The effect of natural and anthropogenic disturbance in forest canopy and its effect on species richness in forests of Uttarakhand Himalaya,India

Pinus roxburghii (chir-pine) and Quercus leucothchophora (banj-oak) are dominant forests of mountainous part of the Uttarakhand Himalaya. The continued anthropogenic disturbance is opening the canopy, forming canopy gaps and as a result forest fragments are developing. Thus, the present study aims to analyze variations in species richness and vegetational parameters in relation to canopy gaps in forests. Total species richness was greater in open canopied forest compared to moderate and close canopied forests. In comparison between oak and pine forest, it was greater in oak forest while the proportion of common species was low between oak—pine forests. Mean species richness did not significantly vary from one canopy gap to another as well as in oak and pine dominated forest. This indicated that dominant forest types played an important role to form the community structure. The shrubs richness were greater in closed canopy and between the forests it was greater in pine forest. Tree and shrub density was low in open canopy while herb density was high in moderate canopy. Thus, this study indicated that the dominant canopy species play an important role in deciding the community structures especially the distribution of under canopy species. These parameters should be considered for conservation and maintenance of plant biodiversity of a region.     

台风灾害气象指数保险相关技术方法初探

气象指数灾害保险是目前全球范围内广泛研究的一种风险转移工具,它可以克服传统的自然灾害保险的局限性,在农业保险领域应用前景广阔。以福建省连江县为例,依据连江县台风灾害及台风活动特征,将能够对连江县造成一定损失的台风分成分别以大风、大雨和大风雨为主导的3类。结合连江站相关气象数据及概率分布建立了广义的台风灾害气象指数,最后构建了保险赔付路线图,以供有关部门参考。     

约束高强度Q460钢柱抗火性能分析

为了研究高强度约束钢柱在火灾下的反应,根据高强度结构钢Q460在高温下的力学性能参数,建立了约束高强度钢柱受火分析模型,得到了高强度约束钢柱在火灾下的轴向位移、跨中挠度、最大应力以及临界温度。采用有限元分析对理论结果进行了验证,两者吻合很好。利用验证过的该文计算方法计算了2种荷栽比、长细比和约束刚度比条件下的高强钢柱的抗火性能;采用CECS200:2006的力学性能参数计算了约束普通钢柱的抗火性能。通过对高强钢和普通钢的抗火性能分析发现,轴向约束明显降低钢柱的临界温度,长细比、荷载比越大,临界温度越低;高强钢的抗火性能要优于普通钢。     

西南山区某气井井场地基稳定性模拟分析

中国西南山区蕴藏着丰富的天然气资源,但随着开发规模的日益扩大,天然气井逐步转向山区这类地质环境恶劣的地区。本文以西南山区某气井为原型,在详细阐明井场区地质环境背景特征的基础上,首先对井场出现的典型地质问题——地下采空区进行定性判断和分析;之后选用F lac-2D有限差分软件,对井场加载前/后地下采空区可能造成的井场地基应力和变形特征,采用双洞和采空区这2种计算模型,进行数值模拟分析。模拟结果表明,井场加载前/后地基最大位移量为2 mm,地基局部地段出现拉应力区,但总体上地基稳定。研究结论将为后期建设中井场建筑物的优化布局及基础的选型提供依据。     

A Model for Pulse Jet Fabric Filters

ABSTRACT

A new model for pulse jet fabric filtration is proposed. In contrast to the earlier model of Ravin and Humphries,¹ which was formulated on the steady state assumption, the present study is aimed at developing a predictive capability for both transient and steady state operations, taking into account the compression effect of filter cakes. The model's relative simplicity allows frequent updating of the model parameter values, thus improving the accuracy of predictions. As a result, the model is particularly useful in developing control algorithms and designing controllers of pulse jet fabric filtration systems.     

Properties of Pyrolytic Chars and Activated Carbons Derived from Pilot-Scale Pyrolysis of Used Tires

Abstract

Used tires were pyrolyzed in a pilot-scale quasi-inert rotary kiln. Influences of variables, such as time, temperature, and agent flow, on the activation of obtained char were subsequently investigated in a laboratory-scale fixed bed. Meso-porous pores are found to be dominant in the pore structures of raw char. Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surfaces of activated chars increased linearly with carbon burnoff. The carbon burnoff of tire char achieved by carbon dioxide (CO₂) under otherwise identical conditions was on average 75% of that achieved by steam, but their BET surfaces are almost the same. The proper activation greatly improved the aqueous adsorption of raw char, especially for small molecular adsorbates, for example, phenol from 6 to 51 mg/g. With increasing burnoff, phenol adsorption exhibited a first-stage linear increase followed by a rapid drop after 30% burnoff. Similarly, iodine adsorption first increased linearly, but it held as the burnoff exceeded 40%, which implied that the reduction of iodine adsorption due to decreasing micro-pores was partially made up by increasing mesopores. Both raw chars and activated chars showed appreciable adsorption capacity of methylene-blue comparable with that of commercial carbons. Thus, tire-derived activated carbons can be used as an excellent mesoporous adsorbent for larger molecular species.     

Visibility Trends in Korea during the Past Two Decades

Abstract

Temporal trends and spatial distributions of visibility measured by the human eye over 60 stations in Korea between 1980 and 2000 are analyzed and discussed. Generally, visibility is lowest on winter mornings and highest on summer afternoons throughout Korea. Visibility in Seoul is now in an increasing trend while it has decreased nationwide, especially in clean coastal areas. Spatial distribution of visibility in the 1990s was related negatively to that of relative humidity (RH). However, visibility generally decreased despite an overall decrease in RH throughout the country. Air pollutants should have played a role in this dissonant variation, particularly in relatively clean areas and on summer afternoons. It was interpreted that the visibility increase in major metropolitan areas, including the greater Seoul area, in the 1990s was caused mainly by the reduction in pollutant emissions by rigorous government policy. But the effect of the emission reduction was manifested with decreasing RH.     

Minimax Regret Analysis for Municipal Solid Waste Management: An Interval-Stochastic Programming Approach

Abstract

In this study, an interval minimax regret programming (IMMRP) method is developed for the planning of municipal solid waste (MSW) management under uncertainty. It improves on the existing interval programming and minimax regret analysis methods by allowing uncertainties presented as both intervals and random variables to be effectively communicated into the optimization process. The IMMRP can account for economic consequences under all possible scenarios without any assumption on their probabilities. The developed method is applied to a case study of long-term MSW management planning under uncertainty. Multiple scenarios associated with different cost and risk levels are analyzed. Reasonable solutions are generated, demonstrating complex tradeoffs among system cost, regret level, and system-failure risk. The method can also facilitate examination of the difference between the cost incurred with identified strategy and the least cost under an ideal condition. The results can help determine desired plans and policies for waste management under a variety of uncertainties.     

基于底泥再悬浮试验的太湖水质模拟

为探索浅水湖泊水动力扰动作用对底泥再悬浮影响的规律,在室内矩形水槽内模拟了各种水动力条件下太湖底泥的起动规律,得到了太湖底泥在3种不同起动标准下的起动流速,通过考察上覆水中悬浮物浓度的变化,建立了底泥沉积物再悬浮通量与水体流速的定量化关系。结果表明:太湖底泥在个别动、少量动、普遍动3种标准下的起动流速分别为15、30和40 cm/s,且底泥沉积物再悬浮通量与流速呈现线性正相关关系,再悬浮通量随流速增大而增大,且相关性较好。将该试验结果应用于太湖的水量水质数学模型中,并和太湖实测资料进行了对比,取得了比较满意的效果。该模拟装置能够在室内可控条件下较好地反映太湖沉积物再悬浮特征,对太湖的富营养化治理具有重要意义。     

Challenges posed by climate change: is environmental protection an ethical issue?

Climate is one of the more complex physical systems in nature, its behaviour being fundamentally non-linear and chaotic. In assessing the potential risks from climate change and the costs of averting it, researchers and policymakers encounter pervasive uncertainty. Sceptics demand to get rid of the inherent uncertainties, and some experts, on the other end, keep sending out messages of catastrophic scenarios hoping that this will increase people’s awareness of the danger we face. The recent admission of a mistake in IPCC’s Climate change 2007 report (promptly broadcast by all the major media groups and newspapers from Jan. 20th 2010 onwards) made by the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—that Himalayan glaciers could melt away by 2035 (the IPCC claim of 2035 is wrong by over 300 years.)—has already brought a damage to the IPCC’s reputation that is likely to be considerable. But in this paper, perhaps risking being provocative and paradoxical, instead of looking for the right answers to what we think are inevitable uncertainties, we intend to search for new questions that may lead to a new way of thinking and may bring about new lifestyles and behaviour for citizens and firms.