基于重要抽样法的耐压球壳可靠性计算方法研究

目的 解决耐压球壳极小失效概率的可靠性计算问题。方法 在自适应Kriging的基础上,结合重要抽样法提出耐压球壳可靠性计算方法。该方法在较大失效概率下构建的Kriging模型基础上获得重要方向,在重要方向上计算得到较低失效概率下的设计点,以设计点为中心,构建小失效概率的Kriging模型,并通过此模型采用重要抽样法开展可靠性计算。结果 分别使用提出的重要抽样法和蒙特卡洛法计算了2个算例的失效概率,计算结果表明,该方法具有较高的精度和效率。使用该方法对某耐压球壳工作载荷下的失效概率进行了计算,计算得到该球壳失效概率为4.094×10^–96。结论 研究结果可为无失效方程下极低失效概率的可靠性计算问题提供参考。     

基于双电极传感器的腐蚀电流检测系统抗扰技术

目的 针对金属电化学腐蚀中腐蚀电流检测,设计一种高精度I-V转换的微电流检测电路,突破宽范围微弱电流高精度检测技术。方法 通过分析电路的稳定性,针对100 pA~10 mA的微弱腐蚀电流采集,采用法安级偏置运放实现I-V转换,设计基于ADG708电子开关的8档自动调节电路,并通过24位ADC实现高精度模数转换。针对微弱电流采集中信号易受噪声的影响,设计自适应滤波器用于信号滤波处理。结果 通过MATLAB仿真自适应滤波器的有效性,结果表明,在采集i(k)=2sin(2πk)电流时,误差从0.29 mA(1σ)降低到0.003 9 mA(1σ)。通过电流源校准测试系统精度,在100 pA时误差最大,为4.7%;在10 mA时误差最小,为0.049%。当电流值低于100 nA时,测量误差可以控制在5%以内;100 nA以上时,测量误差可以控制在1%以内。结论 在微弱电流采样中引入自适应滤波器后,系统的采样精度显著提高,突破了宽范围的腐蚀电流采集技术,实现了微弱电流检测。可以将腐蚀电流应用在金属腐蚀速率的评价中。     

Climate change collaboration among natural resource management agencies: lessons learned from two US regions

It has been argued that regional collaboration can facilitate adaptation to climate change impacts through integrated planning and management. In an attempt to understand the underlying institutional factors that either support or contest this assumption, this paper explores the institutional factors influencing adaptation to climate change at the regional scale, where multiple public land and natural resource management jurisdictions are involved. Insights from two mid-western US case studies reveal that several challenges to collaboration persist and prevent fully integrative multi-jurisdictional adaptation planning at a regional scale. We propose that some of these challenges, such as lack of adequate time, funding and communication channels, be reframed as opportunities to build interdependence, identify issue-linkages and collaboratively explore the nature and extent of organisational trade-offs with respect to regional climate change adaptation efforts. Such a reframing can better facilitate multi-jurisdictional adaptation planning and management of shared biophysical resources generally while simultaneously enhancing organisational capacity to mitigate negative effects and take advantage of potentially favourable future conditions in an era characterised by rapid climate change.     

Developing sustainable products and services

In light of increasing pressures to adopt a more sustainable approach to product design and manufacture, the requirement to develop sustainable products is one of the key challenges facing industry in the 21st century. Hence, the concept of developing sustainable products as well as services is evolving as a key element of Cleaner Production. Sustainable product development initiatives (mainly through eco-design) have been evolving for some time to support companies develop more sustainable products. Ireland has been running the highly successful Environmentally Superior Products (ESP) initiative that supports industrial companies to incorporate a more sustainable approach to the development of products and/or services. The lessons learned from the ESP and other global Sustainable Product and Service Developments in industry and research, are being used to develop a method for effective sustainable product and/or service development (SPSD) in industry. The method is designed to provide pragmatic guidance to business and industry for developing sustainable products and services as well as incorporating this approach within existing corporate strategy, cleaner production and product development systems. This method is being developed by the authors at the Environmental Policy and Management Group (EPMG), Department of Environmental Science and Technology, Imperial College London, UK in conjunction with industry and practitioners. The method provides a framework for implementing SPSD throughout the entire lifecycle of a product and/or service. It can be used to identify, assess and implement the options for optimum sustainability in the design and development of a product and/or service. This paper describes the key features of this method.     

Is a voluntary approach an effective environmental policy instrument?: A case for environmental management systems

Using Japanese facility-level data from an OECD survey, we estimate the effects of implementation of ISO14001 and publication of environmental reports on the facilities’ environmental performance. While most previous studies focused on an index of emissions toxicity, this study examines three areas of impacts, none of which have been explored in the literature: natural resource use, solid waste generation, and wastewater effluent. The study is also unique in that the effectiveness of ISO14001 is considered in relation to environmental regulations. Our findings are summarized as follows. First, both ISO14001 and report publication help reduce all three impacts; the former appears more effective in all areas except wastewater. Second, environmental regulations do not weaken the effect of ISO14001. Third, assistance programs offered by local governments—a voluntary approach—promote facilities’ adoption of ISO14001. These findings suggest that governments can use command-and-control and voluntary approaches concurrently.     

Control system approaches to ecological systems analysis: Invariants and frequency response

The steady-state assumption is a mainstay for the analysis of ecological systems with more than three or four states. However, it is well accepted in ecology that inputs to large systems come in pulses assumed to have a reasonably constant magnitude and frequency. Steady pulse inputs and the use of electro-chemical–mechanical control systems methodology enables limited short term dynamic responses of ecological systems of a scale often occurring in systems of potential engineering importance to be analyzed. This paper explores and presents a survey of multi-input–multi-output (MIMO) control systems analysis of ecosystem network models to better understand pulse frequency issues and further develop experimentally verifiable approaches to testing the MIMO concept. The analysis process is demonstrated using two network model exemplars. Two aspects of MIMO analyses appear relevant to understanding ecological systems: (1) Eigenvalue invariant analyses and singular value decomposition (SVD) analyses enable assessment of stability and relative strength of states. Eigenvalues reflect time constants and provide a check on experimentally determined system matrices. (2) Analysis of SVD versus frequency for each output indicates maximum pulse frequencies that allow system components to benefit from pulsing. As a group, MIMO analyses complement other analytical methods and provide a theoretical systems focus convenient for analyzing ecosystems from an engineering perspective.     

A Markov model for assessing ecological stability properties

Ecological systems are frequently modeled as dynamic systems. It is natural then to use the techniques of dynamic systems theory to analyze such models. However, the methods and results that are produced by dynamic systems theory do not always capture the aspects of ecological systems that are of greatest interest to managers and decision-makers. We identify some of the challenges of using dynamic systems theory to explore ecological systems and propose an alternative approach that emphasizes the understanding of transient effects in light of uncertainty and variability. We illustrate this method by an examination of a model for phosphorus levels in fresh water lakes.     

Coping with accelerating socio-technical systems

In 1997 a workshop was held on the subject of how to cope with accelerating technologies. These are industries such as aviation, air traffic control and biotechnology, amongst others, where the rate of technological development is significant. A number of papers were presented from a range of viewpoints and in a variety of different industrial contexts. The papers ranged from theoretical models to help understand the process of acceleration and its impact on organisational learning, to practical analyses of future potential risks in specific accelerating industries such as air traffic control. The aim of the papers and the workshop as a whole was to provide insight into the problems associated with accelerating technologies, and thereby derive measures to control or cope with such acceleration. The problems arising from acceleration, as predicted by the theoretical models and evidenced by experiences in accelerating industries (e.g. aviation) are manifold. Two examples of particular problems are unforeseen risks in an industry (a lack of forward vision), and a failure to learn adequately (i.e. in time) from incidents occurring in an organisation (a lack of constructive hindsight). There is also an incipient danger of society being driven by technology rather than being led by social needs. Even if each technology ultimately becomes ‘ultra-safe’, it will nevertheless have its own ‘event horizon’, limiting useful further progress. Each of the papers from the workshop is summarised and integrated into a three-part synopsis of the workshop. This covers the context of accelerating technologies, modelling their impacts, and deriving coping strategies. Four of the papers are included in their entirety as separate papers in their own right in this special issue of Safety Science.     

DYNAMICS OF WETLAND DEVELOPMENT AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN LAS VEGAS WASH,NEVADA1

ABSTRACT: This paper examines the co‐evolution of the Las Vegas, Nevada metropolitan area, Las Vegas Wash ecosystem‐a downstream riparian wetland‐and Wash management as a case of urban‐environment dynamics. Since Las Vegas Wash provides the primary drainage for Las Vegas, changes in the urban system lead to changes in the Wash and its ecosystem. The population of the drainage area has grown from approximately 1,000 people in 1900 to more than 1.3 million in 2000. This phenomenal population growth led to increased Wash flow, from less than .03 m³/sec (1 ft³/sec) to over 7.4 m³/sec (260 ft³/sec), and consequent ecological changes from a nearly dry wash to a rich wetland, and now to an eroded system. As the Wash ecosystem changed, valuation of Wash characteristics by residents and resource managers also changed, shifting the focus of management and use, which ultimately led to further ecosystem changes. Reciprocal relationships among human activity, environmental change, and management in this urban area highlight the need for a comprehensive and dynamic systems perspective and adaptive approaches in urban environmental management and make this a particularly compelling case study. This paper describes a conceptual systems framework for adaptive urban‐environment management derived from this case.