Circular pieces are often cut from stainless steel roll to make common commodities such as pots and cups. The related factories are often make-to-order ones. The stock rolls usually have the same width. Each working order requires pieces of the same size. Pieces of different sizes cannot appear...

Two-staged patterns are often used in manufacturing industries to divide stock plates into rectangular items. A heuristic algorithm is presented to solve the rectangular two-dimensional single stock size cutting stock problem with two-staged patterns. It uses the column-generation method to...

Three-staged guillotine patterns are widely used in the manufacturing industry to cut stock plates into rectangular items. The cutting cost often increases with the number of cuts required. This paper focuses on the rectangular two-dimensional cutting stock problem, where three-staged guillotine...

A heuristic approach for the two-dimensional bin-packing problem is proposed. The algorithm is based on the sequential heuristic procedure that generates each pattern to produce some items and repeats until all items are produced. Both guillotine and non-guillotine patterns can be used. Each...

Three-staged cutting patterns are often used in dividing large plates into small rectangular items. Vertical cuts separate the plate into segments in the first stage, horizontal cuts split each segment into strips in the second stage, and vertical cuts divide each strip into items in the third...

With the development of electrochemical energy storage systems with intrinsic safety, zinc–nickel batteries (ZNBs) have attracted widespread attention. However, the poor cycling life and shelf life restrict their further application. Herein, a porous-structured “Ryomen Sukuna” (RS)...

There is considerable debate about the sustainability of the hydraulic fracturing (HF) water cycle in North America. Recently, this debate has expanded to China, where HF activities continue to grow. Here, we provide a critical review of the HF water cycle in China, including water withdrawal...