Particulate matter emitted from ultrasonic humidifiers—Chemical composition and implication to indoor air

Household humidification is widely practiced to combat dry indoor air. While the benefits of household humidification are widely perceived, its implications to the indoor air have not been critically appraised. In particular, ultrasonic humidifiers are known to generate fine particulate matter (PM). In this study, we first conducted laboratory experiments to investigate the size, quantity, and chemical composition of PM generated by an ultrasonic humidifier. The mass of PM generated showed a correlation with the total alkalinity of charge water, suggesting that CaCO₃ is likely making a major contribution to PM. Ion chromatography analysis revealed a large amount of SO₄²⁻ in PM, representing a previously unrecognized indoor source. Preliminary results of organic compounds being present in humidifier PM are also presented. A whole-house experiment was further conducted at an actual residential house, with five low-cost sensors (AirBeam) monitoring PM in real time. Operation of a single ultrasonic humidifier resulted in PM_2.5 concentrations up to hundreds of μg m⁻³, and its influence extended across the entire household. The transport and loss of PM_2.5 depended on the rate of air circulation and ventilation. This study emphasizes the need to further investigate the impact of humidifier operation, both on human health and on the indoor atmospheric chemistry, for example, partitioning of acidic and basic compounds.     

Feasibility of non-destructive evaluation for apple crispness based on portable acoustic signal

In this paper, apple crispness was evaluated by sensory evaluation and compared with non-destructive measurements of portable acoustic signal to discuss the feasibility of non-destructive evaluation for apple crispness based on portable acoustic signal. Acoustic eigenvalues from the acoustic signal were processed by time domain and Hilbert–Huang transform (HHT), followed by analysing the correlations with apple crispness that had been evaluated via sensory evaluation. Multiple linear regression (MLR) and artificial neural network (ANN) were applied to predict apple crispness. The results proved that crispness correlates significantly (P < 0.01) with four acoustic eigenvalues, including waveform index, sound intensity, energy of low frequency and energy of high frequency. The average relative error of apple crispness predicted by ANN was 1.42 ± 1.9%, remarkably lower (P < 0.01) that of MLR (6.79 ± 5.64%), implying that the model predicted by ANN is more accurate than that of MLR.     

海水中134Cs、137Cs和60Co的联合分析

建立了小体积海水中¹³⁴Cs、¹³⁷Cs和⁶⁰Co的联合分析方法，确定了最佳实验条件。采用磷钼酸铵富集法对海水中放射性铯进行浓集后，其上清液利用氢氧化钴沉淀载带海水中的⁶⁰Co，用γ能谱仪进行测量。结果表明：该法对海水中放射性¹³⁴Cs、¹³⁷Cs和⁶⁰Co的回收率分别为87%~95%、87%~95%和89%~93%，检测限分别为0.048、0.051、0.046 Bq/L。另外，对2017年IAEA国际比对（IAEA-RML-2017-01）海水样品中的¹³⁴Cs、¹³⁷Cs和⁶⁰Co进行分析测量，核素分析结果的最终评价均为“通过”，验证了本实验室采用的¹³⁴Cs、¹³⁷Cs和⁶⁰Co联合分析方法的可行性和可靠性，为今后该方法在常规海洋环境放射性监测中的应用推广奠定了基础。     

Ergonomic mismatch between students anthropometry and university classroom furniture

University students spend most of their time in classrooms, mostly in a sitting position. Prolonged sitting on ill-fitted furniture and the resulting bad posture is making students suffer from different musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). This study evaluates the potential mismatch between furniture dimensions and anthropometric measurements. To determine potential mismatch, 13 anthropometric measurements of 550 students and 11 dimensions of two types of classroom furniture (mounted-desktop and chair-with-table) were measured and then compared. Additionally, chi-square test was performed to compare the relation between anthropometry and relevant furniture dimensions. Results showed that a significant number of mismatches emerged between anthropometric measurements and furniture dimensions. For both types of furniture, seat height was too high and seat depth was too deep. Moreover, for mounted desktop, desk height is almost appropriate for all students whereas for chair and table, it was too high for the males. These circumstances may lead to increase discomfort and increase MSDs problems among all students. It can be concluded that the dimensions of both types of classroom furniture were not appropriate for users according to anthropometric measurements. This analysis recommends the measurements of furniture dimensions based on participants’ anthropometric measurements to avoid or minimise discomfort and MSDs problems.     

靶面激光光斑尺寸原位测量的研究

提供了一种简便易行的靶面激光光斑尺寸原位测量的方法。从高斯光束的横向光强分布特性出发,建立了激光烧蚀斑半径与辐照激光能量、光斑尺寸、烧蚀阈值间的关系式,模拟分析发现辐照激光光斑尺寸对烧蚀斑半径随辐照能量变化曲线有较大影响。对于脉宽为2 ms,波长为1064 nm的激光,实验测量了不同能量激光辐照下相纸烧蚀斑半径,并用推导出的关系式拟合测量数据,获得了靶面处光斑尺寸和样品烧蚀阈值。同时,也测量了不同位置处的光斑尺寸和样品烧蚀阈值,对高斯光束束腰位置和样品烧蚀阈值的光斑尺寸效应进行了验证。研究结果表明该技术结果可靠,简单高效。该技术可以为高能激光与固体物质相互作用的基础研究和激光加工等应用领域中实现简单方便地测量靶面光斑尺寸提供帮助。     

Dependence of grip strength on shoulder position and its implications for ergonomics practice

Grip strength (GS) variability due to positional changes in the upper extremity joints is of importance while designing workstations and work methods. This study was conducted to analyze the GS variations due to positional changes at shoulder joint when some important variables were under control. The GSs of dominant and nondominant hands were measured in eight shoulder (0°, 45°, 90°, and 135° of flexion and abduction) and standard test positions (STP). One hundred and thirteen subjects 20–30 years old completed the study. At the dominant side, no significant difference was observed in the pairwise comparisons between STP and the others. Maximum and minimum GSs were obtained in 0° abduction and 45° flexion and abduction, respectively. At the nondominant side, GSs were significantly lower (p < 0.001) in the corresponding test positions and demonstrated more variability. The findings of this study can contribute to the available knowledge to guide occupational ergonomists in their practices.     

磁场环境下铝电解熔融铝液成分激光诱导击穿光谱原位测量分析

铝电解车间具有高温、强磁、多粉尘等环境特点,当前生产过程中熔融原铝的成分检测主要是人工取样然后离线分析,化验过程及结果具有较大的滞后性,故将激光诱导击穿光谱(LIBS)技术应用于铝电解车间铝液成分原位、实时测量具有重要意义。实验采用Nd:YAG脉冲激光器,多通道光纤光谱仪和电感耦合器件(CCD)探测器组成的激光诱导击穿光谱测量系统对电流为400kA电解槽中熔融铝液的主要成分铁、硅进行了探测,对原铝中部分元素的特征谱线进行了归属分析。考察了激光能量在磁场环境下的衰减变化及谱线梯度变迁规律,结果表明,距离电解槽边缘约2m处激光能量衰减达最大。分析了磁场对测试系统的影响,并建立了定标曲线,铁和硅两种元素按照内标法建立的定标曲线拟合度分别为93.50%和97.10%,采用该模型进行了测试实验,并用国标GB/T 7999—2015中光电直读发射光谱(OES)测试的相关指标验证测试结果的重复性与允许差。实验证明,LIBS技术在电解铝行业在线检测方面具有较好的应用前景,但是测试的稳定性与重复性也是面临的一个重要问题。     

液压缸非线性弹簧力约束下轧机吸振器参数的优化

考虑四辊轧机液压缸非线性弹簧力约束的因素,引入吸振器控制装置,建立带有轧机吸振器的轧机辊系振动动力学模型;通过对轧机吸振器基本参数的优化,得出吸振器最优的阻尼系数和刚度系数;仿真分析不同质量、弹簧力、摩擦力对轧机辊系振动幅频特性曲线的影响规律,得到轧机吸振器的最优质量可以有效提高系统稳定性,轧机吸振器的最优弹簧力可以缩小系统的不稳定区域,轧机吸振器的最优摩擦力可以有效降低幅频特性曲线的高度,为有效抑制轧机辊系垂直振动提供理论支持。     

一种基于压缩感知的运动目标检测技术

运动目标检测是计算机视觉、图像处理等相关领域的研究热点，其核心就是对视频图像中的每一帧图像进行相应的研究和处理。本文主要研究思路是从压缩感知技术采样信号的角度出发，将每一帧的二维图像压缩采样成具有少量信息的一维信号，再通过信号重构用少量数据量将图像重构出来，最后通过目标检测技术对每一帧的图像进行运动目标提取。仿真实验表明该方法是可行和有效的，同时可以大大减少目标检测中所记录的数据量，解决海量数据的存储与传输问题。