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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mechanical behavior of textile-reinforced concrete (TRC)-strengthened concrete columns with small eccentricity under chloride-wet-dry cycles.

A total of ten reinforced concrete (RC) columns were constructed and subjected to eccentric compression, and the effects of the slenderness ratio, a variable number of wet-dry cycles and the coupled effect of loading and a chloride environment were analyzed. One of the columns tested was unreinforced, whereas the remaining columns were strengthened laterally with TRC.

The results showed that a reduction in the slenderness ratio was conducive to the improvement of the bearing capacity of the reinforced column; however, the reinforcement effect of TRC tended to decrease with an increasing number of wet-dry cycles, and the coupled effect of loading and a chloride environment significantly degraded the compression performance of TRC-strengthened columns, with the damage becoming more serious with increase in the sustained load ratio.

In the next test, the duration of chloride-wet-dry cycles will be extended. In the same time, to obtain a clearer trend, the authors will also increase the number of specimens to obtain more data for drawing general conclusions.

The originality is to explore the feasibility of using cement-based materials (TRC) as a confinement technique in chloride environment. The investigations demonstrate that TRC has a good reinforcement effect on the concrete columns under chloride-wet-dry cycles. Finally, influence of each parameter is analyzed, which can be used as reference and foundation in actual application.

This study investigates the way in which acquisition-related human factors affect knowledge transfer in the context of Chinese cross-border M&A for strategic assets. The authors find that the process of knowledge transfer is reciprocal for revenue and cost synergies, including explicit and tacit knowledge. The establishment of joint ventures (JV) in China after the takeover boosts product-oriented knowledge transfer from overseas-acquired firms in mature markets to Chinese acquirers. The promotion of overseas synergies stimulates complementary knowledge transfer flow, which is reversely transferred from Chinese acquirers to overseas-acquired subsidiaries such as low-saving sourcing and new market applications. This study identifies three acquisition-related human factors that impact overseas knowledge senders for knowledge transfer. These human factors are implemented by Chinese strategic investors as new shareholders during the loosen integration phase. The first facilitator is all-round communication programs with top management involvement, aiming to build up constructive communication channels to boost knowledge transfer. The second facilitator is competence-based trust, which stimulates cooperation and application based on similar professional competence between Chinese acquirers and their overseas-acquired subsidiaries. The impeder is a high turnover of key skilled workers at Chinese acquirers to undermine the effectiveness of knowledge transfer.