3-D numerical modelling of Domino failure of hard rock pillars in Fetr6 Chromite Mine, Iran, and comparison with empirical methods

Fetr6 is an underground mine using the stope-and-pillar mining method. As there was some evidence regarding pillar failure in this mine, improving works such as roof support and replacing existing pillars with concrete pillars (CP) were carried out. During the construction of the second CP, in the space between the remaining pillars, one of the pillars failed leading to the progressive failure of other pillars until 4 000 m 2 of mine had collapsed within a few minutes. In this work, this phenomenon is described by applying both numerical and empirical methods and the respective results are compared. The results of numerical modelling are found to be closer to the actual condition than those of the empirical method. Also, a width-to-height (W/H) ratio less than 1, an inadequate support system and the absence of a detailed program for pillar recovery are shown to be the most important causes of the Domino failure in this mine.

An Empirical Method for Estimating Background Stratospheric Aerosol Extinction Profiles over China

The current paper introduces an empirical method for estimating the vertical distribution of background stratospheric aerosol extinction profiles covering the latitude bands of 50±5°N,40±5°N,30±5°N,and 20±5°N and the longitude range of 75 135°E based on Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) II aerosol extinction measurements at wavelengths of 1020 nm,525 nm,452 nm,and 386 nm for the volcanically calm years between 1998 2004.With this method,the vertical distribution of stratospheric aerosol extinction coefficients can be estimated according to latitude and wavelength.Comparisons of the empirically calculated aerosol extinction profiles and the SAGE II aerosol measurements show that the empirically calculated aerosol extinction coefficients are consistent with SAGE II values,with relative differences within 10% from 2 km above the tropopause to 33 km,and within 22% from 33 km to 35 km.The empirically calculated aerosol stratospheric optical depths (vertically integrated aerosol extinction coefficient) at the four wavelengths are also consistent with the corresponding SAGE II optical depth measurements,with differences within 2.2% in the altitude range from 2 km above the tropopause to 35 km.

Evaluation of rock mass deformability using empirical methods-A review

Evaluation of rock mass deformability is an important but very challenging task in the analysis and design of underground structures in rock.Although various empirical(correlation)methods have been developed for determining the deformation modulus of rock masses,they come in many forms and are scattered in different sources.It is often difficult,time-consuming,or even impossible for a practitioner to find appropriate information to determine the deformation modulus of rock masses for a particular project.Therefore,this paper first provides a comprehensive review of the different empirical methods for determining the deformation modulus of rock masses.Then a comparative analysis and discussion is carried out on the accuracy and main issues of these methods.Since many of the empirical methods for determining the deformation modulus of rock masses need to use the deformation modulus of intact rock,the various empirical methods for estimating the deformation modulus of intact rock are also reviewed.In addition,this paper highlights the scale effect on rock mass deformability,the effect of confining stress on rock mass deformability,and the anisotropy of rock mass deformability.Overall this paper outlines the key aspects of rock mass deformability and provides the fundamental and essential information required for effective evaluation of rock mass deformability using the empirical methods.

Empirical methods in studying the effect of pharmaceutical policies

Healthcare policies are often evaluated using empirical analysis methods. In this study, we summarized the hypothesis test, segmented regression analysis of interrupted time series, autoregressive integrated moving average model, difference in difference model, pooled regression model, fixed effect model, random effect model, propensity score matching method, cost-benefit analysis, and cost-effectiveness analysis. We also established a flow chart to demonstrate the process of selection of empirical analysis methods based on the purpose of policy evaluation, whether there is a control group, the type of data, and whether the data is linear.

Empirical Line Method Using Spectrally Stable Targets to Calibrate IKONOS Imagery

By using speetrally stable targets, the empirical line （EL） method was tested to correct the multispectral IKONOS imagery acquired over Putuo Mountain, Zhejiang, China. A series of calibration targets, which were spectrally stable over time, were selected to establish the linear predicted equation. Subsequently, a series of spectrally stable validation targets were selected to assess the accuracy of the equations. And, validation targets, which were speetrally unstable over time, were used to test the feasibility of using the EL method to calibrate the archival remotely sensed data. Ground reflectance measurements for each target were made using an ASD FieldSpec spectroradiometer. A Trimble GeoXTTM GPS unit with sub-meter accuracy was used to estimate the target position accurately. Linear regression equations for four tKONOS bands were derived. The coefficients of determination for the blue, green, and red bands were all greater than 0.9800 and it was 0.9697 for the near infrared band. It was concluded that reasonable results could be obtained by using speetrally stable targets.

Refined empirical line method to calibrate IKONOS imagery

To extract quantitative biophysical parameters such as leaf biomass and leaf chlorophyll concentration from the remotely sensed imagery, the effect of atmospheric attenuation must be removed. The refined empirical line （REL） method was used to calibrate the IKONOS multispectral imagery. The IKONOS digital numbers （DN） were converted to the at-satellite reflectance, then the linear relation between at-satellite reflectance and surface spectral reflectance （ρA） was derived from six bright targets of known reflectance in the image, and modelled estimates of the image reflectance at ρA=0. Validation targets were used to test the feasibility of REL method. The mean relative errors between ρA retrieved from IKONOS image using REL method and ground-measured ρA were 11%, 13%, 3% and 5% in the IKONOS blue, green, red and near-infrared （NIR） respectively. When dark targets are unavailable or measurement of dark target is inconvenient, the REL method was most crucial for retrieving surface spectral reflectance. The REL offers a simple approach for quantitative retrieval of biophysical parameters from IKONOS imagery.

A method to calculate design tide levels on the basis of numerical model of tidal current and its application

In order to determine the design tide levels in the areas without measured tide level data, especially in the areas where it is difficult to measure tidal levels, a calculation method based on a numerical model of tidal current is proposed. The essentials of the method are described, and its application is illustrated with an example. The results of the application show that the design tide levels calculated by the method are close to those determined by long-time measured tide level data, and its calculation precision is high, so it is feasible to use the method to determine the design tide levels in the areas.

A New Method of Significance Testing for Correlation-Coefficient Fields and Its Application

Correlation-coefficient fields are widely used in short-term climate prediction research. The most frequently used significance test method for the correlation-coefficient field was proposed by Livezey, in which the number of significantcorrelation lattice(station) points on the correlation coherence map is used as the statistic. However, the method is based on two assumptions:(1) the spatial distribution of the lattice(station) points is uniform;and(2) there is no correlation between the physical quantities in the correlation-coefficient field. However, in reality, the above two assumptions are not valid.Therefore, we designed a more reasonable method for significance testing of the correlation-coefficient field. Specifically, a new statistic, the significant-correlation area, is introduced to eliminate the inhomogeneity of the grid(station)-point distribution, and an empirical Monte Carlo method is employed to eliminate the spatial correlation of the matrix.Subsequently, the new significance test was used for simultaneous correlation-coefficient fields between intensities of the atmospheric activity center in the Northern Hemisphere and temperature/precipitation in China. The results show that the new method is more reasonable than the Livezey method.

STUDY ON THE SEQUENCE STRUCTURE OF SBR BY ^(13)C-NMR METHOD Ⅱ. PEAK ASSIGNMENT FOR ALIPHATIC CARBONS SPECTRA

The study on ^(13)C-NMR spectra of aliphatic carbon region of emuision-processed and solution-processed (by lithium catalyst) SBR was carried out. The assignments for more than thirty odd peaks observed experimentally were made by using 'corresponding analysis' method, combined with the empirical parameters reported in literature. The peak intensifies were calculated based on BemouUian statistic assumption.

Rainfall Variability and Trends in West Africa

Rainfall variability associated with climate change has enormous impacts on ecosystems, agriculture and people in West Africa but few studies have been devoted to it. Monthly rainfall data from 1901 to 2013, provided by the Global Precipitation Climatology Center dataset, were analyzed using segmentation and empirical modal decomposition (EMD) methods to increase our knowledge on past and recent spatio-temporal rainfall trends and their impacts on the West African region. The results obtained showed that the peak of rainfall during the short rainy season is observed in September in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Liberia. The temporal variability of this rainfall is marked by several breakpoints whose durations range from 2 to 70 years. The periods of change in the rainfall regime, characterized by the appearance of breakpoints, vary from one country to another and are of unequal duration. The main breakpoint appears after 1960. Periods of relative or normal increase or decrease in precipitation are observed before and after 1960. The long-term variability of this rainfall is characterized by a decrease in the amount of rainfall over all West African countries. The results of this study can be used as a tool to help raise awareness among populations for sustainable management of water resources in response to climate change and its adverse effects.

Estimation of the peak flows in the catchment area of Batna(Algeria)

The limited knowledge of the variations,both spatial and temporal,of the flow patterns at the watershed level invariably leads to poor space management,generating great and often irreversible damage.Therefore,measuring peak flows appears to be not only important but even essential.Due to the absence of hydrometric stations at the outlet of the sub-basins that are part of comprehensive prevention strategy,and were established because of the high vulnerability of the city of Batna,this study provides a transformation model of rainfall into flows in the Batna watershed.This work aims to model the transformation of rainfall into flows.To estimate the Q max,two formulas were used,and Turazza's seems to be the most adequate,because it demonstrates a cumulative sub-basins flow close to the result recorded by the only hydrometric station at the outlet of Batna Watershed.From this modeling,it is possible to estimate the extreme quantiles with the return periods of 10,20,50 and 100 years for each sub-basin.Its purpose is to help design of hydraulic works and increase the resilience of development projects that might be exposed to floods.

An efficient multigrid-DEIM semi-reduced-order model for simulation of single-phase compressible flow in porous media

In this paper,an efcient multigrid-DEIM semi-reduced-order model is developed to accelerate the simulation of unsteady single-phase compressible fow in porous media.The cornerstone of the proposed model is that the full approximate storage multigrid method is used to accelerate the solution of fow equation in original full-order space,and the discrete empirical interpolation method(DEIM)is applied to speed up the solution of Peng-Robinson equation of state in reduced-order subspace.The multigrid-DEIM semi-reduced-order model combines the computation both in full-order space and in reducedorder subspace,which not only preserves good prediction accuracy of full-order model,but also gains dramatic computational acceleration by multigrid and DEIM.Numerical performances including accuracy and acceleration of the proposed model are carefully evaluated by comparing with that of the standard semi-implicit method.In addition,the selection of interpolation points for constructing the low-dimensional subspace for solving the Peng-Robinson equation of state is demonstrated and carried out in detail.Comparison results indicate that the multigrid-DEIM semi-reduced-order model can speed up the simulation substantially at the same time preserve good computational accuracy with negligible errors.The general acceleration is up to 50-60 times faster than that of standard semi-implicit method in two-dimensional simulations,but the average relative errors of numerical results between these two methods only have the order of magnitude 10^(−4)-10^(−6)%.

Simulation of strong earthquake characteristics of a scenario earthquake(M_(S)7.5)based on the enlightenment of 2022 M_(S)6.9 earthquake in Menyuan

The Menyuan area is an important transportation hub in the Hexi Corridor.The Menyuan M_(S)6.9 earthquake that occurred on January 8,2022 had a major impact on the local infrastructure and transportation of this region.Due to the high possibility of similar strong earthquakes occurring in this area in the future,preliminary assessment of the seismic intensity characteristics of destructive earthquakes in this region is essential for effective disaster control.This paper uses the empirical Green′s function(EGF)method as a numerical simulation tool to predict the ground motion intensity of Datong Autonomous County under the action of the scenario earthquake(M_(S)7.5).Seismic records of aftershocks of the 2016 Menyuan M_(S)6.4 earthquake were used as Green’s functions for this simulation.The uncertainties associated with various source parameters were considered,and 36possible earthquake scenarios were simulated to obtain 72 sets of horizontal ground motions in Datong County.The obtained peak ground acceleration(PGA)vs.time histories of the horizontal ground motion were screened using the attenuation relationships provided by the fifth-edition of China’s Seismic Ground Motion Parameter Zoning Map and the NGA-West2dataset.Ultimately,32 possible acceleration-time histories were selected for further analysis.The screened PGA values ranged from 78.8 to 153 cm/s^(2).The uncertainty associated with the initial rupture point was found to greatly affect the results of the earthquake simulation.The average acceleration spectrum of the selected acceleration-time history exceeded the expected spectrum of a intermediate earthquake,which means that buildings in Datong County might sustain some damage should the scenario earthquake occur.This research can provide reliable ground motion input for urban earthquake damage simulation and seismic design in Datong County.Growing the dataset of small earthquakes recorded in this region will facilitate the large-scale simulation of ground motions under different earthquake scenarios.

Constructing reduced model for complex physical systems via interpolation and neural networks

The work studies model reduction method for nonlinear systems based on proper orthogonal decomposition (POD)and discrete empirical interpolation method (DEIM). Instead of using the classical DEIM to directly approximate thenonlinear term of a system, our approach extracts the main part of the nonlinear term with a linear approximation beforeapproximating the residual with the DEIM. We construct the linear term by Taylor series expansion and dynamic modedecomposition (DMD), respectively, so as to obtain a more accurate reconstruction of the nonlinear term. In addition, anovel error prediction model is devised for the POD-DEIM reduced systems by employing neural networks with the aid oferror data. The error model is cheaply computable and can be adopted as a remedy model to enhance the reduction accuracy.Finally, numerical experiments are performed on two nonlinear problems to show the performance of the proposed method.

The Regional Dynamical Model of the Atmospheric Ozonosphere

The TOMS zonal average total ozone data in the Northern Hemisphere are decomposed with the empirical orthogonal function (EOF) method. According to the features of the spatial characteristic vectors, the characteristic vectors that have been obtained with EOF method can be used as the ordered orthogonal radixes to unfold the phase space. After the corresponding time functions are embedded in phase space, the traces of the state vectors of the regional ozonosphere dynamical system are constructed, and can be used to describe the attractor integral information of the asymptotic state of the regional ozonosphere system and the dynamical features of the regional ozonosphere system, and then the embedded saturation dimension of the regional ozonosphere system attractor is successfully obtained. Based on these works mentioned above, by using the time function series we solve a problem contrary to the numerical solution and retrieve the control parameters of the state equations in which quadratic nonlinear terms are included, and then the dynamical models that can objectively reflect the temporal variation of the regional ozonosphere system are finally established.

Parameters of Exterior Ballistic Feature Points Extraction in Radar Measurement Data by EMD

The problem of measuring exterior ballistic feature points is always difficult to solve and it is essentiale on exterior ballistic measurement.By analysis of radar reflection characteristics and non-stationary echo signals of exterior ballistic feature points,the echo data of exterior ballistic feature points is measured by using the continuous wave radar.The parameters of feature points are extracted by the empirical mode decomposition method(EMD)of Hilbert-Huang transform(HHT)spectrum analysis technique.The radar echo signal model and EMD extraction model are established to analyze the exterior ballistic mutation point detection and EMD extraction method of aliasing echo signal.Typical feature point parameters of exterior ballistic in rocket flight tests are carried out and the effectiveness of the method is verified.A new method of measuring the parameters of exterior ballistic feature point is therefore presented.

Trends in per capita ecological footprint and biocapacity in China 1949-2013

This paper proposes two concepts: the ecological footprint component index(EFCI) and the biocapacity component index(BCCI), based on the ecological footprint(EF) and Shannon entropy approaches. Per capita EFCI and BCCI in China 1949-2013 are analyzed using empirical mode decomposition(EMD). Nonlinear models of per capita EFCI and BCCI in China 1949-2013 are presented and their cycles and predictions from 2014 to 2023 are analyzed. The results over the last 65 years show:(1) EFCI in China has increased constantly with fluctuations, while BCCI has slowly decreased. Their annual change rates are 2.81% and-1.26%, respectively. The increasing EFCI indicates a gradual improvement in China's sustainable development potential; the decreasing BCCI indicates severe environmental and population challenges.(2) The cycles of per capita EFCI have periods of 5.4 and 16.3 years, while cycles of per capita BCCI have periods of 3.6, 13,and 21.7 years. The predictive models indicate that EFCI will first decrease, reaching 0.02725 in2014, and will subsequently increase to 0.03261 in 2021. BCCI will increase, reaching 0.01365 in2014 and 0.01541 in 2022. EFCI and BCCI will reach 0.03037 and 0.01537, respectively, in 2023.Policymakers should ensure that the EFCI and BCCI increase in 2023.

Rockburst in underground excavations:A review of mechanism,classification,and prediction methods

Technical challenges have always been part of underground mining activities,however,some of these challenges grow in complexity as mining occurs in deeper and deeper settings.One such challenge is rock mass stability and the risk of rockburst events.To overcome these challenges,and to limit the risks and impacts of events such as rockbursts,advanced solutions must be developed and best practices implemented.Rockbursts are common in underground mines and substantially threaten the safety of personnel and equipment,and can cause major disruptions in mine development and operations.Rockbursts consist of violent wall rock failures associated with high energy rock projections in response to the instantaneous stress release in rock mass under high strain conditions.Therefore,it is necessary to develop a good understanding of the conditions and mechanisms leading to a rockburst,and to improve risk assessment methods.The capacity to properly estimate the risks of rockburst occurrence is essential in underground operations.However,a limited number of studies have examined and compared yet different empirical methods of rockburst.The current understanding of this important hazard in the mining industry is summarized in this paper to provide the necessary perspective or tools to best assess the risks of rockburst occurrence in deep mines.The various classifications of rockbursts and their mechanisms are discussed.The paper also reviews the current empirical methods of rockburst prediction,which are mostly dependent on geomechanical parameters of the rock such as uniaxial compressive strength of the rock,as well as its tensile strength and elasticity modulus.At the end of this paper,some current achievements and limitations of empirical methods are discussed.

Evaluation of reference evapotranspiration methods for the northeastern region of India

The study planed to identify a suitable alternative to the FAO 56 Penman-Monteith(FAO56PM)equation for calculating reference evapotranspiration(ET_(0))from chosen te mperature and radiation based models utilizing monthly meteorological data from 30 destinations in diverse agro-ecologial regions of the Northeast(NE)India ie,Assam Bengal Plain(ABP),eastern Himalaya(EH),and the northeastern hilly(NEH)region.Radiation-based IRMAK3 most appropriate in the ABP(weighted root mean square deviation,WRMSD=0.17 mm d^(-1),r^(2)=0.98,for Nagrakata),and TURC model being in the first three rank of most of the sites,with the lowest error and highest correlation in NEH(WRMSD=0.10 mm d^(-1),r^(2)=0.92,for Shillong),and EH(WRMSD=0.23 mm d^(-1),r^(2)=-0.95,for Gangtok).Findings reveal that IRMAK3 and TURC models performed equally well and were observed to be the best among selected modets for the majority of stations followed by FAO24 Blaney-Criddle(FAO24BC),and 1957MAKK Pair-wise regession equations were developed for preferred FAO56PM ET_(0) estimates to ET_(0) estimates by alternative methods.Cross-correlation of eighteen chose methods demonstrated that the five equations(i.e.four radiation-and one temperature-based)performed eceptionally well when contrasted with the FAO56PM model,thus being advised for assessing ET_(0)。under limiting data conditions as have yielded a better estimate of ET_(0) with a small error.

Empirical Research in Software Engineering -- A Literature Survey

Empirical research is playing a significant role in software engineering （SE）, and it has been applied to evaluate software artifacts and technologies. There have been a great number of empirical research articles published recently. There is also a large research community in empirical software engineering （ESE）. In this paper, we identify both the overall landscape and detailed implementations of ESE, and investigate frequently applied empirical methods, targeted research purposes, used data sources, and applied data processing approaches and tools in ESE. The aim is to identify new trends and obtain interesting observations of empirical software engineering across different sub-fields of software engineering. We conduct a mapping study on 538 selected articles from January 2013 to November 2017, with four research questions. We observe that the trend of applying empirical methods in software engineering is continuously increasing and the most commonly applied methods are experiment, case study and survey. Moreover, open source projects are the most frequently used data sources. We also observe that most of researchers have paid attention to the validity and the possibility to replicate their studies. These observations are carefully analyzed and presented as carefully designed diagrams. We also reveal shortcomings and demanded knowledge/strategies in ESE and propose recommendations for researchers.