Agent‐Based Modeling to Simulate Contamination Events and Evaluate Threat Management Strategies in Water Distribution Systems

In the event of contamination of a water distribution system, decisions must be made to mitigate the impact of the contamination and to protect public health. Making threat management decisions while a contaminant spreads through the network is a dynamic and interactive process. Response actions taken by the utility managers and water consumption choices made by the consumers will affect the hydraulics, and thus the spread of the contaminant plume, in the network. A modeling framework that allows the simulation of a contamination event under the effects of actions taken by utility managers and consumers will be a useful tool for the analysis of alternative threat mitigation and management strategies. This article presents a multiagent modeling framework that combines agent‐based, mechanistic, and dynamic methods. Agents select actions based on a set of rules that represent an individual's autonomy, goal‐based desires, and reaction to the environment and the actions of other agents. Consumer behaviors including ingestion, mobility, reduction of water demands, and word‐of‐mouth communication are simulated. Management strategies are evaluated, including opening hydrants to flush the contaminant and broadcasts. As actions taken by consumer agents and utility operators affect demands and flows in the system, the mechanistic model is updated. Management strategies are evaluated based on the exposure of the population to the contaminant. The framework is designed to consider the typical issues involved in water distribution threat management and provides valuable analysis of threat containment strategies for water distribution system contamination events.     

李家坝煤矿斜井开拓局部冻结关键技术研究

斜井冻结技术尚处于摸索研究阶段，国内无统一的施工规范。在李家坝煤矿斜井冻结工程实践的基础上开展应用性研究，详细阐述了斜井局部冻结的设计原则、施工关键技术，尤其是快速造孔施工及冻结管保温层施工工艺，提出了冻结管保温接头处理方式，成功应用了斜井冻结步进式投入法，解决了斜井局部冻结关键技术，为类似局部冻结工程提供了借鉴和参考。     

The role of time perspective in predicting Iranian farmers’ participatory-based water conservation attitude and behavior

ABSTRACT

In current perspective, farmers’ participatory behavior toward conservation of water resources (FPBCWR) is one of the most important strategies under water resource management in rural Iran. In this regard, understanding the predictors of farmers’ participatory-based water conservation behaviors and attitudes is gaining more importance than earlier. Among different dimensions of farmers’ participatory behavior, the potential of temporal frames was examined rarely. Thus, 322 Iranian farmers were investigated to examine the potential of their time perspectives in predicting their participatory-based water conservation behavior and attitude. According to the study results, the effects of present orientation on attitude and behavior were negatively significant, while the effects of future orientation on attitude and behavior were positively significant, whereas its effects (path coefficients) were stronger than present orientation effects. Past orientation did not have a significant effect on attitude, though attitude positively and significantly affected farmers’ participatory behavior. The results of causal analysis revealed that presented model accounted for 58% of variance in farmers’ ‘behavior’ and 42% of variance in “attitude.” In conclusion, a few demonstrable illustrations of policy implications are presented to enable utilizing the important findings and concluding results of this study that is linked further with water resource management domain.     

Improving water service to the urban poor through delegated management: Lessons from the city of Kisumu,Kenya

Partnerships like the delegated management model (DMM), in which a utility delegates management of infrastructure and service delivery to slum residents, are being promoted to improve services to the urban slums in sub‐Saharan Africa. However, there is little empirical evidence of the benefits that DMM offers beneficiaries and its potential limitations. This study, conducted in 2013, compared water service in two slums in the city of Kisumu in Kenya where DMM has been implemented with another where it has not been implemented. Results showed that DMM had lowered the cost of water compared to water kiosks in neighbourhoods in which DMM had not been implemented. The study findings contribute toward an evidence base for stakeholders and regulators who see an opportunity in the integration of DMM into local drinking water provision solutions in urban slums.     

宋元之际上海的兴起

上海在宋末由村设镇,元初由镇升县,迅速崛起。上海设镇时间在宋理宗淳祐十一年(1251年)到宝祐四年(1256年)之间,最有可能是1255年。上海主要是在长江三角洲取代了江阴的地位,因而得以兴起,而非前人认为上海取代华亭县内青龙镇的地位。宋末上海市舶分司兼管上海镇,上海市舶分司长官有蔡起莘、陈壁,其中蔡起莘也是上海的武官,由提举上海市舶分司兼任上海监镇,江阴市舶务在1255年裁并。宋末上海长官兼管海防,辖有招安海盗张瑄的船队,职务重要。元初上海的因漕立县,主要体现在豪族聚居与漕粮激增这两方面。漕运豪族是上海县的支配者,与上海县互相依存。宋末和元初上海迅速发展的经济基础都是航运业,宋元之际的上海发展是连贯一体的。     

城市供水管网系统工况分析的研究

通过分析实际供水管网系统的特征，对管网工况分析所涉及的几个尚未解决的计算问题进行了研究，提出了用计算机进行工况分析的思路与框架，为管网运行调度及研究管网水质模型打下了良好基础．     

水资源开发利用的环境效应与反思

水资源开发利用带来了土壤盐碱化、水质退化、江河断流及生态环境破坏等环境效应 ,同时也留给人们一些重要启示。从马克思主义哲学的角度 ,揭示了人与自然、水资源、环境之间的相互依赖、相互作用、相互影响的内在关系。在水资源规划管理中 ,只有尊重自然规律 ,充分考虑水资源开发的负效应 ,才能真正实现水资源的可持续开发利用     

气浮综合改进设施处理高浓度造纸废水

本文报道了气浮综合改进设施处理高浓度造纸废水的流程和改革，结果表明：改进后的气浮设施COD去除率由60％提高到75％，SS去除率由51％提高到71％，气浮出水河直接回用于造纸的主要过程，处理效果明显优于单纯的气浮处理。而且改进部分投资少，动力消耗少，是处理高浓度造纸废水的简便易行、值得推广的方法。     

读《太子成道经》三题

敦煌变文<太子成道经>叙述释迦牟尼从其母"右胁出身胎"、"袖中生"出,这与印度古代的种姓等级制度密切相关,是婆罗门教所谓不同种姓的人从梵天不同部位生出的神话之体现,"右胁"出生主要是秦汉以后"尊右卑左"观念的影响;释迦太子出生后"九龙吐水"洗浴其身,"九龙"是佛教输入后中国化的产物;释迦牟尼娶妻时所问"三从",是借用儒家提倡的妇道,来表明印度古代妇女在宗法家族中的卑微地位.     

Do Reports on Drinking Water Quality Affect Customers' Concerns? Experiments in Report Content

The Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 required U.S. utilities to report on drinking water quality to their customers annually, beginning in fall 1999, on the assumption that such reports would alert them to quality problems and perhaps mobilize pressure for improvement. A random sample of New Jersey customers read alternative versions of a water quality report, in an experiment on reactions to water quality information under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) rules. Experiment design was 2 x 3 + 1: two versions each--one with, one without, a violation of a health standard--of a report that was (1) Qualitative (without water quality numbers, thus not meeting USEPA rules); (2) Basic, with minimal information meeting the rules; or (3) Extended, adding reading aids and utility performance information; plus a control instrument without any hypothetical report. Results of ANOVA suggest the reports will have less effect than hoped or feared. These manipulations were successful: people reading the Qualitative versions were less likely to say that the report gave the amounts of substances found in the water, and those reading Violation versions were more likely to report a violation of a health standard. The main differences in responses to the report involved the judged adequacy of the information, and to a lesser extent responses on a Concern scale (constructed from measures of concern, judged risk, clean-up intentions, distrust of utility information, and doubt that the utility was doing all it could to improve water quality). Overall judgments of water quality and utility performance did not change, either relative to the controls or in before versus after responses. Qualitative reports performed worse than others, confirming the decision to have utilities report actual contaminant levels. Extended reports did only slightly better than the Basic versions on these measures. Many respondents had trouble identifying the presence or absence of substance amounts or violations, despite their seeming obviousness (e.g., in a "bottom line" summary on the front page of each report), suggesting many were not processing this information carefully. However, the pattern of responses for those who accurately identified the presence or absence of substance amounts or violations did not differ substantially from that for the group as a whole. Generic risk beliefs (serious local environmental problems; lack of control over risks to one's health) dominated demographic variables, attitudes toward utility water quality or trustworthiness, and the content and format of water quality reports in influencing concern about drinking water quality. Previous empirical and theoretical evidence for lack of change in public risk attitudes due to one-time or infrequent communications--e.g., role of personal experience, perseverance of prior trust or distrust--seems to be confirmed for annual water quality reports.