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This paper aims to quantify atmospheric corrosion by image analyses. The corrosion extent, form and distribution of corrosion product on Q235B and T91 steels exposed to a Zhoushan marine atmosphere over one year are characterized by image analysis.

Image analysis of corrosion images were achieved using the gray value, wavelet analysis and fuzzy Kolmogorov–Sinai (K–S) entropy.

As corrosion becomes extensive, the gray value of corrosion images decreases, and the energy value of nine subimages after wavelength decomposition decreases. Fuzzy K–S entropy increases as localized corrosion propagates but decreases as uniform corrosion spreads.

The methods proposed in this work open a new way for fast corrosion evaluation of metallic materials exposed to atmospheric conditions.

The purpose of this paper is to study the positioning points of successful retail enterprises in China, and to try to conclude the general law for selecting the positioning points.

By analyzing the evaluation data of countrywide samples and the impact factors of customer satisfaction, the authors select some successful retail enterprises in China to be the study samples. On the base of that, the performance concerning positioning points of the samples are discussed.

The paper reaches five valuable conclusions: first, successful retail enterprises have definite positioning points; second, successful retail enterprises commonly have a main positioning point and a second best positioning point; third, successful retail enterprises could choose commodity, service, price or shopping environment as their positioning point; fourth, retail enterprises in the same retail format could have different positioning points; fifth, the non‐positioning points of successful retail enterprises are usually above the industry average level, while those of retail enterprises in successful tendency could hardly reach the industry average level.

The limitation of samples (only large‐scale supermarkets) might still make the practical applications on other retail formats limited. Meanwhile, the criteria for identifying the successful enterprises in this paper are mainly customer satisfaction and loyalty, without considering the financial performance.

The conclusions in this paper have great significance for Chinese retail enterprises to establish a unique competitive advantage.

The conclusion concerning positioning points of this paper might be the first to answer the key issues in Chinese retail enterprises' positioning strategies.

Plantar force is the interface pressure existing between the foot plantar surface and the shoe sole during static or dynamic gait. Plantar force derived from gait and posture plays a critical role for rehabilitation, footwear design, clinical diagnostics and sports activities, and so on. This paper aims to review plantar force measurement technologies based on piezoelectric materials, which can make the reader understand preliminary works systematically and provide convenience for researchers to further study.

The review introduces working principle of piezoelectric sensor, structures and hardware design of plantar force measurement systems based on piezoelectric materials. The structures of sensors in plantar force measurement systems can be divided into four kinds, including monolayered sensor, multilayered sensor, tri-axial sensor and other sensor. The previous studies about plantar force measurement system based on piezoelectric technology are reviewed in detail, and their characteristics and performances are compared.

A good deal of measurement technologies have been studied by researchers to detect and analyze the plantar force. Among these measurement technologies, taking advantage of easy fabrication and high sensitivity, piezoelectric sensor is an ideal candidate sensing element. However, the number and arrangement of the sensors will influence the characteristics and performances of plantar force measurement systems. Therefore, it is necessary to further study plantar force measurement system for better performances.

So far, many plantar force measurement systems have been proposed, and several reviews already introduced plantar force measurement systems in the aspect of types of pressure sensors, experimental setups for foot pressure measurement analysis and the technologies used in plantar shear stress measurements. However, this paper reviews plantar force measurement systems based on piezoelectric materials. The structures of piezoelectric sensors in the measurement systems are discussed. Hardware design applied to measurement system is summarized. Moreover, the main point of further study is presented in this paper.

This paper aims to improve the kinematic modeling accuracy of a spatial three-degrees-of-freedom compliant micro-motion parallel mechanism by proposing a modified modeling method based on the structural matrix method (SMM).

This paper analyzes the problem that the torsional compliance equation of the circular notched hinge is no longer applicable because it is subject to bilateral restrained torsion. The torsional compliance equation is modified by introducing the relative length coefficient. The input coupling effect, which is often neglected, is considered in kinematic modeling. The symbolic expression of the input coupling matrix is obtained. Theory, simulation and experimentation are presented to show the validity of the proposed kinematic model.

The results show that the proposed kinematics model can improve the modeling accuracy by comparing the theoretical, finite element method (FEM) and experimental method.

This work provides a feasible scheme for CMPM kinematics modeling. It can be better applied to the optimization design based on the kinematic model in the future.

This paper aims to describe librarians’ efforts in reaching out to international students through vernacular language videos at both the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Oregon. The videos were created to help international students familiarize themselves with the new library environment and to stimulate their interest in the future exploration of library resources and services.

This paper discusses the challenges of providing effective support to international students in the early stages of their academic life in the USA, explains the rationale for using vernacular language videos as a means of outreach to international students, outlines the factors considered in designing the videos that helped achieve the outreach goals and reviews promotion needs and assessment methods for evaluating the effectiveness of the videos.

Using online videos in native languages as a means to extend the reach of the libraries to international students is seen as useful and practical. Feedback from students and library colleagues shows positive reaction to the videos and provides encouragement for further outreach efforts to international students.

The strategies and experiences detailed here are easily adaptable to other institutions of higher education committed to developing outreach programs for international students.

The novelty of this case study is the librarians’ sophisticated thinking in developing vernacular language videos as a means of outreach to international students. The video project presented in the paper can function as an inspiring example for institutions preparing for the expected large influx of international students.

The purpose of this paper is to deal with the practical challenge faced by modern logistics enterprises to accurately evaluate driving performance with high computational efficiency under the disturbance of road smoothness and to identify significantly associated performance influence factors.

The authors cooperate with a logistics server (G7) and establish a driving grading system by constructing real-time inertial navigation data-enabled indicators for both driving behaviour (times of aggressive speed change and times of lane change) and road smoothness (average speed and average vibration times of the vehicle body).

The developed driving grading system demonstrates highly accurate evaluations in practical use. Data analytics on the constructed indicators prove the significances of both driving behaviour heterogeneity and the road smoothness effect on objective driving grading. The methodologies are validated with real-life tests on different types of vehicles, and are confirmed to be quite effective in practical tests with 95% accuracy according to prior benchmarks. Data analytics based on the grading system validate the hypotheses of the driving fatigue effect, daily traffic periods impact and transition effect. In addition, the authors empirically distinguish the impact strength of external factors (driving time, rainfall and humidity, wind speed, and air quality) on driving performance.

This study has good potential for providing objective driving grading as required by the modern logistics industry to improve transparent management efficiency with real-time vehicle data.

This study contributes to the existing research by comprehensively measuring both road smoothness and driving performance in the driving grading system in the modern logistics industry.

Build-operate-transfer (BOT) contracts are widely used in the construction and operation of charging piles for new energy vehicles worldwide and stipulate that governments grant charging pile operators franchises for a certain period of time to invest in the construction and operation of the charging piles. The charging piles are then transferred to governments when the concession expires. To encourage charging pile operators to build and operate charging piles, governments usually provide two kinds of subsidies, namely construction and operating subsidies.

The authors establish a typical game model to study the optimal BOT contract between a government and a charging pile operator and their preferences for the two kinds of subsidies.

First, the authors show that there are substitution and complementarity effects between the concession period and the subsidy level. Second, the operator prefers the construction subsidy (operating subsidy) when the additional operating cost is low (high). The government prefers the operating subsidy (construction subsidy) when consumer sensitivity to the number of charging piles is low (high) and the concession period is short or long (moderate). Finally, the adjusted joint subsidy can not only improve social welfare but also that the charging pile operator can obtain the same profit as under the operating subsidy at a lower subsidy amount.

This work develops the first analytical model to study two subsidies in the construction and operation of charging piles and investigate the optimal BOT contract and subsidy preferences. The insights are compelling not only for the charging pile operator but also for policymakers in practice from a circular economy perspective.

Unlike traditional industries, the e-cigarette is an epoch-making innovative product originating in China and occupying an absolute competitive advantage in the international market. The traditional A-U model describes the laws and characteristics of technological innovation in developed countries. In contrast, the inverse A-U model depicts the process of “secondary innovation” in late-developing countries through digestion and absorption. This paper aims to find out that if the e-cigarette, as a “first innovation” industry in a late-developing country, conform to the A-U model or conform to the “inverse A-U model”.

This paper takes the patent data of e-cigarettes from 2004 to 2021 as the research object, and uses Python’s Jieba segment words to divide product innovation and process innovation, and then uses statistical analysis methods to conduct empirical analyses on these data.

Thus, an improved A-U model suitable for the e-cigarette industry is proposed. In this model, product innovation in the e-cigarette industry appeared earlier than process innovation, but the synchronous development of product and process innovation is not lagging. The improved A-U model in the e-cigarette industry is not only different from the traditional A-U model but also does not conform to the inverse A-U model.

It is conducive to expanding and clarifying the theoretical contribution and applicable boundaries of the A-U model and has sparked thinking and exploration of the A-U model in e-cigarettes and emerging industries.

On this basis, suggestions on the development path and countermeasures of the e-cigarette industry are put forward.

Based on the e-cigarette industry, this paper takes patents as the research object and provides the method of dividing product innovation and process innovation, and proposes an A-U model suitable for the e-cigarette industry on this basis. By comparing the traditional A-U model with the inverse A-U model in latecomer countries, the background and causes of e-cigarette A-U model heterogeneity are analyzed from different stages and overall morphology. Based on this, the heterogeneity characteristics of e-cigarette innovation are summarized and sorted out.

This study aims to examine the effects of system and information characteristics in developing users' perceptions towards ubiquitous decision support systems (UDSS).

The research model is empirically examined with survey data from 218 mobile users who have adopted a UDSS, i.e. mobile Dianping.com. A structural equation modelling approach is employed to assess the hypotheses.

The findings demonstrate that system characteristics of wireless networks, mobile devices and mobile applications significantly predicted system quality, which in turn determined system usefulness. Localisation, immediacy and customisation of mobile word‐of‐mouth were the major predictors of information quality, which in turn determined information usefulness.

This study contributes to our current understanding of ubiquitous commerce, especially mobile word‐of‐mouth, by presenting an integrated research framework, identifying system and information characteristics that are specific to the ubiquitous era, extending system quality and system usefulness from a single system to a combination of systems, and empirically examining the crossover effects between system and information factors.