The development of the Internet in China has come a long way in a very short time, however, it is still in an embryonic stage. There are lots of potholes as well as promising signs on the ramp leading to the information superhighway for China. This paper focuses on some issues of the Chinese...

The structural changes and failure mechanism of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) during thermal shock cycling were investigated. TBCs consisting of CoNiCrAlY bond coat and partially yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) top coat were deposited by atmospheric plasma spraying (APS) on a nickel-based...

The hydraulic free-piston engine is a hybrid of a hydraulic plunger pump and a free-piston engine. This paper presents a semi-analytical method for the hydraulic free-piston engine parameter design. An oscillation function described the piston oscillation were established. The piston oscillation...

Oil and related products continue to be prime enablers of the maintenance and growth of nearly all of the world's economies. The dramatic increase in the price of oil through mid-2008, along with the coincident (and possibly resultant) global recession, highlight our continued vulnerability to...

This paper describes the design of a single piston compression ignition hydraulic free-piston engine. An engine simulation model considering hydraulic valve dynamics is built. Extensive simulated results are presented and the major features of the engine are discussed. Experimental results from...

The growing concern over environmental considerations and the increasing fuel cost call for operating the energy station in a more economical and environmentally friendly way. This paper develops a multi-objective model for the CHPED (combined heat and power economic dispatch) problem to...

Due to the critical importance of oil to modern economic activity, and oil’s non-renewable nature, it is extremely important to try to estimate possible trajectories of future oil production while accounting for uncertainties in resource estimates and demand growth, and other factors that...

Sensitivity tests are used to make inferences about a sensitivity, a characteristic property of some products that cannot be observed directly. For binary response sensitivity data (dead or alive, explode or unexplode), the Langlie and Neyer are two well-known sensitivity tests. The priorities...

In this study, the calibration and validation period with stable underlying surface conditions was determined by using a statistically significant change point of the annual streamflow in several catchments of the Wei River basin (WRB). The effects of climate changes and human activities on...