Effect on fatality risk of changing from secondary to primary seat belt enforcement

BACKGROUND: Most seat belt use laws originally passed in the United States contained language restricting enforcement to drivers already stopped for some other reason. States that have since removed this secondary enforcement restriction have reported increased seat belt use. The purpose of the present study was to estimate the effect of these law changes on driver fatality rates. METHOD: Trends in passenger vehicle driver death rates per billion miles traveled were compared for 10 states that changed from secondary to primary seat belt enforcement and 14 states that remained with secondary enforcement. RESULTS: After accounting for possible economic effects and other general time trends, the change from secondary to primary enforcement was found to reduce annual passenger vehicle driver death rates by an estimated 7% (95% confidence limits 3.0-10.9). CONCLUSION: The majority of U.S. states still have secondary enforcement laws. If these remaining secondary laws were amended, an estimated 696 deaths per year could be prevented.     

A stochastic-advective transport model for NAPL dissolution and degradation in non-uniform flows in porous media

Remediation schemes for contaminated sites are often evaluated to assess their potential for source zone reduction of mass, or treatment of the contaminant between the source and a control plane (CP) to achieve regulatory limits. In this study, we utilize a stochastic stream tube model to explain the behavior of breakthrough curves (BTCs) across a CP. At the local scale, mass dissolution at the source is combined with an advection model with first-order decay for the dissolved plume. Field-scale averaging is then employed to account for spatial variation in mass within the source zone, and variation in the velocity field. Under the assumption of instantaneous mass transfer from the source to the moving liquid, semi-analytical expressions for the BTC and temporal moments are developed, followed by derivation of expressions for effective velocity, dispersion, and degradation coefficients using the method of moments. It is found that degradation strongly influences the behavior of moments and the effective parameters. While increased heterogeneity in the velocity field results in increased dispersion, degradation causes the center of mass of the plume to shift to earlier times, and reduces the dispersion of the BTC by lowering the concentrations in the tail. Modified definitions of effective parameters are presented for degrading solutes to account for the normalization constant (zeroth moment) that keeps changing with time or distance to the CP. It is shown that anomalous dispersion can result for high degradation rates combined with wide variation in velocity fluctuations. Implications of model results on estimating cleanup times and fulfillment of regulatory limits are discussed. Relating mass removal at the source to flux reductions past a control plane is confounded by many factors. Increased heterogeneity in velocity fields causes mass fluxes past a control plane to persist, however, aggressive remediation between the source and CP can reduce these fluxes.     

Contribution of anthropogenic pollutants to the increase of tropospheric ozone levels in the Oporto Metropolitan Area, Portugal since the 19th century

The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the contribution of anthropogenic pollutants to the increase of tropospheric ozone levels in the Oporto Metropolitan Area (Portugal) since the 19th century. The study was based on pre-industrial and recent data series, the results being analyzed according to the atmospheric chemistry. The treatment of ozone and meteorological data was performed by classical statistics and by time-series analysis. It was concluded that in the 19th century the ozone present in the troposphere was not of photochemical origin, being possible to consider the respective concentrations as reference values. For recent data a cycle of 8h for ozone concentrations could be related to traffic. Compared to the 19th century, the current concentrations were 147% higher (252% higher in May) due to the increased photochemical production associated with the increased anthropogenic emissions.     

膨胀聚苯乙烯热分解动力学分析和寿命预测

针对既有聚苯乙烯泡沫类外墙外保温系统的防火问题,在空气和氮气气氛下对非阻燃和阻燃型膨胀聚苯乙烯泡沫进行了热重分析。样品由10℃/min、20℃/min、40℃/min和50℃/min四个升温速率从室温加热至800℃。热分解动力学参数由Flynn-Wall-Ozawa(FWO)等转化率方法和多参数非线性回归方法(multivariate non-linear re-gression method)计算,结果表明六溴环十二烷(HBCD)阻燃剂可一定程度上提高EPS的热稳定性。EPS在空气和氮气气氛下热解可认为是单步反应。非阻燃聚苯乙烯泡沫在空气和氮气气氛下的热解过程可由自催化n阶反应机理描述。阻燃EPS在空气气氛下的热解机理为自催化n阶反应,在氮气气氛下则为n阶反应机理。基于动力学参数和反应机理,对聚苯乙烯泡沫在不同温度下的寿命进行了预测。     

Investigating the effect of geometric dimensions of median traffic barriers on crashes: Crash analysis of interstate roads in Wyoming using actual crash datasets

IntroductionDespite the numerous safety studies done on traffic barriers’ performance assessment, the effect of variables such as traffic barrier’s height has not been identified considering a comprehensive actual crash data analysis. This study seeks to identify the impact of geometric variables (i.e., height, post-spacing, sideslope ratio, and lateral offset) on median traffic barriers’ performance in crashes on interstate roads.MethodGeometric dimensions of over 110 miles median traffic barriers on interstate Wyoming roads were inventoried in a field survey between 2016 and 2018. Then, the traffic barrier data collected was combined with historical crash records, traffic volume data, road geometric characteristics, and weather condition data to provide a comprehensive dataset for the analysis. Finally, an ordered logit model with random-parameters was developed for the severity of traffic barrier crashes. Based on the results, traffic barrier’s height was found to impact crash severity.ResultsCrashes involving cable barriers with a height between 30″ and 42″ were less severe than other traffic barrier types, while concrete barriers with a height shorter than 32″ were more likely involved with severe injury crashes. As another important finding, the post-spacing of 6.1–6.3 ft. was identified as the least severe range in W-beam barriers.Practical applicationsThe results show that using flare barriers should reduce the number of crashes compared to parallel barriers.     

对叉车额定起重量的分析和探讨

本文对叉车的额定起重量和实际起重量之间的联系与区别进行了分析,指出了额定起重量只是供叉车设计使用的参数,建议不要将额定起重量标识在叉车铭牌上,叉车用户应按照载荷曲线图来确定操作时的实际起重量.     

基于热湿交换理论的巷道风流温、湿度影响因素研究

为了研究巷道风流参数的影响因素、预测风流温湿度的变化规律,结合热湿交换理论,建立了风流与围岩壁面之间热湿交换的数学模型,以及贴体坐标系下围岩内部温度场的导热微分方程;利用数值方法,将围岩内部的导热问题与影响风流参数变化的热湿交换问题耦合起来,并以大柳塔煤矿52505综采工作面为例进行计算,得到了与实测参数较为一致的模拟结果,验证了该数值方法的有效性。研究结果表明:风流温度受原始岩温、入风流温度、局部热源强度等因素的影响,风流相对湿度与入风流温、湿度以及井下湿源的数量和强度有关;巷道壁温作为将围岩温度场与风流参数之间关联起来的主要因素,对模拟结果影响较大,其数值取决于壁面与风流之间热湿交换以及围岩原始岩温。     

Fe2+EDTA溶液络合-铁还原脱除烟气中NO

提出了“Fe2 螯合剂络合-铁粉还原-酸吸收”回收法脱除烟气中NO的新工艺,重点研究了模拟烟气中O2体积分数对NO络合量的影响,以及铁粉用量、铁粉粒径、搅拌速度对NO脱除效率的影响,确定了最佳的铁粉脱氮工艺条件,并对铁粉和铁屑的脱氮效果进行了比较。结果表明,烟气中O2的体积分数从0%增加到4.2%,NO络合量下降90.2%;NO脱除效率随铁粉用量和反应器搅拌速度的增加而增加,随铁粉粒径的增加而降低;过程的最佳工艺参数为,铁粉用量0.8g,铁粉粒径≤0.077mm,搅拌速度900r·min-1,在此条件下,对O2体积分数为5%的模拟烟气在搅拌反应器中可取得90%以上的NO脱除效率;用铁粉在1台搅拌反应器中取得的NO脱除效率和用铁屑在2个鼓泡反应器串联时所取得的效率相当。