AN EVALUATION OF THE AVAILABLE TECHNIQUES FOR ESTIMATING MISSING FECAL COLIFORM DATA1

ABSTRACT: This paper presents the findings of a study aimed at evaluating the available techniques for estimating missing fecal coliform (FC) data on a temporal basis. The techniques investigated include: linear and nonlinear regression analysis and interpolation functions, and the use of artificial neural networks (ANNs). In all, seven interpolation, two regression, and one ANN model structures were investigated. This paper also investigates the validity of a hypothesis that estimating missing FC data by developing different models using different data corresponding to different dynamics associated with different trends in the FC data may result in a better model performance. The FC data (counts/100 ml) derived from the North Fork of the Kentucky River in Kentucky were employed to calibrate and validate various models. The performance of various models was evaluated using a wide variety of standard statistical measures. The results obtained in this study are able to demonstrate that the ANNs can be preferred over the conventional techniques in estimating missing FC data in a watershed. The regression technique was not found suitable in estimating missing FC data on a temporal basis. Further, it has been found that it is possible to achieve a better model performance by first decomposing the whole data set into different categories corresponding to different dynamics and then developing separate models for separate categories rather than developing a single model for the composite data set.     

污染物排放相关指标计算方法的研究

针对传统的污染排放数据指标计算方法存在的问题,提出污染物排放指标应根据排污强度和经济指标确定的新思路,同时提出污染物排放指标数据的快速测算模型设计.建议通过环境监测数据或物料衡算数据确定每个排污单位的平均排污强度,作为计算机处理的参数,再由该排污单位申报每月的经济指标(产量或产值),输入计算机计算其产污量、排污量和去除量.实施计算机管理的关键是选取适当的数据计算模型.新思路应该能够规范计算程序,建立污染源动态数据库,对排污数据实行有效的统计分析.     

BASIN SCALE WATER MANAGEMENT AND FORECASTING USING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS1

ABSTRACT: Water scarcity in the Sevier River Basin in south‐central Utah has led water managers to seek advanced techniques for identifying optimal forecasting and management measures. To more efficiently use the limited quantity of water in the basin, better methods for control and forecasting are imperative. Basin scale management requires advanced forecasts of the availability of water. Information about long term water availability is important for decision making in terms of how much land to plant and what crops to grow; advanced daily predictions of streamflows and hydraulic characteristics of irrigation canals are of importance for managing water delivery and reservoir releases; and hourly forecasts of flows in tributary streams to account for diurnal fluctuations are vital to more precisely meet the day‐to‐day expectations of downstream farmers. A priori streamflow information and exogenous climate data have been used to predict future streamflows and required reservoir releases at different timescales. Data on snow water equivalent, sea surface temperatures, temperature, total solar radiation, and precipitation are fused by applying artificial neural networks to enhance long term and real time basin scale water management information. This approach has not previously been used in water resources management at the basin‐scale and could be valuable to water users in semi‐arid areas to more efficiently utilize and manage scarce water resources.     

Connecting the Dots: Public Engagement with Environmental Data

Air pollution and other environmental hazards are often imperceptible and need to be made publicly visible. The paper argues for the importance of visualizations in drawing public attention to imperceptible hazards and in providing the public with access to empirical data describing the risks. It also argues for critical inquiry into hazards’ selective visibility as it is produced by visualizations. The impact of visualizations and their selective visibility are considered through the example of a public art project called Particle Falls installed in 2014 in Pittsburgh, a city with a long history of both ignoring air pollution and working to ameliorate this problem. I examine the impact and selective visibility of Particle Falls by considering the underlying production of data, as well as context and support systems for this visualization, and by comparing it with other visualizations of local air quality.     

Quantifying population declines based on presence‐only records for red‐list assessments

Accurate trend estimates are necessary for understanding which species are declining and which are most in need of conservation action. Imperfect species detection may result in unreliable trend estimates because this may lead to the overestimation of declines. Because many management decisions are based on population trend estimates, such biases could have severe consequences for conservation policy. We used an occupancy‐modeling framework to estimate detectability and calculate nationwide population trends for 14 Swiss amphibian species both accounting for and ignoring imperfect detection. Through the application of International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List criteria to the different trend estimates, we assessed whether ignoring imperfect detection could affect conservation policy. Imperfect detection occurred for all species and detection varied substantially among species, which led to the overestimation of population declines when detectability was ignored. Consequently, accounting for imperfect detection lowered the red‐list risk category for 5 of the 14 species assessed. We demonstrate that failing to consider species detectability can have serious consequences for species management and that occupancy modeling provides a flexible framework to account for observation bias and improve assessments of conservation status. A problem inherent to most historical records is that they contain presence‐only data from which only relative declines can be estimated. A move toward the routine recording of nonobservation and absence data is essential if conservation practitioners are to move beyond this toward accurate population trend estimation.     

The Role of Disaggregation of Asset Values in Flood Loss Estimation: A Comparison of Different Modeling Approaches at the Mulde River,Germany

In loss estimation there is a spatial mismatch of hazard data that are commonly modeled on an explicit raster level and exposure data that are often available only for aggregated administrative units. Usually disaggregation methods that use ancillary information to distribute lumped exposure data in a finer spatial resolution help to bridge this gap. However, the actual influence of different mapping techniques and ancillary data on the final loss estimation has not been analyzed yet. In this paper three methods are applied to disaggregate residential building assets using two kinds of land use/land cover (LULC) data. The resulting disaggregated assets are validated and compared using census data of the residential building number on the community and constituency level. In addition, the disaggregated assets are taken to estimate residential building losses due to the flood in August 2002 in 21 municipalities on the River Mulde in Saxony, Germany. Losses are calculated with the help of four loss models. In general, disaggregation helps to decrease the error variance within the loss estimation. It must, however, be stated that the application of sophisticated disaggregation methods does not lead to significant improvements compared to the straightforward binary method. Therefore more effort should instead be put into the provision of high-resolution LULC data. Finally, the remaining uncertainties in loss estimation are high and demand further improvements in all modeling aspects.     

Predicting vehicle fuel consumption patterns using floating vehicle data

The status of energy consumption and air pollution in China is serious. It is important to analyze and predict the different fuel consumption of various types of vehicles under different influence factors. In order to fully describe the relationship between fuel consumption and the impact factors, massive amounts of floating vehicle data were used. The fuel consumption pattern and congestion pattern based on large samples of historical floating vehicle data were explored, drivers'' information and vehicles'' parameters from different group classification were probed, and the average velocity and average fuel consumption in the temporal dimension and spatial dimension were analyzed respectively. The fuel consumption forecasting model was established by using a Back Propagation Neural Network. Part of the sample set was used to train the forecasting model and the remaining part of the sample set was used as input to the forecasting model.     

中国国道和省道机动车尾气排放特征

近年来,随着我国机动车保有量的持续增长,机动车排放已成为我国重要的大气污染物来源之一.现有的机动车排放研究多关注城市内的机动车大气污染物排放,针对城市间的大气污染物排放研究较少.我国城市间交通道路主要包括国道和省道,截止至2015年我国国道里程18.53万km、省道里程32.97万km,约占全国等级公路总里程的13%,因此开展我国国道和省道机动车大气污染物排放研究十分重要.本研究基于全国国道和省道交通监测站的年均监测数据,采用环境保护部发布的《道路机动车大气污染物排放清单编制技术指南(试行)》中的指导方法,计算了2015年我国国道和省道机动车的大气污染物排放清单,分析了污染物排放的时空分布特征.结果表明,我国国道和省道公路机动车排放的一氧化碳(CO)、氮氧化物(NO_x)、颗粒物(PM)和碳氢化合物(HC)排放量分别占全国机动车污染物总排放量的4.5%、27.9%、14.4%和7.7%;不同车型对国道和省道机动车大气污染物排放的分担率不同,其中大货车是NO_x、PM_(10)、PM_(2.5)的主要来源,摩托车是CO和HC的主要来源;不同道路类型中各车型的大气污染物排放分担率也不同,如高速路上大货车是NO_x、PM_(10)和PM_(2.5)的主要来源,普通道路上大客车和大货车是NO_x、PM_(10)和PM_(2.5)的主要来源.     

CEMS比对监测数据偏差研究

简述CEMS比对监测技术背景,总结实际监测工作中导致数据偏差的各方面因素,分析问题产生原因并提出解决措施和建议。     

基于遥感监测的黄海绿潮漂移路径及分布面积特征分析

本文利用2008～2012年的多源卫星遥感序列图像,动态监测各年绿潮发生的漂移路径、影响海域面积,得到各年绿潮漂移趋势、分布面积和最大分布面积出现时间。根据监测结果,划分出影响绿潮漂移路径的关键区域,并分析了2008、2009和2010年关键区域内各年绿潮漂移方向和面积变化情况。