Disaggregated traffic conditions and road crashes in urban signalized intersections

Introduction: Road safety studies in signalized intersections have been performed extensively using annually aggregated traffic variables and crash frequencies. However, this type of aggregation reduces the strength of the results if variables that oscillate over the course of the day are considered (speed, traffic flow, signal cycle length) because average indicators are not able to describe the traffic conditions preceding the crash occurrence. This study aims to explore the relationship between traffic conditions aggregated in 15-min intervals and road crashes in urban signalized intersections. Method: First, an investigation of the reported crash times in the database was conducted to obtain the association between crashes and their precursor conditions. Then, 4.1 M traffic condition intervals were consolidated and grouped using a hierarchical clustering technique. Finally, charts of the frequency of crashes per cluster were explored. Results: The main findings suggest that high vehicular demand conditions are related to an increase in property damage only (PDO) crashes, and an increase in the number of lanes is linked to more PDO and injury crashes. Injury crashes occurred in a wide range of traffic conditions, indicating that a portion of these crashes were due to speeding, while the other fraction was associated with the vulnerability of road users. Traffic conditions with: (a) low vehicular demand and a long cycle length and (b) high vehicular demand and a short cycle length were critical in terms of PDO and injury crashes. Practical Applications: The use of disaggregated data allowed for a stronger evaluation of the relationship between road crashes and variables that oscillate over the course of the day. This approach also permits the development of real-time risk management strategies to mitigate the frequency of critical traffic conditions and reduce the likelihood of crashes.     

Effective method of predicting confined pressure behavior under isotropic turbulence

Explosion pressure prediction is indispensable to ensure process safety against accidental gas explosions. This work is aimed at establishing a theoretical method for predicting confined methane-air explosion pressure under isotropic turbulence. The results indicated that the pressure rise rate becomes significantly increased by the existence of isotropic turbulence, which effect on peak value of explosion pressure is negligible. Among various models of turbulent burning velocity, the calculated pressure rise rate using Chiu model, Williams model and Liu model is relatively closer to experimental value. With the increase of turbulent integral length and RMS turbulent fluctuation velocity, the pressure rise rate becomes increased continuously. The influence of adiabatic compression and isothermal compression on pressure rise rate could be ignored. To predict explosion pressure in a more accurate way, the dynamic variation of turbulent integral length and RMS turbulent fluctuation velocity should be considered in the future.     

半横向排烟下公路隧道火灾烟气逆流长度规律研究*

为研究不同因素对半横向排烟模式下公路隧道火灾烟气逆流长度的影响规律,采用理论分析推导火灾烟气逆流长度与火源功率、排烟速度、排烟口面积和排烟口间距4个因素的无量纲关系式,运用数值模拟研究不同因素下火灾烟气的运动规律,最后拟合得到烟气逆流长度的无量纲关系式。结果表明:在半横向排烟模式下,烟气逆流长度随火源功率的增大而增大,呈正相关关系;随排烟速度的增大而减小,随排烟口面积增大而减小,随排烟口间距的增大而减小,呈负相关关系;对数值模拟的结果进行拟合,得到相应的烟气逆流长度无量纲关系式。研究结果有助于了解半横向排烟模式下烟气流动规律及控制原理。     

新型膜-生物反应器中膜丝长度对临界通量的影响

为了优化膜-生物反应器中的膜组件长度,考察了4组不同长度膜组件(膜丝长度为0.2、0.4、0.6、0.7m)在不同曝气量下的临界通量区.试验结果发现,曝气强度相同时,膜丝长度为0.4m膜组件的临界通量区高于膜丝长度为0.2m、0.6m和0.7m的膜组件,说明膜丝长度存在最优值;膜组件中膜丝长度相同时,曝气强度越大临界通量区越高.膜丝(膜组件)长度对临界通量产生影响主要体现在2方面:一是膜丝长度的变化会改变膜丝上局部通量的非均匀分布状况;二是曝气气泡对不同长度膜丝的冲刷作用不同.应用局部通量分布方程模拟了清洁膜丝上局部通量的分布状况;结果表明,膜丝长度越长,沿膜丝长度方向的局部通量分布越不均匀,则膜组件的临界通量越小.从曝气气泡对膜丝的冲刷作用看,相同曝气量下膜组件(即膜丝)长度越长,形成的气泡越大,在大气泡的作用下膜丝更易于摇摆和震动以达到减轻膜表面污染物沉积的效果,即可能达到的临界通量越大.因此,对于减轻膜污染而言,即得到最高的临界通量区,膜丝(膜组件)长度存在最优值.     

Molecular characterization of bacterial community in aerobic granular sludge stressed by pentachlorophenol

To characterize the effects of pentachlorophenol (PCP) on the performance and microbial community of aerobic granular sludge in sequencing batch reactor (SBR), the web-based terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and real-time PCR (RT- PCR) techniques were used to explore the bacterial community structure. When PCP increased from 0 to 50 mg/L, the COD removal rate changed little, while the ammonia removal rate dropped from 100% to 64.9%. The results of molecular characterization showed t...     

链长和官能团对全氟有机酸降解路径的影响

考察了碳链长度和官能团对高强UV/SO₃^2-体系降解全氟有机酸的影响,选取典型全氟有机酸PFOA和PFOS,探明其降解机制.结果表明,高强UV/SO₃^2-体系可高效降解5种全氟有机酸.全氟有机酸的降解速率随着碳链长度的增加而增加.官能团对全氟有机酸的降解有重要影响,全氟羧酸在体系中的降解速率显著快于全氟磺酸.全氟羧酸是从与羧基相连的α碳上的氟原子开始,通过逐步脱CF₂单元的形式生成短链全氟羧酸进行降解.全氟磺酸主要有三条降解路径：脱磺酸基、α位脱氟以及中心C—C键断裂.     

倾斜工作面底板破坏深度计算方法研究

煤层倾角是影响底板破坏带深度的一个重要因素,为深入研究煤层倾角对底板破坏带深度的影响,采用断裂力学理论建立了煤层倾角对底板破坏带深度影响的计算模型,得出由于煤层倾角的存在,倾斜工作面上部破坏带深度小于下部破坏带深度。收集我国大量的突水案例与煤层倾角统计数据,以及破坏带深度与煤层倾角统计数据,从突水案例数据可以看出倾斜工作面下部由于底板破坏造成的突水次数明显多于上部,从破坏带深度与煤层倾角变化趋势可以看出随着倾角增大破坏带深度也在增大。统计得到数据的结论与应用断裂力学模型分析得到的结论一致。最后对建立的破坏带深度计算模型井下质量检验,检验结果显示该计算模型的精度较高,符合现场应用的要求。     

The Boundary-Quality Penalty: a Quantitative Method for Approximating Species Responses to Fragmentation in Reserve Selection

Abstract:  Aggregation of reserve networks is generally considered desirable for biological and economic reasons: aggregation reduces negative edge effects and facilitates metapopulation dynamics, which plausibly leads to improved persistence of species. Economically, aggregated networks are less expensive to manage than fragmented ones. Therefore, many reserve-design methods use qualitative heuristics, such as distance-based criteria or boundary-length penalties to induce reserve aggregation. We devised a quantitative method that introduces aggregation into reserve networks. We call the method the boundary-quality penalty (BQP) because the biological value of a land unit (grid cell) is penalized when the unit occurs close enough to the edge of a reserve such that a fragmentation or edge effect would reduce population densities in the reserved cell. The BQP can be estimated for any habitat model that includes neighborhood (connectivity) effects, and it can be introduced into reserve selection software in a standardized manner. We used the BQP in a reserve-design case study of the Hunter Valley of southeastern Australia. The BQP resulted in a more highly aggregated reserve network structure. The degree of aggregation required was specified by observed (albeit modeled) biological responses to fragmentation. Estimating the effects of fragmentation on individual species and incorporating estimated effects in the objective function of reserve-selection algorithms is a coherent and defensible way to select aggregated reserves. We implemented the BQP in the context of the Zonation method, but it could as well be implemented into any other spatially explicit reserve-planning framework .