Wetland loss and substitution by the Section 404 permit program in southern California,USA

To test the effectiveness of the 404 permit program in preventing a net loss of wetland resources, 75 Section 404 projects permitted in the years 1987–1989 and located in a portion of southern California were evaluated. From this group of projects, 80.47 ha of wetlands were affected by Section 404 permits and the Army Corps of Engineers required 111.62 ha of wetland mitigation. To verify the successful completion of each mitigation project, all 75 project sites were visited and evaluated based on the amount of dead vegetation, growth and coverage, and the number of invasive species. Based on the field verification results, the actual amount of completed mitigation area was 77.33 ha, resulting in a net loss of 3.14 ha of wetland resources in the years 1987–1989. By comparing the types of wetlands lost to the types of wetlands mitigated, it is apparent that, in particular, freshwater wetlands are experiencing a disproportionately greater loss of area and that riparian woodland wetlands are most often used in mitigation efforts. The net result of these accumulated actions is an overall substitution of wetland types throughout the region. Results also indicate that, typically, large-scale mitigation projects are more successful compared to smaller projects and that successful compliance efforts are not evenly distributed throughout the region. We recommend that better monitoring, mitigation in-kind, mitigation banking, and planning on a regional or watershed scale could greatly improve the effectiveness of the Section 404 permitting program.     

燃料乙醇应用对环境的影响

燃料乙醇作为可再生的替代能源被越来越广泛地利用.从对空气的影响、对土壤和地下水的潜在影响、能源的有效性和能源的可持续性4个方面阐述了燃料乙醇使用对环境的影响效应,既说明了其显著的优势,又提出了存在的问题及相关建议,旨在更充分地发挥燃料乙醇的能源价值.     

燃煤工业锅炉SO2污染防治技术的选择及评价--中国燃煤工业锅炉SO2污染综合防治对策(八)

论述了中国燃煤工业锅炉SO2污染防治技术的选择及评价，其中主要包括：《中国燃煤工业锅炉SO2污染综合防治对策》的产生、主要内容、特点、选择、评价及其实施的意义。     

国内车辆可靠性强化试验技术的现状与发展趋势

车辆可靠性强化试验属于可靠性强化试验的一个应用分支.首先论述了车辆可靠性强化试验技术的理论基础;然后介绍了车辆试验场及试验道路的研究现状,综述了确定强化系数的各种方法.最后,指出车辆强化试验技术的今后的发展趋势.     

生物质液化燃油代用燃料的应用及展望

主要介绍了生物质液化燃油代用燃料的概念、特点及优势,分析了其它几种代用燃料优势与不足,并阐明了生物质液化燃油代用燃料发展的必然趋势.     

BP神经网络技术在交通工具火灾预警中的应用

通过对交通工具火灾成因机理以及现有典型交通工具火灾实例的分析研究,建立了预警评价指标体系。根据非线性理论和模式识别原理以及交通工具火灾的特点,采用基于BP神经网络的智能灾害诊断方法,对交通工具火灾发生的可能性和危险性进行评估和预测。研究表明:BP神经网络方法是解决非线性系统问题的一种有效方法,与传统的预警方法相比,该方法具有速度快、效率高、可信度好、自学能力强等特点。采用BP网络进行交通工具火灾预警时,只需输入影响交通工具火灾发生的相关指标因素,网络便可在较短的时间内得出可靠的预警结果。     

车辆保险--交通安全管理的经济手段

中国道路交通安全面临着前所未有的挑战.本文在分析车辆保险与投保人安全驾驶关系的基础上,提出推行车辆保险是解决我国当前道路交通安全、保障交通事故受害者合法权益的有效经济手段之一.     

Life cycle energy impacts of automotive liftgate inner

This paper compares the life cycle energy use of a cast-aluminum, rear liftgate inner and a conventional, stamped steel liftgate inner used in a minivan. Using the best available aggregate life cycle inventory data and a simple spreadsheet-level analysis, energy comparisons were made at both the single-vehicle and vehicle-fleet levels. Since the product manufacture and use are distributed over long periods of time that, in a fleet, are not simple linear combinations of single product life cycles. Thus, it is all the products in use over a period of time, rather than a single product, that are more appropriate for the life cycle analysis. Using a set of consistent data, analyses also examine sensitivity to the level of analysis and the assumptions to determine the most favorable materials with respect to life cycle energy benefits.As expected, life cycle energy impacts of aluminum are lower than steel at a single-vehicle level – energy savings are determined to be 1.8 GJ/vehicle. Most energy savings occur at the vehicle operation phase due to improved fuel economy from lightweighting. The energy benefits are realized only very close to the average vehicle life of 14 years. With the incremental growth of the vehicle fleet, it takes longer – about 21 years – for aluminum to achieve life cycle equivalence with steel. The number of years aluminum needs to achieve equivalence with steel was found to be quite sensitive to aluminum manufacturing energy and fuel economy. As the steel industry races to compete with other materials for automotive lightweighting, a systems approach, instead of part-to-part comparison, is more appropriate in the determination of viability of aluminum substitution from an energy perspective.     

Microbial fuel cells: Advances in electrode modifications for improvement of system performance

There is an increasing trend to conduct the researches related to Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) in the recent years. Limited power output has been the major obstacle for the practical application and upscaling of MFCs. Attempts have been made on electrode modifications such as anode treatments, cathode modifications with catalysts and bio cathodes developments to produce varying degrees of improved output current depending upon the types of modifications. Power density and Coulombic efficiency have been considered as the important parameters to analyze the system performances. This paper overviews on the advances made in MFCs’ researches focusing on different types of electrodes modifications along with the involved methodology. Furthermore, the system performances of different modified MFCs are compared in terms of the power density and the Coulombic efficiency.     

Effects of compression ratio,swirl augmentation techniques and ethanol addition on the combustion of CNG–biodiesel in a dual-fuel engine

The diminishing resources and continuously increasing cost of petroleum in association with their alarming pollution levels from diesel engines has led to an interest in finding alternative fuels to diesel. Emission control and engine efficiency are two of the most important parameters in current engine design. The impending introduction of emission standards such as Euro IV and Euro V has forced research towards developing new technologies for combating engine emissions. This paper examines the effects of compression ratio, swirl augmentation techniques and ethanol addition on the combustion of compressed natural gas (CNG) blended with Honge oil methyl esters (HOME) in a dual fuel engine. The present results show that the combustion of HOME and 15% ethanol blend with CNG induction in a dual-fuel engine operated in optimized parameters at an injection timing of 27° Before Top Dead Centre and a compression ratio of 17.5 resulted in acceptable combustion emissions and improved brake thermal efficiencies. The implementation of swirl augmentation techniques increased brake thermal efficiencies (BTEs) and considerably reduced combustion emissions such as smoke, HC, CO and NO_x. The addition of ethanol also increased BTEs. However, at more than 15% of ethanol in HOME, NO_x emissions increased dramatically.