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The purpose of this paper is to establish common metrics for web-based mapping applications to facilitate user decision making and enhance information providers’ product design.

The metrics were developed from a combination of literature review and case studies. From the literature review, the authors identified three major areas of assessment for web-based mapping applications. The authors then studied six online applications to refine the metrics.

The results suggest that web-based mapping applications can be evaluated from three major aspects: data content, geographic information systems (GIS) functionality and usability. The authors have developed detailed measures for each factor through the evaluation of the six applications.

The metrics developed from this study could be used as a standard for online spatial information users to choose appropriate products according to their needs. It can also provide valuable information for data providers to improve their products.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that has systematically examined web-based mapping applications in academic libraries. Results from this study could be a valuable tool for librarians as well as general information users without background of GIS and usability to evaluate online mapping resources.

We explore the driving forces behind the channel choices of the manufacturer and the platform by considering asymmetric selling cost and demand information.

This paper develops game-theoretical models to study different channel strategies for an E-commerce supply chain, in which a manufacturer distributes products through a platform that may operate in either the marketplace channel or the reseller channel.

Three primary models are built and analyzed. The comparison results show that the platform would share demand information in the reseller channel only if the service cost performance is relatively high. Besides, with an increasing selling cost, the equilibrium channel might shift from the marketplace to the reseller. With increasing information accuracy, the manufacturer tends to select the marketplace channel, while the platform tends to select the reseller channel if the service cost performance is low and tends to select the marketplace channel otherwise.

All these results have been numerically verified in the experiments. At last, we also resort to numerical study and find that as the service cost performance increases, the equilibrium channel may shift from the reseller channel to the marketplace channel. These results provide managerial guidance to online platforms and manufacturers regarding strategic decisions on channel management.

Although prior research has paid extensive attention to the driving forces behind the online channel choice between marketplace and reseller, there is at present few study considering the case where a manufacturer selling through an online platform faces a demand information disadvantage in the reseller channel and sales inefficiency in the marketplace channel. To fill this research gap, our work illustrates the interaction between demand information asymmetry and selling cost asymmetry to identify the equilibrium channel strategy and provides useful managerial guidelines for both online platforms and manufacturers.

This study aims to answer two questions: (a) what obstacles and opportunities do Chinese female entrepreneurs face when doing business? And (b) how do they negotiate their entrepreneurial careers and gender identities in different gender-segregated markets?

This study uses qualitative research methods of participant observation and in-depth interviews with 41 female entrepreneurs in China and the theoretical lenses of gender role theory and doing gender in entrepreneurship.

The study findings reveal that Chinese female entrepreneurs face different obstacles and opportunities in gender-segregated industries. Their experiences vary in industries that are mainly occupied by males and females. On the one hand, women in female-dominated industries may be supported by a feminine working environment that is coherent with their domestic roles. However, they may also be questioned on the cultural impurity implied in some industries, which harms their class-based feminine virtue. On the other hand, women in male-dominated industries may be challenged and marginalized due to their gender. However, some find ways to turn the disadvantaged feminine characters into favourable conditions and break out of the stereotypical gender constraints in doing business.

This study contributes to the literature on gender and entrepreneurship in general. More specifically, it contributes to the study of doing gender in gender-segregated markets, and it also illustrates women’s gendered opportunities and constraints in Chinese society that are affected by the long-lasting traditional gender norms.

The purpose of this paper is to explore a new approach to solve the problem of positive and negative offset in the calculation process of integral elements, then propose a series of new grey relational degree model for cross sequences.

The definitions of cross sequences and area elements have been proposed at first. Then the concept of difference degree between sequences has been put forward. Based on the definition of difference degree between sequences, various modified grey relational degree models for cross sequences have been proposed to solve the measurement problem of cross sequence correlation relationships.

(1) The new definition of cross sequences; (2) The area element; (3) Various modified grey relational degree models for cross sequences based on the definition of difference degree between sequences.

The grey relational analysis model of cross sequences is a difficult problem in grey relational analysis. The new model proposed in this article can effectively avoid the calculation deviation of grey relational analysis model for cross sequences, and reasonably measure the correlation between cross sequences. The new model was used to analyse the food consumer price index in Shaanxi Province, clarifying the relationship between different types of food consumer price indices, some interesting results that are not completely consistent with general economic theory were obtained.

The new definition of cross sequences, the area element and various modified grey relational degree models for cross sequences were proposed.

This paper aims to study the influence of thermal effect on the performance for a high-speed conical hybrid bearing including stability and minimum oil film thickness.

A thermal hydrodynamic (THD) model and dynamic model of single mass rigid rotor system were established by taking conical hybrid bearing with shallow and deep pockets as the research object, dynamic coefficient and stability parameters of bearing-rotor system were obtained by using finite element method (FEM) and finite difference method (FDM) to solve computational models of Reynolds equation, energy equation and viscosity-temperature equation. Minimum oil film thickness was obtained based on bearing force balance. Dynamic coefficient was compared with previous findings.

After considering thermal effect, the dimensionless critical mass decreases, a significant decrease in the instability speed, and the stability of the system decreases greatly; the minimum oil film thickness decreases because of thermal effect.

The thermal effect is combined with dynamic characteristics to analyze stability of the rotor system for a conical hybrid bearing. Influence of thermal effect on minimum oil film thickness is studied.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-12-2019-0542/

This paper seeks to answer two questions: (1) where do a country's entrepreneurship policies come from? (2) How do they evolve and shape entrepreneurial activities?

Drawing upon the comparative political economy literature and the institutional perspective, this paper proposes a theoretical model of the origin and evolution of entrepreneurship policies. We use China as a case study to apply the theoretical model and demonstrate the evolution of entrepreneurship policies in three stages during the period 1978 to 2012.

The case analysis of China provides evidence and support for our theoretical model and unpacks the process by which entrepreneurship policies originate and evolve as the result of the interplay among constantly changing policymaking, production, and knowledge regimes.

Because of the research context, findings may lack generalisability. Additional studies on policymaking and production regimes of different kinds and their respective roles in shaping entrepreneurship policies are encouraged to further advance this line of research.

This paper offers important implications concerning entrepreneurship policy and activities for policymakers, practitioners and other stakeholders in emerging economies.

Our study fills a gap in the entrepreneurship literature by expanding scholarly understanding of the origin and evolution of entrepreneurship policies.