The faster-is-slower effect (FIS), which means that crowd at a high enough velocity could significantly increase the evacuation time to escape through an exit, is an interesting phenomenon in pedestrian dynamics. Such phenomenon had been studied widely and has been experimentally verified in different systems of discrete particles flowing through a centre exit. To experimentally validate this phenomenon by using people under high pressure is difficult due to ethical issues. A mouse, similar to a human, is a kind of self-driven and soft body creature with competitive behaviour under stressed conditions. Therefore, mice are used to escape through an exit at a corner. A number of repeated tests are conducted and the average escape time per mouse at different levels of stimulus are analysed. The escape times do not increase obviously with the level of stimulus for the corner exit, which is contrary to the experiment with the center exit. The experimental results show that the FIS effect is not necessary a universal law for any discrete system. The observation could help the design of buildings by relocating their exits to the corner in rooms to avoid the formation of FIS effect.

Abstract. The TN removal efficiency is very low and the TN concentration of effluent can not meet the national standard of GB18918-2002 in the CRI system. In order to increasingly improve the denitrification efficiency of the CRI system, the artificial soil column is used to simulate the CRI system with 4 kinds of wastewater step-feeding modes. A series of comparative experiments are carried out, and the experimental results show that the TN removal efficiency of the CRI system is controlled by the denitrification process, and the denitrification process takes place mainly in the 900-1400mm zone of the artificial soil column; with the step-feeding mode, the C/N ratios of effluent from the 900-1400mm zone increase obviously in the CRI system, and in the case 4, the C/N ratios of effluent from the 900-1400mm zone are about 2, which is the closest to the optimal C/N ratio of the denitrification process; the best wastewater feeding mode of the CRI system is that the wastewater is pumped into the system from the infiltration media surface and the starting point of the anaerobic zone at the same time, with the influent amount ratio of 2:1.

The window glass ignition temperature is one of the main factors that determine the Heat Release Rate (HRR) of passenger rail car. In order to reveal the influence of window glass ignition temperature on the HRR of China Railways High-speed (CRH) passenger rail car, the HRR, ignition temperature and other thermal parameters of the individual materials and component assemblies of the CRH passenger rail car, are measured with the Cone Calorimeter, burning temperature tester and other instruments, as the input parameters of Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS), and according to the different window glass ignition temperatures ,4 fire scenarios have been designed to obtain the HRR vs. time curves of CRH passenger rail car. The comparison results show that the window glass ignition temperature exerts a significant influence on the HRR of passenger rail car; if the ignition temperature is lower than 415°C, during the fire process the windows near the ignition source will be broken, and the back draft phenomenon will take place, resulting in the extremely high second peak HRR, about 22.6MW; if the ignition temperature is higher than 470°C, during the fire process all the windows will not be broken; and so it is suggested that the window glass ignition temperature in the passenger rail car should be higher than 520°C.

Environmental pollution caused by rural domestic wastewater has become increasingly serious. However, data on the current characteristics of rural domestic wastewater are scarce. In this study, we selected typical villages along the Tuojiang River as study objects. We analyzed the pollution status and discharge characteristics of rural domestic wastewater along the Tuojiang River through field research in winter and summer. Data analysis and collection, as well as water monitoring, were performed to determine the water quality and quantity characteristics of the rural domestic wastewater. The per capita daily discharges of rural domestic wastewater along the Tuojiang River are 11.26–50.37 L in winter and 18.39–303.57 L in summer. Both the maximum and average concentrations of pollutants in the rural domestic wastewater are higher than those in urban domestic wastewater, but the per capita daily discharge of pollutants is clearly lower in rural areas than in urban areas. The analysis of the typical discharges of rural domestic wastewater along the Tuojiang River provides a valuable reference for rural wastewater discharge treatment planning and process selection.

The total phosphorus removal efficiency is very low and the TP concentration of the effluent can not reach the national standard of GB18918-2002 in CRI system. In order to solve these problems, a series of comparative experiments on phosphorus adsorption capacity of 5 kinds of special infiltration media are carried out. And then another series of comparative experiments on the total phosphorus removal efficiency of 4 kinds of infiltration media combinations are also conducted, the experimental results show that the phosphorus adsorption capacity of sponge iron is the best one among the special infiltration media selected；the phosphorus removal efficiency of the infiltration media including 1/6 sponge iron is much better than the infiltration media including only sand; and the phosphorus removal efficiency of the infiltration media combination with sponge iron homogeneously mixed with sand, is better than the infiltration media combination with the same weight of sponge iron concentrated. The experimental results will help to explore the development of the new type composite infiltration media of the CRI System.