太湖水体多环芳烃生态风险的空间分布

以太湖梅梁湾、贡湖湾和胥口湾水体多环芳烃(PAHs)含量水平为基础,通过物种敏感度分布曲线计算三湖湾水体PAHs对水生生物的潜在危害比例,以此表征PAHs对太湖三湖湾水体的生态风险,并对其空间分布特征进行讨论.结果表明:PAHs对太湖三湖湾水体的生态风险大小依次是:Flua(1.1641%),Phe(0.2206%),Pyr(0.1633%),BaP(0.0175%),Ant(0.0021%),Flu(0.0005%), Ace(0.0000%),∑7PAH的联合生态风险(3.0954%)大于单体PAHs的生态风险. Ant, BaP和∑7PAH对梅梁湾(0.0209%,0.1237%和4.1018%)的生态风险显著高于贡湖湾(0.0023%,0.0085%,3.0414%)和胥口湾(0.0002%,0.0015%,2.3899%)(P0.05);Flu和Phe对胥口湾(0.0004%,0.1553%)的生态风险显著低于梅梁湾(0.0011%,0.2999%)和贡湖湾(0.0009%,0.2681%)(P0.05);Pyr和Flua对梅梁湾(0.3268%,1.7156%),贡湖湾(0.1697%,1.2386%)和胥口湾(0.1044%,0.8339%)水生生物的生态风险具有显著性差异(P<0.05).空间分布表明:梅梁湾西北部PAHs的生态风险最大,贡湖湾北部次之,胥口湾最小.     

An Analysis of the Wind Energy Potential of Elazig,Turkey

Abstract

In this study, the wind energy potential of Elazig is statistically analyzed based on hourly measured wind speed data over the five-year period from 1998 to 2002. The probability density distributions are derived from cumulative distribution functions. Two probability density functions are fitted to the measured probability distribution on a yearly basis. The wind energy potential of the location is studied based on the Weibull and Rayleigh distributions. It was found that the numerical values of both Weibull parameters (k and c) for Elazig vary over a wide range. The yearly values of k range from 1.653 to 1.878 with an average value of 1.819, while those of c are in the range of 2.757–2.994 m/s with an average value of 2.824 m/s. In addition, yearly mean wind speed and mean power density of Elazig is found as 2.79 m/s and 38.76 W/m², respectively. The wind speed distributions are represented by Weibull distribution and also by Rayleigh distribution, with a special case of the Weibull distribution for k = 2. As a result, the Rayleigh distribution is found to be suitable to represent the actual probability of wind speed data for Elazig.     

Confronting socially generated uncertainty in adaptive management

As more and more organizations with responsibility for natural resource management adopt adaptive management as the rubric in which they wish to operate, it becomes increasingly important to consider the sources of uncertainty inherent in their endeavors. Without recognizing that uncertainty originates both in the natural world and in human undertakings, efforts to manage adaptively at the least will prove frustrating and at the worst will prove damaging to the very natural resources that are the management targets. There will be more surprises and those surprises potentially may prove at the very least unwanted and at the worst devastating. We illustrate how acknowledging uncertainty associated with the natural world is necessary but not sufficient to avoid surprise using case studies of efforts to manage three wildlife species; Hector's Dolphins, American Alligators and Pallid Sturgeon. Three characteristics of indeterminism are salient to all of them; non-stationarity, irreducibility and an inability to define objective probabilities. As an antidote, we recommend employing a holistic treatment of indeterminism, that includes recognizing that uncertainty originates in ecological systems and in how people perceive, interact and decide about the natural world of which they are integral players.     

Inverse calculation approaches for source determination in hazardous chemical releases

Source determination is vital in decision making and emergency planning involving hazardous chemical releases. This work was concentrated on inverse calculation approaches for source determination as well as current trends and future perspectives. In this paper, these different approaches are reviewed by dividing them into two categories: probability modeling methods and optimization modeling methods. The traits of these approaches are comparatively analyzed. Then it is shown how these approaches behave when applied to practical cases, and their feasibility, applicability, stability, and limitation in determining the location and strength are presented. It is argued that when experimenting with potential terrorist attacks involving hazardous chemical releases, observation points should be around the main line of the downwind direction when the source is known; while the uniform distribution of observation points is an efficient solution for unknown incidents. Probability modeling methods are demonstrated to be insufficient during emergency responses due to their lacking of enough prior information of unknown parameters, while optimization modeling methods are efficient and become a new trend in source determination. Findings reflect an urgent need for the development of high-accuracy detectors and further research of data transmission techniques in order to ensure the validity of these approaches.     

New approach to calculate the probability of ignition

The probabilistic approach to the evaluation of fire hazard and the effectiveness of fire-precaution measures enables a rational response to the randomness of fire outbreaks. This article employs the statistical analysis methods to elucidate the causes for the ignition of fire on a random sample of industrial buildings in the Republic of Slovenia. The analyses are based on the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), which is a well established and important statistical analysis technique in the fields of social science, biology, psychology and medicine, but hitherto rarely applied in safety research. The results of the study demonstrate that for the analyzed random sample of industrial buildings the frequency of fire outbreaks statistically significantly depends only on the presence and the probability of exposure to the heat sources (flames, sparks, and hot surfaces), but does not significantly depend on the available quantity of flammable materials within the industrial structure.     

工业设备的震害预测研究

综合考虑地震作用和结构材料的随机性 ,运用概率论的知识建立了地震作用下钢铁工业设备各种破坏形式的极限状态方程 ,并求出了对应于某种地震烈度 ,设备出现各种破坏状态的概率。在此基础上 ,通过模糊综合评判的手段提出了工业设备的震害预测方法 ,并编制了相应的软件。此种方法的建立使设备抗震预测变得方便、可行。     

How experienced individuals contribute to an improvement in collective performance in ants

Certain groups of organisms are capable of improving their collective performance with experience. In a recent study, we demonstrated that, over successive emigrations, colonies of the ant Temnothorax albipennis are able to improve their collective performance by reducing the time taken to complete an emigration (Langridge et al., Behav Ecol Sociobiol 56:523–529, 2004). In this paper, by recording the performance of individually marked workers during repeated emigrations, we were able to analyse some of the ways in which time gains are achieved. We found that: (1) those transporters that also transported in the preceding emigration began to transport earlier in the current emigration and, in the majority of emigrations, transported more items than those transporters that had not transported in the preceding emigration; (2) the time that elapsed before the first item was transported into the new nest reduced over successive emigrations, and this first item was, in the majority of emigrations, carried by a transporter that had also transported in the preceding emigration; (3) the number of adults that were transported reduced over successive emigrations. Our results strongly suggest that the behaviour of transporters that also transported in a preceding emigration may be modified as a result of their experience and that, consequently, their efforts in the next emigration make a major contribution to the improved performance of the colony as a whole.     

On the use of correlated beta random variables with animal population modelling

We give reasons why demographic parameters such as survival and reproduction rates are often modelled well in stochastic population simulation using beta distributions. In practice, it is frequently expected that these parameters will be correlated, for example with survival rates for all age classes tending to be high or low in the same year. We therefore discuss a method for producing correlated beta random variables by transforming correlated normal random variables, and show how it can be applied in practice by means of a simple example. We also note how the same approach can be used to produce correlated uniform, triangular, and exponential random variables.