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The purpose of this paper is to investigate tensile properties of TiC particle-reinforced titanium matrix composites (PRTMC) using the elasto-plastic finite element (FE) programs and the homogenization method and the fixed point iteration method.

Two quasi-static and dynamic transient programs of elasto-plastic FE were coded by using FORTRAN. Based on the FE programs, the FE model of the TiC PRTMC with typical microstructures was established by using the fixed point iteration method and the homogenization theory. The hot deformation behavior of TiC PRTMC under different temperatures were analyzed by using the above model and programs.

Calculation results are presented to investigate the influence of different temperatures on the hot deformation behavior of TiC PRTMC. Based on the experimental data, a good agreement was obtained between the numerical predictions and the experimental results, and the feasibility of this method was verified.

The work is original and findings are new, which demonstrates this FE frame combined with the homogenization method and the fixed point iteration method can be used to investigate the tensile behavior of particle-reinforced metal matrix composites.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss recent developments in school developmental supervisory evaluation in the Pudong New Area of Shanghai in the Chinese Mainland.

The main research approach is qualitative, using documentary analysis and interviews of an inspector, principals and teachers from two primary schools.

There were perceived positive and negative impacts of school supervision and evaluation.

The paper highlights the implications for fostering a shared school‐government community of school supervision and evaluation, promoting a dynamic approach for addressing contextual differences as well as achieving better coherence among educational reform, supervision and evaluation policies.

This study establishes a baseline evaluation of sustainability reporting (SR) and integrated reporting (IR) practices among groups of companies globally using a combined evaluation matrix. We evaluate a sample of high performance companies (HPC), global reporting initiative (GRI) companies, international integrated reporting committee (IIRC) companies, and a control group of companies that do not belong to any of these groups. We test for high performance and compliance with a 30-point evaluation matrix for financial reporting, corporate governance, integrated disclosure, SR, and assurance developed from the standards set by GRI and IIRC. This chapter provides evidence as to the current IR and SR states, and shows that considerable variation exists even among companies that have pledged to improve reporting in this arena. The analysis also shows that companies that belong to no special group do in fact score on a level that shows that SR and IR standards are being implemented by many companies in the world, not just those in special groups like the HPC, GRI, and IIRC. Finally, this study provides direction for global regulators and professional associations, and to the management of companies that aspire to HPC status while meeting the IR and SR standards.

The purpose of this paper is to find the optimal environmental quality criteria for a strategic eco-labeling authority with three objectives (i.e. maximizing the aggregate environmental quality, maximizing the industry profit and maximizing the social welfare). Particularly, the authors investigate how the existence of imperfectly informed consumers affects labeling criteria determination and competition among firms.

A game-theoretic modeling approach was adopted in this paper. A three-stage sequential game was modeled and backward induction was used to solve for a subgame perfect Nash equilibrium. To investigate the impacts of the existence of imperfectly informed consumers, the equilibrium, if all consumers are perfectly informed of the eco-label, was studied as a benchmark.

A more strict eco-labeling criterion improves revenues for both the labeled and unlabeled firms. It is interesting to find that the eco-labeling criteria to maximize industry profits are stricter than the criteria to maximize social welfare. Moreover, when the fraction of imperfectly informed consumers increases, the eco-labeling criteria to maximize aggregate environmental quality or industry profits will be more strict, while the criteria to maximize the social welfare will be looser.

The authors analyze the equilibrium strategies for firms against the eco-labeling criteria certified by authority with different objectives. The obtained optimal labeling strategies could provide insightful guidelines for the certifying authority to select the best suitable labeling criteria to achieve its goals.

This study develops a structural model to examine the relationships among subjective perception of health, subjective perception of economic and social support, the perceived freedom in leisure, leisure satisfaction, and the well-being of elders. The subject of this study is the elderly who participated in leisure activities at Evergreen Academy in Kaohsiung City. Convenience sampling and quota sampling are adopted. 1,200 self-administered questionnaires are distributed, and 535 are valid, with a response rate of 45%. The results of this study show that subjective perception of health will positively affect perceived freedom in leisure; subjective perception of economics will positively affect perceived freedom in leisure and well-being; social support will positively affect perceived freedom in leisure, leisure satisfaction, and well-being; perceived freedom in leisure will positively affect leisure satisfaction and well-being; leisure satisfaction will positively affect well-being. There are significant differences in the subjective perception of economic and social support between male and female elders. There are significant differences in the subjective perception of economic, leisure satisfaction, and well-being among those with different education levels.

This paper aims to prompt ideas amongst readers (especially librarians) about how they can become active partners in knowledge dissemination amongst concerned user groups by implementing 3D printing technology under the “Makerspace.”

The paper provides a brief account of various tools and techniques used by veterinary and animal sciences institutions for information dissemination amongst the stakeholders and associated challenges with a focus on the use of 3D printing technology to overcome the bottlenecks. An overview of the 3D printing technology has been provided following the instances of use of this novel technology in veterinary and animal sciences. An initiative of the University Library, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, to harness the potential of this technology in disseminating information amongst livestock stakeholders has been discussed.

3D printing has the potential to enhance learning in veterinary and animal sciences by providing hands-on exposure to various anatomical structures, such as bones, organs and blood vessels, without the need for a cadaver. This approach enhances students’ spatial understanding and helps them better understand anatomical concepts. Libraries can enhance their visibility and can contribute actively to knowledge dissemination beyond traditional library services.

The ideas about how to harness the potential of 3D printing in knowledge dissemination amongst livestock sector stakeholders have been elaborated. This promotes creativity amongst librarians enabling them to think how they can engage in knowledge dissemination thinking out of the box.

The purpose of this paper is to present an approach to reduce energy consumption in data centers. Subsequently, it reduces electricity bills and carbon dioxide footprints resulting from their use.

The authors present a mathematical model of the energy dissipation optimization problem. The authors formulate analytically the server selection problem and the supply air temperature as a non-linear programming, and propose an algorithm to solve it dynamically.

A simulation study on SimWare, using real workload traces, shows considerable savings for different data center sizes and utilization rates as compared to three other classic algorithms. The results prove that the proposed algorithm is efficient in handling the energy-performance trade-off, and that the proposed algorithm provides significant energy savings and maintains a relatively homogenous and stable thermal state at the different rack units in the data center.

The proposed algorithm ensures energy provisioning, performance optimization over existing state-of-the-art heuristics, and on-demand workload allocation.

Service innovation, ICT-enabled services, museum, cultural and creative industries.

Graduate-level courses of “Innovation Management,” “Service Innovation,” or “Cultural and Creative Industries”.

In 2006, the National Palace Museum (NPM) in Taipei, Taiwan, announced its new vision “Reviving the Charm of an Ancient Collection and Creating New values for Generations to Come”. In recent years, the NPM has been shifting its operational focus from being object-oriented to being public-centered, and the museum has held not only the physical forms of artifacts and documents but also their digital images and metadata. These changes would inject new life into historical artifacts. In addition, archives as its collections would be given a refreshingly new image to the public and become connected with people's daily lives. Among these endeavors for displaying historical artifacts online and prevailing Chinese culture in the modern age, the key issues are related to digital technology applications and service innovations. The service innovations would be further divided into information and communication technologies (ICT)-enabled ones and non-ICT-enabled ones. These shifts clearly claim that adopting digital technologies and innovative services can bring positive impacts to the museum. The NPM administrative team wants to keep infusing life into ancient artifacts and texts, sustaining curiosities of the public for Chinese culture and history, and invoking their interests to visit the NPM in person. However, to develop for the future while reviewing the past, the NPM administrative team has to meditate on the next steps in terms of implementation of service innovations.

Students will learn motivations of digital establishment and service innovations from the organization perspective and the necessities of technological implementation. Students will understand the difference in innovations between ICT-enabled services and non-ICT-enabled services. Students would be able to understand the process of developing a new service. Students will be aware of challenges the organization would face in developing a new service.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

This systematic literature review aims to elaborate on the research progress and features of information source preferences to help other researchers attain a more comprehensive understanding of the field.

Following a systematic review protocol, 139 research articles from 11 academic databases were analyzed.

Overall, five separate results were obtained: first, information source horizon theory is the main theoretical foundation of information source preferences research, while other theories have been applied less. Second, information source preference research has strong context sensitivity and involves health, work, consumption, learning, survival and development and emergencies. Third, preference criteria can be summarized into three categories: information characteristics, user characteristics, needs characteristics and corresponding specific criteria. Fourth, information source preferences are influenced by both internal and external factors, including five specific aspects, namely demographics, the user's cognition, the user's affection, capital and contextual factors. Fifth, this field is dominated by quantitative methods and an information horizon mapping method could be applied more.

This study is the first to reveal the general picture of information source preferences. It also elaborates on the characteristics of this field and presents potential development directions.