基于OPMSE的畜禽养殖行业排放限值仿真

通过对清河流域畜禽养殖行业产生污水的各指标(BOD5,COD,NH_3-N)浓度进行统计,得出了排放污水中各污染物指标的浓度值范围。通过OPMSE的仿真计算,得出了排放污水经过BAT处理后,污染物浓度正态分布均值在90%,95%,99%置信水平下的置信区间。在置信水平为99%时,畜禽养殖行业的COD置信区间为(42.00,48.19),BOD_5置信区间为(7.47,8.74),NH_3-N置信区间为(6.78,7.88)。同时,依据仿真计算结果还得出了处理后污染物浓度的极小值和极大值,畜禽养殖行业的最佳出水COD,BOD_5,NH3_-N指标质量浓度分别为22.0,2.1,3.09 mg/L,最差出水COD,BOD_5,NH_3-N指标质量浓度分别为84.4,14.2,13.29 mg/L。将仿真结果与现有排放标准对比,拟定畜禽养殖行业的COD,BOD_5,NH_3-N直接排放限值分别为50,9,8 mg/L。     

The effectiveness of reducing illegal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limits for driving: evidence for lowering the limit to .05 BAC

PURPOSE: This scientific review provides a summary of the evidence regarding the benefits of reducing the illegal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for driving and providing a case for enacting a .05 BAC limit. RESULTS: Fourteen independent studies in the United States indicate that lowering the illegal BAC limit from .10 to .08 has resulted in 5-16% reductions in alcohol-related crashes, fatalities, or injuries. However, the illegal limit is .05 BAC in numerous countries around the world. Several studies indicate that lowering the illegal per se limit from .08 to .05 BAC also reduces alcohol-related fatalities. Laboratory studies indicate that impairment in critical driving functions begins at low BACs and that most subjects are significantly impaired at .05 BAC. The relative risk of being involved in a fatal crash as a driver is 4 to 10 times greater for drivers with BACs between .05 and .07 compared to drivers with .00 BACs. SUMMARY: There is strong evidence in the literature that lowering the BAC limit from .10 to .08 is effective, that lowering the BAC limit from .08 to .05 is effective, and that lowering the BAC limit for youth to .02 or lower is effective. These law changes serve as a general deterrent to drinking and driving and ultimately save lives. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: This critical review supports the adoption of lower illegal BAC limits for driving.     

A Graphical Method for the Estimation of Radiation Hazards from a Crowded Multiple Antenna Site

Summary The major objective of the design of safe crowded transmitting antenna sites is not only to determine a safe zone around each individual antenna; rather, to establish safety areas at the antenna site itself, as well as, at the neighboring areas. The requirement is to ascertain the safety regions by considering the following parameters at each Test Point (TP) (or area segment): the contribution of N co-located radiating antennas to the total radiation incident at the TP, the radiation pattern of each antenna, the near/far field region of each antenna, and most importantly, the different Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs) associated with each operating frequency at the antenna site. Implementation of all the above-mentioned aspects in a suitable computer requires resources that only expert knowledgeable organizations possess. The graphically aided tool presented in this paper facilitates the calculation of a “safety zone” for RADHAZ around a crowded antenna site from the knowledge of the “safety ranges” which correspond to the individual transmitting antennas comprising it.     

中美燃煤火电厂空气污染物排放标准比较研究

本文对中美燃煤火电厂国家行业排放标准的内容设置、限值形式、监测、记录和报告规定,以及固定源排污许可证中如何执行排放标准进行了比较。相对于美国,中国燃煤火电厂国家行业排放标准文本内容过于简略,限值形式设置单一,主要采用全国统一的浓度限值而不是采用绩效限值;浓度限值的制定基于部分样本源而不是全部源的数据,很难体现行业的排放控制技术水平;达标判据不科学,也过于严格,小时均值的考核方式影响了火电厂的生产安排;排放标准中监测配套规定单薄,与环境监测的一般规定衔接性不佳,针对性差;记录和报告要求缺位,不能满足排污许可证管理的需求。建议参照美国行业排放标准的内容形式,排放限值采用绩效限值形式,并规定长平均周期的考核要求,将与之配套的监测、记录和报告要求纳入排放标准,以满足固定源排污许可证制度的需求。     

Fire hazard after prescribed burning in a gorse shrubland: implications for fuel management

Prescribed burning is commonly used to prevent accumulation of biomass in fire-prone shrubland in NW Spain. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the efficacy of the technique in reducing fire hazard in these ecosystems. Fire hazard in burned shrubland areas will depend on the initial capacity of woody vegetation to recover and on the fine ground fuels existing after fire. To explore the effect that time since burning has on fire hazard, experimental tests were performed with two fuel complexes (fine ground fuels and regenerated shrubs) resulting from previous prescribed burnings conducted in a gorse shrubland (Ulex europaeus L.) one, three and five years earlier. A point-ignition source was used in burning experiments to assess ignition and initial propagation success separately for each fuel complex. The effect of wind speed was also studied for shrub fuels, and several flammability parameters were measured. Results showed that both ignition and initial propagation success of fine ground fuels mainly depended on fuel depth and were independent of time since burning, although flammability parameters indicated higher fire hazard three years after burning. In contrast, time since burning increased ignition and initial propagation success of regenerated shrub fuels, as well as the flammability parameters assessed, but wind speed had no significant effect. The combination of results of fire hazard for fine ground fuels and regenerated shrubs according to the variation in relative coverage of each fuel type after prescribed burning enabled an assessment of integrated fire hazard in treated areas. The present results suggest that prescribed burning is a very effective technique to reduce fire hazard in the study area, but that fire hazard will be significantly increased by the third year after burning. These results are valuable for fire prevention and fuel management planning in gorse shrubland areas.     

Adaptation to What and Why?

Adaptation in response to anthropogenic climate change seeks to maintain viability by maximising benefits and minimising losses. It is necessary because some climatic change is now inevitable, despite the international focus on mitigation measures. Indeed, the measures agreed at Kyoto would by themselves result in only a small reduction in the climate changes to be expected over the next century.Discussion of the expected changes and possible impacts leads to the following conclusions regarding climate change scenarios in relation to impacts and adaptation: Climate change in the foreseeable future will not be some new stable "equilibrium" climate, but rather an ongoing "transient" process; Climate change predictions relevant to impacts on most sectors and ecosystems are still highly uncertain; There is a need for a greater focus on developing countries and tropical regions, and on relevant key variables, including the magnitude and frequency of extreme events; The focus should shift from single predictions, or extreme ranges of uncertainty, to risk assessment; Thresholds critical to impacted sectors and ecosystems should be identified, and expressed as functions of climatic variables; Planned adaptations will be necessary to cope with multiple stresses, including those due to non-climatic changes; A major task of adaptation science is to identify the limits of adaptation, i.e., to identify "dangerous levels of greenhouse gases" beyond which adaptation becomes impractical or prohibitively expensive.     

Evaluation of approaches to calculate critical metal loads for forest ecosystems

This paper evaluates approaches to calculate acceptable loads for metal deposition to forest ecosystems, distinguishing between critical loads, stand-still loads and target loads. We also evaluated the influence of including the biochemical metal cycle on the calculated loads. Differences are illustrated by examples of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn for a deciduous forest on five major soil types in the Netherlands. Stand-still loads are generally lower than critical loads, which in turn are lower than the target loads indicating that present levels are below critical levels. Uncertainties in the calculated critical loads are mainly determined by the uncertainty in the critical limits and the chemical speciation model. Including the metal cycle has a small effect on the calculated critical loads. Results are discussed in view of the applicability of the critical load concept for metals in future protocols on the reduction in metal emissions.     

典型北方滨海核电厂温排水混合区边缘温升限值研究

随着我国电力事业的快速发展,电厂循环冷却水(温排水)的余热排放对受纳水体生态环境造成的负面热影响(即热污染)已日益引起社会关注。基于国内现有的温排水排放控制标准可执行性不强的现状,对我国电厂温排水的热污染控制标准的基础技术要素——温排水混合区边缘温升限值进行了研究。以我国北方某典型滨海核电厂址邻近海域的代表性海洋生物为研究对象,以各季节不同受试物种最大临界温度(CTM)的统计分析结果,作为确定该厂址温排水混合区边缘温升限值的主要依据。并结合法规调研法,最终确定该典型滨海核电厂址温排水混合区边缘温升限值的推荐值为3.6℃。     

Confronting a Surfeit of People: Reducing Global Human Numbers to Sustainable Levels An Essay on Population Two Centuries after Malthus

It has become increasingly evident over the past several decades that there is a growing tension between two seemingly irreconcilable trends: (1) moderate to conservative demographic projections that world population size could easily reach 9 billion (or more) by the mid-to-late twenty-first century; and (2) prudent and increasingly reliable scientific estimates suggesting that the Earth's long-term sustainable carrying capacity (at an 'adequate to comfortable' standard of living) may not be much greater than 2–3 billion. I therefore argue that it is now time – indeed, past time – to develop and implement a set of well-conceived, clearly articulated, broadly equitable and internationally coordinated sociopolitical initiatives that go beyond merely slowing the growth – or even the stabilization – of global human numbers. After summarizing a number of 'inescapable realities' that the human species must soon confront, and notwithstanding the considerable difficulties involved in establishing rational and defensible global population optimums, I conclude with several suggestions relevant to the next logical step: how best to bring about a very significant reduction in global population size over the next two to three centuries. To the extent that there is still time to choose whether this dramatic decrease will be under conscious control or essentially chaotic, these proposals are cautiously optimistic.     

Unignited High-Pressure Methane Jet Impinging a Pipe Rack: Practical Tools for Risk Assessment

Although the diffusion of its storage and transport under liquefied conditions, nowadays it is common to have methane in gaseous form in several industrial applications. This leads to safety implications to be considered: hazards are linked to both the high-pressure at which the gas is kept and to its flammability. Scenarios where flammable jets impact an obstacle are of paramount importance because of their possible occurrence. Following a numerical approach, literature shows up that their assessment can be reliably performed by means of only Computational Fluid Dynamics tools. However, despite the improvements of computing power, Computational Fluid Dynamics costs still limit its use in daily risk analysts’ activities. Therefore, considering an accidental jet-obstacle scenario of industrial interest, the present work investigates how a pipe rack can influence the development of a high-pressure methane jet. Based on a Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis, main achievements of this work are a simple criterion able to identify the situations where the pipe rack does not influence the high-pressure methane jet behavior, therefore allowing to identify the scenarios where simpler models can be used (i.e., analytical correlations known for the free jet situation), and, if present, a simple analytical relationship that roughly predicts the influence of the pipe rack without the need of performing complex Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations.