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Saturated orthogonal array is an important type of fractional factorial designs in experimental design. On the basis of guaranteeing orthogonality, it maximizes the number of factors and saves the cost of experiments. Therefore, it is increasingly used in practical experiment. For quantitative factors, the minimum β-aberration criterion is suitable for selecting good designs under a polynomial model. However, construction methods of designs with less β-aberration have not been fully investigated. In this article, we apply the Rao-Hamming method to construct a class of three-level saturated orthogonal arrays, and perform a special level permutation on the designs of the Rao-Hamming construction, which makes the resultant designs mirror-symmetric ones. Furthermore, we analyze the distribution of elements in each row and among all possible pairs of rows of the mirror-symmetric designs, and discuss some properties of the β-wordlength pattern for three-level mirror-symmetric designs constructed by the Rao-Hamming method. In addition, we provide the explicit expressions of β3 and β4 for three-level mirror-symmetric designs, which can reduce the computational complexity of the β-wordlength pattern, and provide an effective idea for finding designs under the minimum β-aberration criterion. Finally, numerical examples are used to illustrate and verify the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suppose the intermediate coupler of a rail vehicle is unstable during the collision process and loses its connection and energy dissipation functions. In that case, it will significantly reduce the performance of the train crashworthiness function and increase the risk of train derailment. This paper aims to establish a refined finite element model (RFEM) that can simulate the buckling behaviour and investigate the bending resistance and buckling instability characteristics of the intermediate coupler, and the accuracy of the RFEM was verified by quoting the results of an existing intermediate coupler impact test. The results demonstrated that the proposed coupler modelling method could better simulate the energy absorption characteristics and unstable behaviour. Compared to the test results, the differences in the initial crushing force, maximum longitudinal compression displacement, minimum crushing force, and maximum crushing force were 6.5%, 1.3%, 3.6%, and 6.5%, respectively. Within the allowable range of parameters, the maximum bending force linearly increased with an increase in the initial longitudinal compression displacement. As the pitch or yaw angle increased, the longitudinal buckling load of the coupler linearly decreased and became more sensitive to the pitch angle. When pitch and yaw angles existed simultaneously, the longitudinal buckling load was further reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calcined ginger nuts (CGN)-based grouts are widely utilized in anchoring conservation of unstable earthen sites in the northwest of China. However, the long-term performance of the anchor system, which is dominated by the durability of anchor grouts in the real environment remains unclear. In this study, durability of CGN admixed with fly ash (F) and quartz sand (S) in the real environment were evaluated regarding physical properties (density, surface hardness, water penetration capacity, and permeability), soluble salts content and micro-structure (SEM). Grouts concretions of CGN admixed with F and S were buried at the feet of Ming Great Wall, Gulang County, Gansu Province, China for six years. The results indicate that two decay patterns including extensive crack formations along specimens' edges and micro-cracks and materials losses (granular disintegration) on the surface were captured. Moreover, crust structure, which is inferred as carbonation front was detected on the surface of specimens. The performance of the grouts in the real environment is quite different from that in the laboratory, in particular, specimens of CGN admixed with S singly were already broken due to the crack formation. Long-term performance priority of CGN-based grouts is CGN-FS>CGN-F>CGN-S. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multitemporal interferometric synthetic aperture radar (MT-InSAR) technique is an important approach for surface deformation monitoring. Nonlocal adaptive multilooking approach has potential benefits for the filtering and coherence estimation in the data preprocessing steps of MT-InSAR technique. The kernel of nonlocal adaptive multilooking approach lies in the selection of statistically homogeneous pixels (SHPs). Various amplitude-based strategies, such as DespecKS and its variations, have been proposed for selecting SHPs. However, the detection rates of these methods are usually unsatisfactory in the case of small data sets. To overcome this limitation, SHPs are selected based on the adaptive joint data vector, which encompasses both time dimensional samples and spatial information. In this letter, the outliers of the time dimensional samples are removed first based on a revised boxplot method. Additionally, image segmentation and L1 norm are both introduced to adaptively construct joint data vector in the preset window. Experiments on five TSX images are used to verify the reliability and efficiency of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new polyacetylene glucoside, Dendranacetylene A (1), and a known compound 8E-decaene-4,6-diyn-1-O-β-d-glucopyranosyl-(1ʺ→2ʺ)-β-d-glucopyranoside (2) were isolated from the flowers of Dendranthema morifolium (Ramat.) kitam. The chemical structures of these compounds were elucidated by NMR and HR-ESI-MS analysis, and comparing these results with data reported in literatures. Additionally, the anti-inflammatory effects of compounds 1 and 2 were evaluated on RAW264.7 murine macrophage cells induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The two compounds significantly inhibited the NO production in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 murine macrophage cells and exhibited anti-inflammatory effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaf area index (LAI) is one of the important variables for crop growth monitoring and yield estimating. In this article, the potato LAI was retrieved by several vegetation indices (VIs) and spectral parameters of the continuum removal method (SPCRM) to provide accurate estimates. A comparison of the two methods of retrieving precision was completed. The data source for computing VIs and SPCRM was hyperspectral reflectance data for the life cycle, derived from two potato cultivars, Favorite (early maturing variety) and Yanshu 4 (late maturing variety), through field experiments. Sensitive bands were identified to indicate seven VIs by correlation analysis. Additionally, seven SPCRM were computed. Based on these methods, the potato LAI was retrieved and tested. Meanwhile, a comparison of the retrieving precision was implemented. The results showed that compared with the filtered spectral reflectance and VIs, the correlation between the potato LAI and the continuum removal spectral reflectance and its retrieved SPCRM were higher. The determination coefficients (R2) of the retrieving models of four parameters, the total area (S), the left area (Sl), the right area (Sr) and the depth area ratio (W), derived from the continuum removal method were all above 0.801, and their fitting coefficients (r) were all above 0.868, with the mean relative errors (MRE) all <0.14. It was identified that W was the most suitable parameter for retrieving the potato LAI. Although the effectiveness of SPCRM requires further research, this study manifests that SPCRM have the potential to accurately retrieve the potato LAI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a laboratory and field investigation of pull-out resistance of wood bolts in rammed earth heritages. The laboratory testing involved axial tensile tests of four grout specimens prepared in specially designed moulds using PS-F (Potassium Silicate solution-Fly ash) slurry to investigate the performance of anchors. The field testing involved pull-out tests of three wood anchors installed in rammed earth heritages by gravity grouting. Experiments reveal that the failure mode is the pull-out of bolt from grout and average skin friction resistance of bolt–grout interface is approximately 0.34MPa. Load–displacement curves and elastic–residual displacement derived from cyclic loading indicate such anchor system has strong ductility with small elastic deformation and large residual deformation. Bond collapse firstly occurs at the loaded end and then propagates towards the full bonded length. Bond stress distribution is not uniform along the bonded length. Maximum bond stress distributes at the range from 0.3 m to 0.4 m. Emergence of compressive strain in the interface reveals such anchor system enjoys the advantages of both tensile and compressive anchor types, which significantly differs from results from other regular bolts. The research conclusion makes scientific senses to traditional material and craft in rammed earth heritages. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The work reported here is a systematic study to evaluate the compatibility of using PS-F (potassium silicate with high modulus – fly ash) slurry in the conservation of adobe structures. Firstly, the optimum mixing proportion (0.47) was determined by flow meter. Then the experimental program was divided into two parts: one part studied changes in physical and mechanical properties with increase in setting time by means of the measurement of moisture content, compressive and flexural strength, elastic-wave velocity, density, and porosity; the other part studied the durability of PS-F slurry through temperature and humidity cycles, freeze–thaw cycles, water stability, tensile testing, and alkali resistivity tests. The results show that the consolidation process with the slurry can meet the requirements of conservation applications and provide a timely anchoring force, and the slurry and soil mass of adobe-based structures have good compatibility in physical and mechanical properties. In addition, the slurry can strongly resist freeze–thaw cycles, temperature-moisture cycles, and tensile stress and has a relatively weak resistance to alkali solutions and water immersion. In conclusion, PS-F with a mixing ratio of 0.47 is a suitable slurry for conservation of adobe structures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]