Safety line method for the prediction of deep coal-seam gas pressure and its application in coal mines

Gas pressure is an important index for evaluating the outburst risk and determining the gas content in coal seams. It is recommended to predict coal-seam gas pressure of the workface at deep levels before extending mining activities to deeper levels. According to the prediction results, measurements are taken for gas outburst prevention and control and for workload estimation. At present, regression methods are always used to process the numerous gas pressure data for prediction. Because there are many factors that influence the gas pressure which could lead to a deviation from actual values, the measured data do not possess basic conditions for regression methods; this can cause unexpected dangers if the methods are adopted.Based on a statistical analysis of actual measured results of coal-seam gas pressure in a same geological section in certain coal mine, two symbol measured points are selected to make a line for prediction, i.e. safety line, and the other measured points should be below the line except the abnormal points due to the confined water. It has been successfully applied in numerous coal mines in China. Particularly, this method is analyzed in this paper for the case of the No. 8₂ coal seam in the Taoyuan coal mine in Huaibei coalfield, China. By comparatively analyzing the relationship between gas pressure and depth from surface using regression methods, it is found that the safety line method could lead to a better prediction for deep coal-seam gas pressure, and therefore promote early warning ability and mining safety.     

Importance of timely metadata curation to the global surveillance of genetic diversity

Genetic diversity within species represents a fundamental yet underappreciated level of biodiversity. Because genetic diversity can indicate species resilience to changing climate, its measurement is relevant to many national and global conservation policy targets. Many studies produce large amounts of genome-scale genetic diversity data for wild populations, but most (87%) do not include the associated spatial and temporal metadata necessary for them to be reused in monitoring programs or for acknowledging the sovereignty of nations or Indigenous peoples. We undertook a distributed datathon to quantify the availability of these missing metadata and to test the hypothesis that their availability decays with time. We also worked to remediate missing metadata by extracting them from associated published papers, online repositories, and direct communication with authors. Starting with 848 candidate genomic data sets (reduced representation and whole genome) from the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration, we determined that 561 contained mostly samples from wild populations. We successfully restored spatiotemporal metadata for 78% of these 561 data sets (n = 440 data sets with data on 45,105 individuals from 762 species in 17 phyla). Examining papers and online repositories was much more fruitful than contacting 351 authors, who replied to our email requests 45% of the time. Overall, 23% of our email queries to authors unearthed useful metadata. The probability of retrieving spatiotemporal metadata declined significantly as age of the data set increased. There was a 13.5% yearly decrease in metadata associated with published papers or online repositories and up to a 22% yearly decrease in metadata that were only available from authors. This rapid decay in metadata availability, mirrored in studies of other types of biological data, should motivate swift updates to data-sharing policies and researcher practices to ensure that the valuable context provided by metadata is not lost to conservation science forever.     

Targeted gene flow for conservation

Anthropogenic threats often impose strong selection on affected populations, causing rapid evolutionary responses. Unfortunately, these adaptive responses are rarely harnessed for conservation. We suggest that conservation managers pay close attention to adaptive processes and geographic variation, with an eye to using them for conservation goals. Translocating pre‐adapted individuals into recipient populations is currently considered a potentially important management tool in the face of climate change. Targeted gene flow, which involves moving individuals with favorable traits to areas where these traits would have a conservation benefit, could have a much broader application in conservation. Across a species’ range there may be long‐standing geographic variation in traits or variation may have rapidly developed in response to a threatening process. Targeted gene flow could be used to promote natural resistance to threats to increase species resilience. We suggest that targeted gene flow is a currently underappreciated strategy in conservation that has applications ranging from the management of invasive species and their impacts to controlling the impact and virulence of pathogens.     

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.     

石油化工企业火气系统安全性评估方法

火气系统属于减缓层内的安全仪表系统,在减轻事故后果方面起到非常重要的作用。针对传统火气系统只满足功能需求设计的不足,提出与风险分析相结合的火气系统设计新理念,以具体案例分析场景危险性,通过覆盖率、可用性、有效性等参数,定量场景的潜在生命损失,以风险降低为目的,量化计算事故后果和频率,评估火气系统的有效性。     

Qualitative risk assessment of a Dual Fuel (LNG-Diesel) system for heavy-duty trucks

A Dual Fuel (LNG-Diesel) system can be applied to heavy-duty diesel trucks for achieving environmental benefits in comparison to existing diesel vehicles. Because of lack of reports about risk assessment of this technology, we performed a qualitative assessment based on a framework of some literature techniques for risk identification, analysis and evaluation. After constructing a Reliability Block Diagram (RBD) to establish the context, we conducted bow-tie analysis, Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), likelihood and consequence analysis, and used a risk matrix. We applied these methods and techniques qualitatively to identify causes (e.g. collisions), critical events (e.g. releases of natural gas), related consequences (e.g. fires and explosions), and different possible pathways from a specific cause to its consequence, and to assess some negative accident scenarios related to use and parking of the vehicle. The bow-tie analysis also allowed to make explicit barriers and controls that prevent critical events and/or mitigate consequences. Therefore, we identified a set of safety measures, including design, technical, management, and emergency actions, which shall be implemented in each step of the system's life cycle.Our risk assessment showed that the risk level of the Dual Fuel (LNG-Diesel) system is similar to the risk level of a traditional diesel system. Future research will overcome current lack of data and, therefore, permit a quantitative rating of the risk of the Dual Fuel (LNG-Diesel) system.     

Advances in the study of directed evolution for cellulases

If cellulose can be effectively hydrolyzed into glucose by cellulase, the production costs of hydrogen, ethanol or other chemicals from cellulosic materials will be greatly decreased, and economically viable production of biohydrogen and bioethanol will become feasible. Cellulose is degraded into glucoses by multi-component enzyme systems. Nowadays cellulases are widely used in brewing, food, bioenergy, fodder, textiles, paper, pharmaceuticals, environmental protection and other industries. However, existing cellulases have several problems that limit their wider applications, including the low turnover number for solid cellulosic materials, and low stability in adapting to various application conditions. For example, high temperature, low pH, and so on. Application of directed evolution technology may be one of the most effective ways for improving the characteristics of cellulases. This paper presents a brief review of the cellulose hydrolysis mechanism by cellulase, advances in cellulases (endoglucanase and β-glucosidase) improvement by directed evolution for several characteristics (for instance, thermal stability, pH adaptability and enzyme activity), limitations of directed evolution for cellulases, and the outlook for directed evolution for cellulase.     

工业园共生演化定量研究

以江苏泰兴精细化工园及南通农药化工园为例,将最大流原理及自组织特征映射神经网络用于研究非成熟工业园的产业共生演化.由于演算得到的序参量ξ值虽然可以表征各工业园共生效益随时间变化情况,却无法用来横向比较工业园间共生效益,因此对计算过程进行了改进,提出新的序参量计算方法.比较了序参量ξ与产业关联度、交换量等指标后,定义ξ为产业共生演化效率指标,并将卡伦堡工业园2005年得出的ξ值2.87作为共生演化稳定状态标准值.研究发现,2个工业园在较少人工干预下,ξ值逐年上升,分别从0.04,0.133增加到1.51和1.675,但远小于卡伦堡工业园的2005年ξ值.建议在工业园自发形成进程基础上,加以合理引导,促进工业园更好更快地发展.     

·OH自由基介导2,4-二氯酚光降解机理及产物毒性变化特征的理论研究

由于2,4-二氯酚(2,4-dichlorophenol,简称2,4-DCP)具有"三致"作用及潜在的生态风险,其光化学降解机理及产物的生态毒理效应目前成为人们关注的焦点。本研究采用理论化学计算手段,系统阐明了2,4-DCP在水环境中·OH介导的间接光化学转化机理、动力学和转化产物的生态毒性变化特征。结果表明2,4-DCP很容易被·OH氧化降解,其降解主要通过·OH-加成和H-迁移路径进行。在低温条件下·OH-加成路径将占主导,主要形成4,6-二氯苯-1,3-二酚;而当温度超过313 K时,·OH提取酚羟基上的氢原子为主要降解途径,主要形成2-氯苯-对苯醌。尤其在活性物种浓度较低的高温环境中,H-迁移路径有可能生成二噁英。计算毒理学结果表明:H-迁移产物的水生毒性超过·OH-加成产物,甚至超出母体2,4-DCP一个毒性等级。因此,我们建议在以后的环境监测以及风险评估过程中,关注2,4-DCP及其转化产物特别是H-迁移路径的转化产物的生态毒理学问题。     

Societal change and the control of deforestation in Thailand

Thailand underwent a major shift in forest policy in the second half of the 1980s to promote sustainable management and control of deforestation. This paper puts this in the context of earlier changes in forest policy and analyses the underlying causes of the shift by analysing changes in the relative strength of different interest groups within the framework of a policy pressures model. Internal pressures had a stronger impact on Thai forest policy than external pressures. Protectionist groups became more numerous and more powerful in Thailand in the 1980s in relation to exploitative groups, and their rise in influence was facilitated by continuing progress in democratization and pluralization, linked to the consequences of economic development. Such political change could help to explain the apparent link between better environmental management and economic development shown in the Environmental Kuznets Curve.