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This study aims to examine the direct impact of internal green supply chain practices (IGSCP) on green human resource management (GHRM), supply chain environmental cooperation (SCEC) and firm performance (FP). The mediating influences of GHRM and SCEC on the influence of IGSCP on FP are also examined. The study further examines the mediating influence of SCEC on the link between GHRM and FP.

The study uses a quantitative method where data is gathered from human resource and supply chain managers of 139 manufacturing firms (food, beverage and alcohol, textiles, agrochemical and plastics), using customized questionnaires. The data is analyzed using the partial least square structural equation modeling software (SmartPLS 3.2.8).

The results suggest that the adoption of only IGSCP may negatively affect the market and financial performances of firms. However, the implementation of GHRM and SCEC may catalyze IGSCP to improve FP.

The study develops a comprehensive empirical model that tests the joint influence of internal green supply chain, GHRM and SCEC on FP. The findings indicate that IGSCP, GHRM and SCEC help firms to advance FP.

Although a laser profile sensor (LPS) can be used to measure dimensions, the “shadow region” generally degrades the accuracy and precision of width measurements. The accuracy and precision of such measurements should be improved.

In this paper, the authors propose herein a technique that combines high dynamic range (HDR) imaging with logistic fitting. First, a HDR image is composed of several images acquired with different exposure times, which augments the grayscale of the object profile and significantly reduces overexposure. Next, the profile is fit to a logistic function, which provides accurate and precise edge coordinates. Finally, given the edge coordinates, the object width is calculated.

To verify the stability of this logistic algorithm, the authors simulate different noise conditions and different degrees of incomplete edge data. In addition, the progressiveness of the algorithm is demonstrated by comparing the results with those of other algorithms and with the height measurement. Furthermore, the suitability of the system is verified experimentally.

Because of the limitation of the condition of laboratory, in the experimental section, this paper cannot represent perfectly the industrial situation. It makes this section limited in demonstration.

In this paper, the results show that the measurement accuracy and precision of the width is improved and exceeds that of the height measurement. The proposed HDR imaging method with logistic fitting may be applied to LPS width measurements, which should significantly aid the development of LPSs.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nonlinear dynamics of the aircraft assembly lines. An approach for modeling and analyzing the production rate of an aircraft assembly line is introduced using the chaos theory.

First, two key system variables including reliability and learning ability are considered to control the dynamics model. The discrete-time dynamics equation of the production rate is established as a function of the reliability and the learning rate. Then an improved Gauss-learning curve is proposed and applied to aircraft assembling condition. Finally, the bifurcation diagrams and the maximal Lyapunov exponents are used and applied to the experimental study to analyze the dynamic behavior under different combinations of parameters.

On the basis of the experimental study, it is shown that chaotic behavior really exists in the aircraft assembly lines. The reliability and the Gauss-learning curve can nonlinearly affect the production rate.

This paper applied nonlinear dynamics and chaotic theory to the production analyses of the aircraft assembly lines for the first time. The proposed model has been successfully applied to a practical case, and the result justifies its advantage as well as feasibility to both theory and engineering application.

This paper aims to investigate the damage evolution of bearing raceways under impact conditions from the perspective of three-dimensional (3D) surface morphology changes and to analyze the causal factors with the aid of simulation.

An experimental device containing an impact generating mechanism, a transmission mechanism and a torque load is designed for the experiments of impact damage to the outer raceway of a small needle roller bearing HK1208 without an inner ring. Microscopic images and height color maps of each experimental stage were obtained using a 3D laser measurement microscope. The characterization parameters of the surface 3D morphology were extracted and analyzed. Dynamics simulations of the impact condition were performed using the finite element method to investigate the variations and distribution characteristics of the roller forces on the raceway.

The changes in roughness and 3D micromorphology show that the surface flattening phenomenon caused by the flattening effect occurs before the surface of the bearing raceway is damaged. The result of dynamic simulations shows that the maximum load of the bearing under the impact state is obviously greater than that under a steady state, and the load distribution under the two conditions is significantly different.

This paper provides new ideas for analyzing the damage of bearings under impact conditions by analyzing the real 3D morphology of bearing raceways in combination with the finite element method.

Discrete element method (DEM) has been extensively used in the laboratory of particulate and multiphase processing at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) to study the fundamentals of particulate matter at a particle scale. This paper briefly reviews the work in the laboratory, which covers the development of simulation techniques and their application to the study of particle packing and flow, transport properties and constitutive relationships of typical static or dynamic particulate systems. It is concluded, through representative comparison between simulated and measured results under different conditions, that DEM, as a major technique for discrete particle simulation, is an effective method for particle scale research of particulate matter.

Although prior research has highlighted the importance of foreign direct investment (FDI) on a country’s internationalization, it has largely focused on developed countries. As a result, the FDI performance of a developing country, which differs fundamentally from that of developed countries in their environment, remains unclear. Under the newly development environment, the traditional FDI theories have been challenged by the increasing investments from emerging and transition economies. The theory system needs a fresh situation’s supplement urgently.

On the basis of a literature review, this paper constructed an empirical model to further study the moderating effects of context-specific factors on the influence of inbound foreign direct investment (IFDI) on outbound foreign direct investment (OFDI). China was chosen as the representation of a developing country, and its data of mutual investments with 125 countries from 2003 to 2014 were used to carry out hypothesis testing.

The analysis and results of this paper suggested: first, for China, the overall influence of IFDI on OFDI is positive. That is to say, IFDI’s positive spillover effect is greater than the negative competition effect. Second, innovational distance’s effect on FDI is complicated. It can either be positive or negative, which calls for further investigation. Third, economic distance negatively affects OFDI and negatively moderates IFDI’s effect on OFDI, especially the export. To some extent, the moderating effect that resulted from the competition effect will reduce overseas investment by extruding some of the local enterprises. Fourth, cultural distance’s effect is closely related to the spillover effect that will positively moderate IFDI’s influence on OFDI.

This paper enriched the international investment theoretical system by adding a mechanism of multiway international investment of a developing country. The research also has a guiding significance for developing countries’ governments in coordinating mutual international investments. Also, these results have important implications for how policymakers promote OFDI and put forward new theoretical avenues for conceptualizing the internationalization process.

The mechanism of marketing strategy style and its impact on firms are research issues received wide attention. In particular, the aggressive style of marketing strategy has been chosen by many companies, but recent studies have shown that it has a negative effect on corporate performance. This leads to the core issue of this paper – does the aggressive style of marketing strategy always had a negative impact on corporate performance? Are there any factors that can alleviate this negative impact?

Based on the resource-based theory and agency theory, this paper takes the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) listed companies as the research objects, collects secondary data and conducts the research by regression model.

The empirical research shows that: (1) the aggressive style of marketing strategy significantly and negatively affects the performance of firm; (2) the resource constraint can moderate the main effect and resource control play a weak adjustment role.

In practice, this paper confirms the adverse impact of aggressive style of marketing strategy on the performance of listed companies on GEM and inspires the industry to strengthen the control and supervision of marketing resources.

This paper makes up for the research gap in the field of cross-research in finance and marketing theoretically.

This paper aims to propose an enhanced algorithm and used to decision-making that specifically focuses on the choice of a domain in the calculation of degree of greyness according to the principle of grey numbers operation. The domain means the emerging background of interval grey numbers, it is vital for the operational mechanism of such interval grey numbers. However, the criteria of selection of domain always remain same that is not only for the calculated grey numbers but also for the resultant grey numbers, which can be assumed as unrealistic up to a certain extent.

The existence of interval grey number operation based on kernel and the degree of greyness containing two calculation aspects, which are kernel and the degree of greyness. For the degree of greyness, it includes concepts of domain and calculation of the domain. The concepts of a domain are defined. The enhanced algorithm is also comprised of four deductive theorems and eight rules that are linked to the properties of the enhanced algorithm of the interval grey numbers based on the kernel and the degree of greyness.

Aiming to improve the algorithm of the degree of greyness for interval grey numbers, based on the variation of domain in the operation process, the degree of greyness of the operation result is defined in this paper, and the specific expressions for algebraic operations are given, which is relevant to the kernel, the degree of greyness and the domain. Then, these expressions are used to the algorithm of interval grey numbers based on the kernel and the degree of greyness, improving the accuracy of the operation results.

The enhanced algorithm in this paper can effectively reduce the loss of information in the operation process, so as to avoid the situation where the decision values are the same and scientific decisions cannot be made during the grey evaluation and decision-making process.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the dividend policy for firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The results are consistent with the prediction of the catering theory in that managers choose a dividend policy to cater to the demand of investors.

Logistic regressions are used to test the catering theory hypothesis.

The results find that the firms distribute more stock dividends than other types of dividends when the dividend premium (DP) for stock dividends is positive. In contrast, firms shift from stock dividends to other types of dividends such as mixed dividends and cash dividends when the DP for stock dividends is negative.

The marginal contribution of this paper is that the firms change their dividend policy via DP to cater to the demand of investors.

Modeling and analysis of dimensional variation propagation is a crucial support technology for variation reduction, product/process design evaluation and recognition of variation source. However, owing to the multi-deviation (i.e. part deviations and fixture deviations) and multi-interaction (i.e. part-to-part interaction, part-to-fixture interaction and station-to-station interaction) in assembly processes, it is difficult for designers to describe or understand the variation propagation (or accumulation) mechanism clearly. The purpose of this paper is to propose a variation propagation modeling and analysis (VPMA) method based on multiple constraints aiming at a single station.

Initially, part-to-part constraints (PPCs) and part-to-fixture constraints (PFCs) are applied for the multi-interaction of assembly, and multiple constraints graph (MCG) model is proposed for expressing PPCs, PFCs, parts, as well as the variation propagation relation among them. Then, locating points (LPs) are adopted for representing the deviations in constraints, and formulas for calculating the deviations of LPs are derived. On that basis, a linearized relation between LPs’ deviations and part’s locating deviations is derived. Finally, a wing box is presented to validate the proposed method, and the results indicate the methodology’s feasibility.

MCG is an effective tool for dimensional VPMA, which is shown as an example of this paper.

Functions of geometric constraints in dimensional variation propagation are revealed, and MCG is proposed to formulize dimensional variation propagation.