Ultrasonic Evaluation of the Impact Damage of Polymer Bonded Explosives

The damage properties of polymer bonded explosives under dynamic loading were studied by using ultrasonic evaluation. Explosive samples were damaged by a low-velocity gas gun at different impact velocities. Ultrasonic examination was carried out with a pulse through-transmission method. Spectra analyses were carried out by using fast Fourier transform. Characteristic ultrasonic parameters, including ultrasonic velocities, attenuation coefficients, spectra area and master frequency, were obtained. The correlation between the impact damage and ultrasonic parameters was analyzed. A damage coefficient D was defined by considering a combination of ultrasonic velocity and amplitude. The results show that ultrasonic parameters can be used to quantitatively assess the damage extent in impacted plastic bonded explosives..

Environmental impact evaluation for high-speed railway

Environmental impact evaluation system boundary of high-speed railway was defined based on the total life cycle theory,and the index system to evaluate the environmental impact of high-speed railway was established with the fuzzy analytic hierarchy method,and the matter-element evaluation model was established on the basis of the extension theory.By calculating its comprehensive interrelatedness,the evaluation rank of environment impacts of high-speed railway was determined.The numerical example shows that the model has vast prospect,which can not only expand the application areas of extension theory,but also change the traditional evaluation methods and provide new ideas and means for environmental impact evaluation of high-speed railway.

FUZZY SYNTHETIC EVALUATION ON RESIDENT'S PERCEPTIONS OF TOURISM IMPACTS——Case of Jiuzhaigou National Park, Sichuan Province, China

Tourism can have both positive and negative outcomes for residents in tourism destinations, It is a good method to analyze the status of tourism impact by means of investigating residents＇ perceptions of it. Various methods have been used in previous authoritative studies. However, owing to inherent imprecision, difficulties always exist in some conventional methodologies when describing the interpretation of linguistic or measured uncertainties for real-world randoln phenomena. The purpose of this research is to present the fuzzy synthetic evaluation method to investigate residents＇ perceptions of tourisln impacts. At first, basic attributes and a hierarchical framework of tourism impacts are defined and formed. Secondly, the weighted vectors are determined according to the knowledge and experience of experts. Thirdly, the weighted evaluation matrices are aggregated to get the fuzzy sets of tourism impacts. In the last stage, the final fuzzy sets are defuzzified to get the rank of the residents＇ perceptions of tourism impacts. A case study in Jiuzhaigou National Park of China is provided to demonstrate the application of this method.

Impact and Friction Sensitivity of Energetic Materials：Methodical Evaluation of Technological Safety Features

Key methods developed and used in the USSR and in the Russian Federation to determine the impact and friction sensitivity of energetic materials and explosives have been discussed.Experimental methodologies and instruments that underlie the assessment of their production and handling safety have been described.Studies of a large number of compounds have revealed relationships between their sensitivity parameters and structure of individual compounds and compositions.The range of change of physical and chemical characteristics for the compounds we examined covers the entire region of their existence.Theoretical methodology and equations have been formulated to estimate the impact and friction sensitivity parameters of energetic materials and to evaluate the technological safety in use.The developed methodology is characterized by high-accuracy calculations and prediction of sensitivity parameters.

Unequal Distribution of Innovation Efforts for Neglected Tropical Diseases: The Role of Funding Evaluation Criteria

Background: International research and innovation efforts for neglected tropical diseases have increased in recent decades due to disparities in overall health research funding in relation to global burden of disease. However, within the field of neglected tropical diseases some seem far more neglected than others. In this research the aim is to investigate the distribution of resources and efforts, as well as the mechanisms that underpin funding allocation for neglected tropical diseases. Methodology: A systematic literature review was conducted to establish a comprehensive overview of known indicators for innovation efforts related to a wide range of neglected tropical diseases. Articles were selected based on a subjective evaluation of their relevance, the presence of original data, and the breadth of their scope. This was followed by thirteen in-depth open-ended interviews with representatives of private, public and philanthropic funding organizations, concerning evaluation criteria for funding research proposals. Results: The findings reveal a large difference in the extent to which the individual diseases are neglected with notable differences between absolute and relative efforts. Criteria used in the evaluation of research proposals relate to potential impact, the probability of success and strategic fit. Private organizations prioritize strategic fit and economic impact;philanthropic organizations prioritize short-term societal impact;and public generally prioritize the probability of success by accounting for follow-up funding and involvement of industry. Funding decisions of different types of organizations are highly interrelated. Conclusions: This study shows that the evaluation of funding proposals introduces and retains unequal funding distribution, reinforcing the relative neglect of diseases. Societal impact is the primary rationale for funding but application of it as a funding criterion is associated with significant challenges. Furthermore, current application of evaluation criteria leads to a primary focus on short-term impact. Through current practice, the relatively most neglected diseases will remain so, and a long-term strategy is needed to resolve this.

Numerical simulation of drop weight impact sensitivity evaluation criteria for pressed PBXs

A thorough understanding of drop-weight impacted responses for polymer-bonded explosives(PBXs)is significant to evaluate their impact sensitivity.The characteristics of the drop-weight impacted pressed PBXs including deforming,fracturing,forming a local high-temperature region and igniting,were simulated using a coupled mechanical-thermo-chemical model integrating micro-defects evolution.A novel evaluation method for impact sensitivity is established using the relation between the input kinetic energy and the output energy due to deformation,crushing energy,local hot spot energy and ignition.The effects of impact velocity on sensitivity were analyzed and the critical local ignition impact velocity is determined as 4.0-4.5 m/s.The simulated results show that shear-crack friction heating is the dominant ignition mechanism.The region along the boundary of PBXs sample is the most hazardous regions where ignition first occur.The propagation of stress wave in PBXs causes shear-crack hotspot and bulk temperature exhibiting an approximate 45°direction evolution path,which is the main reason that dominated damage-ignition region transits from the boundary to the central of sample.

Community Evaluation and Impact Assessment of Revitalization Project: A Case Study in Hong Kong

With the aim of promoting sustainable conservation and development of historic buildings in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong government introduced the Revitalizing Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme in 2007 to conserve and revitalize government-owned historic buildings. Since the announcement of the Revitalization Scheme, many people have criticized that the revitalization projects ended up not for the benefit of the local communities. Based on a completed revitalization project (the former North Kowloon Magistracy building) and situated within the literature of revitalization practices, community involvement, community evaluation, and impact assessment, this paper explored how community involvement with the revitalization project might influence the community’s evaluation of the project’s outcomes. The research found that community connections or involvement with the revitalization project significantly affected the community’s evaluation of the project’s various impacts.

Reformed Environmental Impact Assessment in China: An Evaluation of Its Effectiveness

Since 2015, a “reform storm” of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) opened up in China. This study tries to answer the question of whether these reforms improve the effectiveness of EIA. First, we elaborate on the reforms along with three well-acknowledged components, including EIA legislation, administration, and process. Then, evaluate the reformed EIA system against revised Ahmad and Wood’s criteria. The results demonstrate that the revised laws and regulations are more stringent than the old versions. The EIA process is simplified, and its coordination with the pollutant discharge permit system is promoted. The interim and post-event supervision is currently more robust and the penalties are more severe than before. However, the hierarchical position of the Environmental Protection Law is not high enough and the coordination of different government departments is still challenging. In summary, despite the problems occurring at the initial phase of reforms, the effectiveness of the EIA system has largely been improved.

Study and Application of Evaluation Method for Weather Impact of Traffic Accident on Zhejiang Freeway

Occurrence degree of the accident on Zhejiang freeway is graded. Evaluation indicator system of weather impact on freeway is established. We use principal component analysis to extract meteorological indicators,and use Logistic regression to establish evaluation model of meteorological indicator,thereby determining evaluation grade of traffic weather impact. Via application test,it is proved that the evaluation on traffic weather condition by the model corresponds with actual situation,which can provide certain decision-making basis for traffic department and the public.

Evaluation of the Drying Quality of Two Types of Edible Mushrooms (Termitomyces sp. and Pleurotus sp.) and Their Impact on the Antioxidant Content

The objective of this work is to dry the mushrooms to evaluate the impact of drying on them. The drying of mushrooms in the oven, in the solar dryer and in the microwave indicated that for Termitomyces sp. the total polyphenol contents were 15.20 mgEAG/gMs for the microwave drying (280 W), 13.61 mgEAG/gMs for the oven drying (60°C), and 9.81 mgEAG/gMs for the solar dryer drying (40°C). For Pleurotus sp., the contents obtained were 13.79 mgEAG/gMs for microwave drying (280 W), 8.36 mgEAG/gMs for oven drying (60°C) and 8.98 mgEAG/gMs for solar drying (40°C). Regarding flavonoids, for Termitomyces sp., this revealed 0.5797 mgECa/gMs for microwave drying (280 W), 0.729 mgECa/gMs for oven drying (60°C) and 0.5671 mgECa/gMs for solar drying (40°C). The flavonoid contents for Pleurotus sp. gave 0.842 mgECa/gMs for microwave drying (280 W), 1.06 mgECa/gMs for oven drying (60°C) and, 0.425 mgECa/gMs for solar drying (40°C). For Termitomyces sp., the levels of free radical scavenging activity varied from 13.02 mg/mL for microwave drying, 25.08 mg/mL for oven drying, and 22.25 mg/mL for solar drying;while for Pleurotus sp., 15.96 mg/mL for microwave drying, 39.90 mg/mL for oven drying, and 31.60 mg/mL for solar drying.

Evaluation of Pre-listening Activities by Effective Listeners and Less-effective Listeners

This study,which is about pre-listening activities in language comprehension,seeks to obtain a better understanding of Chinese EFL students’listening comprehension in relation to radio news broadcasts.It investigates listeners’evaluation of the effects of pre-listening activities involving three listening texts with three kinds of different pre-listening activities.The findings yielded that the pre-listening activities had some impact on influencing the listeners’listening comprehension and it differed for effective and less-effective listeners.

美国教师评估与退出机制的构建及其启示:基于对IMPACT教师评估系统的剖析

为探索我国教师评估与退出机制的建立与运行,采用文本分析方法对美国华盛顿哥伦比亚特区IMPACT评估系统操作指南进行分析,总结IMPACT评估系统的运行体系与特点,为我国教师评估与退出机制提供借鉴。IMPACT评估系统通过覆盖全体的评估对象、专业多元的评估责任主体、丰富具体的评估内容、清晰透明的评估流程以及奖罚分明的评估结果对华盛顿特区公立学校系统教师进行评估,整个系统呈现出评估内容专业化、评估过程公正化、评估结果差异化和评估系统动态化等特点。综观IMPACT评估系统的设计与运行,我国在构建教师评估与退出机制时,应注意在体系建设上强调政府提供制度支持;在评估内容与标准上关注教师能力;在评估责任主体上要兼顾多方利益群体;在系统设计上要因地制宜;最后在系统实施过程中更要注重宽严适度。

An evaluation of the simulations of the Arctic Intermediate Water in climate models and reanalyses

The simulations of the Arctic Intermediate Water in four datasets of climate models and reanalyses, CCSM3, CCSM4, SODA and GLORYS, are analyzed and evaluated. The climatological core temperatures and depths in both CCSM models exhibit deviations over 0.5°C and 200 m from the PHC. SODA reanalysis reproduces relatively reasonable spatial patterns of core temperature and depth, while GLORYS, another reanalysis, shows a remarkable cooling and deepening drift compared with the result at the beginning of the dataset especially in the Eurasian Basin （about 2°C）. The heat contents at the depth of intermediate water in the CCSM models are overestimated with large positive errors nearly twice of that in the PHC. To the contrary, the GLORYS in 2009 show a negative error with a similar magnitude, which means the characteristic of the water mass is totally lost. The circulations in the two reanalyses at the depth of intermediate water are more energetic and realistic than those in the CCSMs, which is attributed to the horizontal eddy-permitting reso-lution. The velocity fields and the transports in the Fram Strait are also investigated. The necessity of finer horizontal resolution is concluded again. The northward volume transports are much larger in the two re-analyses, although they are still weak comparing with mooring observations. Finally, an investigation of the impact of assimilation is done with an evidence of the heat input from assimilation. It is thought to be a reason for the good performance in the SODA, while the GLORYS drifts dramatically without assimilation data in the Arctic Ocean.

Comparative Evaluation of the EIA Systems in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Angola, and the European Union

This article provides a comparative overview of environmental impact assessment (EIA) in Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, Angola, and the European Union (EU). EIA “systemic measure” and “foundation measure” criteria are used to evaluate and compare the performance of each system. In contrast to the EU, EIA must be carried out by registered experts in the African countries. In Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa public consultation is mandatory during scoping. In Kenya and Tanzania the EIA study should contain measures to prevent health hazards, to ensure employee safety, and for emergency management. EIA system monitoring is required in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and in the EU, but not in South Africa and Angola. Financial issues, insufficient qualified personnel, and an increasing number of EIA applications undermine the capacity of competent authorities to adequately monitor these EIA systems. Consequently, training programmes increase effectiveness of EIA implementation is a common request. The African countries reviewed here have adopted EIA and integrated EIA systems into public policy despite the constraints they face. As they continue to gain experience in EIA and to revise their EIA systems, they are moving towards a more flexible system with greater public involvement and robust arrangements and practices.

Evaluation of cathode quality and damage of aluminium electrolytic cell based on non-destructive technology

To evaluate the quality and damage condition of the electrolyzer,wave velocity detection technology and impact echo technology were used to detect the cathode part of the electrolyzer.The experimental results show that wave velocity is linearly related to the porosity,and there is also a linear relationship between wave velocity and the square root of reciprocal density in cathode carbon blocks(CCBs)before installation into electrolyzer.Combined with detection results of wave velocity and voltage drop,the large-size CCBs with relatively good quality can be found.Through the impact echo technology on cathode steel rods(CSRs),the results of the on-site detection show that the damage condition of CSRs can be effectively evaluated,and the damage location of CSRs can be determined.This study proposes a novel and quantifiable method for the evaluation of cathode quality and damage,which provides a reference for prolonging the service life of the electrolyzer.

Enhancing the crop yield through capacity building programs: Application of double difference method for evaluation of drip capacity building program in Tamil Nadu State, India

A capacity building program on drip irrigation (TNDRIP) was undertaken in certain regions of the Indian State of Tamil Nadu during 2009-2010. An assessment of the impact of the program in terms of effective use of drip irrigation and increased crop yields was made in 2011 by applying double difference method (a combination of both with and without and before and after approaches). The results had indicated that the drip capacity building program resulted in a yield increase of 2.5 t/ha for Banana 1, 1.9 t/ha for Banana 2, 3.3 t/ha for sugarcane and 0.3 t/ha for turmeric. The conventional method using the before and after situations had shown a yield increase of 4.3 t/ha for Banana 1, 12.1 t/ha for Banana 2, 40.6 t/ha for sugarcane and 2.6 t/ha for turmeric. The conventional approach is highly upward biased in estimating the impact of the drip capacity building program and thus the double difference method will be an appropriate method to evaluate the impact of the programs that involve both with and without as well as before and after situations.

Numerical test and evaluating method of impact trend of rock-coal system

The impact trend of reck-coal system was studied by the method of accumulating and releasing of deformation energy and interaction of rock-coal system. The system model of roof-coal-floor was established. Based on the RFPA software, rock fracture process analysis system, the numerical test of deformation, fracture and energy transmission of nonlinear and nonhomogeneous rock-coal system, and the numerical test and evaluating method of impact trend of reck-coal system were achieved. When the same coal seam was in different roof and floor conditions, the fracture process of reck-coal system can be classified as gradual, sudden and delayed fracture three kinds, and their impact trend can be classified as void, intense and medium correspondingly. The rock-coal system＇s impact trend is evaluated by the system impact index p and burst expanding forms. The criteria μ are μ〈1.0, 1.0≤μ〈l .5 and μ≥1.5 when the impact trend is void, intense or medium, which are tested and verified by the No.2 and No.4 coal seams in Sun- cun mine.

The environment of coal mining areas and the economic evaluation of the land reclamation

The environment impact of the coal resources mining was analyzed. The method of economic evaluation for the coal mining was established to analyze land destruction. The opportunity cost method was used to quantitatively analyze and estimate the economic loss of the land destruction by coal mining. At the same time, the dump land reclamation of the Yuanbaoshan Open Pit was taken as an example to evaluate environmental and economical benefit with the method of economic evaluation for the coal mining areas land reclamation.

Evaluating the Impact of Adoption of Improved Maize Varieties on Yield in Uganda： A Propensity Score Matching Approach

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of adopting improved maize varieties on crop yield in Uganda using propensity score matching （PSM） algorithms to control for hidden selection bias. The study employed cross-sectional household data collected in 2005/2006 by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics （UBOS） across the country. Data were divided into two parts; the full sample and smallholder farmer sub-sample （those that cultivated less than 5 acres or 2 Hectares of maize in 2004 and 2005）. Then estimation was made of the difference in yields between the adopters and non adopters, the average treatment effect on the treated （ATT） for the full sample and smallholder farmer sub-sample. Matching methods were used to control for hidden selection bias and the standardized bias measure was used to check for the quality of matching. The results indicate that adoption of improved maize seed had a robust positive and significant effect on yields obtained by farmers. The results were consistent for both the full and smallholder farmer sub-samples. Sensitivity analysis using Rosenbaum bounds indicated that the ATT results were fairly robust to hidden selection bias. That is, the results were not sensitive to unobserved selection bias. Therefore it is confidently asserted that the estimated average difference in maize yields between the adopters and non-adopters was due to the effect of planting improved maize seed.