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The purpose of this paper is to present an adaptive numerical algorithm for forward kinematics analysis of general Stewart platform.

Unlike the convention of developing a set of kinematic equations and then solving them, an alternative numerical algorithm is proposed in which the principal components of link lengths are used as a bridge to analyze the forward kinematics of a Stewart platform. The values of link lengths are firstly transformed to the values of principal components through principal component analysis. Then, the computation of the values of positional variables is transformed to a two‐dimensional nonlinear minimization problem by using the relationships between principal components and positional variables. A hybrid Nelder Mead‐particle swarm optimizer (NM‐PSO) algorithm and a modified NM algorithm are used to solve the two‐dimensional nonlinear minimization problem.

Simulation experiments have been conducted to validate the numerical algorithm and experimental results show that the numerical algorithm is valid and can achieve good accuracy and high efficiency.

This paper proposes an adaptive numerical algorithm for forward kinematics analysis of general Stewart platform.

This paper aims to first, identify the external and internal factors that a company needs to analyze when formulating its digital platform strategy. Based on the framework of PESTNPG (political economic social and culture technological population and globalization) and internal analysis a company should analyze both internal and external factors to formulate its digital platform strategy. For companies from emerging markets the institutional-based market created by national or local governments is important for digital platform strategy. Second dynamic capability theory and its linkages to digital platform strategy. The dynamic capabilities view is considered as a primary theoretical lens in the strategy literature to analyze a company’s strategies to achieve sustainable competitive advantages. To carry out a successful digital platform strategy companies need to build strong dynamic capabilities to capture or create opportunities and reconfigure their resources simultaneously. Third the advantages and disadvantages of different digital platform strategies (i.e. an independent digital platform and online–offline integration platform) and the possible consequences and risks of different strategies. It is important to evaluate different types of digital platform strategies that require different capabilities in terms of business structure product structure revenue structure organizational structure and technology architecture. A company needs to link these capabilities to a digital platform strategy to enable the integration (or separation) of online business with offline business. It also increases the accuracy and efficiency of online business. Fourth key points of digital platform strategy implementation. Companies need to identify key profit models for their digital platform to promote business growth and financial returns. It is equally important to increase customer value by leveraging its digital exhibition platform and to learn to use digital technology to foster organizational dematerialization.

Zhejiang Meorient Commerce & Exhibition Inc. (hereinafter referred to as “Meorient”) was a leading company in the exhibition industry in China. The unexpected outbreak of COVID-19 plunged Meorient into a state of emergency that forced it to fight for survival. Further, China had launched a national strategy of Digital China, which created new market opportunities for Meorient. As a result, Meorient gradually developed and launched its digital exhibition services in 2015. Meorient suffered significant losses in 2020 due to COVID-19 and had to formulate a new strategy based on a digital exhibition platform in 2021. Chairman Pan Jianjun had two options. One was a purely digital platform strategy without the original offline exhibition business. The other one was an online and offline integration strategy. Which option was the best way forward for Meorient? Pan had to make a choice. Some of the top management team members believed Meorient should completely transform into a digital platform company and provide comprehensive online digital exhibition services. Over the previous 20 years, Meorient had accumulated a large amount of data from domestic and foreign exhibitors and professional buyers and had gradually developed a digital exhibition platform. It was one of the companies that pioneered digital transformation within China’s exhibition industry. More conservative thinking held that Meorient's strategy should focus more narrowly on the integration of online and offline exhibition businesses. Toward the post-pandemic era, China’s national strategy of “Digital China” accelerated the development of digital infrastructures. During such critical transitional period, Meorient had to choose wisely if it was to sustain its profits or even survive.

The case is aimed at students in undergraduate, MBA, short course executive, EMBA or other executive education programs, especially where digital transformation is featured subject matter.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy

Previous studies have illustrated that relational embeddedness is an important factor in alliance governance, but the homogeneity of it turned out to be an obstacle in the path of alliance governance research. In light of this theoretical gap, the purpose of this study is to answering the following questions: Is relational embeddedness homogeneous? How does dual relational embeddedness and inter-firm trust influence alliance governance (especially the equity governance)?

Based on the perspective of transaction cost economics, there is traditional “transaction characteristics-prevention cost-alliance governance” framework from Williamson. In this study, we firstly introduce relational embeddedness and inter-firm trust into new model as moderating variable which based on the primary hypotheses in traditional framework; secondly, from the social network view, we analysis the dual nature of relational embeddedness and inter-firm trust. Thirdly, the authors refine the above moderating effect from different type of relational embeddedness and inter-firm trust. The authors conduct empirical analyses based on survey data of 328 Chinese manufacturing enterprises, and multiple regression analyses were used to test the above mentioned moderating effect.

The results show: ERE (economic relational embeddedness) and SRE (social relational embeddedness), respectively, lead to deterrence-based trust and knowledge-based trust. The ERE and deterrence-based trust strengthen the tendency towards hierarchical equity cooperation, while SRE and knowledge-based trust weaken the likelihood of equity cooperation choices being made.

This study has made some encouraging progress, but there are still some problems and elements worthy of further study. First, from the view of independent variables, the authors did not include any transaction characteristics (such as asset co-specificity) in our integrated model. Secondly, and most importantly, the authors found some variables outside the analysis framework (such as whether involving R&D or core technology). After interaction with these variables, it is possible that the moderating role of relational embeddedness and trust, and especially the effects of SRE and KBT on equity cooperative governance, may be reversed.

Inter-firm cooperation is an important and special organization, which can joint interdependent resources to create value. This paper provides suggestions to Chinese enterprises which could help them realize the duality of relationship character and how to properly implement alliance governance. It helps enterprises to realize that relational embeddedness is not homogeneous and clarify the relationship between inter-firm trust and alliance governance. This research indicates the firm manager that effective alliance governance comes from appropriate relational embeddedness and inter-firm trust.

Overall, three contributions emerge: first, the authors construct a relational embeddedness and classical framework that overcomes the traditional deficiencies of being static and one-sided. Secondly, the forward research of dual embeddedness and trust improves the relational embeddedness theory and provides new ideas for subsequent research. Last but not least, the research clearly indicates that ambidextrous relational embeddedness leads to ambidextrous trust, which not only refines the existing research into trust mechanisms, but also clarifies the relationship between trust and alliance governance.

From the atom economy and environmentally friendly point of views, the development of clean and green approaches using ionic liquids (ILs) as recyclable catalysts has attracted increasing attention. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of task-specific ILs content on the one-pot three-component Biginelli reaction.

A series of halogen-free quaternary ammonium ILs functionalized with –SO₃H group were prepared and characterized by ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), ¹³C NMR and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. The ILs were used as catalysts for Biginelli reaction among aromatic aldehydes, urea or thiourea and β-dicarbonyl compounds. Anions and cations of ILs were varied to observe their effects on and contributions to the catalysts. The influencing factors, such as the amount of catalyst, solvent, reaction time and reaction temperature, were investigated.

The effect and contribution of cations of ILs were observed. Results showed that 3-(N, N-dimethylhexadecylammonium) propanesulfonic acid toluene sulfate ([DHPA][Tos]) showed comparable catalytic activity. Good adaptability to the reaction substrate and maximum product yield was observed when [DHPA][Tos] was used as catalyst. It was found that Biginelli reaction catalyzed by 10 mol% [DHPA][Tos] for 3 h under solvent-free conditions at 80 °C gave the best yield of 94%. Post-processing steps were simple, and the catalyst could be reused easily.

This paper demonstrates that ILs containing a long carbon chain and a bulky Tos anion efficiently promoted the reaction, in which the long carbon chains facilitate mass transfer in the reaction system.

Ethical consumption is an integral component for the sustainable development in the world and is especially challenging in the Western consumer society. This research demonstrates that mindfulness, a Buddhism-based notion, is associated with two related and distinctive approaches of ethical consumption: refinement and reduction. It examines the psychological mechanisms underlying the effects of mindfulness on these two approaches of ethical consumption.

Self-report data were collected through an online survey with consumers from western societies (N = 523).

The findings show (1) that the significance of mindfulness on both approaches of ethical consumption and (2) that the contrast between the different mechanisms underlying them. Specifically, the mindfulness–consumption refinement link is fully mediated by connectedness-to-nature whereas the mindfulness–consumption reduction link is fully mediated by connectedness-to-nature and self-control. A series of supplementary studies further confirmed the proposed model.

It demonstrates the multifaceted and complex nature of ethical consumption, which is positively associated with mindfulness but through distinctive psychological mechanisms.

The multifaceted and complex nature of ethical consumption and its underlying drivers need special attention. Mindfulness can be an effective means to boost ethical consumption behavior. Meanwhile, nurturing the sense of connectedness to nature and self-control capability facilitates the path-through of the positive impacts of mindfulness

The findings can be adopted to enhance the effectiveness of mindfulness practice in promoting ethical consumption towards achieving the Sustainable Consumption goal, especially in the West.

The paper makes original contribution by conceptualizing two interrelated and distinctive approaches of ethical consumption and shows how mindfulness promotes both through different mediating pathways. Overall, this study paints a clearer picture how mindfulness relates to ethical consumption.

The purpose of this paper is to develop parallel algorithms for moving boundary simulations by local remeshing and compose them to a fully parallel simulation cycle for the solution of problems with engineering interests.

The moving boundary problems are solved by unsteady flow computations coupled with six-degrees-of-freedom equations of rigid body motion. Parallel algorithms are developed for both computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solution and grid deformation steps. Meanwhile, a novel approach is developed for the parallelization of the local remeshing step. It inputs a distributed mesh after deformation, then marks low-quality elements to be deleted on the respective processors. After that, a parallel domain decomposition approach is used to repartition the hole mesh and then to redistribute the resulting sub-meshes onto all available processors. Then remesh individual sub-holes in parallel. Finally, the element redistribution is rebalanced.

If the CFD solver is parallelized while the remaining steps are executed in sequential, the performance bottleneck of such a simulation cycle is observed when the simulation of large-scale problem is executed. The developed parallel simulation cycle, in which all of time-consuming steps have been efficiently parallelized, could overcome these bottlenecks, in terms of both memory consumption and computing efficiency.

A fully parallel approach for moving boundary simulations by local remeshing is developed to solve large-scale problems. In the algorithm level, a novel parallel local remeshing algorithm is present. It repartitions distributed hole elements evenly onto all available processors and ensures the generation of a well-shaped inter-hole boundary always. Therefore, the subsequent remeshing step can fix the inter-hole boundary involves no communications.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate farmers’ intentions to comply with pesticide application standards based on an extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB).

Built on a TPB framework, it was examined how perceived behavioural control (PBC), behavioural goal (BG), behavioural attitude (BA) and subjective norm (SN) influenced farmers’ intention to comply with pesticide application standards. Data of 986 farmers from five major agricultural provinces in China were collected following a stratified random sampling method. Structural equation modelling was employed for hypothesis testing and analysis.

The results showed that PBC, BG, behavioural attitude and SN had positive impacts on farmers’ intention in abiding by the standards. Among them in determining farmers’ intention towards compliance with pesticide application standards, farmers’ PBC was found to be the most influential factor, while SN was the least influential factor.

The results indicated that the traditional TPB constructs had significant correlations with farmers’ intention to comply with pesticide standards, demonstrating the applicability of the TPB in the understanding of farmers’ decision-making in a developing country context. It is suggested that psychological factors should be taken into consideration in studying farmers’ decision-making.

The study examines the relationship between consumers’ ethical sensitivity, corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices and impulse behaviors. Ethical behavior has been a subject of increasing research interest. However, there is an imperious need to inspect ethical decision-making through holistic attention to impulse purchasing.

The study develops a set of hypotheses to understand the relationships. The online survey method was used to collect data, and 420 valid questionnaires, in total, were retrieved. In a two-step process, first, reliability and validity were initially measured. Second, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to test the hypotheses.

The analyses support the social marketing theory (SMT) and the general theory of marketing (GTM) ethics related to business strategy. Moreover, the study examines the mediating role of organizational trust, organizational identification and eco-branding in these relationships. The ethical and CSR practices for stakeholders positively affect organizational identification and trust that mediate the relationship between impulse buying and ethical attempts. Furthermore, from an ethical and climate change perspective, eco-branding positively mediates the relationship between impulse buying and environmental advertising. The moderating role of trust is significant in the relationship between impulse buying behavior (IBB) and repurchase behavior.

A critical factor explaining individuals’ behaviors has never been investigated using a holistic approach to IBB with ethical and CSR practices. The study profoundly contributes to knowledge about consumer ethics, with potential effects for ethical public relations, while also offering new research avenues for future exploration.

The urgency of improving the schools call for a distributed instructional leadership model where teachers are not just recipients of professional development, but also active leaders who are coaches and mentors for their peers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the teacher leadership development system in Shanghai, and identify pathways to constructing actionable models that develop and maximize instructional expertise.

This is a qualitative study. Purposive sampling was conducted to select four teaching-study groups from a frame that included all certified “expert teachers” from a large Shanghai district with about 9,000 teachers. Grounded theory approaches were used to understand “what actually happens in the teachers’ world.” Participative observations (of lesson delivering and collaborative decoding), semi-structured interviews, teachers’ reflective journal entries, and video recording of group work and lessons were the main measures of data collection.

Three key features of expertise infusion were identified: recognizing, differentiating, and labeling teacher expertise at multiple mastery levels; providing expert teachers with support and leadership responsibilities to lead practice-embedded and cross-school peer learning; and creating a roadmap for teachers to chart continuous learning pathways individually and build an enhanced content pedagogical knowledgebase collectively.

Results from this study provide the impetus for further exploration in how Shanghai continuously share and improve good teaching systemically, which could be informative to US schools and districts in their effort of redesigning professional development that maximizes available expertise among teachers and stimulates teacher-led action research for student learning.