Cellulose has experienced a renaissance as a precursor for carbon fibers (CFs). However, cellulose possesses intrinsic challenges as precursor substrate such as typically low carbon yield. This study examines the interplay of strategies to increase the carbonization yield of (ligno-) cellulosic fibers manufactured via a coagulation process. Using Design of Experiments, this article assesses the individual and combined effects of diammonium hydrogen phosphate (DAP), lignin, and CO2 activation on the carbonization yield and properties of cellulose-based carbon fibers. Synergistic effects are identified using the response surface methodology. This paper evidences that DAP and lignin could affect cellulose pyrolysis positively in terms of carbonization yield. Nevertheless, DAP and lignin do not have an additive effect on increasing the yield. In fact, combined DAP and lignin can affect negatively the carbonization yield within a certain composition range. Further, the thermogravimetric CO2 adsorption of the respective CFs was measured, showing relatively high values (ca. 2 mmol/g) at unsaturated pressure conditions. The CFs were microporous materials with potential applications in gas separation membranes and CO2 storage systems.

Laser scabbling has the potential to be a valuable technique capable of effectively decontaminating highly radioactive concrete surface at nuclear decommissioning sites. Laser scabbling tool using an optical fiber has a merits of remote operation at a long range, which provides further safety for workers at nuclear decommissioning sites. Furthermore, there is no reaction force and low secondary waste generation, which reduces waste disposal costs. In this study, an integrated decontamination system with laser scabbling tool was employed to test the removal performance of the concrete surface. The integrated decontamination system consisted of a fiber laser, remote controllable mobile cart, and a debris collector device. The mobile cart controlled the translation speed and position of the optical head coupled with 20 m long process fiber. A 5 kW high-powered laser beam emitted from the optical head impacted the concrete block with dimensions of 300 mm × 300 mm × 80 mm to induce explosive spalling on its surface. The concrete debris generated from the spalling process were collected along the flexible tube connected with collector device. We used a three-dimensional scanner device to measure the removed volume and depth profile.

Laser cutting has many advantages, including high-speed cutting potential, no reaction forces, narrow kerf widths, ease of remote control, and more. This makes it the next generation cutting technology for nuclear decommissioning. For this reason, various groups in countries with nuclear power plants have been working on applying laser cutting to nuclear decommissioning. Our group has also been developing in-air and underwater laser cutting technologies. Previous research has focused on efficiently cutting thicker steels. To accomplish this, a cutting head with a long focusing element with a focal length of 600 mm was utilized. A long focusing head is advantageous for cutting thick objects at high speeds because it can maintain a high power density over a long distance. However, with such a long focused beam, the residual laser power that remains after passing through the target object can cut or damage other unwanted objects located behind the target. Utilizing a short focused element can solve this problem, but if the focal length is too short, the cutting capability will be reduced. In this work, we developed and applied a cutting head that utilizes a focused element with a short focal length of 300 mm. Cutting tests with this head allowed us to cut 10-60 mm thick stainless steel plates at a laser power of 6 kW. We also obtained the maximum cutting speed and kerf width for each thickness while increasing the laser power by 1 kW from 1 to 6 kW. The results obtained in this work are expected to be utilized for safe cutting in future nuclear decommissioning applications.

Рrecipitation of platinum group metals (Rh, Ru, Pd, so-called MPG) from the melt essentially affects the reliability of installations for vitrification of high-level liquid radioactive waste (HLW). To date, it is difficult to find an approach which allows simultaneous recovery of all three metals. The aim of our work was to select a sorbent that would provide simultaneous up to complete recovery of given metals. The following inorganic materials were tested as sorbents – yellow blood salt (YBS).and hexacyanoferrates of iron, aluminum, copper and nickel. The degree of metal recovery was studied is influenced by the temperature and concentration of nitric acid. Only palladium was completely recovered using YBS. At the same time, specially prepared iron hexacyanoferrate (HCF-Fe) under optimal experimental conditions recovers almost all Pd and more than 95% and 90% of Rh and Ru, respectively. The behavior of fission products, including the main dose-forming components of HLW (Cs, Sr) and Mo, U, Ag, REE) in the course of MPG recovery was studied. The experiments were carried using both multicomponent model solutions and real raffinates. Options for further management of the recovered metals have been worked out. Thus, the proposed method of metal recovery seems promising for the development of a technology for the removal of MPG from nitric HLW during the reprocessing of the spent nuclear fuel (SNF) before vitrification. The recovered metals can be probably used in various technological processes. Also, this method can provide the MPG recovery from low-concentration tail solutions.

Laser scabbling experiments were conducted with the aim of developing concrete decontamination technology. Laser scabbling system contains a 6 kW fiber laser (IPG YLS-6000, λ=1,070 nm) and optical head, which are connected with process fiber (core dia.: 600 μm, length: 20 m). Optical head consists of two lenses (f = 160 mm and 100 mm) to collimate and focus laser beam. The focused laser beam is passed through the small diameter of nozzle (throat dia.: 3 mm) to prevent the laser-produced debris into head. And then, the focused beam is directed toward concrete block as continuously diverging. The diverged laser beam was incident on the high-strength concrete with 300 mm (length) × 300 mm (height) × 80 mm (width) to induce explosive spalling on the concrete surface. The optical head was moved by X-Y-Z manipulate coupled with a computerized numerical control while scabbling. We have observed not only active spalling on the concrete surface but energetic scattering of laserproduced debris when scabbling on high-strength concretes. It indicates the need for a device capable of collecting the laser-produced debris. We newly designed and manufactured dust collector coupled with cylindrical tube to prevent scattering of laser-produced debris into ambient environment. The collecting system was evaluated by estimating the collecting efficiency for laser-produced debris while scabbling. The collecting efficiency was calculated on the basis of the information on the mass loss of concrete block after laser scabbling and the mass of collected debris in a container. The collecting efficiency was found to be over 85%.

The carbon-based nanostructures are in limelight due to their widespread applications in nano-to-micro-scale technologies. The carbon dots are known for their unique physical, electrical, optical, chemical and biological properties. The carbon dots (CDs) are being produced through several well-developed synthesis methods, one of which is the green sonochemical. This method is preferred over others because it is a green source of energy, facile, fast, low-temperature process, non-toxic and less expensive. Despite the fact of using 90% less energy than other methods, this method has been overlooked in the published literature. It is possible to prepare pure and doped CDs of low toxicity and controlled physicochemical properties through sonochemical method. In recent years, sonochemically produced CDs have been tuned and characterized for a variety of applications. This review has explored the merits and demerits of sonochemical method in comparison to the other methods for the synthesis of pure CDs and their nanocomposites. The role of multiple factors in tailoring the specific parameters of CDs for their application in antibacterial, polymerization, tissue engineering, catalysis, bio-imagining, supercapacitors, drug delivery and electric devices is also elaborated in this review. This review also concludes on future directions in the applications of sonochemically produced CDs.

A laser scabbling experiment was performed using a high-power fiber laser to investigate the removal rate of the concrete block and the scabbled depth. Concrete specimens with a 28-day compressive strength of 30 MPa were used in this study. Initially, we conducted the scabbling experiment under a stationary laser beam condition to determine the optimum scan speed. The laser interaction time with the concrete surface varied between 3 s and 40 s. The degree of spalling and vitrification on the surface was primarily dependent on the laser interaction time and beam power. Furthermore, thermal images were captured to investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of temperature during the scabbling process. Based on the experimental results, the scan speed at which the optical head moved over the concrete was set to be 300 mm∙min−1 or 600 mm∙min−1 for the 4.8-kW or 6.8-kW laser beam, respectively. The spalling rates and average depth on the concrete blocks were measured to be 87 cm3∙min−1 or 227 cm3∙min−1 and 6.9 mm or 9.8 mm with the 4.8-kW or 6.8-kW laser beams, respectively.

Service recovery strategies have been examined for their effectiveness in compensating for the customer’s loss and in restoring customer satisfaction. Current research on service recovery has largely focused on the customer involved. For instance, the most common recovery strategies hotels used for the guest involved are compensatory (e.g., discount), corrective (e.g., correction), and personal response (e.g., apology). Service recovery research suggest that, while corrective responses are viewed by customers as the minimal action, both apology and compensation have been shown to be effective in increasing customer satisfaction (e.g., Goodwin & Ross, 1992). Due to the prevalence of online reviews, our understanding of service failure and recovery must expand beyond the customer involved to include potential customers who are searching online. The difference between the customer involved and the potential customer is that while the focal customer suffered an economic or psychological loss, the potential customer has not. Past studies suggest that this difference may change the attribution tendency of potential customers (e.g., Wan, Chan, & Su, 2011). Consequently, one can expect that potential customers may use different criteria in assessing recovery strategies. For instance, in line with the equity theory which posits that people in general seek fairness in social interactions (Blodgett et al., 1997), potential customers might be more concerned about justice rather than the compensation. From the company’s perspective, in order to recover effectively from a service failure, it must know whether what works for the customer involved would also work for potential customers. The current research provides evidence that potential customers’ reaction to an online review and a hotel reply is contingent on the perceived similarity between this potential customer and the focal guest (i.e., the customer involved in the incident that the review describes), the type of hotel reply (i.e., no reply, apology, and explanation with no apology). Moreover, results suggest that the psychological mechanism that underlies this relationship is not due to negative emotions but a sense of vulnerability.

Although the majority of prior literature has suggested the key reasons for consumer complaining in service failures are to vent negative emotions (e.g. anger, dissatisfaction) and to seek redress (Blodgett, Hill, & Tax 1997; Nyer 1997), some research has also pointed out that customers will give constructive suggestions to firms through complaining (Groth, 2005; Liu & Mattila, 2015). In this regard, consumer complaining can be classified into two types, namely, positive complaint (i.e., with constructive suggestion) and negative complaint (i.e., without constructive suggestion). Understanding what situations would dissatisfied consumers choose to give constructive suggestions in service failures would be of utmost important to firms. We suggest that a firm’s brand image may affect consumers’ intention to choose what types of complaint in service failures. In general, consumers may perceive a brand as having a competence image (e.g., professional and efficient) or having a warmth image (e.g., friendly and approachable) (Kervyn, Fiske and Malone, 2012). Comparatively speaking, a warmth image is associated with friendship and caring, whereas a competence image is associated with expertise. Therefore, it is possible that consumers would have a higher empathy and intention to help a firm with a warmth (vs. competent) image, and be more likely to choose positive complaint when a failure happens to this firm. An experimental study confirmed this prediction. In addition, we found that although a firm’s competence (vs. warmth) image does not affect the likelihood to give constructive suggestions in service failures, it leads to a higher level of return intention. Implications and future research directions will be discussed.

This research was conducted with the aim to reveal the influence of online travel communities on tourism destinations choice, with the focus on the Russian tourism market. The preliminary results indicated that social media has significant influence on consumer behaviour and decision-making process of Russian travellers. Still, there is additional activity of Russian tourist market actors is needed to more fully use the opportunities of online travel communities.