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Transport is an integral part of the nuclear fuel cycle. The procedures employed are designed and conducted to ensure the public and environment protection both routinely and when transport accidents occur. According to this, the purpose of this paper is to focus on a coupled thermal-drop impact analysis-based safety assessment of a nuclear fuel cask.

For the cask, high altitude falling and fire accidents are the two most serious accidents during its transportation. In this paper, a sequentially coupled thermal-drop impact analysis is performed by using a nuclear fuel cask model for safety assessment. High altitude falling and fire accidents of the nuclear fuel cask were conducted by using finite element simulations for coupled thermal-drop impact analysis.

Results showed that the cask can withstand a drop test and survive a fire of 800°C for 30 minutes. In addition, an improved design is explored and evaluated, which provides a reference for structural design and safety assessment of nuclear fuel casks.

A coupled thermal-drop impact analysis-based safety assessment procedure is developed for the nuclear fuel cask.

The purpose of this paper is to study the correlation between the dynamic features of the running-in attractor and the wear particle group, so as to characterize the running-in attractor by means of the wear particle group.

Wear particles are collected in phased wear experiments, and their dynamic features are investigated by the equivalent mean chord length L. Then, the correlation between the equivalent mean chord length L and the correlation dimension D of the running-in attractor is studied.

In the wear process, the equivalent means chord length L first decreases, then remains steady, and finally increases, this process agrees with the increase, stabilization and decrease of the correlation dimension D. Therefore, the wear particle group has a dynamic nature, which characterizes the formation, stabilization, and disappearance of a running-in attractor. Consequently, the dynamic characteristics and evolution of a running-in attractor can be revealed by the wear particle group.

The intrinsic relationship between the wear particle group and the running-in attractor is proved, and this is advantageous for further revealing the dynamic features of the running-in attractor and identifying the wear states.

Aims to investigate the way that the semantic web is being used to represent and process social network information.

The Swoogle semantic web search engine was used to construct several large data sets of Resource Description Framework (RDF) documents with social network information that were encoded using the “Friend of a Friend” (FOAF) ontology. The datasets were analyzed to discover how FOAF is being used and investigate the kinds of social networks found on the web.

The FOAF ontology is the most widely used domain ontology on the semantic web. People are using it in an open and extensible manner by defining new classes and properties to use with FOAF.

RDF data was only obtained from public RDF documents published on the web. Some RDF FOAF data may be unavailable because it is behind firewalls, on intranets or stored in private databases. The ways in which the semantic web languages RDF and OWL are being used (and abused) are dynamic and still evolving. A similar study done two years from now may show very different results.

This paper describes how social networks are being encoded and used on the world wide web in the form of RDF documents and the FOAF ontology. It provides data on large social networks as well as insights on how the semantic web is being used in 2005.

Obtaining building permit certificate is an essential component of construction endeavors, but it can be cumbersome sometimes. The process is frequently beset with obstacles, including bureaucratic impediments, red-tapism, prolonged authorization protocols and insufficient inter-agency collaboration which result in project timeline extension, cost escalation and applicant dissatisfaction. Therefore, this study aims to examine customer satisfaction with the assessment of building construction permit certificates in Lalitpur, Nepal.

Following the notion of evaluation model theory, this study adopts an explanatory research design to determine the causal relationship between latent and observed variables. People who have recently completed the construction of their building and those people whose construction work is pending make up the population for the study. A total of 198 samples were collected by following the convenience sampling method from Lalitpur, Nepal. The primary data are collected by using the structured questionnaire with the interview process where the data are statistically evaluated using descriptive and inferential analysis using the KOBO toolbox, SPSS and AMOS. The connection between variables was examined using structural equation modeling (SEM).

Results indicate that the negligence of the employees, the attitude of the employees, the need for additional costs and the hiring of the agent are the most significant obstacles encountered by customers during the process of getting construction permit. Regarding the whole assessment system, the general population expresses displeasure. SEM results indicate that environment and quality are significantly related to customer satisfaction.

This paper's novelty lies in its Nepal-specific inquiry into the relationship between building permit acquisition procedures and customer contentment. The study provides a distinctive viewpoint on this context by combining evaluation model theory and SEM. The localized approach emphasizes the importance of customized strategies to improve customer satisfaction, adding to the current literature on the subject. The study's use of SEM as a quantitative analysis tool enhances its methodological rigor. This interdisciplinary research offers valuable insights for academics, practitioners and policymakers in Nepal and contributes to the wider field of construction and customer satisfaction.

IT is an accepted principle that primary controls should have full consideration during the initial design of an aircraft but there is a general tendency to ignore secondary controls and systems, such as electrics and hydraulics, until all other requirements have been satisfied, basic shapes and sizes determined and structural members laid out.

The ways in which the Manpower Services Commission (MSC) intends to move towards “an organismic commonality of value directions” (i.e. once people open themselves up to an experience, they discover others of like mind who are able both to support and reinforce them in their own development) are outlined. The MSC needs to ask their students the kind of questions that help them make their experience explicit and thereby make it accessible and open to others. A model is presented that can give a clue as to how to present open learning material to potential students to evaluate what is an offer and what is possible. Quality can only be appreciated and not experienced. It is a function of what is best for an individual in a particular context. It is a unique interaction between what is best from the provider's point of view, what is best from the learner's point of view and what is best in the particular context in which the material will be used.

To meet the high stiffness requirement of bearings used in high-precision spindles, this paper aims to propose a novel kind of bearing composited by hydrostatic cavities and tilting pads with preload.

Cavities are cut on the oil seal surface of a hybrid bearing, in which the tilting pads are set up. The load of the bearing is carried by the hydrostatic cavities and tilting pads. The structural features of this compound bearing and the controlling variables of the main stiffness coefficient are presented. Two basic design principles are proposed on the basis of equal machining clearance (EMC) and equal installation clearance (EIC).

The theoretical analysis indicates that the stiffness of compound bearings under the EMC condition increases to infinity monotonously when the preload coefficient of the tilting pad tends to 1, while the stiffness under the EIC condition has a peak value. Therefore, a synthetic design principle is proposed by synthetically using the above-mentioned two principles. The applicable range of the three principles is discussed through an example.

The study about technological combination of hydrostatic cavity and tilting pad in this paper can provide suggestions for the design of a high-stiffness bearing in a precision spindle.

The paper aims to develop (1) a comprehensive framework for classifying crowdshipping business models and (2) a taxonomy of currently implemented crowdshipping business models.

The business models of 105 companies offering crowdsourced delivery services are analysed. Cluster analysis and principal component analysis are applied to develop a business model taxonomy.

A detailed crowdsourced delivery business model framework with 74 features is developed. Based on it, six distinct clusters of crowdshipping business models are identified. One cluster stands out as the most appealing to customers based on social media metrics, indicating which type of crowdshipping business models is the most successful.

Detailed investigations of each of the six clusters and of recent crowdshipping business model developments are needed in further research in order to enhance the derived taxonomy.

This paper serves as a best-practices guide for both start-ups and global logistics operators for establishing or further developing their crowdsourced delivery business models.

This paper provides a holistic understanding of the business models applied in the crowdshipping industry and is a valuable contribution to the yet small amount of studies in the crowd logistics field.

Over the past two decades, China’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) has risen remarkably. Whether such an increase affects the Chinese export diversification (ED) is a significant issue that has surprisingly remained unaddressed. This study aims to explain this issue that how OFDI plays a vital role in symmetric and asymmetric effects on its ED.

The authors introduce a robust nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model. Ironically, the purpose of this study is to analyze the symmetric and asymmetric effect of OFDI on ED.

The authors propose that growing OFDI would be more advantageous to China, rather than the policies of contraction. Therefore, the study provides valuable policy insights to consider the long-run asymmetric momentum given to ED by China’s OFDI.

The results of this study may seem to be an important newsletter for further policy discussion on how China can catch up on the benefits of ED through OFDI.

The purpose of this work is to comprehensively reveal the spatial distribution and evolution features of a running-in attractor.

The friction coefficient signals extracted from wear experiments are reconstructed. A projected matrix is obtained based on the reconstructed matrix. Then the approach of three-dimensional (3D) histogram of phase points is proposed, which is used to intuitively characterize the complex properties of the running-in attractor.

The space occupied by the running-in attractor gradually contracts, then stabilizes and finally expands; the maximum of phase points number in a certain bin initially decreases, then keeps stable and finally increases rapidly; yet the percentage of bins number storing phase points shows an inverse variation tendency. Consequently, 3D histogram evolves from a nonuniform state to a uniform state then returns back to the nonuniform state, which indicates the evolution rule of “formation, stabilization and disappearance” of the running-in attractor.

Characterization on the features of the running-in attractor can provide valuable information about friction systems and their dynamic behaviors.