Search results

In the construction of charging piles, traditional gas stations possess significant advantages in terms of regional and financial resources. The transformation of gas stations into “refueling+charging” integrated gas stations relies on charging pile manufacturers and government, involving coordination issues with them. This paper aims to propose a joint coordination contract based on the principles of cost-sharing and revenue-sharing. The objective is to achieve systemic coordination among integrated gas stations, charging pile manufacturers, and the government, optimizing the planning of the quantity of charging piles and charging prices.

We have constructed an operational system model based on the Stackelberg game between charging pile manufacturers, integrated gas stations, and government. We have analyzed the optimal quantity of charging piles and charging prices under the impact of government subsidy policies in both decentralized and centralized operation scenarios. Additionally, we have proposed a joint coordination contract based on cost-sharing and revenue-sharing to coordinate this tripartite operational system.

The study reveals that, under simple cooperative contracts, the optimal decision does not yield maximum profits for the operational system due to the “double-marginal effect”. However, under the impact of the joint coordination contract, which combines cost-sharing and revenue-sharing as proposed in this paper, gas stations will consider the charging pile manufacturer’s costs and government subsidies when determining the optimal quantity and price. This not only achieves system coordination but also results in Pareto improvement in the benefits of all system members by adjusting contract parameters.

The value of this research lies in its insights into operational strategies for the construction of charging piles for electric vehicles. By analyzing optimal decisions under different contract arrangements, the study provides guidance to relevant stakeholders, enabling the operational system to achieve greater efficiency and coordination and realize more extensive Pareto improvements. Furthermore, it extends the application of coordination contract theory in the context of charging pile construction and operations.

Omnichannel has become increasingly important with the development of e-commerce. In omnichannel, merchants expect customers to get the products and services at anytime, anywhere and in any way, and the same is true for customers. This drives multihoming in online platforms for both merchants and customers. Thus, once both customers and merchants are multihomed, what price and subsidy decisions should be made between platforms to compete to obtain optimal profits? The main purpose of this paper is to solve these problems and provide decision-making for two-sided platforms in omnichannel.

This study builds a dual Hotelling model to capture the utility and network effects of customers and merchants on two-sided platforms. This study introduces the exposure effect and convenience effect of multihomed customers and merchants in the model and analyzes the impact of these effects in the market with multihoming on one side. Then, this study extends the model to the market with multihoming on both sides and makes the pricing decision for two-sided platform when considering the exposure effect and convenience effect through an equilibrium solution. Finally, this study also uses numerical analysis to simulate the decision and profit of the platform.

This paper finds that the convenience effect will only increase social welfare when customers are single-homed and merchants are multihomed. In addition, when both users are multihomed, the platform will subsidize to attract merchants and customers if the convenience effect and exposure effect are relatively high. This study also finds that network effects come not only from the same platform but also from another platform in the case with multihoming on both sides. And network effects in the heterogeneous platform will be reduced by the convenience effect and exposure effect.

According to the behavioral characteristics of merchants and customers in omnichannel, this paper first adopts the dual Hotelling model to study the pricing of two-sided platforms with multihoming on both sides. This paper shows that network effects originate not only from the same platform but also from another platform and that the exposure effect and the convenience effect can exist as cross-platform network effects, which provides a new explanation for network effects in markets with multihoming on both sides. This research extends the theory of network effects and plays an important role in the development of two-sided platforms in omnichannel.

Omnichannel sales have provided new impetus for the development of catering merchants. The authors thus focus on how catering merchants should manage capacities at the ordering, production and delivery stages to meet customers’ needs in different channels under third-party platform delivery and merchant self-delivery. This is of great significance for the development of the omnichannel catering industry.

This paper formulates the capacity decisions of omnichannel catering merchants under the third-party platform delivery and merchant self-delivery mode. The authors mainly use queuing theory to analyze the queuing behavior of online and offline customers, and the impact of waiting time on customer shopping behavior. In addition, the authors also characterize the merchant’s capacity by the rate in queuing model.

The authors find that capacities at ordering stage and food production stage are composed of base capacities and safety capacities, but the delivery capacities only have the latter. And in the self-delivery mode, merchants can develop higher safety capacities by charging delivery fees. The authors prove that regardless of the delivery mode, omnichannel sales can bring higher profits to merchants by integrating demand.

The authors focus on analyzing the capacity management of omnichannel catering merchants at the ordering, production and delivery stages. And the authors also add the delivery process into the omnichannel for analysis, so as to solve the problem of capacity decision-making under different delivery modes. The management of delivery capacity and its impact on other stages’ capacities are not covered in other literature studies, which is one of the main innovations of this paper.

The “chiralisation” of Euclidean polygonal tessellations is a novel, recent method which has been used to design new auxetic metamaterials with complex topologies and improved geometric versatility over traditional chiral honeycombs. This paper aims to design and manufacture chiral honeycombs representative of four distinct classes of 2D Euclidean tessellations with hexagonal rotational symmetry using fused-deposition additive manufacturing and experimentally analysed the mechanical properties and failure modes of these metamaterials.

Finite Element simulations were also used to study the high-strain compressive performance of these systems under both periodic boundary conditions and realistic, finite conditions. Experimental uniaxial compressive loading tests were applied to additively manufactured prototypes and digital image correlation was used to measure the Poisson’s ratio and analyse the deformation behaviour of these systems.

The results obtained demonstrate that these systems have the ability to exhibit a wide range of Poisson’s ratios (positive, quasi-zero and negative values) and stiffnesses as well as unusual failure modes characterised by a sequential layer-by-layer collapse of specific, non-adjacent ligaments. These findings provide useful insights on the mechanical properties and deformation behaviours of this new class of metamaterials and indicate that these chiral honeycombs could potentially possess anomalous characteristics which are not commonly found in traditional chiral metamaterials based on regular monohedral tilings.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the authors have analysed for the first time the high strain behaviour and failure modes of chiral metamaterials based on Euclidean multi-polygonal tessellations.

With the continuous development of the global COVID-19 epidemic, mobile learning has become one of the most significant learning approaches. The mobile learning resource is the basis of mobile learning; it may directly affect the effectiveness of mobile learning. However, the current learning resources cannot meet users' needs. This study aims to analyze the influencing factors of accepting open data as learning resources among users.

Based on the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), this study proposed a comprehensive theoretical research model. Data were obtained from 398 postgraduates from several universities in central China. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to determine the reliability and validity of the measurement model. Data has been analyzed using SPSS and AMOS software.

The results suggested that perceived usefulness, performance expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions have a positive influence on accepting open data as learning resources. Perceived ease of use was not found significant. Moreover, it was further shown in the study that behavioural intention significantly influenced the acceptance of open data as learning resources.

There is a lack of research on open data as learning resources in developing countries, especially in China. This study addresses the gap and helps us understand the acceptance of open data as learning resources in higher education. This study also pays attention to postgraduates' choice of learning resources, which has been little noticed before. Additionally, this study offers opportunities for further studies on the continuous usage of open data in higher education.

This study aims to focus on understanding how different jet angles and Reynolds numbers influence the phase change materials’ (PCMs) melting process and their capacity to store energy. This approach is intended to offer novel insights into enhancing thermal energy storage systems, particularly for applications where heat transfer efficiency and energy storage are critical.

The research involved an experimental and numerical analysis of PCM with a melting temperature range of 22 °C–26°C under various conditions. Three different jet angles (45°, 90° and 135°) and two container angles (45° and 90°) were tested. Additionally, two different Reynolds numbers (2,235 and 4,470) were used to explore the effects of jet outlet velocities on PCM melting behaviour. The study used a circular container and analysed the melting process using the hot air inclined jet impingement (HAIJI) method.

The obtained results showed that the average temperature for the last time step at Ф = 90° and Re = 4,470 is 6.26% higher for Ф = 135° and 14.23% higher for Ф = 90° compared with the 45° jet angle. It is also observed that the jet angle, especially for Ф = 90°, is a much more important factor in energy storage than the Reynolds number. In other words, the jet angle can be used as a passive control parameter for energy storage.

This study offers a novel perspective on the effective storage of waste heat transferred with air, such as exhaust gases. It provides valuable insights into the role of jet inclination angles and Reynolds numbers in optimizing the melting and energy storage performance of PCMs, which can be crucial for enhancing the efficiency of thermal energy storage systems.