Highly oriented α-Al2O3 transparent ceramics shaped by shear force

Alumina platelets were arranged horizontally in submicron alumina particles by shear force in the flow of slurries during casting. The obtained alumina green bodies with platelets were pressureless-sintered in vacuum, producing ceramics with thoroughly oriented grains and high transmittance. The effects of sintering parameters on the densification, microstructure evolution, and orientation degree of alumina ceramics were investigated and discussed. The results showed that the densification, grain size, orientation degree, and in-line transmittance were increased with increasing sintering temperature. The enhancement of orientation degree was mainly coherent with grain growth. The grain-oriented samples exhibited a much higher in-line transmittance (at 600 nm) of 61 % than that of the grain random sample (29 %). Moreover, the transmission remained a high level in the ultraviolet range (<300 nm).     

Microstructure evolution and grain growth mechanisms of h-BN ceramics during hot-pressing

Pure h-BN ceramic specimens were prepared by hot-pressing under different sintering temperatures and pressures using ball milled h-BN powders composed of amorphous and nanocrystalline BN. Microstructures and thermal conductivities of these h-BN ceramic specimens were characterized and measured. Higher sintering pressure is more favorable to the preferred orientation growth of plate-like h-BN grains along the pressure direction, forming microstructures where the c-axes of h-BN grains are preferentially oriented perpendicular to the pressure direction. However, such microstructures can only be obtained at appropriate sintering temperature. Thermal conductivities of h-BN ceramic specimens are strongly related to their microstructures, especially the grain orientation. Growth mechanisms of h-BN grains were investigated. There is multi-area co-growth phenomenon around the grain boundaries composed of the basal planes of h-BN grains, which results in the formation of stacking faults in the as-grown h-BN grains.     

An optimization algorithm for the workforce management in a retail chain

This work proposes a scheduling problem for the workforce management in a chain of supermarkets operating in Italy. We focus on determining the ideal mix of full-time and part-time workers which are needed every week to guarantee a satisfactory service level during the check-out operations. The generation of working shifts, to be assigned to retail workers, is subject to several constraints imposed by both labour laws and enterprise bargaining agreements.We present a mathematical formulation of the problem followed by an exact solution approach which relies on the definition of feasible daily working shifts. The number of feasible daily shifts, that are combined to determine feasible weekly shifts, could drastically increase, depending on the selected planning interval. In addition, there may exist additional constraints, that are difficult to incorporate into the mathematical model. For these reasons, a hybrid heuristic, which does not require the generation of all feasible weekly shifts, is proposed in this paper.Using appropriate statistical techniques, a sensitivity analysis is performed to test the design of the hybrid heuristic. Computational tests are carried out by solving several real instances provided by the retail firm. The results obtained by the heuristic are compared both with an exact approach and with the solutions adopted by the retail company, which have been determined by using a naïf approach. Our hybrid heuristic exhibits excellent performance finding optimal or near optimal solutions in a very limited CPU time.     

Synergetic improvement strategy on thermoelectric performance of CuAlO2 compacts

We fabricated Sr and Ca-doped CuAlO₂ compacts from the mixed powder of CuO, Cu₂O, Al₂O₃, and SrO or CaO by multi-pass hot pressing followed by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The XRD results showed the reaction of CuO, Cu₂O and Al₂O₃ was rather complete and only CuAlO₂ single phase was formed when the additive amount of SrO or CaO was appropriate. Multi-pass hot pressing increased the relative density and the usage of plate-like Al₂O₃ as reaction raw material enhanced the orientation degree. In spite of performance improvement conflicts through elemental doping, density increase and orientation improvement, the measurement on the thermoelectric performance indicated that the electrical resistivity, Seebeck coefficient, power factor, dimensionless figure of merit (ZT) were improved to varying degrees through the synergetic action of elemental doping, density increase, and orientation control. The highest power factor and ZT of the Ca-doped CuAlO₂ compacts reached 1.54?×?10^?4 W?m^?1 K^?2 and 0.015 at 973?K, respectively. The thermoelectric performance was higher than those of CuAlO₂ at the same temperature in published work before.     

大类招生背景下电子信息类专业人才培养模式的探索与思考

“大类招生、分流培养”已成为大多数高校采取的招生和培养思路，如何确定大类招生包含的专业、合理制定分流原则、制定科学的课程体系、完善相关的配套制度，不仅关系高校招生生源质量，而且影响高校人才培养质量。本文以北京交通大学电子信息工程学院为例，详细阐述了电子信息类专业人才培养模式的探索和思考。     

Orientation Dependence of the Micro-Pillar Compression Strength in an Electron Beam Melted Ti–6Al–4V Alloy

An α/β two-phase Ti-6 Al-4 V alloy was fabricated by electron beam melting to obtain a basketweave structure.The orientation dependence of the mechanical properties of Ti-6 Al-4 V alloy was studied by micro-pillar compression and post-mortem transmission electron microscopy analysis.The results indicate that different grains have different mechanical responses,and the possible attributions were discussed.Besides the orientation effect,due to the limited volumes of micropillars,the size of the a phases,dispersion of the β phases,and the presence of the free dislocation path also affect the mechanical properties of the micropillars to a large extent.Although no direct link was discovered between the mechanical properties and the parent βorientations,this work provided a promising method to further study the anisotropic mechanical behavior in Ti-6 Al-4 V alloy.     

社区建筑

编者按:本期本栏发表的8篇中外专家论文,选自建筑与地域文化国际研讨会暨中国建筑学会2001年学术年会论文。全文详见年会论文集。今后本刊还将陆续选载部分年会论文。     

回归建筑自身--关于当代建筑发展走向的思考

西方当代建筑正在经历重要的转变,其中一个突出倾向是“回归建筑自身”。本文试图对这种转变的厉史背景、语言特征及面临的问题进行深入探讨,以发现西方当代建筑发展的脉络和方向。     

机器人末端执行器姿态轨迹规划研究

研究了以四元数样条曲线作为插补曲线对机器人末端执行器姿态进行插补的相关算法,并进行了姿态轨迹规划。机器人末端姿态的表示方法一般有欧拉角、旋转矩阵等,但存在万向锁、插值困难等问题。引入四元数样条曲线,同时通过增加示教点,使四元数样条曲线适用于对机器人末端执行器姿态进行插补,并研究了基于S型的姿态轨迹规划算法,最后进行了多姿态示教点仿真实验。实验结果表明,所提出的算法规划出来的轨迹平滑,满足机器人末端姿态轨迹规划的要求。     

“茶—文化—旅游”三元协同的山间小镇建设模式探究 ——以武夷山市星村镇为例

以星村镇的发展实践为山地城镇建设的剖析标本,将地域性的文化基因、文脉特质等内容融入到其城镇建设模式的分析之中。基于对星村镇特色要素与功能的梳理,确定自身的区域发展品牌,引导形成其发展定位,并通过发展定位传递到城镇建设中需要关注的经济承载、空间特色凸显和空间方案建构等具体内容之中,指导星村镇"茶—文化—旅游"三元协同的镇区建设模式成型。