The converging-diverging structure is introduced to extend the lower limit of measurement of vortex flowmeters. As a compact device, the converging-diverging vortex flowmeter is proposed and designed, and its performance is studied experimentally. It is found that, first of all, an up to 51% extension of the lower measurement limit can be realized through the converging-diverging structure, compared with conventional vortex flowmeters; second, the converging-diverging vortex flowmeter with a trapezoidal bluff body has a larger Strouhal number and smaller pressure loss. The results suggest that the converging-diverging vortex flowmeter provides an alternative device especially suitable for the measurement of low-velocity fluids.

Despite various speech enhancement techniques have been developed for different applications, existing methods are limited in noisy environments with high ambient noise levels. Speech presence probability (SPP) estimation is a speech enhancement technique to reduce speech distortions, especially in low signalto-noise ratios (SNRs) scenario. In this paper, we propose a new two-dimensional (2D) Teager-energyoperators (TEOs) improved SPP estimator for speech enhancement in time-frequency (T-F) domain. Wavelet packet transform (WPT) as a multiband decomposition technique is used to concentrate the energy distribution of speech components. A minimum mean-square error (MMSE) estimator is obtained based on the generalized gamma distribution speech model in WPT domain. In addition, the speech samples corrupted by environment and occupational noises (i.e., machine shop, factory and station) at different input SNRs are used to validate the proposed algorithm. Results suggest that the proposed method achieves a significant enhancement on perceptual quality, compared with four conventional speech enhancement algorithms (i.e., MMSE-84, MMSE-04, Wiener-96, and BTW).

Gas-liquid flows abound in a great variety of industrial processes. Correct recognition of the regimes of a gasliquid flow is one of the most formidable challenges in multiphase flow measurement. Here we put forward a novel approach to the classification of gas-liquid flow patterns. In this method a flow-pattern map is constructed based on the average energy of intrinsic mode function and the volumetric void fraction of gas-liquid mixture. The intrinsic mode function is extracted from the pressure fluctuation across a bluff body using the empirical mode decomposition technique. Experiments adopting air and water as the working fluids are conducted in the bubble, plug, slug, and annular flow patterns at ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure. Verification tests indicate that the identification rate of the flow-pattern map developed exceeds 90%. This approach is appropriate for the gas-liquid flow pattern identification in practical applications.

It has long been observed that toxic heavy metals at different concentrations can induce root hair development in plants. In oilseed rape we studied ethylene levels and root hair initiation under Cd2+ stress. Growth of the primary root was inhibited but close to root tips the development of subapical root hairs was significantly stimulated by Cd2+ at 30 μM. Versus the control, the distance between the root tip and the root hair zone and the length of the epidermal cell in the elongation zone were significantly reduced by Cd2+ at the same concentration. Exogenous application of Cd2+ and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) to roots had similar effects on subapical root hair development. Hair density increase and hair elongation in the presence of Cd2+ were reduced by the ethylene inhibitors CoCl2 at 15 μM and aminooxyacetic acid (AOA) at 10 μM. Exposing roots to Cd2+ caused a rapid increase in superoxide radical (O2 ·-) production in the root hair differentiation zone, and at the tips of emerging and newly formed root hairs. Cd2+-induced O2 ·- production at the growing hair tips was blocked in the presence of AOA. Our findings suggest that Cd2+-induced ethylene signaling may act upstream of O2 ·-. Cd2+ promotion of O2 ·- production may operate through an ethylene signaling pathway, and O2 ·- itself may stimulate root hair elongation.

To find effective and practical methods to distinguish gas-liquid two-phase flow patterns, new flow pattern maps are established using the differential pressure through a classical Venturi tube. The differential pressure signal was first decomposed adaptively into a series of intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) by the ensemble empirical mode decomposition. Hilbert marginal spectra of the IMFs showed that the flow patterns are related to the amplitude of the pressure fluctuation. The cross-correlation method was employed to sift the characteristic IMF, and then the energy ratio of the characteristic IMF to the raw signal was proposed to construct flow pattern maps with the volumetric void fraction and with the two-phase Reynolds number, respectively. The identification rates of these two maps are verified to be 91.18% and 92.65%. This approach provides a cost-effective solution to the difficult problem of identifying gas-liquid flow patterns in the industrial field.

Noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) as one of the major avoidable occupational related health issues has been studied for decades. To assess NIHL, the excitation pattern (EP) has been considered as one of the mechanisms to estimate the movements of the basilar membrane (BM) in the cochlea. In this study, two auditory filters, dual resonance nonlinear (DRNL) filter and rounded-exponential (ROEX) filter are applied to create two EPs, the velocity EP and the loudness EP respectively. Two noise hazard metrics are proposed based on two proposed EPs to evaluate hazardous levels caused by different types of noise. Moreover Gaussian noise and tone signals are simulated to evaluate performances of the proposed EPs and the noise metrics. The results show that both EPs can reflect the responses of the BM to different types of noise. For Gaussian noise there is a frequency shift between the velocity EP and the loudness EP. The results suggest that both EPs can be used for assessment of NIHL.

Conventionally, the filtering technique for attitude estimation is performed using gyros or attitude dynamics

models. In order to extend the application range of an attitude filter, this paper proposes a quaternionbased

filtering framework for gyroless attitude estimation without an attitude dynamics model. The attitude

estimation system is established based on a quaternion kinematic equation and vector observation models.

The angular velocity in the system is determined through observation vectors from attitude sensors and the

statistical properties of the angular velocity error are analysed. A Kalman filter is applied to estimate the

attitude error such that the effect from the angular velocity error is compensated with its statistical properties

at each sampling moment. A numerical simulation example is presented to illustrate the performance of the

proposed algorithm.

The distortion of air gap magnetic field caused by the rotor eccentricity contributes to the electromechanical coupling vibration of the brushless DC (BLDC) permanent magnet in-wheel motor (PMIWM) in electric vehicles (EV). The comfort of the BLDC in-wheel motor drive (IWMD) EV is seriously affected. To deeply investigate the electromechanical coupling vibration of the PMIWM under air gap eccentricity, the PMIWM, tyre and road excitation are analyzed first. The influence of air gap eccentricity on air gap magnetic density is investigated. The coupling law of the air gap and the unbalanced magnetic force (UMF) is studied. The coupling characteristics of eccentricity rate, air gap magnetic density, UMF, phase current and vibration acceleration are verified on the test bench in the laboratory. The mechanism of the electromechanical coupling vibration of the BLDC PMIWM under air gap static eccentricity (SE), dynamic eccentricity (DE) and hybrid eccentricity (HE) is revealed. DE and HE deteriorate the vibration acceleration amplitude, which contributes the electromechanical coupling vibration of the PMIWM. The research results provide a solid foundation for the vibration and noise suppression of the PMIWM in distributed drive EV.

For most precious metal mines, cemented tailings backfill slurry (CTBS) with different cement-sand

ratio and solid concentration are transported into the gobs to keep the stability of the stope and mitigate

environmental pollution by mine tailing. However, transporting several kinds of CTBS through the same

pipeline will increase the risk of pipe plugging. Therefore, the joint impacts of cement-sand ratio and

solid concentration on the rheological characteristics of CTBS need a more in-depth study. Based on the

experiments of physical and mechanical parameters of fresh slurry, the loss of pumping pressure while

transporting CTBS with different cement-sand ratio, flux and solid mass concentration were measured

using pumping looping pipe experiments to investigate the joint impacts of cement-sand ratio and solid

concentration on the rheological characteristics of CTBS. Meanwhile, the effect of different stopped pumping

time on blockage accident was revealed and discussed by the restarting pumping experiments. Furthermore,

Fluent software was applied to calculate the pressure loss and velocity distribution in the pipeline to further

analysis experimental results. The overall trends of the simulation results were good agreement with the

experiment results. Then, the numerical model of the pipeline in the Sanshandao gold mine was conducted

to simulate the characteristics of CTBS pipeline transportation. The results show that the pumping pressure

of the delivery pump can meet the transportation requirements when there is no blockage accident. This

can provide a theoretical method for the parameters optimizing in the pipeline transportation system.

A large amount of electric vehicles (EVs) charging load will bring significant impact to the power system. An appropriate resource allocation strategy is required for securing the power system safety and satisfying EVs charging demand. This paper proposed a power coordination allocation strategy of EVs’ in distribution systems. The strategy divides the allocation into two stages. The first stage is based on scores assigned to EVs through an entropy method, whereas the second stage allocates energy according to EV’s state of charge. The charging power is delivered in order to maximize EV users’ satisfaction and fairness without violation of grid constraints. Simulation on a typical power-limited residential distribution network proves the effectiveness of the strategy. The analysis re- sults indicate that compared with traditional methods, EVs, which have higher charging requirement and shorter available time will get more energy delivered than others. The root- mean-square-error (RMSE) and standard-deviation (SD) results prove the effectiveness of the methodology for improving the balance of power delivery.