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This paper aims to propose the slipper/swash plate pair loaded with a step motor-spring mechanism to reduce the energy consumption under different rotating rate conditions. The relationship between the operating conditions, oil film thickness and energy consumption is analyzed. The system dynamic model of the slipper/swash plate pair loaded with a step motor-spring mechanism is introduced. Based on the results of the experiment, the PI controller and step motor-spring mechanism are useful for reducing energy consumption.

This paper introduces the energy consumption of the slipper/swash plate pair. A system dynamic model of the slipper/swash plate pair loaded with a step motor-spring mechanism is introduced too. In the experiment, three step motor and S-type force sensor are used to control the oil film thickness.

PI controller and the step motor-spring mechanism are useful for controlling the oil film thickness and reducing the energy consumption under different rotating rate conditions. The accuracy of the oil film thickness control is acceptable and the response time is a bit long

PI controller and the step motor-spring mechanism are useful for controlling the oil film thickness and reducing the energy consumption under different rotating rate conditions. The accuracy of the oil film thickness control is acceptable and the response time is a bit long.

This study aims to explore the relationship between folk religious place-making and the development of urban public spaces and summarize its influence on community network construction and daily behavior to discover the authentic practices and role of folk faith culture in social space.

Taking Macau's Shi Gandang Temple and its belief culture as an example, on-site research, historical evidence and interviews were used to elaborate and analyze the processes of place-making, social functions, management mechanisms and folk culture to establish a new perception of folk religious place-making in contemporary urban spaces.

The article argues that the culture of folk beliefs profoundly influences urban spaces and the social management system of Macau and has a positive significance in building the local community and geopolitical relations. In addition, it suggests that the participation of folk religious places in local practices is important as key nodes and emotional hubs of local networks, reconciling conflicts between communities of different backgrounds and driving urban spaces toward diversity while forming a positive interaction and friendly cooperation between regional development and self-contained management mechanisms, governance models and cultural orientations.

This study takes an architectural and anthropological perspective of the impact of faith on urban spaces and local governance, using the Shi Gandang Temple in Macau as an example, to complement related studies.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a micro historical account of the work of a key Chinese educational reformer, Tao Xingzhi (1891–1946), who transformed educational ideas from John Dewey to effect social and cultural change in 1920s–1940s China.

This paper examines English and Chinese language sources, including Tao’s poetry, to present a fresh analysis of Tao’s epistemological life history. It draws upon transnational historical approaches to chart the multidirectional circulation of progressive education philosophies around the globe. It also explores some conceptual dimensions of Chinese historical thinking and historiographical strategies.

Tao Xingzhi engaged in critical intercultural knowledge exchange in implementing educational reforms in China. He blended and critiqued Chinese and Deweyian educational philosophies to create unique educational reform, which involved reversing some of Dewey’s approaches as well as adapting others.

This paper foregrounds Tao Xingzhi’s agency in transforming some of Dewey’s ideas in the Chinese context and challenges studies that adopt an “impact-response” approach to Tao’s contribution, which suggest a one-way flow of knowledge from a “modern” West to a “traditional” China. It brings hitherto unexplored Chinese language sources to an English-speaking audience, particularly Tao’s poetry, to gain new historical insights into Tao’s educational reforms. It contributes to transnational understandings of the multidirectional flows of knowledge about Progressive educational philosophies around the world.

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the advances in grey system theory research and various application achievements in science and engineering. At the same time, it commemorates the 40th anniversary of the birth of grey system theory and the 10th anniversary of Grey Systems–Theory and Application.

Firstly, the innovations of theoretical research in grey system theory were summarized and some of the widely recognized new results are briefly described. By searching and combing the research results of grey system theory in China national knowledge infrastructure (CNKI) database and Web of Science by Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), this paper shows the rapid development trend of grey system theory in the past 40 years, and the successful applications of grey system theory in the fields of social sciences, natural sciences and engineering technologies.

More than 227 thousands literature were found by input 10 phrases such as grey system, grey number and sequence operator etc. in CNKI database. After entering the new century, the number of grey system papers included in CNKI database is increasing rapidly. Since 2008, more than 10 thousands papers have been included per year and more than 15 thousands papers have been included per year since 2014. Grey system method and model are widely used in physics, chemistry, biology and other fields of natural science, as well as transportation, electric power, machinery and other fields of engineering technology, and a large number of valuable results have been achieved.

It can be seen that the grey system theory plays an important role in promoting China’s scientific and technological progress, innovation and development and high-level talent training from tens of thousands of literatures marked with important national science and technology projects and a large number of grey system literatures published by China’s double first-class universities and double first-class discipline construction universities.

Both innovations of theoretical research and practical application play important role in the growth of new theory. The innovations of theoretical research provide methods and tools for practical application, which is conducive to improve application efficiency and broaden application fields. A large number of practical applications needs have become the source of theoretical innovation and the solid background for the birth of theoretical innovation achievements.

Moral agents have moral choice. This chapter argues that moral choice denies historical inevitability when moral choice is informed by both moral imagination and historical imagination. I explore this by way of one specific historical example which should be used, as the philosopher Bernard Mayo argued, as a moral exemplar. In pursuing my arguments I utilise work by Sir Isaiah Berlin, amongst others. I do though take issue with Berlin, whom I argue has confused not the nature but the role of historical imagination, claiming dominance for it where it cannot dominate. I conclude with historical inevitability being refuted by moral choice, informed by both moral imagination and historical imagination.I argue that the refutation of historical inevitability has implications for Australian businesses in their current dealings with the People’s Republic of China. Australia escaped the Global Financial Crisis because of Chinese purchases of Australian commodities. But Australian business in trading with China is trading with an unjust regime. Hoffman and McNulty (2009) argue that regarding a regime such as China we can ‘learn from our past’. Regarding the past I argue that Australian business executives dealing with China would benefit by studying the historical example of Churchill’s May 1940 decision and should use that as a moral exemplar. Earlier generations of Australian managers contemptuously dismissed Chinese workers. The current generation of Australian managers, who fail to morally acknowledge China’s workers and citizens, risks being equally contemptuous, dismissive and racist.

How should a multinational corporation (MNC) from a mature democracy deal with the human rights issues in a country with a poor human rights standard? The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The authors develop a mathematical model to depict MNC's behavior in response to human rights violations in the host country.

The authors show that, first, in a country with a high level of human rights abuses, a firm will have to lower its human rights standards to survive; but, second, a collective effort by all firms is essential to improve the human rights conditions in the host environment; and third, a firm's human rights practices may have a multiplicative effect that can significantly affect the momentum of human rights development in a host country.

This study is one of the first attempts to provide a theoretical framework on the issue of MNCs and human rights in host countries.

This paper aims to investigate how climatic, market and policy factors interact to determine food production in Togo. Specifically, we estimate acreage and yield response to market prices, weather and policy changes for maize and rice.

We use panel data estimators in a Seemingly Unrelated Regressions Equation (SURE) model with region-level data from the Food and Agriculture Organization statistics department and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the US Department of commerce.

We found lower fertilizer price and higher grain price effects on maize acreage and yield. In addition, we found a positive effect of expected rice price on both its acreage and yield. As expected, rainfall during planting months has a significant impact on both maize (April) and paddy (May) acreage allocations. Similarly, total rainfall during the growing season has a positive impact on both maize and paddy yields. Moreover, recent agricultural policy initiative designed to boost domestic food production has significantly increased acreage and yield for maize, and yield for paddy, especially the strategy for agricultural growth.

The dataset includes region-level observations from 1991 to 2012 which limits the observation span. However, we had enough variability in key variables to determine the estimated coefficients.

Although the dataset is limited in time (1991–2012) and uses national-level output prices, this investigation reveals that cropland allocation to maize and rice is sensitive to fertilizer and grain prices, weather expectations and policy interventions. These findings provide evidence for sustainable food production and productivity enhancement in Togo.

Understanding drivers of cropland allocation and cereal yield contribute to better food security and poverty reduction in developing countries, especially Togo.

Prior to this study, little was known on the effect of price, climate and policy on cropland allocation in Togo. This investigation contributes significantly to filling this knowledge gap and provides insights for effective interventions.

Recently, electric vehicles have been widely used in the cold chain logistics sector to reduce the effects of excessive energy consumption and to support environmental friendliness. Considering the limited battery capacity of electric vehicles, it is vital to optimize battery charging during the distribution process.

This study establishes an electric vehicle routing model for cold chain logistics with charging stations, which will integrate multiple distribution centers to achieve sustainable logistics. The suggested optimization model aimed at minimizing the overall cost of cold chain logistics, which incorporates fixed, damage, refrigeration, penalty, queuing, energy and carbon emission costs. In addition, the proposed model takes into accounts factors such as time-varying speed, time-varying electricity price, energy consumption and queuing at the charging station. In the proposed model, a hybrid crow search algorithm (CSA), which combines opposition-based learning (OBL) and taboo search (TS), is developed for optimization purposes. To evaluate the model, algorithms and model experiments are conducted based on a real case in Chongqing, China.

The result of algorithm experiments illustrate that hybrid CSA is effective in terms of both solution quality and speed compared to genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO). In addition, the model experiments highlight the benefits of joint distribution over individual distribution in reducing costs and carbon emissions.

The optimization model of cold chain logistics routes based on electric vehicles provides a reference for managers to develop distribution plans, which contributes to the development of sustainable logistics.

In prior studies, many scholars have conducted related research on the subject of cold chain logistics vehicle routing problems and electric vehicle routing problems separately, but few have merged the above two subjects. In response, this study innovatively designs an electric vehicle routing model for cold chain logistics with consideration of time-varying speeds, time-varying electricity prices, energy consumption and queues at charging stations to make it consistent with the real world.