Research of Driving Circuit in Coaxial Induction Coilgun

Power supply is crucial equipment in coaxial induction coil launcher. Configuration of the driving circuit directly influences the efficiency of the coil launcher.This paper gives a detailed analysis of the properties of the driving circuit construction based on the capacitor source. Three topologies of the driving circuit are compared including oscillation, crowbar and half-wave circuits. It is proved that which circuit has the better efficiency depends on the detailed parameters of the experiment, especially the crowbar resistance. Crowbar resistor regulates not only efficiency of the system, but also temperature rise of the coil. Electromagnetic force (EMF) applied on the armature will be another problem which influences service condition of the driving circuits. Oscillation and crowbar circuits should be applied to both of the synchronous and asynchronous induction coil launchers, respectively. Half-wave circuit is seldom used in the experiment. Although efficiency of the half-wave circuit is very high, the speed of the armature is low. A simple independent half-wave circuit is proposed in this paper. In general, the comprehensive property of crowbar circuit is the most practical in the three typical circuits. Conclusions of the paper could provide guidelines for practice

Interpersonal Influence and Workplace Energy Conservation Behaviors: The Role of Climate Change Discussion and Social Norms

Energy consumption in the workplace worldwide contributes largely to carbon emissions. Hence, promoting employees&rsquo; workplace energy conservation behaviors (WECB) is crucial for corporates&rsquo; low-carbon transition. Given the unique characteristic of social interaction in the workplace (vs. in the household), we proposed the &quot;social influence account&quot; to interpret WECB. We aimed to investigate the potential impact of interpersonal discussion (i.e., one of the most basic forms of interpersonal interaction) about climate change on employees&rsquo; workplace energy saving behaviors and the mediating effect of social norms. Based on the results of a national survey in China (N = 800; Study 1), we verified that employees&rsquo; discussion with others about climate change-related issues was positively associated with workplace energy conservation behaviors, and that social norms mediated this effect. These results were replicated in a cross-national survey within an international company of Chinese and Indian employees (NChina&nbsp;= 122, NIndia&nbsp;= 122; Study 2), indicating a certain degree of generalizability of our &quot;social influence account&quot;. Combined, the present research offers insights into explaining and cultivating general employees&rsquo; WECB from an interpersonal influence perspective. Communication and managerial implications are thus provided.</p

Overcoming Public Resistance to Carbon Taxes: A Zero-Cost Solution Built on a Pre-Existing Reward-Based Climate Policy

A carbon tax is effective at curbing carbon emissions, but it is met with low public support due to its high personal cost. Investigations have been conducted to reform carbon tax design to ease the burden on individuals by providing economic compensation, but the cost for governments is high. We propose a new zero-cost solution by introducing people to a pre-existing reward-based climate policy to create a sense of economic compensation. Across three experiments, we show that the presence of a pre-existing reward-based climate policy increases participants&rsquo; support for a carbon tax, especially when the innate connection between the two policies is made salient and people regard the reward as compensation for the tax. In contrast, if people are distracted from sensing this interrelationship, support for the tax does not differ from when it is introduced alone. Applicability of this approach was testified under varied urgency of reducing carbon emissions.</p

Waste sorting behaviors promote subjective well-being: A perspective of the self-nature association

As one of the most important pro-environmental behaviors, individuals&#39; waste sorting behaviors are positively associated with their subjective well-being. This relationship is usually explained by the &quot;self-other association&quot;, regarding waste sorting behaviors as pro-social deeds, thus elevating people&#39;s positive self-perception and strengthening a sense of interpersonal relatedness. Distinct from the general &quot;good deeds&quot;, the ultimate beneficiary of waste sorting behaviors is the natural environment instead of other people, so the mechanism underlying the positive relationship between performing a general good deed and subjective well-being might not suffice to explain the positive association between waste sorting behaviors and subjective well-being. The current study proposed the &quot;self-nature association&quot; with the cognitive (i.e., environmental perception) and the affective (i.e., nature connectedness) pathways. Using a large sample national survey in China (N=4,705), we confirmed the positive link between waste sorting behaviors and subjective well-being, and the dual pathway was verified by a parallel mediation analysis. The theoretical and practical values of the present work were further explicated.</p

Perceived fiscal subsidy predicts rural residential acceptance of clean heating: Evidence from an indoor-survey in a pilot city in China

Traditional rural residential household heating in winter in northern China has caused great burden to green development due to overdependence on scattered coal and other non-renewable energies that are major contributors of environmental pollution. Clean heating policy has been constantly altering this situation ever since its implementation in 2017, but there are some worries about the overdependence on fiscal subsidy to complete the transformation. The present study was based on a survey carried out in 2018 in one of the pilot cities for the policy in order to explore whether perceptual factors instead of actual subsidy shape public acceptance of clean heating indicated by satisfaction and willingness to pay (WTP). The results revealed that perceived fiscal subsidy turns out to be the only perceptual factor that has positive significant association with satisfaction when controlling for household annual income and education, and that adoption of electric heating causes more satisfaction compared with other types of clean heating. Meanwhile, perceived fiscal subsidy is also positively associated with WTP. Based on our findings, we provide insights at the group and the individual level for the governments to better adjust and conduct clean heating policy as well as future sustainable programs in rural areas

Informal learning in nature education promotes ecological conservation behaviors of nature reserve employees-A preliminary study in China

Nature education based on natural environments, such as nature reserves, has been thriving worldwide for several decades with abundant positive results concerning improvement in public environmental attitude and behaviors. However, whether the public-oriented nature education can also indirectly reach out to benefit employees, namely, employees' "informal learning in nature education", remains understudied. The present study addressed this gap by making a preliminary exploration in fifteen nature reserves in China with an online survey, and we found that employees could be positively affected by informally acquired nature education in terms of increased self-reported ecological conservation behaviors. Besides, we revealed the underlying mechanism that drives this positive effect-employees' indirectly acquired nature education could increase their environmental competence, leading to improved self-efficacy, which in turn elevates ecological conservation behaviors. We thereby discussed the implications of these results, offered practical suggestions for policy making, management practice and employees' selfenhancing, and we also identified directions for future research

Discrepant implicit and explicit attitudes toward climate change: implications for climate change communications

In order to better engage individuals in the progress of carbon neutrality, public attitude toward the issue of climate change is a fundamental question. In recent decades, burgeoning research has implied the distinctive effect of implicit attitude on behaviors from explicit attitude. However, the majority of research on attitudes toward climate change has focused on explicit attitude. This research fills this gap by exploring individuals' implicit attitudes toward climate change in two aspects-overall evaluation (positive or negative) and attribution of (anthropogenic or natural progress) climate change, which are among the most concerned dimensions in the study of individuals' attitudes toward climate change, and we compared implicit attitudes with explicit attitudes in these two dimensions. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) and its modification, the Single Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT), were applied to measure implicit attitudes. Our results show that participants implicitly think of climate change as human-induced, corresponding with explicit attitudes; however, they express indifference to climate change as manifested by neutral implicit evaluation, contrary to the negative evaluation in the explicit attitude test. This indifferent implicit attitude should inspire policymakers to focus not only on regular knowledge communication but also on an emotional and personal way to induce true concern for climate change amongst the public

Overcoming public resistance to carbon taxes: A cost-efficient solution built on a pre-existing reward-based climate policy

A carbon tax is effective at curbing carbon emissions, but it is met with low public support due to its high personal cost. Investigations have been conducted to reform carbon tax design to ease the burden on individuals by providing economic compensation, but the cost for governments is high. We propose a new cost-efficient solution by introducing people to a pre-existing reward-based climate policy to create a sense of economic compensation. Across three experiments, we show that the presence of a pre-existing reward-based climate policy increases participants&#39; support for a carbon tax, especially when the innate connection between the two policies is made salient and people regard the reward as compensation for the tax. In contrast, if people are distracted from sensing this interrelationship, support for the tax does not differ from when it is introduced alone. Applicability of this approach was tested under different conditions where the pressure to reduce carbon emission is either high or low.</p

Effects of monetary and nonmonetary incentives in Individual Low-carbon Behavior Rewarding System on recycling behaviors: The role of perceived environmental responsibility

Nowadays, many governments and companies are aware of the role of incentives in encouraging individuals&#39; low-carbon behaviors. Individual Low-carbon Behavior Rewarding System (ILBRS) is a currently piloted measure in China, whose aim is to encourage public participation in low-carbon behavior through incentives. However, there is little literature evaluating effectiveness of the reward mechanism of ILBRS. In this paper, based on previous studies on incentives, we compared the effect of monetary and nonmonetary incentives on low-carbon behaviors. Moreover, we examined these incentives&#39; effect on driving different types of recycling behaviors: high-willingness behaviors (e.g., bringing your own shopping bags) and low-willingness behaviors (e.g., bringing your own cutlery), and explored the psychological process driving the effect. The results of three empirical studies indicated that for low-willingness recycling behaviors, both incentives are effective in increasing participants&#39; willingness, with nonmonetary incentives being more effective. For high-willingness behaviors, neither monetary incentives nor nonmonetary incentives can further increase the original willingness. Perceived environmental responsibility plays a mediating role to explain the inflfluence of nonmonetary incentives on lowwillingness recycling behaviors. Our study provides practical insights for the improvement of ILBRS design, answers how incentives can achieve better results, and contributes to global ecological governance as well.</p

Tunable metamaterial absorber based on VO2-graphene

In this paper, a tunable multilayer metamaterial absorber is proposed, which is composed of VO _2 -graphene mixed structure layer, PDMS dielectric layer, VO _2 layer, PDMS dielectric layer and bottom metal film layer. The simulation results show that when VO _2 is in the insulating phase and the Fermi level of graphene is 0.9 eV, the absorption peak of 0.75–1.15 THz is generated by the interaction resonance of graphene and bottom metal. When VO _2 is in metal phase and the Fermi level of graphene is 0 eV, the absorption peak of 2.5–4.5 THz is generated by the resonance of vanadium dioxide. Therefore, the tunable switching between two different frequency bands can be realized. Moreover, the dual regulation of both vanadium dioxide conductivity and graphene Fermi energy level can also modulate the absorption amplitude and broaden absorption band. In order to explain the mechanism of VO _2 -graphene on the absorption performance, the electric field distribution and equivalent impedance of the absorber are discussed and analyzed in this paper. In addition, the absorption performances at variable incidence angles for both TE and TM polarizations are investigated and the absorber is insensitive to polarization. Therefore, the absorber has potential application value in the terahertz field