Allelopathic potential of Medicago arborea, a Mediterranean invasive shrub

Summary. Biological invasions are nowadays a major problem in ecology. Allelopathy has been shown to be involved in such invasions, but this mechanism has been little studied in France. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the allelopathic potential of Medicago arborea, an invasive species in the French Mediterranean region. Foliar extracts were tested on three target species (Lactuca sativa, Lepidium sativum and Linum strictum). We showed that Medicago arborea has high allelopathic potential to affect the growth and germination of other species. Yellow flax (Linum strictum), native to the invaded area, was the most sensitive of the tested plant species to foliar extracts of Medicago arborea. Our study pointed out the role of allelopathy in processes leading to biological invasion, and more generally in population dynamics.     

Effects of foundress number on brood raids and queen survival in the fire ant Solenopsis invicta

In several ant species, colonies are founded by small groups of queens (pleometrosis), which coexist until the first workers eclose, after which all but one queen is killed. It has been hypothesized that, by producing a larger cohort of workers, cooperating queens may increase colony success during brood raids, a form of competition in which brood and workers from losing nests are absorbed into winning colonies. To test whether this benefit is sufficient to favor pleometrosis, newly mated queens of the fire ant Solenopsis invicta were assembled in groups of one, two, three, or four, reared in the laboratory until the first workers eclosed, then planted in the field in replicated assemblages. The proportion of colonies engaging in brood raids increased with average foundress number per nest and with colony density but was unaffected by variance in foundress number among interacting colonies. Within mixed assemblages of single-queen and multiple-queen colonies, queen number had no effect on the likelihood of engaging in raids or the probability of nest survival through the brood raiding period. However, following nearly 30% of raids, queens moved to new nests and displaced the resident queens. When queen relocation and subsequent mortality were accounted for, it was found that the survival of queens from four-queen groups was substantially higher than that of solitary queens. By contrast, the survival of queens from two-queen colonies was no greater than that of solitary queens. These results show that the competitive advantages of multiple-queen colonies are sufficient to counterbalance the increased mortality of queens within groups only when the number of foundresses is greater than two and when colonies are founded at high density. When colonies lose brood raids, the workers appear to abandon their mothers to join surviving colonies. However, in laboratory experiments, queens attempting to enter foreign nests were significantly more likely to displace the resident queen if their own daughters were present within the invaded nest. Thus, workers may be able to bias the probability that their mother rejoins them and displaces competing queens.     

Developing a CFD heat transfer model for applying high expansion foam in an LNG spill

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is widely used to cost-effectively store and transport natural gas. However, a spill of LNG can create a vapor cloud, which can potentially cause fire and explosion. High expansion (HEX) foam is recommended by the NFPA 11 to mitigate the vapor hazard and control LNG pool fire. In this study, the parameters that affect HEX foam performance were examined using lab-scale testing of foam temperature profile and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of heat transfer in vapor channels. A heat transfer model using ANSYS Fluent® was developed to estimate the minimum HEX foam height that allows the vapors from LNG spillage to disperse rapidly. We also performed a sensitivity analysis on the effect of the vaporization rate, the diameter of the vapor channel, and the heat transfer coefficient on the required minimum height of the HEX foam. It can be observed that at least 1.2 m of HEX foam in height are needed to achieve risk mitigation in a typical situation. The simulation results can be used not only for understanding the heat transfer mechanisms when applying HEX foam but also for suggesting to the LNG facility operator how much HEX foam they need for effective risk mitigation under different conditions.     

LES – DFSD modelling of vented hydrogen explosions in a small-scale combustion chamber

Accidental explosions are a plausible danger to the chemical process industries. In the event of a gas explosion, any obstacles placed within the path of the flame generate turbulence, which accelerates the transient flame and raises explosion overpressure, posing a safety hazard. This paper presents numerical studies using an in-house computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model for lean premixed hydrogen/air flame propagations with an equivalence ratio of 0.7. A laboratory-scale combustion chamber is used with repeated solid obstacles. The transient compressible large eddy simulation (LES) modelling technique combined with a dynamic flame surface density (DFSD) combustion model is used to carry out the numerical simulations in three-dimensional space. The study presented uses eight different baffle configurations with two solid obstructions, which have area blockage ratios of 0.24 and 0.5. The flame speed, maximum rate of pressure-rise as well as peak overpressure magnitude and timing are presented and discussed. Numerical results are validated against available published experimental data. It is concluded that, increasing the solid obstacle area blockage ratio and the number of consecutive baffles results in a raised maximum rate of pressure rise, higher peak explosion overpressure and faster flame propagation. Future model development would require more experimental data, probably in a more congested configuration.     

扎龙湿地的生态修复研究

扎龙湿地是中国和国际重要湿地,扎龙湿地于1992年被联合国教科文组织列入“世界重要湿地名录”中。近几年来扎龙湿地水质污染逐年加重,已造成湿地面积不断缩小,湿地生态功能退化。本文对扎龙湿地的生态修复研究的必要性,扎龙湿地突出的生态环境问题,扎龙湿地生态环境主要研究内容,研究方法和预期目标进行了论述。本文对开展扎龙湿地生态修复研究具有重要意义。     

光催化氧化法处理化工废水的测试

本研究通过将UV、O3催化剂等主要条件单独或协同降解化工废水,对比了各反应的降解率,探讨了O3与催化剂在光催化反应中的重要作用。并通过简单的反应动力学分析,证明在各反应初期,溶液中有机物的降解基本符合一级反应。UV／O3共同作用表现了有机物降解的巨大潜力,使反应速率和降解率较其他体系有明显的提高。催化剂／UV／O3三者组合也加快了反应速率,不过对于废水中COD的去除催化剂并未体现出明显优势,但催化剂与UV／O3的组合明显提高了废水中总氮的去除率。     

大气扩散计算流体力学模型综合评估方法研究

模型评估方法研究是模型研发工作的重要组成部分。基于科学性验证与统计性确认提出了大气扩散CFD模型的综合确认评估方法,通过示例的方式展示了方法的使用效果。综合确认评估方法可以提高模型筛选的速度,降低统计性评估对确认性试验数据的需求量,从总体上提高模型确认的效率。评估理论的研究有助于提高基于模型的大气扩散研究的准确性,也有利于高精度模型和试验的设计、开发与遴选。     

Repeatability study of replicate crash tests: A signal analysis approach

Objective: To provide an objective basis on which to evaluate the repeatability of vehicle crash test methods, a recently developed signal analysis method was used to evaluate correlation of sensor time history data between replicate vehicle crash tests. The goal of this study was to evaluate the repeatability of rollover crash tests performed with the Dynamic Rollover Test System (DRoTS) relative to other vehicle crash test methods.

Methods: Test data from DRoTS tests, deceleration rollover sled (DRS) tests, frontal crash tests, frontal offset crash tests, small overlap crash tests, small overlap impact (SOI) crash tests, and oblique crash tests were obtained from the literature and publicly available databases (the NHTSA vehicle database and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety TechData) to examine crash test repeatability.

Results: Signal analysis of the DRoTS tests showed that force and deformation time histories had good to excellent repeatability, whereas vehicle kinematics showed only fair repeatability due to the vehicle mounting method for one pair of tests and slightly dissimilar mass properties (2.2%) in a second pair of tests. Relative to the DRS, the DRoTS tests showed very similar or higher levels of repeatability in nearly all vehicle kinematic data signals with the exception of global X′ (road direction of travel) velocity and displacement due to the functionality of the DRoTS fixture. Based on the average overall scoring metric of the dominant acceleration, DRoTS was found to be as repeatable as all other crash tests analyzed. Vertical force measures showed good repeatability and were on par with frontal crash barrier forces. Dynamic deformation measures showed good to excellent repeatability as opposed to poor repeatability seen in SOI and oblique deformation measures.

Conclusions: Using the signal analysis method as outlined in this article, the DRoTS was shown to have the same or better repeatability of crash test methods used in government regulatory and consumer evaluation test protocols.     

不同植被带生态恢复过程土壤团聚体及其稳定性——以黄土高原为例

为分析黄土高原不同植被带植被恢复对土壤团聚体分布特征及其稳定性的影响,以黄土高原从北到南不同纬度梯度分布的3个典型植被类型区域（草原带、森林草原带和森林带）为研究对象,对不同植被类型和恢复年限下的土壤团聚体分布及其稳定性进行了研究.结果表明：不同植被带对土壤团聚体分布及其稳定性影响显著,大于0.25mm团聚体含量（WR_0.25）、水稳性团聚体平均重量直径（E_WMD）、水稳性团聚体几何平均直径（E_GMD）和有机质含量（SOM）整体上均表现为：森林带 > 森林草原带 > 草原带.不同植被带下不同恢复类型对土壤团聚体及其稳定性影响不一,森林草原带表现为灌木 > 草地 > 乔木,森林带则表现为乔木 > 草地.随植被恢复年限增大,各种恢复类型WR_0.25、E_GMD、SOM整体呈逐渐增加趋势,团聚体结构破坏率（PAD）和可蚀性因子（K）呈现相反的变化趋势;分形维数（D）无显著差异.冗余分析表明,植被带对土壤团聚体及其稳定性的影响最大,其次是恢复年限,恢复类型与植被带和恢复年限具有较强的交互作用.本研究有利于加强对区域生态恢复过程机理的认识.     

基于DMSP/OLS数据的区域碳排放时空动态研究

选取IPCC碳排放核算方法并基于能源统计数据,核算了我国大陆30个省市的能源消耗碳排放量,利用纠正后的DMSP/OLS夜间灯光数据与相应空间单元的碳排放量进行回归分析,反演出1km×1km栅格的电力消耗碳排放量并分析其在地级市尺度上的时空变化.核算出2005年、2010年和2013年能源消耗排放总量分别为57.02,82.28和93.26亿t,其中电力碳排放量分别为23.03,35.62和42.07亿t.结果表明：校正后的DMSP/OLS夜间灯光数据能更好地估算碳排放,其DN总值与统计的省级能源消耗排放量、电力消耗排放量均存在较强的相关关系;整体而言,发达地区能源消耗排放量大但强度比较低.