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This chapter explains how cocreation can be supported by establishing platforms, which provide knowledge, resources, and opportunities for local actors to come together in cocreation arenas. Platforms make it easy for local actors to connect, interact, and engage in productive joint activity. The chapter provides an overview of different types of platforms and describes their distinctive organizing logic, which includes mediating the relationship between different stakeholders, scaffolding their joint action, and leveraging their capacity for change. The chapter identifies important platform dynamics, such as attractor and amplifier effects, synergy, scaling, and social learning, that enable them to successfully support cocreation. Finally, the chapter discusses how platforms themselves can be designed to enhance these dynamics.

The purpose of this study concerns numerical studies and experimental validation of the mechanical behavior of hybrid specimens. These kinds of composite specimens are made up of thin carbon and glass substrates on which some Macro Fiber Composite^® (MFC) piezoelectric patches are glued. A proper design and manufacturing of the hybrid specimens as well as testing activities have been performed. The research activity has been carried out under the FutureWings project, funded by the European Commission within the 7th Framework.

The paper describes the basic assumptions made to define specimen geometries and to carry out experimental tests. Finite element (FE) results and experimental data (laser technique measurements) have been compared: it shows very good agreement for the displacements’ distribution along the specimens.

Within the objectives of the project, the study of passive and active deformation characteristics of the hybrid composite material has provided reference technical data and has allowed for the correct adaptation of the FE models. More in particular, using the hybrid specimens, both the bending deformations and the torsion deformations have been studied.

The deformation capability of the hybrid specimens will be used in the development of prototypical three-dimensional structures, that, through the electrical control of the MFC patches, will be able to change the curvature of their cross section or will be able to change the angle of torsion along their longitudinal axis.

The design of nonstandard specimens and the tests executed represent a novelty in the field of structures using piezoelectric actuators. The numerical and experimental data of the present research constitute a small step forward in the field of smart materials technology.

The electrical properties of piezoelectric vibrators have a crucial influence on the operating state of ultrasonic motors. In order to solve the problem that the current piezoelectric vibrator generates a large amount of heat during vibration to degrade its performance, which in turn affects the normal operation of ultrasonic motors, this paper prepares a novel piezoelectric vibrator and tests its maximum vibration velocity under the working condition, which is more than twice as much as that of the current commercial PZT-8.

The crystal structures of the samples were analyzed by using an X-ray diffractometer. For microstructure observation, samples were observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The quasi-static piezoelectric coefficient meter (ZJ-3AN) was used for piezoelectric measurement. Dielectric properties were measured by utilizing an impedance analyzer (Agilent 4294A) with a laboratory heating unit. Ferroelectric hysteresis loops were obtained using a ferroelectric analyzer (Radiant, Multiferroic 100). A Doppler laser vibrometer (Polytec PSV-300F, Germany) and a power amplifier were used for piezoelectric vibration measurements, during which the temperature rise was determined by an infrared radiation thermometer (Victor 303, China).

The ceramics exhibit enhanced piezoelectric performance at 0.1–0.4 mol% of Yb doping contents. The ceramic of 0.4 mol% Yb reaches the maximal internal bias field and presents a larger mechanical quality factor of 1,692 compared with that of 0.2 mol% Yb-doped ceramic, in spite of a slightly decreased dielectric constant of 439 pC/N, the unit of the piezoelectric constant, which is the ratio of the local charge (pC) to the frontal force (N) and electromechanical coupling coefficient of 0.63. The vibrator with this large mechanical quality factor ceramic displays a vibration velocity of up to 0.81 m/s under the constraint of 20 °C temperature rising, which is much higher than commercial high-power piezoelectric ceramics PZT-8.

The enhanced high-power properties of the piezoelectric vibrator by Yb doping may provide a potential application for the high-performance USM and offer the possibility of long-term stable operation under high power for special equipment like USM. In the subsequent phase of research, the novel PZT-based high-power piezoelectric vibrator can be utilized in the USM, and the motor's performance will be evaluated under aerospace conditions to objectively assess the reliability of the piezoelectric vibrator.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of leadership in management accounting change processes and outcomes.

The paper draws on an ethnographic study in a Southern European company and mobilizes leader–follower relations as a method theory to analyse the observations.

The findings show how a leadership dispute between two top managers can be amplified during the management accounting change process and percolate throughout an organization. The authors identify five contested areas where the role of accounting amplifies the leadership dispute by unfolding its reach to other organizational actors. The leadership dispute can shape and reinforce a fragmented organization, with some organizational members creating convergent leader–follower relations while others divert and fragment with an increased turnover. This amplification can lead to unexpected outcomes of the change process in terms of how and by whom accounting is performed.

The authors propose the study of leadership and followership as an important but, to date, largely neglected theme in management accounting research.

In contrast to the prior management accounting literature, the paper departs from a leadership-centric and role-based approach and employs a co-constructionist and relational approach to leadership and followership to analyse management accounting change. In addition, it applies and extends Alvesson's (2019a) theory on “divergent relationalities” between the presumed leaders and followers. In doing so, the paper also adds to the leadership field by theorizing and integrating the situation of a leadership dispute in this novel theoretical framework.

This paper aims to investigate the effect of the nature of ownership and board characteristics on the investment choices in joint ventures (JVs) from the dimensional point of view, controlling for the effect of JV type and other components of intellectual capital.

The authors study a sample of Italian, Spanish, German and French nonfinancial listed firms over the 2010–2018 period, controlling for the fixed effects of the company's sector of operation and the year. The authors also analyze the effect of family control and influence on JV investment size, taking into consideration certain board characteristics, the type of JV, human capital efficiency, structural capital efficiency and capital employed efficiency while also controlling for a firm's profitability and size. To test the hypotheses, GLS panel data was used.

The results indicate that the size of the investment in JVs is smaller for family firms than for nonfamily businesses. The presence of CEO duality has an opposing effect on the size of the investment in joint ventures as it has a lowering effect in family businesses while it exerts an amplifier influence in nonfamily businesses. Moreover, the type of joint venture has a significant effect for family firms: the choice of a link joint venture reduces the size of the investment. The authors find that human capital efficiency increases JV investment size for all firms.

This study is the first to analyze the effect of the main dimension of socioemotional wealth – family control and influence – on a firm's JV investment size. It controls for the effect of JV type – link or scale – and the interplay of the other IC components.

Detection of hidden defects of aluminum alloy plate with damping coating is a challenging problem. At present, only a few non-destructive testing methods exist to address this engineering problem. Without the restriction of skin effect, remote field eddy current (RFEC) overcomes the interference caused by the damping coating. The RFEC, which has potential advantages for detecting the hidden defects of aluminum plate with damping coating, can penetrate the metal plate to detect buried depth defects. This study aims to test how thick the RFEC sensor can penetrate the metal plate to detect the buried defects.

The magnetic field distribution characteristics are analyzed, the magnetic field intensity distribution is calculated, and the structure and parameters of the coil, magnetic circuit and shielding damping are determined through the two- and three-dimensional finite element simulation methods. Optimal excitation frequency is obtained, and the distance between the excitation coil and detection coil is determined by analyzing the relationship between excitation frequency and remote field points.

Simulation and experimental results verify the feasibility of applying the RFEC detection technology in detecting the hidden defects of aluminum alloy plate with damping coating.

In this paper, the RFEC testing model of hidden defects in aluminum plate sample with damping coating is established by using the finite element method.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the worst-case behavior of a given electronic circuit by varying the values of the components in a meaningful way in order not to exceed pre-defined currents or voltages limits during a transient operation.

An analytic formulation is used to identify the time-dependent solution of voltages or currents using proper state equations in closed form. Circuits with linear elements can be described by a system of differential equations, while circuits composing nonlinear elements are described by piecewise-linear models. A sequential quadratic program (SQP) is used to find the worst-case scenario.

It is found that the worst-case scenario can be obtained with as few solutions to the forward problem as possible by applying an SQP method.

The SQP method in combination with the analytic forward solver approach shows that the worst-case limit converges in a few steps even if the worst-case limit is not on the boundary of the parameters.

Wine packaged tours as a specific aspect of wine tourism have so far been neglected in research, for this reason, the purpose of this study is to study the key elements for the success of the wine tour in Tuscany (Italy), evaluating the points of strength and weakness.

The study combines approaches of text mining, sentiment analysis and natural language processing, drawing on data from the TripAdvisor platform, obtaining through an automatic procedure 9,616 reviews from 600 tours in the years 2010–2020.

The authors identified six elements of successful wine tours expressed by research subjects: tour guide; logistical aspects; the quality of the wine; the quality of the food; complementary tourist and recreational activities; the landscape and historic villages. The key strength associated with success was the integration of the leading wine product with food, landscape and historic villages, while the main criticisms were concerned with the organization and planning of the tour. Furthermore, the tour guide also plays a fundamental role in consumer satisfaction.

The limitations of the method were linked to the origin of the data used. The main one is that TripAdvisor does not allow you to have social and personal information about the tourist who wrote the review; therefore, the methods are substantially complementary to the traditional survey through questionnaires.

The proposed model can be used both by professionals to improve the quality of their products and by policymakers to promote the territorial development of quality wine-growing areas.

The proposed model can be useful for policymakers to promote the territorial development of quality wine-growing areas.

The methodology we tested is easily transferable to many countries and to the authors’ knowledge, for the first time attempts to combine multidimensional scaling, sentiment analysis and natural language processing approaches.

This study aims to understand the extent to which a faculty development program that includes a week-long course design experience followed by sustained support changes new faculty's perceptions, beliefs and teaching practices. The authors employed the teacher professional knowledge and skill (TPK&S) framework and characteristics of effective educational development interventions to drive the program development, implementation and assessment.

This study utilized a mixed methods approach. Data sources include pre-/mid-/post-program responses to a validated survey, pre-/post-program course syllabi analyzed using a validated rubric and pre-/post-classroom observations collected using the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS) instrument.

Findings indicate transformative effects for participants' beliefs about their teaching and changes to their instructional practices. Significant and practical effects were observed across different portions of the program for increases in participants' self-efficacy, endorsement of a conceptual change approach toward teaching and perceptions of institutional support. Participants produced more learning-focused syllabi and many moved toward more student-centered instructional approaches in their teaching practices.

Due to the voluntary nature of the new faculty development program, this study may have been limited by participant self-selection bias and differential sample sizes for the study's individual measures. Future research should consider designs which maximize faculty participation in measurement across all data sources.

This study addresses shortcomings in prior studies which utilized limited data sources to measure intervention impact and answers the call for more rigorous research to obtain a more complete picture of instructional development in higher education.

The aim of this work is to research and design an expert diagnosis system for rail vehicle driven by data mechanism models.

The expert diagnosis system utilizes statistical and deep learning methods to model the real-time status and historical data features of rail vehicle. Based on data mechanism models, it predicts the lifespan of key components, evaluates the health status of the vehicle and achieves intelligent monitoring and diagnosis of rail vehicle.

The actual operation effect of this system shows that it has improved the intelligent level of the rail vehicle monitoring system, which helps operators to monitor the operation of vehicle online, predict potential risks and faults of vehicle and ensure the smooth and safe operation of vehicle.

This system improves the efficiency of rail vehicle operation, scheduling and maintenance through intelligent monitoring and diagnosis of rail vehicle.