Eco-friendly tape casting of borosilicate glass/Al2O3 sheets for LTCC applications

This work reports the innovative development of a borosilicate glass/Al₂O₃ tape for LTCC applications using an eco-friendly aqueous tape casting slurry. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and polyacrylic acid (PAA) were the respective dispersants, while carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and styrene acrylic emulsion (SA) were the respective binders. The results showed that PVP was more suitable than PAA as the dispersant for the aqueous casting slurry, and that 1.5 wt% PVP would achieve well dispersion of CABS glass/Al₂O₃ powder in the aqueous slurry. Moreover, a small amount of 2.0 wt% CMC binder could yield smooth CABS glass/Al₂O₃ tapes crack free. A high-quality CABS glass/Al₂O₃ tape with a smooth surface was made from an aqueous slurry containing 1.5 wt% PVP dispersant, 2.0 wt% CMC binder, and 2.0 wt% PEG-400 plasticizer. The density, tensile strength, and surface roughness of the green tape were 2.05 g/cm³, 0.87 MPa, and 148 nm, respectively. The resulting CABS glass/Al₂O₃ composites sintered at 875 °C exhibited a bulk density of 3.14 g/cm³, a dielectric constant of 8.09, a dielectric loss of 1.0 × 10^?3, a flexural strength of 213 MPa, a thermal expansion coefficient of 5.30 ppm/^°C, and a thermal conductivity of 3.2 W m^?1 K^?1, thus demonstrating its broad prospects in LTCC applications.     

煤炭资源型城市转型模式研究：以徐州贾汪区为例

煤炭资源型城市为我国经济发展提供了重要的资源和能源支持,研究资源型城市转型的经验模式对调整区域经济结构、确保社会稳定和改善生态环境具有重要的实践意义。本文采用文献综述法和实证分析法,研究我国东部煤炭资源枯竭型城市转型所面临的共性难题,并以徐州贾汪区转型探索经历为例,总结城市转型的"徐州贾汪区模式",主要包括放大正向外部效应、长期坚持矿地融合、大力建设矿区社会生态系统恢复力三条路径。研究结果表明,煤炭城市转型发展的共性问题相互联系、相互影响,是一个系统性难题,必须引入系统性思维。我国东部矿区普遍人口密集,农业发达、沉陷积水是最主要的共性特征,煤炭开采产生的社会问题、经济问题、生态问题、环境问题基本相同,转型发展模式值得互鉴。     

Authenticity green coffee bean species and geographical origin using near-infrared spectroscopy combined with chemometrics

To prevent the adulteration of agricultural resources and provide a solution to enhance the green coffee bean supply chain, authentication using the near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technique was investigated. Partial least square with discrimination analysis (PLS-DA) models combined with various preprocessing methods were built from NIR spectra of 153 Vietnamese green coffee samples. The model combined with the standard normal variate and the first order of derivative yielded excellent performance in predicting coffee species with the error cross-validation of 0.0261. PLS-DA model of mean centre and first-order derivative spectra also yielded good performance in verifying geographical indication of green coffee with the error of 0.0656. By contrast, the predicting abilities of post-harvest methods were poor. The overall results showed a high potential of the NIRS in online authentication practices.     

Green Measurements for Software Product Based on Sustainability Dimensions

Software is a central component in the modern world and vastly affects the environment’s sustainability. The demand for energy and resource requirements is rising when producing hardware and software units. Literature study reveals that many studies focused on green hardware; however, limited efforts were made in the greenness of software products. Green software products are necessary to solve the issues and problems related to the long-term use of software, especially from a sustainability perspective. Without a proper mechanism for measuring the greenness of a particular software product executed in a specific environment, the mentioned benefits will not be attained. Currently, there are not enough works to address this problem, and the green status of software products is uncertain and unsure. This paper aims to identify the green measurements based on sustainable dimensions in a software product. The second objective is to reveal the relationships between the elements and measurements through empirical study. The study is conducted in two phases. The first phase is the theoretical phase, where the main components, measurements and practices that influence the sustainability of a software product are identified. The second phase is the empirical study that involved 103 respondents in Malaysia investigating current practices of green software in the industrial environment and further identifying the main sustainability dimensions and measurements and their impact on achieving green software products. This study has revealed seven green measurements of software product: Productivity, Usability, Cost Reduction, Employee Support, Energy Efficiency, Resource Efficiency and Tool Support. The relationships are statistically significant, with a significance level of less than 0.01 (p = 0.000). Thus, the hypothesised relationships were all accepted. The contributions of this study revolve around the research perspectives of the measurements to attain a green software product.     

Anisotropic thermal expansion and ionic conductivity of a crystal-oriented,Mg2+-conducting NASICON-type solid electrolyte

Multivalent ion-conducting ceramics are required for the manufacture of high-safety, high-capacity rechargeable batteries. However, the low ionic conductivity of solid electrolytes and discrepancies in the thermal expansion between the battery components limit their widespread application. Furthermore, anisotropic thermal expansion in crystals during battery manufacturing and the charge-discharge cycles causes the formation of microcracks, which degrade the battery performance. The physical properties of ceramic materials with anisotropic crystal structures can be modified by varying the crystallographic orientation of their grains. In this study, a co-precipitation approach was used to synthesize an Mg²⁺-conducting (Mg_0.1Hf_0.9)_4/3.8Nb(PO₄)₃ solid electrolyte, and the grain orientation in the bulk sample was controlled using strong magnetic fields during the slip casting process. The results showed that inducing an orientation along the c-axis enhanced the apparent ionic conductivity of the bulk sample. It was also observed that (Mg_0.1Hf_0.9)_4/3.8Nb(PO₄)₃ crystal has a negative volumetric thermal expansion despite a positive linear thermal expansion along its c-axis. By adjusting the c-axis orientation of the grains, (Mg_0.1Hf_0.9)_4/3.8Nb(PO₄)₃ electrolytes with negative or positive linear thermal expansion coefficient have been produced. The findings of this study suggest that solid-electrolytes with negative, positive, or zero linear thermal expansion can be produced to create more compatible and higher-performance solid-state devices.     

Understanding grain refining and anti Si-poisoning effect in Al-10Si/Al-5Nb-B system

Grain refinement is critical for fabricating high-quality Al-Si casting components in the application of automobile and aerospace industries,while the well-known Si-poisoning effect makes it difficult.Nbbased refiners offer an effective method to refine Al-Si casting alloys,but their anti Si-poisoning capability is far from being understood.In this work,the grain refining mechanism and the anti Si-poisoning effect in the Al-10 Si/Al-5 Nb-B system were systematically investigated by combining transmission electron microscope,first-principles calculations,and thermodynamic calculations.It is revealed that NbB₂provides the main nucleation site in the Al-10 Si ingot inoculated by 0.1 wt.%Nb Al-5 Nb-B refiner.The exposed Nb atoms on the(0001)NbB₂and(1-100)NbB₂surface can be substituted by Al to form(Al,Nb)B₂intermedia layers.In addition,a layer of NbAl₃-like compound(NbAl₃')can cover the surface of NbB₂with the orientation relation of(1-100)[11-20]NbB_2//(110)[110]NbAl₃'.Both of the(Al,Nb)B₂and NbAl₃'intermedia layers contribute to enhancing the nucleation potency of NbB₂particles.These discoveries provide fundamental insight to the grain refining mechanism of the Nb-B based refiners for Al-Si casting alloys and are expected to guide the future development of stronger refiners for Al-Si casting alloys.     

Valorisation of potato wastes

Potato processing industry has a high degree of discarding, which currently has low added value being used primarily for animal feed. However, potato wastes offer a broad range of interesting components such as antioxidants, starch, protein or fibre with potential applications in the food and non-food industries. The recovery of these high valuable fractions using efficient multistage and multiproduct processes could be of great interest. This short review provides a general overview on the integral valorisation of potato wastes, offering an updated vision of the main residual parts generated during potato harvesting and processing, the high valuable obtained components focusing on the bioactive ones and the potential of the emerging extraction techniques over conventional ones. In addition, innovative applications are discussed to highlight the scientific and applied interest of these underutilised and undervalued fractions and to emphasise the integral valorisation of raw materials.     

中国废钢资源发展战略研究

 为提高中国钢铁工业的废钢比,推动钢铁工业的绿色发展,分析了中国废钢资源的概况、废钢行业技术发展现状和钢铁工业废钢利用的现状,并对中国未来废钢资源量进行预测。在此基础上,针对中国废钢资源的发展提出了3条战略判断和6条政策建议。     

Hierarchical electromagnetic absorption in micro-waveguide stuffed with magnetic media for resin-based composites of graphene nanosheets and manganese oxides

Waveguide configurations of hierarchical system are proposed as new microstructures for composites in absorbing enhancement. Supercritical fluid (SCF) one-pot exfoliation of layered graphite and manganese oxide mixing materials is developed to obtain a hierarchical system, containing graphene nanosheets (GNS) and exfoliated manganese oxides (EMO) in different sizes. Composites with GNS–EMO embedded in epoxy resin matrix are produced for a design of dielectric and magnetic loss integrated absorber. Volume fraction of GNS–EMO in composites is given for an optimal quantity of resin epoxy in fixation and formation. The effect of mixing ratios between electric and magnetic components is provided for the design of dielectric and magnetic loss integrated absorbers. Frequency shifting phenomena are revealed in the component adjusting course. Excluding the offsetting sizes, reflection loss of composites is enhanced as thickness increases. Synergistic effect of electric and magnetic coordinated materials demonstrates the superiority of micro-waveguide structures in GNS–EMO composite absorber.