According to standard procedures, flammability and explosion parameters for dusts and dust mixtures are evaluated in 20 L and/or 1 m3 vessels, with equivalent results provided a correct ignition delay time (60 ms in the 20 L vessel; 600 ms in the 1 m3 vessel). In this work, CFD simulations of flow field and dust concentration distribution in the 1 m3 spherical vessel are performed, and the results compared to the data previously obtained for the 20 L. It has been found that in the 1 m3 vessel, the spatial distribution of the turbulent kinetic energy is lower and much more uniform. Concerning the dust distribution, as in the case of the 20 L, dust is mainly concentrated at the outer zones of the vortices generated inside the vessel. Furthermore, an incomplete feeding is attained, with most of the dust trapped in the perforated annular nozzle. Starting from the maps of dust concentration and turbulent kinetic energy, the deflagration index KSt is calculated in both vessels. In the conditions of the present work, the KSt is found to be 2.4 times higher in the 20 L than in the 1 m3 vessel. 相似文献
Weather variability has the potential to influence municipal water use, particularly in dry regions such as the western United States (U.S.). Outdoor water use can account for more than half of annual household water use and may be particularly responsive to weather, but little is known about how the expected magnitude of these responses varies across the U.S. This nationwide study identified the response of municipal water use to monthly weather (i.e., temperature, precipitation, evapotranspiration [ET]) using monthly water deliveries for 229 cities in the contiguous U.S. Using city‐specific multiple regression and region‐specific models with city fixed effects, we investigated what portion of the variability in municipal water use was explained by weather across cities, and also estimated responses to weather across seasons and climate regions. Our findings indicated municipal water use was generally well‐explained by weather, with median adjusted R2 ranging from 63% to 95% across climate regions. Weather was more predictive of water use in dry climates compared to wet, and temperature had more explanatory power than precipitation or ET. In response to a 1°C increase in monthly maximum temperature, municipal water use was shown to increase by 3.2% and 3.9% in dry cities in winter and summer, respectively, with smaller changes in wet cities. Quantifying these responses allows urban water managers to plan for weather‐driven variability in water use. 相似文献
In this paper, an attempt has been made to highlight an experimental methodology for monitoring contaminant transport through
locally available silty soil and commercially available clay in geotechnical centrifuge models, for different compaction states.
Use of multiple depth sensors to determine depth distribution of sodium chloride in the soil column has been detailed. The
obtained results have been compared with argentometric method. To validate the centrifuge modelling, modelling of models has
been used. The test setup developed can simulate contaminant transport mechanisms through the soil mass, which is approximately
10 m deep, over a period of 600 days. Re and Pe are found to be N times higher in the centrifuge models. These numbers are found to be several orders less than unity. This indicates that
laminar flow prevails and the dominating Cl− transport mechanism in centrifuge is diffusion. The study also highlights the fact that the geotechnical centrifuge modelling
can be used as a viable alternative to field scale experimentation. 相似文献
This work represents an attempt to define a simple method to classify the relative degree of disturbance of sites in lotic
systems on the basis of comparison of their faunistic composition with reference sites. Two ecotypes were selected in northern
Portugal where benthic invertebrates were sampled in reaches with different levels of contamination. As a first stage, previous
Geographic Information System information was used to define reference sites in each ecotype. Afterwards, multivariate techniques
and non linear estimation models were combined to assess biological quality. This method allowed us to quantify sites according
to increasing levels of contamination, after the probabilities of occurrence of taxa along a gradient of contamination taking
into account the reference condition. The results suggest that this method is sensitive to organic pollution, easy to interpret,
namely the species tolerance, and could be a good framework to establish regional rankings depending on the ecological impact
of river sites. 相似文献
Objective: The present research relies on 2 main objectives. The first is to investigate whether latent model analysis through a structural equation model can be implemented on driving simulator data in order to define an unobserved driving performance variable. Subsequently, the second objective is to investigate and quantify the effect of several risk factors including distraction sources, driver characteristics, and road and traffic environment on the overall driving performance and not in independent driving performance measures.
Methods: For the scope of the present research, 95 participants from all age groups were asked to drive under different types of distraction (conversation with passenger, cell phone use) in urban and rural road environments with low and high traffic volume in a driving simulator experiment. Then, in the framework of the statistical analysis, a correlation table is presented investigating any of a broad class of statistical relationships between driving simulator measures and a structural equation model is developed in which overall driving performance is estimated as a latent variable based on several individual driving simulator measures.
Results: Results confirm the suitability of the structural equation model and indicate that the selection of the specific performance measures that define overall performance should be guided by a rule of representativeness between the selected variables. Moreover, results indicate that conversation with the passenger was not found to have a statistically significant effect, indicating that drivers do not change their performance while conversing with a passenger compared to undistracted driving. On the other hand, results support the hypothesis that cell phone use has a negative effect on driving performance. Furthermore, regarding driver characteristics, age, gender, and experience all have a significant effect on driving performance, indicating that driver-related characteristics play the most crucial role in overall driving performance.
Conclusions: The findings of this study allow a new approach to the investigation of driving behavior in driving simulator experiments and in general. By the successful implementation of the structural equation model, driving behavior can be assessed in terms of overall performance and not through individual performance measures, which allows an important scientific step forward from piecemeal analyses to a sound combined analysis of the interrelationship between several risk factors and overall driving performance. 相似文献
When used with an atmospheric transport model, the 222Rn flux distribution estimated in our previous study using soil transport theory caused underestimation of atmospheric 222Rn concentrations as compared with measurements in East Asia. In this study, we applied a Bayesian synthesis inverse method to produce revised estimates of the annual 222Rn flux density in Asia by using atmospheric 222Rn concentrations measured at seven sites in East Asia. The Bayesian synthesis inverse method requires a prior estimate of the flux distribution and its uncertainties. The atmospheric transport model MM5/HIRAT and our previous estimate of the 222Rn flux distribution as the prior value were used to generate new flux estimates for the eastern half of the Eurasian continent dividing into 10 regions.The 222Rn flux densities estimated using the Bayesian inversion technique were generally higher than the prior flux densities. The area-weighted average 222Rn flux density for Asia was estimated to be 33.0 mBq m−2 s−1, which is substantially higher than the prior value (16.7 mBq m−2 s−1). The estimated 222Rn flux densities decrease with increasing latitude as follows: Southeast Asia (36.7 mBq m−2 s−1); East Asia (28.6 mBq m−2 s−1) including China, Korean Peninsula and Japan; and Siberia (14.1 mBq m−2 s−1). Increase of the newly estimated fluxes in Southeast Asia, China, Japan, and the southern part of Eastern Siberia from the prior ones contributed most significantly to improved agreement of the model-calculated concentrations with the atmospheric measurements. The sensitivity analysis of prior flux errors and effects of locally exhaled 222Rn showed that the estimated fluxes in Northern and Central China, Korea, Japan, and the southern part of Eastern Siberia were robust, but that in Central Asia had a large uncertainty. 相似文献
Agri-environmental schemes (AES) are the main policy instrument currently available in the EU to promote environmentally-friendly farming practices. However, the rate of adoption of these measures is still relatively low in southern Europe, and understanding how these rates can be increased is still an open issue. The goal of this paper is to increase that understanding by testing whether the factors which determine AES sign-up decisions are influenced by the intensity of change in farming practices that are brought about by adopting the scheme. A micro-economic model reflecting farmer AES sign-up decisions is proposed and applied to two schemes in Spain respectively requiring major or minor intensity of change in practices by surveying farmers eligible for both schemes. The results show that farm structural factors play a role when major practice change is required by the scheme, yet when dealing with minor change, individual farmer characteristics play a more determining role. Social capital and farmer attitude are important factors in both the AES surveyed. Therefore, it may be concluded that improving agronomic design would be an important tool to improve farmer participation in AES where major change is involved, whereas improved targeting and extension would help uptake for AES involving a lesser degree of change. 相似文献
Anthropogenic trace element emissions have declined. However, top soils all over the world remain enriched in trace elements. We investigated Pb and Cd migration in forest soils of a remote monitoring site in the Austrian limestone Alps between 1992 and 2004. Large spatial variability masked temporal changes in the mineral soil of Lithic Leptosols (Skeltic), whereas a significant reduction of Pb concentrations in their forest floors occurred. Reductions of concentrations in the less heterogeneous Cambisols (Chromic) were significant. In contrast, virtually no migration of Pb and Cd were found in Stagnosols due to their impeded drainage. Very low element concentrations (<1 μg l−1) in field-collected soil solutions using tension lysimeters (0.2 μm nylon filters) imply that migration largely occurred by preferential flow as particulate-bound species during intensive rainfall events. Our results indicate that the extent of Pb and Cd migration in soils is largely influenced by soil type. 相似文献