Exploring the Feasibility of Ventilation without Shafts for an Ultralong Subsea Tunnel in the Bohai Strait Channel

The Bohai Strait Channel (BSC) is a strategic infrastructure project connecting the Shandong Peninsula and northeastern China. One challenge related to building the BSC tunnel portion is that ventilation shafts cannot be constructed due to certain limitations, which leads to a barrier for ventilation design. To explore the feasibility of ventilation without shafts, we first compare the tunnel ventilation design methods in China and the European Union. We also present the development process of emission standards, base emission rates, and design concentration values. Then, a new ventilation calculation for the BSC tunnel with reference values from the World Road Association (PIARC) is presented. The results show that the longitudinal ventilation design without shafts is feasible under normal traffic conditions when adopting values designed by PIARC under both the Chinese method and the European method. Furthermore, the influence of new energy vehicles and the necessity of ventilation rate on ventilation design are discussed. We suggest considering new energy vehicle fire situations and ignoring the ventilation rate for BSC tunnels. We hope to provide a strong reference for the ventilation design of BSC tunnels and for the improvement of relative ventilation codes in China.

ADHESION OF BITUMINOUS BINDERS WITH AGGREGATES IN THE CONTEXT OF SURFACE DRESSING TECHNOLOGY FOR ROAD PAVEMENTS TREATMENT

In this article the study is done for the adhesion of aggregates coming from various granite quarries of Ukraine with bituminous binder, namely with bitumen emulsion – for application in surface dressing technology for road pavements treatment. In the article there are used the Ukrainian and European testing methods for determination of adhesion in the “bitumen – aggregate” system. According to the Ukrainian method, there was determined the adhesion of residual binder with the chips surface after boiling in the distilled water and in the solution of glycerin and distilled water. As the European method, for the studies there was used Vialit Plate Shock Test. There were developed three bitumen emulsion formulations.

The Effect of Non-Compliance of Diesel Vehicle Emissions with Euro Limits on Mortality in the City of Milan

Diesel exhaust is hazardous to human health. In time, this has led the EU to impose on manufacturers lower and lower emission standards. These limits are very challenging in particular for nitrogen oxides (NOx) emitted by diesel-fueled vehicles. For the town of Milan (Italy), we used a complex modeling system that takes into account the NOx emissions from vehicular traffic and other urban sources, as well as their dispersion and chemical transformations in the atmosphere related to meteorological parameters. The traffic emissions in the Milan urban area were estimated using the geometric and structural characteristics of the road network, whereas the traffic flows were provided by the Environment and Territory Mobility Agency. Car emissions were estimated by the official European method COPERT 5. The nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations were estimated under two scenarios: the actual scenario with real emissions and the Diesel Emission Standards Compliance (DESC) scenario. Using a recent meta-analysis, limited to European studies, we evaluated the relationship between NO2 concentrations and natural mortality. For the actual scenario, the NO2 annual concentration mean was 44.3 µg/m3, whereas under the DESC hypothetical scenario, this would have been of 37.7 µg/m3. This “extra” exposure of 6.6 µg/m3 of NO2 leads to a yearly excess of 574 “natural” deaths. Diesel emissions are very difficult to limit and are harmful for exposed people. This suggests that specific policies, including traffic limitations, need to be developed and enforced in urban environments.

Ultrasound examination of the liver: the search for the most reproducible and easy to operate measuring method of the right lobe oblique craniocaudal diameter

Introduction. Mismatching of the organ sizes to the standard measurements is the sign of pathology, so it is important to make measurements using the same method for the same type of assessment.Goal: to evaluate the intra- and inter-research reproducibility of the oblique craniocaudal diameter measurement of the right liver lobe with the application of Russian and European methods by different operators, and find out which of the methods is the most convenient for practical application.Materials and methods. 47 healthy volunteers and 3 operators were participated in the study. One of the operators participated in both stages of study.Results. Keeping conditions such as quiet breathing and longitudinal scanning in the anterior axillary line from the VII-X intercostal spaces increases reproducibility and provides well visualization of the lobe even if the patient is not prepared for the study.Conclusion. The oblique size of the right lobe is highly reproducible for both methods, but the European method (longitudinal scanning of right lobe) is more convenient for the practical application.

Ghostly Consciousness in The Book of Margery Kempe

Jill Carter has spearheaded the interpretive practice of “red reading,” wherein a canonical text is read through an Indigenous perspective, and has proven the validity of approaching traditional texts or problems through a decolonized or non-European method. To date, the red reading methodology has been most noticeably used to decentralize a Eurocentric reading of Indigeneity in North American literature, though as this article illustrates, the concepts of red reading can be expanded to analyze texts from across temporal and cultural periodization, which allows us to approach texts from a new perspective. In red reading a text like The Book of Margery Kempe, with its emphasis on holism and fluid consciousness, we can reach past the orality and textuality at the forefront of the text to interrogate and explore the liminality of a third (ghostly) consciousness.

Psycholinguistic Features of Students’ Acquisition of Visual-Semantic Image of a Hieroglyph in Studying Japanese

Introduction. The article highlights psycholinguistic features of students’ acquisition of visual-semantic image of a hieroglyph in studying Japanese. The choice of the image category is justified by its ability to reflect in individual’s consciousness a complete picture of the object of cognition, which corresponds with the specific character of the hieroglyphic script. The visual-semantic image of a hieroglyphic sign has been defined as a complicated cognitive complex (mental image), which is an integral product of visual sensory-perceptual reception of all graphic elements of the hieroglyph formal structure, a coherent vision of it and conceptual representation, embodied in the meaning. Goal. The purpose of the article is to present results of the study of psycholinguistic features of students’ acquisition of visual-semantic images of hieroglyphs. The following techniques have been chosen as the main psychodiagnostic tools: «Pictograms» by О. Luria, «Hidden Figures» by K Gottschaldt, «Matching Familiar Figures» by J. Kagan, «Free Sorting of Objects» by R. Gardner in modification by V. Kolg. Results. Results of theoretical explorations on the psychological features of the problem of a personality’s acquisition of foreign languages, particularly, hieroglyphic, have been presented. It has been shown that interpretive capabilities of hieroglyphic signs are fundamentally different from the usual European method of linguistic codification of reality and that optimization ways of Oriental languages acquisition should be based on the differences between phonemic and hieroglyphic writing. Psycholinguistic peculiarities of students’ acquisition of the visual-semantic image of a hieroglyph have been revealed – character and structure of students’ visual and meaning images of hieroglyphic meanings have a significantly expressed individuality. The study of individual cognitive learning styles the educational information by students has shown that main cognitive skills and abilities are one of the factors of this success in combination with others; quality of the hieroglyphics acquisition improves with a good ability in systematization, generalization, unification of the unit into broad classes, as well as in the tendency to reasonableness.

Comparative analysis and verification of engineering methods of shallow cracks effect for fracture toughness prediction for reactor pressure vessels

The main features of shallow cracks fracture are considered, and a brief analysis of methods allowing to predict the temperature dependence of the fracture toughness KJC (T) for specimens with shallow cracks is given. These methods include DA-method, (JQ)-method, (J-T)-method, “local methods” with its multiparameter probabilistic approach, GP method uses power approach, and also two engineering methods – RMSC (Russian Method for Shallow Crack) and EMSC (European Method for Shallow Crack). On the basis of 13 sets of experimental data for national and foreign steels, a detailed verification and comparative analysis of these two engineering methods were carried out on the materials of the VVER and PWR nuclear reactor vessels considering the effect of shallow cracks.

Research on the improvement of test methods for the determination of dust penetration in enclosures of equipment intended for explosive atmospheres

Carcasses of electrical or non-electrical equipment operating in potentially explosive atmospheres must provide a certain degree of protection against access to hazardous parts, penetration of solid bodies and/or water penetration, which must be tested according to the specifications of the Ex protection types. Normal protection classes are indicated by the international IP code followed by two characteristic digits referring to the protection against penetration of solid foreign bodies and water protection, followed by optional letters if required by the beneficiary according to the imposed conditions of use. Within the ENExEMEIP laboratory, have been developed laboratory tests to verify the first characteristic figure of the standard degree of protection according to the standardized European method. In the paper is presented the test stand of the large gauge equipment, a stand made with state-of-the-art equipment that provides the necessary performance for the accreditation of the test according to the standardized requirements. Checking dustproof protection to equipment used in areas where explosive atmospheres generated by combustion dust may occur is particularly important for assessing compliance with the requirements of the ATEX Directive [5], as this protection is a basic requirement for explosion protection.

Calculation of Critical Load for Pure Distortional Buckling of Lipped Channel Columns

This paper presents a method that allows calculating the elastic critical stress for the distortional buckling mode, based on the buckling mode classification of typical lipped channel columns. In our case, Cold-Formed Steel Lipped Channel Columns are subjected to compression. Moreover, in order to consolidate the important findings of this work, a comparative study was carried out to assess the reliability of various distortional buckling models that are provided by different design Standards. It was found that the American and Australian approaches, given in the codes of practice, are closer to the Finite Strip Method than to the European method. An analytical solution was proposed for the determination of the distortional buckling stress on the basis of a statistical method; it corresponds to lipped channel sections with a flange width to web width ratio b/h ranging from 0.1 to 1, and a lip width to web width ratio c/h between 0 and 0.5. After comparison with the results given by the finite strip method for pure distortional buckling, it turned out that the proposed approach provides a reasonable prediction for the elastic distortional buckling stress for lipped channel sections subjected to compression. In fact, this method gives better results than the American approach.

Vegetation of Croatia: Phytosociological classification of the high-rank syntaxa

Croatia is among the most ecologically diverse and floristically rich countries in Europe, with a great variety of communities. The vegetation elaboration according to the standard central European method was initiated in Croatia at the beginning of the 20thcentury. In previous overviews of Croatian vegetation, the number of classes and alliances was underrepresented in relation to the country’s floristic richness. Furthermore, the level of knowledge and the amount of available data varied greatly among the various types of vegetation. The aims of this paper are mainly to compile a stabile syntaxonomic list of classes, orders and alliances dominated by vascular plants in Croatia and to adjust Croatian vegetation to the new European syntaxonomic system (EuroVegChecklist). It introduces a consistent description of high-rank syntaxa in Croatian. In conclusion, the vegetation of Croatia comprises 66 classes, 121 orders and 201 alliances. The number of syntaxa shows vegetation diversity that is rather high compared to most other European countries; this is related to the high floristic richness and endemism. The list points out the obvious problems and gaps in our knowledge of vegetation in Croatia and can serve as a baseline for the future vegetation studies.