Analysis of the inflection points of height-diameter models

The inflection point is an important feature of sigmoidal height-diameter(H-D)models.It is often cited as one of the properties favoring sigmoidal model forms.However,there are very few studies analyzing the inflection points of H-D models.The goals of this study were to theoretically and empirically examine the behaviors of inflection points of six common H-D models with a regional dataset.The six models were the Wykoff(WYK),Schumacher(SCH),Curtis(CUR),HossfeldⅣ(HOS),von Bertalanffy-Richards(VBR),and Gompertz(GPZ)models.The models were first fitted in their base forms with tree species as random effects and were then expanded to include functional traits and spatial distribution.The distributions of the estimated inflection points were similar between the two-parameter models WYK,SCH,and CUR,but were different between the threeparameter models HOS,VBR,and GPZ.GPZ produced some of the largest inflection points.HOS and VBR produced concave H-D curves without inflection points for 12.7%and 39.7%of the tree species.Evergreen species or decreasing shade tolerance resulted in larger inflection points.The trends in the estimated inflection points of HOS and VBR were entirely opposite across the landscape.Furthermore,HOS could produce concave H-D curves for portions of the landscape.Based on the studied behaviors,the choice between two-parameter models may not matter.We recommend comparing seve ral three-parameter model forms for consistency in estimated inflection points before deciding on one.Believing sigmoidal models to have inflection points does not necessarily mean that they will produce fitted curves with one.Our study highlights the need to integrate analysis of inflection points into modeling H-D relationships.

An Efficient Reliability-Based Optimization Method Utilizing High-Dimensional Model Representation and Weight-Point Estimation Method

The objective of reliability-based design optimization(RBDO)is to minimize the optimization objective while satisfying the corresponding reliability requirements.However,the nested loop characteristic reduces the efficiency of RBDO algorithm,which hinders their application to high-dimensional engineering problems.To address these issues,this paper proposes an efficient decoupled RBDO method combining high dimensional model representation(HDMR)and the weight-point estimation method(WPEM).First,we decouple the RBDO model using HDMR and WPEM.Second,Lagrange interpolation is used to approximate a univariate function.Finally,based on the results of the first two steps,the original nested loop reliability optimization model is completely transformed into a deterministic design optimization model that can be solved by a series of mature constrained optimization methods without any additional calculations.Two numerical examples of a planar 10-bar structure and an aviation hydraulic piping system with 28 design variables are analyzed to illustrate the performance and practicability of the proposed method.

Research on BIM Model Reshaping Method Based on 3D Point Cloud Recognition

In view of the limitations of traditional measurement methods in the field of building information,such as complex operation,low timeliness and poor accuracy,a new way of combining three-dimensional scanning technology and BIM(Building Information Modeling)model was discussed.Focused on the efficient acquisition of building geometric information using the fast-developing 3D point cloud technology,an improved deep learning-based 3D point cloud recognition method was proposed.The method optimised the network structure based on RandLA-Net to adapt to the large-scale point cloud processing requirements,while the semantic and instance features of the point cloud were integrated to significantly improve the recognition accuracy and provide a precise basis for BIM model remodeling.In addition,a visual BIM model generation system was developed,which systematically transformed the point cloud recognition results into BIM component parameters,automatically constructed BIM models,and promoted the open sharing and secondary development of models.The research results not only effectively promote the automation process of converting 3D point cloud data to refined BIM models,but also provide important technical support for promoting building informatisation and accelerating the construction of smart cities,showing a wide range of application potential and practical value.

Qualitative Properties of Equilibrium Point in a Discrete Predator-Prey Model

In this paper, the dynamic properties of a discrete predator-prey model are discussed. The properties of non-hyperbolic fixed points and hyperbolic fixed points of the model are analyzed. First, by using the classic Shengjin formula, we find the existence conditions for fixed points of the model. Then, by using the qualitative theory of ordinary differential equations and matrix theory we indicate which points are hyperbolic and which are non-hyperbolic and the associated conditions.

FLEXIBLE 2-DOF STEERING MODEL OF MULTI-AXLE HEAVY-DUTY VEHICLE

A flexible two degrees of freedom (2-DOF) steering model of multi-axlevehicle (MAV) is presented with considering the effect of frame flexibility based on the classic2-DOF model. A method to calculate the frame flexibility is derived by using three moments equation.The steering stability of MAV is analyzed. The steering performance of MAV is also researched infrequency domain. Simulation results show that the dynamic effects of flexible model are more severethan rigid model and the flexible effect of frame will weaken the steering stability of MAV.Different disposals of steering axles lead to different steering characteristics of MAV. Thein-phase steering mode improves the steering characteristics and stability at high speed. Theanti-phase steering mode increases the steering mobility at low vehicle speed.

MULTI-AXLE VEHICLE STABILITY BASED ON WHOLE VEHICLE MODEL

From the analysis of experiment data of the multi-axle vehicle chassis searching process, it is less accurate to predict multi-axle vehicle dynamic characteristic with simplified two-axle vehicle model. So it is important to find out a more effective modeling method in the study of multi-vehicle stability. In the development of heat transfer fluid（HTF） six-axle vehicle, a whole vehicle multi-body dynamic model is built through collaborate flowchart using Teamcenter Engineering, UG NX3 and MSC.Adams. The modeling method of connected hydragas spring suspension is validated by running test results. Based on this whole vehicle model, a kinematical analysis of suspension is implemented to achieve optimized suspension geometry parameters according to the stable requirement. Then, different handling simulations are carried out with regard to various tire characteristics, driving con- figurations, and equipments. According to the evaluation of whole vehicle handling characteristic, some design rules are summarized to improve the stability of multi-axle vehicle.

DYNAMIC MODEL OF POINT ANDAREA WEAPON AND ITS PARAMETER OPTIMIZATION

提出了一种适于手持式面杀伤组合武器结构的分析计算模型，建立了相应的动力学方程。采用正交优化设计方法，分析了模型中主要物理参数及结构参数的变化对系统动力学特性的影响，为用该结构模型设计新型点面杀伤组合武器提供了理论依据。

Acupuncture at the “Huatuojiaji” point affects nerve root regional interleukin-1 level in a rat model of lumbar nerve root compression

BACKGROUND：It has been shown that interleukin-1 （IL-1） may cause inflammatory reactions, which stimulate the nerve root of patients with lumbar intervertebral disc protrusion and leads to pain. Whether the clinical curative effects of acupuncture in the treatment of lumbar and leg pain are linked to an inhibition of local IL-1 secretion is unknown. OBJECTIVE： To assess the influence of acupuncture on IL-1, this study was designed to verify the effects of acupuncture at the ＂Huatuojiaji （Extra）＂ point on the nerve root in a rat model of lumbar nerve root compression, compared with administration of meloxicam, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING： Randomized, controlled, molecular biology experiment, performed at the Experimental Center, Sixth People’s Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University between September 2005 and April 2006. MATERIALS： Forty healthy adult Sprague Dawley rats of either gender were included in this study. The rats were randomly and evenly divided into the following four groups： normal control, model, acupuncture and meloxicam groups. Lumbar nerve root compression was induced in rats in the model, acupuncture, and meloxicam groups by inserting a specially made silicon rubber slice at the juncture of the L5 nerve root and the dural sac. The acupuncture needle （pattern number N3030, 30#, 1.5 inch） was purchased from Suzhou Medical Appliance Factory, China. IL-1 enzyme linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA） kit was purchased from Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc., USA. METHODS： The acupuncture group was acupunctured at the ＂Huatuojiaji＂ point, which is lateral to the compressed L5-6 nerve root, with an acupuncture depth of 0.5 cm. There were two treatment courses, each of involved seven 20-minute acupuncture sessions, one session a day. The meloxicam group was administered intragastrically 3.75 mg/kg meloxicam （5 mg meloxicam /10 mL physiological saline）. Rats in the normal control group and model group received an intragastric administration of 10 mL/kg physiological saline. All administrations were performed once a day. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： At day 14 post-surgery, the IL-1 level in the compressed nerve root was determined by a streptavidin-peroxidase （S-P） immunohistochemical method, and IL-1β mRNA expression in the compressed nerve root was simultaneously detected by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS： The expression levels of IL-1 and IL-1β mRNA in the L5 nerve root were significantly higher in the model group than in the control group （P 〈 0.01）. However, the expression levels of IL-1 and IL-1β mRNA were significantly lower in the acupuncture and meloxicam groups than in the model group （P 〈 0.05–0.01）. Expression levels of IL-1 and IL-1β mRNA were significantly higher in the acupuncture group than in the meloxicam group （P 〈 0.01）. CONCLUSION： Acupuncture at the ＂Huatuojiaji＂ point decreases the IL-1 level by inhibiting IL-1β mRNA expression to a greater extent than meloxicam administration.

An Error Equivalent Model of Revolute Joints with Clearances for Antenna Pointing Mechanisms

Joint clearances in antenna pointing mechanisms lead to uncertainty in function deviation. Current studies mainly focus on radial clearance of revolute joints, while axial clearance has rarely been taken into consideration. In fact, own?ing to errors from machining and assembly, thermal deformation and so forth, practically, axial clearance is inevitable in the joint. In this study, an error equivalent model(EEM) of revolute joints is proposed with considering both radial and axial clearances. Compared to the planar model of revolute joints only considering radial clearance, the journal motion inside the bearing is more abundant and matches the reality better in the EEM. The model is also extended for analyzing the error distribution of a spatial dual?axis("X–Y" type) antenna pointing mechanism of Spot?beam antennas which especially demand a high pointing accuracy. Three case studies are performed which illustrates the internal relation between radial clearance and axial clearance. It is found that when the axial clearance is big enough, the physical journal can freely realize both translational motion and rotational motion. While if the axial clearance is limited, the motion of the physical journal will be restricted. Analysis results indicate that the consideration of both radial and axial clearances in the revolute joint describes the journal motion inside the bearing more precise. To further validate the proposed model, a model of the EEM is designed and fabricated. Some suggestions on the design of revolute joints are also provided.

Single Point Positioning with Sequential Least-Squares Filter and Estimated Real-Time Stochastic Model

To obtain higher accurate position estimates, the stochastic model is estimated by using residual of observations, hence, the stochastic model describes the noise and bias in measurements more realistically. By using GPS data and broadcast ephemeris, the numerical results indicating the accurate position estimates at sub-meter level are obtainable.

A new calibration model for pointing a radio telescope that considers nonlinear errors in the azimuth axis

A new calibration model of a radio telescope that includes pointing error is presented, which considers nonlinear errors in the azimuth axis. For a large radio telescope, in particular for a telescope with a turntable, it is difficult to correct pointing errors using a traditional linear calibration model, because errors produced by the wheel-on-rail or center bearing structures are generally nonlinear. Fourier expansion is made for the oblique error and parameters describing the inclination direction along the azimuth axis based on the linear calibration model, and a new calibration model for pointing is derived. The new pointing model is applied to the 40 m radio telescope administered by Yunnan Observatories, which is a telescope that uses a turntable. The results show that this model can significantly reduce the residual systematic errors due to nonlinearity in the azimuth axis compared with the linear model.

A Statistical Model for Investigating Climatic Trend Turning Points

A two-phase trend model is presented to investigate the turning-point signals of evolution trend in long-term series of a climatic element. Based on nonlinear fitting, the revised model brings out more evident improvement of the linear model proposed by Solow et al. (1987). Both theoretical deduction and case calculation show that our version can search the turning point and period accurately and objectively. In particular it is fit for computer exploring the turning points in long-range records from stations covering a large area, thus avoiding subjective judgement by a usual drawing method.

Discrete Software Reliability Growth Modeling for Errors of Different Severity Incorporating Change-point Concept

Several software reliability growth models （SRGM） have been developed to monitor the reliability growth during the testing phase of software development. In most of the existing research available in the literatures, it is considered that a similar testing effort is required on each debugging effort. However, in practice, different types of faults may require different amounts of testing efforts for their detection and removal. Consequently, faults are classified into three categories on the basis of severity： simple, hard and complex. This categorization may be extended to r type of faults on the basis of severity. Although some existing research in the literatures has incorporated this concept that fault removal rate （FRR） is different for different types of faults, they assume that the FRR remains constant during the overall testing period. On the contrary, it has been observed that as testing progresses, FRR changes due to changing testing strategy, skill, environment and personnel resources. In this paper, a general discrete SRGM is proposed for errors of different severity in software systems using the change-point concept. Then, the models are formulated for two particular environments. The models were validated on two real-life data sets. The results show better fit and wider applicability of the proposed models as to different types of failure datasets.

Assessment of Point and Nonpoint Sources Pollution in Songhua River Basin,Northeast China by Using Revised Water Quality Model

Individual participation of pollutants in the pollution load should be estimated even if roughly for the appropriate environmental management of a river basin.It is difficult to identify the sources and to quantify the load, especially in modeling nonpoint source.In this study a revised model was established by integrating point and nonpoint sources into one-dimensional Streeter-Phelps(S-P) model on the basis of real-time hydrologic data and surface water quality monitoring data in the Jilin Reach of the Songhua River Basin.Chemical oxygen demand(COD) and ammonia nitrogen(NH 3-N) loads were estimated.Results showed that COD loads of point source and nonpoint source were 134 958 t/yr and 86 209 t/yr, accounting for 61.02% and 38.98% of total loads, respectively.NH 3-N loads of point source and nonpoint source were 16 739 t/yr and 14 272 t/yr, accounting for 53.98% and 46.02%, respectively.Point source pollution was stronger than nonpoint source pollution in the study area at present.The water quality of upstream was better than that of downstream of the rivers and cities.It is indispensable to treat industrial wastewater and municipal sewage out of point sources, to adopt the best management practices to control diffuse pollutants from agricultural land and urban surface runoff in improving water quality of the Songhua River Basin.The revised S-P model can be successfully used to identify pollution source and quantify point source and nonpoint source loads by calibrating and validating.

Road Surface Modeling and Representation from Point Cloud Based on Fuzzy Clustering

A scheme for an automatic road surface modeling from a noisy point cloud is presented. The normal vectors of the point cloud are estimated by distance-weighted fitting of local plane. Then, an automatic recognition of the road surface from noise is performed based on the fuzzy clustering of normal vectors, with which the mean value is calculated and the projecting plane of point cloud is created to obtain the geometric model accordingly. Based on fuzzy clustering of the intensity attributed to each point, different objects on the road surface are assigned different colors for representing abundant appearances. This unsupervised method is demonstrated in the experiment and shows great effectiveness in reconstructing and rendering better road surface.

Thermal Error Modeling Method with the Jamming of Temperature-Sensitive Points'Volatility on CNC Machine Tools

Aiming at the deficiency of the robustness of thermal error compensation models of CNC machine tools, the mechanism of improving the models＇ robustness is studied by regarding the Leaderway-V450 machining center as the object. Through the analysis of actual spindle air cutting experimental data on Leaderway-V450 machine, it is found that the temperature-sensitive points used for modeling is volatility, and this volatility directly leads to large changes on the collinear degree among modeling independent variables. Thus, the forecasting accuracy of multivariate regression model is severely affected, and the forecasting robustness becomes poor too. To overcome this effect, a modeling method of establishing thermal error models by using single temperature variable under the jamming of temperature-sensitive points＇ volatility is put forward. According to the actual data of thermal error measured in different seasons, it is proved that the single temperature variable model can reduce the loss of fore- casting accuracy resulted from the volatility of tempera- ture-sensitive points, especially for the prediction of cross quarter data, the improvement of forecasting accuracy is about 5 μm or more. The purpose that improving the robustness of the thermal error models is realized, which can provide a reference for selecting the modelingindependent variable in the application of thermal error compensation of CNC machine tools.

Modeling footing resting on anisotropic sand using material point method

Sand typically exhibits anisotropic internal structure which may significantly influence its mechanical behavior. The material point method (MPM) can eliminate mesh distortion and thus is suitable for investigating geotechnical problems with large deformation. In this study, an advanced anisotropic critical state theory (ACST)-based soil model is implemented in MPM to study the response of strip footing resting on anisotropic sand. The capability of the model is verified by simulating several element tests and strip footing tests with different soil densities and fabric bedding plane orientations. For the footing problem with a vertical load, as the fabric bedding plane orientation increases, the bearing capacity decreases and its corresponding settlement increases. The failure pattern becomes asymmetrical when the bedding plane orientation or the loading direction is inclined. A comparison between the simulation results predicted by the anisotropic and isotropic models is made, which demonstrates that neglecting the fabric anisotropy may lead to the overestimation of the bearing capacity.

Stability Analysis of a Single-Degree-of Freedom Mechanical Model with Distinct Critical Points: I. Bifurcation Theory Approach

The buckling and post-buckling response of a single-degree-of-freedom mechanical model is re-examined in this work, within the context of nonlinear stability and bifurcation theory. This system has been reported in pioneer as well as in more recent literature to exhibit all kinds of distinct critical points. Its response is thoroughly discussed, the effect of all parameters involved is extensively examined, including imperfection sensitivity, and the results obtained lead to the important conclusion that the model is possibly associated with the butterfly singularity, a fact which will be validated by the contents of a companion paper, based on catastrophe theory.

Dynamic Characteristics Analysis on Truck Drive Axle Assembly

A kind of single impulse welding drive axle used in a truck was selected as research object.The dynamic characteristic simulation of the drive axle was analyzed through building the vehicle dynamics simulation model in virtual software.Comparison between different speeds and different roads were made to get the corresponding dynamics of drive axle.

Semi-parametric Adjustment Model Methods for Positioning of Seafloor Control Point

This paper focus on solving the problem of seafloor control point absolute positioning with low vertical accuracy based on the survey ship sailing circle. The method of dealing with the systematic error based on a semi-parametric adjustment model was proposed. Firstly, the influence of sound velocity change on ranging error is analyzed. Secondly, a semi-parametric adjustment model for determining three-dimensional coordinates of seafloor control points was established. And respectively proposed solutions under two different conditions, the observation duration is an integral multiple or non-integer multiple of the long-period term of the ranging error. The simulation experiment shows that this method can obviously improve the accuracy of vertical solution of seafloor control point compared with the difference technique and the least-squares method when internal waves exist and observation duration is less than an integer multiple of the long-period term of the ranging error.