No. 216 January 2001
MILITARY DOGS ADOPTION In 1973 Congress past a law allowing the adoption of wild horses and borros (see So You'd Like to Adopt issued in 1997 by the Bureau of Land Management, I 53.2:H78/15/997). Then, in 1999 the U.S. Plant and Animal Inspection Service promoted the adoption of Beagles which were no longer needed by that agency (see the October 2000 issue of this newsletter). Now, as of December 2000, Public Law 106-446 allows the adoption of retired military working dogs. Adding Section 2582 amended chapter 153 of Title 10 of the United States Code (Y 1.2/5:) "Military Working Dogs: transfer and adoption at end of useful working life". Previously, all of these dogs were euthanized upon the end of their service. Now, upon the dogs’ retirement the unit commander and a military veterinarian evaluate their adoptability. Law enforcement agencies, former handlers, or other persons capable of humanely caring for these dogs can adopt them. There will be an annual report to congress with the statistics of the number of dogs adopted, the number waiting to be adopted, and the number euthanized. The report shall contain, with respect to each euthanized military dog, an explanation of the reasons why the dog was euthanized rather than retained for adoption.
THE PLACES ECONOMIC TIME LEFT BEHIND There are many major cities among the 539 covered in a recent HUD study which were left behind and not a part of the Urban America's economic prosperity of the Clinton era. The HUD study shows that too many major cities have either unacceptably high unemployment, or a steady population loss, or a high poverty rate. Many of these small or mid-sized (. i.e. 100,000 or less cities), are double burdened since they reflect two of these three negative qualities. These cities, left behind by the current economically prosperous times, are found in 23 of our 50 states. The Rural America in the geographic areas: the Mississippi Delta, Colonias, Indian Country, and Appalachia whose economic measurements show little or no heart beat, are considered to be "Economic Flatliners". Now is the time: places left behind in the new economy issued by HUD in April 1999 is an 80 page report which can be found in some Depository Libraries under HH 1.2:EL 7/4. It is a report that is partially an html file http://www.hud.gov:80/pressrel/leftbehind/toc.html with an Appendix of notes and tables. Table 13 U.S. Central Cities (all), Select Indicators http://www.hud.gov:80/pressrel/leftbehind/table13.pdf is a PDF data file for all 539 cities in a 20-page publication (which requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) on the HUD web site.
SECTION 508 UPDATE OF 504 The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504 - Nondiscrimination under federal grants and programs" set the stage for the right of the handicapped to equal treatment under federal law. The new "Section 508 - Electronic and Information Technology Regulations" updates the 1973 disabilities law to the electronic age. Section 508 is part of Workforce Investment Act of 1998's Title IV- Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 (of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998) U.S. Statutes at Large v. 112, pages 1203-1206(AE 2.111:112/Pt. 2, and (U.S. Code, Title 29, Section 794d, Y 1.2/5:). Section 508 requires all Federal Agencies web sites to be accessible and useable by all individuals with disabilities. Complementing the Congressional law, the "Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards, Final Rule" in the Federal Register, v. No. 246, December 21, 2000, pages 80499-80528 (AE 2.106:65/246 and at http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/508standards.htm was issued by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board). Effective February 20, 2001, all federal agencies should make their electronic and information technology (i.e. web sites) accessible and usable by any federal employee and any member of the public who have disabilities. While it took 2 years for the Access Board to issue it's Final Rule, the computer hardware, software, and information technology scientists were hard at work creating the needed electronic and information technology which would be useable by the disabled. Read on.
WEB USABILITY: NEW VERSION OF AN OLD PROBLEM When our caveman ancestor started farming and hunting, he developed tools and weapons, which were useable and effective for him and everyone else. Updating the scene to the year 2000, and to the Access Board mandate that effective February 20, 2001, that electronic and information technology has to be accessible and used by people with disabilities, the key words, for the year 2001, are accessible and useable. Federal Depository Guidelines already provide accessibility to all electronic sources found in about 1300 depository libraries. For the person with a disability, the usability of electronic and information technology is a second issue, which is now being addressed in the designing of web sites with which the disabled can interact and use. For information on Usability, see that of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). At the NCI "Usability.gov" web page ( http://www.usability.gov/ ), "Usability is the measure of the quality of a user's experience when interacting with a product or system --whether a Web site, a software application, mobile technology, or any user-operated device." The web page "Usability Basics, 'Provides a basic overview of and general information about usability'" ( http://www.usability.gov/basics/index.html ), which would be 10 printed pages, provides a lengthy textual discussion and explanation of Usability. This text is supplemented by many web links to a variety of other Usability information web sites. This NCI website was very usable for me.
RUNWAY INCURSIONS Airports run smoothly and safely when people and airplanes function precisely as they are should. During aircraft landing or take off, two planes can be too close to each other or toa ground vehicle or obstacle. When an error occurs during any flight operations, be the error human, mechanical, or natural (e.g. weather) accidents can and do occur. These incidents are called runway incursions. Considering the number of airports, airplanes, people, and frequency of landings and departures, in the United States, runway incursions can and do happen daily. FAA Runway Safety Program web page at http://www.faa.gov/runwaysafety/ has a "Current Events" link to "Daily Cumulative Runway Incursion Totals" page at http://www.faarsp.com/h2.html . This page has 13 links to as many tables of statistical data, of which the first two are updated daily. The second part of this page has definitions of seven types of runway occurrences included in RUNWAY INCURSIONS: (1) Runway Incursion, (2) Surface Incident, (3) Pilot Deviation, (4) Operational Error (of the Air Traffic Controller), (5) Vehicle/Pedestrian Deviation, (6) Collision Hazard, and (7) Loss of Separation (i.e. space between planes, etc.) This is one good example of some data that would be hard to access daily without the Internet.
PICTURE OF MORBID NOSTALGIA In the late 1940s and early 1950s, if you went to right shoe store, it had a x-ray machine used for shoe fitting. Wearing new shoes, one would stick their feet into the machine to "see the bones". This fluoroscope x-rayed your feet and let you to see how your toes fit inside your new shoes. If you forgot about using one of these little known and extinct devices, or if you are not old enough to know about them, but still want to know more, read on. Also, to satisfy any visual curiosity, read "Radiation Continuing Concern with Fluoroscopy" by Ricki Lewis, FDA Consumer, v. 27, no. 9 November 1993, pages 18-21 (photo page 19) and "Precision in Public Health Protection: A Woman's Life's Work in Radiation" by Linda Bren, FDA Consumer v. 34, no. 5, September-October 2000, pages 11-12, (photo page 12) you will find two pictures of the shoe x-ray fluoroscope. The paper version of the FDA Consumer (HE 20.4010: ) is the only location of these pictures. The web version of these articles does not include a picture of our shoe x-ray machine http://www.fda.gov/fdac/ .
TO ERROR IS HUMAN, TO CORRECT IS HARD WORK In To Err is Human--Building a Safer Health System (for the full searchable text and html summary go to http://www.nap.edu/catalog/9728.html ) the National Institute of Medicine reported human medical errors. "Make No Mistake: Medical Errors Can Be Deadly Serious" by Tamar Nordenberg, FDA Consumer v. 34, no. 5, September-October 2000, pages 13-18 provides further explanation and insight into the how and why of medical errors, and the possible solutions of FDA and the medical community. The hard work of Clinton's Quality Interagency Coordination Task Force (QuIC) to devise a plan to reduce medical errors resulted in the "Report of the Quality Interagency Coordination Force ((QuIC) to the President, February 2000: Doing What Counts for Patient Safety: Federal Actions to Reduce Medical Errors and Their Impact. This lengthy, full text, and web-based report http://www.quic.gov/report/toc.htm begins with an "Executive Summary and Actions". Then, there are three equally long chapters, (Chapter 1--"Understanding Medical Errors", Chapter 2 -- "Federal Response to the IOM Report", and 3--"Beyond the IOM Report: Identifying and Implementing Additional Strategies") followed by a brief 4th entitled "Working with the Private Sector and State Governments" which discusses actions for Standards and Data Integration.
FINGERPRINTS Man has always had fingerprints, and he was aware of it. Fingerprints were used in the prehistoric picture writing in the cliffs of Nova Scotia. Clay tablets of ancient Babylon, clay seals of ancient China, and the fingerprints of the business contracts of the 8th Century T'ang Dynasty Chinese show later fingerprint use. Not until 1686 did Marcello Malpighi, professor of Anatomy at the University of Bologna, notice with a microscope, and discuss in his treatises, "certain elevated ridges" and "divers figures" on the palmer surfaces "drawn out into loops and spirals" at the end of the fingers. In 1858 Sir William Herschel in Bengal, India made the first known official use of fingerprints as a means of identification. 1902 was the year of the first systematic use of fingerprints in the United States. The New York Civil Service system used fingerprints to keep control over applicants taking the civil service examination. In 1903, the New York state prison system used fingerprints for criminal identification. As of 1991, there are about 193,000,000 fingerprint cards on file at the Identification Division of the FBI where all the Fingerprint Files are kept. Eventhough the history of fingerprints is only 5 pages long, the rest of the 25 page: The Identification Division of the FBI, a brief outline of the history, services, and operating techniques of the world's largest repository of fingerprints is interesting. Issued in 1991 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (J 1.14/2:F49/17), this history includes two pages on the (Alphonse) Bertillon System of body measurements (of body parts) which was used for about thirty years. The use of the Bertillon System was discontinued in 1903 when fingerprints were used to distinguish between Will West and William West. Confusion reigned in the Leavenworth Prison, when the physical descriptions (on the prison records) showed Will and William were physically identical (i.e. the same person?). Their fingerprints were different, thus there were two (different) Wests.
OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES FROM ANIMALS Occupational injuries can occur on an automotive assembly line or in a metal stamping plant. They can also occur on a fishing boat, a zoo, or in an apiary (i.e. a place where bees are raised for their honey). Dino Drudi’s "Are Animals Occupational Hazards" in Compensation and Working Conditions v. 5, no. 3 Fall, 2000, pages 15-22 [L 2.44/4:5/3, paper and as a pdf file (with abstract and summary) at http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/2000/fall/art3abs.htm ]. Drudi begins with an analysis of the Bureau of Labor Statistics Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (COFI) 1992-1997 and Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII), 1992-1997 data files found at the Department of Labor's Safety and Health Statistics web page at http://www.bls.gov/oshhome.htm . From COFI, he takes data on all the fatal work-related injuries and the nonfatal work-related injuries that involved animals. There were 227 fatalities involving animal attacks or venomous stings and bites, 75 fatalities resulting from offroad vehicle crashes involving animals. Dogs were involved in eight occupational fatalities and 13,800 nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses. Cats caused no fatalities, but accounted for 4,600 occupational injuries and illnesses. Animal handling occupations such as jockeys, farmers, zoo employees, veterinarians, circus performers are somewhat hazardous. Drudi compares these U.S. animal-related occupational fatality and injury data to other countries. There were no snake bite fatalities for the 1992-97 period, and fatal snakebites are extremely rare in the United States. In Asia where there are many people living in close proximity to the many poisonous snakes, annual snake bite deaths are estimated at 30,000 to 40,000. Drudi’s discussion makes use of 28 information sources to analyze the animals’ hazardous but predictable natures. Drudi does not tell us that man, as a co-worker (who is a biped animal), can be an unpredictable animal occupational hazard.
March 23, 2001
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