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Describes the ingredients for internal audit success in a large state‐integrated petroleum company. With 1,600 auditors and 25,000 audits performed, a varied contribution has been made across all areas of the business. Significant factors have been the interrelationships of independence, authoritativeness and efficiency and this theme pervades. The outworkings of this formula has actually led to demand from the top to establish an additional audit division branch.

The freezing phenomenon of a falling droplet is a frequently encountered phenomenon in various applications, such as spray crystallization, hail formation and artificial snowmaking. Therefore, this paper aims to understand the freezing processes of a falling droplet without and with initial horizontal velocity in a cold space.

The freezing processes of a falling droplet were characterized using a modified enthalpy-based lattice Boltzmann method.

The temperature field, streamlines and freezing process of the falling droplet were investigated and analyzed. The lower part of the droplet was frozen earlier than the upper part. The freezing trend slowed down in the later stage of the freezing process. The droplet shape was related to the initial vertical velocity, nucleation temperature and initial horizontal velocity.

A modified enthalpy-based lattice Boltzmann method is proposed. In the model, the improved pseudo-potential model is used and the radiation is considered. This method was firstly used to simulate the freezing process of a falling droplet. By examining these freezing processes in detail, the freezing trend and the effect factors of droplet deformation and freezing time were obtained, respectively.

To develop a numerical method for solving hyperbolic two‐step micro heat transport equations, which have attracted attention in thermal analysis of thin metal films exposed to ultrashort‐pulsed lasers.

An energy estimation for the hyperbolic two‐step model in a three‐dimensional (3D) micro sphere irradiated by ultrashort‐pulsed lasers is first derived, and then a finite difference scheme for solving the hyperbolic two‐step model based on the energy estimation is developed. The scheme is shown to be unconditionally stable and satisfies a discrete analogue of the energy estimation. The method is illustrated by investigating the heat transfer in a micro gold sphere exposed to ultrashort‐pulsed lasers.

Provides information on normalized electron temperature change with time on the surface of the sphere, and shows the changes in electron and lattice temperatures.

The hyperbolic two‐step model is considered under the assumption of constant thermal properties.

A useful tool to investigate the temperature change in a micro sphere irradiated by ultrashort‐pulsed lasers.

Provides a new unconditionally stable finite difference scheme for solving the hyperbolic two‐step model in a 3D micro sphere irradiated by ultrashort‐pulsed lasers.

The rapid development of three-dimensional (3D) printing makes it familiar in daily life, especially the fused deposition modeling 3D printers. The process planning of traditional flat layer printing includes slicing and path planning to obtain the boundaries and the filling paths for each layer along the vertical direction. There is a clear division line through the whole fabricated part, inherited in the flat-layer-based printed parts. This problem is brought about by the seam of the boundary in each layer. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to propose a novel helical filling path generation with the ideal surface-plane intersection for a rotary 3D printer.

The detailed algorithm and implementation steps are given with several worked examples to enable readers to understand it better. The adjacent points obtained from the planar slicing are combined to generate each layer's helical points. The contours of all layers are traversed to obtain the helical surface layer and helical path. Meanwhile, the novel rotary four-degree of freedom 3D printer is briefly introduced.

As a proof of concept, this paper presents several examples based on the rotary 3D printer designed in the authors’ previous research and the algorithms illustrated in this paper. The preliminary experiments successfully verify the feasibility and versatility of the proposed slicing method based on a rotary 3D printer.

This paper provides a novel and feasible slicing method for multi-axis rotary 3D printers, making manufacturing thin-wall and complex parts possible. To further broaden the proposed slicing method’s application in further research, adaptive tool path generation for flat and curved layer printing could be applied with a combination of flat and curved layers in the same layer, different layers or even different parts of structures.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the problem of high binder content in sand mould and to solve it. Meanwhile, to increase build speed, especially for heavy casting’s sand mould with a high value in layer height, such as 2 mm in construction instead of the industry standard of 0.3 mm, line forming for three-dimensional (3D) sand mould printing is researched.

Brief introduction of 3D sand mould printing and key issues are given first. Then, this paper quantitatively analyses binder content in sand mould. Finally, to acquire sand mould with appropriate binder content and high build speed, line forming combining traditional furan no-bake sand manufacture technique is researched, as well as relevant feasible schemes and current progress.

The study shows that compared with traditional technique, binder content in sand mould produced by available 3D printing technique is too high, bad for sand mould’s properties and quality of castings, while line forming brings guaranteed binder content and improved build speed.

More experiments are needed to demonstrate quantitative analysis of binder content and to obtain flowability of moist sand, detailed structure design of nozzle and practical build speed, as well as methods of circulation of materials considering solidification time.

Line forming with higher build speed and suitable binder content means excellent properties of sand mould and castings as well, bringing obvious implication for moulds industries and manufacturing industry.

This new method could increase build speed and meanwhile guarantee binder content. Thus, its application prospect is promising.

The purpose of this paper is to review available technologies, analyse their features, propose a new approach of 3D sand mould printing based on line forming, introduce the manufacturing principle and show advantages of this approach, especially for larger parts with large Z steps in the build, such as 2 mm stepwise.

This paper introduces 3D sand mould printing, compares and analyses technological process and existing fabrication approaches among available technologies first. Then, a new approach of 3D sand mould printing is proposed to improve build speed. In addition, the proposed system will be analysed or benchmarked against existing systems.

A new approach based on line forming of sand mould printing is put forward by reviewing and analysing available technologies, to improve build speed from the aspect of basic moulding movement instead of optimization of moulding methods and process parameters. The theoretical calculation and analysis shows that build speed can be improved greatly, and it is more suitable for the manufacture of large-scale casting’s sand mould when considering dimensional accuracy and printing error, as well as uniformity of each layer.

The specific implement scheme of line forming and nozzle’s specific structure of this new approach need further study.

Much higher build speed of 3D sand mould printing with new approach brings evident implication for moulds companies and manufacturing industry, having a far-reaching influence on the development of national economy.

This paper reviews available technologies and presents a new approach of 3D sand mould printing for the first time. Analysis of the new approach shows that this new method of sand mould printing can boost build speed greatly. So, its application prospect is great.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors influencing quick cash by crowd in agri-food crowdfunding campaigns; this paper utilizes prospect theory to analyze the value and weighting functions of the crowd's cash.

Using samples of crowdfunding campaigns launched in the Zhongchou (www.Zhongchou.cn) platform's agriculture and food category, this paper employs a multivariate linear regression model to investigate factors that motivate the crowd to make quick investment decisions.

The results demonstrate that lowering the investment threshold, improving publicity, and increasing the benefits of a campaign can increase the decision weight assigned to a campaign, thereby motivating the crowd to make quick investment decisions. Improving the product's reputation, enhancing campaign promotion, and diversifying the reward scheme can increase the crowd's expected value of the campaign – another motivation for a quicker cash decision.

This paper can help initiators, platforms and regulators better fulfil their roles in promoting the rapid, healthy development of crowdfunding in the agri-food industry, especially in the context of the Chinese launch of significant initiatives to develop crowdfunding aimed at rural e-commerce and poverty alleviation.

This paper extends the behavioral finance concept of prospect theory to agri-food crowdfunding campaigns and investigates factors that motivate the crowd to make quick investment decisions. Additionally, this paper demonstrates that the backers of crowdfunding are not perfectly rational and can be motivated to invest by increasing mean decision weight and expected value of a campaign.

The purpose of this paper is to design and develop a rotary three-dimensional (3D) printer for curved layer fused deposition modeling (CLFDM), and discuss some technical challenges in the development.

Some technical challenges include, but are not limited to, the machine design and control system, motion analysis and simulation, workspace and printing process analysis, curved layer slicing and tool path planning. Moreover, preliminary experiments are carried out to prove the feasibility of the design.

A rotary 3D printer for CLFDM has been designed and developed. Moreover, this printer can function as a polar 3D printer for flat layer additive manufacturing (AM). Compared with flat layer AM, CLFDM weakens the staircase effect and improves geometrical accuracy and mechanical properties. Hence, CLFDM is more suitable for parts with curved surfaces.

Double extruders have brought improved build speed. However, this paper is restricted to complex process planning and mechanical structures, which may lead to collisions during printing. Meanwhile, the rotation range of the nozzle is limited by mechanical structures, affecting the manufacturing capability of complex curved surfaces.

A novel rotary 3D printer, which has four degrees of freedom and double extruders, has been designed and manufactured. The investigation on the prototype has proved its capability of CLFDM. Besides, this rotary 3D printer has two working modes, which brings the possibility of flat layer AM and CLFDM.

The purpose of this study is to corroborate the advanced tribological properties of graphene as a lubricant additive.

Different concentrations of functionalized graphene were coated on the substrate surface. Tribological properties of the graphene lubricants were carried out by ball-on-disk tribology tests. Wear mechanism of functionalized graphene was studied by observing wear scars on the substrate surface. Finally, the wear resistance of modified graphene was calculated by calculating and analyzing the applied experimental conditions and the obtained experimental data.

The best concentration of graphene lubricant is 0.5 wt.% which shows the best tribological performance. And the coefficient of friction is 0.08. Compared with the dry friction condition, the coefficient of friction and wear rate of best graphene lubricant decreased by 80% and 82%.

The formula of graphene lubricant is independently developed and works very well. Graphene lubricant can prevent the substrate from oxidation. The thickness of the graphene lubricant is about 4-7µm. The concept of anti-wear strength was introduced in this paper. When 0.5 Vol.% graphene was added, the anti-wear strength was greatly improved from 115.3 kg·mm-2 to 657.6 kg·mm-2.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-08-2019-0344

The purpose of this paper is to test the feasibility of lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) for numerical simulation of nucleate boiling and transition boiling. In addition, the processes of nucleate and transition boiling on vertical wall are simulated. The heat transfer mechanism is discussed based on the evolution of temperature field.

In this paper, nucleate boiling and transition boiling are numerically investigated by LBM. A lattice Boltzmann (LB) multiphase model combining with a LB thermal model is used to predict the phase-change process.

Numerical results are in good agreement with existing experimental results. Numerical results confirm the feasibility of the hybrid LBM for direct simulations of nucleate and transition boiling. The data exhibit correct parametric dependencies of bubble departure diameter compared with experimental correlation and relevant references.

All the simulations are performed in two-dimensions in this paper. In the future work, the boiling process will be simulated in three-dimensional.

This study demonstrated a potential model that can be applied to the investigation of phase change heat transfer, which is one of the effective techniques for enhance the heat transfer in engineering. The numerical results can be considered as a basic work or a reference for generalizing LB method in the practical application about nucleate boiling and transition boiling.

The hybrid LBM is first used for simulation of nucleate and transition boiling on vertical surface. Heat transfer mechanism during boiling is discussed based on the numerical results.