Recycle of bio-waste banana and sisal fiber filled harmlessness epoxy hybrid composite for automotive roof application

Insists of polymer matrix composite is prepared by using natural fiber facilitates high tensile, flexural, and impact toughness properties. The natural fiber utilization in the polymer matrix can overcome the synthetic fiber demerits of poor compatibility, high moisture absorption, and high cost. The present research investigates developing a low-cost, environmentally eco-friendly epoxy hybrid composite using different volume percentages of chopped natural waste banana (0Vol%, 5Vol%, 10Vol%, and 15Vol%) and sisal fiber (0Vol%, 15Vol%, 10Vol%, and 5Vol%) through hand mould hot compression technique. The presence of natural waste banana and sisal fiber on tensile strength, flexural strength, and thermal adsorption properties of the epoxy hybrid composite are evaluated by ASTM test standards. The ASTM standard measured test results of epoxy hybrid composite with and without natural waste banana and sisal fiber were compared and sample three was identified by good tensile strength, flexural strength, and better thermal adsorption properties compared to all others. The sample three epoxy hybrid sample is recommended for automotive roof application.     

Two roads to effectiveness: CEO feedback seeking,vision articulation,and firm performance

Humble leadership is attracting increased scholarly attention, but little is known about its effects when used in conjunction with less humble leadership behaviors that rely on a perception of the leader as confident and charismatic. This study contrasts the effects on top management team (TMT) potency and organizational performance of a more humble (feedback seeking) and a less humble (vision) CEO leader behavior. We hypothesize that CEO feedback seeking increases TMT potency and firm performance by communicating to TMT members that the organization values their input and encouraging their own feedback seeking, whereas CEO vision articulation influences these outcomes by fostering greater clarity about the firm's direction, and an enhanced ability to coordinate efforts within the TMT. CEOs who have not developed a vision can achieve a similar positive impact on TMT potency and firm performance by seeking feedback. In a sample of CEOs and TMT members from 65 firms, both CEO feedback seeking and vision articulation exhibit positive direct relationships with firm performance. However, only feedback seeking displays an indirect effect on performance via TMT potency. Finally, CEO feedback seeking has its strongest effects on firm performance and TMT potency for CEOs who are not seen as having a vision.     

长江流域鄂西四河流大型底栖动物群落结构特征及水质生物学评价

鄂西水系是国家级水源保护区,也是湖北省重要的生态旅游区。为了解鄂西水生态健康状况,于2014年10月~2017年1月不同时段在宜昌国家可持续发展实验示范区卷桥河（J）、清江利川段（Q）、宜昌市水源地黄柏河（H）和丹江口入库河流天河郧西段（T）开展了底栖动物群落特征研究。研究表明：4个河段共采集到大型底栖动物5门8纲18目61科。基于底栖动物指示种耐污性及其丰度占比分析,表明J、Q和T三河流污染程度沿水流方向呈加重趋势,而H水体健康状况整体较好。运用FBI和SIGNAL底栖生物评价指数,显示四条河流健康程度沿水流方向均呈下降趋势,但H变化趋势平缓,结果表明H水体上下游均处于较健康状态,其他3条河流上游或源头水体健康状况良好,下游受到较重污染。对主要环境因子（TP、NH₃-N、COD_Mn和TN）做主成分分析表明,轴1的解释率达到65.1%,表明轴1可以有效表征主要环境压力梯度。FBI和SIGNAL指数与轴1线性拟合度均较高,表明二者在鄂西河流水生态健康评估中可作为快速生物评价指数。     

Geophysical and hydrological data assimilation to monitor water content dynamics in the rocky unsaturated zone

In recent years, geophysics is increasingly used to study the flow and transport processes in the vadose zone. Particularly, when the vadose zone is made up of rocks, it is difficult to install sensors in the subsurface to measure hydrological state variables directly. In these cases, the electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) represents a useful tool to monitor the hydrodynamics of the infiltration and to estimate hydraulic parameters and state variables, such as hydraulic conductivity and water content. We propose an integrated approach aimed at predicting water content dynamics in calcarenite, a sedimentary carbonatic porous rock. The uncoupled hydrogeophysical approach proposed consists in 4D ERT monitoring conducted during an infiltrometer test under falling head conditions. Capacitance probes were installed to measure water content at different depths to validate the estimations derived from ERT. A numerical procedure, based on a data assimilation technique, was accomplished by combining the model (i.e., Richards’ equation) with the observations in order to provide reliable water content estimations. We have used a new data assimilation method that is easy to implement, based on the ensemble Kalman filter coupled with Brownian bridges. This approach is particularly suitable for strongly non-linear models, such as Richards’ equation, in order to take into account both the model uncertainty and the observation errors. The proposed data assimilation approach was tested for the first time on field data. A reasonable agreement was found between observations and predictions confirming the ability of the integrated approach to predict water content dynamics in the rocky subsoil.     

Organochlorine pesticides in feathers of three raptor species in southern Brazil

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this study, we determined the presence of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in back feathers from three raptor species, Phalcoboenus chimango,...     

应急状态下矿井瓦斯爆炸致灾因子传播快速分类器研究*

为了在矿井瓦斯爆炸灾变发生后,快速确定瓦斯爆炸冲击波的压力、温度、有毒有害气体等致灾因子在井巷网络中的传播情况。利用CFD数值模拟或爆炸实验获得瓦斯爆炸冲击波的压力、温度、有毒有害气体等致灾因子传播大数据,将影响瓦斯爆炸传播的因素以及观测点等参数作为人工神经网络的输入节点,压力、温度等致灾因子作为输出节点,建立瓦斯爆炸致灾因子传播快速预测机器学习模型,解决CFD数值模拟的建模、计算及数据分析处理等过程耗时大、不适应灾变应急的快速响应等问题。研究结果表明:在给定爆炸位置和爆炸当量的均直巷道,获得任一点的爆炸冲击波压力、温度以及有毒有害气体所需时间是瞬时的,人工神经网络平均训练误差为6.92 %,有训练样本的验证误差为5.24 %,无训练样本的验证误差为6.88 %。     

Modelling the Ecological Vulnerability to Forest Fires in Mediterranean Ecosystems Using Geographic Information Technologies

Forest fires represent a major driver of change at the ecosystem and landscape levels in the Mediterranean region. Environmental features and vegetation are key factors to estimate the ecological vulnerability to fire; defined as the degree to which an ecosystem is susceptible to, and unable to cope with, adverse effects of fire (provided a fire occurs). Given the predicted climatic changes for the region, it is urgent to validate spatially explicit tools for assessing this vulnerability in order to support the design of new fire prevention and restoration strategies. This work presents an innovative GIS-based modelling approach to evaluate the ecological vulnerability to fire of an ecosystem, considering its main components (soil and vegetation) and different time scales. The evaluation was structured in three stages: short-term (focussed on soil degradation risk), medium-term (focussed on changes in vegetation), and coupling of the short- and medium-term vulnerabilities. The model was implemented in two regions: Aragón (inland North-eastern Spain) and Valencia (eastern Spain). Maps of the ecological vulnerability to fire were produced at a regional scale. We partially validated the model in a study site combining two complementary approaches that focused on testing the adequacy of model’s predictions in three ecosystems, all very common in fire-prone landscapes of eastern Spain: two shrublands and a pine forest. Both approaches were based on the comparison of model’s predictions with values of NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), which is considered a good proxy for green biomass. Both methods showed that the model’s performance is satisfactory when applied to the three selected vegetation types.     

The Impact of Land Use/Land Cover Changes on Land Degradation Dynamics: A Mediterranean Case Study

In the last decades, due to climate changes, soil deterioration, and Land Use/Land Cover Changes (LULCCs), land degradation risk has become one of the most important ecological issues at the global level. Land degradation involves two interlocking systems: the natural ecosystem and the socio-economic system. The complexity of land degradation processes should be addressed using a multidisciplinary approach. Therefore, the aim of this work is to assess diachronically land degradation dynamics under changing land covers. This paper analyzes LULCCs and the parallel increase in the level of land sensitivity to degradation along the coastal belt of Sardinia (Italy), a typical Mediterranean region where human pressure affects the landscape characteristics through fires, intensive agricultural practices, land abandonment, urban sprawl, and tourism concentration. Results reveal that two factors mainly affect the level of land sensitivity to degradation in the study area: (i) land abandonment and (ii) unsustainable use of rural and peri-urban areas. Taken together, these factors represent the primary cause of the LULCCs observed in coastal Sardinia. By linking the structural features of the Mediterranean landscape with its functional land degradation dynamics over time, these results contribute to orienting policies for sustainable land management in Mediterranean coastal areas.     

Perceptions of industrial risk and emergency management procedures in Hazmat Logistics: A qualitative mental model approach

In the industrial risk field, Hazmat Logistics research is growing as a sector of special relevance. The road transport of these substances is an activity with an elevated risk, involving drivers, logistics systems, industries, infrastructures, urban areas, etc.In the study of risk and safety of the logistics of hazardous materials there is a special relevance for new and complex elements, as human factors and mental models involved in managing critical incidents ‘‘on the road”. Moreover, the ‘‘emergency management training” of human resources in this field is often limited, and this represents another factor of vulnerability.In collaboration with SBG (one of the leading European Hazmat Logistics corporations), we developed a quali-quantitative study on cognitive representations and semantic perceptions of risk and emergency management procedures in tanker drivers. The main innovation of the study, with the direct involvement of the stakeholder and 47 drivers, is represented by the construction and use of ‘‘ad hoc” psychometrical and knowledge-elicitation, allowing a deeper analysis of workers’ mental models.The application of PCP tools of adapted RepGrid and Landfield Laddering Procedures allows to analyze some of the main qualitative structures of mental models held by drivers about Hazmat Logistics. Through the analysis of these mental models, it could become possible to set up efficient preventive actions for this type of industrial risk. We are going to discuss the consequences of these findings and methodological approaches for the industrial risk-and-safety field.