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This paper aims to find a new method that could be applied to the high and mid-grade prosthesis knee joint.

Based on analysis, calculation, modeling, simulation and experimental study of the motion law of knee joint, this paper not only determines the structure and parameters of the knee joint and calculates the instantaneous center but also analyzes the stance stability and completes the optimization. With the help of experimental tests (fatigue test and gait curve test), the quality and performance of the designed knee joint is verified.

The experimental results show that the gait curve of the designed knee joint is much closer to health people. The designed prosthesis knee joint, with adjustable swing speed and gait curve which are close to health limb, has a better performance when compared to the ordinary knee joint with four-bar linkage structure.

This paper developed a prosthesis knee joint based on a novel design method that could be applied to the “high and mid” grade prosthesis knee joint and verified its function on an amputee performed the lower amputation, which could provide theoretical support for researches and designs related to prosthesis knee joint in future.

Engaging suppliers in joint innovation can be an effective means for buyer firms to overcome internal resource/capability limitations. The purpose of this research is to investigate the impacts of cultural and trust congruences between the supplier and buyer firms on joint innovation. In addition, we examine the relationship commitment as an antecedent of cultural and trust congruences.

The study constructs a theoretical model based on social exchange theory (SET) and examines it using data from Chinese manufacturing firms.

The results suggest that cultural and trust congruences between suppliers and buyers positively influence joint processes and product innovations. Furthermore, we find that while normative relationship commitments of supplier firms promote cultural and trust congruences with buyers, instrumental relationship commitments only positively affect trust congruence.

This study enhances our understanding of social exchanges by adopting a dyadic view to examine the interconnectedness between relationship commitment, cultural and trust congruences, and joint innovation. These findings also offer practical managerial implications for managing collaborative innovation projects.

This paper provides insights into the initiation and early development of collaborative interorganizational relationships (IORs) for innovation and new business creation. Data were gathered from field observations of three ongoing collaborative IORs. A conceptual framework previously developed by Ring and Van de Ven served as a means of restructuring and analyzing the data. The results reveal an emergent process that is dependent on the comparative achievements in negotiation, commitment, and execution. Three organizational practices were identified: volatile agreements, continuous reevaluation and reorganization through real practice, and a process wherein “co‐participants” were challenged to work on their relationships. The limited prospects of specifying agreements ex ante, combined with continuous variation in conditions, entail active management and continuous re‐design of the relationship. This suggests that managers play the role of the architects of relational linkages.

This paper seeks to develop a business model depicting the relationship between harmony, cooperation, and international joint ventures (IJV) performance.

The paper takes the form of a quantitative empirical study with the aim of making a contribution to the knowledge of the effects of harmony and cooperation on IJV performance. An interviewer‐administered questionnaire survey method was used for data collection.

The business model supports the proposed existence that harmony has both direct and indirect effects on IJV performance. While interorganizational harmony directly affects the performance of the company, it promotes cooperation and in turn enhances performance.

Owing to the exploratory nature of this study, the findings are indicative rather than conclusive. Future studies should be conducted to examine the validity and generalizability of this model in other cultural contexts.

This study provides empirical support for the importance of harmony and cooperation in conducting business in China, and it has significant implications for international marketers. When formulating new venture strategies in the greater China market, the model developed in this study can help to gauge the degrees of harmony and cooperation held by IJV partners.

This study demonstrates and validates the importance of harmony and cooperation in business ventures in general and in the Chinese business environment in particular. This study also signals that there are important implications for future research in emerging or transitional economies.

This paper aims to systematically and critically explore the research trend of construction joint ventures (CJVs) in some selected leading construction journals over the past two decades between 1993 and 2012. It is also expected that some valuable insights into the extended application of JVs to facilities service management and maintenance could be generated from the research findings.

A powerful search engine “Scopus” was selected to identify those journals that have published CJV-related articles. The papers related to CJVs, as retrieved from the selected journals, were first classified based on their relevance to CJV study and were then analyzed in terms of the annual number of CJV-related publications, research focus of CJV studies and the applied research methods and techniques. Future research directions are suggested to enrich and add value to the extant literature about CJVs.

An apparent increasing trend of research on CJVs has been witnessed over the past two decades. A critical analysis of the two-decade research outputs indicated that research topics of CJVs published in the selected journals consist of several key areas: theory and model development; motives, benefits and other strategic demands of application; performance measurement or management; risk assessment or management; influential factors for practice; problematic issues and challenges in practice; and managerial practices of CJVs in the industry. This study also identified that the research methods employed in CJV studies are predominantly questionnaire survey, case study, literature review/analysis, and interview. Research techniques applied in CJV studies were classified into seven main groups, with rank-order analysis, structural equation modelling and regression analysis being the three mostly adopted analytical tools.

The critical review of CJV literature reveals several inherent limitations of the existing research and practices of CJVs, The research findings also help visualize future research directions associated with the identification of barriers to the adoption and successful operation of CJVs, investigation of the appropriateness and effectiveness of CJV contracting strategies, and exploration into possible strategies for improving the industrial applications in future.

Joint ventures have been extensively used in the construction sector, which calls for the need of more rigorous and meaningful research to guide the appropriate and effective use of it. The findings of this taxonomic review could provide useful insights towards researchers into shaping their research foci under the umbrella of CJVs to suit the demands of both the literature base and the real construction market.

The purpose of this paper is to present a review about sizing of joints, from the static and fatigue points of view. A discussion about advantages and disadvantages of each joining technology, among the ones mentioned above, will be presented.

Although many other aspects will be discussed, emphasis will be given to the joint fatigue behavior, and fatigue test results will be presented and discussed.

This paper is a subject review, where no new findings are presented. However, the comparison of fatigue test results for mechanically fastened joints and friction stir welding joints will show the advantages of the latter.

With the information presented, the authors expect to provide some guidelines that will help to improve future joint designs.

The review information contained in this paper may be used as reference for aircraft joint design.

In a dynamic environment where underlying competition is “for the market,” this chapter examines what happens when entrants and incumbents can instead negotiate for the market. For instance, this might arise when an entrant innovator can choose to license to or be acquired by an incumbent firm (i.e., engage in cooperative commercialization). It is demonstrated that, depending upon the level of firms’ potential dynamic capabilities, there may or may not be gains to trade between incumbents and entrants in a cumulative innovation environment; that is, entrants may not be adequately compensated for losses in future innovative potential. This stands in contrast to static analyses that overwhelmingly identify positive gains to trade from such cooperation.

The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the need for a more holistic approach to mental health training that brings together the medical and the social knowledge and skills required by today's practitioners.

The paper is based on the authors' experience of developing, delivering and evaluating a joint mental health programme at London South Bank University between 2004 and 2008.

The authors suggest some advantages of the model as indicated by the scant literature, the findings of a small pilot evaluation study and from information recorded and shared by other university providers of joint programmes – the Joint Programmes Forum. Further investigation is recommended.

The absence of systematic evaluation of joint programmes over the 20 years of their existence and the limitations of the evaluation undertaken by the authors is acknowledged.

It is suggested in the paper that a specialist holistic training that incorporates nursing, social work (and in the future possibly occupational therapy and psychology) knowledge and skills would create well‐prepared professionals to work with mental health and learning disability service user groups (and a similar model could equally be explored for older people and people with physical disabilities or long‐term health conditions). This may be considered as a more successful solution to the effective integration of interprofessional education than the current struggles to superimpose it on uni‐professional courses.

Joint ventures in property development can bring considerable benefits to the parties. For example, in a joint venture involving a local authority the authority will be able to play a positive role in urban regeneration while the developer will gain credibility and hopefully obtain a smoother planning process. Examines the strengths and weaknesses of the three classic joint venture arrangements: joint venture companies; partnerships; and “contractual” joint ventures.

In this second and concluding paper on adult care joint ventures, the authors detail the very different approaches to adult care services taken by four case study sites, exploring the local contours and aspirations underlying their decisions. These are not intended as ‘off the shelf’ solutions for wide dissemination, rather to encourage others to engage with the legacy of previous partnership working and specific local contingencies.