Economic effects of regulating the seismic strengthening of older buildings

The marked increase in the awareness of earthquake risk following the Canterbury earthquakes in New Zealand offered a unique opportunity to investigate the economic effect of disaster-mitigation regulations on the commercial building stock. A difference-in-differences (DD) framework was used to determine whether earthquake risk has been capitalized into the property prices of buildings constructed prior to 1976, as a response to the national policy requiring assessment and strengthening (or demolition) of the existing earthquake-prone building stock. A negative externality is found in the policy announcement on affected (pre-1970s) office and retail buildings which caused office buildings to suffer a 12.5% stigma discount. However, retail properties were less impacted suffering a 2.3% stigma loss. The value of the commercial building stock has been affected by the policy. These findings provide policy-makers with timely evidence as to the economic effects of New Zealand’s earthquake-prone buildings policy. Facing losses in property value and financial responsibility for retrofitting their assets, building owners will be looking for a workable set of regulatory and non-regulatory incentives to encourage disaster risk management and protect the built environment.     

Productivity of lactating dairy cows fed diets with teff hay as the sole forage

Groundwater depletion is one of the most pressing issues facing the dairy industry in arid regions. One strategy to improve the industry's drought resilience involves feeding drought-tolerant forage crops in place of traditional forage crops such as alfalfa and corn silage. The objective of this study was to assess the productivity of lactating dairy cows fed diets with teff hay (Eragrostis tef) as the sole forage. Teff is a warm-season annual grass native to Ethiopia that is well adapted to drought conditions. Nine multiparous Holstein cows (185 ± 31 d in milk; mean ± standard deviation) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 diets in a 3 × 3 Latin square design with 18-d periods (14 d acclimation and 4 d sampling). Diets were either control, where dietary forage consisted of a combination of corn silage, alfalfa hay, and native grass hay, or 1 of 2 teff diets (teff-A and teff-B), where teff hay [13.97 ± 0.32% crude protein, dry matter (DM) basis] was the sole forage. All 3 diets were formulated for similar DM, crude protein, and nonfiber carbohydrate concentrations. Control and teff-A were matched for concentrations of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) from forage (18.2 ± 0.15% of DM), and teff-B included slightly less, providing 16.6% NDF from forage. Dry matter intake, milk and component production, body weight, body condition score, as well as DM and NDF digestibility were monitored and assessed using mixed model analysis, with significance declared at P < 0.05. Treatment had no effect on dry matter intake (28.1 ± 0.75 kg/d). Similarly, treatment had no effect on milk production (40.7 ± 1.8 kg/d). Concentrations of milk fat (3.90 ± 0.16%) and lactose (4.68 ± 0.07%) were also unaffected by treatment. Teff-A and teff-B increased milk protein concentration compared with the control (3.07 vs. 3.16 ± 0.09%). Treatment had no effect on energy-corrected milk yield (43.4 ± 1.3 kg/d), body weight, or body condition score change. Additionally, treatment had no effect on total-tract DM or NDF digestibility. Results from this study indicate that teff hay has potential to replace alfalfa and corn silage in the diets of lactating dairy cattle without loss of productivity.     

Fire hazard in transportation infrastructure: Review,assessment, and mitigation strategies

This paper reviews the fire problem in critical transportation infrastructures such as bridges and tunnels. The magnitude of the fire problem is illustrated, and the recent increase in fire problems in bridges and tunnels is highlighted. Recent research undertaken to address fire problems in transportation structures is reviewed, as well as critical factors governing the performance of those structures. Furthermore, key strategies recommended for mitigating fire hazards in bridges and tunnels are presented, and their applicability to practical situations is demonstrated through a practical case study. Furthermore, research needs and emerging trends for enhancing the “state-of-the-art” in this area are discussed.     

基于过程免疫力的动态电压恢复器优化配置

优质电力园区以最低成本满足用户对电能质量的特殊需求,成为解决电压暂降问题的新途径,已在国内外开展了广泛的试点应用。针对中国优质电力园区规划缺少经济高效的优化配置方法的实际情况,提出了一种基于过程免疫力的动态电压恢复器优化配置方法。基于工业过程电压暂降免疫力,以满足用户用电需求为目标,以治理设备购置费用最低为约束,采用遗传算法对园区供电质量分级制定动态电压恢复器的优化配置方案,实现工业园区电压暂降治理的经济性。对大型精密温控系统的电压暂降治理装置的优化配置方法进行仿真计算,验证了所提方法的有效性与经济性。     

ENSO事件对渭河流域气象干旱和水文干旱的影响

利用渭河流域1960~2012年13个气象站的逐日降雨资料和三个水文站的径流资料,分析ENSO事件对该区域的降雨、径流、气象干旱和水文干旱的影响。结果表明,ENSO事件对渭河流域的降雨量和径流的影响较为明显,尤其是在7、8、9、10月;EI Ni1o事件对降雨量/径流有减少作用,而La Ni1a事件对降雨量/径流有增加效应;ENSO事件对径流的影响具有空间和时间的差异性,且由下游到上游逐渐变大;渭河流域共发生142次气象干旱和76次水文干旱,发生气象干旱和水文干旱平均持续时间分别为2.56、3.40个月,气象干旱和水文干旱发生次数呈增加趋势;ENSO事件对气象干旱和水文干旱的影响较大,经过卡方检验,在10月EI Ni1o事件和La Ni1a事件与气象干旱的发生有显著(α=0.05)关系,同时10月EI Ni1o事件和水文干旱的发生也有显著关系。     

Overview on mitigation of acrylamide in starchy fried and baked foods

Acrylamide in fried and baked foods has the potential to cause toxic effects in animals and humans. A major challenge lies in developing an effective strategy for acrylamide mitigation in foods without altering its basic properties. Food scientists around the world have developed various methods to mitigate the presence of acrylamide in fried food products. Mitigation techniques using additives such as salts, amino acids, cations and organic acids along with blanching of foods have reduced the concentration of acrylamide. The use of secondary metabolites such as polyphenols also reduces acrylamide concentration in fried food products. Other mitigation techniques such as asparaginase pre‐treatment and low‐temperature air frying with chitosan have been effective in mitigating the concentration of acrylamide. The combined pre‐treatment process along with the use of additives is the latest trend in acrylamide mitigation. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry     

Vibration suppression for monopile and spar‐buoy offshore wind turbines using the structure‐immittance approach

Offshore wind turbines have the potential to capture the high‐quality wind resource. However, the significant wind and wave excitations may result in excessive vibrations and decreased reliability. To reduce vibrations, passive structural control devices, such as the tuned mass damper (TMD), have been used. To further enhance the vibration suppression capability, inerter‐based absorbers (IBAs) have been studied using the structure‐based approach, that is, proposing specific stiffness‐damping‐inertance elements layouts for investigation. Such an approach has a critical limitation of being only able to cover specific IBA layouts, leaving numerous beneficial configurations not identified. This paper adopts the newly introduced structure‐immittance approach, which is able to cover all network layout possibilities with a predetermined number of elements. Linear monopile and spar‐buoy turbine models are first established for optimisation. Results show that the performance improvements can be up to 6.5% and 7.3% with four and six elements, respectively, compared with the TMD. Moreover, a complete set of beneficial IBA layouts with explicit element types and numbers have been obtained, which is essential for next‐step real‐life applications. In order to verify the effectiveness of the identified absorbers with OpenFAST, an approach has been established to integrate any IBA transfer functions. It has been shown that the performance benefits preserve under both the fatigue limit state (FLS) and the ultimate limit state (ULS). Furthermore, results show that the mass component of the optimum IBAs can be reduced by up to 25.1% (7,486 kg) to achieve the same performance as the TMD.     

黑根霉Q3Y在旱胁迫效应下的菌丝生长特性及糖化产物

选取产糖化酶较强和糖化能力较高的黑根霉（Rhizopus nigricans）Q3Y进行菌丝体的抗旱逆境液态发酵培养，分析了菌株Q3Y菌丝生长状况及菌丝对糯米的利用。结果表明，在土豆汁培养基中添加0.50%的琼脂，使其黏度达到500 mPa·s，黑根霉菌Q3Y在该培养基中菌丝生长状态良好，细胞分散均匀；在料水比为6∶10（g∶mL），含水量为62.5%糯米培养液中，黑根霉菌株Q3Y菌丝体能得到更好的生长，培养72 h还原糖、可溶性总糖及糖化酶酶活分别达到26 g/100mL、32 g/100mL、23.0 U/mL。     

长江流域上游干旱特征分析

为分析长江流域上游干旱特征,利用1961年1月至2012年12月长江上游共69个气象站的气象数据资料,以帕尔默干旱指数(PDSI)为主要指标对长江上游流域的干旱强度、干旱持续时间、干旱频率等干旱特征进行比较分析。结果表明,长江上游区域PDSI的月际变化较大,旱涝期交替出现,同时年代干旱最强值呈现先减弱后增强的趋势,并在2006年达到干旱强度最强值;干旱持续时间较长的干旱事件主要发生在1960、1970年代,平均干旱持续月数为4.2个月;上游干旱频率主要以初始干旱为主,其中年际干旱集中在1960年代末期至1970年代初期和2000年代后期两个阶段,季节干旱主要发生在冬季。研究成果可为长江流域上游的干旱治理提供参考。