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Bian embroidery is a cultural heritage at the national level in China. Evaluating its cultural value is an important step in determining the heritage value of Bian embroidery.

This paper elaborates on the connotation of the cultural value of Bian embroidery and tries to evaluate specifically the cultural value of the Bian embroidery heritage on the basis of a questionnaire survey.

The innovation is the construction of a complete evaluation system of cultural value that combines fuzzy comprehensive valuation with a content analysis method from which the cultural value of Bian embroidery heritage can be derived.

The concept of evaluating cultural value put forward in this paper could be further used to evaluate other cultural heritage artifacts.

The effects of failure mode and strain conditions of CFRP, concrete and stirrups on the shear capacity of reinforced beams bonded by geopolymer and epoxy are studied. In addition, a prediction model of the ultimate bearing capacity of CFRP-shear-strengthened beams is proposed, which considers adhesive performance parameters adhesive performance parameter ßE and FRP width parameter ßw.

This paper presents an experimental study on ultimate bearing capacity of CFRP-shear-strengthened pre-cracked beams with geopolymer and epoxy resin, which considers parameters such as impregnated adhesives types and CFRP-strengthened scheme.

The failure modes of CFRP-strengthened beams bonded by geopolymer are the combination of the CFRP-concrete interface substrate failure and fracture failure of CFRP, and that of epoxy is the local substrate failures with small area. The ultimate load of CFRP-strengthened beams is directly affected by the failure modes. The ultimate bearing capacity of CFRP-strengthened beams with geopolymer is 91.4% of that of epoxy resin. Compared with ultimate bearing capacity of CFRP-strengthened beams with U-shaped, that of complete-wrapping increases by 2.5%. Moreover, the stirrup peak strain is reduced by more than 30% in CFRP-strengthened beams bonded with geopolymer and epoxy resin in comparison with the unstrengthened beam. The existing prediction model cannot accurately predict the CFRP shear capacity contribution of strengthened beams with different CFRP-strengthened schemes and adhesive properties. The estimated results are much lower than the test data, and the deviation is much larger than 20%.

Geopolymer alternative to epoxy as an adhesive is feasible and effective for CFRP reinforcement. Furthermore, the accuracy is improved by introducing parameters about adhesive properties based on the existing prediction model. The estimated results are in excellent agreement with the test data, and the deviation is controlled within −12.80%, and the model is suitable for predicting the shear capacity of FRP-strengthened beams with ßf = 90° in shear capacity database.

This paper attempts to discover whether or not social networks work in the same way in different sectors of the labour market in the same society, using data from the 2008 Asian Social Survey. Labour markets in some societies are segmented; there are two segments in the labour market, namely, the core sector and the peripheral sector. The practices of each sector differs from the others. Some sectors employ CME labour markets, while others favour LME labour markets (Kanbayashi and Takenoshita, 2014). In other words, we can find both CME and LME labour market in one society.

Since Granovetter’s (1973) pioneer study, scholars are interested in investigating in what way social network influence our job searching outcomes. However, these researchers have not yet yielded consistent results. Scholars argue that the institutional context of labour market can shape the network impacts on our job search outcome (Chen, 2014; Chua, 2011).

Surprisingly, this paper finds that there is no room for the use of personal contact in the public sector in both China and Japan. But, mean status is positively related to annual income in the private companies sector in both Japan and China. The significant influences of mean status in the private sectors in both China and Japan reflect the reinforcing of existing social inequality structure. This is because as the status of contact can facilitate respondents' job attainment process, those who are already in higher social status are more likely than those who are in the bottom of the social strata, to get a better job with the help from their network members.

The above findings show us that social network can exert various impacts on people's job searching process even in the same society. This is because it is possible that the labour market are segmented. These segments have very different practices. This difference attributes to the inconsistent findings of network effects on occupational attainment process. Therefore, it is essential to locate which labour market respondents are in, and the features of this labour market. This can help us know more about the use and effectiveness of network in different types of labour markets.

This paper aims to study the oscillation phenomenon before chaos as well as its mechanism of occurrence in the energy-saving and emission-reduction system.

The system dynamics analysis, phase portrait analyses, equilibrium point analysis and bifurcation curve were applied to this paper.

First, the authors find an oscillation phenomenon previous to chaos. Second, on the one hand, the existence of two unstable saddles is the reason for the occurrence of oscillation phenomenon. On the other hand, the increasing of carbon emissions can arouse oscillation phenomenon.

This paper finds an oscillation phenomenon previous to chaos in the energy-saving and emission-reduction system. The mechanism of occurrence of oscillation phenomenon is studied. The existence of two unstable saddles is the reason for the occurrence of such oscillation phenomenon. The oscillation is related with fold bifurcation. The study also provides a theoretical basis for the further study of chaos control.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a real-time trajectory planner with optimal maneuver for autonomous vehicles to deal with dynamic obstacles during parallel parking.

To deal with dynamic obstacles for autonomous vehicles during parking, a long- and short-term mixed trajectory planning algorithm is proposed in this paper. In long term, considering obstacle behavior, A-star algorithm was improved by RS curve and potential function via spatio-temporal map to obtain a safe and efficient initial trajectory. In short term, this paper proposes a nonlinear model predictive control trajectory optimizer to smooth and adjust the trajectory online based on the vehicle kinematic model. Moreover, the proposed method is simulated and verified in four common dynamic parking scenarios by ACADO Toolkit and QPOASE solver.

Compared with the spline optimization method, the results show that the proposed method can generate efficient obstacle avoidance strategies, safe parking trajectories and control parameters such as the front wheel angle and velocity in high-efficient central processing units.

It is aimed at improving the robustness of automatic parking system and providing a reference for decision-making in a dynamic environment.

Laser cladding has been used in the field of repairing damaged parts of machine tools due to its advantages of less processing restrictions and easy formation of a good metallurgical bond with the base material. However, the mechanical properties of the coating sometimes cannot meet the process requirements. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to prepare coatings with high microhardness and flexural strength.

The YCF102 alloy powder was mixed with different contents of Co and tested for laser cladding on AISI 1045 substrate under the same process parameters. The main phase composition of the coating was revealed by the XRD results. The main chemical composition of the coating was determined by the SEM and EDS results. In addition, the effect of Co content on the microstructure, microhardness and flexural strength of the coatings was investigated.

The results show that when the Co content is 2 wt% and 4 wt%, Co does not form compounds with other elements, but is uniformly distributed in the coating. And when the Co content is 6 wt% and 8 wt%, the Co reacts with Fe in the coating and generates Co₃Fe₇ in situ. The increase in Co did not result in a monotonic change in microhardness, but significantly improved the flexural strength and the flatness of the microstructure of the coating. When the Co content of the mixed powder is 8 wt%, the coating has high microhardness and flexural strength.

Co/YCF102 composite coating with high microhardness and flexural strength was prepared. This paper provides a theoretical and practical basis for research in the area of repairing damaged parts of machine tools by laser cladding.

Presents a special issue, enlisting the help of the author’s students and colleagues, focusing on age, sex, colour and disability discrimination in America. Breaks the evidence down into manageable chunks, covering: age discrimination in the workplace; discrimination against African‐Americans; sex discrimination in the workplace; same sex sexual harassment; how to investigate and prove disability discrimination; sexual harassment in the military; when the main US job‐discrimination law applies to small companies; how to investigate and prove racial discrimination; developments concerning race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; developments concerning discrimination against workers with HIV or AIDS; developments concerning discrimination based on refusal of family care leave; developments concerning discrimination against gay or lesbian employees; developments concerning discrimination based on colour; how to investigate and prove discrimination concerning based on colour; developments concerning the Equal Pay Act; using statistics in employment discrimination cases; race discrimination in the workplace; developments concerning gender discrimination in the workplace; discrimination in Japanese organizations in America; discrimination in the entertainment industry; discrimination in the utility industry; understanding and effectively managing national origin discrimination; how to investigate and prove hiring discrimination based on colour; and, finally, how to investigate sexual harassment in the workplace.

The purpose of this paper is to ask whether or not social networks can compensate for the disadvantages of being part of an unprivileged group in the job attainment process in urban China, using the 2008 China General Social Survey.

The author compares the network effects on monthly income of local urban residents and rural migrants.

First, the results show that social capital exerts no significant effect on monthly income for local residents and rural migrants. Second, having network members who work in state-owned and non-state-owned enterprises helps female rural migrants to obtain higher monthly incomes, compared to those whose network members work only in either state-owned enterprises or non-state-owned enterprises. The same is not true of male rural migrants or local residents.

It can be concluded that a more diversified network may compensate for female rural migrants’ disadvantages, caused by being part of an unprivileged group, in their occupational attainment process.

Buyers of luxury clothing products usually place great importance on design because they can satisfy their personal needs. However, the underlying motivation for buying luxury products has not been fully understood. Therefore, identifying the factors influencing the choice of luxury products and brand loyalty can provide useful information to a better understanding of the customers' needs of these brands. In fact, in this article, we are trying to determine how personality traits (including the need for uniqueness and self-monitoring) and social traits (including self-expression and self-presentation) influence the importance of design and brand loyalty.

A questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire was answered by 386 buyers of luxury clothing brands in Iran. Structural equation modeling was also used for data analysis. Data were analyzed by SPSS 19.0 and AMOS 24.0 software.

The results of this study show that people who need to be unique pay more attention to the specific designs by expressing their self-expression in their surrounding community, while self-monitors seek acceptance in the community by using common designs. Finally, the results show that the importance of design reduces customer loyalty to the brand.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first one to investigate the effect of personality and social traits on the importance of luxury clothing design and brand loyalty using statistical data analysis tools in Iran.

In his autobiography, Chen Shui-bian (1999, p. 40) condemned the Koumintang's (KMT's) corruption and praised the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for being free from money politics and corruption. The DPP fought the 1992 Legislative Yuan election campaign effectively on an anticorruption platform and used the same strategy in subsequent elections. If Chen Shui-bian had criticized the KMT for its involvement with “black gold” politics and had won the 2000 presidential election on his anticorruption platform, why was he and his family found guilty of corruption after his second term of office? The short answer is that even though he had promised to curb corruption, President Chen himself had succumbed to corruption after assuming office. In June 2002, Keesing's Contemporary Archives cited a poll in Taiwan that indicated that more respondents had perceived the DPP to be more corrupt than the KMT (Copper, 2006, p. 14).