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Article
Publication date: 6 February 2017

Yuxin Wang, Qing Liu, Yanrui Wu and Huaqing Wu

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how different types of the village relationship influence different types of public goods provision in rural China.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how different types of the village relationship influence different types of public goods provision in rural China.

Design/methodology/approach

The three components (clan-based relationship, neighborhood relationship and external relationship) were derived by employing factor analysis. The simultaneous discrete choice model was used to estimate the influence of these components on public goods provision, using the survey data from the China Household Income Project conducted in 2007.

Findings

The findings indicate that considering different components of village relationship allows for a better understanding of the public good provision. The results indicate that the neighborhood relationship has a significantly positive effect on rural public goods provision, particularly on water conservancy and irrigation, while the external relationship has a significantly positive effect on all types of public goods.

Practical implications

Local public goods provision is the core of the new rural construction in China. These findings imply that relationship in villages plays a vital role in the provision of public goods and is necessary in the construction of the new harmonious countryside in China. The results also have implications for rural public goods provision in other developing countries.

Originality/value

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to quantitatively model the impact of different relationships on public goods provision at the rural level. A consideration of the different components in village relationship allows for a more precise understanding of the pubic goods provision in the village.

Details

China Agricultural Economic Review, vol. 9 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-137X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 June 2019

Yuxin Wang, Luxia Wang, Huaqing Wu, Yangguang Zhu and Xing Shi

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of social capital on the mental health of older adults in rural China. The authors also examine potential heterogeneous…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of social capital on the mental health of older adults in rural China. The authors also examine potential heterogeneous effects and two possible pathways from social capital increase to mental health improvement.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a panel data of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, this paper employs a fixed effect model to examine the impact of social capital on health. A two-stage instrumental variable approach is adopted to alleviate the issue of endogeneity.

Findings

Results demonstrate that social capital has improved the mental health of older adults in rural China significantly. The beneficial effect is stronger for female, people with lower income, aged people and mainly observed in the central and western regions. Social capital affects the mental health of rural older adults through raising the awareness of healthy behavior and lowering the searching cost of health-related information.

Practical implications

Social capital plays a vital role in improving the mental health of older adults in rural China and is necessary for the construction of beautiful countryside in China. The authority should increase the investment in both the hard and soft infrastructure to improve the mental health of rural residents and narrow the inequality in health status.

Originality/value

This study enriches the empirical literature on the relationship between social capital and mental health by providing new evidence from China. Also, we choose the social activities and communications of individuals to construct a standardized index for social capital, which can better capture the social capital at the individual level.

Details

China Agricultural Economic Review, vol. 11 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-137X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 October 2019

Huaqing Hu, Ketai He, Tianlin Zhong and Yili Hong

This paper aims to propose a method to diagnose fused deposition modeling (FDM) printing faults caused by the variation of temperature field and establish a fault knowledge base…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to propose a method to diagnose fused deposition modeling (FDM) printing faults caused by the variation of temperature field and establish a fault knowledge base, which helps to study the generation mechanism of FDM printing faults.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the Spearman rank correlation analysis, four relative temperature parameters are selected as the input data to train the SVM-based multi-classes classification model, which further serves as a method to diagnose the FDM printing faults.

Findings

It is found that FDM parts may be in several printing states with the variation of temperature field on the surface of FDM parts. The theoretical dividing lines between different FDM printing states are put forward by traversing all the four-dimensional input parameter combinations. The relationship between the relative mean temperature and the theoretical dividing lines is found to be close and is analyzed qualitatively.

Originality/value

The multi-classes classification model, embedded in FDM printers as an adviser, can be used to prevent waste products and release much work of labors for monitoring.

Article
Publication date: 7 November 2016

Jing Li and Philip Pearce

The purpose of this paper is to identify dominant scams against domestic tourists in popular tourism cities in China. There are two questions of concern: what types of scams do…

2122

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify dominant scams against domestic tourists in popular tourism cities in China. There are two questions of concern: what types of scams do domestic tourists experience and are the patterns of scams different between the capital and regional cities? The social situation framework was employed to interpret the outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

A content analysis facilitated by Leximancer software was applied to 102 Chinese travel blogs reporting experiences of being scammed in Beijing, Hangzhou, Xi’an, Sanya and Guilin. Clear themes and concepts emerged from the analysis of these travel reviews and differences in scamming patterns between Beijing and regional cities were identified.

Findings

The most frequently reported scams in the capital Beijing were linked to the chaotic environment at tourist attractions and the misbehaviours of tour agents. By way of contrast scams involving manipulating the weight and quality of products purchased were more common in regional cities. The differences between Beijing and other locations may lie in the greater monitoring of fraudulent practices in the capital. Additionally, the role of shills (confederates of the scammer) was highlighted in many of the scams studied.

Originality/value

Scams include a slightly less serious but still troublesome set of problems accompanying major crimes and assaults. Rare research specifically focussed on tourist scams despite substantive work discussing crimes against tourists as general. Implications of the present study lie in enriching the literature on scams against tourists. The analysis of scams as a special type of social situation proved to be insightful in directing attention to facets of the interaction thus providing connections to previous work and directions for further study. It is also promising to be developed to inform strategic approaches to creating a safer tourism environment in cities.

Details

International Journal of Tourism Cities, vol. 2 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-5607

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 20 November 2009

465

Abstract

Details

International Journal of Energy Sector Management, vol. 3 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6220

Article
Publication date: 20 October 2014

Bo Xu, Huaqing Min and Fangxiong Xiao

This article aims to provide a brief overview of the field now known as “evolutionary developmental robotics (evo-devo-robo)”, which is based on the concept and principles of…

Abstract

Purpose

This article aims to provide a brief overview of the field now known as “evolutionary developmental robotics (evo-devo-robo)”, which is based on the concept and principles of evolutionary and development principles such as evolutionary developmental psychology, evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) and evolutionary cognitive neuroscience.

Design/methodology/approach

Evo-devo-robo is a new field bringing together developmental robotics and evolutionary robotics to form a new research area. Basic concepts and the origins of the field are described, and then some basic principles of evo-devo-robo that have been developed so far are discussed.

Findings

Finally, some misunderstand concepts and the most promising future research developments in this area are discussed.

Originality/value

Basic concepts and the origins of the field are described, and then some basic principles of evo-devo-robo that have been developed so far are discussed. Finally, some misunderstood concepts and the most promising future research developments in this area are discussed.

Details

Industrial Robot: An International Journal, vol. 41 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 January 2016

Huaqing Min, Chang'an Yi, Ronghua Luo and Jinhui Zhu

This paper aims to present a hybrid control approach that combines learning-based reactive control and affordance-based deliberate control for autonomous mobile robot navigation…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to present a hybrid control approach that combines learning-based reactive control and affordance-based deliberate control for autonomous mobile robot navigation. Unlike many current navigation approaches which only use learning-based paradigms, the authors focus on how to utilize the machine learning methods for reactive control together with the affordance knowledge that is simultaneously inherent in natural environments to gain advantages from both local and global optimization.

Design/methodology/approach

The idea is to decompose the complex and large-scale robot navigation task into multiple sub-tasks and use the hierarchical reinforcement learning (HRL) algorithm, which is well-studied in the learning and control algorithm domains, to decompose the overall task into sub-tasks and learn a grid-topological map of the environment. An affordance-based deliberate controller is used to inspect the affordance knowledge of the obstacles in the environment. The hybrid control architecture is then designed to integrate the learning-based reactive control and affordance-based deliberate control based on the grid-topological and affordance knowledge.

Findings

Experiments with computer simulation and an actual humanoid NAO robot have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid approach for mobile robot navigation.

Originality/value

The main contributions of this paper are a new robot navigation framework that decomposes a complex navigation task into multiple sub-tasks using the HRL approach, and hybrid control architecture development that integrates learning-based and affordance-based paradigms for autonomous mobile robot navigation.

Details

Industrial Robot: An International Journal, vol. 43 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 August 2023

Kiran G. Sirsath and Bhanudas D. Bachchhav

Low performance life and increased machine downtime due to wear of resistance welding copper electrode is of major concern in fin–tube resistance welding in waste heat recovery…

Abstract

Purpose

Low performance life and increased machine downtime due to wear of resistance welding copper electrode is of major concern in fin–tube resistance welding in waste heat recovery boilers. The purpose of this study is to investigate an alternative material with good wear resistance to replace the currently utilized C11000 electrolytic tough pitch (ETP) copper electrode.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, a Cu-Cr-Zr ternary alloy was developed for fin-to-tube welding electrode by melting commercial grade electrolytic copper (99.9% purity) plates, chips of chromium, powder of zirconium at 1100°–1300°C, followed by hot forging and precipitation hardening at 450°–550°C to attain appropriate grain flow. Microstructures of Cu-Cr-Zr alloys were analysed using scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive backscatter electron spectrometry.

Findings

Wear performance of Cu-Cr-Zr and C11000 ETP Cu was evaluated using pin-on-disc set-up with Taguchi’s L8 orthogonal array. Ranking of the parameters was done, and it was observed that the material and temperature play a very significant role in controlling the wear of an electrode.

Practical implications

Rate of fin–tube resistance welding was increased by 26% with Cu-Cr-Zr alloy. Further investigation on effect of plasma on the metallurgical characteristics of Cu-Cr-Zr is recommended.

Originality/value

Tribo-mechanical performance of newly developed Cu-Cr-Zr ternary alloy was compared with C11000 ETP copper.

Peer review

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-04-2023-0092/

Details

Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, vol. 75 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0036-8792

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 September 2019

Fang Wang, Lijun Lu, Lu Xu, Bihu Wu and Ying Wu

Tourists’ destination image is crucial for visiting intentions. An ancient capital with diverse characteristics is an important component of China’s urban tourism. The purpose of…

Abstract

Purpose

Tourists’ destination image is crucial for visiting intentions. An ancient capital with diverse characteristics is an important component of China’s urban tourism. The purpose of this paper is to address the following questions: what are the differences and commonalities of the perceived destination image of ancient capitals? What makes the difference of the perceived destination image in these cities? Aside from the exterior factors, are there internal factors of cities that influence tourists’ cognition and perception of destination image?

Design/methodology/approach

The comment text data of Baidu tourism website were used to determine the differences in the destination images of China’s four great ancient capitals: Beijing, Xi’an, Nanjing and Luoyang. ROST content mining and semantic network analysis were for differences and commonalities of the perceived destination image, and correlation analysis was used to explore the internal factors of cities that influence tourists’ cognition and perception of destination image.

Findings

Though the same as ancient capital, the four ancient capitals’ images are far apart; historical interests are the core of tourism experience in ancient capital city; image perception is from physical carrier, history and culture, and human cognition; tourist’ destination affect of ancient capital is most from its history and culture; protecting identity and maintaining daily life are crucial for ancient city tourism.

Originality/value

Previous studies on ancient capitals have focused on the invariable identity of ancient capitals’ destination images, and left a gap on determining from where the invariable identity comes in general and how much it influences destination image. This gap was addressed in this study, by analyzing the destination images of four ancient capitals in China as cases. In this way, this study provided reference to the other ancient cities worldwide.

Details

International Journal of Tourism Cities, vol. 6 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-5607

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 September 2016

Xingchen Yan, Kexin Xu, Junjie Wang, Xicheng Wei and Wurong Wang

The purpose of this paper is to comparatively investigate the microstructure and interfacial intermetallic compound (IMC) layer of Cu/SACPG/Ni and Cu/SAC0307/Ni solder joints…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to comparatively investigate the microstructure and interfacial intermetallic compound (IMC) layer of Cu/SACPG/Ni and Cu/SAC0307/Ni solder joints after thermal aging.

Design/methodology/approach

The specimens were thermally aged at 150°C for 0, 24, 168 and 500 h. The microstructure and morphology of the interface IMC layer were observed by means of scanning electron microscope. The IMCs and the solder bump surface were analyzed by EDS. Moreover, the thickness of IMC layer was measured by using the image analysis software.

Findings

The morphology of IMC of Cu/SAC0307/Ni solder joint was consistent with that of the Cu/SACPG/Ni joint, which indicates that the addition of P and Ge had little effect on the IMC formation. The needle-like (Cu,Ni)6Sn5 was formed at the interface of solder/Ni solder joints. Meanwhile, the tiny particles inferred as Ag3Sn phase attached to the surface of (Cu,Ni)6Sn5. The growth rate of IMC layer of the Cu/SACPG/Ni joint was smaller than that of Cu/SAC0307/Ni joint with aging time increasing, which means the addition of trace P and Ge can slightly suppress the diffusion rate of the interfacial IMC.

Originality/value

There are no previous studies on the formation mechanism of the IMC layer of SAC0307 solder alloys with P and Ge addition.

Details

Soldering & Surface Mount Technology, vol. 28 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0954-0911

Keywords

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