Enabling Supply Chain Visibility and Compliance Through Voluntary Information Sharing with Customs: A Case Study of the Global Quality Traceability System in China Customs

The promotion of digital customs and data analytics have led customs administrations to seek to improve their analytics capabilities and exploit data from the trade community. Despite the increased data analysis capabilities of Customs, the data available to them are still limited to the current mandated declaration. If businesses are willing to share additional commercial information with Customs, it will enable them to make a more accurate risk assessment and ensure compliance. As a new form of Customs and business partnership, voluntary information sharing can be a supplementary data source to the mandated declaration and enable Customs to exploit additional commercial information. This study analysed an exploratory case study on the Global Quality Traceability System (GQTS) initiated by China Customs to investigate how voluntary information sharing can be achieved, and to explore the benefits for the participants. This study demonstrated that voluntary information sharing with Customs implemented through a data pipeline enhanced supply chain visibility and ensured compliance. The private companies who shared information contributed to the supply chain visibility and in return benefited from it.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Information and Communication Technolog

Velocity and turbulence affected by various vegetations in open channel

Water energy is a conventional source of source that is widely available in nature. It can be easily converted into high quality secondary energy-electric energy through hydroelectric power stations. Hydropower is not only a widely used conventional energy source, but also a renewable energy source. Moreover, hydroelectric power has no pollution to the environment. Therefore, water energy is an inexhaustible and high-quality energy source among many energy sources in the world. However, vegetation can change flow structure and turbulence characteristics, impacting the use of water energy. In previous researches, few studies have focused on the comparison of velocity and turbulence influenced by various vegetations. Therefore, laboratory experiments were carried out to investigate hydrodynamics affected by submerged rigid vegetation (reed and wooden stick) and merged flexible vegetation (grass and chlorella) under different conditions. The time-averaged velocity distributions of planted floodplain are not logarithmic. Instead, reed and wooden stick followed an "S-shape"profile, but for grass and chlorella, they presented reverse S-shape profile. For all cases, turbulence is not isotropic and the change law of turbulence intensity is different in different sections. Applied Mechanic

Hydraulic characteristics of emerged rigid and submerged flexible vegetations in the riparian zone

Flow resistance, velocity distribution, and turbulence intensity are significantly influenced by aquatic vegetations (AV) in riparian zones. Understanding the hydraulics of flow with planted floodplains is of great significance for determining the velocity distribution profile and supporting the fluvial processes management. However, the traditional flume experiment method is inefficient. Therefore, the multigroup simultaneous flume test method was carried out to describe the flow patterns affected by emerged rigid (reed and wooden stick) and submerged flexible vegetations (grass and chlorella). The Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) was utilized to measure the velocity at one point for different experimental conditions. The results showed that hydraulic features were influenced by different types of vegetation. Furthermore, the relative depth (z/h) was a determining factor of those variations. In addition, the time-averaged velocity distributions of planted floodplains are not logarithmic. Instead, they represented “s-shape” profiles. In detail, for the vegetated floodplains, reed and wood followed an s-shape profile, but for grass and chlorella, they followed reverse s-shape profile. For all cases, turbulence is not isotropic and the change law of turbulence intensity is different in different sections. The flow resistance, turbulence intensities, and Reynold stresses influenced by different types of vegetation were also analyzed.Materials- Mechanics- Management & Desig

Experimental investigation of wave attenuation by mangrove forests with submerged canopies

Mangroves can function as a ‘bio-shield’ to protect coastal communities from harsh environments because of their strong ability to attenuate wave energy. However, as mangroves are usually oversimplified as rigid cylinders in antecedent studies, the effects of complex mangrove morphology on wave attenuation have not been well researched. Although increasing attention has been paid to the wave dissipation induced by varying mangrove morphologies, most of them focus on the bottom trunk and root components of mature mangrove trees. There are few investigations about the contributions of the canopies of young saplings and/or short species to wave attenuation. To bridge this knowledge gap, a series of laboratory experiments under regular waves were conducted to examine the hydrodynamic variations affected by varying mangrove morphology configurations. Three water depths were considered to explore the influences of the vertical-varying submerged volume of mangroves when the artificial mangrove models are submerged, nearly emergent, and fully emergent. The mangrove forest model is 2 m long at a 1:10 scale. Three mangrove configurations, i.e. with no canopy, sparse canopy, and dense canopy were applied and compared to isolate the wave attenuation contributed by mangrove canopies. The results highlight the wave energy attenuation attributed to the canopy density. A linear correlation is found between the wave damping factor and a new variable named hydraulic submerged volume index (HSVI). The bulk drag coefficient, including canopy effects, was calculated to characterize mangrove-induced wave attenuation when the mangrove canopy is submerged. The relationships between the bulk drag coefficient CD and the characteristic hydraulic numbers (i.e., Reynolds number, Keulegan–Carpenter number, Ursell number) are discussed in detail. Consequently, new generic formulas of CD were deduced considering the effects of the submerged canopy. The employment of new CD formulas improves the reliability of the prediction of the wave attenuation ability by mangroves since the canopy effects are incorporated.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Coastal Engineerin

A novel asynchronous-pouring-construction technology for prestressed concrete box girder bridges with corrugated steel webs

Owing to the superior mechanical performance and material efficiency, the combination of prestressed concrete (PC) slabs and corrugated steel webs (CSW) as PC girder with CSWs (PCGCSW) is extensively applied to railway and highway bridges. To overcome the shortcomings of traditional balanced cantilever construction (TBCC) of PCGCSW, reduce environmental impact, and promote sustainable construction, a novel asynchronous-pouring-construction (APC) technology is introduced in this paper. This improved method makes full use of the excellent shear capacity of the corrugated steel webs (CSWs) to support the hanging basket, increases the construction platforms to accelerate the construction speed. Based on a practical project of a long-span composite box girder bridge with CSWs in China, the construction process of the APC method is systematically introduced, and the structural safety and environmental sustainability of such bridge using APC technology are evaluated and compared with that using TBCC. The comparison results indicate that APC method can reduce the compressive stress of top concrete slab, but slightly increase the shear stress and deflection during the cantilever construction stage because the hanging basket is directly supported by CSWs. Besides, the weight of the improved handing basket in APC technology is reduced up to half in comparison that in TBCC. Accordingly, the APC technology saves a lot of energy consumption, reduces huge CO2 emissions for construction equipment, and shorts construction period. Therefore, the utilization of APRC technology can ensure the bridge's safety and reliability, effectively accelerate construction speed, reduce the construction load, decrease the environmental pollution, and save the engineering cost, which can be regarded as a sustainable and environmental-friendly construction method for composite bridges with CSWs.Steel & Composite Structure

A conflict cluster-based method for collision avoidance decision-making in multi-ship encounter situations

During the process of collision avoidance, especially in a multi-ship encounter situation, the dynamic interactions among individual ships impose a significant impact on collision avoidance decision-making. It is imperative, therefore, that collision avoidance decisions are formulated with a comprehensive consideration of not only the current direct collision conflict but also the potential conflicts due to planned collision avoidance actions. To address this requirement, this paper proposes a dynamic conflict cluster detection method for collision avoidance decision-making in multi-ship encounters. The involved ships are clustered into stable temporal-dependent ship conflict groups taking into account both conflict connectivity and the potential spatiotemporal interactions originating from planned collision avoidance actions. The conflict cluster detection model is implemented within a framework to achieve hierarchical coordinated collision avoidance decision-making. By a simulation experiment of an 11-ship encounter, the proposed method successfully discerns the ships with conflicts and provides feasible collision avoidance decisions. Compared to the non-cluster collision avoidance methods, the proposed method generates the results with acceptable deviating distance and number of collision avoidance actions at minimum computation load. It has been demonstrated that the proposed method is both effective and efficient for officers on board and operators at Vessel Traffic Services centers in real-life navigation.Rivers, Ports, Waterways and Dredging Engineerin

Effects of biological activated carbon filter running time on disinfection by-product precursor removal

Biological activated carbon (BAC) filtration is usually considered to be able to decrease formation potentials (FPs) of disinfection by-products (DBPs) in drinking water treatment plant (DWTP). However, BAC filters with long running time may release microbial metabolites to effluents and therefore increase FPs of nitrogenous DBPs with high toxicity. To verify this hypothesis, this study continuously tracked BAC filters in a DWTP for one year, and assessed effects of old (running time 8–9 years) and new (running time 0–13 months) BAC filters on FPs of 15 regulated and unregulated DBPs. Results revealed that dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal was slightly higher in the new BAC than the old one. All fluorescent components of dissolved organic matter evidently declined after new BAC filtration, but fulvic acid-like and soluble microbial product-like substances increased after old BAC filtration, which could be caused by microbial leakage. Correspondingly, new BAC filter generally removed more DBP FPs than the old one. 46.5% HAA7 FPs from chlorination and 44.3% THM4 FPs from chloramination were removed by new BAC filter. However, some DBP FPs, especially HAN FPs, were poorly removed or even increased by the old BAC filter. Proteobacteria could be a main contributor for DBP precursor removal in BAC filters. Herminiimonas, most abundant genera in new BAC filter, may explain its better DOC and UV254 removal performance and lower DBP FPs, while Bradyrhizobium, most abundant genera in old BAC filter, might produce more extracellular polymeric substances and therefore increased N-DBP FPs in old BAC effluent. This study provided insight into variations of DBP FPs and microbial communities in the new and old BAC filters, and will be helpful for the optimization of DWTP design and operation for public health.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Sanitary Engineerin

Enhanced Optical Performance of BaMgAl₁₀O₁₇: Eu²⁺ Phosphor by a Novel Method of Carbon Coating

Many strategies have been adopted to improve thermal degradation of phosphors. Because of the stability and high transmittance of graphene, here we report a novel method of carbon coating on BaMgAl10O17:Eu2+ (BAM) phosphor particles through chemical vapor deposition. The chemical composition, microstructure, and luminescence performance of carbon-coated BAM were characterized carefully. This coating can be controlled within 3-10 atomic layers, depending on the reaction time. Because of the decrease of surface defects and the effective weakening effect of oxidizing Eu2+ to Eu3+ after carbon coating, different layer numbers showed an obvious effect on the optical properties of carbon-coated BAM. Carbon-coated BAM phosphors had higher emission intensity and better oxidation resistance at high temperature than uncoated BAM phosphors. These results indicate that the method of carbon coating on phosphor particles is a promising way to improve the luminescence properties of other phosphors used in lighting and display devices.Accepted Author ManuscriptChemE/Product and Process EngineeringRST/Fundamental Aspects of Materials and Energ

A Plant-inspired Light Transducer for High-performance Near-infrared Light Mediated Gas Sensing

Constructing near-infrared light (NIR) light-enhanced room temperature gas sensors is becoming more promising for practical application. In this study, learning from the structure and photosynthetic process of chlorophyll thylakoid membranes in plants, the first “Thylakoid membrane” structural formaldehyde (HCHO) sensor is constructed by matching the upconversion emission of the lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) and the UV–vis adsorption of the as-prepared nanocomposites. The NIR-mediated sensor exhibits excellent performances, including ultra-high response (Ra / Rg = 2.22, 1 ppm), low practical limit of detection (50 ppb), reliable repeatability, high selectivity, and broadband spectral response. The practicality of the NIR-mediated gas sensor is confirmed through the remote and external stimulation test. A study of sensing mechanism demonstrates that it is the UCNPs-based light transducer produces more light-induced oxygen species for gas response in the process of non-radiative/radiative energy transfer, playing a key role in significantly improving the sensing properties of the sensor. The universality of NIR-mediated gas sensors based on UCNPs is verified using ZnO, In2O3, and SnO2 systems. This work paves a way for fabricating high-performance NIR-mediated gas sensors and will expand the application fields of NIR light.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Bio-Electronic

The suppression of hematopoiesis function in Balb/c mice induced by prolonged exposure of microcystin-LR

Microcystins (MCs) cause normocytic anemia in patients in a hemodialysis unit in Caruaru, Brazil in 1996, but the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. In the present study, Balb/c mice were intraperitoneally injected with microcystin-LR (MC-LR) at the doses of 0.5, 2 and 8 mu/kg body weight (bw) every 48 h for 30d. After the prolonged exposure of MC-LR, significant decreases of red blood cell count (RBC), hemoglobin (Hb) and hematocrit (Ht) were observed in 2 and 8 mu g/kg bw groups, but erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume (MCV) showed no significant changes. Significantly elevated micronucleus frequency was observed in bone marrow cells (BMCs) in all MC-LR treatments. The proliferation of BMCs significantly declined in both 2 and 8 mu g/kg bw groups. Serum levels of some hematopoietic growth factors significantly changed in 8 mu g/kg bw group, mainly including granulocyte-macrophage (GM-CSF), erythropoietin (EPO), interleukin-3 (IL-3) and TNF-alpha. The transcriptional levels of these 4 genes in BMCs were also significantly changed in 8 mu g/kg bw group. MC-LR exposure significantly increased the apoptosis rates in all MC-LR treatments. The present study indicates prolonged exposure of MC-LR induces normocytic anemia, and the disturbed hematopoietic growth factors and BMCs apoptosis are responsible for this normocytic anemia. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.Microcystins (MCs) cause normocytic anemia in patients in a hemodialysis unit in Caruaru, Brazil in 1996, but the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. In the present study, Balb/c mice were intraperitoneally injected with microcystin-LR (MC-LR) at the doses of 0.5, 2 and 8 mu/kg body weight (bw) every 48 h for 30d. After the prolonged exposure of MC-LR, significant decreases of red blood cell count (RBC), hemoglobin (Hb) and hematocrit (Ht) were observed in 2 and 8 mu g/kg bw groups, but erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume (MCV) showed no significant changes. Significantly elevated micronucleus frequency was observed in bone marrow cells (BMCs) in all MC-LR treatments. The proliferation of BMCs significantly declined in both 2 and 8 mu g/kg bw groups. Serum levels of some hematopoietic growth factors significantly changed in 8 mu g/kg bw group, mainly including granulocyte-macrophage (GM-CSF), erythropoietin (EPO), interleukin-3 (IL-3) and TNF-alpha. The transcriptional levels of these 4 genes in BMCs were also significantly changed in 8 mu g/kg bw group. MC-LR exposure significantly increased the apoptosis rates in all MC-LR treatments. The present study indicates prolonged exposure of MC-LR induces normocytic anemia, and the disturbed hematopoietic growth factors and BMCs apoptosis are responsible for this normocytic anemia. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved