Decentralized scheme for leaks’ location in a branched pipeline

This article presents a novel scheme for the detection and isolation of single leaks in a pipeline with a branch junction by measuring only the flow rate and pressure at the ends of the line. For the solution of this realistic issue, which commonly occurs in pipeline networks, the position of the branch junction and its flow rate are supposed to be known. The idea consists of deriving a model considering the branch junction as a known point in the pipeline such that the leak position is characterized by two possible orientations with respect to the branch (upstream and downstream of it). Thus, this model allows proposing a diagnosis scheme which includes a static selector and two identifiers designed by using a continuous extended Kalman filter with only one deviation parameter to be estimated. This framework reduces the identification task to one parameter which is associated with the deviation from a prescribed positive base position located between one of the pipeline ends and the branch. Simulation and experimental results with data of a hydraulic pilot pipeline of 200 [m] show the promise of the novel scheme.     

Analyzing effective factors on leakage-induced hydrogen fires

Currently, novel energy resources are receiving increasing attention as a response to the limitation in fossil fuels as well as their adverse effects on human health. Hydrogen, one of the most abundant elements on the earth, can be regarded as a new energy source to replace fossil fuels. Therefore, safety assessment of the relating processes is very crucial by increasing use of hydrogen as a fuel source. In this regard, consequence analysis for risk assessment and power reduction is very important. The present study aims at modeling hydrogen dispersion along with consequence analyses for such events as jet fire and flash fire. The model was validated by using the data derived from a study on hydrogen leakage in supply pipelines in the laboratory of the University of Pisa. Modeling results reveal that ambient conditions will impose a milder impact on leakage consequences if internal pressure is high in release source. The safe distance was also estimated to be 14 m. Dispersion consequence modeling was performed, followed by the evaluation of the effect of environmental (i.e., stability, ambient temperature, surface roughness, wind speed, and humidity) and process (i.e., vessel temperature and pressure, leakage diameter, and releasing point height) parameters on maximum size flammable vapor cloud and maximum level jet fire radiation on the ground. The size of flammable vapor cloud (consequence dispersion index) and the maximum flux of radiation were affected by process parameters more than ambient parameters. Leakage diameter and the vessel pressure were found to have the highest impact on the operational parameters.     

Value Plurality among Conservation Professionals

Abstract: Debate on the values that underpin conservation science is rarely based on empirical analysis of the values conservation professionals actually hold. We used Q methodology to investigate the values held by international conservation professionals who attended the annual Student Conference in Conservation Science at the University of Cambridge (U.K.) in 2008 and 2009. The methodology offers a quantitative means of examining human subjectivity. It differs from standard opinion surveys in that individual respondents record the way they feel about statements relative to other statements, which forces them to focus their attention on the issues they believe are most important. The analysis extracts the diverse viewpoints of the respondents, and factor analysis is used to reduce the viewpoints to a smaller set of factors that reflect shared ways of thinking. The junior conservation professionals attending the conference did not share a unifying set of core values; rather, they held a complex series of ideas and a plurality of opinions about conservation and how it should be pursued. This diversity of values empirically challenges recent proposals for conservation professionals to unite behind a single philosophy. Attempts to forge an artificial consensus may be counterproductive to the overall goals conservation professionals are pursuing.     

Acceleration of Exotic Plant Invasion in a Forested Ecosystem by a Generalist Herbivore

Abstract: The successful invasion of exotic plants is often attributed to the absence of coevolved enemies in the introduced range (i.e., the enemy release hypothesis). Nevertheless, several components of this hypothesis, including the role of generalist herbivores, remain relatively unexplored. We used repeated censuses of exclosures and paired controls to investigate the role of a generalist herbivore, white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), in the invasion of 3 exotic plant species (Microstegium vimineum, Alliaria petiolata, and Berberis thunbergii) in eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) forests in New Jersey and Pennsylvania (U.S.A.). This work was conducted in 10 eastern hemlock (T. canadensis) forests that spanned gradients in deer density and in the severity of canopy disturbance caused by an introduced insect pest, the hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae). We used maximum likelihood estimation and information theoretics to quantify the strength of evidence for alternative models of the influence of deer density and its interaction with the severity of canopy disturbance on exotic plant abundance. Our results were consistent with the enemy release hypothesis in that exotic plants gained a competitive advantage in the presence of generalist herbivores in the introduced range. The abundance of all 3 exotic plants increased significantly more in the control plots than in the paired exclosures. For all species, the inclusion of canopy disturbance parameters resulted in models with substantially greater support than the deer density only models. Our results suggest that white‐tailed deer herbivory can accelerate the invasion of exotic plants and that canopy disturbance can interact with herbivory to magnify the impact. In addition, our results provide compelling evidence of nonlinear relationships between deer density and the impact of herbivory on exotic species abundance. These findings highlight the important role of herbivore density in determining impacts on plant abundance and provide evidence of the operation of multiple mechanisms in exotic plant invasion.     

Some Guiding Concepts for Conservation Biology

Abstract: The search for generalities in ecology has often been thwarted by contingency and ecological complexity that limit the development of predictive rules. We present a set of concepts that we believe succinctly expresses some of the fundamental ideas in conservation biology. (1) Successful conservation management requires explicit goals and objectives. (2) The overall goal of biodiversity management will usually be to maintain or restore biodiversity, not to maximize species richness. (3) A holistic approach is needed to solve conservation problems. (4) Diverse approaches to management can provide diverse environmental conditions and mitigate risk. (5) Using nature's template is important for guiding conservation management, but it is not a panacea. (6) Focusing on causes not symptoms enhances efficacy and efficiency of conservation actions. (7) Every species and ecosystem is unique, to some degree. (8) Threshold responses are important but not ubiquitous. (9) Multiple stressors often exert critical effects on species and ecosystems. (10) Human values are variable and dynamic and significantly shape conservation efforts. We believe most conservation biologists will broadly agree these concepts are important. That said, an important part of the maturation of conservation biology as a discipline is constructive debate about additional or alternative concepts to those we have proposed here. Therefore, we have established a web‐based, online process for further discussion of the concepts outlined in this paper and developing additional ones.     

Using social resilience and resource dependency to increase the effectiveness of marine conservation initiatives in Salum,Egypt

The social and economic ramifications of marine conservation strategies such as marine protected areas (MPAs) are important to consider prior to their implementation to ensure that they do not exceed the resilience of resource-users and that resource protection might be maximised through compliance and low resistance. This paper presents a framework in which the human dimensions can be more easily and usefully integrated into the design and delivery of conservation initiatives. The framework espouses quantifying (1) the level of dependency on the resource; (2) perceptions towards conservation initiatives; and (3) social resilience. The framework is applied in Salum, Egypt, which is the site of a prospective MPA.     

Vulnerability and adaptation to heat in cities: perspectives and perceptions of local adaptation decision-makers in Sweden

Climate change vulnerability is disproportionately distributed between different population segments in society. This study qualitatively explores how key stakeholders in municipalities (i.e. planning and operational staff in municipalities and the vulnerable themselves) construct social vulnerability in relation to climate change with a specific focus on thermal stress (i.e. heat waves) and which adaptive responses they identify at different levels. The empirical material consists of five focus groups with actors in a large Swedish municipality where the “Vulnerability Factor Card Game” was used as stimulus material to create 10 fictional individuals. The results show that there is a substantial amount of local knowledge about vulnerability drivers and inter-relations between social factors and vulnerability. Local decision-makers also defined a wide range of possible adaptation measures at different municipal levels. Our study clearly indicates that contextualised knowledge, which could complement the quantitative approaches in research, is abundant among municipal planners, staff employed at municipal operations such as health care, and among the vulnerable themselves. This knowledge remains untapped by research to a great extent and only seems to have an insignificant influence on policy-making. In particular, how impacts vary between different social and demographic groups and how adaptation strategies that target the most vulnerable could be defined are of great interest. The present study clearly indicates that social hierarchy may produce increased inequality in the specific context of climate change, vulnerability and adaptive responses at different levels.     

Cultivating food as a right to the city

This paper argues that there is much to be gained when we view struggles to cultivate food in the city through the lens of Henri Lefebvre's concept of the right to the city. Lefebvre's idea helps us better perceive the radical political and ecological potential of those struggles. And in the empirical details of the struggles we can see concretely the key action in Lefebvre's concept, an action that is only abstract in his work: urban inhabitants becoming active and producing and managing space for themselves.     

露天转地下开采对上覆构筑物安全影响分析

为在最大限度科学回收地下资源的前提下,保证地表构筑物安全,以国内某大型矿山为工程背景,采用空区监测系统(CMS)结合DIMINE/FLAC3D建模技术,构建露天转地下开采对地表构筑物影响分析三维可视化计算模型。通过数值计算与现场调查相结合的方法,对比分析露天转地下开采影响范围内的地表构筑物水平位移、倾斜、曲率、沉降。结果表明:数值计算获得的应力场和位移场结果,与矿山实测结果基本吻合。该矿山开采1 650 m阶段后监测点最大倾斜指标为9 mm/m,接近允许值上限,因此,其最大合理开采深度为1 650 m阶段。     

扰动和加藻共同作用下太湖沉积物中形态磷变化规律

为了阐明反复扰动下,不同初始浓度藻对沉积物中各形态磷释放的影响.以太湖梅梁湾沉积物和上覆水作为研究材料,探讨了扰动和藻类共同作用下沉积物中各形态磷的变化规律.结果表明,无扰动状态下,NH4Cl-P和Res-P均有所降低,而Fe/Al-P和Ca-P则有所增加.其中,Ca-P随藻类初始浓度增加而增加,分别增加48%、66%、74%.但是,扰动状态下,NH4Cl-P和Res-P也明显降低.Fe/Al-P明显增加,其占总磷的百分比为66.2%(3组试验的平均值)高于不扰动状态(53.4%,3组试验的平均值);此外,Ca-P占总磷的百分比为24.1%(3组扰动试验的平均值)明显低于不扰动状态(33.0%,3组试验的平均值).这暗示了扰动和藻类共同作用下促进了Fe/Al-P的形成,而无扰动下藻类却促进了Ca-P的形成.