Effects of ultrasonic treatment on structure of roll casting aluminum strip

The experiment of ultrasonic treatment of roll casting aluminum strip on plane twin-roll cast-roller with double-heads ultrasonic tools was carried out, and the metallographic structure of the roll casting aluminum strip treated by ultrasonic was studied. The results show that ultrasonic treatment can refine the grain of the roll casting aluminum strips and make the structure of the strips more homogeneous. The effect is the best when the power of ultrasonic is 300 W and the incident angle of the guide rod is 45、. The mechanism of acoustic cavitations and acoustic flow on grain refinement was also discussed. The heat effect of intensity ultrasonic was studied. The present problems during ultrasonic roll casting process, such as the imperfect cooling system, the inaccurate calculation of ultrasonic energy, and the shape and position of the guide rod to be improved were pointed out.

Comparison Study on Three Different Reconfigurable Optical Add Drop Multiplexer Architectures

In this paper, we present the evolution of reconfigurable optical add drop multiplexer（ROADM） technologies, and compare three main ROADM architectures available on the market today. Three archhectures include broadcast-select and demux-switch-mux[and the integrated version planar lightwave circuit（PLC）] and wavelengths-selective switch.

A Novel Optical Burst Mesh Network with Optical Time Slot Interchange at Source Nodes

In this paper, we propose an optical burst network architecture supporting the ge- netic mesh topology. The intermediate node architecture of the mesh network can be the same with current wavelength switching Wave- length Division Multiplexing （WDM） net- works, and thus can reuse existing deployed infrastructure. We employ a novel Optical Time Slot Interchange （OTSI） at the source nodes for the first time to mitigate the burst conten- tion and to increase the bandwidth utilization. Time- and wavelength-domain reuse in the OTSI significantly saves optical components and red- uces blocking probability.

Musical Event Structure Metaphors in Beckett＇s Ghost Trio

Samuel Beckett＇ s dramaticles are permeated with musical aesthetic thought, which is one of his unique writing styles. Exploration of such style is beneficial and conducive to deepen our understanding of the abstract and fragmented dramatic discourse. This thesis makes attempt to investigate musical aesthetic thought from the angle of the Event Structure Metaphor.

Hydrodynamic parameters in a flood impacted boulder block ramp： Krzczonówka mountain stream, Polish Carpathians

Boulder block ramps are river engineering structures used to stabilise river beds. Block ramps provide a semi-natural and aesthetically pleasing solution to certain river engineering problems in mountain streams. When constructing block ramps,one can use the dissipative behaviour of large macroroughness elements randomly placed on the river bed to enhance fish migration in an upstream direction thus, in this sense, meeting the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive. Block ramps are often designed and constructed to replace damaged drop hydraulic structures in the channels of mountain streams. This paper investigates the resilience of a particular block ramp placed in the Krzczonówka stream(Polish Carpathians) in terms of the engineering design function and its durability against damaging. A hydrodynamic analysis of a block ramp is presented before and after a flood event that changed the configuration of the blocks. The seminatural unstructured hydraulic structure was built on the Krzczonowka stream to protect gas pipes which are located beneath it. As a result of several floods, the boulder block chute described in this paper was damaged, and some boulders were dislodged and transported downstream. Our post-flood investigations of bathymetry and velocity revealed that even damaged boulder blocks, removed from the chute and displaced downstream of the structure, still provide significant energy dissipation of the flowing water. The novel of our paper is for the first time showing very detailed analysis of unstructured block ramp hydrodynamics parameters done in the field.Also the novel finding of our investigations shows that before and after the flood event the unstructured block ramp structure, is still fish friendly in terms of hydrodynamics.

Hydrodynamics and Lateral Gas Dispersion in a High-Density Circulating Fluidized Bed Reactor with Bluff Internals

Effect of bluff internals on the hydrodynamics and lateral gas mixing was studied in a 0.186m ID high-density riser. With the bluff internals, the extremely non-uniform radial profiles of solid fraction and particle velocity become flat and the dense downflow layer near the wall disappears, indicating the significant enhancement of solid turbulence introduced by the internals. The fluctuation velocity and solid fraction transient signal analysis indicates a significant increase in fluctuation intensity near the wall region. The length influenced by the internals on the flow structure is about 1 meter. The lateral gas dispersion coefficient increases significantly as the bluff internals exist in the riser.

GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well infrared photodetector with low noise

A novel kind of multi-quantum well infrared photodetector（QWlP） is presented. In the new structure device,a p-type contact layer has been grown on the top of the conventional structure of QWlP,then a small tunneling current is instead of the large compensatory current,which made the device low dark current and low noise characteristics. The measured result of dark current is consistent with the calculated result, and the noise of the new structure QWIP is decreased to one third of the conventional QWlP.

The New Rigid Element for Laminated Cylindrical Shell

Thermal effects are incorporated into developed discrete layer mechanics for two-dimensional cylindrical shells structures. Finite element equations are developed according to layerwise theory of laminated structure. Following the layerwise theory, a variable kinematic model that incorporates mechanics and thermal conditions is also presented. The new element has a field of displacement compatible with the cylindrical shell element or plate and it can be used as a rigid element for this structural element.ln the laminate model construction, adjacent layers are arranged as bonded layers. The layer has a unique constant thickness that can be different to each layer. The fiber reinforced is used and the fibers in a laminate may be oriented arbitrarily. The shear stress is adopted equal to zero because the thin thickness, on the other hand, the normal stress is maintained in order to ensure the compatibility of stress in material. The previously authors of this methods neglect the implications of thermal effects on cylindrical shells structures. Thermal effects become important when the structure has to operate in either extremely hot or cold temperature environments. These extreme conditions may severely affect the response of structure in two distinct ways： （1） induction of thermal stresses due to differences in the coefficients of thermal expansion between the various composite plies and layers and （2） temperature dependence of the elastic properties. Only a limited amount of work has been reported concerning this topic. All in all, the main contribution of this work is the consideration of this kinematic for cylindrical shells that incorporate mechanics and thermal conditions. In addition, numerical results are presented to demonstrate the capability of the current formulation to represent the behavior of cylindrical shells with these characteristics.

Generation of 3D random meso-structure of soil-rock mixture and its meso-structural mechanics based on numerical tests

The mesoscopic failure mechanism and the macro-mechanical characteristics of soil-rock mixture(S-RM) under external load are largely controlled by S-RM's meso-structural features. The objective of this work is to improve the three-dimensional technology for the generation of the random meso-structural models of S-RM, for randomly generating irregular rock blocks in S-RM with different shapes, sizes, and distributions according to the characteristics of the rock blocks' size distribution. Based on the new improved technology, a software system named as R-SRM3 D for generation and visualization of S-RM is developed. Using R-SRM3 D, a three-dimensional meso-structural model of S-RM is generated and used to study the meso-mechanical behavior through a series of true-triaxial numerical tests. From the numerical tests, the following conclusions are obtained. The meso-stress field of S-RM is influenced by the distribution of the internal rock blocks, and the macro-mechanical characteristics of S-RM are anisotropic in 3D; the intermediate principal stress and the soil-rock interface properties have significant influence on the macro strength of S-RM.

L2 Syntactic Alignment in the Reading-Writing Integrated Continuation Task: Evidence From Chinese EFL Learners’ Description of Motion Events

This study investigated how the mode in which the reading-writing integrated continuation task was conducted modulates the effects of second language(L2) syntactic alignment, through the English motion event construction with manner verbs. Ninety Chinese students were assigned to either of the two experimental groups or a control group, and they all experienced a pretest, an alignment phase and a posttest. In the alignment phase, the two experimental groups completed a reading-writing integrated continuation task but in different modes. For the multi-turn mode,participants reconstructed a picture story by continuing the episodes extracted from the story with one episode presented and continued at a time;for the single-turn mode, the first half of the same picture story was presented as a chunk, and then participants read and continued it. Results show that L2 learners aligned with the target structure in completing the story, and the alignment effect was retained in the posttest conducted after a delay of two weeks. Moreover, syntactic alignment was modulated by task mode with the multi-turn group exhibiting stronger immediate and longterm alignment effects. We conclude that the continuation task is a fruitful context for L2 structural alignment, and the magnitude of alignment effect hinges on interactive intensity.

Numerical simulation of blasting effect with divided charge structure

This paper numerically simulates the stress development and generates a three-dimensional model of the medium-length hole blasting in infinite rock mass for continuous charge and divided charge in blasting by using the large-scale nonlinear dynamic analysis software LS-DYNA and the elastic-plastic model ~*MAT_PLASTIC_KINEMATIC and JWO-EOS.The differences of the decreasing rate in Von Mises effective stress of blasting,element effective stress peak of free surface,bore wall stress and acceleration are investigated.It is shown that divided charge could greatly improve the blasting effect by engineering blasting practice.

Evaluation of a Novel Approach for Automated Inventive Conceptual Design of Building Structures

This research is dedicated to assessment of a method that was earlier proposed and developed in order to increase the degree of automation and software involvement into conceptual decision making during design of structural elements of buildings. Such instruments of the theory of inventive problem solving as contradiction and function analysis and trimming formed the basis of the proposed approach that was realized in a modern building information modeling software. The common logic of the approach is also provided in the article. Qualitative research methods and particularly collecting, analyzing and interpreting data were applied in this research. Firstly, a literature review of indexed journal articles in the field of the study was performed and some trends for possible development of the topic were identified. Secondly, a survey of potential users of the methodology was conducted and analyzed. The questionnaire results showed that the suggested method and its technical realization gained attraction among respondents, however, some of them are rather cautious regarding application of the approach potentials in their practice. The paper ends with evaluation results discussion, conclusion and proposals for further research.

Surface effects on large deflection of nanowires

Surface effects play an important role in the mechanical behavior of nanosized structural elements owing to the increased ratio of surface area to volume. The surface effects on the large deflection of nanowires were considered. Both geometric nonlinearity in finite deformation and surface effects at nanoscale were taken into account to analyze the bending of nanowires subjected to a concentrated force. For simply supported beams and clamped-clamped beams, the influence of surface effects and geometric nonlinearity were discussed in detail. It is found that both surface effects and geometric nonlinearity tend to decrease the deflection of bending nanowires and thus increase the effective elastic modulus of nanowires. Surface effects yield the size dependent behavior of nanowires.

The Contingent Valuation Method for Thessaloniki＇s Aesthetic Pollution in Greece

The purpose of this study is to provide an evaluation of the possible criteria used by the people of Thessaloniki for the evaluation of public goods and the investigation of the benefits of the conservation and restoration of city structures affected by carbon monoxide. These benefits are expressed in monetary units by using the CVM （Contingent Valuation Method）. The maintenance of the urban environment often entails excessive costs paid by the people through taxation. A city free of aesthetic pollution results in an increase in tourism. A portion of taxation paid by the citizens is allocated to cleaning the city. An increase in tourism provides the government with additional revenue through VAT （Value Added Taxes）. The main findings show that in a large proportion, 28% of the interviewees are willing to pay, but those that are willing to pay significant amounts tend to prefer mild interventions to the buildings, while those （42%） that agree with minimal to null amount demand radical intervention. The latter group, also, considers any contribution of theirs to restoration as unfair, judging that this expenditure should be covered exclusively by the State. Last but not least, from a sociopsychological point of view, this attitude could be attributed to extreme personalities which tend to prefer more holistic and direct solutions （i.e., no mixed strategy involving people and the State is acceptable by interviewees who considered themselves as having no further obligations after regular tax-paying）; as a result, they think that the State is exclusively responsible to resolve the situation.

The role of the symmetry and the flexibility of the anion on the characteristics of the nanostructures and the viscosities of ionic liquids

The transport properties of ionic liquids(ILs) are crucial properties in view of their applications in electrochemical devices. One of the most important advantages of ILs is that their chemical–physical properties and consequently their bulk performances can be well tuned by optimizing the chemical structures of their ions. This will require elucidating the structural features of the ions that fundamentally determine the characteristics of the nanostructures and the viscosities of ILs. Here we showed for the first time that the "rigidity", the order,and the compactness of the three-dimensional ionic networks generated by the anions and the cation head groups determine the formation and the sizes of the nanostructures in the apolar domains of ILs. We also found that the properties of ionic networks are governed by the conformational flexibility and the symmetry of the anion and/or the cation head group. The thermal stability of the nanostructures of ILs was shown to be controlled by the sensitivity of the conformational equilibrium of the anion to the change of temperature. We showed that the viscosity of ILs is strongly related to the symmetry and the flexibility of the constitute ions rather than to the size of the nanostructures of ILs. Therefore, the characteristics of the nanostructures and the viscosities of ILs, especially the thermal stability of the nanostructures, can be fine-tuned by tailoring the symmetry and the conformational flexibility of the anion.

The Study of SINA micro-blog Opinion Leaders Effect on Network Public Opinion Transmission

Opinion leaders play a critical role in network public opinion transmission, their perspectives can shape public opinion and influence policy formulation and implementation. The paper is based on SINA micro-blog, by structural equation model, as Fudan Poisoning Event for example, On the basis of in-depth analysis of opinion leaders effect on network public opinion transmission characteristics, Explore the opinion leaders on the influence of network public opinion transmission mechanism, in order to better play a role of opinion leader＇s guidance of public opinion.

Effect of Curing Temperature on Mortar Based on Sustainable Concrete Material＇s and Poly-Carboxylate Superplasticizer

Nowadays, technologies in construction field have offered several kinds of chemical admixtures, which offer different behaviors at the fresh state of the batch and by consequence, it is resulted with different mechanical behaviors at the solid state of the mix. This study focused on the behavior of a new kind of admixture at fresh and solid states. Currently, the concrete material has become a very expensive material because the high price mostly of aggregates, representing the three quarters of the concrete components. By consequence, it costs money and on the other hand, it produces a lot of wastes. The main aspect which guides this study is to make a kind of concrete based mainly on local material and sustainable concrete material （SCM or waste material）, which is one very abundant material in quality and quantity, under the current tendency the results obtained in this study summarize up the importance of the temperature during the development of the mechanical characteristics of mortar, mainly on compressive strength at age of 28 days. This is in the case of the addition of limestone crushed additive by percentage of substitution.

Facile fabrication of encryption composite materials with trilayer quasi-amorphous heterostructure

Encryption materials represent a major direction of information security,but it is challenging to realize the ideal security combining the complete hiding of complex coding,stability in transmission,camouflage,and reliable decoding.Herein,we report an innovative strategy for rationally constructing encryption composite materials with high security and portability.Compared with common colloidal photonic watermarks,our encrypted optical devices are composed of thermoplastic polyurethanes(TPU)protective layers,polystyrene(PS)switching layers and a Cd S coding layer.The optical shielding properties and phase state transition of PS layers enable high-level encoding and decoding security through thermal activation of light transmittance control.Meanwhile,the Cd S layer can be clearly revealed in decoding mode because of the high refractive index.Besides,the confinement protection of integrated TPU films prevents the trilayer quasi-amorphous heterostructure from damage.To establish the practical advantage,portable information carriers can be prepared for camouflage.Accordingly,the reliable encoding and decoding system,and ability to integrate with easy-to-carry products,make our composites a potentially high-security encryption device for anti-fraud technology.

Global Challenges to Intellectual History： Regional Focus of Intellectual History in the West

The first part of the paper shows that in American and European academia, the field of intellectual history has continued to neglect the world outside of the West. The reasons for this Eurocentric bias are related to lasting hierarchies in the global landscape of historiography. To put it bluntly, Western scholars can afford to ignore historical approaches from other parts of the world, while the opposite is not the case. Whereas fields like subaltern studies have pointed at such problems, these hierarchies （and their historical roots ） have thus far hardly been considered in the debate about the future of intellectual history. In the second part, the paper outlines some important research agendas for the field of global intellectual history. For example, it argues that the transnational spread（ and local adaptation） of Eurocentric ideas since the 19th century remains insufficiently understood. The same is true for the changing facets of international hierarchies of knowledge, which have continued to influence historical scholarship around the world up until the present day.

Examining brain structures associated with attention networks in a large sample of young adults: a voxel-based morphometry study

Attention networks have three principal com- ponents supported by separate subprocesses, which include alerting, orienting, and executive control （EC） networks. Efficiently and accurately extracting useful information from the environment as the function of attention is pivotal to our survival. Previous brain imaging studies have examined activation patterns underlying the different attention networks in different cortical regions, yet focal differences in brain structures related to attention network components were not well understood. Therefore, in this study, voxel-based morphometry was used to investigate the relationship between gray matter volume （GMV） and different attention networks in a large young adult sample （n = 156）. As a result, multiple regression analysis revealed that higher alerting scores （stronger alerting ability） were negatively significantly correlated with region gray matter volume （rGMV） cingulate cortex/precuneus）, in the PCC/PreCu （posterior which might be associated with continuous maintenance of a vigilant state. Then, lower EC scores （stronger conflict resolution ability） were associated with larger rGMV in the dorsal anterior cingu- late cortex, which might be related to high-efficiency executive control processing. Together, findings of the present study provided a unique structural basis of GMV for individual differences in alerting and EC networks.