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The purpose of this paper is to explore the impacts of climate change on crop net revenue by region. Particularly, the authors focus on the impact differences between north and south regions.

The authors applied the Ricardian approach which assumes that each farmer wishes to maximize revenue subject to the exogenous conditions of their farm. The climate data are based on actual measurements in 753 national meteorological stations and the socio-economic data covers 8,405 farms across 28 provinces in China.

On average, the rise of annual temperature will hurt farms both in the north or south. The impacts of climate change on both precipitation and temperatures have different seasonal impacts on producers in the north and the south of China. As a consequence, the impact on net farm revenues varies with farms in the north and the south being adversely affected (to different degrees) by a rise in the temperature, but both benefiting from an anticipated increase in rainfall. The results also reveal that irrigation is one key adaption measure to dealing with climate change. Whether in the north or south of China, increasing temperature is beneficial to irrigated farms, while for rainfed farms, higher temperature will result in a reduction in net revenues. The results also reveal that farms in the north are more vulnerable to temperature and precipitation variation than that in the south. Irrigated farms in the south are more vulnerable to precipitation variation than that in the north; but rainfed farms in the north are more vulnerable to precipitation variation than that in the south.

Applying empirical analysis to identify the differences of climate change impacts between north and south regions will help policy makers to design reasonable adaptation policies for various regions.

The purpose of this study, the tribological behaviors at different temperatures of aluminium matrix composites (AMCs) with different amounts of ZrO₂ added were investigated.

Aluminium graphite (A356/2 wt% graphite (solid lubricant)) composite powders prepared by adding four different amounts (3 wt%, 6 wt%, 9 wt% and 12 wt%) of Zirconia (ZrO₂) to the matrix were mechanically alloyed for 4 h. Wear tests were conducted at five different temperatures (20 °C, 100 °C, 180 °C, 260 °C and 340 °C) and for three different sliding distances (53 m, 72 m and 94 m) on the pin-on-disc type wear tester.

Results of the study showed that the highest hardness and density value were measured for 12% ZrO₂ added AMC material. Wear test results showed that weight loss increases with increasing temperature; weight loss decreases at all temperatures with the increasing amount of reinforcement in the matrix.

In this paper, the tribological properties of aluminium matrix composites produced by the mechanical alloying method by adding different amounts of ZrO₂ were determined by simulating the tribological properties at different loads and temperatures.

The purpose of this paper is to present a novel method to investigate the microscopic mechanism of the oil film under the pure squeeze elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) motion. An optical EHL squeeze tester is used to explore the effects of squeeze velocity, load, temperature, and lubricant viscosity on the dimple film thickness that occurs when a ball approaches a flat plate covered by a thin layer of oil.

The grayscale interferometric technique was used to study the thickness of the lubricating film in an EHL point contact. The light source was a He‐Ne laser. Through the transparent optical glass and by means of optical interference, the interference fringe patterns of the contact region were observed by a charge‐coupled device camera recording. The two elastic bodies were a sapphire disk and a steel ball. The contact was lubricated with paraffin‐based oil.

Results show that increasing the squeeze speed, load, viscosity, and decreasing the temperature, make the dimple deeper, and the contact area increases. Moreover, as the squeeze speed and load decrease and temperature increases, the fluidity of the lubricant increases and less time is needed to extrude. The maximum thickness of the dimple increases with increasing squeeze speed, load, lubricant viscosity, and decreasing temperature. The greatest effect of pure squeeze EHL motion is found with squeeze velocity, followed by load, and then temperature for the same lubricant viscosity.

The paper usefully describes the use of a self‐development optical EHL squeeze tester to explore the effects of temperature, squeeze velocity, load, and lubricant viscosity on the dimple film thickness which occurs between two components approaching each other.

This study aims to clarify the relationship between the coefficient of friction (COF) and temperature of aluminum-based brake discs.

Three friction blocks with different COFs are examined by a TM-I-type reduced-scale inertial braking dynamometer. On this basis, the thermo-mechanically coupled model of friction pairs is established to study the evolution of brake disc temperature under different COFs using ADINA software.

Results indicate that the calculated disc temperature field matches the experimental well. The effect of COF on the peak temperature is magnified by the braking speed. With the COF increasing, the rise rate of instantaneous peak temperature is accelerated, and the dynamic equilibrium period and cooling-down period are observed in advance. The increase in COF promotes the area ratio of the high-temperature zone and the maximum radial temperature difference. When the COF is increased from 0.245 to 0.359 and 0.434 at 140 km/h, the area ratio of high-temperature zone increases from 12% to 44% and 49% and the maximum radial temperature difference increases from 56°C to 75°C and 83°C. The sensitiveness of the axial temperature difference to the COF is related to the braking time. The maximum axial temperature difference increases with COF in the early stages of braking, while it is hardly sensitive to the COF in the later stages of braking.

The effect of COF on the aluminum-based brake disc temperature is revealed, providing a theoretical reference for the popularization of aluminum-based brake discs and the selection of matching brake pads.

The effect of humidity, temperature and temperature ramping rate on the dimensional changes of the photo‐cured stereolithography (SL) resin SL5195 was investigated. It was found that moisture absorption by the SL resin is a very slow process at ambient temperatures. Varying relative humidity (RH) between 20 and 90 per cent in the environment only produced slight changes in the sample dimensions during the time period investigated. Increasing the environment temperature caused a significant increase in the sample dimensions through thermal expansion along with accelerated moisture absorption at 50 per cent or higher RH. Increasing the temperature ramping rate reduces the moisture absorption during the thermal cycles.

Effective cooling is one of the challenges for photovoltaic thermal (PVT) systems to maintain the PV operating temperature. One of the best ways to enhance rate of heat transfer of the PVT system is using advanced working fluids such as nanofluids. The purpose of this research is to develop a numerical model for designing different form of thermal collector systems with different materials. It is concluded that PVT system operated by nanofluid is more effective than water-based PVT system.

In this research, a three-dimensional numerical model of PVT with new baffle-based thermal collector system has been developed and solved using finite element method-based COMSOL Multyphysics software. Water-based different nanofluids (Ag, Cu, Al, etc.), various solid volume fractions up to 3 per cent and variation of inlet temperature (20-40°C) have been applied to obtain high thermal efficiency of this system.

The numerical results show that increasing solid volume fraction increases the thermal performance of PVT system operated by nanofluids, and optimum solid concentration is 2 per cent. The thermal efficiency is enhanced approximately by 7.49, 7.08 and 4.97 per cent for PVT system operated by water/Ag, water/Cu and water/Al nanofluids, respectively, compared to water. The extracted thermal energy from the PVT system decreases by 53.13, 52.69, 42.37 and 38.99 W for water, water/Al, water/Cu and water/Ag nanofluids, respectively, due to each 1°C increase in inlet temperature. The heat transfer rate from heat exchanger to cooling fluid enhances by about 18.43, 27.45 and 31.37 per cent for the PVT system operated by water/Al, water/Cu, water/Ag, respectively, compared to water.

This study is original and is not being considered for publication elsewhere. This is also not currently under review with any other journal.

The purpose of this paper is to understand a flameproof distance necessary to avoid the flame harms to underground personnel which may have great significance to the safety of underground personnel and the disaster relief of gas explosions in coal mines.

Through a roadway with a length of 100 m and a cross-section area of 80 mm×80 mm, the flame propagation of premixed methane-air deflagrations were simulated by using AutoReaGas software for various fuel concentrations (7, 8, 9.5, 11, and 14 percent), fuel volumes (0.0128, 0.0384, 0.064, and 0.0896 m3), initial temperatures (248, 268, 288, 308, and 328 K), and initial pressures (20, 60, 101.3, 150, and 200 kPa).

The maximum combustion rate for each point follows a changing trend of increasing and decreasing with the distance increasing from the ignition source, and it increases with the fuel volume increasing or the initial pressure increasing, and decreases with the initial temperature increasing. However, increasing the initial temperature increases the flame arrival time for each point. The flameproof distance follows a changing trend of increasing and decreasing with the fuel concentration increasing, and it linearly increases with the fuel volume increasing or the initial temperature increasing. However, the flameproof distances are all 17 m for various initial pressures.

Increasing initial temperature increases flame arrival time for each test point. Flameproof distance increases and then decreases with fuel concentration increasing. Increasing fuel volume or initial temperature linearly increases flameproof distance. Initial pressure has little impact on the flameproof distance.

This paper aims to focus on the effect of normal load, sliding speed and temperature on the coefficient of friction of Al 6061-T6 alloy under dry sliding conditions.

Dry sliding experiments were conducted using rotary type pin on disk tribometer. Pins with 3 mm radius of contact and circular disks of 165 mm diameter were fabricated to simulate Hertzian contact configuration. Experiments were conducted by applying three different normal loads (1, 1.5 and 2 kg) and three different sliding speeds (1.25, 2 and 3 m/s) at different temperatures [room temperature (31 ± 1 °C), 60 °C, 100 °C and 150 °C].

Coefficient of friction at end of the first cycle of sliding, stabilized stage, unsteady state and steady state are reported elaborately in this study. Adhesive and abrasive wear mechanisms were observed in the dry sliding of Al 6061- T6 alloy contacts from the microscopic analysis of worn contact surfaces. The coefficient of friction was more influenced by the increase in normal load than the increase in sliding speed and temperature.

The results obtained from this study are significant for the design of aluminium-to-aluminium contacts in aerospace engineering and automobile engineering.

This study reveals the coefficient of friction of aluminium-to-aluminium (Al 6061-T6 alloy) contacts under cylinder on flat contact configuration.

The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of temperature on Zn–Ni alloys in ChCl–Urea.

Based on cyclic voltammetry experiments, the deposition behavior and kinetics of the Zn–Ni alloy are studied. The nucleation process of the Zn–Ni alloy is studied in detail via chronoamperometry experiments. The effects of the deposition temperature on the microstructure, Ni content and phase composition of Zn–Ni alloy coatings are investigated via scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) combined with classical thermodynamics.

The results show that with increasing temperature, the reduction peak shifts toward a more positive electric potential, which is beneficial for the co-electric deposition process, and the diffusion coefficient is estimated. With increasing temperature, the nucleation process of the Zn–Ni alloy becomes a three-dimensional instantaneous nucleation, the typical kinetic parameters are determined using the standard 3D growth proliferation control model and the Gibbs free energy is estimated. The Zn–Ni alloy coatings are prepared via normal co-deposition. With increasing temperature, the degree of crystallinity increases, the coating gradually becomes uniform and compact and the XRD peak intensity increases.

The nucleation process of the Zn–Ni alloy at different temperatures is analyzed. The diffusion coefficient D and Gibbs free energy are calculated. The contribution of the three processes at different temperatures is analyzed. The effect of temperature on the morphology of the Zn–Ni alloy coatings is studied.

The purpose of this study is to determine the sealing performance of face seals by numerical analysis of thermoelastohydrodynamic characteristics of supercritical CO₂ (S-CO₂) spiral groove face seals in the supercritical regime.

The spiral groove face seal was used as the research object. The distribution of lubricating film pressure and temperature was analysed by solving the gas state, Reynolds and energy equations using the finite difference method. Furthermore, the influence law of sealing performance was obtained.

Close to the critical temperature of S-CO₂, face distortions produced by increasing pressure lead to divergent clearance and resulted in reduced opening force. In the state of S-CO₂, the face distortions generated by increasing seal temperature lead to convergent clearance, which enhances the opening force. In addition, near the critical temperature of S-CO₂, the opening force may be reduced by 10%, and the leakage rate of the seal sharply increases by a factor of four.

The thermoelastohydrodynamic characteristics of supercritical CO₂ face seals are illustrated considering the actual gas effect including compressibility, heat capacity and viscosity. Face distortions and sealing performance were calculated under different seal pressures and seal temperatures in the supercritical regime, as well as with N₂ for comparison.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-05-2020-0169/