Assessment of explosion risks caused by cone discharges when filling silos and containers with pellets

It is well known that during the filling of silos and containers with bulk material, so-called cone discharges can occur because of electrostatic charges. Whether or not cone discharges occur at all depends on whether the breakdown field strength of air under atmospheric conditions of 3 MV/m is reached at the silo and container inner wall. This in turn depends on the charge to mass ratio of the bulk, the bulk resistivity, the bulk density, the relative permittivity of the bulk material, the silo or container diameter and the filling rate. If cone discharges can't be avoided, the energy of cone discharges can be estimated according to the equation given in the relevant guidelines TRGS 727 (2016) and IEC/TS 60079-32-1 (2013). Therefore, the coarse fraction must be considered. As soon as the energy of the cone discharge is greater than or equal to the minimum ignition energy of the bulk material introduced, there is a risk of dust explosion. Here the fine fraction of the bulk material is relevant.The investigations described are a practical example how computer models can be used to assess the occurrence of cone discharges. It is calculated for which silo and container diameters and filling rates the critical field strength of 3 MV/m is reached. In these calculations the charge relaxation during pneumatic filling with bulk material is taken into account. The results of the computational modelling together with operational boundary conditions serve as a decision basis whether exclusion of incendive ignition sources is an adequate safety measure or whether further explosion protection measures must be considered. Finally, a brief overview of other possible explosion protection measures is given.     

Environmental Communication as a Discipline of Crisis

This essay interprets Cox's keynote as a call for environmental communication to reorient itself as a form of ideological criticism and identifies the potential pitfalls of heeding that call. First, the author revisits key arguments surrounding the practice of ideological criticism in Communication Studies and articulates their relevance to discussions about the mission and purpose of environmental communication. Second, he suggests that an uncritical embrace of the rationale for a “crisis discipline” may perpetuate problematic assumptions about communication, both as a social practice and as a scholarly discipline. Third, he argues that such problems may be sidestepped by making environmental crisis itself a central concept and object of environmental communication inquiry, such that environmental communication does not merely respond to crisis but becomes a discipline of and about crisis. A focus on the dynamics of crisis, the author concludes, entails a persistent concern with judgment in its political, scholarly, and pedagogical contexts.     

The Role of Fictional Film Exposure and Narrative Engagement for Personal Norms,Guilt and Intentions to Protect The Climate

ABSTRACT

Using an integration of Norm Activation Theory, Value-Belief-Norm Theory and Narrative Persuasion, this study investigates the ability of an eco-dystopian science fiction film set in a world of excessive solar radiation to support intentions for pro-environmental behavior. Specifically, the influence of narrative engagement and explicit references to human responsibility for climate change are tested. A 2 (high vs. low narrative engagement) x?3 (human responsibility frame vs. temperature frame vs. no frame) plus control group (no film) experiment was conducted (n?=?257). Results show that compared to the control condition, the film had an indirect effect on behavioral intentions by raising the personal norm (a sense of personal obligation to act). The temperature change and human responsibility frames did not show any influence, while narrative engagement had an indirect effect on intentions by increasing guilt. The results are discussed with regard to their theoretical and practical implications.     

自然灾害等级划分及灾情比较模型探讨

作者参照灰色关联分析方法，提出了一种自然灾害等级划分和灾情比较的模型，应用该模型，在计算出关联度后，很容易得到灾害分级和灾情比较的结果。此外，该模型对分级 指标项数没有限制，故有很强的灵活和实用性。     

西藏古乡沟泥石流模型试验研究

通过模型试验，研究不同类型（粘性、稀性、水石流）和不同规模（Ｐ＝２％、４％）的泥石流在古乡沟堆积扇上的运动和冲淤规律，同时进行防治工程模型试验研究，结合野外调查和资料对比，选择合理的防治工程方案，为工程设计提供可靠的依据和数据。本文结论对川藏公路与古乡沟类似灾害的整治有一定的参考价值     

Modeling the effects of concentration history on the slow desorption of trichloroethene from a soil at 100% relative humidity

To determine the effects of concentration history on slow sorption processes, desorption kinetic profiles for trichloroethene (TCE) were measured for a soil at 100% relative humidity subject to different exposure concentrations and exposure times. Exposure concentrations ranged from 1% to 80% of the saturation vapor pressure (Ps) for TCE, and exposure times (i.e., time allowed for sorption before desorption begins) ranged from 1 to 96 days. A spherical diffusion model based on a gamma distribution of sorption rates and a gamma distribution of desorption rates was developed and applied to the data. At 80% P/Ps, the entire gamma distributions of sorption and desorption rates were available for TCE. In accordance with a micropore filling mechanism, the fraction of these distributions available for TCE sorption decreased with decreasing P/Ps. Experimental results are consistent with a micropore-filling mechanism, where the amount of slow desorbing mass decreased with decreasing exposure time, and the fraction of slow desorbing sites filled decreased with decreasing exposure concentration. Simulation results suggest that diffusion limits the rates that micropores fill, and that rates of sorption and desorption for soil contaminated at smaller values of P/Ps are, on average, less than those at larger values of P/Ps (i.e., slow desorption rates are a function of exposure concentration). Simulation results also suggest that the model adequately describes the effects of exposure concentration and exposure time on the rates of sorption and desorption, but not on the capacity of the slow sites for TCE. This work is important because contaminant concentrations in the subsurface vary in space and time, and the proposed model represents a new and mechanistically based approach to capture the effects of this heterogeneity on slow desorption.     

几种大气预测模式预测结果比较分析

估算模式、AERMOD模式系统、ADMS模式系统均是HJ2.2-2008《环境影响评价技术导则大气环境》中推荐的大气预测模式,为探求此3种大气预测模式预测结果的大小关系规律,选用估算模式、AERMOD模式系统、ADMS模式系统,在简单地形和复杂地形两种条件下,结合一般工业类环评项目中常见的点源、面源案例,对不同预测模式的大气预测结果进行比较分析,得出相应的规律,对环评工作中进一步预测模式的选用具有一定的参考借鉴意义。     

Traditional occupancy–abundance models are inadequate for zero-inflated ecological count data

Traditional occupancy–abundance and abundance–variance–occupancy models do not take into account zero-inflation, which occurs when sampling rare species or in correlated counts arising from repeated measures. In this paper we propose a novel approach extending occupancy–abundance relationships to zero-inflated count data. This approach involves three steps: (1) selecting distributional assumptions and parsimonious models for the count data, (2) estimating abundance, occupancy and variance parameters as functions of site- and/or time-specific covariates, and (3) modelling the occupancy–abundance relationship using the parameters estimated in step 2. Five count datasets were used for comparing standard Poisson and negative binomial distribution (NBD) occupancy–abundance models. Zero-inflated Poisson (ZIP) and zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) occupancy–abundance models were introduced for the first time, and these were compared with the Poisson, NBD, He and Gaston's and Wilson and Room's abundance–variance–occupancy models. The percentage of zero counts ranged from 45 to 80% in the datasets analysed. For most of the datasets, the ZINB occupancy–abundance model performed better than the traditional Poisson, NBD and Wilson and Room's model. He and Gaston's model performed better than the ZINB in two out of the five datasets. However, the occupancy predicted by all models increased faster than the observed as density increased resulting in significant mismatch at the highest densities. Limitations of the various models are discussed, and the need for careful choice of count distributions and predictors in estimating abundance and occupancy parameter are indicated.