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11 – 20 of 37Jiabao Pan, Rui Li and Ao Wang
The adverse effects of temperature on the lubricating properties of nano magnetorheological grease are reduced by applying of a magnetic field.
Abstract
Purpose
The adverse effects of temperature on the lubricating properties of nano magnetorheological grease are reduced by applying of a magnetic field.
Design/methodology/approach
Nano magnetorheological grease was prepared via a thermal water bath with stirring. The lubricating properties of the grease were investigated at different temperatures. Then the lubricity of the prepared nano magnetorheological grease was investigated under the effect of thermomagnetic coupling.
Findings
As the temperature rises, the coefficient of friction of grease lubrication gradually increases, surface wear gradually increases and lubrication performance gradually decreases. Compared with grease, magnetorheological grease has a decreased coefficient of friction and enhanced lubrication effect under the action of a magnetic field at different temperatures.
Originality/value
A lubrication method using a magnetic field to reduce the effect of temperature is established, thereby providing new ideas for lubrication design under a wide range of temperature conditions.
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Since the start of the twenty‐first century China has stepped into a new stage of harmonious urban‐rural development. Based on the brief review of policy changes since the new…
Abstract
Purpose
Since the start of the twenty‐first century China has stepped into a new stage of harmonious urban‐rural development. Based on the brief review of policy changes since the new century, the purpose of this paper is to figure out the comprehensive policy framework, and analyze its background and reasons.
Design/methodology/approach
First, this paper offers a brief review of China's rural reform with focus on the policy framework and changes since the reform of rural tax and fee system in 2000. Next, the paper focuses on food security to discuss grain price increase and China's grain imports, then the current problems facing China's agricultural and rural development are discussed and countermeasures provided.
Findings
The paper finds that several policies have been implemented toward the coordination between urban and rural areas and toward the integration of urban and rural development. However, China's grain production is still facing big challenges, both from the increasing demand and the resource constraint. Therefore, food security should be given priority in future. China's current rural reform and development is also facing the problems such as slow growth of farmer's income, the impacts of migrant rural labourer on economy and society and the outflow of rural resources.
Originality/value
This paper reviews systematically major policies of China's agriculture and rural development, and analyzes the characteristics of and reasons for China's grain price increase. Meanwhile, the constraint of resources, especially land and water, is also studied in detail. The paper's analysis can provide important advice for future policy making.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which Chinese classical virtues act as a restraint on consumerist hedonic values and the associated priority on profit…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which Chinese classical virtues act as a restraint on consumerist hedonic values and the associated priority on profit maximisation by managers.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a literature review and adopts a reflective approach to the topic.
Findings
The paper considers how Chinese classical virtues are related to contemporary relational or indigenous values and how a social tension is created between these values and the hedonic values now present in Chinese urban society. Implications for management and management education are reviewed in the light of this tension.
Practical implications
The social unrest created by the privatisation of SOEs can be mitigated by the promotion of management education sensitised to the cultural norms and expectations of the Chinese people in relation to the role and responsibilities of managers. The Junzi (gentleman‐leader) archetype and the virtues of ren‐yi‐li are offered as exemplary features of a management seeking to balance social responsibility with profitability.
Originality/value
The paper highlights the social turbulence created by the advent of market economics in China and the concomitant rise of consumerism and the privatisation of state‐owned enterprises.
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Jiabao Sun, Ting Yang and Zhiying Xu
The increasing demands for customized services and frequent market variations have posed challenges to managing and controlling the manufacturing processes. Despite the…
Abstract
Purpose
The increasing demands for customized services and frequent market variations have posed challenges to managing and controlling the manufacturing processes. Despite the developments in literature in this area, less consideration has been devoted to the growth of business social networks, cloud computing, industrial Internet of things and intelligent production systems. This study recognizes the primary factors and their implications for intelligent production systems' success. In summary, the role of cloud computing, business social network and the industrial Internet of things on intelligent production systems success has been tested.
Design/methodology/approach
Intelligent production systems are manufacturing systems capable of integrating the abilities of humans, machines and processes to lead the desired manufacturing goals. Therefore, identifying the factors affecting the success of the implementation of these systems is necessary and vital. On the other hand, cloud computing and the industrial Internet of things have been highly investigated and employed in several domains lately. Therefore, the impact of these two factors on the success of implementing intelligent production systems is examined. The study is descriptive, original and survey-based, depending on the nature of the application, its target and the data collection method. Also, the introduced model and the information collected were analyzed using SMART PLS. Validity has been investigated through AVE and divergent validity. The reliability of the study has been checked out through Cronbach alpha and composite reliability obtained at the standard level for the variables. In addition, the hypotheses were measured by the path coefficients and R2, T-Value and GOF.
Findings
The study identified three variables and 19 sub-indicators from the literature associated that impact improved smart production systems. The results showed that the proposed model could describe 69.5% of the intelligence production systems' success variance. The results indicated that business social networks, cloud computing and the industrial Internet of things affect intelligent production systems. They can provide a novel procedure for intelligent comprehensions and connections, on-demand utilization and effective resource sharing.
Research limitations/implications
Study limitations are as below. First, this study ignores the interrelationships among the success of cloud computing, business social networks, Internet of things and smart production systems. Future studies can consider it. Second, we only focused on three variables. Future investigations may focus on other variables subjected to the contexts. Ultimately, there are fewer experimental investigations on the impact of underlying business social networks, cloud computing and the Internet of things on intelligent production systems' success.
Originality/value
The research and analysis outcomes are considered from various perspectives on the capacity of the new elements of Industry 4.0 for the manufacturing sector. It proposes a model for the integration of these elements. Also, original and appropriate guidelines are given for intelligent production systems investigators and professionals' designers in industry domains.
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College students' employment is a significant problem in the process of China's economic development. Owing to the comprehensive effect, entrepreneurship has become the important…
Abstract
Purpose
College students' employment is a significant problem in the process of China's economic development. Owing to the comprehensive effect, entrepreneurship has become the important way to solve the problem of university students' employment. The purpose of this paper is to analyze systematically the main difficulties of university students' entrepreneurship in China and present corresponding policy recommendations.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper takes the conceptual analysis approach. Referring to the Nyawali and Fogel model of 1994, the paper constructs the key‐determinant model of China's university students' entrepreneurship and analyzes and explains the situation by adopting existing statistics and survey data about China's university students' entrepreneurship.
Findings
After the global financial crisis, encouraging university graduates' entrepreneurship to create more employment opportunities has become the key strategy to deal with employment problems for China's government. This paper finds that, although the university students have some advantages, there are still several difficulties for university graduates' entrepreneurship. Effective countermeasures must be taken to strengthen the entrepreneurship capacity by enhancing entrepreneurship education, increasing entrepreneurship opportunities by improving the entrepreneurship environment and raising the entrepreneurship desire by perfecting financing system and then encouraging university graduates to start up businesses actively, so that more college students could become entrepreneurs.
Originality/value
This paper systematically constructs the key‐determinant model of China's university students' entrepreneurship. The policy recommendations for college students' entrepreneurship presented in this paper might be referred to by government to make decisions to improve university students' entrepreneurship support policy and enhance university students' entrepreneurship ability.
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The chapter attempts to evaluate the utility of applying multi-level governance outside of the EU, and also outside of the group of democratic states, to states that have defied…
Abstract
Purpose
The chapter attempts to evaluate the utility of applying multi-level governance outside of the EU, and also outside of the group of democratic states, to states that have defied the third wave of democratization and that are characterized by a so-called new authoritarianism. The case is the People’s Republic of China, and the focus falls on policy-making and implementation in the field of hydropower with special attention to the issue area of environmental protection.
Methodology/approach
The chapter draws on the notion of scales and indigenous Chinese governance concepts and brings these into a conversation with the concept of multi-level governance. Case studies on hydropower decision-making in China contribute empirical data in order to investigate the utility of multi-level governance in the Chinese governance context.
Findings
The chapter argues that if multi-level governance is to have utility in other cultural contexts it needs to move away from a consideration of pre-given scales as locus of authority and consider indigenous governance concepts and notions of scale, and it crucially needs to map power relationships in the making and implementation of policies in order to reach analytical depth.
Research implications
The case of China shows that authoritarian regimes can be analysed in terms of multiple levels as authoritarianism no longer automatically implies strict top-down entities. Instead, autocracies can be highly fragmented and subject to complex decision-making processes that can arise during processes of administrative reform. This can lead to vibrant and reflexive systems of governance that exhibit adaptive skills necessary to ensure regime survival amidst a continuously diversifying society and changing external circumstances. As a consequence, a research programme looking at the new authoritarianism from a multi-level governance perspective has the capacity to uncover and describe new forms of governance, by bringing the concept into a conversation with indigenous governance concepts.
Practical implications
In China, informal networks between the energy bureaucracy and hydropower developers determine the hydropower decision-making process. This is particularly detrimental at a time when the Chinese government emphasizes the importance of the rule of law and social stability. Informal networks in which key government agencies are involved actively thwart the attempt of creating reliable institutions and more transparent and accountable processes of decision-making within the authoritarian governance framework.
Social implications
The findings show the dominance of informal networks versus the formal decision-making process. This sidelines the environmental bureaucracy and fails to fully realize the importance of public input into the decision-making process as one potential element of institutionalized conflict resolution.
Originality/value
The chapter builds on existing multi-level governance approaches and fuses them with notions of scales and indigenous Chinese governance concepts in order to enable the applicability of the concept of multi-level governance outside of its area of origin. This advances the explanatory depth and theoretical reach of multi-level governance.
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Ai Yue, Bin Tang, Yaojiang Shi, Jingjing Tang, Guanminjia Shang, Alexis Medina and Scott Rozelle
The purpose of this paper is to describe the policy and trends in rural education in China over the past 40 years; and also discuss a number of challenges that are faced by…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the policy and trends in rural education in China over the past 40 years; and also discuss a number of challenges that are faced by China’s rural school system.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use secondary data on policies and trends over the past 40 years for preschool, primary/junior high school, and high school.
Findings
The trends over the past 40 years in all areas of rural schooling have been continually upward and strong. While only a low share of rural children attended preschool in the 1980s, by 2014 more than 90 percent of rural children were attending. The biggest achievement in compulsory education is that the rise in the number of primary students that finish grade 6 and matriculate to junior high school. There also was a steep rise of those going to and completing high school. While the successes in upscaling rural education are absolutely unprecedented, there are still challenges.
Research limitations/implications
This is descriptive analysis and there is not causal link established between policies and rural schooling outcomes.
Practical implications
The authors illustrate one of the most rapid rises of rural education in history and match the achievements up with the policy efforts of the government. The authors also explore policy priorities that will be needed in the coming years to raise the quality of schooling.
Originality/value
This is the first paper that documents both the policies and the empirical trends of the success that China has created in building rural education from preschool to high school during the first 40 years of reform (1978-2018). The paper also documents – drawing on the literature and the own research – the achievements and challenges that China still face in the coming years, including issues of gender, urbanization, early childhood education and health and nutrition of students.
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Rajah Rasiah, Peter Gammeltoft and Yang Jiang
The purpose of this paper is to examine the drivers of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from the emerging economies and if there exists a positive role for home…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the drivers of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from the emerging economies and if there exists a positive role for home governments to coordinate them. The backdrop is the recent increases in OFDI from emerging economies and the emergence of several emerging economy firms, which have caught up to become global leaders in several industries. The paper focuses particularly on experiences from Asian economies.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper applies a multi method approach and relies on literature studies, investment statistics, government reports, press reports, company reports, and interviews with public officials.
Findings
Extending the motive‐based business theory, the paper first establishes the pronouncement of a third wave of OFDI from the mid‐1990s. Whereas the typical motives have remained important, the technology‐seeking motive has become significantly more important during the third wave. Typical policy prescriptions to liberalize government regulations have been called into question. Many home emerging country governments have acted to coordinate their activities by regulating proactively investment outflows. The evidence also shows that the successful investment outflows have benefited significantly from home governments addressing the characteristics and motives of target industries and locations abroad.
Practical implications
The analysis shows that contrary to mainstream prescriptions many home governments have successfully regulated strongly OFDI from the emerging economies. However, it is important for home governments to consider the broader interest of promoting capital flows to ensure the long‐term development of economies rather than narrow national interests. Home and host governments should seek to establish common and specific collaboration platforms to raise information flows and coordinate better the negotiations and execution of investment projects.
Originality/value
The paper provides a more thorough analysis of the implications for home country policies of the increasing outward investment flows from emerging economies and the increasing competitiveness and capabilities of their transnational firms. It proposes augmentations to prior frameworks of drivers and motives of OFDI and pushes deeper the home policy implications of increasing outward investment flows.
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Keywords
Leadership politics in China.