Gerontechnology acceptance by elderly Hong Kong Chinese: a senior technology acceptance model (STAM)

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a senior technology acceptance model (STAM) aimed at understanding the acceptance of gerontechnology by older Hong Kong Chinese people. The proposed STAM extended previous technology acceptance models and theories by adding age-related health and ability characteristics of older people. The proposed STAM was empirically tested using a cross-sectional questionnaire survey with a sample of 1012 seniors aged 55 and over in Hong Kong. The result showed that STAM was strongly supported and could explain 68% of the variance in the use of gerontechnology. For older Hong Kong Chinese, individual attributes, which include age, gender, education, gerontechnology self-efficacy and anxiety, and health and ability characteristics, as well as facilitating conditions explicitly and directly affected technology acceptance. These were better predictors of gerontechnology usage behaviour (UB) than the conventionally used attitudinal factors (usefulness and ease of use).

Practitioner Summary: Previous studies have not given much consideration to age-related health and associated abilities when examining acceptance of technology by the ageing population. By encompassing conventional technology acceptance constructs together with age-related health and ability characteristics, the present study was able to identify more factors affecting gerontechnology acceptance by older Hong Kong Chinese.     

A study on structure and electrochemical properties of (La, Ce, Pr, Nd)2MgNi9 hydrogen storage electrode alloys

(La, Ce, Pr, Nd)₂MgNi₉ hydrogen storage alloys were prepared through induction melting followed by a long annealing treatment. The structure and electrochemical properties of annealed alloys have been investigated by orthogonal design experiments. Both the individual effects of each substituting element and their interaction in alloys were studied systemically. It has been shown that the structure of main phase in alloys belongs to PuNi₃-type with a space group R-3m. Substituting rare-earth elements have a significant effect on both the phase structure of alloys and microstructure. The anisotropic change in the crystal structure of alloys can cause the acceleration of pulverization of alloy particles and result in the deterioration of the cyclic stability of alloy electrodes. Misch metals can raise the plateau pressure of hydrogen absorption/desorption. The discharge capacity of alloy ranges from 342.97 to 380.68 mAh g⁻¹ depending on the sort and content of substituting elements. Both cerium and neodymium can obviously reduce the discharge capacity of alloy electrodes. When compared to the La₂MgNi₉ alloy electrode, mish metals can significantly improve the high rate dischargeability of alloy electrodes. The improvement of the kinetic characteristic of alloy electrodes mainly results from the increase of the hydrogen diffusion rate in alloy bulk.     

炭黑－环氧树脂导电复合材料的研究

本文研究了炭黑－环氧树脂复合材料的制备工艺及炭黑填充率对材料电阻率的影响。实验结果表明，加入表面活性剂，明显改善了炭黑在环氧树脂中分布的均匀性。炭黑－环氧树脂材料具有明显的渗流效应，正温度系数效应即ＰＴＣ效应，非线性伏安特性和电磁波屏蔽效应。     

Effects of electrolyte in dye-sensitized solar cells and evaluation by impedance spectroscopy

Effects of the electrolyte of DSCs on impedance spectra were evaluated by changing concentration of redox couple, viscosity, and additives to electrolyte. The relation with current-voltage characteristics (I-V characteristics) was investigated. In many cases, the impedance component attributed to charge transfer at TiO₂|electrolyte interface demonstrated strong relation with the I-V characteristics. The recombination of electrons in TiO₂ with I₃⁻ in electrolyte was a key factor in determining performance of DSCs. To evaluate the effect of I₃⁻, diffusion-limiting current in the electrolyte for various viscosities was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry. When the short circuit current (SCC) was almost equal to the diffusion-limiting current, strong influence of the diffusion coefficient on the impedance spectra was observed: impedance arcs were enlarged as the diffusion coefficient was decreased. On the other hand, when the diffusion-limiting current was larger than the SCC, photo-excitation and electron injection processes became dominating factors in the DSCs performance. The SCC was regulated by the charge recombination process at TiO₂|electrolyte interface, and thus the impedance component ω₃ was related to the performance in such condition.     

在位分散聚合制备聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯/二氧化硅复合材料研究

采用在位分散聚合方法制备聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯 /二氧化硅微米级复合材料 ,讨论了不同表面性质的二氧化硅对材料拉伸性能、热性能、耐溶剂性能的影响 ,并用SEM、TG等手段研究了材料性能。结果表明 :由WD -70硅烷偶联剂处理过的二氧化硅微粒子填充的材料的各方面性能较好 ,由WD -10硅烷偶联剂处理过的二氧化硅填充的材料的拉伸性能次之 ,未经表面处理二氧化硅填充的材料的拉伸性能最差 ,后两者的热性能以及耐溶剂性能无明显差异     

活性炭材料脱除烟气中SO_2的机理研究

介绍了活性炭材料的脱硫机理;论述了烟气中O2和H2O在脱硫过程中的作用,O2与炭表面作用形成的C-O中间物可氧化SO2,H2O具有洗脱H2SO4、提供质子及水解作用;活性炭材料表面的碱性对脱硫具有促进作用,炭表面的催化活性位能够有效催化转化SO2。     

Impact of initial moisture content levels,freezing rate and instant controlled pressure drop treatment (DIC) on dehydrofreezing process and quality attributes of quince fruits

Dehydrofreezing process involves water partial removal before freezing. This treatment has been proposed in order to reduce the negative impacts of conventional or even accelerated freezing, especially on the textural quality of high water content fruits and vegetables. Indeed, in such cases, freezing and thawing processes result in severe damage of the integrity of product’s cell structure due to the formation of ice crystals. For this purpose, quince fruits (7?g H₂O/g db) were subjected to convective air drying of 40?°C and 3m/s to reach different water content levels of 2, 1, and 0.3?g H₂O/g db. Freezing profiles obtained at various freezing rates (V₁, V₂, and V₃) for different water contents allowed the main freezing characteristics such as the Initial Freezing Temperature (IFT), the Practical Freezing time (PFt), and the Specific Freezing time (SFt) to be assessed. The impact of freezing rate was important on PFt and SFt, and more pronounced for high water contents (W between 7 and 2?g H₂O/g db (dry basis)). Furthermore, IFT decreased sharply when initial sample water content decreased. Indeed, it started at ?0.8?°C for W?=?7g H₂O/g db, while it reached a value of ?8.2?°C for samples of W?=?1g H₂O/g db. Since convective air drying normally triggers shrinkage which causes a detrimental deformation of fruit structures, instant controlled pressure drop (DIC) treatment was used to improve the texture and enhance the whole dehydrofreezing performance and the final frozen-thawed product quality. Moreover, DIC implied a slight increase of PFt compared to untreated ones. On the other hand, quality attributes were estimated through the assessment of thawed water exudate (TWE g H₂O/100?g db), color and texture (maximum puncture force as index of firmness): freezing rate and water content had great impacts on TWE. Hence, the lower the water content, the weaker the TWE. Furthermore, the TWE of the pre-dried quince (0.3?g H₂O/g db) had higher value for DIC-textured samples than for the un-treated ones. Indeed, DIC-texturing leads to a well-controlled structure expansion of the cell wall. These textural changes resulted in more lixiviation of residual water. Consequently, water becomes more available, hence more releasable after thawing. Finally, the partial removal of water by air drying before freezing remarkably reduced the negative impact of freezing/thawing processes on final quince color. Decisively, the firmness of quince fruit increased with the decrease of water content level.

Abbreviations: DMC: Dry Matter Concentration (%); DIC: Instant controlled pressure drop; W: Water content dry basis (g H₂O/g db); IFT: Initial Freezing Temperature (°C); PFt: Practical Freezing time (min); SFt: Specific Freezing time (min); TWE: Thawed Water Exudate (g H₂O/100?g db); L, a, and b: Color coordinates; (L): The degrees of lightness; (a) and (–a): The redness (a) or greenness (?a), respectively; (b) and (?b): The yellowness (b) or blueness (?b), respectively; ΔE*_ab: Total color difference; L₀, a₀, and b₀: Color coordinates of fresh or dried quince samples; SD: Standard Deviation; ANOVA: Analysis of variances; LSD: Least Significant Differences; cp: Specific Heat of the product depending on composition (dry material and water content)(KJ/kg K); cp_d: Specific Heat of the dry material (KJ/kg K); cp_W: Specific Heat of water (KJ/kg K); V₁: Freezing rate without insulation; V₂: Freezing rate with a food stretch film insulation with thickness e2?=?3?mm and thermal conductivity λ₂?=?0.17 W/m K; V₃: Freezing rate with a versatile flexible insulation (Armacell) with thickness e3?=?13mm and weak thermal conductivity λ₃?=?0.036 W/m K; v_d: Volume of dry material of quince sample (mm³); v_H2O: Volume of quince sample water (mm³); v_t: Total volume of quince sample (mm³); e₀: Quince sample thickness (mm); e₂: Insulation thickness in the case V2; = 3?mm; ; e₃: Insulation thickness in the case V3; = 13?mm; ; λ₀: Quince sample conductivity (W/m K); λ₂: Insulation conductivity in the case V2;?=?0.17 W/m K; ; λ₃: Insulation conductivity in the case V3;?=?0.036 W/m K; λ_d: Conductivity of quince sample dry material (W/m K); λ_H2O: Conductivity of water (W/m K); λ_equiv: Equivalent conductivity of quince sample versus water content (W/m K); m_i and m_f: Weights of the frozen and thawed samples, respectively     

SAR车辆信号仿真与微动特性分析

合成孔径雷达(SAR)由于其自身条件的限制,导致在日常的研究中需要人为的在计算机上对其信号进行一些仿真。在得到的仿真信号中包含着目标的微动信号,这些微动信号对应着目标的微动特性,它们是目标的本质属性,是目标特性研究的重点。而微动特性又会受到目标和雷达参数等的影响,因此,需要对不同参数下目标的微动特性进行研究。主要以机载SAR为模型,构建模型仿真,并对目标参数、雷达参数、仿真参数等进行完整的特性分析。其中仿真主要采用散射点模型,运用采样序列分段置零的仿真方法构建仿真模型;再运用时频分析方法对得到的仿真结果进行特性分析;由于场景中很多参数如PRF、车身速度、车轮半径、散射点采样个数、车身运动方向与方位向夹角等会对目标的微动特性产生影响,因此,改变这些参数再用时频分析方法对不同参数下的仿真结果进行分析,并最后对其进行总结来研究目标的微动特性。     

压痕法确定纤维复合材料界面影响区蠕变特性的数值模拟法

研究由平头压痕蠕变试验来确定纤维复合材料界面影响区蠕变性能参数的可行性。利用有限元蠕变分析确定在定压痕应力下的压痕蠕变率，重点放在稳定压痕蠕变率和复合材料材料界面影响区的蠕变性能参数的关系上。计算结果表明，界面影响区的剪应力沿纤维轴向在蠕变的主要过程中均匀分布，并且保持不变；详细地研究了压头大小对压痕蠕变响应的影响：提出两种方法由压痕蠕变试验来确定界面影响区蠕变性能参数，并给出了算例。这些结果也有利于准确认识平头压痕蠕变试验从而拓宽其应用范围。     

MFE环氧乙烯基酯树脂固化性能的研究

本文对MFE环氧乙烯基酯(含MFE型和AFE型二种型号)树脂的固化性能(凝胶时间、放热峰和固化收缩率)作了报道并进行讨论。