Dynamic failure assessment of an ammonia storage unit: A case study

Chemical Process Industries usually contain a diverse inventory of hazardous chemicals and complex systems required to perform process operations such as storage, separation, reaction, compression etc. The complex interactions between the equipment make them vulnerable to catastrophic accidents. Risk and failure assessment provide engineers with an intuitive tool for decision making in the operation of such plants. Abnormal events and near-miss situations occur regularly during the operation of a system. Accident Sequence Precursors (ASP) can be used to demonstrate the real-time operating condition of a plant. Dynamic Failure Assessment (DFA) methodology is based on Bayesian statistical methods incorporates ASP data to revise the generic failure probabilities of the systems during its operational lifetime.In this paper, DFA methodology is applied on an ammonia storage unit in a specialized chemical industry. Ammonia is stored in cold storage tanks as liquefied gas at atmospheric pressure. These tanks are susceptible to failures due to various abnormal conditions arising due process failures.Tank failures due to three such abnormal conditions are considered. Variation of the failure probability of the safety systems is demonstrated. The authors use ASP data collected from plant specific sources and safety expert judgement. The failure probabilities of some safety systems concerned show considerable deviation from the generic values. The method helps to locate the components which have undergone more degradation over the period and hence must be paid attention to. In addition, a Bayesian predictive model has been used to predict the number of abnormal events in the next time interval. The user-friendly and intuitive nature of the tool makes it appropriate for application in safety assessment reports in process industries.     

The impact of career customization on work outcomes: Boundary conditions of manager support and employee age

The current paper investigated the longitudinal effects of mass career customization (MCC) on job attitudes and objective career outcomes of employees in a professional service firm in the Netherlands. On the basis of theory on individualization of career trajectories, it was expected that the possibility for employees to customize their careers would be positively related to their job attitudes and subsequent objective career success, as indicated by their levels of affective commitment, work engagement, and received salary and bonuses. However, these effects were expected to occur primarily under the combination of high manager support for implementation of career customization and, on the basis of lifespan theory, older workers, as customization fulfills their increased heterogeneous career preferences. A three‐wave longitudinal study largely showed support for the study hypotheses; the relation between MCC use and work engagement and subsequent career success was stronger for older workers who received support for MCC, whereas the relation between MCC use and commitment was negative for older workers who received low support. The study shows the benefits of career customization in organizations by showing the conditions under which these benefits will manifest. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using self‐determination theory to understand the relationship between calling enactment and daily well‐being

This paper contributes to the calling literature by using self‐determination theory—a theory that makes distinctions between different types of motivation—in order to gain a better understanding of how enacting a calling may relate both positively and negatively to well‐being. We use a daily diary method novel to the calling field and a sample with a distinctive calling, Church of England clergy. We expect daily calling enactment to relate positively to daily well‐being via more autonomous forms of motivation (intrinsic and identified motivation) and negatively via less autonomous forms (introjected motivation). Furthermore, we consider how the relationship between calling enactment and motivation may be moderated by perceived competence. The hypotheses were tested using multi‐level structural equation modeling. There was strong support for calling enactment relating positively to well‐being, and this relationship was fully mediated by intrinsic and identified motivation; the hypothesized negative pathway, from calling enactment, to introjected motivation, to well‐being, was not supported. However, perceived competence was found to moderate some of the relationships between calling and the motivation types, where calling enactment is linked to lower introjected motivation at high levels of competence. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

环境规划中环境资源有价理论的政策研究和实践

随着环境保护意识的加强和环境保护理论的不断拓展,环境资源有价的理念逐步深入到管理层面,环境资源有偿使用也逐步成为重要的环境管理手段。部分省份经过多年的实践探索,取得了积极成效,但也存在一些问题。为了使环境资源有价理论相关内容在环境保护"十三五"规划中更加完善,本文在环境资源有价理论的基础上,通过分析总结,探索适宜的可持续发展的一系列经济政策,并介绍其在山西省的实践应用,期望利用经济手段的调控作用,实现环境保护和经济可持续发展的目的。     

我国持久性有机污染物污染事故预警指标体系构建

面对严峻的持久性有机污染物(persistent organic pollutants,POPs)环境污染问题,以及不断提升的化学品风险管理要求,我国对于POPs污染事故预警管理的需求日益迫切.基于生命周期理论及POPs生成机制,针对不同的POPs和污染事故的种类,构建出POPs污染事故的预警指标体系,以期为完善我国POPs污染事故预警管理提供决策支持.预警指标体系主要包括两部分:POPs预警指标和运行保障机制.POPs预警指标包括了警源指标、警兆指标和警度指标.为保障预警体系的有效实施,构建了预警响应机制及政策保障机制,包括对风险源的动态清单管理和定期评估,及时有效的警情上报,各部门的协调合作等.     

国际碳减排活动中的利益博弈和中国策略的思考

博弈论能够解释许多经济活动和国际关系中出现的现象和问题。利用博弈论的相关理论。对《京都议定书》各利益集团之间的利益争斗进行了分析。指出各利益集团之间斗争的内在原因。并对中国在新一轮谈判中的策略提出了一些建议：由于《京都议定书》生效,而美国仍拒绝批准《京都议定书》。并同时抛出自己的减排方案。这必然会引起新一轮的减排博弈。面对美国等一些国家施加的压力,中国在这场新的博弈中要有所准备。提出具有建设性的建议和意见。既要维护中国和大多数发展中国家的利益。又要有助于减排。     

基于可拓学的尾矿库安全评价

为综合评价尾矿库的安全状态,基于尾矿库灾变机理和大量工程实践构建了一套包括3级指标、22个因素的评价指标体系,并确定了评价指标的等级量值区间。采用EAHP和熵权法结合的方式确定指标权重,基于可拓理论评价尾矿库的安全等级。以湖南黄金集团责任有限公司旗下的7座尾矿库为案例,评价其安全状态,根据蒙特卡洛模拟基本理论,基于Crystal Ball对案例进行敏感性分析,找出具体敏感因素,为后期尾矿库安全管理提供简单有效的控制方法。     

Building a Regionally Connected Reserve Network in a Changing and Uncertain World

Abstract: Habitat connectivity is required at large spatial scales to facilitate movement of biota in response to climatic changes and to maintain viable populations of wide‐ranging species. Nevertheless, it may require decades to acquire habitat linkages at such scales, and areas that could provide linkages are often developed before they can be reserved. Reserve scheduling methods usually consider only current threats, but threats change over time as development spreads and reaches presently secure areas. We investigated the importance of considering future threats when implementing projects to maintain habitat connectivity at a regional scale. To do so, we compared forward‐looking scheduling strategies with strategies that consider only current threats. The strategies were applied to a Costa Rican case study, where many reserves face imminent isolation and other reserves will probably become isolated in the more distant future. We evaluated strategies in terms of two landscape‐scale connectivity metrics, a pure connectivity metric and a metric of connected habitat diversity. Those strategies that considered only current threats were unreliable because they often failed to complete planned habitat linkage projects. The most reliable and effective strategies considered the future spread of development and its impact on the likelihood of completing planned habitat linkage projects. Our analyses highlight the critical need to consider future threats when building connected reserve networks over time.     

A Matrix‐Calibrated Species‐Area Model for Predicting Biodiversity Losses Due to Land‐Use Change

Abstract: Application of island biogeography theory to prediction of species extinctions resulting from habitat loss is based on the assumption that the transformed landscape matrix is completely inhospitable to the taxa considered, despite evidence demonstrating the nontrivial influence of matrix on populations within habitat remnants. The island biogeography paradigm therefore needs refining to account for specific responses of taxa to the area of habitat “islands” and to the quality of the surrounding matrix. We incorporated matrix effects into island theory by partitioning the slope (z value) of species–area relationships into two components: γ, a constant, and σ, a measure of taxon‐specific responses to each component of a heterogeneous matrix. We used our matrix‐calibrated model to predict extinction and endangerment of bird species resulting from land‐use change in 20 biodiversity hotspots and compared these predictions with observed numbers of extinct and threatened bird species. We repeated this analysis with the conventional species–area model and the countryside species–area model, considering alternative z values of 0.35 (island) or 0.22 (continental). We evaluated the relative strength of support for each of the five candidate models with Akaike's information criterion (AIC). The matrix‐calibrated model had the highest AIC weight (w_i = 89.21%), which means the weight of evidence in support of this model was the optimal model given the set of candidate models and the data. In addition to being a valuable heuristic tool for assessing extinction risk, our matrix‐calibrated model also allows quantitative assessment of biodiversity benefits (and trade‐offs) of land‐management options in human‐dominated landscapes. Given that processes of secondary regeneration have become more widespread across tropical regions and are predicted to increase, our matrix‐calibrated model will be increasingly appropriate for practical conservation in tropical landscapes.     

农业病虫害的灾变预测及预报精度分析

在农业病虫害突变规律的研究基础上,建立了定性与定量的尖角突变模型,确定了各病虫的突变区域。根据综合控制变量所确定的边界值,对未来病虫发生发展趋势进行预测。经多年历史资料检验和1992年农业病虫害发生突变的趋势预报证明:准确率高,覆盖面广。