An Approach for Estimating Soil Carbon Using the National Nutrient Loss Database

Agricultural lands have the potential to contribute to greenhouse gas mitigation by sequestering organic carbon within the soil. Credible and consistent estimates will be necessary to design programs and policies to encourage management practices that increase carbon sequestration. Because a nationwide survey of soil carbon by the wide range of natural resources and management conditions of the United States is prohibitively expensive, a simulation modeling approach must be used. The National Nutrient Loss Database (NNLD) is a modeling and database system designed and built jointly by the USDA– Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Texas A&M University to provide science-based inferences on environmental impacts from changes in agricultural management practices and programs at the regional and national level. Currently, the NNLD simulates 16 crops and covers 1.35 × 10⁸ ha. For estimating soil carbon sequestration, the database will be populated with 1.5 × 10⁶ field-level model runs using the EPIC (Environmental Policy Impact Calculator) model, which includes newly incorporated carbon equations consistent with those in the Century model. Each run will represent a unique situation defined by state, crop, climate, soil, irrigation type, conservation practice, tillage system, and nutrient management treatment (nutrient rate, application frequency, application timing, and manure category). Results are to be assigned to specific National Resource Inventory points (NRI) to simulate regional and national baselines. In this article we present the modeling approach and discuss the strengths and limitations. Published online     

Drivers of Interbasin Transfers in the United States: Insights from Sampling

Interbasin transfers (IBTs) are manmade transfers of water that cross basin boundaries. In an analysis of 2016 data, this work identified 2,161 reaches crossing United States (U.S.) Geological Survey hydrologic unit code 6 boundaries in the U.S. The objectives of this study were to characterize and classify IBTs, and examine the development drivers for a subset of 109 (~5%) of the IBT reaches through examination of samples from different climate regions of the U.S. The IBTs were classified as being near irrigated agricultural lands, near cities, or rural IBTs not near cities or irrigated land. IBTs near both cities and irrigated agricultural land were designated as city + irrigated agriculture. The 109 samples were selected, based on approximate proportional distribution to the total number of IBTs within each climate region, with representation of areas having a high density of IBTs. Analysis of the samples revealed that in the U.S., there have been four major drivers for basin transfers: irrigation for agriculture, municipal and industrial water supply, commercial shipping or navigation, and drainage or flood management. The most common has been drainage or flood management, though IBTs at least partially driven by agricultural needs are also prevalent. The majority of the sampled IBTs were constructed between 1880 and 1980, with peaks in development between 1900–1910 and 1960–1970. The samples also showed the drivers of IBT development evolved over time, reflecting changes in regional economies, populations, and needs.     

基于JSP技术的机务段安全管理信息系统的设计

根据铁路提速带来的安全问题,笔者结合机务段安全管理,采用先进的JSP技术,设计了基于B/S(浏览器/服务器)模式的机务段安全管理信息系统。该系统运用计算机及网络技术,实现了安全管理信息资源的合理运转和共享,建立了一个安全信息管理、安全生产监督、事故预防的信息平台,为管理决策提供决策服务,同时辅助企业管理的科学化、现代化,提高了机务段经济效益和社会效益。介绍了课题的背景、系统结构与功能、JSP技术特点,然后具体说明了应用JSP技术实现系统的设计思路和方法,重点给出了系统的三级体系结构,数据库的设计与连接,系统的软件实现以及所达到的效果     

Auto CAD在计算机辅助设计中的应用

此文利用Auto CAD软件、Turbo C语言和Foxbase数据库开发了齿轮CAD系统,为中小型企业低成本的CAD/CAM集成系统提供了条件。     

温室气体排放数据库系统设计与实现

以温度升高为主要特征的气候变化越来越影响到人类的可持续发展,温室气体排放系数的收集与整理对于该研究具有重要意义。文章在充分调研IPCC指南及相关排放系数文献的基础上,对温室气体排放系数进行采集与整理,其中对电力行业排放系数的收集细化到不同技术水平、煤质来源水平和区域水平,并在电力行业排放系数收集的基础上,对其他主要工业行业的温室气体排放系数进行收集,完成了数据库设计与建库工作。主要包括四类数据:"温室气体排放系数数据库"、"活动水平数据库"、"电力行业污染物排放数据库"、"元数据库"。在此基础上设计并开发了数据库软件系统,实现了对温室气体排放系数的统一管理与访问。经实际运行,证明该系统能有效管理温室气体排放系数数据,提供数据的分析应用,为温室气体核算和提高环境监管能力提供科学数据和支撑作用。     

Developing a process equipment failure knowledge base using ontology approach for process equipment related incident investigations

Process equipment failures (PEFs) are one of the most important causes of process incidents occurrences. To investigate and prevent the PEFs, in addition to having the previous data, it is necessary to have some resources of the PEFs domain knowledge. Nowadays, PEFs data are usually retrieved from existent databases. Customary databases present only previously stored data of equipment failures but, for carrying out a comprehensive PEFs management it is necessary to have access to the PEFs desired knowledge and not only stored data. This paper aims to offer a knowledge base for the PEFs through adopting an ontological approach and then to use the proposed knowledge base for further applications particularly, process incident investigation activities. Through adding semantic search capability, the proposed knowledge base could upgrade the data presenting feature of the common databases into a knowledge presenting feature. Using this approach, the user would be able to extract the desired knowledge of the PEFs along the virtual stored data of occurred cases. The knowledge extraction process and the data mining of occurred incidents are both necessary for the PEFs investigation.     

Predictions for isomer distributions of toxic dioxins and furans in selected industrial combustion processes

Three thermodynamic databases of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzo-furans (PCDD/Fs) have been used to simulate the PCDD/F isomer distribution in industrial combustion processes. The three databases had been derived using the Group Additivity approach and two computational molecular modelling methods, Modified Neglect of Diatomic Overlap (MNDO) and Parametrized Model 3 (PM3), respectively. The predictions of the toxic PCDD/F isomer distributions using the three different databases have been compared with measured values from industrial processes. An excellent agreement between the predictions using the MNDO method and the measured data has been obtained. It is concluded that the PCDD/F isomer distributions within each group observed in these combustion processes may be thermodynamically controlled.     

Environmental,economic and social costs and benefits of a packaging waste management system: A Portuguese case study

The impact of the management of packaging waste on the environment, economic growth and job creation is analyzed in this paper. This integrated assessment intends to cover a gap in the literature for this type of studies, using the specific case study of the Portuguese packaging waste management system (SIGRE).The net environmental benefits associated with the management of packaging waste, are calculated using the Life Cycle Assessment methodology. The results show that, for the categories studied, the impacts associated to SIGRE's various activities are surpassed by the benefits associated to material and energy recovery, with special focus on recycling. For example, in 2011 SIGRE avoided the emission of 116 kt CO₂ equiv. – the equivalent carbon emission of the electricity consumption of 124.000 households in Portugal.The economic impact of SIGRE is evaluated through Input–Output Analysis. It was found that SIGRE's activities also have a significant economic impact. For example, their added value are ranked amongst the upper third of the economic activities with highest multiplier effect at national level: this means that for each Euro of value added generated within SIGRE, 1.25 additional € are added to the rest of the economy (multiplier effect of 2.25).Regarding the social impacts of SIGRE, the number of direct jobs associated with the system is estimated to be more than two thousand and three hundred workers. Out of these, 83% are connected to the management of municipal waste packaging (selective collection and sorting), 15% are connected to the management of non-municipal packaging waste and only 2% are connected to the Sociedade Ponto Verde (SPV, green dot society in English) – the management entity responsible for SIGRE.In general terms, the results obtained provide quantitative support to the EEA (2011) suggestion that moving up the waste hierarchy – from landfilling to recycling – creates jobs and boosts the economy.