Explaining support for renewable energy: commitments to self-sufficiency and communion

ABSTRACT

Across the political spectrum, people favour renewable energy. For political liberals, this support has been attributed to concern for the environment; in contrast, the bases of conservatives’ support are less clear. Derived from interviews with a diverse sample of households in Washington State, USA, and a vignette experiment with a representative sample of American households, results show that Democrats (liberals) and Republicans (conservatives) have different moral intuitions, with Democrats emphasizing communion and both Democrats and Republicans valuing self-sufficiency. These findings explain how politically polarized environmental attitudes can exist alongside a shared support for renewable energy. The study therefore contributes to the literature on environmental concern and behaviour, and has implications for policies aimed at increasing adoption of renewable energy as well as pro-environmental behaviour more broadly.     

障碍物遮挡条件下细水雾与油池火相互作用的实验研究

障碍物影响下细水雾灭火有效性的研究具有重要的意义。研究了障碍物与火焰的相对位置、细水雾工作压力、喷头距离火焰垂直距离及水平距离等因素对灭火有效性的影响,以及细水雾作用下火灾烟气中一氧化碳、二氧化碳及氧气浓度的变化规律等。结果表明:高压细水雾可以有效扑救部分有障碍物遮挡的油池火,同时喷头距离火焰的水平距离和垂直距离也显著影响着细水雾的灭火速度;高压细水雾在灭火过程中火场的氧气浓度明显升高,二氧化碳和一氧化碳浓度明显降低;细水雾工作压力较低时,一氧化碳浓度反而有所增加。     

相对两面受火的方钢管钢筋混凝土柱耐火极限

目前有关方钢管钢筋混凝土柱抗火性能的研究主要是针对四面均匀受火的情况,而在实际中,会出现相对两面受火这一情况。为此,利用ABAQUS分析软件建立了方钢管钢筋混凝土柱在相对两面受火作用下高温反应有限元模型,在验证模型正确性的基础上,对其耐火极限进行参数分析,包括荷载比、截面边长、长细比、荷载偏心率、钢材和混凝土强度及配筋率等,得到了相对两面火灾作用下方钢管钢筋混凝土柱耐火极限的主要影响参数和影响规律,并给出了该受火条件下方钢管钢筋混凝土柱耐火极限的简化计算方法。研究结果表明:荷载比、截面边长、长细比是相对两面火灾作用下方钢管钢筋混凝土柱耐火极限的主要影响参数,表现为截面边长越大,荷载比和长细比越小,构件的耐火极限越大。     

油池火作用下钢管混凝土柱温度分布研究

在开敞空间条件下利用油池火模拟不同的火灾场景,对火源燃烧阶段和燃烧结束后钢管混凝土柱的温度变化进行研究。测量了燃料质量变化和钢管混凝土柱的温度分布等参数,分析不同火灾场景下钢管混凝土柱轴向、横截面的温度变化,并以实验工况HS3为例进行深入分析,同时分析了火源的燃烧时间、热释放速率对钢管混凝土柱温度场分布的影响。研究结果表明,钢管混凝土柱纵向温度分布与横向温度分布一样都存在明显的温度梯度,其表面钢管温度变化受火场热释放速率影响较大,而内部混凝土的温度变化则主要受火场持续时间的影响。     

API Standard 521 new alternative method to evaluate fire relief for pressure relief device sizing and depressuring system design

Since the 1950's, API Standards have provided guidance on determining relief loads for equipment exposed to pool fires. The API method is empirical based on tests performed in the 1940's. There is increasingly widespread interest in analytical methods based on heat transfer principles to model fire heat input. The API committee agreed to include an analytical method in the 6th edition of API Standard 521 to establish relief loads for pressure relief devices and to design depressuring systems for the fire scenario. The analytical method provides more flexibility than the empirical method but has limitations (e.g., too many permutations are possible leading to potential under-sizing of the pressure relief device).This paper discusses the basis for the empirical method in API Standard 521 and provides comparisons of the empirical and analytical method with two more recent large-scale pool fire tests. This pool fire test data indicates that the empirical method will provide a conservative estimate of pool fire heat input for most applications and is still the method of choice when designing pressure relief systems. However, these recent tests indicate the empirical method needs to be modified when a vessel or equipment is partially confined by adjacent embankments or walls equal or greater than the vessel height. In such cases, the wetted area exponent should be 1.0 instead of 0.82.The analytical method is useful in determining time-versus-temperature profiles for heating unwetted vessels of varying wall thicknesses and materials of construction. These profiles, which depend upon the type of fire (e.g., unconfined pool fire, jet fire, etc.), can be combined with tensile strength and stress-rupture data to specify a depressuring system's pressure-versus-time profile. This will minimize failure and/or mitigate the effects of failure due to overheating from fire exposure.     

Travelling without a helmet: tourists' vulnerabilities and responses to disasters in Indonesia

Tourists are particularly vulnerable when natural disasters occur in regions that they are visiting. It is assumed that they lack awareness and understanding of the actions that they need to take in such circumstances. This study examines the responses of tourists in times of disaster, building on empirical data collected through large‐scale surveys conducted in Bali and Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in 2015. Both are important tourist destinations in the country that have suffered major disasters in recent years. The different types of responses to these events are framed using a grid/group analysis stemming from cultural theory. The study resulted in three key findings: (i) current disaster management planning largely follows a single rationale; (ii) tourists are not a homogeneous group, but rather a complex, diverse, and dynamic body of stakeholders; and (iii) the focus of disaster management planning should shift from a single rationale to a polyrational methodology. Disaster managers need to consider, therefore, these different aspects in the context of preparedness.     

Evaluating the ecological benefits of wildfire by integrating fire and ecosystem simulation models

Fire managers are now realizing that wildfires can be beneficial because they can reduce hazardous fuels and restore fire-dominated ecosystems. A software tool that assesses potential beneficial and detrimental ecological effects from wildfire would be helpful to fire management. This paper presents a simulation platform called FLEAT (Fire and Landscape Ecology Assessment Tool) that integrates several existing landscape- and stand-level simulation models to compute an ecologically based measure that describes if a wildfire is moving the burning landscape towards or away from the historical range and variation of vegetation composition. FLEAT uses a fire effects model to simulate fire severity, which is then used to predict vegetation development for 1, 10, and 100 years into the future using a landscape simulation model. The landscape is then simulated for 5000 years using parameters derived from historical data to create an historical time series that is compared to the predicted landscape composition at year 1, 10, and 100 to compute a metric that describes their similarity to the simulated historical conditions. This tool is designed to be used in operational wildfire management using the LANDFIRE spatial database so that fire managers can decide how aggressively to suppress wildfires. Validation of fire severity predictions using field data from six wildfires revealed that while accuracy is moderate (30-60%), it is mostly dictated by the quality of GIS layers input to FLEAT. Predicted 1-year landscape compositions were only 8% accurate but this was because the LANDFIRE mapped pre-fire composition accuracy was low (21%). This platform can be integrated into current readily available software products to produce an operational tool for balancing benefits of wildfire with potential dangers.     

五店市历史传统街区建筑群防火间距研究

针对执行现行消防技术标准与保留传统建筑风貌的矛盾,以晋江五店市传统街区为对象,采用数值模拟方法研究不同楼间距对相邻建筑所受火灾辐射热流的影响规律,对街区内的典型建筑防火间距进行重新评估,使其既满足历史街区风貌保护要求,又能达到预防火灾的目的。     

基于层次分析法的森林火险区划 —以徂徕山林场为例

森林火险区划是林火管理的基础。利用层次分析法将影响森林火险的静态因子评判指标分成三个层次,根据专业知识确定各因子权重,充分利用现有的可燃物和地形数据信息,以徂徕山林场为例进行了森林火险区划。区划结果表明,徂徕山林场大部分地区的火险为中低火险,高和极高火险区域面积分别占林场总面积的11.6%和3.1%。本研究为林场尺度上开展科学的火险区划提供技术参考。     

Habitat segregation mediates predation by the benthic fish <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cottus gobio</Emphasis> on the exotic amphipod species <Emphasis Type="Italic">Gammarus roeseli</Emphasis>

Predation is often considered as one of the most important biotic factor determining the success of exotic species. The freshwater amphipod Gammarus roeseli has widely colonized Western Europe, where it is frequently found in sympatry with the native species (Gammarus pulex). Previous laboratory experiments revealed that G. roeseli may have an advantage over G. pulex through differential predation by native fish (brown trout). Morphological anti-predator defences (spines) were found responsible for lower rates of predation on the invasive G. roeseli. Here, using both field surveys and laboratory experiments, we tested if a differential of predation exists with other fish predators naturally encountered by gammarids. The main predators present in our field site were nocturnal benthic feeders (mainly bullheads, Cottus gobio). Fish diet analysis showed that, compared to its global availability in the river, G. roeseli was less consumed than G. pulex. In the field, however, G. roeseli was found mainly in the aquatic vegetation whereas G. pulex was found in all habitat types. Laboratory experiments in microcosms revealed that G. roeseli was less prone to predation by C. gobio only when vegetation was present. Depending on the type of predator, the differential of predation could therefore be mediated by antipredator behaviour, and a better usage of refuges, rather than by morphological defences.