Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Study Of The Susceptibility Of Coal For Spontaneous Combustion Using Adiabatic Oxidation Method, Ravi Rambha, Ting X. Ren

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Largest contributor for fires in a coal mill is due to presence of combustible materials in pulverisers. Dry coal that is accumulating or settling in pulveriser components can spontaneously ignite. Aim of this study was to investigate the effect of moisture content, relative humidity of airflow, airflow rates, coal size fractions, nitrogen suppression and prior oxidation on the susceptibility of coal for spontaneous combustion. Adiabatic oxidation method was adopted whereby spontaneous heating potential was measured according to total temperature rise (TTR) while considering temperature rise versus time. Results demonstrated that humidity of air is an important factor in deciding whether …

Frequency Domain Equalization And Post Distortion For Led Communications With Orthogonal Polynomial Based Joint Led Nonlinearity And Channel Estimation, Weikang Zhao, Qinghua Guo, Jun Tong, Jiangtao Xi, Yanguang Yu, Pingjuan Niu

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

The light-emitting diode (LED) is the major source of nonlinearity in LED communications, and the nonlinearity needs to be effectively modelled and mitigated to avoid the degradation of communication performance. In indoor LED communications, multipath dispersion can lead to inter-symbol interference (ISI) at high data rates. In this paper, we jointly estimate the LED nonlinearity and ISI channel based on an orthogonal polynomial based technique. Then frequency domain equalization and post-distortion are adopted to mitigate the ISI and nonlinearity. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique.

Biomechanical Approach In Facilitating Long-Distance Walking Of Elderly People Using Footwear Modifications, Mustafa M. Elhadi, Christina Ma, Wing K. Lam, Winson Lee

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Background: Long-distance walking is a convenient way for prompting physical activity of elderly people. However, walking ability declines with aging. Research question: This study assessed if silicone insoles with heel lifts (named here the prescribed insoles) could facilitate long-distance walking of older adults. Methods: Fifteen adults aged over 65, who did not have obvious lower-limb problems, walked on a treadmill for totally 60 min in two separate walking sessions: 1) with the prescribed insoles, and 2) with original insoles of the standardized shoes. Gait tests using force plates and a motion analysis system, and subjective evaluation using visual analog and …

Development Of Ciprofloxacin-Loaded Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) Dry Powder Formulations For Lung Delivery, Dina M. Morais Da Silva, Roberto Paleco, Daniela Traini, Vitor Sencadas

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Polymeric microparticles are micro carriers for the sustained drug delivery of drugs in the lungs, used as alternatives to the use of established excipients. This study aims to develop and characterize inhalable ciprofloxacin (CPx)-loaded poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) microparticles by a single-step spray-drying procedure.

The Effect Of Graphene On The Yarn Pull-Out Force And Ballistic Performance Of Kevlar Fabrics Impregnated With Shear Thickening Fluids, Zhuhua Tan, Weihua Li, Wei Huang

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

The ballistic performance of Kevlar fabric impregnated with different shear thickening fluids (STFs) were investigated at various impact velocities. The SiO₂ nanoparticle based STFs were reinforced with graphene and showed a significant increase in viscosity and shear thickening efficiency compared to pure STF. Ballistic experiments were performed on fabric treated by different STFs, and different failure modes including yarn slipping, extraction, and breakage in shear failure were obtained. To better understand how different STFs affect ballistic performance, single yarn pull-out tests were also carried out to examine the shear strength and friction between the interlocking yarns of fabric treated …

Turbo Equalization Based On A Combined Vmp-Bp Algorithm For Nonlinear Satellite Channels, Zheren Long, Nan Wu, Hua Wang, Qinghua Guo

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Close to saturation operation of high power amplifier (HPA) leads to strong nonlinear and dispersive characteristic of satellite channels. At the receiver, the observation signals are distorted by not only the linear inter-symbol interference (ISI), but also the nonlinear ones, which makes it challenge to perform optimal detection. In this paper, we study factor graph (FG)-based turbo equalization for nonlinear satellite channels characterized by Volterra series. Factor nodes on FG are classified into Belief propagation (BP) set and variational message passing (VMP) set to enable low complexity combined message passing implementation while with high performance. BP is used on the …

On The Global Limiting Absorption Principle For Massless Dirac Operators, Alan L. Carey, Fritz Gesztesy, Jens Kaad, Galina Levitina, Roger Nichols, Denis Potapov, F Sukochev

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

We prove a global limiting absorption principle on the entire real line for free, massless Dirac operators (Formula presented.) for all space dimensions (Formula presented.), (Formula presented.). This is a new result for all dimensions other than three, in particular, it applies to the two-dimensional case which is known to be of some relevance in applications to graphene. We also prove an essential self-adjointness result for first-order matrix-valued differential operators with Lipschitz coefficients.

On A Class Of Estimation And Test For Long Memory, Hui Fu, Wenting Chen, Xinjiang He

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

This paper proposes a new analysis method of the estimation and test for long memory time series. We first introduce the definitions of the time scale series, strong variance scale exponent and weak variance scale exponent, and establish the mathematical equations for the variance scale exponents, with which the time series of the white noise, short memory and long memory can be accurately identified. Two statistics for the hypothesis tests of white noise, short memory and long memory time series are constructed, and the Monte Carlo performance for MSE of the weak variance scale exponent estimator and the empirical size …

Hadamard Matrices, Orthogonal Designs And Clifford-Gastineau-Hills Algebras, Jennifer Seberry

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

All rights reserved. Research into the construction of Hadamard matrices and orthogonal designs has led to deeper algebraic and combinatorial concepts. This paper surveys the place of amicability, repeat designs and the Clifford and Clifford-Gastineau-Hills algebras in laying the foundations for a Theory of Orthogonal Designs.

Explainable Software Analytics, Hoa K. Dam, Truyen Tran, Aditya K. Ghose

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

2018 Association for Computing Machinery. Software analytics has been the subject of considerable recent attention but is yet to receive significant industry traction. One of the key reasons is that software practitioners are reluctant to trust predictions produced by the analytics machinery without understanding the rationale for those predictions. While complex models such as deep learning and ensemble methods improve predictive performance, they have limited explainability. In this paper, we argue that making software analytics models explainable to software practitioners is as important as achieving accurate predictions. Explainability should therefore be a key measure for evaluating software analytics models.We envision …

Differential Gene Expression Analysis Tools Exhibit Substandard Performance For Long Non-Coding Rna-Sequencing Data, Alemu Assefa, Katrijn De Paepe, Celine Everaert, Pieter Mestdagh, Olivier Thas, Jo Vandesompele

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Background: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are typically expressed at low levels and are inherently highly variable. This is a fundamental challenge for differential expression (DE) analysis. In this study, the performance of 25 pipelines for testing DE in RNA-seq data is comprehensively evaluated, with a particular focus on lncRNAs and low-abundance mRNAs. Fifteen performance metrics are used to evaluate DE tools and normalization methods using simulations and analyses of six diverse RNA-seq datasets.

Results: Gene expression data are simulated using non-parametric procedures in such a way that realistic levels of expression and variability are preserved in the simulated data. Throughout …

Enhancing Vehicle Suspension System Control Performance Based On The Improved Extension Control, Hongbo Wang

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Vehicle suspension system is the key part in vehicle chassis, which has influence on the vehicle ride comfort, handling stability, and security. The extension control, which is not constrained by common control method, could further improve the suspension system performance. The 7 degree-of-freedom suspension model is built. The extension controller is designed according to the function differences. In different extension set domains according to the correlation function, the corresponding control strategy is designed to ensure the suspension system obtains optimal performance in the classical domain and expands the controllable range outside the classical domain as large as possible. By adopting …

A Preliminary Design Of Application Of Wireless Identification And Sensing Platform On External Beam Radiotherapy, Heranudin, S Bakhri

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

A linear accelerator (linac) is widely used as a means of radiotherapy by focusing high-energy photons in the targeted tumor of patient. Incorrectness of the shooting can lead normal tissue surrounding the tumor received unnecessary radiation and become damaged cells. A method is required to minimize the incorrectness that mostly caused by movement of the patient during radiotherapy process. In this paper, the Wireless Identification and Sensing Platform (WISP) architecture was employed to monitor in real time the movement of the patient's body during radiotherapy process. In general, the WISP is a wearable sensors device that can transmit measurement data …

Fundamental Understanding Of Diesel-Operated Man Riding Vehicle Dpm Dispersion - A Case Study, Ramakrishna Morla, Ajit R. Godbole, Shivakumar Karekal, Ram Madhab Bhattacharjee, Nasina Balasubrahmanyam

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

In this paper, an attempt has been made to model DPM flow patterns in the vicinity of man riding vehicle(s) operating in a coal mine environment. The DPM flow patterns are modelled using the techniques of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and validated using field experimental measurements. The models show that if the vehicle is stationary, DPM particles are dispersed towards the center of gallery. Beyond 20 m downstream of the vehicle, the DPM particles occupy the entire cross-section of the roadway. If movement of the vehicle is considered, the miners may be exposed to a high concentration of DPM due …

Laboratory Evaluation Of Buried High-Density Polyethylene Pipes Subjected To Localized Ground Subsidence, Min Zhou, Fei Wang, Yan Jun Du, Martin D. Liu

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

The serviceability loss of buried high-density polyethylene (HDPE) double-wall corrugated pipes caused by localized ground subsidence has been reported all over the world. Beam-on-nonlinear spring model is widely used to analyze the structural responses of buried pipes to the localized ground subsidence underneath the pipe. However, the pipe-soil separation is not considered by the beam-on-nonlinear spring model which assumes bonded interaction between the pipe and soil. This is because the spring stiffness could not be assigned as zero. The bonded interaction between pipe and soil is not able to capture the pipe behavior and characteristics of load distribution around the …

Nonlinear Analysis Of Rectangular Concrete-Filled Double Steel Tubular Short Columns Incorporating Local Buckling, Mizen Ahmed, Qing Quan Liang, Vipulkumar I. Patel, Muhammad N. S Hadi

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Rectangular concrete-filled double steel tubular (CFDST) columns with inner circular steel tube possess higher structural performance than conventional concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) columns. However, the local buckling of the outer steel tube of thin-walled rectangular CFDST columns has not been accounted for in the existing fiber element models and design codes that may overestimate the column ultimate axial strengths. This paper describes a computationally efficient fiber-based modeling technique developed for determining the behavior of concentrically-loaded rectangular CFDST short columns including the local buckling effects of the external steel tube and the confinement offered by the internal circular steel tube. The …

Understanding The Tribological Impacts Of Alkali Element On Lubrication Of Binary Borate Melt, Hoang Bach Tran, Anh Kiet Tieu, Shanhong Wan, Hongtao Zhu, Shaogang Cui, Liping Wang

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Melt lubricants have been regarded as an effective class to deliver lubrication on moving mechanical contacts at extreme temperatures. Among the elementary constituents, alkali elements play a critical role in governing the physical-chemical characteristics of the lubricant despite the obscurity regarding their intrinsic roles on the rubbing interfaces. The present study attempts to unfold the effects of sodium on the tribological responses of mating steel pair under borate melt lubrication. It has been found that the involvement of Na inspires a total reversal in lubricating potentials of the lone B2O3melt manifested by remarkable friction reduction, wear inhibition and prolonged load-bearing …

The Relative Biological Effectiveness For Carbon, Nitrogen, And Oxygen Ion Beams Using Passive And Scanning Techniques Evaluated With Fully 3d Silicon Microdosimeters, Linh T. Tran, David Bolst, Susanna Guatelli, Alex Pogossov, Marco Petasecca, Michael L. F Lerch, Lachlan Chartier, Dale A. Prokopovich, Mark I. Reinhard, Marco Povoli, Angela Kok, Vladimir Perevertaylo, Naruhiro Matsufuji, Tatsuaki Kanai, Michael A. Jackson, Anatoly B. Rosenfeld

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Background

The aim of this study was to measure the microdosimetric distributions of a carbon pencil beam scanning (PBS) and passive scattering system as well as to evaluate the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of different ions, namely ¹²C, ¹⁴N, and ¹⁶O, using a silicon‐on‐insulator (SOI) microdosimeter with well‐defined 3D‐sensitive volumes (SV). Geant4 simulations were performed with the same experimental setup and results were compared to the experimental results for benchmarking.

Method

Two different silicon microdosimeters with rectangular parallelepiped and cylindrical shaped SVs, both 10 μm in thickness were used in this study. The microdosimeters were connected to …

A Holistic Approach For Integrated Volt/Var Control In Mv And Lv Networks, Nurul Izzah Binti Mohammad Afandi, Phil Ciufo, Ashish P. Agalgaonkar, Sarath Perera

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Voltage regulation in medium voltage (MV) and low voltage (LV) distribution networks has always been considered and approached as separate issues. However, changes in voltage magnitudes in an MV network can affect voltage magnitudes in an associated LV network and vice versa. In addition, voltage changes in an MV network can be contrary to changes in the associated LV network. This paper presents a voltage regulation methodology for MV and LV networks as a combined, network-wide problem. A theoretical formulation is developed to present MV and LV networks in a holistic manner, applicable for the development of an efficient voltage …

Optimization Of Geometric Parameters Of Longitudinal-Connected Air Suspension Based On A Double-Loop Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm, Yikai Chen, Sen Huang, Lloyd Davis, Haiping Du, Qin Shi, Jie He, Qiang Wang, Wenting Hu

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Longitudinal-connected air suspension has been proven to have desirable dynamic load-sharing performances for multi-axle heavy vehicles. However, optimization approaches towards the improvement of comprehensive vehicle performance through the geometric design of longitudinal-connected air suspension have been considerably lacking. To address this, based on a 5-degrees-of-freedom nonlinear model of a three-axle semi-trailer with longitudinal air suspension, taking the changes of driving conditions (road roughness, speed, and load) into account, a height control strategy of the longitudinal-connected air suspension was proposed. Then, in view of the height of the air spring under various driving conditions, the support vector regression method was employed …

Enhancing Target Speech Based On Nonlinear Soft Masking Using A Single Acoustic Vector Sensor, Yue-Xian Zou, Zhaoyi Liu, Christian H. Ritz

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Enhancing speech captured by distant microphones is a challenging task. In this study, we investigate the multichannel signal properties of the single acoustic vector sensor (AVS) to obtain the inter-sensor data ratio (ISDR) model in the time-frequency (TF) domain. Then, the monotone functions describing the relationship between the ISDRs and the direction of arrival (DOA) of the target speaker are derived. For the target speech enhancement (SE) task, the DOA of the target speaker is given, and the ISDRs are calculated. Hence, the TF components dominated by the target speech are extracted with high probability using the established monotone functions, …

Development Of The Ashrae Global Thermal Comfort Database Ii, Veronika Foldvary, Toby Cheung, Hui Zhang, Richard De Dear, Thomas Parkinson, Edward Arens, Chungyoon Chun, Stefano Schiavon, Maohui Luo, Gail Brager, Peixian Li, Soazig Kaam, Michael Adebamowo, Mary Andamon, Francesco Babich, Chiheb Bouden, Hana Bukovianska, Christhina Candido, Bingqiang Cao, Salvatore Carlucci, David Cheong, Joon-Ho Choi, Malcolm Cook, Paul Cropper, Max Deuble, Shahin Heidari, Madhavi Indraganti, Quan Jin, Hyojin Kim, Jungsoo Kim, Kyle Konis, Manoj Singh, Alison Kwok, Roberto Lamberts, Dennis Loveday, Jared Langevin, Sanyogita Manu, Cornelia Moosmann, Fergus Nicol, Ryozo Ooka, Nigel Oseland, Lorenzo Pagliano, Dusan Petras, Rajan Rawal, Ramona Romero, Hom Rijal, Chandra Sekhar, Marcel Schweiker, Federico Tartarini, Shin Tanabe, Kwok Tham, Despoina Teli, Jorn Toftum, Linda Toledo, Kazuyo Tsuzuki, Renata De Vecchi, Andreas Wagner, Zhaojun Wang, Holger Wallbaum, Lynda Webb, Liu Yang, Yingxin Zhu, Yongchao Zhai, Yufeng Zhang, Xiang Zhou

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Recognizing the value of open-source research databases in advancing the art and science of HVAC, in 2014 the ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort Database II project was launched under the leadership of University of California at Berkeley's Center for the Built Environment and University of Sydney's Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Laboratory. The exercise began with a systematic collection and harmonization of raw data from the last two decades of thermal comfort field studies around the world. The ASHRAE Global Thermal Comfort Database II (Comfort Database), now an online, open-source database, includes approximately 81,846 complete sets of objective indoor climatic observations with …

A Model-Based Optimal Control Strategy For Ground Source Heat Pump Systems With Integrated Solar Photovoltaic Thermal Collectors, Lei Xia, Zhenjun Ma, Georgios Kokogiannakis, Shugang Wang, Xuemei Gong

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

This paper presents a model-based optimal control strategy for ground source heat pump systems with integrated solar photovoltaic thermal collectors (GSHP-PVT). The control strategy was formulated using simplified adaptive models and a genetic algorithm (GA) to identify energy efficient control settings for GSHP-PVT systems. The simplified adaptive models were used to predict the system energy performance under various working conditions and control settings, and the model parameters were continuously updated using the recursive least squares (RLS) estimation technique with exponential forgetting. The performances of the adaptive models and the control strategy were evaluated based on a virtual simulation system representing …

Solar-Assisted Hvac Systems With Integrated Phase Change Materials, Zhenjun Ma, Haoshan Ren, Wenye Lin, Shugang Wang

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Solar-assisted heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems are receiving increasing attention. This chapter presents the development of HVAC systems with integrated solar photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) collectors and phase change materials (PCMs) to reduce building energy consumption while providing satisfactory indoor thermal comfort. PVT collectors, which can generate both thermal energy and electricity simultaneously, are a promising technology for developing high-performance buildings. As solar energy is intermittent, the integration of phase change materials (PCMs) with PVTdriven HVAC systems can provide an opportunity to effectively utilise solar energy and maximise the performance of HVAC systems. The results showed that the coefficient of performance …

Formulation Of A Model Predictive Control Algorithm To Enhance The Performance Of A Latent Heat Solar Thermal System, Gianluca Serale, Massimo Fiorentini, Alfonso Capozzoli, Paul Cooper, Marco Perino

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Model predictive control has proved to be a promising control strategy for improving the operational performance of multi-source thermal energy generation systems with the aim of maximising the exploitation of on-site renewable resources. This paper presents the formulation and implementation of a model predictive control strategy for the management of a latent heat thermal energy storage unit coupled with a solar thermal collector and a backup electric heater. The system uses an innovative Phase Change Material slurry for both the heat transfer fluid and storage media. The formulation of a model predictive controller of such a closed-loop solar system is …

Friction Coefficient Between Frp Pultruded Profiles And Concrete, Jiansong Yuan, Muhammad N. S Hadi

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

This paper presents the experimental results of a direct shear test to determine the friction coefficient between fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) pultruded profiles and concrete. The FRP pultruded profile used in this study was glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) I-section. The specimens were composed of a concrete block and a coupon of the GFRP pultruded profile. The experiment was conducted by using the direct shear test method. The parameters investigated included the type of concrete (self-compacting concrete and normal concrete) and the compressive strength of the concrete, as well as the different components (web and flange) of the I-section. The …

Eccentrically Loaded Frp Confined Concrete With Different Wrapping Schemes, Weiqiang Wang, Patrick R. Martin, M Neaz Sheikh, Muhammad N. S Hadi

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

This study presents the results of an experimental program on the comparative performance of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) confined concrete specimens with different wrapping schemes. A total of 32 specimens in four groups were cast and tested under concentric and eccentric axial loads. All specimens were wrapped with the same amount of FRP but with different wrapping schemes, including full wrapping, partial wrapping, and nonuniform wrapping. Specimens in the first group were fully wrapped (Group F). Specimens in the second group were partially wrapped with 30 mm FRP strip spacing (Group P30). Specimens in the third group were partially wrapped with …

Fracture Toughness Of Cast And Extruded Al6061/15%Al2o3p Metal Matrix Composites, H Hassan, Alan K. Hellier, Alan Crosky, J Lewandowski

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

This paper reports fracture toughness data on aluminium alloy 6061 reinforced with 15 vol% of Al₂O₃ particulate of average size 13 μm. Composites were cast/extruded and heat-treated to give under-aged, peak-aged and over-aged samples, with both longitudinal (L-S) and transverse (T-S) properties being measured to determine the effects on toughness of the banded structure produced via extrusion. This anisotropy was reflected in the toughness results, primarily in the tearing modulus. Comparisons were made to the behaviour of layered/laminated composites where the effects are more dramatic and designed into the structure. This suggests that greater improvements to the …

Physics-Based Constitutive Model For The Hot Deformation Of 2cr11mo1vnbn Martensitic Stainless Steel, Rui Wang, Menghan Wang, Zhi Li, Cheng Lu

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

The hot deformation behavior of 2Cr11Mo1VNbN martensitic stainless steel is investigated through isothermal compression tests between 1173 and 1423 K with strain rates of 0.005-5 s⁻¹. Based on experimental results, the work hardening–dynamic recovery stage and dynamic softening stage are evaluated, and a couple-stage constitutive model is developed to describe the work hardening–dynamic recovery and dynamic softening behaviors. Phenomenological constitutive models, which consider temperature, strain and strain rate, are established. A comparison between the predicted and experimental flow stress values indicates that the established models accurately describe the hot deformation behaviors for the studied supercritical steel.

Effect Of Increase In Load And Frequency On The Resiliency Of Railway Ballast, Qideng Sun, Buddhima Indraratna, Ngoc Trung Ngo

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

This paper presents the results of a series of large-scale cyclic triaxial tests conducted on ballast subjected to increased load and frequency of loading. For a given loading, the laboratory test data demonstrate that the resilient modulus of ballast is influenced by the frequency of loading. Both strain hardening and strain softening can be observed in response to increasing magnitude of load and frequency. A correlation between the resilient modulus and bulk stress is introduced to describe both the strain-hardening and strain-softening behaviour of ballast under different frequencies. A good corroboration between the cyclic stress ratio and the accumulated permanent …