基于PBPK模型评价三氯乙烯的职业暴露健康风险

三氯乙烯(TCE)作为脱脂和清洗剂被广泛应用于五金、电镀和电子等行业。TCE的职业暴露会产生一系列健康风险,包括过敏症和致癌等。2012年TCE被美国环保局(US EPA)和国际癌症研究机构列为1类致癌物。采用吸附管采样-热脱附/气相色谱-质谱法分析了大连市某企业车间生产工况下空气中TCE浓度。基于生理学的药代动力学(PBPK)模型预测了呼吸暴露途径下TCE在职业工人体内组织中的动态分布、代谢产物生成情况和致癌风险。TCE在不同组织中预测的最大浓度呈现出脂肪肠充分灌注室支气管非充分灌注室肝脏静脉血动脉血的趋势。预测的与致癌有关的代谢产物最大浓度表现为三氯乙酸二氯乙酸三氯乙醛S-二氯乙烯基-L-半胱氨酸。在监测的TCE水平(39.2±24.4)μg·m-3下,暴露8 h·d-1,连续暴露20年,基于外暴露评价的职业工人致癌风险均值为1.31×10-5,该暴露水平下,基于PBPK模型预测的TCE内暴露与外暴露计算的致癌风险水平相近,但基于具有致癌性主要代谢产物的内暴露致癌风险值是外暴露风险值的1.17～1.73倍。TCE的暴露水平越高,基于内暴露方法和外暴露方法的致癌风险评价结果差异越大。敏感性分析表明,心输出血流量和充分灌注室血流量对PBPK模型输出结果具有重要影响。不确定性分析表明,模型参数变化会显著地影响PBPK模型输出结果,但变异在可接受水平。本研究结果说明,评价TCE暴露对人的致癌风险需要考虑其在体内的分布和代谢过程。     

基坑放坡开挖对下方既有地铁隧道影响计算及风险预测

为研究基坑放坡开挖对下方既有地铁隧道的影响以及预测隧道结构的风险,通过改进的计算方法得到放坡开挖基坑引起下方既有地铁隧道的竖向和横向附加荷载、位移、相对变形曲率共6个隧道结构安全的物理表现因子;将位移计算结果与前人理论计算结果、实测数据对比验证,并分析各土层物理力学参数对6个因子的敏感性;最后,基于正态分布概率模型对较敏感的土层物理力学参数随机取值,利用蒙特卡罗方法计算6个因子各级风险发生的概率和竖向、横向2类因子综合影响下隧道结构各级风险发生的总概率。研究结果表明:与原来仅限于矩形开挖基坑的计算方法相比,改进后的计算方法适用范围更广、实用性更强;在算例二分析中,隧道竖向位移和相对变形曲率超过控制值的概率分别为12%和68.7%,其余因子均为0,隧道竖向相对变形曲率是隧道结构处于不安全状态的最主要因子;若不采取预防措施,隧道结构将有高达73.27%的概率处于不安全状态,其中有68.7%的概率处于很不安全状态。     

RBF神经网络可靠度分析方法在边坡稳定性研究中的应用

针对边坡稳定性可靠度分析,当状态函数无法显式表达且传统计算方法求解复杂问题困难时,提出一种基于ABAQUS和粒子群优化径向基函数神经网络的可靠度分析方法。基于ABAQUS的强度折减方法计算所选随机变量对应的安全系数,利用径向基函数神经网络的数据拟合功能,建立模型并映射出安全系数和随机变量之间的关系,构造响应面功能函数;利用蒙特卡罗生成的大量随机样本代入功能函数得到相应的安全系数,进而计算边坡的失稳概率和可靠度指标来反映边坡稳定性。研究结果表明:相对于传统方法,本文方法计算效率更高、误差更小,适合实际工程应用。     

Development of a probabilistic blood lead prediction model

A partially probabilistic blood lead prediction model has been developed, based on the US Environmental Protection Agency integrated exposure-uptake-biokinetic blood lead model (IEUBK model). This study translated the IEUBK model into a spreadsheet format. The uptake submodel incorporates uncertainty distributions for exposure and bioavailability parameters. The biokinetic submodel is duplicated with a table incorporating partitioning and decay of lead levels in the body. As a case study, the probabilistic model is applied to a lead exposure scenario involving a former smelter site in Sandy, Utah. The probabilistic model produces less biased estimates of means and standard deviations than the deterministic model. Parameter uncertainty is propagated in the model by the use of Monte Carlo simulation. Thus, sensitivity analysis is possible, and driving variables can be determined.     

On the latent state estimation of nonlinear population dynamics using Bayesian and non-Bayesian state-space models

Nonlinear state-space models have been increasingly applied to study population dynamics and data assimilation in environmental sciences. State-space models can account for process error and measurement error simultaneously to correct for the bias in the estimates of system state and model parameters. However, few studies have compared the performance of different nonlinear state-space models for reconstructing the state of population dynamics from noisy time series. This study compared the performance of the extended Kalman filter (EKF), unscented Kalman filter (UKF) and Bayesian nonlinear state-space models (BNSSM) through simulations. Synthetic population time series were generated using the theta logistic model with known parameters, and normally distributed process and measurement errors were introduced using the Monte Carlo simulations. At higher levels of nonlinearity, the UKF and BNSSM had lower root mean square error (RMSE) than the EKF. The BNSSM performed reliably across all levels of nonlinearity, whereas increased levels of nonlinearity resulted in higher RMSE of the EKF. The Metropolis–Hastings algorithm within the Gibbs algorithm was used to fit the theta logistic model to synthetic time series to estimate model parameters. The estimated posterior distribution of the parameter θ indicated that the 95% credible intervals included the true values of θ (=0.5 and 1.5), but did not include 1.0 and 0.0. Future studies need to incorporate the adaptive Metropolis algorithm to estimate unknown model parameters for broad applications of Bayesian nonlinear state-space models in ecological studies.     

Bayesian analysis under ordered functions of parameters

Ordered parameter problems arise in a wide variety of real world situations and are dealt with extensively in the literature. Traditional frequentist methods for dealing with these problems are rather complicated theoretically, especially when sample sizes are small. Bayesian methods are not widely used because high dimensional numerical integration is often required. However, Markov chain Monte Carlo methods provide alternatives to such numerical integration and also deal with ordered parameter problems in a straightforward manner. Little is known about the situation where functions of parameters are ordered. Such problems may seem to be of little practical concern initially, but one can readily see their importance in situations where ordering is placed on the means and variances of several normal or Gamma populations. For the Gamma distribution we will present real examples where we will analyze monthly precipitation data from San Francisco, California and Oakland Mills, Iowa. For the San Francisco data we will simultaneously order both monthly precipitation means and variances. For the Iowa data we will place ordering on seasonal average while still estimating monthly means. Our results show that we would obtain sharper, more accurate inference when order restrictions are employed.     

Neighborhood Level Spatial Analysis of the Relationship Between Alcohol Outlet Density and Criminal Violence

Misuse of alcohol is a significant public health problem, potentially resulting in unintentional injuries, motor vehicle crashes, drownings, and, perhaps of greatest concern, serious acts of violence, including assaults, rapes, suicides, and homicides. Although previous research establishes a link between alcohol consumption increased levels of violence, studies relating the density of alcohol outlets (e.g., restaurants, bars, liquor stores) and the likelihood of violent crime have been less common. In this paper we test for such a relationship at the small area level, using data from 79 neighborhoods in the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota. We adopt a fully Bayesian point of view using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) computational methods as available in the popular and freely available WinBUGS language. Our models control for important covariates (e.g., neighborhood racial heterogeneity, age heterogeneity) and also account for spatial association in unexplained variability using conditionally autoregressive (CAR) random effects. Our results indicate a significant positive relationship between alcohol outlet density and violent crime, while also permitting easy mapping of neighborhood-level predicted and residual values, the former useful for intervention in the most at-risk neighborhoods and the latter potentially useful in identifying covariates still missing from the fixed effects portion of the model.     

Cluster detection using Bayes factors from overparameterized cluster models

In this paper, we consider the use of a partition model to estimate regional disease rates and to detect spatial clusters. Formal inference regarding the number of partitions (or clusters) can be obtained with a reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm. As an alternative, we consider the ability of models with a fixed, but overly large, number of partitions to estimate regional disease rates and to provide informal inferences about the number and locations of clusters using local Bayes factors. We illustrate and compare these two approaches using data on leukemia incidence in upstate New York and data on breast cancer incidence in Wisconsin.     

混凝土结构可靠度的Monte Carlo模拟

简介了靠度与安全系数的区别；以混凝土结构为例，介绍了用Monte Carlo模拟来计算结构可靠度的方法。     

钙基脱硫剂孔隙网络动态生成特性

钙基脱硫剂孔隙结构特性直接影响到脱硫效果及脱硫剂的利用率,对其空间网络特性的描述将有助于分析SO2的扩散及反应特性. 在石灰石分解动力学和烧结机理的基础上,结合固体分解的成核机理,运用Monte-Carlo 方法,建立了脱硫剂孔隙网络的动态生成模型,对钙基脱硫剂分解形成的孔隙结构进行了动态模拟,并对生成孔结构的分形特性进行研究.结果表明,运用动态生成模型,可以给出石灰石分解形成的CaO内部孔隙的微观空间结构,且模拟生成的孔隙网络的分形维数与实验测定值基本吻合.