parked rail cars. It must be emphasized that the TNT equivalencies listed above should not be used in situations in which average major incident conditions do not apply. 

Existing or possible future railroads and highways adjacent to the plant must be known in order to be able to plan rail sidings and access roads within the plant. Railroad spurs, roadways of the correct capacity and location, and an overall master track and road plan of the plant area should be provided for in a traffic study. 

The fireflies, railroad worms, and click beetles use the same luciferin in their luminescence reactions. Recent studies on the railroad worms and the click beetles have greatly contributed to the biochemical understanding of the firefly bioluminescence (see Section 1.2). Concerning luminous Diptera, significant progress has been made only recently. 

DOT (1997). Federal Highway Cost Allocation Study 1997. US Department of Transportation, in co-operation with the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration and the Federal Railroad Administration. Washington, DC Department of Transportation. 

Very few human data are available to assess the long-term effects of amitrole. In a small-cohort study of Swedish railroad workers, there was a statistically significant excess of all cancers among those exposed to both amitrole and chlorophenoxy herbicides (6 deaths vs. 2.9 expected) but not among those exposed primarily to amitrole (5 deaths vs. 3.3 expected). ... 

There is little reported information on industrial exposure, although chronic inflammation of the upper respiratory tract has been described in a worker exposed to hot vapor arising from oxalic acid. Ingestion of as little as 5 g has caused fatalities there is rapid onset of shock, collapse, and convulsions. The convulsions are thought to be the result of hypocalcemia due to the calcium-complexing action of oxalic acid, which depresses the level of ionized calcium in body fluids. Marked renal damage from deposition of calcium oxalate may occur. A study of railroad car cleaners with heavy exposure to oxalic acid solutions found an increased incidence of urinary stones. There was a 53% incidence of urolithiasis in exposed workers compared with a rate of 12% in unexposed workers from the same company. ... 

Thomas GR, Raslear TG, Kuehn GI. The Effects of Work Schedule on Train Handling Performance and Sleep of Locomotive Engineers A Simulator Study. Washington, DC Federal Railroad Administration., 1997. 

The medium-speed diesel (railroad locomotive, marine engines) appears to be another potential application for SRC-II coal liquids to displace petroleum fuels. Other applications being studied by potential users include the automotive turbine, reheat furnace fuel in the steel industry and reformer feedstock for fuel cells. All in all, the products to be derived from coal liquefaction processes like SRC-II can, over time, displace a portion of our requirements for imported petroleum in a variety of end uses. 

Liu X., Fehn U., and Teng R. T. D. (1997) Oil formation and fluid convection in Railroad Valley, NV a study using cosmogenic isotopes to determine the onset of hydrocarbon migration. Nucl. Instr. Meth. Phys. Res. B123, 356—360. 

The first-year study in Railroad Valley, conducted in 1984, consisted of a regional lineament evaluation made from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery and regional soil-gas probe sampling to identify areas of significant hydrocarbon seepage (Jones, et al. 1985). Railroad Valley was chosen for this research study because of the excellent surface expression of structural features. 

This study in Railroad Valley demonstrates a unique surface geochemical expression of one particular lineament, herein named the Currant Lineament, which appears to have a dramatic effect on the commercial possibilities for a subsurface oil deposit. The noncommercial Currant No. 1 well is located just to the southeast of a NE-SW linear feature, which crosses the valley through the town of Currant in northern part of Railroad Valley. The location of this lineament is obvious on all of the regional remote-sensing products. Although the lineament is dramatically expressed both northeast and southwest of Currant, it is not as obvious in the centre of the study area. Even more detailed aerial... 

Burtell, S.G., Jones, V.T., S.G., Hodgson, R.A., Okada, K., Ohhashi, T., Kuniyasu, M. Ando, T, and Komai, J., 1986. Remote sensing and surface geochemical study of Railroad Valley, Nye County, Nevada - detailed grid study. Presented at Fifth Thematic Conference, Remote Sensing for Exploration Geology, Reno, Nevada, September 29 - October 2. 

Metals are widely used for structural purposes in buildings, cars, railroads, ships, and aircraft. They also serve as conductors of heat and electricity. Medical and nutritional research during recent decades has provided much insight into important biological functions of metals. The metals Na, K, Ca, and Mg, as well as some nonmetals (C, H, O, N, P, and S), are present in the human body in substantial quantities. Many other metals are present in lesser quantities in the human body, but they are essential to our well-being (see essay Trace Elements and Life in Chapter 23). In this chapter, we shall study the occurrence of metals and examine processes for obtaining metals from their ores. 

Gastrointestinal Effects. Few studies regarding gastrointestinal effects after inhalation exposure were located. In humans, Kilburn (1994) describes vague gastrointestinal effects in four patients who had been occupationally exposed to formaldehyde for 14-30 years. Three of the patients were anatomists and were exposed to formalin the fourth was a railroad worker who worked next to a wood-products factory that used large quantities of phenol-formaldehyde resins. Intestinal cramps with flatus and bloody stools was one of many nonspecific effects noted in this small population. 

---