Aspects of family and kinship in a North Carolina coastal community: a comparative study

The almost total absence of social-science data on North Carolina coastal fishing communities has provoked this preliminary study of the role played by family and kinship ties among fishermen and boat builders in such a community, with a view to developing new fisheries management strategies from an assessment of the social and economic impacts of those which already exist.     

Transformations and continuities of issues related to Chinese participation in the global seafarers’ labour market

Since the 1990s, Chinese seafarers have become a force to be reckoned with in the global seafarer labour market, particularly against the backdrop of the manning crisis. Compared with other groups of seafarers dominating the market such as the Filipinos and the Indians, they are commonly associated with perceptions of low cost, poor English skills, different safety/work culture, problems with the International Transport Workers’ Federation, etc. This article identifies transformations and continuities of problems related to Chinese seafarers in the global market in the last two decades or so by reviewing relevant Lloyd’s List reports as well as official documents and previous research. The review shows that Chinese authorities have been taking various initiatives to take advantage of the manning crisis and to expand and promote seafarer education, supply and export, which in general serve to make seafarers better educated and improve their communication skills. Although such initiatives have helped increase seafaring labour export, the success is nevertheless limited by tight government control on recruitment, which makes some foreign managers reluctant to employ Chinese seafarers.     

检测故障管道 英国科学家找到了更好的办法，使危险的管道在爆裂前就能被检测出来

锅炉壁中的高压管或高温工艺管道（比如在石化工业中）会变得越来越薄，这在正常使用中会产生灾难性故障的风险。因此必须定期检查锅炉或管壁的厚度，以对任何管壁厘度夏薄的状况进行监控。目前Warwick大学开发出一种新技术，使锅炉及管道的厚度变化更容易被检测，从而更容易防止出现故障。     

基于晶闸管二进制补偿器和PWM-IGBT有源功率滤波器组合的普通负载全补偿系统

介绍用于分布网络中能够消除谐波,平衡负载和产生或吸收无功功率的全补偿系统.该系统基于晶闸管二进制补偿器(TBC)和PWM-IGBT有源功率滤波器(APF)相级联的组合.TBC能补偿基波无功功率,平衡连接到系统的负载.APF能消除谐波,补偿少量的负载不平衡或由于TBC二进制条件而不能消除的功率因数.TBC由一串被标定的二进制电容器和每相一个电感器构成.该拓扑允许采用数量合适的电容器,也允许无功功率补偿的软变化,其产生的谐波可忽略.当线电压达到电压峰值时,电容器接通,以避免产生浪涌电流.必要时,电感器可帮助平衡负载和吸收无功功率.APF的作用是测试电源电流,迫使电源电流为正弦电流.这2个变流器(TBC和APF)工作独立,使系统控制简单可靠.仿真表明,在只有一个循环耦合中,系统能够响应许多种瞬时干扰.文章分析了所提出的电路和它的工作方法,并给出了工作时的一些实验结果.     

Swimming for survival: A role of phytoplankton motility in a stratified turbulent environment

We investigate a role for vertical migration in stratified coastal water, where the swimming speed is generally significantly less than the typical turbulent fluctuations in a tidally-mixed bottom layer. In our modelling approach we use a k- turbulence model to describe the physical forcing, a Lagrangian random walk model to describe the vertical displacement of individual cells in response to turbulence and due to cell motility, and a phytoplankton growth model to direct the swimming behaviour of the phytoplankton according to their light and nutrient requirements. The model results show how the cells form a stable subsurface chlorophyll maximum (SCM) at the base of the thermocline where episodic tidal turbulence causes erosion of part of the SCM biomass into the bottom mixed layer (BML). We then focus on the question of whether an ability to swim (weakly, compared to typical bottom layer turbulent intensities) provides any advantage by allowing return to the SCM. Our results show that tidal turbulence in the BML helps both motile and neutrally-buoyant cells by periodically pushing them into the base of the thermocline. Motile cells then have the advantage that they can swim further into the thermocline towards higher light which also reduces the likelihood of being re-mixed back into the BML.     

无功补偿技术的发展(一)

回顾了无功补偿技术的发展过程,介绍了利用晶闸管和自关断变流器的无功补偿装置的工作原理、结构特点及应用实例.静止无功发生器可提高交流输电系统和配电系统的电压调节能力、系统稳定性和功率因数.最后给出了一些采用新技术的静止无功补偿器的相关应用实例.     

为全球信息社会制订全球标准

随着信息使用费用的急剧下降 ,我们可以使用的信息量不仅比以前大大增加 ,而且使用信息的人数也越来越多。现在社会学家已不再谈及技术时代、计算机时代或电子时代了 ,因为我们这一代正在建立的社会是信息社会 ,它将给人类生活的各个方面带来重大改变。为使全球各地能真正公平合理地享受信息社会带来的益处 ,信息社会必须覆盖全球。数字电子设备包括的计算机网络、数字电视、3G电话以及相关硬件、软件和服务是信息社会的关键构件 ,也可以把它们统称为信息通讯技术 (ICTs)。ICTs对信息和知识的电子化传播是必不可少的 ,没有ICTs就没有全…     

新装值得炫耀

如果无人提示,事先不够了解,会有不少人初次遇到PASSAT新领驭时,误认为它是一部新车吧?这次的大改款,不是成功,而是很成功。新领驭摆在面前时,忍不住想起PASSAT是怎样走入我的身边世界的。我有一个聪明朋友,2001年刚刚认识他时,开一部已有几年车龄的PASSAT B4。我们首次见面就是去金湖港式茶餐厅夜宵,当时内心不免暗暗嫉妒:这个跟我同岁的小子好有钱。又过不到两年,这个供职股票交易所的家伙     

Evaluating the effectiveness of a smartphone speed limit advisory application: An on-road study in Port-Harcourt,Nigeria

The development of mobile phone applications that provide speed limit advice and warnings offers opportunities for use of the technology in the improvement of driver safety. This paper looks at the effect of an advisory Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) application on driver speeding behaviour. Twenty participants (all males within the age range of 35–60 years) completed a within-group experimental design. Participants drove in real traffic on a 46 km test route which incorporated three-speed limits zones (50 km/h, 60 km/h, and 80 km/h speed limits) and aggregated into 10 different segments. Compared with baseline levels, possible impacts of ISA system functionalities on driver behaviour were studied through appropriate metrics including cumulative speed distribution, mean speed, speed deviation, 85th percentile speed, percentage distanced travelled above the speed limit, and safety benefit estimation. Results indicated the use of the ISA application led to significant improvement in speed limit compliance particularly in the 60 km/h and 80 km/h zones where speeding was eliminated. There were no observed negative effects on driver speeding behaviour from the use of the system. In general, the findings suggest the use of the ISA system, resulted in the adoption of vehicle speeds that are likely to improve road safety.     

An Extended Adaptive Kalman Filter for Real-time State Estimation of Vehicle Handling Dynamics

This paper considers a method for estimating vehicle handling dynamic states in real-time, using a reduced sensor set; the information is essential for vehicle handling stability control and is also valuable in chassis design evaluation. An extended (nonlinear) Kalman filter is designed to estimate the rapidly varying handling state vector. This employs a low order (4 DOF) handling model which is augmented to include adaptive states (cornering stiffnesses) to compensate for tyre force nonlinearities. The adaptation is driven by steer-induced variations in the longitudinal vehicle acceleration. The observer is compared with an equivalent linear, model-invariant Kalman filter. Both filters are designed and tested against data from a high order source model which simulates six degrees of freedom for the vehicle body, and employs a combined-slip Pacejka tyre model. A performance comparison is presented, which shows promising results for the extended filter, given a sensor set comprising three accelerometers only. The study also presents an insight into the effect of correlated error sources in this application, and it concludes with a discussion of the new observer's practical viability.