Flammability studies of 3-methyl pyridine/water system

In industrial processes, information on the safety property of chemicals is essentially crucial for safe handling during unit operations. Ensuring the safe use of combustible or flammable substances in processes is unlikely without detailed investigations of their flammability characteristics and related hazards. We studied 3-methyl pyridine (3-picoline), e.g., flammability limits (LFL/UFL), maximum explosion pressure (P _max), maximum explosion pressure rise (dP/dt)_max, minimum oxygen concentration (MOC), vapor deflagration index (K _g), and characterized the influence of inert steam (H₂O) on critical parameters for 3-picoline/water mixtures at 270°C, 1 atm, various oxygen concentrations, and vapor mixing ratios (100/0, 30/70, 10/90 and 5/95 vol.%) with a 20-L-Apparatus in simulated conditions, respectively. The results showed that the flammability characteristics of 3-picoline_(aq) all increased with the oxygen concentration. However, as the composition of inert steam increased, the flammability parameters and the degree of fire and explosion hazards were significantly reduced, instead. This study elucidated the flammability properties of 3-picoline mixed with inert steam. The conclusions could be applied to proactively prevent the relevant processes from incurring fire and explosion accidents.     

Advanced kinetic tools for the evaluation of decomposition reactions

Summary An advanced kinetic study on the thermal behaviour of pyrotechnic ignition mixtures has been carried out by differential scanning calorimetry using different B/KNO3 mixtures (50:50, 30:70, 20:80) as a model reaction. The experimental conditions applied (isochoric conditions/closed crucibles and isobaric conditions/open crucibles) as well as the composition of the mixtures noticeably influences the relative thermal stabilities of the energetic materials. The kinetic study focused on the prediction of the thermal stability of the different mixtures both in extended temperature ranges and under temperature conditions at which ordinary investigation would be very difficult. Using advanced numerical tools [1], thermal ageing and influence of the complex thermal environment on the heat accumulation conditions were computed. This can be done for any surrounding temperature profile such as isothermal, non-isothermal, stepwise, modulated, shock, adiabatic conditions and additionally for temperature profiles reflecting real atmospheric temperature changes (yearly temperature profiles of different climates with daily minimal and maximal fluctuations). Applications of accurate decomposition kinetics enabled the determination of the time to maximum rate under adiabatic conditions (TMR_ad) with a precision given by the confidence interval of the predictions. This analysis can then be applied for the examination of the effects of the surrounding temperature for safe storage or transportation conditions (e.g. determination of the safe transport or storage temperatures).     

Additive hazards regression with random effects for clustered failure times

Additive hazards model with random effects is proposed for modelling the correlated failure time data when focus is on comparing the failure times within clusters and on estimating the correlation between failure times from the same cluster, as well as the marginal regression parameters. Our model features that, when marginalized over the random effect variable, it still enjoys the structure of the additive hazards model. We develop the estimating equations for inferring the regression parameters. The proposed estimators are shown to be consistent and asymptotically normal under appropriate regularity conditions. Furthermore, the estimator of the baseline hazards function is proposed and its asymptotic properties are also established. We propose a class of diagnostic methods to assess the overall fitting adequacy of the additive hazards model with random effects. We conduct simulation studies to evaluate the finite sample behaviors of the proposed estimators in various scenarios. Analysis of the Diabetic Retinopathy Study is provided as an illustration for the proposed method.     

Percentile residual life orders

In this paper we study a family of stochastic orders of random variables defined via the comparison of their percentile residual life functions. Some interpretations of these stochastic orders are given, and various properties of them are derived. The relationships to other stochastic orders are also studied. Finally, some applications in reliability theory and finance are described. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Novel Process Applications Using PHI-TEC II Adiabatic Calorimeter

This paper presents several applications of the PHI-TEC II that are not commonly associated with adiabatic calorimeters but which have proved to be extremely valuable. These include simulation of a deep oil well for enhanced oil recovery, isothermal calorimetry of a semibatch reaction, catalyst research using flow through reactors (both plug flow and CSTR) with controlled feeds of high pressure liquid and gas.This revised version was published online in November 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Maximum likelihood estimation in the proportional hazards cure model

The proportional hazards cure model generalizes Cox’s proportional hazards model which allows that a proportion of study subjects may never experience the event of interest. Here nonparametric maximum likelihood approach is proposed to estimating the cumulative hazard and the regression parameters. The asymptotic properties of the resulting estimators are established using the modern empirical process theory. And the estimators for the regression parameters are shown to be semiparametric efficient.     

中国红层的分布及地质环境特征

根据我国红层的分布特征及形成背景 ,将我国红层划分为西南地区红层、西北地区红层、中南、东南地区红层和其他地区 (西藏及华北的部分地区 )红层。重点研究了以川滇红层为代表的西南地区红层和以甘肃红层为代表的西北地区红层 ,研究了各个区域红层的地质构造特征、地形地貌特征、气候环境特征等工程地质环境特征 ,根据工程地质环境特征 ,将研究区域的红层划分为四川盆地红层、西昌—滇中红层、滇西红层和甘肃红层.     

黄土构造节理研究及其应用

作者发现大量不同力学性质的黄土构造节理后，识别了它们的区域性、系统性特征；认定其两组扭裂面代表新构造应力场最大剪切应力方向，利用黄土构造节理系及由其控制的土层沟槽网络恢复了相应地区Q3-4构造应力场；提出构造节理是黄土区地下水运移的主要通道和赋存的场所；发现构造节理是黄土区地裂缝、滑坡、崩塌和水土流失等地质灾害的构造基础之一，证实构造节理是黄土地层的软弱面，风化和继之而来的应力侵蚀就由此开始，进而逐步塑造黄土碟、穴、井、桥、柱、墙、沟等潜蚀地貌和部分侵蚀地貌。研究黄土构造节理对恢复新构造应力场、帮助预测地裂乃至地震活动、控制水土流失和滑塌灾害、进行工程乃至区域稳定性评价、重新认识黄土潜蚀地貌发育规律、指导干旱半干旱黄土区找水，既有理论意义又有实际意义。     

多类型复发间隔时间下广义半参数风险模型

本文在多类型复发间隔时间数据下,研究了一类广义半参数风险回归模型的参数估计问题,给出了该模型中未知参数和非参数函数的一种估计方法,并证明了估计量的相合性和渐近正态性.最后利用数值模拟来评估估计量在有限样本下的表现.