A transportation network assessment tool for hazardous material cargo routing: Weighing exposure health risks,proximity to vulnerable areas,delay costs and trucking expenses

The inherent risks associated with accidental releases of hazardous materials during transport have drawn attention and concerns in the recent decades. The aim of this study is to propose a tool for evaluation and comparison of the transportation networks which can be used to assess the routing options between origins and destinations of the cargos for their suitability for transporting hazardous material cargos by tanker trucks and to identify routes which provide lower accidental release risks, lower public exposure risks, and offer economical benefits. Each route segment of transportation networks were evaluated using specific criteria which included health risk and cost of delay in case of an accidental release of materials, trucking cost and proximity to vulnerable areas. Since, the health impact of hazardous materials differ depending on the characteristics of the material being transported as well as release quantities and atmospheric conditions; this paper aimed in providing a tool that can be used to estimate the impact radius (for health risks) after accidental release of hazardous materials by taking into account different atmospheric conditions based on the meteorological data and solar elevation angle. The Gaussian air dispersion model paired with ArcGIS using Python programming were employed to estimate the health risk impact zones by considering the meteorological data, and accordingly to analyze road segments for cost impacts (delay and trucking costs), and the proximity to vulnerable areas. The route assessment tool was demonstrated with a case study. The results of this study can efficiently aid decision makers for transportation of hazardous materials.     

Environmental cost of using poor decision metrics to prioritize environmental projects

Conservation decision makers commonly use project‐scoring metrics that are inconsistent with theory on optimal ranking of projects. As a result, there may often be a loss of environmental benefits. We estimated the magnitudes of these losses for various metrics that deviate from theory in ways that are common in practice. These metrics included cases where relevant variables were omitted from the benefits metric, project costs were omitted, and benefits were calculated using a faulty functional form. We estimated distributions of parameters from 129 environmental projects from Australia, New Zealand, and Italy for which detailed analyses had been completed previously. The cost of using poor prioritization metrics (in terms of lost environmental values) was often high—up to 80% in the scenarios we examined. The cost in percentage terms was greater when the budget was smaller. The most costly errors were omitting information about environmental values (up to 31% loss of environmental values), omitting project costs (up to 35% loss), omitting the effectiveness of management actions (up to 9% loss), and using a weighted‐additive decision metric for variables that should be multiplied (up to 23% loss). The latter 3 are errors that occur commonly in real‐world decision metrics, in combination often reducing potential benefits from conservation investments by 30–50%. Uncertainty about parameter values also reduced the benefits from investments in conservation projects but often not by as much as faulty prioritization metrics.     

Credibility and advocacy in conservation science

Conservation policy sits at the nexus of natural science and politics. On the one hand, conservation scientists strive to maintain scientific credibility by emphasizing that their research findings are the result of disinterested observations of reality. On the other hand, conservation scientists are committed to conservation even if they do not advocate a particular policy. The professional conservation literature offers guidance on negotiating the relationship between scientific objectivity and political advocacy without damaging conservation science's credibility. The value of this guidance, however, may be restricted by limited recognition of credibility's multidimensionality and emergent nature: it emerges through perceptions of expertise, goodwill, and trustworthiness. We used content analysis of the literature to determine how credibility is framed in conservation science as it relates to apparent contradictions between science and advocacy. Credibility typically was framed as a static entity lacking dimensionality. Authors identified expertise or trustworthiness as important, but rarely mentioned goodwill. They usually did not identify expertise, goodwill, or trustworthiness as dimensions of credibility or recognize interactions among these 3 dimensions of credibility. This oversimplification may limit the ability of conservation scientists to contribute to biodiversity conservation. Accounting for the emergent quality and multidimensionality of credibility should enable conservation scientists to advance biodiversity conservation more effectively.     

氨法脱硫生产氨肥的清洁生产研究

我国因燃煤导致的SO2污染危害十分严重。从清洁生产角度出发,通过比较锅炉烟气脱硫各种方法的优缺点,确定氨法脱硫作为化工企业处理锅炉烟气的工艺。介绍了氨法脱硫机理,工艺各系统结构组成,进行了经济及社会效益分析。氨法脱硫工艺可以去除93％的SO2,处理后的烟气达到了国家排放标准,脱硫副产品硫酸铵可以转交给同区域的企业,深加工为优质化肥。说明发展清洁生产和循环经济是企业预防和控制污染的有效途径,是实现可持续发展战略的必然选择,有利于企业技术进步,提高管理水平,增强综合竞争能力。     

中水回用与效益分析

当前我国水资源供需矛盾日益加剧,实现中水利用是节约水资源的一条有效途径.通过分析中水水源、MBR处理技术及中水用途,结合一个高校实例,进行经济效益分析,并对建设中水回用系统的可行性进行论证.经计算可得效益费用比达到2.38,经济效益是非常明显的,具有实际的参考价值.中水回用不仅节约了水资源而且也产生了明显的经济效益,是城市发展的趋势.     

炼油企业恶臭污染源现状分析与控制对策

对炼油企业恶臭污染源现状进行调查和分析,提出相应的控制对策,对目前存在的环保问题,提出整改措施.     

明清苏浙沿海台风风暴潮灾害序列重建与特征分析

在系统搜集、整理明清苏浙沿海潮灾记录基础上,建立风暴潮频率辨识方法,复原台风风暴潮灾害750次,据此建立逐年风暴潮频率序列。分析显示,1460~1480年、1570~1595年、1715~1745年、1785~1810年、1880~1890年为风暴潮活跃期。明清苏浙沿海风暴潮存在45 a、25 a、14 a三种时间尺度周期,其中45 a周期最为显著。气候跃变分析表明,1402年、1457年、1566年、1624年、1652年、1711年、1846年、1880年风暴潮活动趋于活跃;1444年、1477年、1543年、1634年、1799年、1856年风暴潮趋于平静。与1470年以来温度距平曲线对比显示,气候冷暖与风暴潮发生频率有一定正相关性,全球变暖背景下苏浙沿海可能面临更为严重的风暴潮威胁。苏浙地区明清时期风暴潮灾害空间分布差异明显,大部分风暴潮记载集中于长三角、杭州湾地区,苏北地区风暴潮数量少但影响范围广,浙东地区受地形和经济发展程度影响,风暴潮记载数量少且集中于滨海。     

基于GEV干旱指数和DFA方法的苏北地区季节性干旱研究

为分析近年来江苏省苏北地区季节性干旱灾害特征,利用苏北五市1989~2013年的逐月降水量资料,建立月降水量的广义极值分布函数,通过分析广义极值干旱指数(GEVI),研究苏北五市近25a的季节性干旱分布和干旱等级的时空变化特点。在此基础上,利用去趋势波动分析方法(DFA)对苏北五市月平均降水量的周期性规律进行研究。结果表明,苏北五市的月降水量均服从广义极值Fréchet概率分布,且具有从西北(徐州)地区向东南沿海(盐城)地区递增的空间分布特征,整体上属于干旱灾害频发的地区,且以轻旱为主且季节性特征明显。苏北五市的月降水量存在幂律相关性,即降水量具有较强的正长程相关性,因此,未来苏北地区干旱的总体趋势将与过去特征正相关。     

输电塔结构的动力稳定性研究

作为一种重要的生命线工程,输电线路的破坏会造成巨大的经济损失。统计显示,风荷载作用下输电塔结构的动态侧倾失稳是输电线路经常发生的破坏形式之一。因此,对风作用下输电塔结构的失稳破坏进行研究有着十分重要的意义。本文应用谐波叠加法模拟脉动风场,分别采用Budiansky-Roth准则和动态增量法(IDA)结合位移相等准则这两种方法,基于ANSYS的非线性屈曲分析和时程分析模块,对沈阳某输电塔的抗风动力稳定性进行了研究。结果表明,风的动力特性对结构稳定性影响较大,现行规范中按等效静力风荷载进行计算是偏于不安全的。