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This paper presents a novel hands‐free control system for intelligent wheelchairs (IWs) based on visual recognition of head gestures.

A robust head gesture‐based interface (HGI), is designed for head gesture recognition of the RoboChair user. The recognised gestures are used to generate motion control commands to the low‐level DSP motion controller so that it can control the motion of the RoboChair according to the user's intention. Adaboost face detection algorithm and Camshift object tracking algorithm are combined in our system to achieve accurate face detection, tracking and gesture recognition in real time. It is intended to be used as a human‐friendly interface for elderly and disabled people to operate our intelligent wheelchair using their head gestures rather than their hands.

This is an extremely useful system for the users who have restricted limb movements caused by some diseases such as Parkinson's disease and quadriplegics.

In this paper, a novel integrated approach to real‐time face detection, tracking and gesture recognition is proposed, namely HGI.

It is an useful human‐robot interface for IWs.

The aim of this paper is to address a local separability character partly identified by non‐farm participation behaviors in the context of multiple market imperfections.

The paper develops a model to analyze agricultural household's non‐farm participation based on heterogeneous asset endowments. The model is applied to recent data from Zhouzhi, a mountainous county in rural western China.

The paper shows that human capital, social capital and other capital assets have significant but different effects on the agricultural household's participation in non‐farm activities, and they help to break down non‐farm labor constraints. Nonseparability holds only for those households unable to participate in non‐farm activities due to poor asset endowments.

The agricultural household model developed in this paper and its application in China provide insights into theory and empirical analysis of agricultural households' behavior and rural development.

This study aims to improve disaster management. Social media, particularly microblog, has become a new platform for public opinion dissemination. However, few studies have been conducted to explore the structure of public opinions, the approaches for facilitating the spread of public opinions and the results of public opinion dissemination in the context of mobile internet for the purpose of improving disaster management.

This paper chooses Ebola as the research topic and extracts 14,735 Ebola-related data items from Sina Microblogs to examine the information nodes of public opinion and the characteristics of propagation paths on mobile internet. Particularly, nodes of public opinion between mobile terminals and non-mobile terminals are compared.

The results of this paper reveal the characteristics of public opinion propagation on mobile internet and verify the effectiveness of public opinion propagation on mobile internet. This study shows that public opinions propagate quickly, widely and efficiently and further generate great impacts on mobile internet.

The methods used in this study can be useful for the government agencies and other relevant organizations to monitor public opinions, identify issues and problems proactively and develop strategies in a more efficient manner to improve disaster management.

The results of this paper are helpful for related departments to monitor public opinions and to further improve disaster management.

This paper explores the mechanism of public opinion dissemination on mobile internet and further investigates how to improve disaster management through a case study related to Ebola.

The multidimensional effects of farmland transfer in China have been profoundly unstudied. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights on the effects of the intermediary role of agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) of farmland transfer on agricultural economic growth in China.

Based on the agricultural data of 30 provinces in China over the period 2005–2018, this paper uses the intermediary effect model to test the relationship between farmland transfer, agricultural TFP and agricultural economic growth. This paper employed an intermediary effect test model to investigate the intermediary role of agricultural TFP in the influence of farmland transfer on agricultural economic growth.

The findings indicated that farmland transfer has a significant effect on promoting agricultural economic growth. There is a significant “inverted U-shaped” relationship between farmland transfer and agricultural TFP. The sample value of 84.3% of farmland transfers in China is still within the TFP promoting effect range. In addition, farmland transfer has an indirect impact on agricultural economic growth through the channel of agricultural TFP. Agricultural TFP plays a significant intermediary role, but the effect is relatively low

This paper is the first to provide fundamental evidence on the impact of farmland transfers on agricultural economic growth in China, driven by agricultural TFP as an intermediary factor. Agricultural TFP can reduce the involution effect of farmland transfer and promote an indirect effect on agricultural economic growth.

Given the increasing intensity of highly competitive markets, this study aims to evaluate the effect of salespeople's emotional regulation, adaptive selling and customer-oriented behavior on sales performance.

A research model was tested by using a sample of 288 respondents from the logistics industry in Taiwan. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships between emotional regulation, adaptive selling, job resourcefulness, customer-oriented behavior and sales performance.

The results indicate that emotional regulation, adaptive selling and job resourcefulness can improve customer-oriented behavior, and that customer-oriented behavior and job resourcefulness can enhance sales performance. By highlighting the role of job resourcefulness, the authors find a positive moderating effect among these four dimensions.

The findings can help salespeople integrate customer-oriented behaviors into strategic changes to regulate their own emotions and those of others to productively address and resolve difficult business conditions. The theoretical and managerial implications of this work's contributions to international logistics are also discussed.

The paper aims to propose general design rules and route plan for automated guided vehicle system (AGVS). The AGVS is applied to automated meter verification areas through a case study of meter verification shop floor to verify the feasibility.

The paper gives an appropriate route design for AGVS and proposes an optimized strategy for designed routes and a control system to manage traffic conflict.

This case study indicates that the application of AGVS can highly improve the efficiency of manufacturing and production. Besides, a reasonable transportation plan is beneficial in making the system run smoothly and in cutting conveying time.

The application of AGVS integrates a variety of advanced technologies (i.e. information technology, artificial intelligence, etc.) into the electricity meter verification system, which brings great economic and social benefits via enhancing the verification efficiency and reducing the total labor costs.

The application proposed in the paper solves the problem that the verification almost relies on workers, labor intensity is high and work efficiency is hard to improve. Furthermore, the general rules and strategies of AGVS transportation can be applied not only to the automated electricity meter verification but also in other industrial areas.

The investigations could guide the structural design and fatigue life prediction of air-conditioning compressor valve plates.

The High-Cycle Fatigue (HCF) and Very-High-Cycle Fatigue (VHCF) behaviors of stainless steel used for air-conditioning compressor valve plates were investigated. Monotonic and cyclic loading conditions were designed to explore the fatigue responses according to the load characteristics of the structure.

The crack initiation can be observed as the arc-shaped cracks at both sides of specimens and Y-shaped crack bifurcation in the specimens. Moreover, the middle section and the cracks at both ends are not connected to the surface of the specimen. The stress-life results of the materials under two directions (vertical and horizontal) were provided to examine the difference in fatigue strength.

Monotonic and cyclic loading conditions were designed to explore the fatigue responses according to the load characteristics of the structure. Based on the experimental data, the results indicate that specimens under cyclic loading conditions could demonstrate better mechanical performance than static loadings.

This paper aims to research the effect of different concentrations for Nd(NO₃)₃ and Ce(NO₃)₃ on the microstructures and corrosion resistance of Ni-W-P composite coatings through electroless plating method.

Scanning electron microscope, attached energy dispersive spectroscopy system and X-ray diffraction were used in this work. Meanwhile, the immersion test and electrochemical tests were used to characterize the corrosion behavior of the coating.

The coatings prepared at 1.00 g·L⁻¹ Nd(NO₃)₃ exhibit a dense structure and high phosphorus content (12.38 wt.%). In addition, compared to the addition of Ce(NO₃)₃, when Nd(NO₃)₃ was introduced at a concentration of 1.00 g·L⁻¹, the minimum corrosion rate of the coating was 1.209 g·m⁻²·h⁻¹, with a noble E_corr (−0.29 V) and lower I_corr (8.29 × 10⁻⁴ A·cm⁻²).

The effects of rare earths on the deposition and corrosion resistance mechanisms of Ni-W-P composite coatings were explored, with the rare earth elements promoting the deposition of nickel and tungsten atoms. Simultaneously, the amorphization of the coating increases, which excellently enhances the corrosion resistance of the coating.

The purpose of this paper is to assess foreigners and overseas Pakistanis’ evaluation of the quality of the services provided by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and its effect on customer satisfaction.

A convenience sample of 498 respondents was used to test the hypotheses of the study through structural equation modelling.

The results of this study indicate that all of the hypotheses are supported and customer satisfaction of PIA customers is influenced by all of the five service quality dimensions (AIRQUAL), including airline tangibles, terminal tangibles, personnel, empathy, and image.

This research examines the relationship between service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction. The study focuses on the evaluation of overseas Pakistanis and foreigners regarding the service quality of PIA. The main limitation of this study is that it focuses on PIA: thus, the results cannot be generalised.

The results indicate that managers should focus on different dimensions of airline service quality in order to enhance customer satisfaction.

This study would enable PIA to have a better understanding of the effects of service quality, which will lead to passengers’ satisfaction and encourage the development of long-term relationships with their customers.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the performance of regression and artificial-neural-networks (ANNs) methods to estimate the running cost of building projects towards improved accuracy.

A data set of 20 building projects is used to test the performance of these two (ANNs/regression) models in estimating running cost. The concept of cost-significant-items is identified as important in assisting estimation. In addition, a stepwise technique is used to eliminate insignificant factors in regression modelling. A connection weight method is applied to determine the importance of cost factors in the performance of ANNs.

The results illustrate that the value of the coefficient of determination=99.75 per cent for ANNs model(s), with a value of 98.1 per cent utilising multiple regression (MR) model(s); second, the mean percentage error (MPE) for ANNs at a testing stage is 0.179, which is less than that of the MPE gained through MR modelling of 1.28; and third, the average accuracy is 99 per cent for ANNs model(s) and 97 per cent for MR model(s). On the basis of these results, it is concluded that an ANNs model is superior to a MR model when predicting running cost of building projects.

A means for continuous improvement for the performance of the models accuracy has been established; this may be further enhanced by future extended sample.

This work extends the knowledge base of life-cycle estimation where ANNs method has been found to reduce preparation time consumed and increasing accuracy improvement of the cost estimation.