Conventional Way Research Articles

Reverse milk run – the logistics retrenchment strategy

Learning outcomes After completion of the case study, students will be able to understand the concept of clustering and identify clusters for improving capacity utilization, analyse transport routes to optimize logistics resources, analyse the impact of a full truckload on resource optimization, evaluate unused capacity and ascertain the impact of reverse milk run to reduce the same and apply clustering and reverse milk run to optimize the logistics resources. Case overview/synopsis The case study is about a freight forwarding company that offered end-to-end logistics solutions for the exporters based in India. Within a short time span, the company became one of the sought-after service providers for its clients. However, when the company planned to expand its business by expanding its client base, the efficiencies reduced and hurt the profitability of the company. It was all excellent with the limited number of clients, but as the number of distantly located clients surged, the operating costs increased. Trucks were running with partial loads, thus reducing efficiency. The rate of increase in cost surpassed the rate of revenue every time. The cost per mile of transportation was on the rise. The surging fuel prices were adding to the heat. In spite of being one of the first choices for clients, the company could not generate good profit margins. If they chose to increase prices, the company would have lost customers to the cheaper unorganized players in the market. It was time to choose between growth and survival. The company could not sustain itself without devising a mechanism to reduce costs. The company would not have sustained itself without devising a mechanism to reduce costs. To sustain in the business, the company had to device a mechanism to reduce costs. Whether to continue operating the conventional way or to transform? Was there a logistics strategy that would have improved transportation efficiency and reduced the costs for the company? Complexity academic level The case study is suitable for teaching post-graduate management courses in operations and logistics, supply chain management and supply chain analytics, as well as entrepreneurship-related courses. Supplementary material Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CCS 9: Operations and logistics.

Deep learning-based dynamic ventilatory threshold estimation from electrocardiograms

Background and objectiveThe ventilatory threshold (VT) marks the transition from aerobic to anaerobic metabolism and is used to assess cardiorespiratory endurance. A conventional way to assess VT is cardiopulmonary exercise testing, which requires a gas analyzer. Another method for measuring VT involves calculating the heart rate variability (HRV) from an electrocardiogram (ECG) by computing the variability of heartbeats. However, the HRV method has some limitations. ECGs should be recorded for at least 5 minutes to calculate the HRV, and the result may depend on the utilized ECG preprocessing algorithms. MethodsTo overcome these problems, we developed a deep learning-based model consisting of long short-term memory (LSTM) and convolutional neural network (CNN) for a lead II ECG. Variables reflecting subjects' physical characteristics, as well as ECG signals, were input into the model to estimate VT. We applied joint optimization to the CNN layers to generate an informative latent space, which was fed to the LSTM layers. The model was trained and evaluated on two datasets, one from the Bruce protocol and the other from a protocol including multiple tasks (MT). ResultsAcceptable performances (mean and 95% CI) were obtained on the datasets from the Bruce protocol (−0.28[−1.91,1.34] ml/min/kg) and the MT protocol (0.07[−3.14,3.28] ml/min/kg) regarding the differences between the predictions and labels. The coefficient of determination, Pearson correlation coefficient, and root mean square error were 0.84, 0.93, and 0.868 for the Bruce protocol and 0.73, 0.97, and 3.373 for the MT protocol, respectively. ConclusionsThe results indicated that it is possible for the proposed model to simultaneously assess VT with the inputs of successive ECGs. In addition, from ablation studies concerning the physical variables and the joint optimization process, it was demonstrated that their use could boost the VT assessment performance of the model. The proposed model enables dynamic VT estimation with ECGs, which could help with managing cardiorespiratory fitness in daily life and cardiovascular rehabilitation in patients.

Liquid API feeding in pharmaceutical HME: Novel options in solid dosage manufacturing

Hot melt extrusion (HME) is a common unit operation. It is broadly applicable in the pharmaceutical industry and can be implemented in a continuous manufacturing line. However, the conventional way of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) feeding with a pre-blend consisting of a powdered API and a polymer does not allow the flexibility and agility to adjust the process parameters, which is generally an essential part of continuous manufacturing. In addition, this method of API feeding may result in the segregation of the individual powder components or agglomeration of highly cohesive materials, leading to an inhomogeneous API content in the extrudates, especially at low doses. In this study, the universal applicability of liquid side feeding in pharmaceutical HME was demonstrated using various APIs suspended or dissolved in water and fed as suspension or undersaturated, supersaturated, and highly concentrated solutions into anterior parts of the extruder. The extrudates were characterized in terms of their API content, residual moisture content, and solid-state of the API embedded in the polymer. The results show that a uniform API content without major deviations can be obtained via this method. Furthermore, the residual moisture content of the extrudates was low enough to have no significant influence on further processing of the final dosage form. In summary, this advanced way of feeding allows an accurate, flexible, and agile feeding of APIs, facilitating the production of personalized final dosage forms and a novel option to link the manufacturing of the drug substance and the drug product.

Investigating English Teachers’ Perception About the Use of TPACK in EFL Learning

Integrating technology in teaching and learning process has been a new phenomenon nowadays. Teachers need to use some kinds of technology in order to move from the conventional way to the new one and reach the learning objective more maximally. In fact, some teachers do not want to use technology in their teaching process because of their limited facilities and knowledge. One of supporting frameworks to this condition is the use of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge or known as TPACK. In relation with it, this paper is intended to investigate English teachers’ perception about the use of TPACK in their EFL learning. The subjects are 10 English teachers who teach in some of Senior High Schools in South Lampung Regency, Lampung Province. The data were gained using questionnaire and interview. Then, it was analyzed using descriptive qualitative method. The result then indicated that English teachers have good perception toward the use of TPACK in EFL learning.

Kemudahan Akses Kutipan Buku Leter C Sebagai Bukti Kepemilikan Hak Atas Tanah Oleh Pemerintah Desa

Ease of access to land letter C book excerpts as proof of ownership of land rights by the village government in the context of public information disclosure. The research method uses empirical legal research with a sociological juridical approach. The results of the research show that in providing easy access to quotations from letter C books as proof of ownership of land rights by the village government in the context of public information disclosure, the village government is guided by the provisions of the applicable laws and regulations, although still in a conventional way, namely based on a letter of application from the applicant and then the village government issues a land history statement based on the letter C book in the village to be given to the applicant provided that the applicant is a party who has a legal relationship with the object for which the letter C quotation is requested. If these requirements are not met, the village government will not issue the requested Letter C quotation, except by order of the court. The obstacles faced by the village government in providing easy access to quotations from the letter C book as proof of ownership of land rights in order to realize openness of public information and alternative solutions are the disorderly administration of the village government, especially in the village letter C book, data (information) in the letter C book. but it does not match the reality and the condition of the Letter C book is outdated (difficult to read) as well as political differences during the village head election. Alternative solutions include encouraging PTSL programs in villages, digitizing letter C books, providing outreach to the community about the importance of title ownership certificates as proof of legal ownership.

E-module in Real-Time Rendering and Virtual Reality: Impact to Student’s Cognitive and Skill Performance

An e-module in real-time rendering and virtual reality using sketchup and enscape is created using the software kotobee. It aims to assess the acceptability and its impact to student’s cognitive and skill performance. The use of e-module as a teaching tool aligns with Education 4.0's flexible learning approach. The study is participated by 38 students. They were divided into two groups. The control group who will undergo conventional way of teaching in learning rendering and the experimental group who will utilize the e-module in learning real-time rendering and virtual reality. Results of this study shows that there is a significant difference between pre-test and post-test scores in both groups. It also shows that the mean difference between test scores in the experimental group is higher than the control group by 0.79 points. This implies that the scores of the respondents in the experimental group have improved more than in the control group making the e-module to have a positive impact to student’s cognitive abilities. To assess the skill performance of the students in the control and experimental group, the rendered output submitted by the students are evaluated by experts in rendering using enscape. Results shows that the evaluation output mean score of students in the experimental group, which is 15.61, is higher than that in the conventional group with 13.40. This shows that those students in the E-module group have better output than those in the conventional group. This implies that the E-module has a positive impact on student skill performance.

Measuring the Shear Bound Strength on Acrylic Resin Veneer to Metal Surface of Nickel (A Comparative Study)

The bound strength of metal resin interface of prosthesis is a key factor in determining the service ability of that prosthesis. The main objective of this study was to determine the effect of different surface treatment on the shear bond strength of Ni-Cr alloy (CB-Blando 72 alloy) and heat cured acrylic veneer resin (Vertex). Thirty disc shaped samples from base plate wax were prepared, the diameter of disc was (8 mm x 4.5 mm). After casting the metal, the samples were cleaned, finished and polished by silicon carbide abrasive paper with grit size (600 μm) and then the profilometer was u sed to determine the surface roughness of samples. Then the sa mples were divided in to three groups, each group contain (10) sa mples. The first group rece ived no treatment and serve as control .The Second group received micro mechanical treatment using 250 μm Al2o3 .The third group recived micro mechanical treatment using 400 μm Al2o3. The acrylic was prepared as a round shape (8 μm) in diameter and (2 μm) in thickness, which was placed on the metal surface treatment, the acrylic was fabricated in the same conventional way for construction veneer resin. Then all samples was tested the shear bond strength by using Instron universal testing machine .The result from this study showed that, the first group was give low shear bond strength while the second group showed that the air abrasion with 250 μm Al2o3 give the highest shear bond values when compared with the third group which air abrasive with 400 μm Al2o3.

An adaptive gait event detection method based on stance point for walking assistive devices

This paper presents an adaptive and fuzzy logic-based gait event detection method for wearable assistive devices. A conventional and straightforward way to detect gait events is to utilize gyroscope measurements in the sagittal plane for time-series pattern recognition (positive peaks and negative peaks) based on a predefined threshold. This approach works well in the biomechanics analysis while it may have difficulties adapting to the changes in human walking speed for wearable robot applications. To tackle the above issue, first, we keep updating the detection threshold according to the last stride information. Second, we detect the stance point (zero-velocity point) as an indicator to distinguish between the heel strike and toe off events by combining the information about the foot angular velocity and acceleration. A method to construct a fuzzy membership function is also proposed via a series of moving intervals from foot acceleration data. Validation of the proposed gait event detection method using force plates showed that the method obtained high detection accuracy (F1-score = 0.99) for healthy subjects with and without the robotic support limb (RSL).

Пример реализации управления технологическим оборудованием из устройств формирования виртуального трехмерного пространства

The article describes the developed technology of remote parameter monitoring and equipment control using virtual reality. The advantages of this technology and the VR devices have been considered in relation to the conventional way to visualize technological information of the SCADA systems on the screens. A SCADA prototype was developed based on a 3D interface displayed by means of a VR headset for operator to interact with the virtual objects. Scaled operating models of the mechanized roof support sections as part of the longwall system with servo-drives that ensure thrust and unloading of the section were used as technological equipment. The virtual control interface both reproduces the control objects and displays their response to the control inputs in an interactive mode. The paper presents a block diagram of the algorithm that features interaction between the interactive virtual objects and the physical models; a structural diagram of the software data exchange between the virtual reality and the physical objects, the front control panel on the operator's PC screen and the control interface from the virtual environment. The technology of process equipment control described in the article and based on displaying a 3D visualization of the SCADA interface allowed to change the level of operator's "immersion" into the workflow, enhancing concentration on the controlled parameters.

Achieving high strength and ductility of multi-phase steel via hub-border architecture formed in 30 s

The microstructural design utilizing heterogeneities from microscopic to atomic scales is an emerging solution beneficial for achieving extraordinary mechanical properties in hierarchy of metals. As the introduction of microstructural heterogeneities requires the alloying modification with high budget, and the conjugation of heat treatment and plastic deformation with multi-modes, the trade-off between mechanical properties and process effectiveness remains inevitable. Here, we describe a novel strategy for architecting the ‘hub-border’ constituent where rapid austenitization as well as rapid intercritical annealing at 300 K/s were imposed to harness the heterogeneity in term of carbon distribution. The final product shows a considerably higher fraction of martensite as compared to the sample produced using conventional way. Moreover, the bainite, which formed from the carbon-depleted austenite, working as border between hub martensite and ferrite plays two distinct roles in balancing strain misfit and strengthening interphase region to arrest the crack movement. The net result shows tensile ductility of 12 % with ultrahigh strength in excess of 1.5 GPa. Strikingly, such heterogeneities are attained in 30 s, which will serve industry-friendly microstructural perspective for high-performance structural candidates.

Lives of Patriarchs, Lives of Qadis: Reading the Abbasid Sources of the “History of the Patriarchs” as Islamicate Texts

Abstract This article discusses the literary representation of religious leadership in the Siyar al-bīʿa al-muqaddasa, also known as “History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria”. It suggests reading accounts on early Muslim rule within the frameworks of Islamicate literature from the Abbasid and the Fatimid periods, when the collection was created, also considering successive layers of redaction. This approach contrasts with a more conventional way of reading such texts as historical sources on Christian-Muslim relations and as witnesses of the early Islamic period. By comparing stories of patriarchs and rulers with stories about qadis and rulers, the article highlights the importance of framing early Islamicate Christian sources in relation to a broader cultural context and historical developments, without exaggerating their early dating. Finally, it proposes that there is historical meaning to be found in the display of linguistic and narrative anachronisms.

Prediction of manufacturing parameters of additively manufactured 316L steel samples using ultrasound fingerprinting

Metal based additive manufacturing techniques such as laser powder bed fusion can produce parts with complex designs as compared to traditional manufacturing. The quality is affected by defects such as porosity or lack of fusion that can be reduced by online control of manufacturing parameters. The conventional way of testing is time consuming and does not allow the process parameters to be linked to the mechanical properties. In this paper, ultrasound data along with supervised learning is used to estimate the manufacturing parameters of 316L steel samples. The steel samples are manufactured with varying process parameters (speed, hatch distance and power) in two batches that are placed at different locations on the build plate. These samples are examined with ultrasound using a focused transducer. The ultrasound scans are performed in a dense grid in the build and transverse direction, respectively. Part of the ultrasound data are used to train a partial least squares regression algorithm by labelling the data with the corresponding manufacturing parameters (speed, hatch distance and power, and build plate location). The remaining data are used for testing of the resulting model. To assess the uncertainty of the method, a Monte-Carlo simulation approach is adopted, providing a confidence interval for the predicted manufacturing parameters. The analysis is performed in both the build and transverse direction. Since the material is anisotropic, results show that there are differences, but that the manufacturing parameters has an effect of the material microstructure in both directions.

Designing User Interface (UI) & User Experience (UX) Mobile Website Templates Digital Wedding Invitations

Wedding invitations have been using the conventional way, with paper. Costs are not cheap, invitation printing takes a long time, and environmental issues in the use of paper. Wedding invitations no longer use paper media. Wedding invitations with user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) designs provide a new experience. UI/UX design is an important stage because it gives an initial impression to potential users. The design of digital wedding invitations uses a design thinking method approach which is consists of several stages, namely empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and testing. Empathize process using questionnaires and interviews. Respondents to the questionnaire were 92 people with an age range of 25 to 35 years and had a middle to upper economic level.Apart from being well educated, the respondents are active internet users. The results showed that respondents preferred the simple modern invitation design style. In the define process, users need several digital wedding invitation templates with international and traditional nuances. It is designed to be interactive, user friendly, and has features that can be customized. Furthermore, the ideation process is carried out based on the analysis of the define process, namely the design of mobile website templates for digital wedding invitations. Bride and groom are made easy with several template choices. The prototype process is carried out by getting the initial design, then testing it and doing it iteratively to get feedback from the bride and groom in order to get the digital wedding invitations that the bride and groom need.

Doctrinal interpretations of digitalisation as a general legal phenomenon

The article demonstrates the doctrinal interpretations of digitalisation as a general legal phenomenon. The emphasis is placed on the fact that the analysis of the content of scientific publications in the field of digitalisation of social relations indicates that priority in this area is still given to highly specialised issues which are studied mainly within the framework of branch legal sciences, primarily constitutional, judicial, administrative and civil law. Therefore, the study of digitalisation usually lacks a comprehensive nature, since the relevant issues are analysed without clarifying the conceptual basis of digitalisation. The approaches proposed in the national legal science to improve certain legal regulators and reorient legislation to regulate social relations in the field of digitalisation often fall behind the rapid development of the relevant processes.
 It is indicated that along with traditional law which is rapidly being digitised (moving into the virtual space from paper carriers), the phenomenon of digital law is emerging which is an intersectoral formation mediating social relations which take place in the virtual space (from cryptocurrency circulation to the provision of administrative services).
 Furthermore, emphasis is placed on the fact that in practice, the formation of new legal models of digitalisation of public relations in general and public administration in particular takes place outside the doctrine of social relations legalisation which has been developed by theoretical and legal science. Such an approach fundamentally contradicts the existing social needs, leads to managerial and law-making chaos and the lack of distinction between the truly objective needs for legal regulation of new relations and opportunistic managerial decisions which only selectively stimulate the regulatory impact of law on digitalisation. It also fails to ensure timely and effective legal regulation of the relevant range of rapidly emerging social relations that significantly transform the conventional way of life of society, the political, legal and value “image” of the state, its institutional and functional foundations, as well as the lifestyle of each citizen, including the set of his or her personal rights exercised in the public life of the digital age.

Application of Unsupervised Learning in Implementation of Joint Power and Index Modulation Access in V2X Systems

The implementation of joint Power-and-Index Modulation Access (PIMA), which is an effective way of realizing non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), requires a process of user ordering over the available subcarriers, before multiplexing their data streams for power and index modulation. The conventional way of user ordering in NOMA with respect to the channel state information can be impractical and expensive given the large numbers of users and subcarriers, in Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communications. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel approach that leverages K-Means clustering to learn the pattern of multi-user multi-carrier energy variations and use them to effectively order the users. For this, we develop several learning algorithms and an analytical model for the Symbol Error Probability (SEP) of PIMA, which is used to quickly generate part of the training dataset (transfer learning). The results of the comprehensive evaluations that have been carried out in this study show that the proposed approach outperforms the benchmark techniques in terms of SEP. It is also shown that the proposed scheme provides improved performance in terms of SEP as compared to distance-based ordering in realistic V2X scenarios using synthetic mobility traces for the locations of vehicles along multi-lane highways.

A multiscale residual U-net architecture for super-resolution ultrasonic phased array imaging from full matrix capture data.

Ultrasonic phased array imaging using full-matrix capture (FMC) has raised great interest among various communities, including the nondestructive testing community, as it makes full use of the echo space to provide preferable visualization performance of inhomogeneities. The conventional way of FMC data postprocessing for imaging is through beamforming approaches, such as delay-and-sum, which suffers from limited imaging resolution and contrast-to-noise ratio. To tackle these difficulties, we propose a deep learning (DL)-based image forming approach, termed FMC-Net, to reconstruct high-quality ultrasonic images directly from FMC data. Benefitting from the remarkable capability of DL to approximate nonlinear mapping, the developed FMC-Net automatically models the underlying nonlinear wave-matter interactions; thus, it is trained end-to-end to link the FMC data to the spatial distribution of the acoustic scattering coefficient of the inspected object. Specifically, the FMC-Net is an encoder-decoder architecture composed of multiscale residual modules that make local perception at different scales for the transmitter-receiver pair combinations in the FMC data. We numerically and experimentally compared the DL imaging results to the total focusing method and wavenumber algorithm and demonstrated that the proposed FMC-Net remarkably outperforms conventional methods in terms of exceeding resolution limit and visualizing subwavelength defects. It is expected that the proposed DL approach can benefit a variety of ultrasonic array imaging applications.

Autoinduction expression of Bst DNA polymerase using lac operon-controlled expression systems in Escherichia coli

Autoinduction simplified the steps for protein production by omitting the need to monitor the correct time for addition of inducer. This method is preferable for industrially production of protein. By using lac operon-controlled expression system, it is possible to produce the protein without the addition of IPTG as inducer. In a conventional way, IPTG was added at the exponential growth phase. By using autoinduction, IPTG could be replaced by lactose in the lac operon-controlled expression systems. Lactose was already supplemented in the medium and it was more cost efficient than IPTG. Therefore, this study aims to employ autoinduction method for expression of our protein target as it is a more convenient way and it is suitable for industrial application. In this study, DNA polymerase from Geobacillus stearothermophilus (Bst DNA polymerase), an enzyme which generally used in loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay, was expressed using lac operon-controlled expression systems in Escherichia coli. Bst DNA polymerase was successfully expressed using autoinduction expression method in LB medium containing 0.2% Lactose.

A novel wake flow control method for drag reduction of a high-speed train with vortex generators installing on streamlined tail nose

The head/tail of a high-speed train has been designed in a streamlined way to achieve good aerodynamic performance, which leads to the flow separation point moving close to the tail nose tip. Therefore, the conventional way with some add-ons, i.e., the passive flow control, to suppress the flow separation in advance is not a good choice for this train wake flow improvement. Also, with the increase of the train speed, it is urgent to study new methods for the aerodynamic drag reduction of the train. The wake of the high-speed train is characterized by a pair of counter-rotating vortices, contributing to low surface pressure on the streamlined tail and posing a risk to the train operation. Thus, lowering the intensity of counter-rotating vortices and enhancing the surface pressure become a significantly potential drag reduction method. In the current study, a novel wake flow control method, named the vortex intensity reduction theory (VIRT), for the drag reduction of a high-speed train with vortex generators installing on the streamlined tail nose, was proposed to generate a pair of vortices with opposite rotating directions, expecting to weaken the wake vortices and have a higher-pressure distribution on the tail, as compared to the base case. The results show that with the installation of vortex generators (VGs), the train wake flow intensity is suppressed, and the influence region is reduced, resulting in the better train wake flow structures, as compared to the train without VGs. The VGs have significant impact on the aerodynamic performance of the tail car, while this effect is not evidently observed on the head and middle cars. The VGs contribute to the surface pressure increase on the streamlined tail, resulting into a reduction of pressure difference between the head and tail cars. As a result, a reduction of 5.11% in the aerodynamic drag and a reduction of 14.93% in the aerodynamic lift of the tail car are obtained, while for a three-car grouping train model, the reductions are about 2.23% and 72.66%, respectively. Therefore, the VIRT based on VGs proposed in this paper can effectively reduce the aerodynamic force of the tail car and alleviate the intensity of wake flow of the high-speed train, which will provide a newly potential drag reduction method of the next generation high-speed train.

Integrated Group Investigation Model Impact on Students’ Writing Achievement

This research was purposed to find out if integrated group investigation model could give significance impact to the students’ writing achievement. The instruments that used in this study was tests. The tests were divided into two, there were pre-test and post test. Both test consisted of 1 item. In this study, the study applied the pre-test in both control and experiment groups. After that, the study applied the teaching process by using group investigation model in experiment class and conventional way in control class. After the teaching process finished, the study took the data of the post-test. In the pre-test, the data showed that the students’ achievement in writing was low, both in control and experiment classes. The result was the students writing achievement in control class got 54.66mean score and in experiment class the students got 60.00 mean score both in pre-tests. Then, the researcher conduct the study with the students in control class taught by using conventional way and students in experiment class taught by using group investigation model. When the post-test was given to each class, the result was the students in control class got 71.00 mean score and students in experiment class got 87.66 mean score. From the data, it could be concluded that teaching writing by using group investigation model could give significance effect to the students’ writing achievement

Zinc ion exchange assisted synthesis of R-TiO2@C hollow spheres with superior lithium-ion storage performance

Nanostructured anode materials hold the key to advance the performance of the corresponding lithium-ion batteries as advanced electrochemical energy storage devices. Here, we designed a zinc exchange assisted phase change strategy as an acid-free and well-controlled approach to successfully synthesize a kind of rutile phase TiO2 @C (R-TiO2 @C) hollow spheres with well-defined size by using SiO2 spheres as sacrificial templates. The exchanged zinc ions in an alcohol solvothermal reaction were considered as a phase transition medium to promote the formation of a high-quality rutile TiO2 crystal through a high temperature solid-state heat way. By this way, the final morphologies of rutile phase TiO2 nanocrystals were well controlled, and the rutile TiO2 phase transformation temperature was lower than that of conventional one-step high temperature calcination way (without zinc ions exchange). Note that it successfully avoided using acids as mediums to promote the formation of rutile phase TiO2 crystal in the nano process. Meanwhile, the carbon layer formed by a hydrothermal carbonization reaction not only provided self-supporting solid-state in situ reducing medium for Zn2+ to Zn vapor but also produced conductive porous carbon coating porous and robust R-TiO2 spherical shell with nanosized subunits. The reaction process and mechanism of zinc ions induced phase transformation were discussed. Benefiting from the nanoscale morphology-regulation and hollow structure with enhanced ability of ion and electron transfer as well as electrolyte transport, the resultant R-TiO2 @C hollow spheres can significantly promote Li ions storage and deliver a high reversible specific capacity of 115.6 mAh g-1 at 5.0 C over 1600 cycles. A typical electrochemical reaction on Li ions inserted into TiO2 crystal was simply elaborated as well. This work demonstrates its great potential for practical application in lithium-ion batteries.