Effects of upholstery materials on the burning behavior of real‐scale residential upholstered furniture mock‐ups

Fire spread and growth on real‐scale four cushion mock‐ups of residential upholstered furniture (RUF) were investigated with the goal of identifying whether changes in five classes of materials (barrier, flexible polyurethane foam, polyester fiber wrap, upholstery fabric, and sewing thread), referred to as factors, resulted in statistically significant changes in burning behavior. A fractional factorial experimental design plus practical considerations yielded a test matrix with 20 material combinations. Experiments were repeated a minimum of two times. Measurements included fire spread rates derived from video recordings and heat release rates (HRRs). A total of 13 experimental parameters (3 based on the videos and 10 on the HRR results), referred to as responses, characterized the measurements. Statistical analyses based on Main Effects Plots (main effects) and Block Plots (main effects and factor interactions) were used. The results showed that three of the factors resulted in statistically significant effects on varying numbers of the 13 responses. The Barrier and Fabric factors had the strongest main effects with roughly comparable magnitudes. Foam was statistically significant for fewer of the responses and its overall strength was weaker than for Barrier and Fabric. No statistically significant main effects were identified for Wrap or Thread. Multiple two‐term interactions between factors were identified as being statistically significant. The Barrier*Fabric interaction resulted in the highest number of and strongest statistically significant effects. The existence of two‐term interactions means that it will be necessary to consider their effects in approaches designed to predict the burning behavior of RUF.     

Statistical Piezotronic Effect in Nanocrystal Bulk by Anisotropic Geometry Control

Utilizing inner-crystal piezoelectric polarization charges to control carrier transport across a metal-semiconductor or semiconductor–semiconductor interface, piezotronic effect has great potential applications in smart micro/nano-electromechanical system (MEMS/NEMS), human-machine interfacing, and nanorobotics. However, current research on piezotronics has mainly focused on systems with only one or rather limited interfaces. Here, the statistical piezotronic effect is reported in ZnO bulk composited of nanoplatelets, of which the strain/stress-induced piezo-potential at the crystals’ interfaces can effectively gate the electrical transport of ZnO bulk. It is a statistical phenomenon of piezotronic modification of large numbers of interfaces, and the crystal orientation of inner ZnO nanoplatelets strongly influence the transport property of ZnO bulk. With optimum preferred orientation of ZnO nanoplatelets, the bulk exhibits an increased conductivity with decreasing stress at a high pressure range of 200–400 MPa, which has not been observed previously in bulk. A maximum sensitivity of 1.149 µS m⁻¹ MPa⁻¹ and a corresponding gauge factor of 467–589 have been achieved. As a statistical phenomenon of many piezotronic interfaces modulation, the proposed statistical piezotronic effect extends the connotation of piezotronics and promotes its practical applications in intelligent sensing.     

Description of the thermodynamic properties and fluid-phase behavior of aqueous solutions of linear,branched, and cyclic amines

The SAFT-γ Mie group-contribution equation of state is used to represent the fluid-phase behavior of aqueous solutions of a variety of linear, branched, and cyclic amines. New group interactions are developed in order to model the mixtures of interest, including the like and unlike interactions between alkyl primary, secondary, and tertiary amine groups (NH₂, NH, N), cyclic secondary and tertiary amine groups (cNH, cN), and cyclic methine-amine groups (cCHNH, cCHN) with water (H₂O). The group-interaction parameters are estimated from appropriate experimental thermodynamic data for pure amines and selected mixtures. By taking advantage of the group-contribution nature of the method, one can describe the fluid-phase behavior of mixtures of molecules comprising those groups over broad ranges of temperature, pressure, and composition. A number of aqueous solutions of amines are studied including linear, branched aliphatic, and cyclic amines. Liquid–liquid equilibria (LLE) bounded by lower critical solution temperatures (LCSTs) have been reported experimentally and are reproduced here with the SAFT-γ Mie approach. The main feature of the approach is the ability not only to represent accurately the experimental data employed in the parameter estimation, but also to predict the vapor–liquid, liquid–liquid, and vapor–liquid–liquid equilibria, and LCSTs with the same set of parameters. Pure compound and binary phase diagrams of diverse types of amines and their aqueous solutions are assessed in order to demonstrate the main features of the thermodynamic and fluid-phase behavior.     

改进Elman神经网络在短期热负荷预测中的应用

热电厂的短期热负荷预测在城市集中供暖中起着至关重要的作用,直接影响热电厂的经济效益和热能利用率。电厂的短期热负荷一般采用神经网络预测模型进行预测,而BP神经网络应用最为广泛。Elman神经网络算法在BP神经网络基础上加入了承接层,作为一步延时算子,实现记忆能力,使系统具备适应时变能力,增强系统全局稳定性。但Elman神经网络算法模型的构造依然需要大量样本的支撑,而且输入层的变量多,导致预测时间依然很长,收敛速度慢。该文在Elman神经网络预测前,进行了相关系数预处理和对样本中异常值的平均化预处理,通过数据归一化运算,使Elman神经网络输入层变量大幅减少。仿真实验表明,改进的Elman神经网络算法使预测模型快速寻优,减少预测时间的同时明显提高预测精度。     

Accounting for the uncertainties in the estimation of average shear wave velocity using V S– N correlations

Site-specific seismic hazard analysis is crucial for designing earthquake resistance structures, particularly in seismically active regions. Shear wave velocity ( V _S) is a key parameter in such analysis, although the economy and other factors restrict its direct field measurement in many cases. Various V _S–SPT– N correlations are routinely incorporated in seismic hazard analysis to estimate the value of V _S. However, many uncertainties question the reliability of these estimated V _S values. This paper comes up with a statistical approach to take care of such uncertainties involved in V _S calculations. The measured SPT– N values from all the critical boreholes were converted into statistical parameters and passed through various correlations to estimate V _S at different depths. The effect of different soil layers in the boreholes on the Vs estimation was also taken into account. Further, the average shear wave velocity of the top 30 m soil cover ( V _S30) is estimated after accounting for various epistemic and aleatoric uncertainties. The scattering nature of the V _S values estimated using different V _S– N correlations was reduced significantly with the application of the methodology. Study results further clearly demonstrated the potential of the approach to eliminate various uncertainties involved in the estimation of V _S30 using general and soil-specific correlations.     

综放高瓦斯矿井煤层瓦斯涌出量综合预测

为了成功预测竹林山煤矿综放高瓦斯矿井大采高工作面煤层瓦斯涌出量,以主采3号煤层为主要研究对象,针对3号煤层以往开采情况,通过布设测点测量其煤层瓦斯含量和了解相邻矿井瓦斯含量,采用分源预测法、回归法及统计法等预测方法得到了3号煤层瓦斯含量的分布规律,并绘制了3号煤层的瓦斯含量等值线图。对矿井不同生产时期的瓦斯含量进行预测,得到了生产前期、中期及后期采区的最大绝对瓦斯涌出量和最大相对瓦斯涌出量,说明了竹林山煤矿各个时期均属于高瓦斯矿井。     

A precise sensor fault detection technique using statistical techniques for wireless body area networks

One of the major challenges in wireless body area networks (WBANs) is sensor fault detection. This paper reports a method for the precise identification of faulty sensors, which should help users identify true medical conditions and reduce the rate of false alarms, thereby improving the quality of services offered by WBANs. The proposed sensor fault detection (SFD) algorithm is based on Pearson correlation coefficients and simple statistical methods. The proposed method identifies strongly correlated parameters using Pearson correlation coefficients, and the proposed SFD algorithm detects faulty sensors. We validated the proposed SFD algorithm using two datasets from the Multiparameter Intelligent Monitoring in Intensive Care database and compared the results to those of existing methods. The time complexity of the proposed algorithm was also compared to that of existing methods. The proposed algorithm achieved high detection rates and low false alarm rates with accuracies of 97.23% and 93.99% for Dataset 1 and Dataset 2, respectively.     

Practical Application of the Probabilistic‐Statistical Model of the Suspension Separation in Hydrocyclones

An effective practical approach that allows not only a significant reduction in the scope of practical experiments in the course of studying suspension separation processes in hydrocyclones, but also makes it possible to assess the intensity of random components of the processes and define the interrelation between such components and hydrodynamics of flows in a hydrocyclone is presented. Within the frames of the developed probabilistic‐statistical model of suspension separation in hydrocyclones on the basis of statistical self‐similarity properties, a relationship was found between determined and random components of the processes. This allowed transitioning from three‐parameter probability density functions for suspension particles in hydrocyclones to two‐parameter functions; thus significantly improving the efficiency of practical application of the developed model.