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This study aims to examine the effect of self-construal on solo dining intentions and its underlying mechanism through consumer emotions. Furthermore, the study also investigates the moderating effect of the composition of other diners on the relationship between self-construal and solo dining intentions.

A 2 (self-construal: independent vs interdependent) × 2 (other diners: solo diners vs social diners) between-subjects experimental design was adopted to test the hypotheses. The data were collected from 317 Chinese consumers, followed by an analysis using IBM SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 23.0.

The findings indicate that consumers with an independent self-construal are more likely to have the intention to dine alone at a restaurant. Nevertheless, this effect is contingent upon the composition of other diners. The effect is significant only when nearby diners are social diners, and perceived enjoyment partly mediates the relationship. Conversely, when nearby diners are also solo diners, consumers' self-construals do not significantly affect their solo dining intentions. Moreover, the results indicate that consumers generally experience low levels of perceived stress when dining alone.

This study incorporates individual personality traits into research on solo diners and highlights the crucial role of positive emotions in solo dining, which provides insights for relevant enterprises to develop effective marketing strategies.

In high-temperature regions (tropical regions) temperatures rises in summer, which affects the performance of asphalt pavement. Therefore, we must consider the conditions of asphalt pavement, especially in these regions. This study aims to investigate the influence of high temperature on the stability performance of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and crumb rubber powder (CRP) modified hot mix asphalt (HMA) using Marshall design parameters and rutting test.

In this study, three HMA mixtures with 4 per cent HDPE and 15 per cent CRP, 5 per cent HDPE and 10 per cent CRP, and 6 per cent HDPE and 5 per cent CRP concentrations were used for the Marshall stability test and dynamic stability (rutting test) at 60-75°C, and water stability test at 60°C.

The results showed that when test temperature was increased from 60°C to 75°C, the Marshall stability and dynamic stability of three HDPE- and CRP-modified HMA mixtures decreased, and these three HDPE- and CRP-modified HMA mixtures have a good moisture damage resistance. Of the three HMA mixtures with different HDPE and CRP concentrations, HMA mixtures with 5 per cent HDPE and 10 per cent CRP concentration exhibit optimal Marshall stability, dynamic stability and water stability.

This study showed the effects of high-temperatures changes on the stability performance of HDPE- and CRP-modified HMA mixtures.

Additively manufactured objects have layered structures, which means post processing is often required to achieve a desired surface finish. Furthermore, the additive nature of the process makes it less accurate than subtractive processes. Hence, additive manufacturing techniques could tremendously benefit from finishing processes to improve their geometric tolerance and surface finish.

Rotary ultrasonic machining (RUM) was chosen as a finishing operation for drilling additively manufactured carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites. Two distinct additive manufacturing methods of fused deposition modeling (FDM) and laser-assisted laminated object manufacturing (LA-LOM) were used to fabricate CFRP plates with continuous carbon fiber reinforcement. The influence of the feedrate, tool rotation speed and ultrasonic power of the RUM process parameters on the aforementioned quality characteristics revealed the feasibility of RUM process as a finishing operation for additive manufactured CFRP.

The quality of drilled holes in the CFRP plates fabricated via LA-LOM was supremely superior to the FDM counterparts with less pullout delamination, smoother surface and less burr formation. The strong interfacial bonding in LA-LOM proven to be superior to FDM was able to endure higher cutting force of the RUM process. The cutting force and cutting temperature overwhelmed the FDM parts and induced higher surface damage.

Overall, the present study demonstrates the feasibility of a hybrid additive and subtractive manufacturing method that could potentially reduce cost and waste of the CFRP production for industrial applications.

This study aimed to developed a defect detection system for a segment-type display module panel.

The system included a data acquisition card, a video camera, a computer and a display module on a testing table. The video camera captured the display pattern of the display module and transferred it to the computer through the data acquisition card. The dynamic multi-thresholding method and analysis as well as back propagation neural network classification was used to classify the detected defects.

The threshold values for the brightness at different positions in the display module image were obtained using the neural network and then stored in the look-up table, using two to six matrixes.

The recognition speed was faster and the system was more flexible in comparison to the previous system. The proposed method, using unsophisticated and economical equipment, was also verified as providing highly accurate results with a low error rate.

We use over 200 firms in Taiwan to examine two issues: (1) how investors in Taiwan react to seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) when firms plan to make capital investments, and (2) factors driving the underwriting price of the stock offerings. Our results indicate that investors seem to have strong negative reactions to the SEOs announcement; they prefer alternative financings for firms with good profitability when they make capital investments. Several interesting results related to underpricing of SEOs are noted. First, larger firms and larger underwriters appear to have more underpricing. The number of underwriters will have a net positive effect on underpricing. Finally, the brokerage firm in comparing to the bank as the underwriter would yield a net positive effect on the underwriting price.

The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of moisture on corrosion behaviour of steel ground rods in mildly desertified soil and the mechanism behind it.

The specimens were used for weight loss corrosion experiments and polarization scans were taken at different moisture levels. Specimen surfaces were characterized using a scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive spectrometer, and using X‐ray diffraction.

The results indicated that the moisture content of the soil influenced steel corrosion considerably. The maximum corrosion of 20G and Q235 galvanised steels occurred at 10 per cent and 12.5 per cent soil moisture, respectively. The corrosion products of 20G steel were mostly Fe₂O₃ and Fe₃O₄, whereas that of Q235 galvanised steel was Zn₅(OH)₈Cl₂ · H₂O.

The paper provides information regarding the relationship between moisture and corrosion of steel ground rods, which is useful for understanding the mechanism of soil corrosion. The research results can provide theoretical guidelines for preventing the corrosion of steel ground rods buried in mildly desertified soil.

This review paper reveals the literature on ultrasonic, chemical-assisted ultrasonic and rotary ultrasonic machining (USM) of glass material. The purpose of this review paper is to understand and describe the working principle, mechanism of material removal, experimental investigation, applications and influence of input parameters on machining characteristics. The literature reveals that the ultrasonic machines have been generally preferred for the glass and brittle work materials. Some other non-traditional machining processes may thermally damage the work surface. Through these USM, neither thermal effects nor residual stresses have been generated on the machined surface.

Various input parameters have the significant role in machine performance characteristics. For the optimization of output response, several input parameters have been critically investigated by the various researcher.

Some advance types of glasses such as polycarbonate bulletproof glass, acrylic heat-resistant glass and glass-clad polycarbonate bulletproof glass still need some further investigation because these materials have vast applications in automobile, aerospace and space industries.

Review paper will be beneficial for industrial application and the various young researcher. Paper reveals the detail literature review on traditional ultrasonic, chemical assisted ultrasonic and rotary USM of glass and glass composite materials.

This paper reviews the literature on zombie firms to provide a holistic view by delineating their formation, impact, widespread nature, prevention and policy implications.

This paper uses a systematic literature review methodology, in which 76 papers published in journals ranked on the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) 2022 list were reviewed. The study period was from 2000 to 2022.

Among the main findings, the widespread problems of zombie firms were evident. The authors found that consistent support, either in the form of government grants or a weak financial framework, was responsible for their formation. The suboptimal performance of factors of production, depressed job creation, low innovation and overall negative impact on economic activity are the consequences of zombification. This can be controlled by ensuring better bankruptcy codes, focused on government assistance, technology use and better due diligence by banks.

This review serves as a reference point for future researchers as a cohesive and holistic study presenting a full picture of the problem, so that the proposed solutions are robust and tenable.

This review is among the initial attempts to comprehensively study published work on zombie firms in terms of analyzing their region-specific nature, with an emphasis on definition, causes, impact and prevention.

This study reduces carbon emission in logistics distribution to realize the low-carbon site optimization for a cold chain logistics distribution center problem.

This study involves cooling, commodity damage and carbon emissions and establishes the site selection model of low-carbon cold chain logistics distribution center aiming at minimizing total cost, and grey wolf optimization algorithm is used to improve the artificial fish swarm algorithm to solve a cold chain logistics distribution center problem.

The optimization results and stability of the improved algorithm are significantly improved and compared with other intelligent algorithms. The result is confirmed to use the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region site selection. This study reduces composite cost of cold chain logistics and reduces damage to environment to provide a new idea for developing cold chain logistics.

This study contributes to propose an optimization model of low-carbon cold chain logistics site by considering various factors affecting cold chain products and converting carbon emissions into costs. Prior studies are lacking to take carbon emissions into account in the logistics process. The main trend of current economic development is low-carbon and the logistics distribution is an energy consumption and high carbon emissions.

On-ramp merging areas are typical bottlenecks in the freeway network since merging on-ramp vehicles may cause intensive disturbances on the mainline traffic flow and lead to various negative impacts on traffic efficiency and safety. The connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs), with their capabilities of real-time communication and precise motion control, hold a great potential to facilitate ramp merging operation through enhanced coordination strategies. This paper aims to present a comprehensive review of the existing ramp merging strategies leveraging CAVs, focusing on the latest trends and developments in the research field.

The review comprehensively covers 44 papers recently published in leading transportation journals. Based on the application context, control strategies are categorized into three categories: merging into sing-lane freeways with total CAVs, merging into sing-lane freeways with mixed traffic flows and merging into multilane freeways.

Relevant literature is reviewed regarding the required technologies, control decision level, applied methods and impacts on traffic performance. More importantly, the authors identify the existing research gaps and provide insightful discussions on the potential and promising directions for future research based on the review, which facilitates further advancement in this research topic.

Many strategies based on the communication and automation capabilities of CAVs have been developed over the past decades, devoted to facilitating the merging/lane-changing maneuvers at freeway on-ramps. Despite the significant progress made, an up-to-date review covering these latest developments is missing to the authors’ best knowledge. This paper conducts a thorough review of the cooperation/coordination strategies that facilitate freeway on-ramp merging using CAVs, focusing on the latest developments in this field. Based on the review, the authors identify the existing research gaps in CAV ramp merging and discuss the potential and promising future research directions to address the gaps.