Coal Region Research Articles

“Fresh” Thoughts on Studying Sexual Assault

In the 1960s and 1970s, feminists used to talk about having a “click” moment when they realized that some personal experience had political implications—thus the slogan, “The personal is political.” When I started graduate school in the late 1970s, I was drawn to studying sexual assault. I had been a declared feminist since high school as the Women’s Movement even reached the coal region of eastern Pennsylvania! Attending college in New York City, with its myriad opportunities for more exposure to what feminists were up to, made me increasingly aware that violence against women was a greater problem than had been acknowledged up to that point. In light of all the studies that have been conducted since, it is amazing to think how little systematic research existed back then. Under my advisor’s guidance, I started to read everything I could find, a lot of which consisted of Freudian treatises on women’s desire to be raped. But what had the greatest impact on me (besides Susan Brownmiller’s, 1976, classic, Against Our Will) were books containing personal testimonials of women’s rape experiences. In the middle of reading one of these, I had my own “click” moment. Quite suddenly and startlingly, I found myself reliving an encounter from my early teenage years. A boy whom I knew quite well, having attended elementary school with him, offered to walk me home from a dance one summer night. Being well socialized into fearing strangers jumping out of bushes, I gladly went along, especially since said boy was a football player who could undoubtedly protect me from any nasty bush-hiding monsters. Said boy had also been drinking with friends before the dance. At this point I hardly need to finish the story, except for one detail. My mother had briefly mentioned at one point that I should always carry a hat pin with me in case some boy ever got “fresh.” Frankly, I was not really sure what that meant, but I learned pretty quickly that night that “fresh” could mean “attempted rape,” and said boy learned what kind of damage a hat pin could do. Having that “aha” experience in graduate school set the stage for a lot of the research I have undertaken since then, particularly related to alcohol and sexual assault and women’s sexual assault resistance. In this article, I will discuss how my own work in these areas developed with reference to two highly cited papers published in Psychology of Women Quarterly (Norris & Cubbins, 1992; Norris, Nurius, & Dimeff, 1996) as well as my other research, how my work fits into the general body of current research on these topics, and where we might go from here. Please find the original articles at http://pwq.sagepub.com/content/16/2/179 and http://pwq.sagepub.com/content/20/1/123. In particular, I would like to address three dilemmas that feminist researchers face in addressing these topics. These dilemmas focus on three areas: (a) what my colleagues and I termed the “cognitive tightrope” (Norris et al., 1996), (b) contradictory messages that women receive about drinking, and (c) how to avoid victim blaming but still empower women to assertively resist sexual assault.

Human altered ecosystems: suitable habitats as well as ecological traps for dragonflies (Odonata): the matter of scale

Habitat loss and degradation can be considered as major threats to freshwater invertebrates. These often irreversible processes lead to reduction of habitat patch quality and cause local extinctions of dragonflies, notably of habitat specialists. However, the biodiversity of specific secondary habitats is very high. Here, we present findings from a 10-year study that intensively monitored odonate fauna in the Upper Silesian industrial coal region having many secondary habitats characterized by very frequent disturbances due to soil instability. We evaluated qualitative changes in the dragonfly assemblages on 10 patches using a modified dragonfly biotic index. Data analysis was supplemented by a model examining population dynamics of the threatened dragonfly Leucorrhinia pectoralis, using the capture-mark-recapture method, as an effective indicator of habitat quality. We show that dynamics of environmental conditions in secondary habitats are reflected in population dynamics of dragonfly populations and assemblages. As frequency of L. pectoralis population extinctions within the patch is considerable and independent of size and spatial isolation of single habitats, these can be regarded as ecological traps. Nevertheless, the metapopulation dynamics may be a key adaptation of dragonflies to frequent freshwater habitat disturbances. We suggest that local extinctions are effectively balanced with (re-)colonization of newly emerging freshwater habitats. These findings have implications for potential conservation management of specific human-made habitats, because secondary habitats with a great diversity of succession stages arising directly as a consequence of environmental instability may be considered as partial alternatives to natural habitats in cultural landscapes.

Analysis on Coal-control Structural Style in Coal Regions of Northwest China

Because of the weakness of studying on coal-control structural styles in coal-bearing zones in Northwest China, coal resources exploration often falls into a passive situation and survey results are affected. Through the analysis of coal basement features, late regional fault systems and distribution characteristics of coal measures, seven typical coal-control structural styles are summarized and determined, and their genetic mechanism is analyzed comprehensively and scientifically based on the structure framework “five belts” and “three blocks”. Especially the gentle slope overthrust-type structural style is a new understanding to coal structure features, expanding the scope of searching for coal. The study results have theoretical significance for guiding the exploration of coal resources and improving the effectiveness of geological exploration; practical significance for ensuring large-scale coal bases construction and speeding up westward movement of coal industry.

Investigation on the Health Status of Coal Miners in Shanxi Province

PP-30-031 Background/Aims: Shanxi province is the main coal region in China. There were a great deal of coal miners in Shanxi Province, and the health status of coal miners should be caught our attention. The study could explore the occupational health status of the coal workers in Shanxi Province. Methods: A total of 500 male coal miners working on coal digging and 250 male office workers in the same coal mine for 1 year were selected as exposure and control group, respectively. The personal health information, including the demographic status, occupational status, and diet, were collected with face-to-face interview conducted by the trained technician. We also monitored the concentration of the coal dust in the coal mine and reviewed the exposure history to the dust and symptoms for related occupational disease of the subjects. Results: The average age of the subjects was 38.47 ± 10.47 years old (range, 19–59 years). The age distribution, working years on the mine, and food style were not significant difference between exposure and control groups. The range of total dust concentrations were 0.5–69 mg/m3 (national criterion is 8 mg/m3) and range of respirable dust concentrations were 0.2–5.0 mg/m3 (national criterion is 5 mg/m3) in the working environment. The symptom-related dust exposures such as cough, sputum, tired, memory letdown, joint ache, and audition descending were obviously increased in the miners who were over 35 years and in miners who had worked in the mine over 5 years (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The health status of coal miners were obviously not good and associated with the working years for coal digging in the mine.

&lt;i&gt;Mine Towns: Buildings for Workers in Michigan’s Copper Country&lt;/i&gt; (review)

Reviewed by: Mine Towns: Buildings for Workers in Michigan’s Copper Country Jack Williams (bio) Alison K. Hoagland Mine Towns: Buildings for Workers in Michigan’s Copper Country Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010. 328 pages. 115 black-and-white illustrations. ISBN 978-0-8166-6566-2, $75.00 HB ISBN 978-0-8166-6567-9, $25.00 PB America’s industrial landscapes contain many evocative clusters of subsidized housing built by a parent company for its workers. Usually peripheral to a company’s manufacturing or mining structures, these modest worker dwellings serve as physical reminders of the difficult and sometimes dramatic struggles of their inhabitants for dignity and equality. Often these clusters are all that remain after the demolition of the main industrial structures. Their at times monotonous similarity renders them intelligible within an often grim and marginalized context. Even individualized changes over time, such as porch additions or wrappings of vinyl or asphalt siding, cannot disguise their once standardized construction and simple site plans. Familiar examples exist in most regions of the United States, like the alphabetized streets of the mill community of Whitinsville, Massachusetts, or the unrelenting streets of repetitive housing forms in the mining towns of Pennsylvania’s anthracite coal region. Mill communities in the South such as Monroe, Georgia, have row upon row of “shot-gun” houses whose tiny pedimented entrances front tree-lined streets. Southern New England’s larger former textile centers have entire neighborhoods of ubiquitous “triple deckers,” long blocks of matched multifamily dwellings. The discovery of these forgotten fragments of replicated worker housing reveals other deeply hidden layers of history. The most famous, and beautiful, example is the failed social experiment of Pullman, Illinois, south of Chicago. Pullman’s attractive brick row houses and hierarchical streets and squares make a harmonious urban composition envied today by planners and architects, in spite of its deeply flawed paternalism. The repetition of housing forms in these and other examples suggest a complex urban ambiguity. On the one hand, repetition negates individuality, reducing inhabitants to faceless cogs in the vast impersonal machinery of nineteenth-century industrial capitalism. Yet these same forms also tell a different story—of individuals joined together into communities that offered hope and resilience. The resolution of the tension between repetitive parts that perhaps constitutes a larger whole and the expression of the individual though his or her private dwelling is the essence of successful urbanism. In this thoughtful, rigorously researched book, Alison K. Hoagland addresses this ambiguity through discovery and discussion of unique company towns in Michigan’s northern peninsula. She finds her evidence in housing and other aspects of the area’s material culture—schools, churches, libraries, and other communal structures—and weaves a fascinating tale of immigrant workers that brings alive the people and communities that labored in the region’s copper mines in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Because Hoagland describes modest buildings that have often been demolished, the book relies heavily on plans and historic photographs. Mine Towns is unusually rich and graphically complete, with many illustrations that are well explained and thoughtfully integrated with the text. The author’s grasp of the subtleties of architectural spaces inferred from plans is remarkable and rewards a close study of her thorough research. After a brief introduction to the Copper Country of the upper Michigan peninsula, Hoagland discusses the different typologies of the region’s worker housing, such as “saltboxes and T-plans.” By interpreting historic plans and photographs, her writing exposes the daily lives of immigrant families and their different living arrangements. Poignant photographs capture the sparseness of the interior furnishings of these homes; Hoagland’s writing explains the incredible crowding. The density of boarders within such limited spaces recalls the conditions of New York’s Lower East Side tenements. She notes that workers may have shared the same beds in shifts corresponding to their working hours. In “Acquiring Conveniences” (chapter 4), she elaborates housing modernizations such as interior plumbing, central heating, and electrical services in fascinating detail and provides an insightful history of the conveniences we take for granted today. As many of these [End Page 103] changes to the interiors of dwellings took place within...

The evolution of the international steam coal market

PurposeThe objective of this paper is to analyse the evolution of international steam coal trade, the nature of coal trade contracts and the pricing mechanism in the two main coal trading regions – the Atlantic and the Asia‐Pacific, from the early 1980s to recent years. The historical developments and future directions of the market are discussed.Design/methodology/approachThe past developments of the international steam coal market is first reviewed and then compared to the four stages in the development of the international crude oil market in terms of trade and pricing, as identified in Roeber.FindingsThe four stages in the development of a mature spot market are: appearance of the need for short‐term physical balancing, availability of price reporting and transparency, price feedback from short‐term prices to long‐term prices and emergence of risk management instruments. It is found that the international steam coal market has already gone through the first three stages and is progressing in stage four. A mature spot market for steam coal is in prospect.Originality/valueThis paper provides a structured review of the development of the international steam coal market. It provides industry information to policymakers, academics and modellers who need a comprehensive understanding of the international steam coal market.

Estimating long-term world coal production with logit and probit transforms

An estimate for world coal production in the long run would be helpful for developing policies for alternative energy sources and for climate change. This production has often been estimated from reserves that are calculated from measurements of coal seams. We show that where the estimates based on reserves can be tested in mature coal regions, they have been too high, and that more accurate estimates can be made by curve fits to the production history. These curve fits indicate that total world production, including past and future production, will be 680 Gt. The historical range for these fits made on an annual basis from 1995 to 2009 is 653 Gt to 749 Gt, 14% in percentage terms. The curve fits also indicate that 90% of the total production will have taken place by 2070. This gives the time scale for considering alternatives. This estimate for total production is somewhat less than the current reserves plus cumulative production, 1163 Gt, and very much less than the amount of coal that the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, assumes is available for its scenarios. The maximum cumulative coal production through 2100 in an IPCC scenario is 3500 Gt.

Grassed waterway planning model evaluated for agricultural fields in the western coal field physiographic region of Kentucky

Precision conservation technologies can provide useful information to producers and conservationists as they develop crop management plans in agricultural systems. A recent study proposed a statistical model for waterway planning on a farm in the Outer Bluegrass physiographic region of Kentucky. The logistic regression model identified where channel erosion was likely to occur based on elevation-derived terrain attributes. The objective of this study was to test that model in fields located in the Western Coal Fields physiographic region, where soils differ substantially. Elevation measurements were collected across four fields with a real-time kinematic global positioning system in this region of Kentucky and were processed to calculate terrain attributes for each field. Model predictions corresponded well with known areas of concentrated flow erosion (i.e., maps of existing waterways, surface drains, and observations of erosion). Observations of the individual terrain attributes used to calculate the probability of erosion suggested that all terrain attributes were important. However, only one or two attributes were observed to be useful for predicting existing waterways or eroded areas at each location. Average misclassification rates for areas of the study fields outside existing waterway boundaries (11%) were comparable to the previous study conducted in the Outer Bluegrass Region (14%) where the model was developed. Areas of the study fields inside existing waterway boundaries had a higher average misclassification rate (45%), which was greater than the previous study (16%); however, visual observations revealed that the model successfully identified the general shapes of existing waterways. The geographic inference space of the waterway planning model was larger than expected, as it appeared to be applicable across a broader region of Kentucky than initially anticipated. As found in similar studies on the coincidence of eroded areas with terrain attributes, the modeling procedure evaluated herein appeared to have the potential to be an effective tool to help conservationists identify areas where waterways should be located on some Kentucky landscapes.

Monitoring subsidence effects in the urban area of Zonguldak Hardcoal Basin of Turkey by InSAR-GIS integration

Abstract. Zonguldak Hardcoal Basin is the largest bituminous coal region in Turkey where extensive underground mining activity exists. Because of this activity subsidence effects have been experienced in different locations of the city. In this study, surface deformations caused by the subsidence have been observed by D-InSAR technique using C-Band RADARSAT data. InSAR data process of 16 RADARSAT images acquired between 24 July 2005–23 October 2006 has resulted in significant deformations in the order of about 6 cm in the most populated region of the city. The deformation map obtained has been integrated with digitized mine production maps and Quickbird Orthoimage into GIS. According to GIS analysis, there are three mine seams at different levels driven below the deformed zone. Many governmental and private buildings located in this area have a high potential risk of subsidence damage. Also, this area covers approximately 12 km of transportation routes.

Cryogenic engineering, production and use of industrial gases, vacuum engineering

The experience of development and tests of the world’s first container-type power plant having a Stirling engine operating on coal methane has been generalized. An analysis has been made of the prospects of Russia’s coal regions for producing coal methane as well as of the various technologies of coal methane utilization for electric power and heat generation. The prospects of use for these purposes of power plants having Stirling engines have been substantiated. Full-scale tests of the original design of the container (capsule) power plant having a Stirling engine have been performed. A foreign-made engine was used as the Stirling engine. The obtained test data open up enormous possibilities of development of distributed electrical power industry based on power plants having Stirling engines in coal regions of Russia and other countries of the world with utilization of a new alternative type of motor fuel, namely, coal methane.

English

Excess phosphorus (P) inputs from human sewage, animal feeding operations, and nonpoint source discharges to the environment have resulted in the eutrophication of sensitive receiving bodies of water such as the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay. Phosphorus loads in wastewater discharged from such sources can be decreased by conventional treatment with iron and aluminum salts but these chemical reagents are expensive or impractical for many applications. Acid mine drainage (AMD) sludges are an inexpensive source of iron and aluminum hydrous oxides that could offer an attractive alternative to chemical reagent dosing for the removal of P from local wastewater. Previous investigations have focused on AMD sludges generated in the bituminous coal region of western Pennsylvania, and confirmed that some of those sludges are good sorbents for P over a wide range of operating conditions. In this study, we sampled sludges produced by AMD treatment at six different sites in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania for potential use as P sequestration sorbents. Sludge samples were dried, characterized, and then tested for P removal from water. In addition, the concentrations of acid-extractable metals and other impurities were investigated. Test results revealed that sludges from four of the sites showed good P sorption and were unlikely to add contaminants to treated water. These results indicate that AMD sludges could be beneficially used to sequester P from the environment, while at the same time decreasing the expense of sludge disposal.

Reaction Time for Evacuating of the Personnel in Typical Coal Chemical Industry Region of China Based on ANFIS

To overcome the difficulties, because of the unpredictability, uncertainty and randomicity of the urgent accident, in addition to randomness and fuzzy attribute of personnel behavior, during doing the quantitative analysis for reaction time of people in emergency condition. In this paper, by using the results of widespread questionnaire, trained the Adaptive Neural Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), and conducted the research of reaction time for evacuating of the students in school in the typical coal chemical industry region of China. The research discovered that the ANFIS method may be use to forecasting the personnel reaction time for evacuating. Regarding many questions, whose internal regulations are very indistinct and complex, such as personnel evacuating action influenced by uncertainty of human's thought and the feared state of mind in the state of emergency, using ANFIS is one effective method.

Simulated water-washing of organic compounds from self-heated coal wastes of the Rymer Cones Dump (Upper Silesia Coal Region, Poland)

The products of coal waste self-heating were investigated as potential contaminants of groundwater. Simulated water-washing was carried out to establish the types of compounds leached from coal wastes. The results indicate that it is primarily phenols, hydroxybiphenyls, anilines, quinolines and lower molecular weight (MW) polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are transferred to the water phase. Compounds retaining the molecular structure of a parent-lignin coniferyl unit seem to be good indicators of pyrolysate component leaching.

Laboratory and Field-scale Evaluation of Low-pH Fe(II) Oxidation at Hughes Borehole, Portage, Pennsylvania

The Hughes Borehole is located in the bituminous coal region of south-central Pennsylvania and drains an underground mine complex of ca. 2,950 ha. The borehole discharge averages approximately 63 L/s of acidic (pH 4, 230 mg/L acidity) mine drainage that contains elevated concentrations of Fe(II) (100 mg/L). Long-term monitoring of the site showed that biological Fe(II) oxidation occurred without human intervention and, over previous decades, has produced a 0.6 ha iron mound up to 2 m deep. On-mound channel reactors along with laboratory-scale gutter reactors were constructed to determine conditions that can exploit biological Fe(II) oxidation for passive treatment. Dissolved Fe(II) was much more efficiently oxidized from gutter reactors that contained iron mound sediment than ones without any sediment. Close to 100% of the dissolved influent Fe(II) was oxidized in 5–10 h and 75% of the total dissolved Fe was removed. In addition, the reactors performed better as the sediment aged, so that shorter residence times of 1–2 h were also capable of oxidizing substantial amounts of the influent Fe(II). The addition of surface area to the on-mound reactors improved Fe(II) oxidation at residence times of 30 min or less. The results of this study can be used to help design and build treatment systems for low-pH acid mine drainage (AMD) discharges.

Promoting and Developing a Trail Network Across Suburban, Rural, and Urban Communities

The Wyoming Valley Wellness Trails Partnership received an Active Living by Design grant late in 2003 for a project centered on a growing trail network linking urban, suburban, and rural communities in northeast Pennsylvania, a former coal region, in order to increase physical activity among residents. The partnership conducted research, collected information, created promotional documents, worked with partners on events and programs, and participated in trail planning. Local trail organizations continued planning and construction toward developing a trail network. Other partners spearheaded policy change in schools and worksites and worked toward downtown revitalization. The partnership assisted these efforts by providing a forum in which organizations could meet. The partnership became a central resource for information about local parks, trails, and outdoor recreational activities. The partnership increased awareness and use of recreational facilities. Trail partners constructed 22 miles of walking and biking trails. The partnership took advantage of an allied effort that created organizational capacity for wellness in schools and worksites. Messages promoting social and entertainment benefits of physical activity were more successful than those promoting health benefits. The existence of multiple small, independent trail organizations can help advance trail development through concurrent development efforts. Urban, suburban, and rural residents' conceptions of walkability may differ. Trails provide options for recreational and transportation-related physical activity across urban, suburban, and rural landscapes that are supported by all constituents. Trail builders can be strong allies in bringing active living to suburban and rural places.

Co-Benefits and Coal: Pennsylvania’s Anthracite Region is Proving to be 'Renewable'

Energy production will likely remain dependent on coal in the future, especially in the United States and Pennsylvania where the resource is abundant. But renewable energy efforts may diminish the reliance on coal, especially with an increased focus on climate change and cries to “phase-out” fossil fuels. This paper details Pennsylvania's incentive-based alternative energy legislation and grant programs that are geared to economic considerations and catering to the coal industry, yet have sparked a local response that is creating renewable energy opportunities in the most unlikely of places: the Anthracite Coal Region. Financial incentives from Pennsylvania's legislation have been welcomed with open arms in the Anthracite Region, where the coal industry and renewable energy have developed a unique relationship. Overall, Pennsylvania’s focus on coal and the co-benefits of land remediation and job creation may renew the economically depressed and environmentally ravaged Anthracite Region. Pennsylvania’s state and local renewable energy efforts can serve as a model to improve the economy and combat climate change, but legislation in the future must also focus on reducing the impact of our continued reliance on coal.

Method to locate igneous rock intrusion of coal bed using P-wave data

Combined with impendence inversion method, seismic facies analysis and spectral decomposition technique, we can locate the intrusion area of igneous rock using P-wave data and well logging data. When magmatic rock directly intruded into coal bed, it is not very hard to locate the intrusion area by impendence inversion because of the existing of big impendence difference between coal bed and magmatic rock. Regarding coked coal region. How to map it has not been solved properly because of the small impendence difference between coal bed and cokeite. In this paper, we put forward an effective method to map the intrusion region by comprehensive contrasting of spectral decomposition technique, seismic facies analysis and impendence inversion technique. Then, this method was used to predict the intrusion area of igneous rock on Xuzhuang coal mine, and the predicted outcomes accord very well with validating drills.

Indication to distinguish the burst region of coal gas from seismic data

The velocity of an over-burst coal seam is about 1/3 compared to a normal coal seam based on laboratory test results. This can be considered as a basis to confirm the area of coal and gas burst by seismic exploration technique. Similarly, the simulation result of the theoretical seismic model shows that there is obvious distinction between over-burst coal and normal coal based on the coal reflection’s travel-time, energy and frequency. The results from the actual seismic data acquired in the coal and gas over-burst cases is consistent with that of the laboratory and seismic modeling; that is, in the coal and gas burst region, seismic reflection travel time is delayed, seismic amplitude is weakened and seismic frequency is reduced. Therefore, it can be concluded that seismic exploration technique is promising for use in distinguishing coal and gas over-burst regions based on the variation of seismic reflection travel time, amplitude and frequency.

Numerical simulation characteristics of unburned pulverised coal in blast furnace

With increasing rates of pulverised coal injection into blast furnaces, it is important to understand the flow characteristics of unburned coal. Under some operating conditions, the coal powder can be stagnant in certain regions of the furnace and its permeability deteriorates. Thus a model studying the behaviour of unburned coal was produced. In the model, the coal burning in the raceway is affected by oxygen content and temperature of the gas. The simulation results demonstrate that the accumulation region of unburned coal is in the lower part of the inverse cohesive zone, above and under the tuyeres, and in the hearth centre.

Topsoil Seed Bank of an Oak-Hickory Forest in Eastern Kentucky as a Restoration Tool on Surface Mines

Typical reclamation practices in the central Appalachian coal region often use compacted spoils as a topsoil replacement, and these soils are revegetated with aggressive grasses and legumes. This restoration approach results in an herbaceous-dominated landscape with limited natural succession by native flora. An alternative restoration method is to save topsoil prior to mining, stockpile it during mining, and then replace it on uncompacted spoils to “inoculate” the site with native plant species. In an effort to test this approach, vegetation assessments were performed at a relatively undisturbed forested site in Clay County, Kentucky, U.S.A. Eight 15 × 15–m plots were established, and soils from individual plots were used in seed bank studies both in the greenhouse and on loose-dumped mine spoils. Bulk soil samples were removed from the plots and subjected to cold stratification for 13 weeks, after which seeds were allowed to germinate under greenhouse conditions for 1 year. Additional topsoil (approximately 1.5 m3 from the upper 0–20 cm) was removed from the plots and replaced on fresh spoil in eight 2 × 5–m plots. Controls consisted of uncompacted spoil material substrate only. A total of 105 species emerged in the greenhouse from the seed bank. On the relocated topsoil, 69 species were recorded of which 39 were also observed in pre-mine vegetation surveys. Ten of the 17 most important pre-mine forested site species emerged from the relocated topsoil treatments on the mine site. Our results indicate that application of topsoil could enhance plant diversity and native species reestablishment on surface-mined lands.