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1 – 10 of 17Zhimin Hou, Markus Philipp, Kuangen Zhang, Yong Guan, Ken Chen and Jing Xu
This paper aims to present an optimization algorithm combined with the impedance control strategy to optimize the robotic dual peg-in-hole assembly task, and to reduce the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present an optimization algorithm combined with the impedance control strategy to optimize the robotic dual peg-in-hole assembly task, and to reduce the assembly time and smooth the contact forces during assembly process with a small number of experiments.
Design/methodology/approach
Support vector regression is used to predict the fitness of genes in evolutionary algorithm, which can reduce the number of real-world experiments. The control parameters of the impedance control strategy are defined as genes, and the assembly time is defined as the fitness of genes to evaluate the performance of the selected parameters.
Findings
The learning-based evolutionary algorithm is proposed to optimize the dual peg-in-hole assembly process only requiring little prior knowledge instead of modeling for the complex contact states. A virtual simulation and real-world experiments are implemented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Practical implications
The proposed algorithm is quite useful for the real-world industrial applications, especially the scenarios only allowing a small number of trials.
Originality/value
The paper provides a new solution for applying optimization techniques in real-world tasks. The learning component can solve the data efficiency of the model-free optimization algorithms.
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Philipp Pohlenz, Annika Felix, Sarah Berndt and Markus Seyfried
This paper aims to investigate student subgroups’ responses to the coercive digitalisation of teaching and learning processes during the pandemic. Respective variance is discussed…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate student subgroups’ responses to the coercive digitalisation of teaching and learning processes during the pandemic. Respective variance is discussed in terms of digital inequality and is interpreted as a need to individualise teaching and learning and quality assurance practices.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses data from surveys (N = 955) on student perceptions of the introduction of emergency digitalisation – an important aspect of higher education. The authors perform latent class analyses to identify student subgroups. The students were asked to rate digital learning processes and their overall learning experiences.
Findings
The identified student subgroups are proponents, pragmatics and sceptics of digitalised teaching and learning processes. These subgroups have different preferences with regard to teaching and learning modes of delivery, which implies the relevance of individualised educational services and respective quality assurance practices to reflections on improvement needs.
Research limitations/implications
The data are from a single, typical German university; therefore, the scope of the results may be limited. However, this study enriches future research on the traits of student subgroups and students’ coping strategies in an ever-changing learning environment.
Practical implications
The findings may help individualise universities’ counselling services to enhance overall teaching performance and quality assurance practices in a digitalised environment.
Originality/value
The findings provide insights into students’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on teaching and learning. This paper enriches the research on student heterogeneity and relates this to development needs of quality assurance practice.
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Philipp G. Grützmacher, Andreas Rosenkranz, Adam Szurdak, Markus Grüber, Carsten Gachot, Gerhard Hirt and Frank Mücklich
The paper aims to investigate the possibilities to control friction in lubricated systems by surface patterning, making use of a multi-scale approach. Surface patterns inside the…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to investigate the possibilities to control friction in lubricated systems by surface patterning, making use of a multi-scale approach. Surface patterns inside the tribological contact zone tend to directly reduce friction, whereas surface patterns located in the close proximity of the contact area can improve the tribological performance by avoiding lubricant starvation and migration. Finally, optimized surface patterns were identified by preliminary laboratory tests and transferred to a journal bearing, thus testing them under more realistic conditions.
Design/methodology/approach
Surface patterns on a large scale (depth > 10 µm) were fabricated by micro- and roller-coining, whereas surface patterns on a small scale (depth < 2 µm) were produced by direct laser interference patterning. The combination of both techniques resulted in multi-scale surface patterns. Tribologically beneficial surface patterns (verified in ball-on-disk laboratory tests) were transferred onto a journal bearing’s shaft and tested on a special test-rig. To characterize the lubricant spreading behavior, a new test-rig was designed, which allowed for the study of the lubricant’s motion on patterned surfaces under the influence of a precisely controlled temperature gradient.
Findings
All tested patterns accounted for a pronounced friction reduction and/or an increase in oil film lifetime. The results from the preliminary laboratory tests matched well, with results from the journal bearing test-rig, both tests showing a maximum friction reduction by a factor of 3-4. Numerical investigations, as well as experiments, have shown the possibility to actively guide lubricant over patterned surfaces. Smaller periodicities, as well as greater structural depths and widths, led to a more pronounced anisotropic spreading and/or greater spreading velocities. Multi-scale surfaces demonstrated the strongest effects regarding the lubricant’s spreading behavior.
Originality/value
Friction, as well as lubricant migration, can be successfully controlled by using micro-coined, laser-patterned and/or multi-scale surfaces. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study demonstrates for the first time the unique possibility to transfer results obtained in laboratory tests to a real machine component.
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The COVID19 crisis has thrown wide open the debate on Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union’s (EMU) future. Next Generation EU (NGEU) has broken the stalemate over a central fiscal…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID19 crisis has thrown wide open the debate on Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union’s (EMU) future. Next Generation EU (NGEU) has broken the stalemate over a central fiscal capacity. The open question is whether NGEU is a one-off or a first step. The suspension of the Stability and Growth Pact has given new urgency to the debate on reforming EMU’s fiscal rules.
Design/methodology/approach
There is no debate as yet about how these two prospects relate to each other. This paper argues that a permanent fiscal capacity and revised rules should be seen as alternatives.
Findings
This study makes two claims: first, a fiscal capacity renders a reformed pact unnecessary and second, that is an optimal solution politically. A fiscal capacity would provide an efficient asymmetric shock absorber and therefore reduce the need for pre-emptive action against negative cross-border externalities. It would also provide an abundant supply of an EU-wide safe asset around which to structure the EU’s financial system, thus rendering unnecessary the backstopping of member states' debts.
Originality/value
This would restore democratic accountability while eliminating moral hazard and enforcement problems.
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Marian Leimbach, Maryse Labriet, Markus Bonsch, Jan Philipp Dietrich, Amit Kanudia, Ioanna Mouratiadou, Alexander Popp and David Klein
Bioenergy is a key component of climate change mitigation strategies aiming at low stabilization. Its versatility and capacity to generate negative emissions when combined with…
Abstract
Purpose
Bioenergy is a key component of climate change mitigation strategies aiming at low stabilization. Its versatility and capacity to generate negative emissions when combined with carbon capture and storage add degrees of freedom to the timing of emission reductions. This paper aims to explore the robustness of a bioenergy-based mitigation strategy by addressing several dimensions of uncertainty on biomass potential, bioenergy use and induced land use change emissions.
Design/methodology/approach
Different mitigation scenarios were explored by two different energy-economy optimization models coupled to the same land use model, which provides a common basis for the second generation bioenergy dynamics in the two energy-economy models.
Findings
Using bioenergy is found to be a robust mitigation strategy as demonstrated by high biomass shares in primary energy demand in both models and in all mitigation scenarios.
Practical implications
A variety of possible storylines about future uses of biomass exist. The comparison of the technology choices preferred by the applied models helps understand how future emission reductions can be achieved under alternative storylines.
Originality/value
The presented comparison-based assessment goes beyond other comparison studies because both energy-economy models are coupled to the same land use model.
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Guenter Muehlberger, Louise Seaward, Melissa Terras, Sofia Ares Oliveira, Vicente Bosch, Maximilian Bryan, Sebastian Colutto, Hervé Déjean, Markus Diem, Stefan Fiel, Basilis Gatos, Albert Greinoecker, Tobias Grüning, Guenter Hackl, Vili Haukkovaara, Gerhard Heyer, Lauri Hirvonen, Tobias Hodel, Matti Jokinen, Philip Kahle, Mario Kallio, Frederic Kaplan, Florian Kleber, Roger Labahn, Eva Maria Lang, Sören Laube, Gundram Leifert, Georgios Louloudis, Rory McNicholl, Jean-Luc Meunier, Johannes Michael, Elena Mühlbauer, Nathanael Philipp, Ioannis Pratikakis, Joan Puigcerver Pérez, Hannelore Putz, George Retsinas, Verónica Romero, Robert Sablatnig, Joan Andreu Sánchez, Philip Schofield, Giorgos Sfikas, Christian Sieber, Nikolaos Stamatopoulos, Tobias Strauß, Tamara Terbul, Alejandro Héctor Toselli, Berthold Ulreich, Mauricio Villegas, Enrique Vidal, Johanna Walcher, Max Weidemann, Herbert Wurster and Konstantinos Zagoris
An overview of the current use of handwritten text recognition (HTR) on archival manuscript material, as provided by the EU H2020 funded Transkribus platform. It explains HTR…
Abstract
Purpose
An overview of the current use of handwritten text recognition (HTR) on archival manuscript material, as provided by the EU H2020 funded Transkribus platform. It explains HTR, demonstrates Transkribus, gives examples of use cases, highlights the affect HTR may have on scholarship, and evidences this turning point of the advanced use of digitised heritage content. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper adopts a case study approach, using the development and delivery of the one openly available HTR platform for manuscript material.
Findings
Transkribus has demonstrated that HTR is now a useable technology that can be employed in conjunction with mass digitisation to generate accurate transcripts of archival material. Use cases are demonstrated, and a cooperative model is suggested as a way to ensure sustainability and scaling of the platform. However, funding and resourcing issues are identified.
Research limitations/implications
The paper presents results from projects: further user studies could be undertaken involving interviews, surveys, etc.
Practical implications
Only HTR provided via Transkribus is covered: however, this is the only publicly available platform for HTR on individual collections of historical documents at time of writing and it represents the current state-of-the-art in this field.
Social implications
The increased access to information contained within historical texts has the potential to be transformational for both institutions and individuals.
Originality/value
This is the first published overview of how HTR is used by a wide archival studies community, reporting and showcasing current application of handwriting technology in the cultural heritage sector.
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Jan Philipp Graesch, Susanne Hensel-Börner and Jörg Henseler
The enabling technologies that emerged from information technology (IT) have had a considerable influence upon the development of marketing tools, and marketing has become…
Abstract
Purpose
The enabling technologies that emerged from information technology (IT) have had a considerable influence upon the development of marketing tools, and marketing has become digitalized by adopting these technologies over time. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the impacts of these enabling technologies on marketing tools in the past and present and to demonstrate their potential future. Furthermore, it provides guidance about the digital transformation occurring in marketing and the need to align of marketing and IT.
Design/methodology/approach
This study demonstrates the impact of enabling technologies on the subsequent marketing tools developed through a content analysis of information systems and marketing conference proceedings. It offers a fresh look at marketing's digital transformation over the last 40 years. Moreover, it initially applies the findings to a general digital transformation model from another field to verify its presence in marketing.
Findings
This paper identifies four eras within the digital marketing evolution and reveals insights into a potential fifth era. This chronological structure verifies the impact of IT on marketing tools and accordingly the digital transformation within marketing. IT has made digital marketing tools possible in all four digital transformation levers: automation, customer interaction, connectivity and data.
Practical implications
The sequencing of enabling technologies and subsequent marketing tools demonstrates the need to align marketing and IT to design new marketing tools that can be applied to customer interactions and be used to foster marketing control.
Originality/value
This study is the first to apply the digital transformation levers, namely, automation, customer interaction, connectivity and data, to the marketing discipline and contribute new insights by demonstrating the chronological development of digital transformation in marketing.
Details
Keywords
Vala Ali Rohani, Jahan Ara Peerally, Sedigheh Moghavvemi, Flavio Guerreiro and Tiago Pinho
This study illustrates the experience of scholar–practitioner collaboration for data-driven decision-making through the problematic of optimizing facility locations and minimizing…
Abstract
Purpose
This study illustrates the experience of scholar–practitioner collaboration for data-driven decision-making through the problematic of optimizing facility locations and minimizing logistics costs for La Palette Rouge (LPR) of Portugal.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a mixed mixed-method approach involving (1) a quantitative exploratory analysis of big data, which applied analytics and mathematical modeling to optimize LPR's logistics network, and (2) an illustrative case of scholar–practitioner collaboration for data-driven decision-making.
Findings
The quantitative analysis compared more than 20 million possible configurations and proposed the optimal logistics structures. The proposed optimization model minimizes the logistics costs by 22%. Another optimal configuration revealed that LPR can minimize logistics costs by 12% through closing one of its facilities. The illustrative description demonstrates that well-established resource-rich multinational enterprises do not necessarily have the in-house capabilities and competencies to handle and analyze big data.
Practical implications
The mathematical modeling for optimizing logistics networks demonstrates that outcomes are readily actionable for practitioners and can be extended to other country and industry contexts with logistics operations. The case illustrates that synergistic relationships can be created, and the opportunities exist between scholars and practitioners in the field of Logistics 4.0 and that scientific researcher is necessary for solving problems and issues that arise in practice while advancing knowledge.
Originality/value
The study illustrates that several Logistics 4.0 challenges highlighted in the literature can be collectively addressed through scholar–practitioner collaborations. The authors discuss the implications of such collaborations for adopting virtual and augmented reality (AR) technologies and to develop the capabilities for maximizing their benefits in mature low-medium technology industries, such as the food logistics industry.
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This study aimed to test Early and Ang’s (2003) proposition that self-enhancement hinders successful cross-cultural adjustment. The literature on self-enhancement is reviewed, and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to test Early and Ang’s (2003) proposition that self-enhancement hinders successful cross-cultural adjustment. The literature on self-enhancement is reviewed, and the overclaiming technique as an unobtrusive measure of self-enhancement is introduced for use in global mobility contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the overclaiming technique, an international-cultural overclaiming test was developed. Expatriates in Singapore stated their familiarity with international-cultural knowledge items, with some of them being foil items, and rated their cross-cultural (general, interaction, work) adjustment. Supervisors rated the expatriates on their work adjustment and performance.
Findings
Overclaiming was not related to self-rated cross-cultural adjustment. However, overclaiming was negatively related to supervisor rated work adjustment and performance. Additionally, the results showed that international-cultural knowledge accuracy was positively related to self-rated general adjustment and to supervisor rated work adjustment and performance.
Research limitations/implications
The small sample size with a majority of expatriate teachers from international schools in the sample makes it necessary for the results to be replicated with larger and more varied expatriate samples.
Practical implications
While further validation is needed, this research indicates that the overclaiming technique could be a valuable tool for assessing self-enhancement in candidates for expatriate positions in order to gauge potential cross-cultural (mal)adjustment, as perceived by others.
Originality/value
This study was (likely) the first study that has applied the overclaiming technique in a global mobility context. An international-cultural knowledge overclaiming test is provided to academic researchers for future use.
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Luisa Helena Ferreira Pinto, Benjamin Bader and Tassilo Schuster