Search results

This paper aims to report the tribological behavior of Ag nanoparticles/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites (Ag/RGO NCs) and Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs) as a green additive in oil with different concentration and under different friction conditions.

The Ag/RGO NCs and Ag NPs were both synthesized in a chemical reduction method. The diameter of silver nanoparticles implanted between RGO sheets was about 25 nm and that of silver sol was 70 nm. The morphology and structure of Ag/RGO NC were characterized by TEM, XRD and FTIR. The tribological properties of Ag/RGO NCs and Ag NPs as lubricant oil additive were evaluated by measuring the friction coefficients and wear of the surface in different condition which were tested on UMT-II.

The results indicated that both the additives improved the friction-reduced and anti-wear properties of paraffin oil, and Ag/RGO NCs has better tribological performance than Ag NPs. The excellent tribological properties were attributed to the special structure of Ag/RGO NC and the formation of tribofilm reducing the friction and wear on the shearing surfaces.

It is relatively difficult to observe the morphology of the lubricant film formed on the friction surface and to analyze the chemical composition at different depths of the lubricant film.

It is the first time for Ag/RGO NCs to be applied to improve the friction-reduced and anti-wear properties of lubricant oil as additive.

This study aims to propose a semiempirical and semitheoretical cyclic compaction constitutive model of coarse-grained soil filler for the high-speed railway (HSR) subgrade under cyclic load.

According to the basic framework of critical state soil mechanics and in view of the characteristics of the coarse-grained soil filler for the HSR subgrade to bear the train vibration load repeatedly for a long time, the hyperbolic empirical relationship between particle breakage and plastic work was derived. Considering the influence of cyclic vibration time and stress ratio, the particle breakage correction function of coarse-grained soil filler for the HSR subgrade under cyclic load was proposed. According to the classical theory of plastic mechanics, the shearing dilatation equation of the coarse-grained soil filler for the HSR subgrade considering particle breakage was modified and obtained. A semiempirical and semitheoretical cyclic compaction constitutive model of coarse-grained soil filler for the HSR subgrade under cyclic load was further established. The backward Euler method was used to discretize the constitutive equation, build a numerical algorithm of “elastic prediction and plastic modification” and make a secondary development of the program to solve the cyclic compaction model.

Through the comparison with the result of laboratory triaxial test under the cyclic loading of coarse-grained soil filler for the HSR subgrade, the accuracy and applicability of the cyclic compaction model were verified. Results show that the model can accurately predict the cumulative deformation characteristics of coarse-grained soil filler for the HSR subgrade under the train vibration loading repeatedly for a long time. It considers the effects of particle breakage and stress ratio, which can be used to calculate and analyze the stress and deformation evolution law of the subgrade structure for HSR.

The research can provide a simple and practical method for calculating deformation of railway under cyclic loading.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of property sale probability and sale price at auction in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

A two-stage Heckman sample selection model is used for this research. The first stage involves the estimation of a probit model on a successful sale. The second stage introduces an additional selection variable, the inverse Mills ratio, as an explanatory variable to the sale price estimation equation.

The authors find that Chinese-owned auctioned properties have higher sale probability and are sold at higher prices as compared to Indian and Malay-auctioned properties. Properties auctioned by the largest auction house outperformed other smaller auctioneers. Auction characteristics such as proximity to the city center, number of previous auction attempts and number of online viewers are positively related to sale price and sale probability.

The findings on the substantially lower sale price obtained by Malay and Indian borrowers compared to their Chinese counterparts imply that it is much harder for these borrowers to be relieved from financial distress. The two plausible explanations offered in this paper for this price differential, i.e. racial residential segregation and ownership restriction, warrant further study.

First, the authors consider the explanatory power of seller ethnicity, number of online viewers and auctioning route which are new to the literature. Second, they use a Heckman model that addresses possible selection bias of sold properties. This methodology is unexplored in the auction literature.

Recently nanoparticles reinforced lead free solders are vastly developed in electronics packaging industry. Studies and investigations have been conducted to learn and investigate the types, properties, method, availability and importance of nanoparticles in this field.

Mechanical properties, melting temperature and microstructural conditions are taken into major considerations in any of the preparation on nanoparticles and being reviewed in this paper. Segregation of the types of nanoparticles being added together with their properties is summarized in this paper. High temperature reliability is crucial in providing a good viable solder and hence addition of nanoparticles have been seen to give a positive outcome in this particular property.

This paper reviews on the beneficial of the various nanoparticles addition in the solder. Briefed explanations and the factors are revealed in this review.

This paper reviews on the beneficial of the various nanoparticles addition in the solder.

Reports a study of 1,304 Chinese brand names of ten types of products in China. These brand names are content analyzed following a linguistic approach which the authors developed from their earlier studies. The ten types of brand names are presented in three broad categories representing the three different developing stages of the consumer product industry in China: brands of traditional products (illustrated by matches and spirits), brands of traditional products with current development (illustrated by bicycles, shoes, and toothpastes), and brands of new and modern products (illustrated by cosmetics, soft drinks, washing machines, refrigerators and TV sets). The conclusion drawn from the analysis is that one of the variables in determining how linguistic principles are being applied to Chinese brand naming is the respective stages of development of such products in the context of the Chinese market economy.

The aim of the present study was to gather and review all the important properties of the Sn–Ag–Cu (SAC) solder alloy. The SAC solder alloy has been proposed as the alternative solder to overcome the environmental concern of lead (Pb) solder. Many researchers have studied the SAC solder alloy and found that the properties such as melting temperature, wettability, microstructure and interfacial, together with mechanical properties, are better for the SAC solder than the tin – lead (SnPb) solders. Meanwhile, addition of various elements and nanoparticles seems to produce enhancement on the prior bulk solder alloy as well. These benefits suggest that the SAC solder alloy could be the next alternative solder for the electronic packaging industry. Although many studies have been conducted for this particular solder alloy, a compilation of all these properties regarding the SAC solder alloy is still not available for a review to say.

Soldering is identified as the metallurgical joining method in electronic packaging industry which uses filler metal, or well known as the solder, with a melting point < 425°C (Yoon et al., 2009; Ervina and Marini, 2012). The SAC solder has been developed by many methods and even alloying it with some elements to enhance its properties (Law et al., 2006; Tsao et al., 2010; Wang et al., 2002; Gain et al., 2011). The development toward miniaturization, meanwhile, requires much smaller solder joints and fine-pitch interconnections for microelectronic packaging in electronic devices which demand better solder joint reliability of SAC solder Although many studies have been done based on the SAC solder, a review based on the important characteristics and the fundamental factor involving the SAC solder is still not sufficient. Henceforth, this paper resolves in stating all its important properties based on the SAC solder including its alloying of elements and nanoparticles addition for further understanding.

Various Pb-free solders have been studied and investigated to overcome the health and environmental concern of the SnPb solder. In terms of the melting temperature, the SAC solder seems to possess a high melting temperature of 227°C than the Pb solder SnPb. Here, the melting temperature of this solder falls within the range of the average reflow temperature in the electronic packaging industry and would not really affect the process of connection. A good amendment here is, this melting temperature can actually be reduced by adding some element such as titanium and zinc. The addition of these elements tends to decrease the melting temperature of the SAC solder alloy to about 3°C. Adding nanoparticles, meanwhile, tend to increase the melting temperature slightly; nonetheless, this increment was not seemed to damage other devices due to the very slight increment and no drastic changes in the solidification temperature. Henceforth, this paper reviews all the properties of the Pb-free SAC solder system by how it is developed from overcoming environmental problem to achieving and sustaining as the viable candidate in the electronic packaging industry. The Pb-free SAC solder can be the alternative to all drawbacks that the traditional SnPb solder possesses and also an upcoming new invention for the future needs. Although many studies have been done in this particular solder, not much information is gathered in a review to give better understanding for SAC solder alloy. In that, this paper reviews and gathers the importance of this SAC solder in the electronic packaging industry and provides information for better knowledge.

This paper resolves in stating of all its important properties based on the SAC solder including its alloying of elements and nanoparticles addition for further understanding.

This is the third of a series of studies on Chinese brand naming using content analysis from a linguistic perspective. The first study generalized the principles guiding Chinese brands in terms of syllable pattern, tone pattern, compounding structure and semantic preference. The second looked at specific branding rules, focusing on two entirely different products: cosmetic products and bicycles. The present study, following the same linguistic framework of analysis, analyzes three groups of closely related products: spirits, beers, soft drinks, to see how these brands are creatively and distinctively constructed. Finds that the brand naming patterns of the three drinks are basically in agreement with the general Chinese branding principles, and the differences among them directly reflect the development, the consumer markets and characteristics of each product.

The coupling process between the loading mechanism and the tank car mouth is a crucial step in the tank car loading process. The purpose of this paper is to design a method to accurately measure the pose of the tanker car.

The collected image is first subjected to a gray enhancement operation, and the black parts of the image are extracted using Otsu’s threshold segmentation and morphological processing. The edge pixels are then filtered to remove outliers and noise, and the remaining effective points are used to fit the contour information of the tank car mouth. Using the successfully extracted contour information, the pose information of the tank car mouth in the camera coordinate system is obtained by establishing a binocular projection elliptical cone model, and the pixel position of the real circle center is obtained through the projection section. Finally, the binocular triangulation method is used to determine the position information of the tank car mouth in space.

Experimental results have shown that this method for measuring the position and orientation of the tank car mouth is highly accurate and can meet the requirements for industrial loading accuracy.

A method for extracting the contours of various types of complex tanker mouth is proposed. This method can accurately extract the contour of the tanker mouth when the contour is occluded or disturbed. Based on the binocular elliptic conical model and perspective projection theory, an innovative method for measuring the pose of the tanker mouth is proposed, and according to the space characteristics of the tanker mouth itself, the ambiguity of understanding is removed. This provides a new idea for the automatic loading of ash tank cars.

Based on the E-Service Quality (E-SQ) model, this study investigates the effects of self-service technology (SST) quality attributes, specifically automated teller machines (ATMs), on customer satisfaction. The interaction effects of technological optimism on the abovementioned link are also examined. SST usage is conceptualized as a multidimensional construct that consists of five dimensions (reliability, security, convenience, functionality and responsiveness).

The data were collected through a survey of a sample of Malaysian participants who used cash-recycling ATMs. The proposed theoretical model was tested using partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling (SEM).

The results suggest that reliability, convenience, and functionality are critical factors that affect customer satisfaction in using ATMs. Technological optimism was found to weaken the relationship between reliability and customer satisfaction.

Considering the relative novelty of cash-recycling ATMs in the market, banks should ensure a smooth, error-free and accessible functioning of the system. Special attention has to be given to tech-savvy consumers whose higher level of optimism, with an increase of perceptions of reliability, may suppress their heighten sense of fulfillment. This customer group could be offered interactive digital engagement through mobile applications and social networking channels.

The E-SQ model is a helpful tool to understand the reasons underlying user satisfaction with cash-recycling ATMs. The results also contribute to the theoretical development of the E-SQ model through the integration of technological optimism as a contingent factor.

The Communist revolution in China has led to the appearance in this country of increasing numbers of Chinese books in Russian translation. The Chinese names in Cyrillic transcription have presented many librarians and students with a new problem, that of identifying the Cyrillic form of a name with the customary Wade‐Giles transcription. The average cataloguer, the first to meet the problem, has two obvious lines of action, and neither is satisfactory. He can save up the names until he has a chance to consult an expert in Chinese. Apart altogether from the delay, the expert, confronted with a few isolated names, might simply reply that he could do nothing without the Chinese characters, and it is only rarely that Soviet books supply them. Alternatively, he can transliterate the Cyrillic letters according to the system in use in his library and leave the matter there for fear of making bad worse. As long as the writers are not well known, he may feel only faintly uneasy; but the appearance of Chzhou Ėn‐lai (or Čžou En‐laj) upsets his equanimity. Obviously this must be entered under Chou; and we must have Mao Tse‐tung and not Mao Tsze‐dun, Ch'en Po‐ta and not Chėn' Bo‐da. But what happens when we have another . . . We can hardly write Ch'en unless we know how to represent the remaining elements in the name; yet we are loth to write Ch'en in one name and Chėn' in another.