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Pipe cooling is an important measure for controlling the temperature in mass concrete. Since the temperature field in mass concrete containing cooling pipes is unsteady and three‐dimensional, and there are huge quantities of the cooling pipes in the concrete, the study of efficient and reliable algorithm is crucial. The purpose of this paper is to develop the composite element method (CEM) for the temperature field in mass concrete containing cooling pipes.

Each cooling pipe segment is looked at as a special sub‐element having definite thermal characteristics, which is located explicitly within the composite element. By the variational principle, the governing equation for the composite element containing cooling pipes is established.

One of the remarkable advantages of the method proposed is that each cooling pipe can be simulated explicitly while the difficulty of mesh generation around cooling pipes can be avoided.

The paper demonstrates how composite elements containing cooling pipes are degenerated to the conventional finite elements automatically when the first stage artificial cooling finished, and conversely, the conventional finite elements can also be transformed to the composite elements automatically when the second stage artificial cooling started. The comparison of the numerical example using FEM and CEM shows the rationality of the proposed method.

The purpose of this study is to increase the thermal and mechanical properties of the photopolymer by filling with the copper powder for the application of rapid tooling.

In this study, the photopolymer is filled with the different loading of copper powder for investigating the thermal and mechanical properties of the copper/photopolymer composite. The thermal properties of the copper/photopolymer composite are characterized with the degradation temperature and with the thermal conductivity. The mechanical properties of copper/photopolymer composite are performed with the tensile strength and hardness testing. Moreover, the copper/photopolymer composite is imaged by using a scanning electron microscopic with energy dispersive spectroscopy.

The tensile strength of the copper/photopolymer composite is increased over 45 per cent at 20 phr copper loading. The hardness of the photopolymer has a negative correlation with the increasing copper loading and is decreased about 28.5 per cent at 100 phr copper loading. The degradation temperature of the copper/photopolymer composite is increased about 7.2 per cent at 70 phr copper loading. The thermal conductivity of the copper/photopolymer composite is increased over 65 per cent at 100 phr copper loading.

The photopolymer used in rapid prototyping system is generally fragile and has poor thermal properties. This study improves the thermal and mechanical properties of the photopolymer with the copper filling which has been never investigated in the field of rapid prototyping applications.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the mechanical properties of photopolymer/CB (carbon black) nanocomposite when applied in a visible-light rapid prototyping (RP) machine.

The mechanical properties of the samples such as hardness and tensile strength along with thermal stability were analyzed. The curing time behavior of the photopolymer/CB nanocomposites was tested by using a rigid-body pendulum rheometer. The shrinkage property and dimensional stability were also analyzed using the technique according to ASTM D2566 and ASTM D1204, respectively.

The results showed that the prototype fabricated from pristine photopolymer tended to exhibit poor mechanical properties and low thermal stability. However, after adding the photopolymer with various concentrations of nano-CB and dispersant in appropriate composition, the photopolymer/CB nanocomposite prototype not only reduced its curing time but also enhanced its mechanical properties, thermal stability and dimensional stability.

The presented results can be used in a visible-light RP machine.

The mechanical and thermal properties of photopolymer are improved with nano-CB additives for a RP system.

The aim of this study is to optimize the process parameters of area-forming rapid prototyping system to improve the model dimensional repeatability and to minimize the process time as well.

Model dimensional repeatability is based on the dimensional standard deviation of the test sample. The significant factors that affect the model dimensional repeatability and process time are established by the fractional factorial design. Response surface methodology, based on the central composite design, is applied to evaluate the regression models of the response variables including prototype’s dimensional repeatability and processing time. Finally, a desirability function for each individual response variables is constructed to obtain the optimal process parameters.

The significant factors that have an impact on the main effects of response variables model dimensional repeatability and process time found by the fractional factorial design are curing time, light flux and platform moving velocity.

All previous studies were concerned with product accuracy in area-forming rapid prototyping system. In this work, we focus on optimization of model dimensional repeatability.

This research examines the underlying psychological process of customers' impulsive buying on social media through the lens of customer inspiration. Drawing on the customer inspiration theory, it identifies the factors influencing customer inspiration on social media from three perspectives: source characteristics, platform characteristics and personal characteristics, which subsequently lead to impulsive buying. Since the conceptualization of source credibility includes three mostly reported components: attractiveness, expertise and trustworthiness, it further contrasts the effects of three dimensions of source credibility on customer inspiration.

A structural equation model of customers' impulsive buying on social media was developed through the lens of customer inspiration. An online survey with 625 participants was conducted to test the hypotheses, and the partial least squares (PLS3) method was used.

This research found that source credibility, social presence and customer innovativeness are antecedents of customer inspiration on social media, which positively influence the inspired-by state of the customers, which impacts the inspired-to state and further leads to impulsive buying. By comparing the three dimensions of source credibility, the authors found that attractiveness and expertise positively affect the inspired-by state, while trustworthiness has no significant effect.

This research establishes the link between impulsive buying and customer inspiration, which provides a new psychological perspective to understand impulsive buying. In addition, it investigates the source characteristics of customer inspiration by comparing the effect of three dimensions of source credibility on customer inspiration, which provides the first evidence for connecting customer inspiration and source credibility.

This paper aims to obtain fire resistance of semi-rigid joints for concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) composite frames and temperature filed distribution of composite joints in fire.

The temperature filed model of semi-rigid joints to CFST columns with slabs was made by using ABAQUS finite element (FE) software, in considering temperature heating-up stage of fire modelling. The effects of composite slab, fire type and construction location were discussed, and the model was verified by the test results. The temperature distribution of composite joint under three-side or four-side fire condition was studied by the sequentially coupled thermal analysis method. The temperature versus time curves and temperature distribution of various construction and location were analyzed.

The paper provides FE analysis and numerical simulation on temperature field of semi-rigid joints for CFST composite frames in fire. The effects of composite slab, fire type and construction location were discussed, and the model was verified by the test results. It suggests that the temperature distribution of composite joint in three- or four-side fire condition showed a different development trend.

Because of the chosen FE analysis approach, the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.

The research results will become the scientific foundation of mechanical behavior and design method of semi-rigid CFST composite frames in fire.

This paper fulfils an identified need to study the temperature field distribution of the semi-rigid joints to CFST columns and investigate the mechanical behavior of the semi-rigid CFST joints in fire.

The main purpose of this study is to summarize the key literature about research on customer experience, understand the evolution of research hotspots in this research field, build a general theoretical framework on customer experience research and finally point out directions for future research in customer experience.

Using CiteSpace V software which is a scientific measurement tool, this study conducts a systematic analysis of relevant literature on customer experience, and develops a general framework of customer experience research based on analysis of time-zone of citations and time-line visual knowledge map of keywords.

Based on the results of the authors’ analysis, this study found that customer experience research mainly includes the following three research areas: (1) Research on the definition and extension of customer experience; (2) Research on the influencing factors of customer experience: from both enterprise perspective and customer perspective; (3) Research on the outcomes and consequences of customer experience. The authors also analyzed the research methods used in customer experience research and found that quantitative research method based on regression model was most commonly used. Finally, the authors identified gaps in the current literature and put forward the directions for future research from four aspects: to further the understanding of the concept of customer experience; to identify more relevant influencing factors of customer experience; to explore the outcomes and consequences of customer experience; and to diversify research methods in customer experience research.

Overall, this study not only provides an important reference for further research in the field of customer experience, but also offers important insights to the practice.

The authors aim to examine the effect of location-driven logo placement on attention and memory on the web addressing differences between individuals that read unidirectionally (left-to-right [LTR]) versus bidirectionally (both right-to-left and LTR).

Using an eye-tracking approach combined with traditional verbal measures, the authors compared attention and memory measures from a sample composed of bidirectional (Arab/English) readers and unidirectional readers.

The findings reveal that unidirectional and bidirectional readers differ in attention patterns. Compared to bidirectional readers, unidirectional readers pay less attention to the logo on the bottom right corner of the webpage based on verbal measures. The eye-tracking data of the two groups further identify differences based on total hits and duration time. Unidirectional LTR readers demonstrate higher fluency in feature-based attention whereas bidirectional readers show higher fluency in spatial attention.

The authors expand on scarce research on reading direction bias effect on location-driven stimuli placement in online settings. They contribute to the understanding of the differences between unidirectional and bidirectional readers in their cognitive responses (attention and memory) to organization of marketing stimuli.