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1 – 10 of 96Yonghong Zhang, Shouwei Li, Jingwei Li and Xiaoyu Tang
This paper aims to develop a novel grey Bernoulli model with memory characteristics, which is designed to dynamically choose the optimal memory kernel function and the length of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to develop a novel grey Bernoulli model with memory characteristics, which is designed to dynamically choose the optimal memory kernel function and the length of memory dependence period, ultimately enhancing the model's predictive accuracy.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper enhances the traditional grey Bernoulli model by introducing memory-dependent derivatives, resulting in a novel memory-dependent derivative grey model. Additionally, fractional-order accumulation is employed for preprocessing the original data. The length of the memory dependence period for memory-dependent derivatives is determined through grey correlation analysis. Furthermore, the whale optimization algorithm is utilized to optimize the cumulative order, power index and memory kernel function index of the model, enabling adaptability to diverse scenarios.
Findings
The selection of appropriate memory kernel functions and memory dependency lengths will improve model prediction performance. The model can adaptively select the memory kernel function and memory dependence length, and the performance of the model is better than other comparison models.
Research limitations/implications
The model presented in this article has some limitations. The grey model is itself suitable for small sample data, and memory-dependent derivatives mainly consider the memory effect on a fixed length. Therefore, this model is mainly applicable to data prediction with short-term memory effect and has certain limitations on time series of long-term memory.
Practical implications
In practical systems, memory effects typically exhibit a decaying pattern, which is effectively characterized by the memory kernel function. The model in this study skillfully determines the appropriate kernel functions and memory dependency lengths to capture these memory effects, enhancing its alignment with real-world scenarios.
Originality/value
Based on the memory-dependent derivative method, a memory-dependent derivative grey Bernoulli model that more accurately reflects the actual memory effect is constructed and applied to power generation forecasting in China, South Korea and India.
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Tao Pang, Wenwen Xiao, Yilin Liu, Tao Wang, Jie Liu and Mingke Gao
This paper aims to study the agent learning from expert demonstration data while incorporating reinforcement learning (RL), which enables the agent to break through the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study the agent learning from expert demonstration data while incorporating reinforcement learning (RL), which enables the agent to break through the limitations of expert demonstration data and reduces the dimensionality of the agent’s exploration space to speed up the training convergence rate.
Design/methodology/approach
Firstly, the decay weight function is set in the objective function of the agent’s training to combine both types of methods, and both RL and imitation learning (IL) are considered to guide the agent's behavior when updating the policy. Second, this study designs a coupling utilization method between the demonstration trajectory and the training experience, so that samples from both aspects can be combined during the agent’s learning process, and the utilization rate of the data and the agent’s learning speed can be improved.
Findings
The method is superior to other algorithms in terms of convergence speed and decision stability, avoiding training from scratch for reward values, and breaking through the restrictions brought by demonstration data.
Originality/value
The agent can adapt to dynamic scenes through exploration and trial-and-error mechanisms based on the experience of demonstrating trajectories. The demonstration data set used in IL and the experience samples obtained in the process of RL are coupled and used to improve the data utilization efficiency and the generalization ability of the agent.
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Jianlan Zhong, Han Cheng and Fu Jia
Despite its crucial role in ensuring food safety, traceability remains underutilized by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a vital component of China’s agricultural supply…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite its crucial role in ensuring food safety, traceability remains underutilized by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a vital component of China’s agricultural supply chain, thereby compromising the integrity of the supply chain traceability system. Therefore, this study sets out to explore the factors influencing SMEs’ adoption of traceability systems and the impact of these factors on SMEs’ intent to adopt such systems. Furthermore, the study presents a model to deepen understanding of system adoption in SMEs and provides a simulation demonstrating the evolutionary trajectory of adoption behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
This study considers the pivotal aspects of system adoption in SMEs, aiming to identify the influential factors through a grounded theory-based case study. Concurrently, it seeks to develop a mathematical model for SMEs’ adoption patterns and simulate the evolution of SMEs’ adoption behaviors using the Q-learning algorithm.
Findings
The adoption of traceability among SMEs is significantly influenced by factors such as system attributes, SMEs’ capability endowment, environmental factors and policy support and control. However, aspects of the SMEs’ capability endowment, specifically their learning rate and decay rate, have minimal impact on the adoption process. Furthermore, group pressure can expedite the attainment of an equilibrium state, wherein all SMEs adopt the system.
Originality/value
This study fills the existing knowledge gap about the adoption of traceability by SMEs in China’s agricultural supply chain. This study represents the pioneer study that identifies the factors influencing SMEs’ adoption and examines the effects of these factors on their traceability adoption, employing a multi-methodological approach that incorporates grounded theory, mathematical modeling and the Q-learning algorithm.
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Junyi Chen, Buqing Cao, Zhenlian Peng, Ziming Xie, Shanpeng Liu and Qian Peng
With the increasing number of mobile applications, efficiently recommending mobile applications to users has become a challenging problem. Although existing mobile application…
Abstract
Purpose
With the increasing number of mobile applications, efficiently recommending mobile applications to users has become a challenging problem. Although existing mobile application recommendation approaches based on user attributes and behaviors have achieved notable effectiveness, they overlook the diffusion patterns and interdependencies of topic-specific mobile applications among user groups. mobile applications among user groups. This paper aims to capture the diffusion patterns and interdependencies of mobile applications among user groups. To achieve this, a topic-aware neural network-based mobile application recommendation method, referred to as TN-MR, is proposed.
Design/methodology/approach
In this method, first, the user representations are enhanced by introducing a topic-aware attention layer, which captures both the topic context and the diffusion history context. Second, it exploits a time-decay mechanism to simulate changes in user interest. Multitopic user representations are aggregated by the time decay module to output the user representations of cascading representations under multiple topics. Finally, user scores that are likely to download the mobile application are predicted and ranked.
Findings
Experimental comparisons and analyses were conducted on the actual 360App data set, and the results demonstrate that the effectiveness of mobile application recommendations can be significantly improved by using TN-MR.
Originality/value
In this paper, the authors propose a mobile application recommendation method based on topic-aware attention networks. By capturing the diffusion patterns and dependencies of mobile applications, it effectively assists users in selecting their applications of interest from thousands of options, significantly improving the accuracy of mobile application recommendations.
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Shanglong Fang, Wei Xiao, Kewen Chen and Xuding Song
Resin-based friction materials are the most widely used key materials in industry for braking and transmission. However, the friction coefficient of resin-based friction materials…
Abstract
Purpose
Resin-based friction materials are the most widely used key materials in industry for braking and transmission. However, the friction coefficient of resin-based friction materials significantly decreases at temperatures above 300°C, which reduces their friction performance.
Design/methodology/approach
This study combines elevated-temperature mechanical experiments with friction and wear experiments to explain the thermal degradation resistance performance and temperature recovery performance of resin-based friction materials. It also investigates the influence of friction material strength and worn morphology on the friction coefficient of materials at elevated temperature.
Findings
The experimental results show that the increase in friction coefficient of friction materials below 300°C is mainly due to the increase in worn morphology characterization parameters, and the thermal degradation phenomenon above 300°C is mainly due to the decrease of shear strength of friction film. Basalt fiber can significantly improve the thermal degradation resistance of friction materials. The friction coefficient of basalt fiber-reinforced specimens after thermal degradation reaches 0.421–0.443, which is 19–25% higher than the original. The thermal decay rate is 9.03–11.0%, which is 7.9–9.87% lower than the original. Moreover, the friction coefficient has good cooling recovery performance.
Originality/value
Revealed the thermal degradation mechanism of resin-based friction materials, verified that basalt fibers can improve the thermal degradation resistance of friction materials and provided reference for the development of new friction materials.
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Qian Tang, Yuzhuo Qiu and Lan Xu
The demand for the cold chain logistics of agricultural products was investigated through demand forecasting; targeted suggestions and countermeasures are provided. This paper…
Abstract
Purpose
The demand for the cold chain logistics of agricultural products was investigated through demand forecasting; targeted suggestions and countermeasures are provided. This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned statement.
Design/methodology/approach
A Markov-optimised mean GM (1, 1) model is proposed to forecast the demand for the cold chain logistics of agricultural products. The mean GM (1, 1) model was used to forecast the demand trend, and the Markov chain model was used for optimisation. Considering Guangxi province as an example, the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method were verified, and relevant suggestions are made.
Findings
Compared with other models, the Markov-optimised mean GM (1, 1) model can more effectively forecast the demand for the cold chain logistics of agricultural products, is closer to the actual value and has better accuracy and minor error. It shows that the demand forecast can provide specific suggestions and theoretical support for the development of cold chain logistics.
Originality/value
This study evaluated the development trend of the cold chain logistics of agricultural products based on the research horizon of demand forecasting for cold chain logistics. A Markov-optimised mean GM (1, 1) model is proposed to overcome the problem of poor prediction for series with considerable fluctuation in the modelling process, and improve the prediction accuracy. It finds a breakthrough to promote the development of cold chain logistics through empirical analysis, and give relevant suggestions based on the obtained results.
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Yongchang Jiang, Hejie Zhu and E. Bai
The existence of the advertising delay effect and its impact on supply chain operations have been demonstrated in the current study. Therefore, this study develops a timely…
Abstract
Purpose
The existence of the advertising delay effect and its impact on supply chain operations have been demonstrated in the current study. Therefore, this study develops a timely inventory control strategy for the fresh produce supply chain to address the advertising delay effect in the fresh produce supply chain.
Design/methodology/approach
This study proposes a game model based on the Nerlove-Arrow time delay differential equation and Pontryagin's maximum principle. Through comparative analyses of the optimal equilibrium strategies, the authors compare the optimal equilibrium strategies, product goodwill and optimal inventory trajectories for suppliers and retailers under secondary replenishment decisions and decentralized decisions.
Findings
The authors find that (1) Only when the sales cycle meets certain conditions can the overall profit of the supply chain under the secondary replenishment decision be greater than that under the decentralized decision. As the price markup coefficient increases, the total profit of the supply chain first increases and then decreases. (2) With the increase in the delay time, the replenishment quantity during the initial period gradually decreases. After the delay time elapses, the inventory depletion rate under secondary replenishment decisions is faster than that under decentralized decision-making. (3) Although there is a continuously increasing maximum value of product goodwill with the increase in delay time, it becomes difficult to achieve this value for longer delays.
Practical implications
The authors’ findings provide a theoretical basis for supply chain members of fresh agricultural products to select replenishment and inventory control strategies when adopting different levels of delay in advertising marketing.
Originality/value
Firstly, this paper explains the impact of advertising delay effect on fresh produce supply chain from a dynamic perspective, and secondly, it provides guidance on advertising formulation and inventory replenishment for fresh produce retailers under the influence of advertising delay effect.
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Guohua He, Pei Liu, Xinnian Zheng, Lixun Zheng, Patricia Faison Hewlin and Li Yuan
This study aims to explore whether, how and when leaders' artificial intelligence (AI) symbolization (i.e. the demonstration of leaders' acceptance of and support for AI by…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore whether, how and when leaders' artificial intelligence (AI) symbolization (i.e. the demonstration of leaders' acceptance of and support for AI by engaging in AI-related behaviors and/or displaying objects that reflect their affinity for AI) affects employee job crafting behaviors.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted two studies (i.e. an experiment and a multi-wave field survey) with samples from different contexts (i.e. United States and China) to test our theoretical model. The authors used ordinary least squares (OLS) and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Leaders' AI symbolization is positively related to employee change readiness and, in turn, promotes employee job crafting. Moreover, employee-attributed impression management motives moderate the positive indirect effect of leaders' AI symbolization on employee job crafting via change readiness, such that this indirect effect is stronger when employee-attributed impression management motives are low (vs high).
Practical implications
Leaders should engage in AI symbolization to promote employee job crafting and avoid behaviors that may lead employees to attribute their AI symbolization to impression management.
Originality/value
By introducing the concept of leaders' AI symbolization, this study breaks new ground by illustrating how leaders' AI symbolization positively influences employees' change readiness, as well as job crafting in the workplace. Further, integrating AI as a novel and timely context for evaluating job crafting contributes to the literature where empirical research is relatively scant, particularly regarding the factors that prompt employees to engage in job crafting.
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Junjian Lu, Hongbin Zhong and Fei Luo
The purpose of this research is as follows: DPP-BOH-PVA has been synthesized from 1,1′:3′,1″-terphenyl-5'-boronic acid (DPP-OH) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The afterglow lifetime…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is as follows: DPP-BOH-PVA has been synthesized from 1,1′:3′,1″-terphenyl-5'-boronic acid (DPP-OH) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The afterglow lifetime of DPP-BOH-PVA was studied by changing contents of DPP-OH (1, 2 and 4 Wt.%). These films were characterized with Fourier transform infrared, X-ray diffraction as structural analysis and DSC as thermal analysis. Afterglow lifetimes were evaluated as time-resolved emission decay profile analysis. Fiber films of DPP-BOH-PVA-2-E have been prepared by electrospinning method with the diameter of 5 μm and afterglow life time of 2.1 s (@ 535 nm) under ambient conditions. Stimulus responsive properties with afterglow emission for fiber film were investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
During the synthesis of the polymer, modification was carried out using DPP-OH/PVA with a molar ratio of 1/4, under an alkalinity medium with ammonium hydroxide and with a temperature of 80°C.
Findings
XRD results indicate that DPP-BOH-PVA film had high crystallinity, which is crucial for preparing organic room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials.
Research limitations/implications
The reaction mixture must be stirred continuously. Temperature should be controlled to prevent the rapid evaporation of ammonium hydroxide.
Practical implications
This study provides technical information for the synthesis of multidimensional stimulation response RTP micron fiber thin film. The electrospinning technology may also promote the applications of the large areas of RTP films.
Social implications
This resin will be used for the multidimensional stimulation response RTP fiber thin film.
Originality/value
The diameter of fiber film of PP-BOH-PVA-2-E by electrospinning method was in the range of 5 μm, and its afterglow lifetime decayed to be 2.1 s.
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Ji Li, Pradeep Thaker, Deshou Jiang, Qingrong Huang and Chi-Tang Ho
The purpose of this paper is to systematically review the functionalities, safety regulations and product applications of herb Stevia rebaudiana extract. This plant material is…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to systematically review the functionalities, safety regulations and product applications of herb Stevia rebaudiana extract. This plant material is embedded with multiple functionalities such as antioxidant, antidiabetics, anti-inflammation and antimicrobial. The regulations released from global authorities are covered to ensure the safety premise of stevia. Besides, the product applications of the extract of aerial parts of the herb S. rebaudiana helps us to recognize its value from commercial side.
Design/methodology/approach
Relevant literatures are selected and obtained from main scientific databases such as Google Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed and trade magazines published between 2000 and 2023. The keywords and their possible combinations such as sweetening, antioxidant, antidiabetics, anti-inflammation, safety and product development were used to ensure the preciseness and completeness of literature searching. Major data such as sweetness, total phenolic content and dose together with latter critical conclusions from searched publications were appropriately used and discussed. In this review, approximately 150 scientific literatures were meticulously ordered and analyzed. In applications, it is the first time that sentiment analysis was used to obtain a market assessment of the stevia-containing products.
Findings
This review paper helps rearrange the scientific affairs of those stevia extract’s functions like sweetening, antioxidant, antidiabetics and inflammation. Sweetness indexes of steviol glycosides were summarized together for comparison while various in vitro and in vivo approaches were reviewed to quantify those functions’ capacities and to depict the related mechanism. The regulation of steviol glycoside compounds such as rebaudioside A was established by global authorities such as US Food and Drug Administration and Joint FAO/World Health Organization Expert Committee to ensure the safety endorsement before commercialization. Then, this study discussed about the market performance of stevia ingredients or products with the self-developed data analytics. This study also investigated the product development progress of stevia-containing food products in the categories of beverage, bakery, dairy and confectionery. Those stevia-containing food consumer goods can be acceptable by certain consumers.
Originality/value
This review paper precisely presents the evidential information about the stevia’s multiple functionalities with mechanisms and global regulation milestones. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is then the first time to probe the stevia-containing products’ market performance through data analytics.
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