Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine sharing economy online marketplaces with the aim of understanding how trust perceptions form and get communicated through sharing economy platforms.

The authors build on online user comments and reviews as aggregated by independent third-party websites, and apply a qualitative analysis.

The findings show that the quantity of information and communication are important drivers towards building trust perceptions, while an overall lack of interaction between users and the marketplace provider intensifies perceived risks.

The authors validated the importance of trust and the authors have illustrated that the critical conditions that hinder trust formation are information asymmetry as well as the lack of interaction. What is also an interesting implication is that the impact of both of these can be exacerbated when there is a perceived lack of support among users and between them and the marketplace operator.

The purpose of this study is to review and summarise the existing available literature on lightweight cladding systems to provide detailed information on fire behaviour (ignitibility, heat release rate and smoke toxicity) and various test method protocols. Additionally, the paper discusses the challenges and provides updated knowledge and recommendation on selective-fire mechanisms such as rapid-fire spread, air cavity and fire re-entry behaviours due to dripping and melting of lightweight composite claddings.

A comprehensive literature review on fire behaviour, fire hazard and testing methods of lightweight composite claddings has been conducted in this research. In summarising all possible fire hazards, particular attention is given to the potential impact of toxicity of lightweight cladding fires. In addition, various criteria for fire performance evaluation of lightweight composite claddings are also highlighted. These evaluations are generally categorised as small-, intermediate- and large-scale test methods.

The major challenges of lightweight claddings are rapid fire spread, smoke production and toxicity and inconsistency in fire testing.

The review highlights the current challenges in cladding fire, smoke toxicity, testing system and regulation to provide some research recommendations to address the identified challenges.

Companies are increasingly designing pro-environmental games to motivate users to implement pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs). However, how different types of virtual interactions affect PEBs in pro-environmental games is not clear. Thus, the authors propose that two types of virtual interaction, interactions with game objects and interactions with other users, can induce platform intimacy and love for nature and that platform intimacy has a direct effect on love for nature. Simultaneously, the authors examine the moderating effect of network externality on the relationship between the two types of virtual interaction and platform intimacy.

The authors, respectively, employed data from 92 students and 574 Chinese mobile users to empirically investigate the research framework.

The findings indicate that participants in interactions with game objects and interactions with other users reported stronger feelings regarding platform intimacy and love for nature, which, in turn, positively influences PEBs. Consumers with stronger perceptions of network externalities were more likely to be affected by the initiation effect of the interaction with game objects.

The authors introduce the notion of love for nature to the pro-environmental behaviors field and discuss the priming effect of two types of interactions on platform intimacy and love for nature. In addition, the authors focus on the important effect of network externality on users' emotions.

The purpose of this paper is to study the rent-seeking behavior of stakeholders in construction projects and to provide a reference for further studies on collaboration in China, which could thus improve the collaborative management in construction and reduce the waste of resources.

In this paper, the authors discuss and analyze the current situation of rent-seeking behavior in infrastructure construction projects, integrated project delivery (IPD), and the application of a building information model (BIM) in China. The authors analyze the collusive behavior between the supervision department and the contractor via the rent-seeking model on the basis of the game theory and present that BIM and IPD have a positive impact on rent-seeking activities of construction projects. The key factors influencing the rent-seeking activities from the perspective of the owner are studied via a questionnaire survey.

The research status of IPD in China includes the application of IPD, IPD collaborative management and the combination of lean construction (LC), IPD and BIM. The enthusiasm of the adoption of BIM and IPD is higher for design institute, construction units, research institutions and universities. The findings indicate that the owner appears to have a significant influence on stakeholders in construction projects, such as supervising efficiency, rewards and punishment. Therefore, the results also demonstrate that the construction project based on BIM and IPD can effectively avoid the rent-seeking activities of the participants.

The findings are primarily based on questionnaire data originated from Central China; hence there are some limitations that are worth noting.

First, it provides compelling data evidence for the adoption of BIM and IPD in China. Second, it paves a solid foundation for the behavior of stakeholders in construction projects based on BIM and IPD.

In this paper, a game model of contractor, supervisor and owner is established, and a preliminary attempt is made to introduce BIM and IPD into the model for the behavioral research of participants.

Despite the increasing relevance of seamless shopping experience in an omnichannel context, research on how seamless shopping experience affects customers’ word of mouth on social media (sWOM) remains scant. Based on the attribution theory, this study aims to investigate the effects of seamless shopping experience types on customers’ sWOM intentions from the perspective of smart-shopping feelings and validated the moderation role of shopping orientation.

Using a data set of 301 omnichannel customers, three scenario-based experiments were conducted to address the research questions.

An efficient and interconnected experience is more likely to positively affect sWOM intentions than an inefficient but interconnected experience. Furthermore, smart-shopping feelings were found to have a significant mediating effect. For experiential-oriented shoppers, the positive relationship between an efficient and interconnected experience, smart-shopping feelings and sWOM intentions was significantly strengthened.

This research contributes to the sWOM and omnichannel service experience literature by investigating the influences of seamless shopping experience types on customers’ sWOM intentions. This research also provides recommendations for designing and delivering a superior, seamless shopping experience for omnichannel shoppers.

The three-dimensional arrangement structure of the conductive fiber is an important factor of the shielding effectiveness of the electromagnetic shielding fabric (EMSF). However, until now, the three-dimensional arrangement structure has not been described because of the complex structure, which leads to many difficulties for the subsequent analysis of the electromagnetic characteristics. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to propose a feature extraction method to describe the arrangement structure of the conductive fiber based on the three-dimensional calibration and image processing technology, providing a new idea for the above problem.

First, the three-dimensional positions of the conductive fibers in the EMSF are calibrated using the VHX-600 3D digital microscope and the MATLAB7.5 software. The arrangement characteristics of the conductive fibers are analyzed, and equivalent twist, cross-sectional content, and average angle of a single fiber are proposed to describe the arrangement characteristic of the conductive fiber. Then, a digital description model of the conductive fiber is constructed according to the feature parameters and its three-dimensional structures are reproduced using CATIA. Finally, the reliability of the model is verified by an FDTD example, and the significance and application of the model are given.

The proposed method can provide the feature extraction and description for the complex spatial three-dimensional arrangement structure of conductive fibers. The feature parameters can reflect different micro arrangement features of the conductive fiber. The proposed idea and method can provide a solid foundation for subsequent studies of the electromagnetic properties of the EMSF.

The study in this paper is of great significance and academic value. This paper provides a new three-dimensional calibration method and constructs multiple feature parameters to describe the complex three-dimensional arrangement structure, providing a new effective method to overcome the problem of the conductive fiber description. The proposed method provides an important basis for the shielding mechanism, transmission characteristics, electromagnetic calculation and product design, and woven technology of the EMSF.

The lightning phenomenon is one of the main threats in photovoltaic (PV) applications. Suitable protection systems avoid major damages from direct strikes but also nearby strikes may induce overvoltage transients in the module itself and in the power conditioning circuitry, which can permanently damage the system. The effects on the PV system sensibly depend on the converter topology and on the adopted power switch. In the present study, a comparative analysis of the transient response due to a nearby lightning strike (LS) is carried out for three PV systems, each equipped with a different converter, namely, boost, buck and buck–boost, based on either silicon carbide metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (SiC MOSFET) or insulated gate bipolar transistors controlled power switch devices, allowing in this way an analysis at different switching frequencies. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of the numerical analysis to help the design of suited protection systems.

Using a recently introduced three-dimensional semi-analytical method to simulate the electromagnetic transients caused in PV modules by nearby LSs, we investigate numerically the effect of a LS on the electronic circuits connecting the module to the alternate current (AC) power systems. This study adopts numerical simulations because experimental analyses are not easy to perform and does not grant a sufficient coverage of all statistically relevant aspects. The approach was validated in a previous paper against available experimental data.

It is found that the load voltage is not severely interested by the strike effects, thanks to the low pass filters present at the converter output, whereas a relatively high overvoltage develops between the negative pin of the inner circuitry and the “ground” voltage reference. The overcurrent present in the active switches is hardly comparable because of the different topologies and working frequencies; however, the highest overcurrent is observed in the buck converter topology, with SiC MOSFET technology, although it shows the fastest decay.

This research proposes, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, a comprehensive comparison of the indirect lighting strike effects on the converter connected to PV panels. A proper design of the lightning and surge protection system should take into account such aspects to reduce the risk of induced overvoltage and overcurrent transients.