Sense of Place as a Source of Tension in Canada’s West Coast Energy Conflicts

Canada’s west coast has been a hotspot of environmental conflict, most recently in defense of climate action and natural places under threat by energy development. This study examined sense of place as a source of tension in conflicts sparked by two energy proposals. The Bute Inlet run-of-river hydroelectric project would power British Columbia’s remote Central Coast, and the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion would transport bitumen from Alberta’s oil sands to tankers for export. Surveys, interviews, and mapping were used to investigate the depth and character of participants’ sense of favorite places and places expected to be affected by the projects, with appreciation, concern, and responsibility for nature as organizing themes. We discovered a regional, nature-centric sense of place on the south coast, and a sense of place among Albertans linked to that province’s oil and gas economy and its reputation as Canada’s chief breadwinner. Ties to natural places were found to underpin environmental advocacy by tapping into deep place connections as well as place connections conveyed through network ideologies and the protests themselves. We outline for consideration key characteristics of a regional sense of place, and offer ways to mitigate place-based economy versus environment conflicts.     

Smaller ports’ evolution towards catalysing sustainable hinterland development

ABSTRACT

From simple organizations as gateways for goods and passengers, ports have evolved and transformed into complex organizational systems with multiple functions. Besides providing cargo, logistics, and other kinds of services to its customers, modern ports engage in the development of their hinterlands. Sustainability, evolving from environmental actions over the years, has become the core of many modern ports’ approach towards hinterland development and port competitiveness. While the literature is concerned with and presents examples of large ports implementing sustainability initiatives, the literature is scarce on smaller ports. This article addresses this gap by exploring qualitatively the case of the Port of Aalborg, a medium-sized port in Denmark, and its evolution towards using sustainability for port and hinterland development. The research focuses on the actions behind environmental development at the port. Its evolution is mapped and explored using the analytical framework developed based on the (larger) ports’ development and their roles. The findings from the Port of Aalborg case exemplify how smaller ports can evolve to drive the sustainable development of their hinterlands and contribute to a better understanding of this kind of port.     

Analysis on acoustic performance of floating raft vibration isolation system with liquid tank北大核心CSCD

［Objective］This paper aims to establish a dynamic model of a floating raft vibration isolation system with a liquid tank in order to study the mass effect of the liquid medium, tank form, structural stiffness and loading rate on acoustic performance. ［Methods］A floating raft system with a cuboidal or cylindrical liquid tank is taken as the research object, and a fluid-structure coupling finite element dynamic model is established. The dynamic force transmission rate and power flow are then used to evaluate the acoustic performance of the system. The influence of the mass effect of the liquid medium, tank form, structural stiffness and loading rate of tank volume on the acoustic performance of the floating raft system are analyzed.［Results］The results show similar laws obtained through the calculation and analysis of the floating raft system with two types of tanks. The structural stiffness of the tank affects the mass effect of the liquid medium in the tank to a certain extent. ［Conclusions］If full advantage is to be taken of the liquid mass effect in the tank with a large loading rate to improve the acoustic performance of the floating raft system, the design of the liquid tank and raft structure must have sufficient stiffness. In addition, under the condition that the floating raft structure has sufficient stiffness, its acoustic performance will improve significantly as the tank loading rate increases in the relevant low frequency range. © 2022 Journal of Clinical Hepatology. All rights reserved.     

The Philadelphia story: 1975

Fishneck, a small and isolated fishing community in the Chesapeake Bay area, has been characterized by low education levels, few suprafamilial organizations, and little participation in institutions outside the community. Community members have resisted proletarianization through barter, exchange, supplemental wage labour, fill-in work, and family mutual aid.

These patterns are changing as contact increases with the wider society. Leisure is identified as the strongest pull toward participation. Results of greater contact include a more positive image to outsiders, a sharpened sense of community and community boundaries, and greater participation in the educational, economic, and political arenas. Whether this community changes toward a small-town fishing hamlet depends first on moving from clan-based to community-based internal organization.     

Experimental and numerical investigation of fuel mixing effects on soot structures in counterflow diffusion flames

Experimental and numerical analyses of laminar diffusion flames were performed to identify the effect of fuel mixing on soot formation in a counterflow burner. In this experiment, the volume fraction, number density, and particle size of soot were investigated using light extinction/scattering systems. The experimental results showed that the synergistic effect of an ethylene-propane flame is appreciable. Numerical simulations showed that the benzene (C₆H₆) concentration in mixture flames was higher than in ethylene-base flames because of the increase in the concentration of propargyl radicals. Methyl radicals were found to play an important role in the formation of propargyl, and the recombination of propargyl with benzene was found to lead to an increase in the number density for cases exhibiting synergistic effects. These results imply that methyl radicals play an important role in soot formation, particularly with regard to the number density.     

Automobile defrosting system analysis through a full-scale model

Adequate visibility through the automobile windshield is of paramount practical significance, most often at very low temperatures when ice tends to form on the windshield screen. But the numerical simulation of the defrost process is a challenging task because phase change is involved. In this study numerical solution was computed by a finite volume computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program and experimental investigations were performed to validate the numerical results. It was found that the airflow produced by the defrost nozzle is highly nonuniform in nature and does not cover the whole windshield area. The nonuniformity also severely affected the heating temperature pattern on the windshield. The windshield temperature reached a maximum in the vicinity of the defroster nozzle in the lower part of the windshield and ranged from 9∼31°C over a period of 30 min, which caused the frost to melt on the windshield. The melting time was under 10 minutes, which satisfied the NHTSA standard. The numerical predictions were in close agreement with the experimental results. Thus, CFD can be a very useful design tool for an automobile HVAC system.     

Structural design of an outer tie rod for a passenger car

This study proposes a structural design method for an outer tie rod installed in a passenger car. The weight of the outer tie rod is optimized by using the aluminum alloy Al6082M, which is developed as a steel-substitute material, and applying structural optimization techniques. The high strength aluminum with improved mechanical properties was developed to reduce the weight of the outer tie rod. The newly developed aluminum alloy Al6082M is applied as the material of the outer tie rod. The static strength due to inertia force, durability and buckling performances are considered in the structural design of the outer tie rod. At the proto design stage of a new outer tie rod, it is cost-effective to utilize FE (finite element) analysis to predict each of these performances. In addition, the current trend in the structural design of automobile parts is to use optimization techniques to reduce the weights of the parts. First, for an arbitrary base design, the static strength, the life cycle and the buckling load are calculated to check whether the design satisfies its criteria. Then, the critical performance is selected so as to include its loading condition only in the optimization process. In this study, the metamodel based optimization process using kriging is adopted to obtain the minimum weight satisfying the critical design requirement. Then, the feasibility of the determined optimum shape is investigated against the other performances. Finally, the optimum design of outer tie rod is modified by considering forging efficiency. The performances of the final design are investigated through simulation and experiment.     

Performance measurements of a tracked vehicle system

To improve crossing ability, the most important performance factor for tracked vehicle systems operating on low-bearing capacity peats, and to minimize income losses that result from downtime and maintenance costs, a vehicle was designed in order to adapt to operating condition changes. This article describes the mobile performance of a novel vehicle with segmented rubber tracks on a low-bearing capacity peat. At an equivalent travelling speed, the novel vehicle’s tractive performance in a variable operating environment caused by changes in terrain cohesiveness and hydrodynamic responses was superior to that of the previous model. The new vehicle, which could be operated on the Sepang peat, showed a tractive effort of 42.2% of the gross vehicle weight in field experiments; the recommended minimum tractive effort is between 30 and 36% of the gross vehicle weight.     

Development of a hardware in the loop simulation system for electric power steering in vehicles

In this paper, a hardware-in-the-loop simulation (HILS) system was developed before the development of an electric power steering (EPS) system in a vehicle. This study was focused on the establishment of the HILS system. Driving conditions are simulated with the HILS system. The actual steering input parameters are confirmed on the monitor while driving the HILS system. The steering forces observed in the simulation with the developed HILS system are similar to those in real vehicle tests. The developed HILS system can be applied in the development of various types of EPS systems.     

Experimental evaluation of SOF effects on EGR cooler fouling under various flow conditions

An experiment was conducted to characterize the effects of SOF on EGR cooler fouling. A removable singletube test rig combined with a soot generator was developed to represent an EGR cooler and diesel exhaust gas. The use of a soot generator, which controlled the size and concentration of soot particles, enabled independent variables to be completely controlled. Either n-dodecane or diesel lube oil as substitute SOFs were vaporized and injected into the test rig to evaluate their effects on the growth of PM deposits and the degradation performance of the EGR cooler. Coolant temperature, which seemed to be associated with SOF content, was chosen as an independent variable, and PM deposit mass per unit area and the effectiveness drop versus time increased as the coolant temperature decreased. The PM deposit mass per unit area and effectiveness drop had maximum values at a coolant temperature of 40°C for every n-dodecane injection rate. For substitute SOFs tested in this experiment, the deposit mass increased when either n-dodecane or diesel lube oil was injected, but the effect of lube oil was more significant. Diesel lube oil seemed to have a stronger effect on the reduction of thermal conductivity by filling pores in the deposits. When diesel lube oil was injected, the deposit mass per unit area increased 127% compared to dry soot without injection. The effectiveness drop after 10 hours increased only 12.5%.