Traffic Impact Analysis of the Access to Projects on Traffic Performance of Nearby Roadways

Access to any development is a connection between the buildings and urban roadways. The impact of access on urban roads varies with location of the access. This paper studies the impact of access to large buildings on the surrounding road network by exploring traffic conflicts based on the configuration of the access. The concept of conflict intensity is introduced in this study as a new evaluation indicator to evaluate the traffic conflict triggered by the presence of access. The results show that the greater the speed,the greater the conflict intensity of access. Meanwhile,a similar situation exists when other variables （e.g.,conflict angle or the number of conflicts） change. The larger the conflict intensity,the more dangerous the access. Results from this study can help developers and traffic engineers choose suitable locations of access and organize the traffic in a logical manner.

A numerical study of the impact of SST anomaly in the warm pool area on atmospheric circulation in winter

In this paper the impacts of the anomalous SST in the warm pool area of the Western Equatorial Pacific on the winter time circulation and the East Asian monsoon are studied by using the NCAR CCM. It is found that the abnormal heating in the warm pool area will change the strength and the position of the Walker Cell in the Equatorial Pacific and the anti-Walker Cell in the equatorial Indian Ocean. Both the Walker and anti-Walker Cells are strengthened. The local Hadley Cells over two hemispheres near the warm pool are also strengthened. The subtropical highs in two hemispheres become stronger and move poleward slightly. The westerly jets in the extratropical regions have similar changes as the subtropical highs. The winter monsoon in South-East Asia is weakened by the abnormal heating in the warm pool. The experiment also show that there are wave trains emanating from surrounding areas of the warm pool to the high latitudes, causing various changes in circulations and local weather.

Ecological Impact Asessment and Ecological Monitoring of a Strategic Landfill-A case study in Hong Kong

This paper discusses ecological and monitoring studies covering vegetation, stream fauna, birds, mammals and other vertebrates at the West New Territories (WENT)Landfill, Hong Kong. Recommendations for the protection of vegetation on and around the site, including control of the erosion and run off from the construction site were proposed and implemented, resulting in effective protection of the local vegetation cover. Stream macrobenthos were low in species diversity and abundance and did not show a changing trend during the construction and the operation of the land fill. Birds attracted to the active dumping site were dominated by Crested Mynah Acridotheres cristatellus and the Tree Sparrow Passer montanus. After an increase in the population during the warmer months, the number of birds seen on the land fill site decreased to 10 in December 1994. Mammal monitoring by live trapping revealed that the rat population did not increase after the land fill operation started. This project was the first comprehensive’ ecological study and monitoring of an urban land fill in Hong Kong and it demonstrated that careful environmental planning and implementation of mitigation measures can successfully limit environmental impacts of landfills to acceptable levels.

Impact of Climate Change on Streamflow in the Xitiaoxi Catchment, Taihu Basin

The impact of climate change on streamflow in the Xitiaoxi catchment is assessed by using VIC （variable infiltration capacity） model coupled with PRECIS （providing regional climate for impacts studies）. Results show that the VIC model is adaptable for the study area. Both deterministic coefficient and NashSuttcliffe efficiency coefficient are greater than 0.75, with a good agreement between observed and simulated discharge. The runoff will increase in the future, especially during flood seasons. The magnitude of floods in the future （2021-2050） under A2 and B2 scenarios will be greater than that during the baseline period （1961-1990）, but it may not exceed that during the 1990s.

Comparative study on reduced impacts of Brillouin pump depletion and nonlinear amplification in coded DBA-BOTDA

The impacts of Brillouin pump depletion and nonlinear amplification in coded long-range Brillouin optical time-domain analysis （BOTDA） based on distributed Brillouin amplification （DBA） were studied. The error of Brillouin frequency shift （BFS） due to Brillouin pump depletion was compared for DBA-BOTDA using non-cyclic and cyclic coding. For non-cyclic coding, significant over- and under-shoots of BFS were found in the range with larger BFS variation, such as hot spot. The impact of Brillouin pump depletion can be reduced considerably by cyclic coding. Furthermore, to compensate the BFS error due to nonlinear amplification, a simple and effective log linearization was oroDosed and demonstrated.

Application and Modeling of Battery Energy Storage in Power Systems

This paper presents engineering experiences from battery energy storage system(BESS)projects that require design and implementation of specialized power conversion systems(a fast-response,automatic power converter and controller).These projects concern areas of generation,transmission,and distribution of electric energy,as well as end-energy user benefits,such as grid frequency regulation,renewable energy smoothing and leveling,energy dispatching and arbitrage,power quality and reliability improvements for connected customers,islanding operations,and smart microgrid applications.In general,a grid level BESS project sends an interconnect request to utility power grids in the project development stage.Simulation models of equipment are then sent for a system impact study(e.g.,power flow and/or stability analysis),based on utility grid code requirements.The system study then determines the connection’s technical feasibility and impact of the project on the power grid.In this paper,a set of new BESS models is presented that are configured and parameterized for use in system impact studies as well as transmission planning studies.The models,which have been recently approved and released by the U.S.Western Electricity Coordinating Council(WECC),represent the steady state and dynamic performance of the BESS in several software platforms for power system studies based on operating project performance experience.Model benchmarking results as well as a real system case study are also included in the paper to show that the parameterized and tuned models respond correctly and as expected when system operating conditions change following contingency events.Finally,this paper provides useful guidelines in the use of new models to represent a BESS for power system analysis.

Pivotal Factors Concerned in Design of Acupuncture Clinical Research:From Two Articles in JAMA

Two randomized controlled trials of acupuncture concerning polycystic ovary syndrome（PCOS） and stress urinary incontinence（SUI） were published simultaneously in the 24 th issue, 2017 of The Journal of the American Medical Association（JAMA）. A trial involving PCOS indicated that active acupuncture did not increase live birth compared with sham acupuncture; meanwhile, another trial referring to SUI showed that electroacupuncture resulted in less urine leakage compared with sham electroacupuncture. With an eye to the negative and positive results of acupuncture, three pivotal factors should be contemplated：（1） proper illness for acupuncture, that is, a problem need to be solved in current medical science, and acupuncture may really work for it;（2） proper pre-studied primary outcome, which is better be objective and repeatedly measurable to reveal the therapeutic effect of acupuncture truly and objectively;（3） proper sham control, which can blind the patients to the upmost extent with minimal biological effects. Through the publication of clinical trials of acupuncture in high-impact journals in recent years, researchers should have confidence in their clinical trials by pondering over these three pivotal factors.