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The purpose of this paper is to present a novel application for a newly developed Technical Vision System (TVS), which uses a laser scanner and dynamic triangulation, to determine the vitality of agriculture vegetation. This vision system, installed on an unmanned aerial vehicle, shall measure the reflected laser energy and thereby determine the normalized differenced vegetation index.

The newly developed TVS shall be installed on the front part of the unmanned aerial vehicle, to perform line-by-line scan in the vision system field-of-view. The TVS uses high-quality DC motors, instead of previously researched low-quality DC motors, to eliminate the existence of two mutually exclusive conditions, for exact positioning of a DC motor shaft. The use of high-quality DC motors reduces the positioning error after control.

Present paper emphasizes the exact laser beam positioning in the field-of-view of a TVS. By use of high-quality instead of low-quality DC motors, a significant reduced positioning time was achieved, maintaining the relative angular position error less than 1 per cent. Best results were achieved, by realizing a quasi-continuous control, using a high pulse-width modulated duty cycle resolution and a high execution frequency of the positioning algorithm.

The originality of present paper is represented by the novel application of the newly developed TVS in the field of agriculture. The vitality of vegetation shall be determined by measuring the reflected laser energy of a scanned agriculture zone. The paper’s main focus is on the exact laser beam positioning within the TVS field-of-view, using high-quality DC motors in closed-loop position control configuration.

The purpose of this paper is the presentation and research of a novel robot vision system, which uses laser dynamic triangulation, to determine three-dimensional (3D) coordinates of an observed object. The previously used physical operation principle of discontinuous scanning method is substituted by continuous method. Thereby applications become possible that were previously limited by this discretization.

The previously used prototype No. 2, which uses stepping motors to realize a discontinuous laser scan, was substituted by the new developed prototype No. 3, which contains servomotors, to achieve a continuous laser scan. The new prototype possesses only half the width and turns out to be significantly smaller and therefore lighter than the old one. Furthermore, no transmissions are used, which reduce the systematic error of laser positioning and increase the system reliability.

By using a continuous laser scan method instead of discontinuous laser scan method, dead zones in the laser scanner field can be eliminated. Thereby, also by changing the physical operation principle, the implementation of applications is allowed, which previously was limited by the fixed step size or by the object distance under observation. By using servomotors instead of stepping motors, also a significant reduced positioning time can be accomplished maintaining the relative positioning error less than 1 per cent.

The originality is based on the substitution of the physical operation principle of discontinuous by continuous laser scan. The previously used stepping motors discretized the laser scanner field and thereby produced dead zones, where 3D coordinates cannot be detected. These stepping motors were substituted by servomotors to revoke these disadvantages and provide a continuous laser scan, where dead zones in the field of view get eliminated and the step response of the laser scanner accelerated.

A logistics‐based project is described which addresses the need for better intermodal transport, whilst balancing economic and environmental gains through the use of Internet technologies. Pipeline intermodal system to support control, expedition and scheduling (PISCES) provides an integrating platform for using these technologies in processing and sharing commercially sensitive data within transport chains (i.e. road, rail and barge). The paper demonstrates how information from an Internet‐based system can be used to drive a scheduling tool to provide appropriate routes for the transport of goods, using a multimodal transport model.

Reports on developments at Optimet in the R&D Group, where a novel distance probe performs high accuracy distance measurement over broad length scales. Considers applications.

The purpose of this paper is to propose an enhanced pose tracking method using progressive scan matching, focusing on accuracy, time efficiency and robustness.

The general purpose of localization algorithms is to dynamically track a robot instead of globally locating one. In this paper, progressive scan matching is used to promote the performance of pose tracking. Rotational and translational samples are separately generated to accelerate the calculation and to increase the accuracy. Progressive iteration of sample generation can ensure localization to achieve a specific precision. The direction of localization uncertainty is taken into consideration to increase robustness. Nonlinear optimization is adopted to achieve a more precise result.

The proposed method was implemented on a self-made mobile robot. Two experiments were conducted to test the accuracy and time efficiency of the method. The comparison with the basic Monte Carlo localization shows the advantages of the method. Another two experiments were conducted to test the robustness of the method. The result shows that the method can relocate a robot from an inaccurate place if the offset is moderate.

An enhanced pose tracking method is proposed to promote the performance by separately processing rotational and translational samples, progressively iterating the sample generation, taking the direction of localization uncertainty into consideration and adopting nonlinear optimization. The proposed method enables a robot to accurately and quickly locate itself in the environment with robustness.

Acknowledging that brands age over time, this paper aims to investigate the exogenous and endogenous factors that influence this phenomenon.

The literature on brand ageing is scarce. Through a study of several Colombian organisations that have an international presence, the paper uses a grounded-theory qualitative methodology, including in-depth interviews and documentary brand reviews over a longitudinal time dimension, to perform an analysis of specific aspects that affect brand ageing processes.

The results revealed that the factors that determine brand ageing can be classified into the following two subgroups: exogenous (conditions of the economic environment, category conditions, entrance of new competitors, ageing current consumers and entry of new consumers) and endogenous (organisational growth, upper management convictions, marketing structure, brand architecture, inappropriate naming and obsolete brand image) factors.

This research provides substantial academic value and insights that allow a better understanding of specific aspects that influence the brand ageing process.

Magnet spot is the primary method to develop the automated guided vehicle (AGV) guidance system for many automated container terminals (ACT). Aiming to improve the high flexibility of AGV operation in ACT, this paper aims to address the problem of technical stability leading to ACT production paralysis and propose a mini-terminal AGV robot for testing laser simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM)-based methods in ACT operation scenarios.

This study developed a physical simulation robot for terminal AGV operations, providing a platform to test technical solutions for applying laser navigation-related technologies in ACTs. Then, the terminal-AGV navigation system framework is designed to apply the laser-SLAM-based method in the physical simulation robot. Finally, the experiment is conducted in the terminal operation scenario to verify the feasibility of the proposed framework for lased-SLAM-based method testing and analyze the performance of the different mini-terminal AGV robots.

A series of experiments are conducted to analyze the performance of the proposed mini-terminal AGV robot for laser-SLAM-based method testing. The experimental results show the validity and effectiveness of the AGV robot and AGV navigation system framework with better local map matching, loopback and absolute positional error.

The proposed mini-terminal AGV robot and AGV navigation system framework can provide a platform for innovative laser-SLAM-based method testing in ACTs applications. Therefore, this study can effectively meet the high requirements of ACT for maturity and stability of the laser navigation technical.

Starting from corporate entrepreneurship, spin-off entrepreneurship and business model theory, this paper aims to examine the key influential factors and inherent mechanism in the process of business model transfer from parent enterprise to spin-off start-ups.

Grounded theory method is fit for constructing theoretical models, which can discover and interpret phenomenon and activities. According to the guidance of theoretical sampling and other core principles in grounded theory, this study extracts two parent enterprises named Haier and Phnix and lots of spin-offs derived from them.

This paper presents the theoretical framework that business models transfer from parents to spin-offs and probes into the embedding logic and connection relationship between factors and categories in this process, such as preconditions, incubation veins, business model elements, stripping mechanism and independent operations.

Although this study is focused on the manufacturing industry, the main characteristics, comparative advantages, governance rules summarized from transfer activities of business model in spin-off entrepreneurship can also bring inspirations to both parent enterprises and spin-off start-ups.

Excavates process and mechanism of business model transfer from internal to external, extends the theoretical perspectives about existing related theories such as corporate entrepreneurship, spin-off entrepreneurship and business model theory and reveals new approaches and methods on business model design, which is different from the past way.

Combining empirical insights from two lesson studies (LSs), this research aims to investigate EnEFL (English as a foreign language) teachers’ development in understanding and practical skills regarding the recent national English curriculum reform in China. It also strives to incorporate students’ performance and perceptions in the evaluation of the effectiveness of these LSs and teachers’ development.

Two LSs were conducted in the same school with 3 years in between. Standardized procedures were followed in the two LSs, including pre-LS interviews, talk-lesson session, rehearsal lessons, and one public lesson. Triangulated data were collected from lesson plans, reflective journals, discussion notes, and interviews to probe into teachers’ learning and development. Students’ task performance and perceptions were analyzed to help reexamine the influence of teachers’ development on student learning.

The teachers in the two LSs encountered similar problems in both understanding and implementing the curriculum reform. The LSs helped them reach a contextualized understanding of the key concepts. Besides, developments were also seen in their instructional skills to adopt innovative methods and activities. The students’ task performance and perceptions endorsed the teachers’ efforts.

First, this research combines data from two standardized LSs at different periods of curriculum implementation in the Chinese EFL context, which provides insights into teachers’ difficulties and development regarding curriculum reforms on a longer timeline. Second, students’ performance and perceptions are included as important data sources to assess the effectiveness of the LSs and teachers’ development.

YADE‐OPEN DEM is an open‐source software based on the discrete element method, (DEM) which uses object oriented programming techniques. The purpose of this paper is to describe the software architecture.

The DEM chosen uses position, orientation, velocity and angular velocity as independent variables of simulated particles which are subject to explicit leapfrog time‐integration scheme (Lagrangian method). The three‐dimensional dynamics equations based on the classical Newtonian approach for the second law of motion are used. The track of forces and moments acting on each particle is kept at every time step. Contact forces depend on the particle geometry overlap and material properties. The normal, tangential and moment components of interaction force are included.

An effort is undertaken to extract the underlying object oriented abstractions in the DEM. These abstractions are implemented in C⁺⁺, conform to object oriented design principles and use design patterns. Based on that, a software framework is developed in which the abstractions provide the interface where the modelling methods can be plugged‐in.

The resulting YADE‐OPEN DEM framework is designed in a generic way which provides great flexibility when adding new scientific simulation code. Some of the advantages are that numerous simulation methods can be coupled within the same framework while plug‐ins can import data from other software. In addition, this promotes code improvement through open‐source development and allows feedback from the community. However implementing such models requires that one adheres to the framework design and the YADE framework is a new emerging software. To download the software see http : //yade.wikia.com webpage.