Anisotropic time-dependent behaviors of shale under direct shearing and associated empirical creep models

Understanding the anisotropic creep behaviors of shale under direct shearing is a challenging issue.In this context,we conducted shear-creep and steady-creep tests on shale with five bedding orientations (i.e.0°,30°,45°,60°,and 90°),under multiple levels of direct shearing for the first time.The results show that the anisotropic creep of shale exhibits a significant stress-dependent behavior.Under a low shear stress,the creep compliance of shale increases linearly with the logarithm of time at all bedding orientations,and the increase depends on the bedding orientation and creep time.Under high shear stress conditions,the creep compliance of shale is minimal when the bedding orientation is 0°,and the steady-creep rate of shale increases significantly with increasing bedding orientations of 30°,45°,60°,and 90°.The stress-strain values corresponding to the inception of the accelerated creep stage show an increasing and then decreasing trend with the bedding orientation.A semilogarithmic model that could reflect the stress dependence of the steady-creep rate while considering the hardening and damage process is proposed.The model minimizes the deviation of the calculated steady-state creep rate from the observed value and reveals the behavior of the bedding orientation's influence on the steady-creep rate.The applicability of the five classical empirical creep models is quantitatively evaluated.It shows that the logarithmic model can well explain the experimental creep strain and creep rate,and it can accurately predict long-term shear creep deformation.Based on an improved logarithmic model,the variations in creep parameters with shear stress and bedding orientations are discussed.With abovementioned findings,a mathematical method for constructing an anisotropic shear creep model of shale is proposed,which can characterize the nonlinear dependence of the anisotropic shear creep behavior of shale on the bedding orientation.

Assessment of the three representative empirical models for zenith tropospheric delay(ZTD)using the CMONOC data

The precise correction of atmospheric zenith tropospheric delay(ZTD)is significant for the Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS)performance regarding positioning accuracy and convergence time.In the past decades,many empirical ZTD models based on whether the gridded or scattered ZTD products have been proposed and widely used in the GNSS positioning applications.But there is no comprehensive evaluation of these models for the whole China region,which features complicated topography and climate.In this study,we completely assess the typical empirical models,the IGGtropSH model(gridded,non-meteorology),the SHAtropE model(scattered,non-meteorology),and the GPT3 model(gridded,meteorology)using the Crustal Movement Observation Network of China(CMONOC)network.In general,the results show that the three models share consistent performance with RMSE/bias of 37.45/1.63,37.13/2.20,and 38.27/1.34 mm for the GPT3,SHAtropE and IGGtropSH model,respectively.However,the models had a distinct performance regarding geographical distribution,elevation,seasonal variations,and daily variation.In the southeastern region of China,RMSE values are around 50 mm,which are much higher than that in the western region,approximately 20 mm.The SHAtropE model exhibits better performance for areas with large variations in elevation.The GPT3 model and the IGGtropSH model are more stable across different months,and the SHAtropE model based on the GNSS data exhibits superior performance across various UTC epochs.

Empirical likelihood for spatial cross-sectional data models with matrix exponential spatial specification

In this paper,we study spatial cross-sectional data models in the form of matrix exponential spatial specification(MESS),where MESS appears in both dependent and error terms.The empirical likelihood(EL)ratio statistics are established for the parameters of the MESS model.It is shown that the limiting distributions of EL ratio statistics follow chi-square distributions,which are used to construct the confidence regions of model parameters.Simulation experiments are conducted to compare the performances of confidence regions based on EL method and normal approximation method.

Research on the longitudinal protection of a through-type cophase traction direct power supply system based on the empirical wavelet transform

This paper proposes a longitudinal protection scheme utilizing empirical wavelet transform(EWT)for a through-type cophase traction direct power supply system,where both sides of a traction network line exhibit a distinctive boundary structure.This approach capitalizes on the boundary’s capacity to attenuate the high-frequency component of fault signals,resulting in a variation in the high-frequency transient energy ratio when faults occur inside or outside the line.During internal line faults,the high-frequency transient energy at the checkpoints located at both ends surpasses that of its neighboring lines.Conversely,for faults external to the line,the energy is lower compared to adjacent lines.EWT is employed to decompose the collected fault current signals,allowing access to the high-frequency transient energy.The longitudinal protection for the traction network line is established based on disparities between both ends of the traction network line and the high-frequency transient energy on either side of the boundary.Moreover,simulation verification through experimental results demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed protection scheme across various initial fault angles,distances to faults,and fault transition resistances.

Incorporating empirical knowledge into data-driven variable selection for quantitative analysis of coal ash content by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy(LIBS)has become a widely used atomic spectroscopic technique for rapid coal analysis.However,the vast amount of spectral information in LIBS contains signal uncertainty,which can affect its quantification performance.In this work,we propose a hybrid variable selection method to improve the performance of LIBS quantification.Important variables are first identified using Pearson's correlation coefficient,mutual information,least absolute shrinkage and selection operator(LASSO)and random forest,and then filtered and combined with empirical variables related to fingerprint elements of coal ash content.Subsequently,these variables are fed into a partial least squares regression(PLSR).Additionally,in some models,certain variables unrelated to ash content are removed manually to study the impact of variable deselection on model performance.The proposed hybrid strategy was tested on three LIBS datasets for quantitative analysis of coal ash content and compared with the corresponding data-driven baseline method.It is significantly better than the variable selection only method based on empirical knowledge and in most cases outperforms the baseline method.The results showed that on all three datasets the hybrid strategy for variable selection combining empirical knowledge and data-driven algorithms achieved the lowest root mean square error of prediction(RMSEP)values of 1.605,3.478 and 1.647,respectively,which were significantly lower than those obtained from multiple linear regression using only 12 empirical variables,which are 1.959,3.718 and 2.181,respectively.The LASSO-PLSR model with empirical support and 20 selected variables exhibited a significantly improved performance after variable deselection,with RMSEP values dropping from 1.635,3.962 and 1.647 to 1.483,3.086 and 1.567,respectively.Such results demonstrate that using empirical knowledge as a support for datadriven variable selection can be a viable approach to improve the accuracy and reliability of LIBS quantification.

Variational Mode Decomposition-Informed Empirical Wavelet Transform for Electric Vibrator Noise Analysis

Electric vibrators find wide applications in reliability testing, waveform generation, and vibration simulation, making their noise characteristics a topic of significant interest. While Variational Mode Decomposition (VMD) and Empirical Wavelet Transform (EWT) offer valuable support for studying signal components, they also present certain limitations. This article integrates the strengths of both methods and proposes an enhanced approach that integrates VMD into the frequency band division principle of EWT. Initially, the method decomposes the signal using VMD, determining the mode count based on residuals, and subsequently employs EWT decomposition based on this information. This addresses mode aliasing issues in the original method while capitalizing on VMD’s adaptability. Feasibility was confirmed through simulation signals and ultimately applied to noise signals from vibrators. Experimental results demonstrate that the improved method not only resolves EWT frequency band division challenges but also effectively decomposes signal components compared to the VMD method.

Security Risk Assessment in Container Terminals:Empirical Evidence from Greece

The most prominent risk assessment techniques are founded on the values of measuring and controlling the frequency and the consequences of risks in order to assure an“acceptable level”of“safeness”mainly in the lines of environmental,health and hygiene and port product issues.This paper examines security risk assessment approaches within the emerging role of ports.This paper contributes to the current literature by considering the ports of Greece as a case in point and by measuring the degree of its security risk orientation based on certain valid risk factors drawn from the current literature.Moreover,it presents a security risk assessment methodology into the domain of port container terminals.Their potential for ports were quantitatively and qualitatively assessed by discussing issues of security approaches within the maritime industry,in order to facilitate improvement strategies.A two-dimension empirical study was conducted,in a time range of ten years(2010-2020)in order to provide evidence regarding security risk assessment in the port container terminal of Thessaloniki,in Greece.The findings of this study have significant strategic policy implications and shed more light on the role of security risks in the overall risk orientation of container terminals in practice.Finally,further research directions in security risk in ports are proposed.

Evaluation and Empirical Research on Teachers’ Information Literacy in the Context of Smart Education

The development of smart education has led to the integration of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence with education.It is a prerequisite for teachers to have high information literacy for conducting education and teaching work.This study conducted a questionnaire survey on 412 teachers in a certain area.The results showed that teachers’information literacy is above the middle level,and there are significant differences in information literacy between teaching experience and educational background.The evaluation showed that information ethics,information awareness,and information application have a significant positive impact on professional development,and information knowledge and information awareness have a positive predictive effect on information ethics.

Landslide displacement prediction based on optimized empirical mode decomposition and deep bidirectional long short-term memory network

There are two technical challenges in predicting slope deformation.The first one is the random displacement,which could not be decomposed and predicted by numerically resolving the observed accumulated displacement and time series of a landslide.The second one is the dynamic evolution of a landslide,which could not be feasibly simulated simply by traditional prediction models.In this paper,a dynamic model of displacement prediction is introduced for composite landslides based on a combination of empirical mode decomposition with soft screening stop criteria(SSSC-EMD)and deep bidirectional long short-term memory(DBi-LSTM)neural network.In the proposed model,the time series analysis and SSSC-EMD are used to decompose the observed accumulated displacements of a slope into three components,viz.trend displacement,periodic displacement,and random displacement.Then,by analyzing the evolution pattern of a landslide and its key factors triggering landslides,appropriate influencing factors are selected for each displacement component,and DBi-LSTM neural network to carry out multi-datadriven dynamic prediction for each displacement component.An accumulated displacement prediction has been obtained by a summation of each component.For accuracy verification and engineering practicability of the model,field observations from two known landslides in China,the Xintan landslide and the Bazimen landslide were collected for comparison and evaluation.The case study verified that the model proposed in this paper can better characterize the"stepwise"deformation characteristics of a slope.As compared with long short-term memory(LSTM)neural network,support vector machine(SVM),and autoregressive integrated moving average(ARIMA)model,DBi-LSTM neural network has higher accuracy in predicting the periodic displacement of slope deformation,with the mean absolute percentage error reduced by 3.063%,14.913%,and 13.960%respectively,and the root mean square error reduced by 1.951 mm,8.954 mm and 7.790 mm respectively.Conclusively,this model not only has high prediction accuracy but also is more stable,which can provide new insight for practical landslide prevention and control engineering.

SPAGINS:semiempirical parameterization for fragments in gamma-induced nuclear spallation

From the empirical phenomena of fragment distributions in nuclear spallation reactions,semiempirical formulas named SPAGINS were constructed to predict fragment cross-sections in high-energyγ-induced nuclear spallation reactions(PNSR).In constructing the SPAGINS formulas,theoretical models,including the TALYS toolkit,SPACS,and Rudstam formulas,were employed to study the general phenomenon of fragment distributions in PNSR with incident energies ranging from 100 to 1000 MeV.Considering the primary characteristics of PNSR,the SPAGINS formulas modify the EPAX and SPACS formulas and efficiently reproduce the measured data.The SPAGINS formulas provide a new and effective tool for predicting fragment production in PNSR.

Significant wave height forecasts integrating ensemble empirical mode decomposition with sequence-to-sequence model

As wave height is an important parameter in marine climate measurement,its accurate prediction is crucial in ocean engineering.It also plays an important role in marine disaster early warning and ship design,etc.However,challenges in the large demand for computing resources and the improvement of accuracy are currently encountered.To resolve the above mentioned problems,sequence-to-sequence deep learning model(Seq-to-Seq)is applied to intelligently explore the internal law between the continuous wave height data output by the model,so as to realize fast and accurate predictions on wave height data.Simultaneously,ensemble empirical mode decomposition(EEMD)is adopted to reduce the non-stationarity of wave height data and solve the problem of modal aliasing caused by empirical mode decomposition(EMD),and then improves the prediction accuracy.A significant wave height forecast method integrating EEMD with the Seq-to-Seq model(EEMD-Seq-to-Seq)is proposed in this paper,and the prediction models under different time spans are established.Compared with the long short-term memory model,the novel method demonstrates increased continuity for long-term prediction and reduces prediction errors.The experiments of wave height prediction on four buoys show that the EEMD-Seq-to-Seq algorithm effectively improves the prediction accuracy in short-term(3-h,6-h,12-h and 24-h forecast horizon)and long-term(48-h and 72-h forecast horizon)predictions.

History dynamics of unified empire in China(770 BC to 476 BC)

The laws and regulations in human history can be revealed by computational models.From 221 before Christ(BC)to 1912 Anno Domini(AD),the unification pattern has dominated the main part of Chinese history for 2132 years.Before the emergence of the first unified empire,the Qin Empire in 221 BC,there existed the Eastern Zhou dynasty(770 BC to 221 BC).This long dynasty has two stages,and here we focus on the first stage.This Spring-Autumn stage was from 770 BC(with 148 states)to 476 BC(with 32 states).The whole country(China)is modelled as a multi‐agent system,which contains multiple local states.They behave autonomously under certain action rules(wars and conflicts),which forms the main reason for the annexations and disappearance of most states.Key factors(power,loyalty,bellicosity and alliance)have been considered in our model settings,and simulation outcomes will be monitored and collected.Eventually,an optimal solution is obtained,which well unveils the internal mechanism and statistical features of real big history.Furthermore,counterfactuals are used to explore the non‐linear effects of the key factors,which deepens the authors’understanding of civilisa-tion evolutions in human history.

An Empirical Assessment and Analysis of the United Nations Convention on Contracts Judicial Applicability in China

Chinese domestic legislation on the judicial applicability of international treaties has been unsettled,especially under the Civil Code,which is silent on this issue.However,previous studies have depicted an image of a“pro-CISG”attitude in Chinese legal practice,which is distinguished from the tendency to circumvent the CISG in other jurisdictions such as the U.S.This contradictory phenomenon,namely the absence of guiding norms versus the embracement of the CISG in judicial practice,is rarely discussed,especially within the context of civil codification and recent external economic challenges.To verify this paradox,a manually collected dataset of 223 court decisions from 2013 to 2023 identifies some basic characteristics of the CISG judicial applicability in China,including the application rate,legal reasoning paths,citation frequencies of specific provisions,and some qualitative observations about the judicial behaviors in the international sales dispute resolution.The main finding is that Chinese courts have been applying the CISG at an obviously higher rate,compared with both their foreign counterparts and the general rate of applying foreign law in the international civil and commercial litigations in China.To explain this gap between“law in book”and“law in action,”the context of Chinese judicial practice should be considered.Despite the vagueness of domestic legislation,the judicial policy promotion,the innovative guiding cases system,the legal transplantation,and other factors may contribute to the“pro-CISG”attitude.As for the future promotion of CISG in the Chinese style of international commercial dispute resolution,these factors may coordinate with the legislative improvements.

Empirical Investigation of Treatment of Sour Gas by Novel Technology: Energy Optimization

The sour gas sweetening is one of the main processes in gas industries. Gas sweetening is done through chemical processes. Therefore, it requires high cost and energy. The results show that increasing the operating temperature increases the mass transfer coefficient and increases the mass transfer rate. Theoretical and experimental data show that sulfur removal in 4.5 W magnetic field is desirable. The increase in sulfur removal percentage in the magnetic field of 4.5 W and 6.75 W is about 16.4% and 15.2%, respectively. According to the obtained results, the effect of temperature increase from 18.8°C to 23.4°C is more evident than the effect of temperature change from 23.4°C to 32.2°C. Because more thermal energy is needed to provide higher temperatures. Therefore, the temperature of 23.4°C is reported as the optimal temperature. The results of this research show that the percentage of sulfur removal is also high at this temperature.

Empirical Likelihood Statistical Inference for Compound Poisson Vector Processes under Infinite Covariance Matrix

The paper discusses the statistical inference problem of the compound Poisson vector process(CPVP)in the domain of attraction of normal law but with infinite covariance matrix.The empirical likelihood(EL)method to construct confidence regions for the mean vector has been proposed.It is a generalization from the finite second-order moments to the infinite second-order moments in the domain of attraction of normal law.The log-empirical likelihood ratio statistic for the average number of the CPVP converges to F distribution in distribution when the population is in the domain of attraction of normal law but has infinite covariance matrix.Some simulation results are proposed to illustrate the method of the paper.

Smoothed Empirical Likelihood Inference for Nonlinear Quantile Regression Models with Missing Response

In this paper, three smoothed empirical log-likelihood ratio functions for the parameters of nonlinear models with missing response are suggested. Under some regular conditions, the corresponding Wilks phenomena are obtained and the confidence regions for the parameter can be constructed easily.

Vehicle-Bridge Interaction Simulation and Damage Identification of a Bridge Using Responses Measured in a Passing Vehicle by Empirical Mode Decomposition Method

To prevent early bridge failures, effective Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is vital. Vibration-based damage assessment is a powerful tool in this regard, as it relies on changes in a structure’s dynamic characteristics as it degrades. By measuring the vibration response of a bridge due to passing vehicles, this approach can identify potential structural damage. This dissertation introduces a novel technique grounded in Vehicle-Bridge Interaction (VBI) to evaluate bridge health. It aims to detect damage by analyzing the response of passing vehicles, taking into account VBI. The theoretical foundation of this method begins with representing the bridge’s superstructure using a Finite Element Model and employing a half-car dynamic model to simulate the vehicle with suspension. Two sets of motion equations, one for the bridge and one for the vehicle are generated using the Finite Element Method, mode superposition, and D’Alembert’s principle. The combined dynamics are solved using the Newmark-beta method, accounting for road surface roughness. A new approach for damage identification based on the response of passing vehicles is proposed. The response is theoretically composed of vehicle frequency, bridge natural frequency, and a pseudo-frequency component related to vehicle speed. The Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) method is applied to decompose the signal into its constituent parts, and damage detection relies on the Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs) corresponding to the vehicle speed component. This technique effectively identifies various damage scenarios considered in the study.

An Empirical Study on the Differences between Overt Translation and Covert Translation in Legal

Currently,it is key to convey precise meanings to readers for translators.Observing expressing habits between different languages is the precondition to make target texts more readable.It is crucial to ensure the exactness and seriousness of legal texts,but it does not mean that translators have to take machined way to leave out and even give up transmitting in-deep cultural implications for the intention of achieving the all-inclusive integrity of target content.It is a correct choice for translators to take overt translation and covert translation in line with traits of source language and target language and differences between civil law system and common law system.The intention of the article is to make an empirical study between overt translation and covert translation.

Physical Properties of the Function and Number of Empirical Macrohardness of the Material: Universal Physical Unit of Measurement of Macro Hardness (Part 2)

Results of analytical studies of the physical properties of the function and number of empirical macrohardness based on the standard experimental force diagram of kinetic macroindentation by a sphere.An analytical comparison method and a criterion for the similarity of the physical and empirical macrohardness of a material are proposed.The physical properties of the hardness measurement process using the Calvert-Johnson method are shown.The physical reasons for the size effect when measuring macrohardness are considered.The universal physical unit and standard of macrohardness of kinetic macroindentation by a sphere is substantiated.

Empirical Likelihood Based Longitudinal Data Analysis

In longitudinal data analysis, our primary interest is in the estimation of regression parameters for the marginal expectations of the longitudinal responses, and the longitudinal correlation parameters are of secondary interest. The joint likelihood function for longitudinal data is challenging, particularly due to correlated responses. Marginal models, such as generalized estimating equations (GEEs), have received much attention based on the assumption of the first two moments of the data and a working correlation structure. The confidence regions and hypothesis tests are constructed based on the asymptotic normality. This approach is sensitive to the misspecification of the variance function and the working correlation structure which may yield inefficient and inconsistent estimates leading to wrong conclusions. To overcome this problem, we propose an empirical likelihood (EL) procedure based on a set of estimating equations for the parameter of interest and discuss its characteristics and asymptotic properties. We also provide an algorithm based on EL principles for the estimation of the regression parameters and the construction of its confidence region. We have applied the proposed method in two case examples.