Synthesis of rod-like ZrB2 crystals by boro/carbothermal reduction

Rod-like ZrB₂ crystals were synthesized at 1600 °C in Ar atmosphere by boro/carbothermal reduction using ZrOCl₂⋅8H₂O, B₄C and carbon powders as raw materials. The optimum molar ratio of raw materials required to form pure ZrB₂ grains was found to be 2: 1.2: 3. With increase in temperature and subsequent heat preservation stage, ZrB₂ powders grew into a rod-like morphology along the c axis. The rod-like ZrB₂ grains obtained at 1600 °C have diameters of 0.5–3 μm and high aspect ratios of >8. Effects of molar ratio of raw materials, heating temperature and holding time on the phase composition and final morphology were investigated. Growth mechanism of rod-like ZrB₂ grains was also analyzed.     

Dietary strategies may influence human nerves and emotions by regulating intestinal microbiota: an interesting hypothesis

The human body hosts enormous diversity of microbiota. Recently, the importance of microbial communities to host physiology has been recognised. Evidence is now emerging that the bidirectional communication between the central nervous system and gastrointestinal tract may affect human nerves, cognition and behaviour through the gut-brain axis (GBA). Although the connection between enteropathy and neurological diseases has been found, it now seems intestinal microorganisms represent the direct mediator of psychopathology. The interactions between host neurological function and intestinal microbiota suggested dietary is a possible way to alleviate psychopathological and neurodegenerative diseases. This review discusses the possible effect of intestinal microbiota on the changes of nerves and emotions in human brain. Maintaining healthy diet strategies should be an important part of preventing neurological diseases and psychopathologies caused by systemic metabolic changes. We hope to provide a novel insight for the design of dietary therapies from the perspective of GBA.     

Airfoil optimisation for vertical‐axis wind turbines with variable pitch

To advance the design of a multimegawatt vertical‐axis wind turbine (VAWT), application‐specific airfoils need to be developed. In this research, airfoils are tailored for a VAWT with variable pitch. A genetic algorithm is used to optimise the airfoil shape considering a balance between the aerodynamic and structural performance of airfoils. At rotor scale, the aerodynamic objective aims to create the required optimal loading while minimising losses. The structural objective focusses on maximising the bending stiffness. Three airfoils from the Pareto front are selected and analysed using the actuator cylinder model and a prescribed‐wake vortex code. The optimal pitch schedule is determined, and the loadings and power performance are studied for different tip‐speed ratios and solidities. The comparison of the optimised airfoils with similar airfoils from the first generation shows a significant improvement in performance, and this proves the necessity to properly select the airfoil shape.     

匀质条带五块布局方式及其生成算法

针对矩形毛坯无约束二维布局问题,提出一种匀质条带五块布局方式。这种布局方式将板材划分为5个矩形块,每个块由包含同种毛坯的匀质条带组成。构造五块布局方式的生成算法:首先采用动态规划方法生成所有可能尺寸的块中匀质条带的最优布局;然后采用隐式枚举和分支定界技术考察板材所有可能的五块划分方式,按照板材布局价值最大原则确定板材的最优五块划分,得到最终的五块布局方式图。数值实验结果表明,这种算法能有效地提高板材布局价值。     

Synthesis and photophysical properties of host materials with high triplet energy based on dibenzofuran and triphenylamine functionalities

A host material with high triplet energy based on dibenzofuran and triphenylamine interconnected through diphenylmethylene linkage was synthesized and photophysical properties of the host material were investigated. A high triplet energy of 2.90 eV was obtained due to complete separation of an electron donating triphenylamine and accepting dibenzofuran by diphenylmethylene linkage. It was found out that intermolecular charge transfer dominated the light emission of the host material.     

Accuracy improvement of a 3D passive laser tracker for the calibration of industrial robots

The laser tracker has been used as the mainstream instrument for the position accuracy calibration of industrial robots for quite a long time. However, due to the complexity of the built-in dual-axis active servo tracking system, its cost is high and the target reflector has to adjust its pose frequently, so it cannot be popularized in the production and application sites of industrial robots. Based on this drawback, a 3D passive laser tracker (3DPLT) with high precision, simple structure, easy operation and low cost is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the overall structure of the system is designed, and its position error model based on the principle of spherical coordinate measurement and vector transfer method is established. Then, the error parameters are identified by experiments to formulate the error compensation model. Finally, the multi-pose and large-range spatial error compensation verification experiments of the system are carried out on a commercial coordinate measuring machine. The results show that the spatial volumetric errors of the 3DPLT can achieve within 40 μm after compensation with a good repeatability of ±4 μm. A comparison contouring test with a commercial ballbar is also carried out to validate its applicability of robot calibration.     

Facebook self-disclosure: Examining the role of traits,social cohesion,and motives

Facebook has been shown to be the most popular social network in the United States. Facebook not only has implications in the online world, but face-to-face connections are also affected by this medium. This study explores the uses of Facebook for self-disclosure behavior utilizing the uses and gratifications perspective. Using a convenience sample of Facebook users, this study examines individual and sociological factors as well as Facebook motives to discover the impact on depth, breadth, and amount of user self-disclosure. Path analyses showed that the Big Five personality factors, self-esteem, social cohesion, and motives contribute to self-disclosure dimensions. However, demographic variables did not impact disclosiveness. Limitations are discussed and directions for future research are proposed.     

Assessing the influence of inflow turbulence on noise and performance of a tidal turbine using large eddy simulations

Large eddy simulations of a model scale tidal turbine encountering inflow turbulence have been performed. This has allowed both unsteady blade loading and hydrodynamic noise radiation to be predicted. The study is motivated by the need to assess environmental impact of tidal devices, in terms of their acoustic impact on marine species.Inflow turbulence was accounted for using a synthetic turbulence generator, with statistics chosen to represent the gross features of a typical tidal flow. The turbine is resolved in a fully unsteady manner using a sliding interface technique within the OpenFOAM^® libraries. Acoustic radiation is estimated using a compact source approximation of the Ffowcs Williams–Hawkings equation.It is observed that the long streamwise length scale of the inflow turbulence results in characteristic ‘humps’ in the turbine thrust and torque spectra. This effect is also evident in the far-field noise spectra. The acoustic sources on the blades are visualised in terms of sound pressure level and “Powell's source term”. These measures show that the dominant sources are concentrated at the blade leading edges towards the tip. This results from the high loading of the turbine blades, and causes the sound to radiate more akin to a monopole than a dipole.The full scale source level, obtained from scaling of the simulation results, is found to be lower than comparable measured data reported in the literature; this is attributed to additional sources not included in the present study. Based on the predicted source level, no physical impact on fish is expected.     

考虑导引头多约束的滑翔制导炮弹弹道规划

为提高制导炮弹在大着角情况下导引头捕捉目标的速度，减小末制导起始点角度偏差，在传统制导炮弹方案弹道规划方法(trajectory programming method, TPM)的基础上考虑末制导段，提出一种考虑导引头多约束的弹道规划方法(trajectory programming method-constraints of seeker, TPM-CS)。根据导引头最大探测距离建立末制导起始点约束，根据弹目几何关系和导引头视场角建立攻击路径约束，并建立最小化前置角和控制变量幅值的目标函数。为实现制导炮弹初始弹道倾角、偏角、火箭点火时间、滑翔启控时间、导引头开启时间等参数的最佳匹配，建立了5阶段弹道规划模型，并采用多阶段Radau伪谱法将该弹道规划问题转化为非线性规划问题，最后调用非线性规划求解器SNOPT进行求解。选取不同性能参数的导引头进行仿真，分析了导引头最大探测距离和导引头视场角对方案弹道的影响。将文中提出的弹道规划方法与传统弹道规划方法进行对比仿真，结果表明，相比于传统方法，文中所提方法规划方案弹道的末制导初始角度偏差缩小71.590%,导引头对目标保持照射状态的时间延长6...