Exploring the Effects of Emplacement Conditions on Explosion P/S Ratios across Local to Regional Distances

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moira L. Pyle ◽  
William R. Walter
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Southern Nevada ◽  
Local Distance ◽  
Source Models ◽  
Nuclear Tests ◽  
Chemical Explosions ◽  
Natural Earthquakes ◽  
Depth Of Burial ◽  
Chemical Explosion

Abstract High-frequency (∼> 2 Hz) seismic P/S amplitude ratios are well-established as a discriminant to distinguish between natural earthquakes and underground explosions at regional distances (∼200–1500 km). As research shifts toward identifying lower-yield events, work has begun to investigate the potential of this discriminant for use at local distances (<200 km), in which initial results raise questions about its effectiveness. Here, we utilize data from several chemical explosion experiment series at the Nevada National Security Site in southern Nevada in the United States to study explosion Pg/Lg ratios across the range of local to regional distances. The experiments are conducted over differing emplacement conditions, with contrasting geologies and a variety of yields and depths of burial, including surface explosions. We first establish the similarities of Pg/Lg ratios from chemical explosions to those from historic nuclear tests and conclude that, as previous data have suggested, chemical explosion ratios are good proxies for nuclear tests. We then examine Pg/Lg ratios from the new experiment series as functions of distance, yield, depth of burial, and scaled depth of burial (SDOB). At far-local and regional distances, we observe consistently higher ratios from hard-rock explosions compared to ones in a weaker dry alluvium medium, consistent with prior regional distance results. No other trends with yield, depth of burial, or SDOB are strongly evident. Scatter in the observed ratios is very high, particularly at the shortest event-to-station distances, suggesting that small-scale path effects play a significant role. On average, the local distance explosion Pg/Lg ratios show remarkable consistency across all the variations in emplacement. Explosion source models will need to reproduce these results.

Regional Seismic Characteristics of Chemical Explosions on the Eastern Margin of the Junggar Basin, Northwest China, and of Historical Semipalatinsk Nuclear Tests

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Ma ◽  
Lian-Feng Zhao ◽  
Xiao-Bi Xie ◽  
Xi He ◽  
Zhen-Xing Yao
Keyword(s):  
Junggar Basin ◽  
Test Site ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Eastern Margin ◽  
The North ◽  
Semipalatinsk Test Site ◽  
Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site ◽  
Nuclear Tests ◽  
Chemical Explosions ◽  
Natural Earthquakes

ABSTRACT The applicability of the empirical magnitude–yield relations developed for northeast China and Korean Peninsula explosions was investigated for data from northwest China. We collected regional broadband digital seismic data from 13 chemical explosions (CEx) detonated between 6 September and 10 October 2018, on the eastern margin of the Junggar basin, northwest China, five nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, and eight natural earthquakes. Both Lg and Rayleigh-wave magnitudes (mb(Lg) and Ms, respectively) were estimated for these events. Similar to the North Korean test site, the mb(Lg)–Ms discriminant did not properly distinguish explosions from natural earthquakes at the Semipalatinsk test site. However, network-averaged P/S spectral ratios (Pg/Lg, Pn/Lg, and Pn/Sn) did successfully discriminate explosions from earthquakes at both the North Korean and the Semipalatinsk test sites at frequencies above 2.0 Hz. Based on 13 known-yield CEx, we selected an empirical magnitude–yield relation to constrain the explosive yields of five historical nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk test site. The resulting yields are lower than those previously obtained from teleseismic observations.

Renewable Energy on Tribal Lands: A Feasibility Study for a Biomass-to-Energy Plant on the Cocopah Reservation in Arizona

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Lauren K. D’Souza ◽  
William L. Ascher ◽  
Tanja Srebotnjak
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Alternative Energy ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
The United States ◽  
Biomass Energy ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Energy Plant ◽  
Energy Projects ◽  
Alternative Investment

Native American reservations are among the most economically disadvantaged regions in the United States; lacking access to economic and educational opportunities that are exacerbated by “energy insecurity” due to insufficient connectivity to the electric grid and power outages. Local renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and biomass offer energy alternatives but their implementation encounters barriers such as lack of financing, infrastructure, and expertise, as well as divergent attitudes among tribal leaders. Biomass, in particular, could be a source of stable base-load power that is abundant and scalable in many rural communities. This case study examines the feasibility of a biomass energy plant on the Cocopah reservation in southwestern Arizona. It considers feedstock availability, cost and energy content, technology options, nameplate capacity, discount and interest rates, construction, operation and maintenance (O&M) costs, and alternative investment options. This study finds that at current electricity prices and based on typical costs for fuel, O&M over 30 years, none of the tested scenarios is presently cost-effective on a net present value (NPV) basis when compared with an alternative investment yielding annual returns of 3% or higher. The technology most likely to be economically viable and suitable for remote, rural contexts—a combustion stoker—resulted in a levelized costs of energy (LCOE) ranging from US$0.056 to 0.147/kWh. The most favorable scenario is a combustion stoker with an estimated NPV of US$4,791,243. The NPV of the corresponding alternative investment is US$7,123,380. However, if the tribes were able to secure a zero-interest loan to finance the plant’s installation cost, the project would be on par with the alternative investment. Even if this were the case, the scenario still relies on some of the most optimistic assumptions for the biomass-to-power plant and excludes abatement costs for air emissions. The study thus concludes that at present small-scale, biomass-to-energy projects require a mix of favorable market and local conditions as well as appropriate policy support to make biomass energy projects a cost-competitive source of stable, alternative energy for remote rural tribal communities that can provide greater tribal sovereignty and economic opportunities.

Craft Beer's Unlikely Alchemist

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 78-90
Author(s):  
Theresa McCulla
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Assembly Line ◽  
The United States ◽  
Risk Tolerance ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Intellectual Curiosity ◽  
Brewing Industry ◽  
Washing Machine ◽  
Craft Beer ◽  
History Of

In 1965, Frederick (Fritz) Maytag III began a decades-long revitalization of Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco, California. This was an unexpected venture from an unlikely brewer; for generations, Maytag's family had run the Maytag Washing Machine Company in Iowa and he had no training in brewing. Yet Maytag's career at Anchor initiated a phenomenal wave of growth in the American brewing industry that came to be known as the microbrewing—now “craft beer”—revolution. To understand Maytag's path, this article draws on original oral histories and artifacts that Maytag donated to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History via the American Brewing History Initiative, a project to document the history of brewing in the United States. The objects and reflections that Maytag shared with the museum revealed a surprising link between the birth of microbrewing and the strategies and culture of mass manufacturing. Even if the hallmarks of microbrewing—a small-scale, artisan approach to making beer—began as a backlash against the mass-produced system of large breweries, they relied on Maytag's early, intimate connections to the assembly-line world of the Maytag Company and the alchemy of intellectual curiosity, socioeconomic privilege, and risk tolerance with which his history equipped him.

Planning Replicable Small Flow Wastewater Treatment Facilities in Developing Nations

1993 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Gaber ◽  
M. Antill ◽  
W. Kimball ◽  
R. Abdel Wahab
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Development Program ◽  
The United States ◽  
Appropriate Technology ◽  
Funding Agency ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Technology Choice

The implementation of urban village wastewater treatment plants in developing countries has historically been primarily a function of appropriate technology choice and deciding which of the many needy communities should receive the available funding and priority attention. Usually this process is driven by an outside funding agency who views the planning, design, and construction steps as relatively insignificant milestones in the overall effort required to quickly better a community's sanitary drainage problems. With the exception of very small scale type sanitation projects which have relatively simple replication steps, the development emphasis tends to be on the final treatment plant product with little or no attention specifically focused on community participation and institutionalizing national and local policies and procedures needed for future locally sponsored facilities replication. In contrast to this, the Government of Egypt (GOE) enacted a fresh approach through a Local Development Program with the United States AID program. An overview is presented of the guiding principals of the program which produced the first 24 working wastewater systems including gravity sewers, sewage pumping stations and wastewater treatment plants which were designed and constructed by local entities in Egypt. The wastewater projects cover five different treatment technologies implemented in both delta and desert regions.

Emphasizing Choice and Autonomy in Personal Hygiene, Menstrual Health, and Sexual Health Product Distribution to People Experiencing Homelessness in Atlanta, Georgia During COVID-19

2021 ◽  
pp. 152483992110249
Author(s):  
April M. Ballard ◽  
Alison T. Hoover ◽  
Ana V. Rodriguez ◽  
Bethany A. Caruso
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Health ◽  
The United States ◽  
Product Distribution ◽  
Health Needs ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Personal Hygiene ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Support Organizations ◽  
Menstrual Health ◽  
Do So

The Dignity Pack Project is a small-scale, crisis-oriented supply chain in Atlanta, Georgia, designed to meet the acute personal hygiene,menstrual health, and sexual health needs of people experiencing homelessness (PEH). It was organized in response to conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic that continue to illuminate and exacerbate the distinct and complex challenges PEH face when trying to meet their basic needs and maintain their health. In addition to being particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 due to underlying conditions, crowding, and shared living spaces, the pandemic makes it harder for PEH to access already scant resources. Specifically, shelters across the United States have experienced outbreaks and, as a result, have reduced capacity or closed completely. Social support organizations have paused or restricted services. Donations and volunteering have decreased due to economic conditions and social distancing requirements. This practice note describes how we integrated feedback from PEH at the outset of the Dignity Pack project—and continue to do so—enabling the development of a pragmatic, humanistic outreach model that responds to the evolving needs of PEH as pandemic conditions and the seasons change. We detail how we established complementary partnerships with local organizations and respond to critical insights provided by PEH. We offer lessons and recommendations driven by the needs and preferences of PEH.

scholarly journals A seismologically motivated survey of blasting activity in the northern Rhine area

2000 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus-G. Hinzen ◽  
Stefan Pietsch
Keyword(s):  
Charge Weight ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Maximum Charge ◽  
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty ◽  
Comprehensive Test ◽  
Explosive Charges ◽  
Chemical Explosions ◽  
Working Day ◽  
Test Ban ◽  
Natural Earthquakes

AbstractDiscrimination between quarry blasts and earthquakes has gained importance due to signature of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. In this context, large chemical explosions are significant. In the routine analysis of data from local seismograph networks, discrimination between smaller blasts and micro-earthquakes is not always clear. Many quarries are in operation and blasts far outnumber natural earthquakes in the highly industrialized northern Rhine area.We compiled a list of active quarries in the Northern Rhine Area and mapped their locations. We then created a database from a questionnaire sent out to all quarries on the list. From the 33% of questionnaires that were returned, we discerned some representative values for the main blasting parameters and explosive consumption. In the study area of 72,000 km2, approx. 21,000 blasts are fired per year (80 per working day). Most of the blasts (72%) have total explosive charges between 400 and 4500 kg. Shots with charges above 10 tons are rare (20-30 per year). Some 80% of the blasts are ripple-fired with a nominal firing time interval of 20 ms.Based on empirical amplitude vs. distance curves from vibration control measurements, a relation between maximum charge weight per delay time, L (kg), and a ‘quarry blast’ magnitude, MQB, is derived: MQB = 0.6·log10(L) + 0.131. Using this relation and extrapolating the database from the questionnaire shows that for magnitudes between 1 and 2, blasts occur 200–250 times more frequently than micro-earthquakes in the Northern Rhine area.

Investigation of the Down-Scaling Effects on the Low Swirl Burner and its Application to Microturbines

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Frank ◽  
Peter Therkelsen ◽  
Miguel Sierra Aznar ◽  
Vi H. Rapp ◽  
Robert K. Cheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Power Systems ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
The United States ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Scaling Effects ◽  
Swirl Burner

About 75% of the electric power generated by centralized power plants feeds the energy needs from the residential and commercial sectors. These power plants waste about 67% of primary energy as heat emitting 2 billion tons of CO2 per year in the process (∼ 38% of total US CO2 generated per year) [1]. A study conducted by the United States Department of Energy indicated that developing small-scale combined heat and power systems to serve the commercial and residential sectors could have a significant impact on both energy savings and CO2 emissions. However, systems of this scale historically suffer from low efficiencies for a variety of reasons. From a combustion perspective, at these small scales, few systems can achieve the balance between low emissions and high efficiencies due in part to the increasing sensitivity of the system to hydrodynamic and heat transfer effects. Addressing the hydrodynamic impact, the effects of downscaling on the flowfield evolution were studied on the low swirl burner (LSB) to understand if it could be adapted to systems at smaller scales. Utilizing particle image velocimetry (PIV), three different swirlers were studied ranging from 12 mm to 25.4 mm representing an output range of less than 1 kW to over 23 kW. Results have shown that the small-scale burners tested exhibited similar flowfield characteristics to their larger-scale counterparts in the non-reacting cases studied. Utilizing this data, as a proof of concept, a 14 mm diameter LSB with an output of 3.33 kW was developed for use in microturbine operating on a recuperated Brayton cycle. Emissions results from this burner proved the feasibility of the system at sufficiently lean mixtures. Furthermore, integration of the newly developed LSB into a can style combustor for a microturbine application was successfully completed and comfortably meet the stringent emissions targets. While the analysis of the non-reacting cases was successful, the reacting cases were less conclusive and further investigation is required to gain an understanding of the flowfield evolution which is the subject of future work.

scholarly journals Air versus water chilling of chicken: a pilot study of quality, shelf-life, microbial ecology, and economics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aeriel D Belk ◽  
Toni Duarte ◽  
Casey Quinn ◽  
David A. Coil ◽  
Keith E. Belk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Shelf Life ◽  
Microbial Ecology ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Water Immersion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Poultry Meat ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Meat Industry

Abstract Background. The United States’ large-scale poultry meat industry is energy and water intensive, and opportunities may exist to improve sustainability during the broiler chilling process. After harvest, the internal temperature of the chicken is rapidly cooled to inhibit bacterial growth that would otherwise compromise the safety of the product. This step is accomplished most commonly by water immersion chilling in the United States, while air chilling methods dominate other global markets. A comprehensive understanding of the differences between these chilling methods is lacking. Therefore, we assessed the meat quality, shelf-life, microbial ecology, and technoeconomic impacts of chilling methods on chicken broilers in a university meat laboratory setting. Results. We discovered that air-chilling (AC) methods resulted in superior chicken odor and shelf-life, especially prior to 14 days of dark storage. Moreover, we demonstrated that AC resulted in a more diverse microbiome that we hypothesize may delay the dominance of the spoilage organism Pseudomonas. Finally, a technoeconomic analysis highlighted potential economic advantages to AC when compared to water-chilling (WC) in facility locations where water costs are a more significant factor than energy costs. Conclusions. In this pilot study, AC chilling methods resulted in a superior product compared to WC methods and may have economic advantages in regions of the U.S. where water is expensive. As a next step, a similar experiment should be done in an industrial setting to confirm these results generated in a small-scale university lab facility.

scholarly journals Investing in community: community land trusts and affordable housing in Calgary

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Dow
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Trust Model ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Land Trusts ◽  
Land Trust ◽  
Viable Solution ◽  
Community Land Trust ◽  
The Cost

The cost of affordable rental units in Calgary is amongst the highest in Canada, despite a rental vacancy rate that is 3 percent higher than the national average (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 2017). Nearly 1 in 5 Calgary households are struggling to pay for shelter costs and as of 2016, more than 42,000 households were spending more than 50 percent of their incomes on shelter, putting this population at a greater risk of becoming homeless due to job loss or from some other unexpected financial hardship (City of Calgary, 2017). Counter to popular belief, economically depressed communities with weak rental and housing markets such as Calgary following the 2015 collapse of the oil and gas sector can be subject to a critical lack of affordable housing. A soft housing market cannot make up for an insufficient range of affordable and non-market housing options. In other cities facing similar challenges, especially those in the United States, the formation of Community Land Trusts has proven to be a viable solution for providing both affordable rental and affordable ownership opportunities for residents who are struggling to afford the cost of housing in their area. This paper explores whether the Community Land Trust model is an appropriate tool to augment Calgary’s limited supply of affordable housing and will end with five recommendations to encourage the adoption of the Community Land Trust model in Calgary. Key Words: affordable housing, affordable ownership, Calgary, community land trust, small-scale affordable development.

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