Hybrid process of fabricating high-quality micro wine-glass fused silica resonators

A new hybrid method, which combines improved glass-blown technology with wet etching, is reported to fabricate micro wine-glass resonators with high-quality fused silica. The optimum placement is compared to achieve the resonators with good shell shape. The typical shell diameter is about 4mm and its thickness covers from dozens to hundreds of micrometers. The etching rates in corrosion solutions with different ratios and at different thicknesses of hemispherical shells are studied. We also conclude how to precisely control the thickness. The corrosion solutions with different ratios of HF solution to NH₄F solution make the spherical shells rougher in different degrees. The best roughness is 0.581 nm in the 1: 8 ratio corrosion solution while the original roughness is 0.537 nm. This fact shows that the resonator remains atomically smooth surface. Based on the glassblowing spherical fused silica structure, the thickness of the resonator is effectively controlled by buffered oxide etch (BOE) technology according to the measured etching rate. The measured resonant frequency of the hemispherical shell at ambient pressure and room temperature is 1.75 kHz of rocking mode which is close to the simulated frequency. Using such a low-cost hybrid approach, we can fabricate high-quality microscale resonators in batch.     

Correlates of bicycling trip flows in Hamilton,Ontario: fastest,quietest, or balanced routes?

Transportation - Bicycling is an increasingly popular mode of travel in Canadian urban areas, like the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). While trip origins and destinations can be inferred...     

Impacts of urban built environment on empty taxi trips using limited geolocation data

This study identifies the determinants of the empty taxi trip duration (ETTD) by combining three high-resolution databases—geolocation data in New York City, geodatabase of urban planning data, and transportation facilities data. Considering the nature of duration data, hazard-based duration model is proposed to explore the relationships between causal factors and ETTD, coupling with three variations of baseline hazard distribution, i.e., Weibull distribution with heterogeneity, Weibull distribution, and log-logistic. Furthermore, the likelihood ratio test is presented to implement comparisons of three baseline hazard distributions, as well as spatial and temporal transferability of causal factors. The results show significant complementary effects by subway system and competitive effects by city bus and bicycling system, as well as significant impacts of trip length, airport trip, average annual income, and employment rate. Urban built environment, for instance, density of road, public facilities, and recreational sites and ratio of green space, has various impacts on ETTD. The elasticity estimations confirm significant spatial and temporal heterogeneity in impacts on ETTD. In addition, the analysis on elasticity also reveals the considerable impacts of severe traffic congestion on ETTD within Manhattan. The modeling can assist stakeholders in understanding empty taxi movements and measuring taxi system efficiency in urban areas.     

Techno-economic study of LNG diesel power (dual fuel) ship

This article mainly proposed three technically effective alternatives to comply with the emission control regulations and laws in shipping. Liquefied natural gas (LNG)-diesel dual fuel power technology was introduced through feasibility study on several aspects including research development, retrofitting methods, vessel type, safety issues, and other technical characteristics. Based on sample ship and route, economic evaluation was conducted on these three alternatives. Cost-effectiveness of each project was detailed in the calculation of net present value (NPV) and payback time via discount cash flow method. The findings show that LNG-diesel dual fuel power technology performs best among three alternatives. Due to the impact of fuel price, two scenarios were carried out in sensitivity analysis which witnessed a variation of NPV with the fluctuation of fuel price. Further study shows the turning point between project (i) and project (iii) with different discount rate and the interaction between discount rate and fuel price, left project (ii) the least cost-effective solution in three alternatives.     

Reliability Modeling and Maintenance Policy Optimization for Deteriorating System Under Random Shock

Performance degradation and random shock are commonly regarded as two dependent competing risks for system failures. One method based on effective service age is proposed to jointly model the cumulative effect of random shock and system degradation, and the reliability model of degradation system under Nonhomogeneous Poisson processes (NHPP) shocks is derived. Under the assumption that preventive maintenance (PM) is imperfective and the corrective maintenance (CM) is minimal repair, one maintenance policy which combines PM and CM is presented. Moreover, the two decision variables, PM interval and the number of PMs before replacement, are determined by a multi-objective maintenance optimization method which simultaneously maximizes the system availability and minimizes the system long-run expect cost rate. Finally, the performance of the proposed maintenance optimization policy is demonstrated via a numerical example.     

Personalization method of e-catalog based on user interesting degree

The user interesting degree evaluation index is designed to fulfill the users’ real needs, which includes the user’ attention degree of commodity, hot commodity and preferential commodity. User interesting degree model (UIDM) is constructed to justify the value of user interesting degree; the personalization approach is presented; operations of add and delete nodes (branches) are covered in this paper. The improved e-catalog is more satisfied to users’ needs and wants than the former e-catalog which stands for enterprises, and the improved one can complete the recommendation of related products of enterprises.     

Formal scientific research of traffic collision data utilizing GIS

This paper explores the tenuous link between speeding behavior and accident causation, one that has not been well established in the international literature to date. Taking advantage of established engineering conventions and formulae, we were able to set up an a priori hypothesis suitable for testing. Utilizing this formal scientific method (which GIS researchers have been criticised for not using) we establish a statistical link for this relationship. Our methodology can be used to support all police intervention strategies, including the controversial photo radar systems. The results from our research have been entered into a GIS in order to create a map for spatial display. This map illustrates the relative probability or risk of collision occurrence resulting from speeding at all intersections and interchanges within the scope of the study. It is suggested that this methodology could easily be maintained with periodic updates of data, thus creating a dynamic model from which to monitor traffic safety within the city. Furthermore, this model can be utilized to study specific strategies, allowing for the scrutiny of before, during and after effects. The study area is the entire city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and includes all traffic collisions occurring during the year of 1994.     

A numerical study on piezoelectric energy harvesting by combining transverse galloping and parametric instability phenomena

This paper aims to numerically investigate the effects of parametric instability on piezoelectric energy harvesting from the transverse galloping of a square prism. A two degrees-of-freedom reduced-order model for this problem is proposed and numerically integrated. A usual quasi-steady galloping model is applied, where the transverse force coefficient is adopted as a cubic polynomial function with respect to the angle of attack. Time-histories of nondimensional prism displacement, electric voltage and power dissipated at both the dashpot and the electrical resistance are obtained as functions of the reduced velocity. Both, oscillation amplitude and electric voltage, increased with the reduced velocity for all parametric excitation conditions tested. For low values of reduced velocity, 2:1 parametric excitation enhances the electric voltage. On the other hand, for higher reduced velocities, a 1:1 parametric excitation (i.e., the same as the natural frequency) enhances both oscillation amplitude and electric voltage. It has been also found that, depending on the parametric excitation frequency, the harvested electrical power can be amplified in 70% when compared to the case under no parametric excitation.     

Book reviews

The European Community Transport Policy: Towards a Common Transport Policy. By Jurgen Erdmenger (Gower Publishing Co. 1984) [Pp. 155.] £14.50.

Transport Reform: Changing the Rules. By Stephen Plowden. P.S.I. No. 642 (London: Institute, 1985.) [Pp. 250.] £6.50. ISBN 0–85374–258–8.

The Atlas of British Railway History. By Michael Freeman and Derek Aldcroft (London: Croom Helm, 1985.) [Pp. 128.] £12.95.

Losing Track. By Kerry Hamilton and Stephen Potter (Routledge & Kegan Paul in association with Channel Four, 1985.) [Pp. viii + 152.] £7.95. Paperback.