The Effect of Transportation and Housing Subsidies on Urban Sprawl

This paper analyses theoretically the effect of transportation and housing subsidies on urban sprawl,modal choice decisions and urban spatial structure using a spatial general equilibrium model in a monocentric city with two transport modes. Our analysis shows that public transit subsidy leads to urban shrink,whilst subsidizing automobile and housing make the city sprawl. We also find the effects of the other factors on urban sprawl,such as households income and demand,rural land rent,the income tax rate,the total fixed cost of public transit and automobile and the travelling marginal cost of public transit and automobile. Furthermore,this paper also studies how to maximize the urban-area-wide spatial equilibrium utility level.     

Damage evolution and failure mechanism of thermal barrier coatings under Vickers indentation by using acoustic emission technique

Acoustic emission(AE) technique was adopted to monitor the damage evolution of air plasma-sprayed(APS) yttria-partially-stabilized zirconia(YSZ) thermal barrier coatings(TBCs) during instrumented indentation testing, and then the failure mechanisms were investigated by cluster analysis and wavelet transform methods.The results of cluster analysis showed that there were three classes associated with distinct failure types for the 8YSZ coatings under Vickers indentation. Based on wavelet transform, these three clusters could be clearly distinguished from their dominant frequency bands, which were concentrated on levels A5(0–156.25 kHz), D5(156.25–312.5 kHz) and D4(312.5–625 kHz), respectively. Thus, the failure mechanism of 8YSZ coatings under Vickers indentation could be clarified by the distribution of different failure types in indentation depth. To sum up, as indentation load increases, the 8YSZ coatings can accommodate the indenter by elastic or little plastic deformation, microcracks propagation and then debonding at the splat boundaries. By comparing the distribution of AE signals induced by different failure types in indentation depth for samples with different thermal exposure time, it can be inferred that thermal exposure treatment can accelerate the degradation of APS 8YSZ TBCs.     

Ground demonstration system based on in-orbit assembly oriented manipulator flexible force control

To eliminate the load weight limit of carrier rockets and reduce the burden on support struc-tures,in-orbit assembly is a key technology to make design of scattering a large diameter telescope into submirror modules, which requires smooth operation of assembly robots, and flexible force con-trol technology is necessary.A ground demonstration system is presented for in-orbit assembly focu-sing on flexible force control.A six-dimensional force/torque sensor and its data acquisition system are used to compensate for gravity.For translation and rotation, an algorithm for flexible control is proposed.A ground transportation demonstration verifies accuracy and smoothness of flexible force control, and the transportation and assembly task is completed automatically.The proposed system is suitable for the development of in-orbit assembly robots.     

Mechanical behavior of a near α titanium alloy under dynamic compression: Characterization and modeling

Dynamic compression tests under strain rates from 870 s^?1 to 2100 s^?1 were conducted for a near α Ti–8Al–1Mo–1V titanium alloy with equiaxed microstructure. Compression behavior, adiabatic shearing and band microstructure were investigated via characterization and calculation. The results demonstrate that all dynamic constitutive curves exhibited obvious stress fluctuation phenomenon with double increase-decrease changing stages at the primary stage of compression. The dislocation multiplication theory can be used to explain this phenomenon. After the stress fluctuation period, work hardening coexisted with the thermal softening, resulting in the slow hardening tendency in constitutive curves. J-C model was utilized to quantify the dynamic constitutive curves. The deviations between the predicted and experimental curves under high strain rates may be attributed to the over-consideration of thermal softening effect in J-C model. Adiabatic shearing band (ASB) began to form under the strain rate of 2100 s^?1. A total shearing strain of 8.1 within ASB achieved in 8.9 μs, corresponding to a local strain rate of about 9.1 × 10⁵ s^?1 and is over 430 times of the macro strain rate. Post annealing was conducted on ASB before EBSD characterization. Due to the static recrystallization during annealing, the α phase within ASB generally presented as ultra-fine grains less than 1 μm in diameter.     

Mechanical and corrosion properties of low-carbon steel prepared by friction stir processing

Low-carbon steel plates were successfully subjected to normal friction stir processing(NFSP) in air and submerged friction stir processing(SFSP) under water, and the microstructure, mechanical properties, and corrosion behavior of the NFSP and SFSP samples were investigated. Phase transformation and dynamic recrystallization resulted in fine-grained ferrite and martensite in the processed zone. The SFSP samples had smaller ferrites(5.1 μm), finer martensite laths(557 nm), and more uniform distribution of martensite compared to the NFSP samples. Compared to the base material(BM), the microhardness of the NFSP and SFSP samples increased by 19.8% and 27.1%, respectively because of the combined strengthening effects of grain refinement, phase transformation, and dislocation. The ultimate tensile strengths(UTSs) of the NFSP and SFSP samples increased by 27.1% and 38.7%, respectively. Grain refinement and martensite transformation also improved the electrochemical corrosion properties of the low-carbon steel. Overall, the SFSP samples had better mechanical properties and electrochemical corrosion resistance than the NFSP samples.     

Flow and heat transfer behaviour of nanofluids in microchannels

Flow and heat transfer of aqueous based silica and alumina nanofluids in microchannels were experimentally investigated. The measured friction factors were higher than conventional model predictions at low Reynolds numbers particularly with high nanoparticle concentrations. A decrease in the friction factor was observed with increasing Reynolds number, possibly due to the augmentation of nanoparticle aggregate shape arising from fluid shear and alteration of local nanoparticle concentration and nanofluid viscosity. Augmentation of the silica nanoparticle morphology by fluid shear may also have affected the friction factor due to possible formation of a core/shell structure of the particles. Measured thermal conductivities of the silica nanofluids were in approximate agreement with the Maxwell-Crosser model, whereas the alumina nanofluids only showed slight enhancements. Enhanced convective heat transfer was observed for both nanofluids, relative to their base fluids (water), at low particle concentrations. Heat transfer enhancement increased with increasing Reynolds number and microchannel hydraulic diameter. However, the majority of experiments showed a larger increase in pumping power requirements relative to heat transfer enhancements, which may hinder the industrial uptake of the nanofluids, particularly in confined environments, such as Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS).     

An empirical investigation on the risk-return relationship of carbon future market

This paper examines the risk-return relationship for the carbon future market during Phases I, II and III of the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS). The risk factors derived from the newly developed LSW model, are embedded into a GARCH framework. This new specification is compared with several GARCH-M type models analyzing the risk-return relationship in the carbon market. The results show that the new specification consistently achieves a good fit and possesses superior explanatory power for the European Union Allowance (EUA) data. Some policy suggestions regarding market efficiency are also provided.     

The effects of the non-breaking surface wave-induced vertical mixing on the forecast of tropical cyclone tracks

The Weather Research and Forecasting model(WRF)is configured for the region of(15°–41°N,105°–135°E),which covers the same area with the MASNUM(Key Lab.Marine ScienceNumerical Modeling,State Oceanic Administration)wave-tide-circulation coupled operational forecast system.Three numerical experiments are implemented to investigate the effects of the real-time forecasted sea surface temperature(SST)and the nonbreaking wave-induced vertical mixing(Bv)on the track forecast of all 33 tropical cyclones(TC)in the model domain area during 2008 and 2011.The first experiment employs NCEP FNL(NCEP final analysis)SST as WRF’s bottom condition as the Control run,which is also the default setup of WRF.The second and third experiments use real-time forecasted SST from the MASNUM forecast system with and without Bv,respectively.The forecasted track results are compared with Japan Meteorological Agency’s best track data.For 24-h forecast,the averaged TC position error of Experiment with Bv is reduced by 9%compared to the Control experiment,while the forecasted track error of Experiment without Bv is reduced by only2%compared to the Control experiment.For the 48-h forecast,the averaged track errors are reduced by 10%and6%with Bv and without Bv compared to the Control experiment,respectively.These results suggest that the real-time forecasted SST can improve the performance of WRF in forecasting TC track,and the Bv plays an important role in reducing the forecast error of TC track.Comparatively,Bv can improve more on the track of stronger TC.     

表面张力作用下柱形胶体的弹性失稳

采用弹性理论研究了圆柱形胶体在表面张力作用下的弹性失稳问题;利用能量泛函变分的方法导出 了发生弹性失稳的非经典边界条件,得到了失稳的判据方程。分析判据方程发现,弹性失稳与圆柱体的半径、 内禀尺度和失稳波长相关。     

Exploring non-equilibrium statistical ensembles

Since Gibbs synthesized a general equilibrium statistical ensemble theory, generalizing the Gibbsian theory to non-equilibrium phenomena has been a dream for some theorists. However, the status of the theory for the non-equilibrium ensemble formalism is not as well established as the Gibbsian ensemble theory. In this work, we explore the formalism behind the non-equilibrium statistical ensemble theory based on the sub-dynamic kinetic equation originating from the Brussels-Austin school and develop...