A Reduced Mechanism for Flame Inhibition by Phosphorus-containing Compounds Based on Level of Importance Analysis

A reduced mechanism for propane/air combustion and its flame inhibition by phosphorus-containing compounds (PCCs) is constructed with the level of importance (LOI) method. The analysis is performed on solutions of freely propagating premixed flames with detailed chemical kinetics involving 121 species and 682 reactions proposed by Jayaweera et al. For the non-homogeneous reaction-diffusion system, the chemical lifetime of each species is weighted by its diffusion timescale, and the characteristic flame timescale is used to normalize the chemical lifetime. The definition of sensitivity in LOI is extended so that multi-parameters can be used as sensitivity targets. Propane, oxygen, dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP), and flame speed are selected to be perturbed for sensitivity analysis, the species with low LOI index are removed, and reactions involving the redundant species are excluded from the mechanism. A skeletal mechanism is obtained, which consists of 57 species and 268 elementary reactions. Calculations for laminar flame speeds, key flame radicals and catalytic cycles using the skeletal mechanism are in good agreement with those by using the detailed mechanism over a wide range of equivalence ratio undoped and doped with DMMP.

What Is the Convenience of Treating a Wetland as an Agricultural Area?

The Gelsari and Lentini marshes, in east-central Sicily, are wetland under heavy anthropogenic pressure. This area is regularly subjected to water withdrawals and agriculture is practiced. Periodic bird census activities had been conducted in this area between 2016 and 2022 with collected data being supplemented with the data from a previous survey conducted between 2010 and 2016. During the censuses, numerous photographs were collected, which were later used for counts. In total, 121 surveys were carried out, with visits occurring approximately 20 times per year, covering all seasons. The data collected, both from bibliography and unpublished observations, were organised in table. 120 species and subspecies have been reported, 41 of which are in Annex I of the Birds Directive. Between 2021 and 2022, a water column measurement was taken in a central area of the Lentini marsh and compared with rainfall data in the area. It was found that water removal, occurring in both marshes in different modes, produced different effects on habitat conservation. Of the two marshes, Lentini is the one in which the existing favorable conditions in its most depressed areas, located below sea level, have allowed for the adequate conservation of the wetland. This environmental improvement having occurred with respect to the previous period has restored to the marsh its historically recognized possibility of not drying up completely during the summer period, allowing permanence of numerous birds. The obtained results suggest total elimination of agriculture and discontinuation of water withdrawals in the Lentini marsh as well as regulation of withdrawals in the Gelsari marsh.

The Structure of China＇s Imports： A New Framework

Using the elbow function method to determine the number of classification groups of goods and applying the K-means algorithm to classify technical goods, this paper constructs a scientific classification framework of commodity structure and then measures the changes in China ＂s import commodity structure. It is found, first, that from 2000 to 2012, the import commodity structure in China underwent structural change. Shares of non-agricultural primary products and high-technology products increased sigmficantly, whereas shares of low-medium-technology products and medium-high-technology products declined. Second, from 2000 to 2006, the overall technology level of China＇s imports declined, but then increased from 2007 to 2012. Therefore, the Chinese Government shouM increase the share of high-technology and extra- high-technology products in total imports to stimulate structural transformation in manufacturing industries to make full use of foreign advanced technology and to prevent stepping into a low-end import commodity structure.