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Using an econometric approach, this study aims to examine Mid-Atlantic USA wine consumers’ willingness to participate in winery or vineyard tours based on their wine knowledge, wine drinking occasions, demographical factors, past experience with wine tourism and wine purchasing behaviors.

An internet-based consumer survey (N = 977) conducted 22-24 October 2014 was used to collect data. The screening criteria for the survey participants were: 1) being a resident of the Mid-Atlantic region (New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, USA), 2) at least 21 years old, 3) not an industry member, and 4) having purchased and consumed wine within the past year. In addition to descriptive statistics, a logistic regression was used to estimate consumers’ willingness to participate in winery or vineyard tours. Independent variables were categorized into five groups: sources of wine knowledge, wine drinking occasions, demographical factors, past experience and wine purchasing behaviors.

With 736 valid observations, the logistic regression shows that males are more likely to be interested in winery or vineyard tours, while young adults (<25 years old) are less likely. Learning about wines from winery tasting room staff members, from wine magazines or from local and regional magazines are the top three positive influencers on interest in these activities. Past wine tourism experience in the Mid-Atlantic region, drinking wine as an everyday beverage and giving wines as gifts also show a positive relationship with likelihood of participating in these activities.

Study results can help the Mid-Atlantic wine industry understand wine tourists’ behaviors and preferences. Advertising in wine magazines and local and regional magazines can be used to target wine consumers interested in winery or vineyard tours. Attributes (i.e. past experience with wine tourism and gaining knowledge from winery tasting room staff) that are related to the quality of wine tourism experience were identified. Participants were also interested in purchasing wine from the winery during or after participating in wine tourism activities; therefore, wineries should focus on guest interactions to encourage such purchases.

This survey collected data from both consumers who had or who lacked wine tourism experience, which allowed us to gather input from wine drinkers who had not necessarily visited tasting rooms. This survey instrument can be used to collect data from wine consumers residing in regions where the presence of wineries and wine tourism is low, which can provide insight that otherwise might be influenced by currently offered wine tourism activities. This paper uses an econometric approach to understand consumer interests in wine tourism in the Mid-Atlantic region and provides a comprehensive, clear and informative profile of likely wine tourism participants who reside in a region that has not been studied comprehensively.

For precisely presenting the swimming behavior of fish robots underwater and the practical implementation purpose, this paper aims to investigate a well-formulated fish robot model which integrates the nonlinear rigid body dynamics, kinematics and models of actuators.

This fish robot model is mainly built up by three basic parts: a balance mechanism, a four-links vibrator and a caudal fin. In the fish robot’s head, there is a balance mechanism used to control the rotations in pitch and roll directions of the fish robot by moving two movable masses. The four-links vibrator with three active joints actuated by DC motors is designed to vibrate the fish’s body. In the end of the fish robot body, a caudal fin which connects with the passive joint is developed to generate hydrodynamic thrust forces to propel the fish robot.

From the real stability tests and control verification, it is obvious that this proposed model can precisely present the swimming behavior of fish robots and possesses the potential to develop a fish-like robotic prototype.

A well-formulated model with dynamics of actuators is integrated for presenting the swimming behavior of carangiform locomotion type fish robots in this investigation. From the simulation results and the practical test of a real fish robot, the feasibility of this proposed model for building up real fish robots can be proven, and this proposed model is accurate enough to effectively present the swimming behavior of fish robots.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a new composite solder to improve the reliability of composite solder joints. Nano-particles modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes (Ni-MWCNTs) can indeed improve the microstructure of composite solder joints and improve the reliability of solder joints. Although many people have conducted in-depth research on the composite solder of Ni-MWCNTs. However, no one has studied the performance of Ni-MWCNTs composite solder under different aging conditions. In this article, Ni-MWCNTs was added to Sn-Ag-Cu (SAC) solder, and the physical properties of composite solder, the microstructure and mechanical properties were evaluated.

In this study, the effect of different aging conditions on the intermetallic compound (IMC) layer growth and shear strength of Ni-modified MWCNTs reinforced SAC composite solder was studied. Compared with SAC307 solder alloy, the influence of Ni-MWCNTs with different contents (0, 0.1 and 0.2 Wt.%) on composite solder was examined. To study the aging characteristics of composite solder joints, the solder joints were aged at 80°C, 120°C and 150°C.

The experimental results show that the content of Ni-MWCNTs affects the morphology and growth of the IMC layer at the interface. The microhardness of the solder increases and the wetting angle decreases. After aging at moderate (120°C) and high temperature (150°C), the morphology of the Cu6Sn5 IMC layer changed from scallop to lamellar and the grain size became coarser. The following two different phase compositions were observed in the solder joints with Ni-MWCNTs reinforcement: Cu3Sn and (Cu, Ni)6Sn5. The fracture surface of the solder joints all appeared ductile dents, and the size of the pits increased significantly with the increase of the aging temperature. Through growth kinetic analysis, Ni-modified MWCNTs in composite solder joints can effectively inhibit the diffusion of atoms in solder joints. In short, when the addition amount of Ni-MWCNTs is 0.1 Wt.%, the solder joints exhibit the best wettability and the highest shear strength.

In this study, the effects of aging conditions on the growth and shear strength of the IMC layer of Ni modified MWCNTs reinforced SAC307 composite solder were studied. The effects of Ni MWCNTs with different contents (0, 0.1 and 0.2 Wt.%) on the composite solder were examined.

This study aims to study the mechanical, photoelectric, and thermal reliability of SAC307 solder joints with Ni-decorated MWCNTs for flip-chip light-emitting diode (LED) package component during aging. By adding nanoparticles (Ni-multi-walled carbon nanotubes [MWCNTs]) to the solder paste, the shear strength and fatigue resistance of the brazed joint can be improved. However, the aging properties of Ni-modified MWCNTs composite solder joints have not been deeply studied. In this research, the mechanical, photoelectric and thermal reliability of SAC307 packaged flip-chip LEDs with Ni-MWCNTs added during aging were studied.

Compared with SAC solder alloys, the effects of different contents (0, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.2 Wt.%) of Ni-MWCNTs on the photoelectric and thermal properties of composite solder joints were examined. To study the aging characteristics of composite solder joints, the solder joints were aged at 85°C/85% relative humidity.

The addition of an appropriate amount of reinforcing agent Ni-MWCNTs reduces the density of the composite solder to 96% of the theoretical value of the SAC solder alloy. In addition, the microhardness increases and the wetting angle decreases. Two different phase compositions were observed in the solder joints with Ni-MWCNTs reinforcement: Cu₃Sn and (Cu, Ni)₆Sn₅. The solder joints of SAC307-0.1Ni-MWCNTs exhibit the highest luminous flux and luminous efficiency of flip-chip LED filaments, the lowest steady-state voltage and junction temperature. And with the extension of the aging time, its aging stability is the best. In short, when the addition amount of Ni-MWCNTs is 0.1 Wt.%, the solder joints exhibit the best wettability and the thinnest intermetallic compound layer. And the shear strength of the tested solder joints is the best, and the void ratio is the lowest. At this time, the enhancement effect of Ni-MWCNTs on the composite solder has been best demonstrated.

The content range of enhancer Ni-MWCNTs needs to be further reduced.

The authors have improved the performance of Ni-modified MWCNTs composite solder joints.

Composite solder with high performance has great practical application significance for improving the reliability and life of the whole device.

This paper aims to present a digital image processing (DIP)-based discrete element method (DEM) for the analysis of heterogeneous geomaterials. Taking a soil and rock mixture as an example, the direct shear test is used to illustrate the application of this method. The numerical result is validated by the laboratory experiment and implies its feasibility in the analysis of heterogeneous geomaterials.

This method has two major steps. Based on a modification of the connected-component labeling algorithm, a novel vectorization method, which can transform the digital photos to vectorized geometry automatically, is proposed first. Then, a simple yet effective method for the generation of heterogeneous DEM models is presented using the simulation of simplicity technique.

DIP-DEM method is a feasible approach for the analysis of mechanical behavior of heterogeneous material. For soil and rock mixtures (SRM), the horizantal deformation at peak shear point becomes larger with the normal stress. Compared with pure soil, the rock aggregates mainly improve the friction angle of SRM.

As a universal method taking advantage of both DIP and DEM, this method has broad application prospects in related fields.

The Chinese criminal justice system has undergone significant changes in the past 20 years. An important aspect of the changes is the promulgation of a series of laws that are essential to the criminal justice operation. In 1996, the National People’s Congress promulgated the amended Criminal Procedure Law (CPL). The amended law in many aspects has expanded the rights of defendants and suspects. But the preliminary research on the implementation of the amended CPL indicates that due to the lack of a culture of respect for the law on the part of the police and the deficiencies contained in the amended CPL, the protections afforded to suspects are far from being properly implemented by the police. Introduces to readers the legislative progress made in the amended CPL, examines various problems that arise in the implementation of the amended CPL, and offers suggestions as to what needs to be done further to assure better protections of suspects’ rights at the police investigatory stage.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the policy and trends in rural education in China over the past 40 years; and also discuss a number of challenges that are faced by China’s rural school system.

The authors use secondary data on policies and trends over the past 40 years for preschool, primary/junior high school, and high school.

The trends over the past 40 years in all areas of rural schooling have been continually upward and strong. While only a low share of rural children attended preschool in the 1980s, by 2014 more than 90 percent of rural children were attending. The biggest achievement in compulsory education is that the rise in the number of primary students that finish grade 6 and matriculate to junior high school. There also was a steep rise of those going to and completing high school. While the successes in upscaling rural education are absolutely unprecedented, there are still challenges.

This is descriptive analysis and there is not causal link established between policies and rural schooling outcomes.

The authors illustrate one of the most rapid rises of rural education in history and match the achievements up with the policy efforts of the government. The authors also explore policy priorities that will be needed in the coming years to raise the quality of schooling.

This is the first paper that documents both the policies and the empirical trends of the success that China has created in building rural education from preschool to high school during the first 40 years of reform (1978-2018). The paper also documents – drawing on the literature and the own research – the achievements and challenges that China still face in the coming years, including issues of gender, urbanization, early childhood education and health and nutrition of students.

This paper aims to design a novel test device and study the wear properties and the thermal mechanisms of roller pairs in dual-freedom sliding contacts.

On the transition process of lubrication regimes, experiments were conducted with various values of running speed and slip ratio obtained by two motorized spindles. Temperature and surviving time would be obtained of GCr15/GCr15 and DLC/GCr15 friction pairs. Micro photography was obtained with a PGI 3D stylus profiler and a confocal microscopy OLS4000-3D. An empirical mode decomposition method was used to eliminate measure errors.

Results showed that, even with little initial lubricant, rolling/sliding pairs still rotated for a certain time. With the synthetic actions of the dual-freedom sliding, the loss of lubrication and the tilt, interesting helical grooves appeared. Sliding speeds had remarkable effects on survive time, temperatures and surface topographies. In addition, the equilibrium values of the temperature and the surface roughness were obtained in sufficient oil supply. Extreme wear-out conditions were obtained with starved lubrication. Diamond-like carbon coatings showed better heat resistance and better wear resistance.

This work would be critical for the life design and the heat treatment of rolling bearings in the full flood lubrication and the starved lubrication.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-05-2024-0164/

The purpose of this paper is to improve the corrosion resistance of the 6061-Al alloy as the battery pack material for electric vehicles, and the nano-SiC/MAO composite coating was prepared.

The corrosion resistance of coatings was evaluated by the global electrochemical test, and the local electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (LEIS) was used to study the local corrosion mechanism. The laser confocal microscope, scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffractometer (XRD) were used to characterise coatings.

Results showed that the impedance of nano-SiC/MAO coating was 1–2 times higher than MAO coating, and the main corrosion product was Al(OH)₃. LEIS results showed that the impedance of the nano-SiC/MAO coating was two times higher than the MAO coating. The defective SiC/Micro-arc oxidation coating still had high corrosion resistance compared to the MAO coating.

The physical model of the local corrosion mechanism for SiC/MAO composite coating in “cavity-fracture collapse” mode was proposed.

This paper reports on a critical literature review, which aimed to identify, understand and qualify barriers that hinder the release of open government data (OGD) in China. Moreover, the purpose of this paper is to develop and propose a theoretical framework, which can be adopted as a basis for empirical investigation in the future, and to articulate mitigating strategies.

This study adopted an inductive qualitative approach, retrieving 42 academic articles from three main Chinese academic databases: CNKI, Wanfang and CQVIP. A thematic analysis approach was employed for the literature analysis.

The literature analysis pointed to 15 barriers to the release of OGD in China. Furthermore, the barriers emerged in the following three main themes: institutional barriers, data integrity and quality barriers, and user participation barriers.

This paper reports on one of the early research efforts into the problems of releasing OGD in China. Although this study focusses on Chinese context and issues, the findings and lessons learnt can be shared across international borders.