Life Cycle Assessment of CCA-Treated Wood Highway Guard Rail Posts in the US with Comparisons to Galvanized Steel Guard Rail Posts

A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment is done to identify the environmental impacts of chromated copper arsenate (CCA)-treated timber used for highway guard rail posts, to understand the processes that contribute to the total impacts, and to determine how the impacts compare to the primary alternative product, galvanized steel posts. Guard rail posts are the supporting structures for highway guard rails. Transportation engineers, as well as public and regulatory interests, have increasing need to understand the environmental implications of guard rail post selection, in addition to factors such as costs and service performance. This study uses a life cycle inventory (LCI) to catalogue the input and output data from guard rail post manufacture, service life, and disposition, and a life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) to assess anthropogenic and net greenhouse gas (GHG), acidification, smog, ecotoxicity, and eutrophication potentially resulting from life cycle air emissions. Other indicators of interest also are tracked, such as fossil fuel and water use. Comparisons of guard rail post products are made at a functional unit of one post per year of service. This life cycle assessment (LCA) finds that the manufacture, use, and disposition of CCA-treated wood guard rails offers lower fossil fuel use and lower anthropogenic and net GHG emissions, acidification, smog potential, and ecotoxicity environmental impacts than impact indicator values for galvanized steel posts. Water use and eutrophication impact indicator values for CCA-treated guard rail posts are greater than impact indicator values for galvanized steel guard rail posts.

Post Evaluation of Wind Resource Assessment and Micro-Siting

The design energy productions deviate from the actual situation, which are affected by the accuracy of two significant factors - the wind resource assessment and wind farm micro-siting. A running wind farm in northern China was taken as the object in this investigation. The measured data obtained in operation phase and the relevant information in design phase were integrated and a post evaluation of wind resource assessment, micro-siting and generating capacity reduction factors of the wind farm in design phase was provided. The results indicate that the representative year wind regimes of the wind farm in design phase can basically reflect the wind conditions in the wind farm without the consideration of the trends of long-term changes in wind speed;micro-siting project in design phase is superior to that in practical;generating capacity reduction factors, overall on the high side, should be further optimized considering 20-year operation period.

Strengthening Post-Operative Pain Assessment in Patients with Major Abdominal Surgery, University Teaching Hospitals, Zambia

Systematic, routine pain assessment using standardized clinical guidelines is the foundation of effective pain management for patients who are unable to self-report pain. In Zambia, there are no context appropriate standardised clinical guidelines for post-operative pain observations. This study sought to develop such a clinical guideline in form of an assessment tool. The study adopted an exploratory sequential mixed method through a three-phased approach and an adapted Clinical Decision Making Survey instrument was used. Snowball sampling was employed and in phases II and III, purposive sampling was used. The study was conducted at the University Teaching Hospitals where 120 participants were enrolled in the study. Phases II and III provided preliminary internal validation processes of the developed tool, where discussions, orientation and trial implementation of the tool were done. In phase II of the study, 47 participants comprising of nurses participated while in phase III, there were 11 nurses and 32 participants. The results yielded the first ever standardised post-operative pain assessment tool for patients with major abdominal surgery in Zambia. The tool is made up of six dimensions of the identified nonverbal indicators of post-operative pain in patients with major abdominal surgery namely: facial expressions, mobility, activity intolerance, behavioural disturbance, communication ability and vital signs. The present study showed that the developed post-operative pain assessment tool for Zambia is acceptable for use among patients who have had major abdominal surgery and can facilitate improved post-operative pain management for most patients.

Comparison between FLO-2D and Debris-2D on the Application of Assessment of Granular Debris Flow Hazards with Case Study

Numerical simulation has been widely applied to the assessment of debris flow hazards. In East Asia and especially Taiwan, the most widely used numerical programs are FLO-2D and Debris-aD. Although these two programs are applied to the same engineering tasks, they are different in many aspects. These two programs were compared according to their fundamental theories, input and output data, computational algorithms and results. Using both programs, the simulations of a real debris flow with abundant granular material induced by landslides at Xinfa village in southern Taiwan are performed for comparison. The simulation results show that Debris- 2D gives better assessment in hazard area delineating and flow depth predicting. Therefore, Debris-2D is better for simulation of granular debris flows.

Environmental life cycle assessment of Indian coal-fired power plants

Coal is the backbone of the Indian power sector. The coal-fired power plants remain the largest emitters of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and substantial amounts of nitrogen oxides, which are associated with climate and health impacts. Various CO2 mitigation technologies （carbon capture and storage--CCS） and SO2/NOx mitigation technologies （flue gas desulfurization and selective catalytic reduction） have been employed to reduce the environmental impacts of the coal-fired power plants. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the feasibility of various mitigation technologies employed. This paper attempts to perform environmental life cycle assessment （LCA） of Indian coal-fired power plant with and without CO2, SO2 and NOx mitigation controls. The study develops new normalization factors for India in various damage categories, using the Indian emissions and energy consumption data, coupled with the emissions and particulate emission to come up with a final environmental impact of coal-fired electricity. The results show a large degree of dependence on the perspective of assessment used. The impact of sensitivities of individual substances and the effect of plant efficiency on the final LCA results is also studied.

Risk Assessment M ode of Sale-Leaseback——Based on Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process

Sale-leaseback is paid special focus on for its great application in China in recent years.By giving a detailed analysis,an analysis of the features of sale-leaseback and a study of the risks of it are given in this paper.Then a quantitative analysis of commercial real estate sale-leaseback is carried out.The scientific theoretical analysis is provided in this paper for risk assessment in commercial real estate sale-leaseback mode in China.An effective approach is put forward for sale-leaseback project evaluation and prevention of risk.A useful means is given to supervise commerciai real estate sale-leaseback mode for relevant departments and a certain contribution is made to a further sound development of commercial real estate sale-leaseback mode.

Heath Assessment Method of EMU Trains in Level 3-5 Maintenance and Repair

An accurate and objective assessment of the health status of EMU trains is of great importance.In order to make sure the trains are functional,reliable,and endurable in their full life cycle(FLC),health assessment method for EMU trains after Level 3-5 maintenance and repair is studied.First,the element-selection principles and the assessment rules are defined;second,to present the complex topological relationship between the elements in assessment,a functional logical structure construction method is proposed;third,a health value calculation model is defined based on the element’s characteristics and their logical structures.The health variables of each element is calculated and fitted following the steps in the corresponding weight calculation methods.The assessment method is proved to be applicable and effective.

Distribution,fractionation,and contamination assessment of heavy metals in offshore surface sediments from western Xiamen Bay,China

Surface sediment samples were collected at 21 offshore sites in western Xiamen Bay, Southeast China. Total concentrations of Li, V, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, St, Mn, Pb, Ba, Fe, and Ti were determined by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry; Hg was determined by atomic fluorescence spectrometry. A modified BCR sequential extraction procedure was used to extract fractions of the above elements. Concentrations of Pb, Cr, and Hg at most sites met the primary standard criteria of Marine Sediment Quality except site S12 for Pb and S7 for Cr, while concentrations of Zn at 17 sites and Cu at seven sites exceeded the criteria. The mean concentration of Hg was three times higher than the background, with a possible source being the Jiulong River. Fe, Ti, Ba, Co, V, and Li dominated the residual phase, mainly from terrestrial input. Ni, Cr, Pb, and Hg in the non-residual phase varied largely between sites. Sr, Mn, Cu, and Zn were mainly in the non- residual fraction. Most sites showed considerable ecological risk; exceptions were site S7 （very high） and sites S10, S11, and S14 （moderate）. Cu showed moderate-to-high pollution and Pb exhibited no-to-low pollution, while other metals had a non-pollution status according to their ratios of secondary phase to primary phase （RSP）. Results of two assessment methods showed moderate pollution and a very high ecological risk for Cu, Zn, Ni, and Cr at site S7, which might be due to the local sewage treatment plant.

Assessment of structural damage using natural frequency changes

The present paper develops a new method for damage localization and severity estimation based on the employment of modal strain energy. This method is able to determine the damage locations and estimate their severities, requiring only the information about the changes of a few lower natural frequencies. First, a damage quantification method is formulated and iterative approach is adopted for determining the damage extent. Then a damage localization algorithm is proposed, in which a damage indicator is formulated where unity value corresponds to the true damage scenario. Finally, numerical studies and model tests are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed algorithm.

基于PCA-PSO-ELM模型预测地震死亡人数研究

筛选42个历史地震震例,对地震震级、震源深度、震中烈度、抗震设防烈度、震中烈度与抗震设防烈度之差(ΔL)、人口密度以及发震时刻7个影响指标进行主成分分析(principal components analysis,PCA),构建粒子群优化(particle swarm optimization,PSO)极限学习机(extreme learning machine,ELM)地震死亡人数预测模型。将37个震例数据进行预处理和训练,并使用5个震例数据来检验模型的预测精度。实验结果表明,该PCA-PSO-ELM组合模型的平均误差率为10.87%,相比于PCA-ELM模型和ELM模型,其平均误差率分别降低8.70个百分点和18.38个百分点。因此,采用PCA-PSO-ELM组合模型预测地震死亡人数具有一定的可行性。

AltBOC navigation signal quality assessment and measurement

In order to ensure that Chinese BeiDou satellite navigation system runs smoothly,the assessment of signal quality has become a significant task.Alternative binary offset carrier(AltBOC)is BeiDou B2 frequency signal.The acquisition of BeiDou signal is processed in off-line mode and the evaluation is performed by taking signal power spectrum,eye diagram,constellation,correlation,loss and s-curve deviation on AltBOC as signal quality evaluation parameters.The results illustrate that the new system signal,namely AltBOC signal,has the best performance in code tracking precision,anti-jamming and anti-multipath.

Impact of Chronicity on Outcomes Following Post-Hospital Residential Brain Injury Rehabilitation: Application of Multivariate Statistics and Rasch Analysis

This study evaluated the impact of chronicity (onset of injury to admission in-terval) on three domains of functional outcomes for a large group of traumatic brain injured (TBI) survivors. Subjects included 528 TBI adults who were treated in post-hospital residential rehabilitation centers. Subjects were assigned to one of three chronicity groups: 1) Early Interval (EI), 2.00 - 8.00 months n = 245, 2) Mid Interval (MI), 8.01 - 24.00 months n = 129, and (3) Late Interval (LI), 24.01 months and greater n = 154. Functional status was assessed with the MPAI-4. RM MANCOVA was applied to evaluate differences among groups from admission to discharge. Rasch analysis demonstrated satisfactory construct validity and internal consistency (Person reliability = 0.90 - 0.94, Item reliability = 0.99) for the admission and discharge MPAI-4s. Controlling for LOS and age, the RM MANCOVA revealed that each chronicity group showed significant improvement in MPAI-4 abilities, adjustment, and participation indices from admission to discharge (p < 0.001). Improvement observed from admission to discharge was the greatest among the EI group (p < 0.001). This study demonstrated the utility of multivariate statistical approaches for understanding the complexities of TBI treatment outcomes. As measured across three domains of functioning, rehabilitation was effective in reducing disability for participants in each chronicity group. Of the three groups, EI participants presented as the most disabled at admission but also made the greatest gains when assessed at discharge.

基于SPA-VFS的水库移民后期扶持效果评价研究

进行水库移民后期扶持效果评价有利于全面了解政策实施情况,及时发现问题并提出纠正对策。针对目前大多数后期扶持效果评价方法存在的主观性较强、可能导致评价结果失真等问题,提出了一种基于集对分析-可变模糊集的水库移民后期扶持效果评价方法。首先,参考文献和专家意见构建了水库移民后期效果的评价指标体系;其次,使用数据场势能函数计算初始聚类中心,再利用K-means聚类法进行指标分级;然后,采用熵权法确定指标权重,将集对分析和可变模糊集进行耦合提出了水库移民后期扶持效果的评价方法;最后,使用提出的评价方法对广东省大中型水库移民后期扶持政策实施情况进行了实例分析。结果表明,该方法能客观地反映当地移民后期扶持的效果,评价结果较为合理、可信。研究结果可为政府相关部门及实施机构的科学决策提供参考。

Women’s Perception Concerning Health Care in the Post-Partum Period: A Meta-Synthesis

This meta-synthesis presents the results of qualitative studies on puerperal perception concerning woman’s care in the post-partum period. Four databases were researched using keywords such as “postnatal care” (or) “postpartum period”, (and) “care”, “women”, “perception”, “qualitative research”, “women’s health services”, “community health services”, “allied health personnel”, “primary health care”, resulting in 9 articles for analysis. Six themes were identified: interpersonal relationship, information, communication, attending the necessities, service organization and other supports. Results report mainly on the unsatisfactory professional care for women, appreciating the form of dealing with promptness and the timing to be attended;trust;content, coherence and the way to inform;clarification of doubts;friendly conversation and clinical assistance. The professional workload was restricted on postpartum period care quality. There were gaps found in clinical practice and in dialogical communication and information on women’s health necessities.

Traumatic Brain Injury and Cerebral Vascular Accident: Application of Rasch Analysis to Examine Differences in Disability and Outcome in Post-Hospital Rehabilitation

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate an application of Rasch analysis to identify differences in disability profiles resulting from traumatic brain injury (TBI) and cerebral vascular accident (CVA) and to examine outcome differences between the two groups following post-hospital residential rehabilitation. Participant data were collected from 32 facilities in 16 states. From 2990 neurologically impaired individuals with consecutive admissions from 2011 through 2017, 874 met inclusion criteria: TBI (n = 687) or CVA (n = 187), 18 years or older, minimum length of stay of one month, and maximum chronicity of 1 year. Participants were evaluated at admission and discharge on the Mayo Portland Adaptability Inventory-Version 4 (MPAI-4). Rasch analysis was performed to establish item reliability, construct validity and item difficulty. A Repeated Measures Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (RM MANCOVA) determined group differences and improvement from admission and discharge. Rasch Analysis demonstrated satisfactory construct validity and internal consistency (Person reliability > 0.90, Item reliability > 0.98 for admission and discharge MPAI-4s). Both groups showed significant improvement on the MPAI-4 (p 0.0005). The TBI group was more impaired on the adjustment scale at both admission and discharge (p 0.001). Rasch analysis identified two distinct impairment patterns. CVA participants exhibited deficits characteristic of focal impairment while the TBI group presented with deficits reflective of diffuse impairment. Rehabilitation was shown to be beneficial in reducing disability following neurologic injury in both groups. Importantly, Rasch Analysis accurately produced unique disability profiles that differentiated the treatment groups. This unique statistical technique offers a promising prescriptive hierarchical model for guiding neurological rehabilitation treatment.

Enhancing Learners’Performance in Grade 7 Mathematics Through 50-30-20 Exercise

Assessment exercises constitute a crucial component of the teaching and learning process,serving the purpose of gauging the degree to which learning objectives have been accomplished.This study aims to assess the mathematics performance of Grade 7 learners using the 50-30-20 exercise.Specifically,this study seeks to determine the learners’pre-test and post-test mean scores,identify significant differences between the pre-test and post-test results,evaluate learners’exercises,and propose enhanced exercises.The research employs a quasi-experimental design,with 40 Grade 7 learners in the school year 2023-2024 as participants,selected through purposive non-random sampling.Statistical data analysis involves the use of mean,standard deviation,paired t-test,and Cohen’s D effect size.Ethical considerations were paramount,as evidenced by a letter of authorization from the school head outlining the strict adherence to voluntary participation,informed parental consent,anonymity,confidentiality,risk mitigation,results-sharing protocols,and the commitment to keeping research data confidential.The data yielded a remarkable outcome:the experimental group exhibited improvement in both the pre-test and post-test.This result substantiates the initial objective of the study,showcasing a noteworthy and favorable performance among the participants.Consequently,it suggests that a majority of the participants strongly agree that the 50-30-20 exercises contribute to enhancing their understanding and problem-solving skills,as well as their ability to grasp mathematical concepts and improve their overall performance in mathematics.Therefore,the 50-30-20 exercises not only facilitated students in understanding mathematics lessons but were also aligned with the Department of Education’s development plan.

围手术期白内障患者278例SCL-90自评量表结果分析(英文)

目的:了解我科各型白内障患者围手术期的心理健康状况,为该特定人群特定时期的心理评估和心理干预工作提供依据。方法:应用症状自评量表(SCL-90)对在我科2008-06/2009-06确诊的278名各型白内障患者在围手术期进行无记名问卷调查。在术前和术后分别进行问卷调查,其结果与常模作比较;将患者分为两组,A组为年龄相关性白内障,B组为伴有青光眼,外伤或代谢性疾病的白内障患者,分别将这二组的结果进行比较。结果:各型白内障患者术前和术后的躯体化,抑郁,焦虑和恐惧因子的阳性得分高于常模,其差异具有统计学意义(P<0.05),尤其是躯体化因子(P<0.01)。B组的焦虑,躯体化,抑郁和恐惧因子阳性得分高于A组,其差异具有统计学意义(P<0.05),其中焦虑因子的差异具有显著的统计学意义(P<0.01)。结论:各型白内障患者在术前和术后都存在不同程度的躯体化表现和抑郁,焦虑,恐惧情绪,尤以躯体化明显;合并有外伤,青光眼或者代谢性疾病的白内障患者的上述表现比年龄相关性白内障更加显著,尤其是焦虑。

工程教育专业认证背景下地方应用型高校多元混合式一流课程建设--以“材料力学”为例

从工程教育专业认证的视角来看,课程教学已经不再以“内容为本”,教学内容、资源、手段和组织形式等需要围绕实现课程教学目标和达成学生预期学习成果而展开。将金课的“两性一度”、工程教育专业认证的“三大理念”和BOPPPS(bridge-in, objective, pre-assessment, participatory learning, post-assessment, summary)教学模型的“六个模块”相结合,探索了一种“导入有创新、目标较高阶、前测有挑战、以学生为中心的交互、以产出为导向的后测和持续改进的总结”的教学模式。以“材料力学”课程为例,探索在一流课程建设过程中,教师应该“如何教、教什么”才能让学生“乐于学、学的到”,逐步形成了以“课程目标—资源建设—组织实施—综合评价—持续改进”的集知识传授、能力培养和价值塑造为一体的课程教学闭环。

血清Aβ1-42浓度与缺血性卒中后认知障碍的相关性研究

目的探讨血清β淀粉样蛋白1-42（Aβ1-42）浓度与缺血性卒中后认知障碍的相关性。方法收集2014年12月～2015年8月在我院神经内科住院治疗的缺血性脑卒中后3个月患者110例及健康志愿者50例。收集入组者的临床资料,采用ELISA法测定血清Aβ1-42浓度,比较各组血清Aβ1-42浓度的差异,分析血清Aβ1-42浓度与缺血性卒中后认知障碍的关系。结果 1缺血性卒中后认知障碍组血清Aβ1-42浓度（94.16±39.30pg/ml）明显低于认知功能正常组（123.84±36.50）pg/ml,P〈0.001,差异有统计学意义。2多因素Logistic回归分析示血清Aβ1-42浓度OR=0.977,OR95%CI=0.963～0.992,P=0.002。结论 1缺血性卒中后认知障碍患者血清Aβ1-42浓度较正常对照组显著降低。2低血清Aβ1-42浓度是缺血性卒中后认知障碍的独立危险因素之一。

ANSI/NACE SP0502-2010标准先进性分析

ECDA方法通过评价和减轻外腐蚀对管道完整性的危害,来提高管道安全性。对ANSI/NACE SP0502-2010与其老版本和国内SY/T0087.1-2006比较,更新差异主要集中在间接检测方法选择表、间接检测结果的评价分级、关于直接检查开挖数量的确定准则、直接检查和后评价内容等方面,ANSI/NACE SP0502-2010更为科学合理严谨。提出通过大量外腐蚀直接评价现场应用研究,并吸收和借鉴国外多年研究成果,确定适合我国的检测方法及相应指标以及科学合理的ECDA流程和评价程序,以提高我国外检测评价技术水平。