Regulation of sensory nerve conduction velocity of human bodies responding to annual temperature variations in natural environments

The extensive research interests in environmental temperature can be linked to human productivity / performance as well as comfort and health; while the mechanisms of physiological indices responding to temperature variations remain incompletely understood. This study adopted a physiological sensory nerve conduction velocity (SCV) as a temperature‐sensitive biomarker to explore the thermoregulatory mechanisms of human responding to annual temperatures. The measurements of subjects’ SCV (over 600 samples) were conducted in a naturally ventilated environment over all four seasons. The results showed a positive correlation between SCV and annual temperatures and a Boltzmann model was adopted to depict the S‐shaped trend of SCV with operative temperatures from 5°C to 40°C. The SCV increased linearly with operative temperatures from 14.28°C to 20.5°C and responded sensitively for 10.19°C‐24.59°C, while tended to be stable beyond that. The subjects’ thermal sensations were linearly related to SCV, elaborating the relation between human physiological regulations and subjective thermal perception variations. The findings reveal the body SCV regulatory characteristics in different operative temperature intervals, thereby giving a deeper insight into human autonomic thermoregulation and benefiting for built environment designs, meantime minimizing the temperature‐invoked risks to human health and well‐being.     

Study on wax precipitation characteristics of wax deposit in pipes

Wax deposit properties are a significant concern in pipeline pigging during waxy crude oil transportation. In the present work, the impacts of flow conditions and oil properties on the wax precipitation characteristics of wax deposits are investigated. A flow loop apparatus was developed to conduct wax deposition experiments using four crude oils collected from different field pipes. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique was employed to observe the wax precipitation characteristics of crude oil and wax deposit. The results show that the wax content and the wax appearance temperature (WAT) of the deposits increase with shear stress and radial temperature gradient, and decrease with radial wax molecule concentration gradient near the pipe wall. The DSC tests on the wax deposits revealed that the deposit wax content is strongly correlated to the oil wax content. Furthermore, an empirical correlation was developed to predict the wax content and the WAT of the wax deposit. Verification of the empirical correlation using the different oils indicated that the average relative error of the wax content prediction and average absolute error of WAT prediction were 13.2% and 3.6°C, respectively.     

影响煤层气开发效果的地质因素再认识

地质特征认识对煤层气开发效果起着重要作用。在资源特征相差不大的情况下,发现煤层气相邻井的产量差异仍较大。排除工程因素后,通过选取8类地质参数,细致比对了保德区块低产井与邻井的参数特征,筛查出其关键因素为煤层微幅构造与顶板封盖条件,其中以微幅构造为主。据此,重新认识并划分出区块新的次生褶皱背斜单元、向斜单元和斜坡单元,获得了不同次生褶皱构造单元的开发特征。结果表明,高、低产井分布与次生褶皱背斜、向斜相关性高达92%。其中:高产井主要分布在次生褶皱背斜变化较缓、呈隆起状的“平台”,且煤层顶板以泥岩、碳质泥岩为主,封盖性较好;低产井主要分布在次生褶皱向斜,同一井台各井开发效果差异表现为从向斜条带轴部—向斜条带内—向斜条带外的煤层气井平均单井产量不断增加,到向斜轴部的距离大于向斜曲率半径73.5%的范围为主力产气区,小于向斜曲率半径40.0%范围为产水主力区。这对煤层气新井部署、生产管理、开发调整等,具有一定的指导意义。     

Development of mobile miniature natural gas liquefiers

With increasing consumption of natural gas (NG), small NG reservoirs, such as coalbed methane and oil field associated gas, have recently drawn significant attention. Owing to their special characteristics (e.g., scattered distribution and small output), small-scale NG liquefiers are highly required. Similarly, the mixed refrigerant cycle (MRC) is suitable for small-scale liquefaction systems due to its moderate complexity and power consumption. In consideration of the above, this paper reviews the development of mobile miniature NG liquefiers in Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry (TIPC), China. To effectively liquefy the scattered NG and overcome the drawbacks of existing technologies, three main improvements, i.e., low-pressure MRC process driven by oil-lubricated screw compressor, compact cold box with the new designed heat exchangers, and standardized equipment manufacturing and integrated process technology have been made. The development pattern of “rapid cluster application and flexible liquefaction center” has been eventually proposed. The small-scale NG liquefier developed by TIPC has reached a minimum liquefaction power consumption of about 0.35 kW·h/Nm³. It is suitable to exploit small remote gas reserves which can also be used in boil-off gas reliquefaction and distributed peak-shaving of pipe networks.     

海面油膜的偏振反射特性仿真实验

为了给海面溢油污染识别检测提供理论基础,根据菲涅尔反射公式的偏振反射系数,结合偏振双向反射率因子和粗糙海面的概率密度分布函数,建立了完善的pBRDF模型,仿真在不同太阳入射角度、不同探测器观测角度以及不同海面风速风向等条件下海水和油膜的偏振反射分布函数。结果表明:海水和油膜太阳天顶角为53°和56°时P偏振反射率分别为1.0×10^-5和2.5×10^-5,S偏振反射率随着太阳天顶角的增加而增加;海面风速越大偏振反射率峰值越小;海面风向只改变pBRDF的空间位置;海水和油膜线偏振度空间分布有明显差异。搭建实验平台相机以40°拍摄时,得出海水和油膜的线偏振度分别在0.2~0.4, 0.5~0.7之间,同时表明利用偏振探测获取目标场景的偏振度和偏振角图可提高图像质量。     

基于云概率密度分布估计的大坝监测数据分析

大坝运行监测易受自然环境和监测条件影响，存在时间和空间上的变异性，监测数据具有不确定性。以云理论的随机性和不确定性分析方法为基础，并与空间数据辐射思想相结合，建立了云滴概率密度分布估计模型，然后导出云概率密度分布函数，依据样本监测数据推求母体空间数据的分布特征，并设计了基于逆向云算法云变换的计算程序。分析陆浑水库1979~1999年测压管监测数据和位移变形数据的云概率密度分布特征和云数字特征，得出了20 a来大坝的数据分布特征和运行状态。监测数据分析结果表明，云概率密度分布估计不仅能有效合理地分析大坝的运行状态，而且能够依据云数字特征来判断监测状态和监测环境的异常变化。      

Social licence: power imbalances and levels of consciousness – two case studies

ABSTRACT

Social licence to operate (SLO) is a term that is finding increasing acceptance in a number of industries. Like all new terms, its precise meaning and implications are still being investigated. Using data from previous studies, this paper offers an analysis of the SLO of two case studies with each study being viewed separately through the grid of a distinct theoretical framework. Case study 1 looks at the development of differential social licence negotiated in the Hamlet of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, as a result of an impact and benefit agreement negotiated between Tahera Diamond Corp. and the Kitikmeot Inuit Organisation in 2004. The study demonstrates that general acceptance of resource development can be uneven and reflect an unequal distribution of decision-making power. In case study 2, stakeholders of a failed mineral development project were queried across time about the specifics of the proposed mine development and were queried about resource development across different levels of consciousness. Perhaps, SLO is variable across different levels of consciousness. The paper concludes with observations about the variable nature of SLO acceptance across populations and across levels of consciousness within individuals. Perhaps, the concept of SLO is, in fact, complex, difficult to define and measure and, at this point, of limited utility as a measure of resource development acceptance.     

Color preferences for different topics in connection to personal characteristics

Studies on color preferences are dependent on the topic and the relationships with personal characteristics, particularly personality, but these are seldom studied in one population. Therefore a questionnaire was collected from 1095 Dutch people asking for color preferences about different topics and relating them to personal characteristics. Color preferences regarding different topics show different patterns and significant differences were found between gender, age, education and personality such as being technical, being emotional or being a team player. Also, different colors were mentioned when asked for colors that stimulate to be quiet, energetic, and able to focus or creative. Probably, due to unconsciousness of contexts, many people had no color preference, a result that in the literature seldom is mentioned. Blue was the overall favorite color; however, most males chose for blue (25%) while most females had no color preference (18%). Black was the overall favorite color for clothing, mainly chosen by females (40%), while males primarily chose blue (27%). For building interiors subjects preferred white. For moods, subjects preferred white for being quiet or being able to focus, red for being energetic and had no color preference for being creative. It is concluded that color preferences are dependent upon the topic, and personal characteristics. The findings are important for architects, interior designers, fashion designers and product designers to have a basic idea of preferred colors for different objects by different types of people. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 40, 62–71, 2015     

低觉醒脑电识别与唤醒的可穿戴系统研究

为智能化地识别警戒作业人员出现的低觉醒、注意力下降的生理状态，本文介绍了一种基于FPGA和脑电信号处理的低觉醒状态检测与唤醒系统，系统通过传感器从大脑头皮采集脑电信号，转换为数字信号，经傅里叶变换获取了脑电信号的θ相对能量、α相对能量、重心频率、谱熵等4个特征量，由4个特征量表征低觉醒状态并运用支持向量机对低警戒状态进行识别，当识别出低觉醒状态时采用声音报警模块发出声音，唤醒警戒作业人员。设计系统能够较好地识别出低觉醒状态，识别率达90.8%，可为提高警戒作业工作绩效提供一种可穿戴的智能装备。     

智能型电子式变频电动执行器及其应用

针对原有电动执行器只有以低速运行，通过极强的微调才能修正微小偏差这一缺点，提出智能型电动执行器与各种阀体譬合，利用数字化变频技术，改造目前采用模拟技术的电动执行器，使之具有变速运行、动态响应块，调节定位精度高、稳定性好，故障率低、使用寿命长和应用场合广泛的特点。