FORCES ON THE LUMBAR SPINE DURING THE PARALLEL SQUAT

INTRODUCTION The benefits of the parallel squat include enhanced lower body musculature, the development of explosive strength, and an increase in ligament and tendon strength. These benefits tend to overshadow the fact that squatting places excessive stress on the musculoskeletal system (Shirazi-Adl, 1994). The purpose of this study was to determine the compression, torsion, and shear forces on the lumbar spine during the patallel squat for experienced and recreational weight men. llventy male subjects were divided into two groups based on experience with the parallel squat. Each subject was f h e d lifting 5 repetitions of 4 weight loads (45 lbs, 225 lbs, body weight (BW), 1.25xBW). The last repetition for each weight load was digitized. A MANOVA was used to determine differences (

A Holistic Look at Minimizing Adverse Environmental Impact Under Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act

Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) requires that “the location, design, construction, and capacity of cooling water intake structures reflect the best technology available for minimizing adverse environmental impact.” As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) develops new regulations to implement Section 316(b), much of the debate has centered on adverse impingement and entrainment impacts of cooling-water intake structures. Depending on the specific location and intake layout, once-through cooling systems withdrawing many millions of gallons of water per day can, to a varying degree, harm fish and other aquatic organisms in the water bodies from which the cooling water is withdrawn. Therefore, opponents of once-through cooling systems have encouraged the EPA to require wet or dry cooling tower systems as the best technology available (BTA), without considering site-specific conditions

USE of Mine Pool Water for Power Plant Cooling.

Water and energy production issues intersect in numerous ways. Water is produced along with oil and gas, water runs off of or accumulates in coal mines, and water is needed to operate steam electric power plants and hydropower generating facilities. However, water and energy are often not in the proper balance. For example, even if water is available in sufficient quantities, it may not have the physical and chemical characteristics suitable for energy or other uses. This report provides preliminary information about an opportunity to reuse an overabundant water source--ground water accumulated in underground coal mines--for cooling and process water in electric generating facilities. The report was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), which has implemented a water/energy research program (Feeley and Ramezan 2003). Among the topics studied under that program is the availability and use of ''non-traditional sources'' of water for use at power plants. This report supports NETL's water/energy research program

Policing the community together: the impact of technology on citizen engagement

Despite broad and often varied underlying definitions, a common theme throughout community and neighbourhood policing strategies establishes the need to target improvements in the relationship and level of engagement between the police and the communities they serve. Community policing approaches have long underpinned a desire to move away from reactive policing models towards those which establish a more proactive philosophy, responsive to the wants and needs of the community. The near ubiquitous proliferation of smartphones and other ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) means they are often seen as a vector through which initiatives of all kinds can instil a culture of proactive engagement with their respective stakeholder communities. This paper builds upon existing research which suggests that technologies for crime prevention should be designed to support communications and problem-solving rather than used simply as a means to disseminate information, unpacking a number of the core concepts that are considered central to participation and effective engagement; social capital, public participation and social and digital inclusion. Moreover, examples of wider initiatives are comparatively discussed, not just those associated with community policing, which target the engagement of communities through the use of technology, and more specifically mobile applications, before reflecting on the empirical evidence and experiences gleaned through the EU H2020 funded ‘UNITY’ project, a project that sought to establish effective strategies for engagement between police and citizen communities

Disposal of NORM Waste in Salt Caverns

Some types of oil and gas production and processing wastes contain naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM). If NORM is present at concentrations above regulatory levels in oil field waste, the waste requires special disposal practices. The existing disposal options for wastes containing NORM are limited and costly. This paper evaluates the legality, technical feasibility, economics, and human health risk of disposing of NORM-contaminated oil field wastes in salt caverns. Cavern disposal of NORM waste is technically feasible and poses a very low human health risk. From a legal perspective, there are no fatal flaws that would prevent a state regulatory agency from approving cavern disposal of NORM. On the basis of the costs charged by caverns currently used for disposal of nonhazardous oil field waste (NOW), NORM waste disposal caverns could be cost competitive with existing NORM waste disposal methods when regulatory agencies approve the practice

Disposal of NORM-contaminated oil field wastes in salt caverns -- Legality, technical feasibility, economics, and risk

Some types of oil and gas production and processing wastes contain naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM). If NORM is present at concentrations above regulatory levels in oil field waste, the waste requires special disposal practices. The existing disposal options for wastes containing NORM are limited and costly. This paper evaluates the legality, technical feasibility, economics, and human health risk of disposing of NORM-contaminated oil field wastes in salt caverns. Cavern disposal of NORM waste is technically feasible and poses a very low human health risk. From a legal perspective, there are no fatal flaws that would prevent a state regulatory agency from approaching cavern disposal of NORM. On the basis of the costs charged by caverns currently used for disposal of nonhazardous oil field waste (NOW), NORM waste disposal caverns could be cost competitive with existing NORM waste disposal methods when regulatory agencies approve the practice

Risk-shifting Through Issuer Liability and Corporate Monitoring

This article explores how issuer liability re-allocates fraud risk and how risk allocation may reduce the incidence of fraud. In the US, the apparent absence of individual liability of officeholders and insufficient monitoring by insurers under-mine the potential deterrent effect of securities litigation. The underlying reasons why both mechanisms remain ineffective are collective action problems under the prevailing dispersed ownership structure, which eliminates the incentives to moni-tor set by issuer liability. This article suggests that issuer liability could potentially have a stronger deterrent effect when it shifts risk to individuals or entities holding a larger financial stake. Thus, it would enlist large shareholders in monitoring in much of Europe. The same risk-shifting effect also has implications for the debate about the relationship between securities litigation and creditor interests. Credi-tors’ claims should not be given precedence over claims of defrauded investors (e.g., because of the capital maintenance principle), since bearing some of the fraud risk will more strongly incentivise large creditors, such as banks, to monitor the firm in jurisdictions where corporate debt is relatively concentrated

Energy Penalty Analysis of Possible Cooling Water Intake Structure Requirements on Existing Coal-Fired Power Plants.

Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act requires that cooling water intake structures must reflect the best technology available for minimizing adverse environmental impact. Many existing power plants in the United States utilize once-through cooling systems to condense steam. Once-through systems withdraw large volumes (often hundreds of millions of gallons per day) of water from surface water bodies. As the water is withdrawn, fish and other aquatic organisms can be trapped against the screens or other parts of the intake structure (impingement) or if small enough, can pass through the intake structure and be transported through the cooling system to the condenser (entrainment). Both of these processes can injure or kill the organisms. EPA adopted 316(b) regulations for new facilities (Phase I) on December 18, 2001. Under the final rule, most new facilities could be expected to install recirculating cooling systems, primarily wet cooling towers. The EPA Administrator signed proposed 316(b) regulations for existing facilities (Phase II) on February 28, 2002. The lead option in this proposal would allow most existing facilities to achieve compliance without requiring them to convert once-through cooling systems to recirculating systems. However, one of the alternate options being proposed would require recirculating cooling in selected plants. EPA is considering various options to determine best technology available. Among the options under consideration are wet-cooling towers and dry-cooling towers. Both types of towers are considered to be part of recirculating cooling systems, in which the cooling water is continuously recycled from the condenser, where it absorbs heat by cooling and condensing steam, to the tower, where it rejects heat to the atmosphere before returning to the condenser. Some water is lost to evaporation (wet tower only) and other water is removed from the recirculating system as a blow down stream to control the building up of suspended and dissolved solids. Makeup water is withdrawn, usually from surface water bodies, to replace the lost water. The volume of makeup water is many times smaller than the volume needed to operate a once-through system. Although neither the final new facility rule nor the proposed existing facility rule require dry cooling towers as the national best technology available, the environmental community and several States have supported the use of dry-cooling technology as the appropriate technology for addressing adverse environmental impacts. It is possible that the requirements included in the new facility rule and the ongoing push for dry cooling systems by some stakeholders may have a role in shaping the rule for existing facilities. The temperature of the cooling water entering the condenser affects the performance of the turbine--the cooler the temperature, the better the performance. This is because the cooling water temperature affects the level of vacuum at the discharge of the steam turbine. As cooling water temperatures decrease, a higher vacuum can be produced and additional energy can be extracted. On an annual average, once-through cooling water has a lower temperature than recirculated water from a cooling tower. By switching a once-through cooling system to a cooling tower, less energy can be generated by the power plant from the same amount of fuel. This reduction in energy output is known as the energy penalty. If a switch away from once-through cooling is broadly implemented through a final 316(b) rule or other regulatory initiatives, the energy penalty could result in adverse effects on energy supplies. Therefore, in accordance with the recommendations of the Report of the National Energy Policy Development Group (better known as the May 2001 National Energy Policy), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), through its Office of Fossil Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), has studied the energy penalty resulting from converting plants with once-through cooling to wet towers or indirect-dry towers. Five locations--Delaware River Basin (Philadelphia), Michigan/Great Lakes (Detroit), Ohio River Valley (Indianapolis), South (Atlanta), and Southwest (Yuma)--were modeled using an ASPEN simulator model. The model evaluated the performance and energy penalty for hypothetical 400-MW coal-fired plants that were retrofitted from using once-through cooling systems to wet- and dry-recirculating systems. The modeling was initially done to simulate the hottest time of the year using temperature input values that are exceeded only 1 percent of the time between June through September at each modeled location. These are the same temperature inputs commonly used by cooling tower designers to ensure that towers perform properly under most climatic conditions