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The purpose of this study is to present a newly proposed and developed sorting algorithm-based merging weighted fraction Monte Carlo (SAMWFMC) method for solving the population balance equation for the weighted fraction coagulation process in aerosol dynamics with high computational accuracy and efficiency.

In the new SAMWFMC method, the jump Markov process is constructed as the weighted fraction Monte Carlo (WFMC) method (Jiang and Chan, 2021) with a fraction function. Both adjustable and constant fraction functions are used to validate the computational accuracy and efficiency. A new merging scheme is also proposed to ensure a constant-number and constant-volume scheme.

The new SAMWFMC method is fully validated by comparing with existing analytical solutions for six benchmark test cases. The numerical results obtained from the SAMWFMC method with both adjustable and constant fraction functions show excellent agreement with the analytical solutions and low stochastic errors. Compared with the WFMC method (Jiang and Chan, 2021), the SAMWFMC method can significantly reduce the stochastic error in the total particle number concentration without increasing the stochastic errors in high-order moments of the particle size distribution at only slightly higher computational cost.

The WFMC method (Jiang and Chan, 2021) has a stringent restriction on the fraction functions, making few fraction functions applicable to the WFMC method except for several specifically selected adjustable fraction functions, while the stochastic error in the total particle number concentration is considerably large. The newly developed SAMWFMC method shows significant improvement and advantage in dealing with weighted fraction coagulation process in aerosol dynamics and provides an excellent potential to deal with various fraction functions with higher computational accuracy and efficiency.

The purpose of this paper is to study the evolution and growth of aerosol particles in a turbulent planar jet by using the newly developed large eddy simulation (LES)-differentially weighted operator splitting Monte Carlo (DWOSMC) method.

The DWOSMC method is coupled with LES for the numerical simulation of aerosol dynamics in turbulent flows.

Firstly, the newly developed and coupled LES-DWOSMC method is verified by the results obtained from a direct numerical simulation-sectional method (DNS-SM) for coagulation occurring in a turbulent planar jet from available literature. Then, the effects of jet temperature and Reynolds number on the evolution of time-averaged mean particle diameter, normalized particle number concentration and particle size distributions (PSDs) are studied numerically on both coagulation and condensation processes. The jet temperature and Reynolds number are shown to be two important parameters that can be used to control the evolution and pattern of PSD in an aerosol reactor.

The coupling between the Monte Carlo method and turbulent flow still encounters many technical difficulties. In addition, the relationship between turbulence, particle properties and collision kernels of aerosol dynamics is not yet well understood due to the theoretical limitations and experimental difficulties. In the present study, the developed and coupled LES-DWOSMC method is capable of solving the aerosol dynamics in turbulent flows.

The world consists of diverse and distinctive economic systems. Due to the unique historical, cultural and location-specific contexts embedded in each economy, a comparison of strategic behaviors across economies is unlikely to provide a causal estimate of the influence of these contextual factors on strategy–performance relationships. In this paper, I outline three approaches to researching multinational firms that address this dilemma. They include the multilevel, historical and variance-centered perspectives, all of which can help international-business (IB) researchers develop stronger theoretical foundations from which to explain why country-specific contexts matter in designing IB action and research.

This paper aims to build a novel model and approach that assist an aircraft MRO procurement and overhaul management problems from the perspective of aircraft maintenance service provider, in order to ensure its smoothness maintenance activities implementation. The mathematical model utilizes the data related to warehouse inventory management, incoming customer service planning as well as risk forecast and control management at the decision-making stage, which facilitates to alleviate the negative impact of the uncertain maintenance demands on the MRO spare parts inventory management operations.

A stochastic model is proposed to formulate the problem to minimize the impact of uncertain maintenance demands, which provides flexible procurement and overhaul strategies. A Benders decomposition algorithm is proposed to solve large-scale problem instances given the structure of the mathematical model.

Compared with the default branch-and-bound algorithm, the computational results suggest that the proposed Benders decomposition algorithm increases convergence speed.

The results among the same group of problem instances suggest the robustness of Benders decomposition in tackling instances with different number of stochastic scenarios involved.

Extending the proposed model and algorithm to a decision support system is possible, which utilizes the databases from enterprise's service planning and management information systems.

A novel decision-making model for the integrated rotable and expendable MRO spare parts planning problem under uncertain environment is developed, which is formulated as a two-stage stochastic programming model.

The proliferation of social networking sites (SNSs) has drawn attention to different parties in realising their goals. Advertisers utilise SNSs to promote new products and services; politics optimise SNSs to gather support from the public, while ordinary users use SNSs as a unique platform to practice self-disclosure, develop networks, and sustain relationships. This study explores how social anxiety affects self-disclosure on SNSs and well-being. It also examines the moderating effects of two contextual factors, namely, online disinhibition and psychological stress. Two hundred and thirty-four valid responses were collected via an online survey. A positive relationship between social anxiety and self-disclosure, and self-disclosure and well-being was found. Furthermore, a positive moderation effect among social anxiety, online disinhibition, and self-disclosure was revealed. This research contributes to the development of social networking literature. It also enhances the understanding of disclosure patterns on SNSs among socially anxious individuals, thereby providing important insights for practitioners, educators, and clinicians.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the aerosol dynamics of the particle coagulation process using a newly developed weighted fraction Monte Carlo (WFMC) method.

The weighted numerical particles are adopted in a similar manner to the multi-Monte Carlo (MMC) method, with the addition of a new fraction function (α). Probabilistic removal is also introduced to maintain a constant number scheme.

Three typical cases with constant kernel, free-molecular coagulation kernel and different initial distributions for particle coagulation are simulated and validated. The results show an excellent agreement between the Monte Carlo (MC) method and the corresponding analytical solutions or sectional method results. Further numerical results show that the critical stochastic error in the newly proposed WFMC method is significantly reduced when compared with the traditional MMC method for higher-order moments with only a slight increase in computational cost. The particle size distribution is also found to extend for the larger size regime with the WFMC method, which is traditionally insufficient in the classical direct simulation MC and MMC methods. The effects of different fraction functions on the weight function are also investigated.

Stochastic error is inevitable in MC simulations of aerosol dynamics. To minimize this critical stochastic error, many algorithms, such as MMC method, have been proposed. However, the weight of the numerical particles is not adjustable. This newly developed algorithm with an adjustable weight of the numerical particles can provide improved stochastic error reduction.

The purpose of this paper is to study the soot formation and evolution by using this newly developed Lagrangian particle tracking with weighted fraction Monte Carlo (LPT-WFMC) method.

The weighted soot particles are used in this MC framework and is tracked using Lagrangian approach. A detailed soot model based on the LPT-WFMC method is used to study the soot formation and evolution in ethylene laminar premixed flames.

The LPT-WFMC method is validated by both experimental and numerical results of the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) and Multi-Monte Carlo (MMC) methods. Compared with DSMC and MMC methods, the stochastic error analysis shows this new LPT-WFMC method could further extend the particle size distributions (PSDs) and improve the accuracy for predicting soot PSDs at larger particle size regime.

Compared with conventional weighted particle schemes, the weight distributions in LPT-WFMC method are adjustable by adopting different fraction functions. As a result, the number of numerical soot particles in each size interval could be also adjustable. The stochastic error of PSDs in larger particle size regime can also be minimized by increasing the number of numerical soot particles at larger size interval.