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Since the development of the Nimonic¹ alloys for Sir Frank Whittle’s first jet engine, Henry Wiggin Ltd, now part of Special Metals Corporation, has been involved with the design and improvement of nickel alloys for aerospace engineering. Whilst much of this work continues to be in relation to alloys for the high strength/high temperature applications of turbine blades, discs, seals, rings and casings of aero engines, nickel alloys are being utilised for other key aerospace engineering areas such as tooling for composite manufacture. The focus of this paper is on four recent developments in nickel alloys for aerospace engineering, namely: disc alloys; low expansion superalloys; Inconel alloy 718SPF – a nickel base superalloy capable of being superplastically formed; Nilo (low expansion alloys) for composite tooling.

This paper aims to identify the antecedents and postcedents of customer satisfaction, including utilitarian, social and emotional factors, in a fair trade (FT) coffee consumption context.

This paper is based on a broad range of 177 consumers of FT coffee in Spain, the data analysis used structural equation modeling (SEM) with SPSS/AMOS 26.0 software.

This paper supports that both customer social value and quality affect perceived value (PV). PV in turn has effects on customer satisfaction and the latter influences loyalty. Conversely, both customer emotional value and customer expectations were not confirmed as antecedents of PV.

The consumer satisfaction analysis conducted differs substantially from those of conventionally traded coffee, as social and emotional factors were considered along with utilitarian factors.

Practitioners, retailers and relevant institutions should design strategies to manage efficiently channel efforts to improve the consumer satisfaction and its loyalty.

This paper contributes to a substantial improvement in the understanding of consumer satisfaction and its consequences, in FT coffee consumption contexts. A new integrated theoretical model on customer satisfaction has been provided, which includes social and emotional perception factors, along with cognitive perception (quality and expectations) factors.

研究旨在確認在公平貿易咖啡消費的課題上，顧客滿意的誘因及其後因，這包括實用的因素，社會的因素和情感的因素。

研究之數據廣泛來自在西班牙177名公平貿易咖啡消費者; 分析則以結構方程模型，並以SPSS Amos 26軟件來進行。

研究結果證實，顧客社會價值和質量是會影響認知價值的;認知價值繼而影響顧客滿意度，而顧客滿意度又進而影響他們的忠誠。相反的，顧客情緒價值或他們的期望、均未能證實是認知價值的先決條件。

本研究所進行的消費者滿意度分析，與其它以傳統方法銷售的咖啡之相關研究有很大的分別，這是因為本研究除了考慮實用的因素外，還納入了社會因素和情感因素。

從業人員、零售商和有關的機構應制訂適切的策略，以能有效地管理各個管道，來提升消費者的滿意度和忠誠。

本研究的貢獻在於它幫助我們在公平貿易咖啡消費的課題上，對消費者滿意及其效果有更深入的認識。研究亦提供了一個探討顧客滿意度的嶄新、綜合的理論模型，而這個理論模型，除了涵蓋知覺認知 (質量和期望) 的因素外，還納入了社會的和情感的知覺因素。

A higher-order implicit shock-capturing scheme is presented for the Euler equations based on time linearization of the implicit flux vector rather than the residual vector.

The flux vector is linearized through a truncated Taylor-series expansion whose leading-order implicit term is an inner product of the flux Jacobian and the vector of differences between the current and previous time step values of conserved variables. The implicit conserved-variable difference vector is evaluated at cell faces by using the reconstructed states at the left and right sides of a cell face and projecting the difference between the left and right states onto the right eigenvectors. Flux linearization also facilitates the construction of implicit schemes with higher-order spatial accuracy (up to third order in the present study). To enhance the diagonal dominance of the coefficient matrix and thereby increase the implicitness of the scheme, wave strengths at cell faces are expressed as the inner product of the inverse of the right eigenvector matrix and the difference in the right and left reconstructed states at a cell face.

The accuracy of the implicit algorithm at Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy (CFL) numbers greater than unity is demonstrated for a number of test cases comprising one-dimensional (1-D) Sod’s shock tube, quasi 1-D steady flow through a converging-diverging nozzle, and two-dimensional (2-D) supersonic flow over a compression corner and an expansion corner.

The algorithm has the advantage that it does not entail spatial derivatives of flux Jacobian so that the implicit flux can be readily evaluated using Roe’s approximate Jacobian. As a result, this approach readily facilitates the construction of implicit schemes with high-order spatial accuracy such as Roe-MUSCL.

A novel finite-volume-based higher-order implicit shock-capturing scheme was developed that uses time linearization of fluxes at cell interfaces.

The purpose of this paper is to derive a unified formulation for incorporating different dispersive models into the explicit and implicit finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations.

In this paper, dispersive integro-differential equation (IDE) FDTD formulation is presented. The resultant IDE is written in the discrete time domain by applying the trapezoidal recursive convolution and central finite differences schemes. In addition, unconditionally stable implicit split-step (SS) FDTD implementation is also discussed.

It is found that the time step stability limit of the explicit IDE-FDTD formulation maintains the conventional Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy (CFL) constraint but with additional stability limits related to the dispersive model parameters. In addition, the CFL stability limit can be removed by incorporating the implicit SS scheme into the IDE-FDTD formulation, but this is traded for degradation in the accuracy of the formulation.

The stability of the explicit FDTD scheme is bounded not only by the CFL limit but also by additional condition related to the dispersive material parameters. In addition, it is observed that implicit JE-IDE FDTD implementation decreases as the time step exceeds the CFL limit.

Based on the presented formulation, a single dispersive FDTD code can be written for implementing different dispersive models such as Debye, Drude, Lorentz, critical point and the quadratic complex rational function.

The proposed formulation not only unifies the FDTD implementation of the frequently used dispersive models with the minimal storage requirements but also can be incorporated with the implicit SS scheme to remove the CFL time step stability constraint.

This study aims to investigate the insights of soot formation such as rate of soot coagulation, rate of soot nucleation, rate of soot surface growth and soot surface oxidation in ethylene/hydrogen/nitrogen diffusion jet flame at standard atmospheric conditions, which is very challenging to capture even with highly sophisticated measuring systems such as Laser Induced Incandescence and Planar laser-induced fluorescence. The study also aims to investigate the volume of soot in the flame using soot volume fraction and to understand the global correlation effect in the formation of soot in ethylene/hydrogen/nitrogen diffusion jet flame.

A large eddy simulation (LES) was performed using box filtered subgrid-scale tensor. A filtered and residual component of the governing equations such as continuity, momentum, energy and species are resolved and modeled, respectively. All the filtered and residual components are numerically solved using the ILU method by considering PISO pressure–velocity solver. All the hyperbolic flux uses the QUICK algorithm, and an elliptic flux uses SOU to evaluate face values. In all the cases, Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy (CFL) conditions are maintained unity.

The findings are as follows: soot volume fraction (SVF) as a function of a flame-normalized length for three different Reynolds number configurations (Re = 15,000, Re = 8,000 and Re = 5,000) using LES; soot gas phase and particulate phase insights such as rate of soot nucleation, rate of soot coagulation, rate of soot surface growth and soot surface oxidation for three different Reynolds number configurations (Re = 15,000, Re = 8,000 and Re = 5,000); and soot global correction using total soot volume in the flame volume as a function of Reynolds number and Froude number.

The originality of this study includes the following: coupling LES turbulent model with chemical equilibrium diffusion combustion conjunction with semi-empirical Brookes Moss Hall (BMH) soot model by choosing C6H6 as a soot precursor kinetic pathway; insights of soot formations such as rate of soot nucleation, soot coagulation rate, soot surface growth rate and soot oxidation rate for ethylene/hydrogen/nitrogen co-flow flame; and SVF and its insights study for three inlet fuel port configurations having the three different Reynolds number (Re = 15,000, Re = 8,000 and Re = 5,000).

The purpose of this paper is to present efficient and stable generalized auxiliary differential equation finite difference time domain (G-ADE-FDTD) implementation of graphene dispersion.

A generalized dispersive model is used for describing the graphene’s intraband and interband conductivities in the terahertz and infrared frequencies. In addition, the von Neumann method combined with the Routh-Hurwitz criterion are used for studying the stability of the given implementation.

The presented G-ADE-FDTD implementation allows modeling graphene’s dispersion using the minimal number of additional auxiliary variables, which will reduce both the CPU time and memory storage requirements. In addition, the stability of the implementation retains the standard non-dispersive Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy (CFL) constraint.

The given implementation is conveniently applicable for most commonly used dispersive models, such as Debye, Lorentz, complex-conjugate pole residue, etc.

The presented G-ADE-FDTD implementation not only unifies the implementation of both graphene’s intraband and interband conductivities, with the minimal computational requirements but also retains the standard non-dispersive CFL time step stability constraint.

This paper aims to present a novel hybrid time integration approach for efficient numerical simulations of multiscale problems involving interactions of electromagnetic fields with fine structures.

The entire computational domain is discretized with a coarse grid and a locally refined subgrid containing the tiny objects. On the coarse grid, the time integration of Maxwell’s equations is realized by the conventional finite-difference technique, while on the subgrid, the unconditionally stable Krylov-subspace-exponential method is adopted to breakthrough the Courant–Friedrichs–Lewy stability condition.

It is shown that in contrast with the conventional finite-difference time-domain method, the proposed approach significantly reduces the memory costs and computation time while providing comparative results.

An efficient hybrid time integration approach for numerical simulations of multiscale electromagnetic problems is presented.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a Vortex-In-Cell (VIC) method with the semi-Lagrangian scheme and apply it to the high-Re lid-driven cavity flow.

The VIC method is developed for simulating high Reynolds number incompressible flow. A semi-Lagrangian scheme is incorporated in the convection term to produce unconditional stability, which gets rid of the constraint of the convection Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) condition; the adaptive time step is used to maintain the numerical stability of the diffusion term; and the velocity boundary condition is readily converted to the vorticity formulation to suit discontinuous boundary treatment. The VIC simulation results are compared with those produced by other gird methods reported in open literature studies.

The lid-driven cavity flow is simulated from Re = 100 to 100,000. Similar vortex birth mechanisms are exhibited though, but distinct flow characteristics are revealed. At Re = 100 to 7,500, the cavity flow is confirmed steady. At Re = 10,000, 15,000 and 20,000, the cavity flow is periodical with a primary vortex held spatially at the center. In particular, at Re = 100,000 highly turbulent characteristics is first revealed and an analogous primary vortex is formed but in motion rather than stationary, which is caused by the considerable flow separation at all the boundaries.

In the lid-driven cavity, the flow becomes extremely complex and highly turbulent at Re = 100,000, and the analogous primary vortex structure is observed. Boundary layer separation is observed at all walls, producing small vortices and causing the displacement of the analogous primary vortex. Such a finding original and has not yet been reported by other investigators. It may provide a basis for conducting in-depth studies of the lid-driven cavity flow.

This study aims to propose a robust total variation diminishing (TVD) weighted average flux (WAF) finite volume scheme for investigating compressible gas–liquid mixture flows.

This study considers a two-phase flow composed of a liquid containing dispersed gas bubbles. To model this two-phase mixture, this paper uses a homogeneous equilibrium model (HEM) defined by two mass conservation laws for the two phases and a momentum conservation equation for the mixture. It is assumed that the velocity is the same for the two phases, and the density of phases is governed by barotropic laws. By applying the theory of hyperbolic equations, this study establishes an exact solution of the Riemann problem associated with the model equations, which allows to construct an exact Riemann solver within the first-order upwind Godunov scheme as well as a robust TVD WAF scheme.

The ability and robustness of the proposed TVD WAF scheme is validated by testing several two-phase flow problems involving different wave structures of the Riemann problem. Simulation results are compared against analytical solutions and other available numerical methods as well as experimental data in the literature. The proposed approach is much superior to other strategies in terms of the accuracy and ability of reconstruction.

The novelty of this work lies in its methodical extension of a TVD WAF scheme implementing an exact Riemann solver developed for compressible two-phase flows. Furthermore, other novelty lies on the quantitative calculation of different Riemann problem two-phase flows. Simulation results involve the verification of the constructed methods on the exact solutions of HEM without any restriction of variables.