A guide for assessing control room operator performance using speed and accuracy,perceived workload,situation awareness,and eye tracking

In the petrochemical industry, control room operators must address safety-critical alarms and other tasks using complex interfaces. This study developed a guide for assessing human performance using standard human factors measurement tools, and tested the sensitivity of those tools with two interface designs (i.e., gray and black) at three levels of workload (i.e., easy, medium, and difficult). The guide measures human performance through speed and accuracy, perceived workload using two standard instruments (i.e., NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) and Subjective Workload Assessment Technique (SWAT)), situation awareness through the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique (SAGAT), and gaze through eye tracking coordinates. Twelve engineering student participants completed one simulation session at each of the three workload levels using one of two interface designs. Workload was manipulated through the number of simulated events (failures) in each session. Overall, the speed and accuracy measures, workload ratings, and eye tracking showed sensitivity to differences in workload level, and situation awareness showed sensitivity to the interaction between workload level and interface type. None of the tools were sensitive to interface type alone. Accuracy was highest under easy workload. Time per failure decreased at higher workload levels. Perceived workload ratings from the SWAT increased as workload increased, but workload ratings from the NASA-TLX were not different across workload levels. When workload increased, situation awareness remained steady for the gray interface but decreased sharply for the black interface, illustrating an interaction effect. Finally, the percentage of time spent looking at different areas of the screen during steady-state periods differed among workload levels. The tools in this guide can be used in the petrochemical industry to make design decisions for control room interfaces when workload levels are a concern.     

绿色食品产地生态环境质量分析与评价--以庆安县国家级生态农业示范区为例

采用1993年、2000年和2003年庆安县生态环境质量监测数据,通过指数评价和加权综合评价法,分析评价庆安县绿色食品产地的生态环境质量,并利用GIS地理统计等功能,用变异估计法及克里格插值法,以可视化的方式展现绿色食品产地环境质量的空间分布.结果表明,庆安县中部和西南部的环境质量最好,最适宜发展AA级绿色食品基地; 西北部和东南部的绿色食品产地环境质量虽然是清洁、安全的,但有逐渐恶化趋势,需引起进一步关注.     

厚软场地上大跨径桥梁设计反应谱研究

大跨径桥梁塔高、跨径大、自振周期长,深厚、软弱场地的长周期地震动对桥体结构影响较大。我国《公路工程抗震设计规范(JT J004-89)》也只适用主跨不超过150 m的梁桥和拱桥,国内长期以来没有一个适用于大跨径桥梁的抗震设计规范或指南。本文结合大跨径桥梁工程实例,根据场地土层静、动力性能参数的原位测试和动三轴试验结果,进行厚软场地土层地震反应分析,研究厚软场地的地震动效应,讨论了不同地震动强度时厚软场地的设计反应谱特征,分析了现行规范设计反应谱应用的局限性,成果对相关工程有重要指导意义,对大跨径桥梁抗震设计规范的制定也有借鉴作用。     

纸业生态产业链设计:由传统造纸工业向生态化纸业的转移

定义了可更新资源生态产业链,并依此设计了我国纸业生态产业链.提出"生态化结构与利益性诱因相结合"的可更新资源生态产业链设计的基本原理,以及建立可更新资源生态产业链的5个必要条件,即模仿生态闭路系统,增大可更新资源存量,向资源生产率要效益,开发社会性长期需要和系统创新活动.认为纸业生态产业链是可更新资源生态产业链的典型范例,是解决造纸工业3大制约性难题,使我国纸业由黑色产业变为绿色产业的有效途径.     

Design and use of group-specific primers and probes for real-time quantitative PCR

Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) has gained popularity as a technique to detect and quantify a specific group of target microorganisms from various environmental samples including soil, water, sediments, and sludge. Although qPCR is a very useful technique for nucleic acid quantification, accurately quantifying the target microbial group strongly depends on the quality of the primer and probe used. Many aspects of conducting qPCR assays have become increasingly routine and automated; however, one of the most important aspects, designing and selecting primer and probe sets, is often a somewhat arcane process. In many cases, failed or non-specific amplification can be attributed to improperly designed primer-probe sets. This paper is intended to provide guidelines and general principles for designing group-specific primers and probes for qPCR assays. We demonstrate the effectiveness of these guidelines by reviewing the use of qPCR to study anaerobic processes and biologic nutrient removal processes. qPCR assays using group-specific primers and probes designed with this method, have been used to successfully quantify 16S ribosomal Ribonucleic Acid (16S rRNA) gene copy numbers from target methanogenic and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in various laboratory- and full-scale biologic processes. Researchers with a good command of primer and probe design can use qPCR as a valuable tool to study biodiversity and to develop more efficient control strategies for biologic processes.     

Modelling the kinetics and equilibrium properties of cadmium biosorption by river green alga and water hyacinth weed

Cadmium biosorption properties of non-living, dried river green alga from a river source, and water hyacinth weed, Eichhornia crassipes from a lake in Zimbabwe have been investigated. The cadmium uptake was found to depend on initial pH, uptake being apparently minimal at low pH values and increasing with an increase in pH. Cadmium biosorption kinetics by both samples is fast, with 80% of total uptake occurring within 60?min. The effect of initial solution pH and initial cadmium concentration on cadmium biosorption from a cadmium solution has been studied. The data for algal biomass fitted the Langmuir monolayer adsorption isotherm, while the biosorption of the metal by water hyacinth weed fitted the Freundlich adsorption isotherm with 1/n values all less than 1. Maximum metal uptake capacities were recorded using 0.35?g of biomass and a 250?mg?L^?1 cadmium solution at pH 6.5 and at 25°C and these were about 85 and 50?mg?L^?1 for water hyacinth weed and green alga, respectively, showing that water hyacinth weed offered a greater potential for cadmium uptake. The absorption was described by pseudo-second order rate model and the rate constant and equilibrium sorption capacity are reported.     

Influence of manufacturing process on the residues of certain fungicides used on tea

Green tea shoots which were sprayed with fungicides such as hexaconazole, propiconazole, carbendazim, and tridemorph were collected from tea bushes after 24 h of fungicide application to study the effect of manufacturing process on the residues. Significant loss of residues was noted at each stage of the manufacturing process. The total loss in residues upon manufacturing of these fungicides ranged from 12.20% to 57.14%. Among the various influential factors that determine the loss of residues, vapor pressure of the fungicides was most prominent in the contribution to residue loss. A high vapor pressure of the fungicide tridemorph amounted to a residue loss of 57.14%, while the low vapor pressure of the other three fungicides caused a loss of less than 22.22%.     

Cadmium accumulation by green algae Cladophora glomerata (L.) Kutz. (Chlorophyta) in presence of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (L.)

Accumulation of metals by aquatic organisms is mostly affected by other biological components in environments. In this study, cadmium (Cd) accumulation in green algae, Cladophora glomerata (L.) Kutz., exposed to 0.1 and 1.0 mg L^?1 of Cd for 15 and 30 days was examined in laboratory conditions in the presence of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (L.). The green algae C. glomerata accumulated Cd concentrations as 690 ± 70 and 3430 ± 470 mg kg^?1 on day 15, and 1130 ± 180 and 6830 ± 1540 mg kg^?1 on day 30. There were significant increases (p < 0.05) in metal accumulation by green algae as the exposure time and metal concentration increased. The results also indicated that the presence of Nile tilapia in the medium led to a significant Cd accumulation in the green algae compared to control (p < 0.05).     

均匀设计法优化造纸黑液的湿式氧化法处理工艺

通过均匀设计实验,对造纸黑液进行湿式氧化处理,数据回归得到CODCr、吸光度、浊度的回归方程,各回归方程显著,氧分压对造纸黑液各指标影响最大;研究反应过程中反应温度、氧分压、进水pH值、进水浓度、搅拌强度、反应时间对造纸黑液湿式氧化(WAO)处理的影响,6因素优化的操作条件依次为:180℃、3.0MPa、7.25、5500mg/L、500r/min、60min;在优化的操作条件下,造纸黑液的CODCr、CODCr去除率为1661mg/L、69.8%,吸光度、脱色率为0.63、96.3%,浊度、浊度去除率为661NTU、74.8%.均匀设计法在造纸黑液WAO处理中得到了较好的应用.     

Metal removal with two biochars made from municipal organic waste: adsorptive characterization and surface complexation modeling

The adsorptive characteristics of biochar produced from garden green waste (S-char) and a mixture of food waste and garden green waste (FS-char) were investigated. Adsorption of Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, and Mn²⁺ onto the two biochars reached equilibrium within 48 hours. The metal adsorption was effectively described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic and Freundlich isotherm models which suggest heterogeneous chemisorption. The initial solution pH influenced adsorption of Zn²⁺ and Mn²⁺ but not of Cu²⁺. Simulation via a surface complexation model showed that the fraction of XOCu⁺ adsorbed onto biochar was increased with increasing pH until it reached the adsorption maximum at pH 8.5, while the endpoint for the maximum of XOMn⁺ was higher than pH 12.