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Teacher agency plays a crucial role in teachers’ professionalism and makes them capable of acting powerfully in their teaching context. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of case-based instruction (CBI) on the agency development of EFL (English as a foreign language) student-teachers.

The study followed a descriptive narrative design and involved ten student-teachers in five CBI sessions. The data collected through different data sources, such as narratives, interviews, recorded sessions and focused groups, were analyzed using a deductive-inductive thematic analysis.

The results showed that CBI has a constructive role in developing the agency of EFL student-teachers. Active participation in CBI sessions helps teachers consider their future desires. The exploration of cases in CBI sessions helps them recall past experiences that led to the development of their agency. Brainstorming ideas in CBI sessions helps teachers consider their beliefs in decision-making and analyze their past experiences. In conclusion, CBI can help develop teacher professionalism and acknowledgment of the importance of teacher agency.

The research has addressed student-teachers’ agency development through an ecological perspective and CBI.

This work aims to provide a rapid robust optimization design solution for parallel robots or mechanisms, thereby circumventing inefficiencies and wastage caused by empirical design, as well as numerous physical verifications, which can be employed for creating high-quality prototypes of parallel robots in a variety of applications.

A novel subregional meta-heuristic iteration (SMI) method is proposed for the optimization of parallel robots. Multiple subregional optimization objectives are established and optimization is achieved through the utilisation of an enhanced meta-heuristic optimization algorithm, which roughly employs chaotic mapping in the initialization strategy to augment the diversity of the initial solution. The non-dominated sorting method is utilised for updating strategies, thereby achieving multi-objective optimization.

The actuator error under the same trajectory is visibly reduced after SMI, with a maximum reduction of 6.81% and an average reduction of 1.46%. Meanwhile, the response speed, maximum bearing capacity and stiffness of the mechanism are enhanced by 63.83, 43.98 and 97.51%, respectively. The optimized mechanism is more robust and the optimization process is efficient.

The proposed robustness multi-objective optimization via SMI is more effective in improving the performance and precision of the parallel mechanisms in various applications. Furthermore, it provides a solution for the rapid and high-quality optimization design of parallel robots.

This study aims to investigate the impact of supply chain concentration (SCC) on corporate research and development (R&D) investment and determine the moderating roles of industry concentration and financing constraints on the relationship between SCC and R&D investment.

The study collected data from Chinese listed companies, used the fixed effects model to test the research hypotheses and further used the two-stage Heckman test and propensity score matching (PSM) to address potential endogeneity issues.

The result reveals a negative impact of SCC on corporate R&D investment. In addition, industry concentration mitigates the negative impact of SCC on corporate R&D investment, but financing constraints strengthen the negative impact.

This study introduces the concept of SCC and empirically tests its effect on R&D investment, further explaining the lack of corporate innovation. This study inspires companies to strengthen SC management and weigh the level of SCC with environmental factors.

This paper takes the manufacturing cluster supply chain as the research object and explores the evaluation and enhancement strategy of manufacturing cluster supply chain synergy. The purpose of this study was to (1) analyze the mechanism of manufacturing cluster supply chain synergy; (2) construct manufacturing cluster supply chain synergy evaluation model; (3) algorithm realization of manufacturing cluster supply chain synergy evaluation and (4) propose manufacturing cluster-based supply chain synergy enhancement strategy.

Breaking through the limitations of traditional manufacturing cluster supply chain synergy evaluation, we take horizontal synergy and vertical synergy as coupled synergy subsystems, use the complex system synergy model to explore the horizontal synergy between core enterprises and cluster enterprises and the vertical synergy of supply chain enterprises and use the coupling coordination model to construct the coupled synergy evaluation model of manufacturing cluster supply chain, which is an innovation of the evaluation perspective of previous cluster supply chain synergy and also an enrichment and supplementation of the evaluation methodology. This is not only the innovation of the evaluation perspective but also the enrichment and supplementation of the evaluation method.

Using Python software to conduct empirical analysis on the evaluation model, the research shows that the horizontal and vertical synergies of the manufacturing cluster supply chain interact with each other and jointly affect the coupling synergy. On this basis, targeted strategies are proposed to enhance the synergy of the manufacturing cluster supply chain.

This study takes manufacturers, suppliers and sellers in the three-level supply chain as the research object and does not consider the synergistic evaluation between distributors and consumers in the supply chain, which can be further explored in this direction in the future.

Advanced manufacturing clusters, as the main force of manufacturing development, and the synergistic development of supply chain are one of the important driving forces for the high-quality development of China’s manufacturing industry. As a new type of network organization coupling industrial clusters and supply chains, cluster supply chain is conducive not only to improving the competitiveness of cluster supply chains but also to upgrading cluster supply chains through horizontal synergy within the cluster and vertical synergy in the supply chain.

Research can help accelerate the transformation and upgrading of clustered supply chains in the manufacturing industry, promote high-quality development of the manufacturing industry and accelerate the rise of the global value chain position of the manufacturing industry.

(1) Innovation of research perspective. Starting from two perspectives of horizontal synergy and vertical synergy, we take a core enterprise in the cluster supply chain as the starting point, horizontally explore the main enterprises of the cluster as the research object of horizontal synergy, vertically explore the upstream and downstream enterprises of the supply chain as the research object of vertical synergy and explore the coupling synergy of cluster supply chain as two subsystems, which provides new perspectives of evaluation of the degree of synergy and synergy evaluation. (2) Innovation of research content. Nine manufacturing clusters are selected as research samples, and through data collection and model analysis, it is verified that the evaluation model and implementation algorithm designed in this paper have strong practicability, which not only provides methodological reference for the evaluation of manufacturing cluster-type supply chain synergy but also reduces the loss caused by the instability of clusters and supply chains and then provides a theoretical basis for improving the overall performance of cluster-type supply chains.

Provisions for the minimisation of human error are essential through governance structures such as recruitment, human resource allocation and education/training. As predictors of safety attitudes/behaviours, employees’ personality traits (e.g. conscientiousness, sensation-seeking, agreeableness, etc.) have been examined in relation to human error and safety education.

This review aimed to explore research activity on the safety attitudes of healthcare staff and their relationship with the different types of personalities, compared to other complex and highly regulated industries. A scoping review was conducted on five electronic databases on all industrial/work areas from 2001 to July 2023. A total of 60 studies were included in this review.

Studies were categorised as driving/traffic and industrial to draw useful comparisons between healthcare. Certain employees’ personality traits were matched to positive and negative relationships with safety attitudes/behaviours. Results are proposed to be used as a baseline when conducting further relevant research in healthcare.

Only two studies were identified in the healthcare sector.

The necessity for additional research in healthcare and for comparisons to other complex and highly regulated industries has been established. Safety will be enhanced through healthcare governance through personality-based recruitment, human resource allocation and education/training.

This paper aims to optimize the air pressure regulation scheme of the aeroengine pressure test bench.

Based on the requirements of pressure regulation process and the operating mechanism of aeroengine pressure test bench, a grey performance evaluation index system is constructed. The combination of principal component analysis and grey theory is employed to assign weights to grey indexes. The grey target evaluation model is introduced to evaluate the performance of historical regulation processes, and the evaluation results are analyzed to derive optimization mechanism for pressure regulating schemes.

A case study based on monitoring data from nearly 300 regulation processes verifies the feasibility of the proposed method. On the one hand, the improved principal component analysis method can achieve rational weighting for grey indexes. On the other hand, the method comparison intuitively shows that the proposed method performs better.

The pressure test bench is a fundamental technical equipment in the aviation industry, serving the development and testing of aircraft engines. Due to the complex system composition, the pressure and flow adjustment of the test bench heavily rely on manual experience, leading to issues such as slow adjustment speed and insufficient accuracy. This paper proposes a performance evaluation method for the regulation process of pressure test bench, which can draw knowledge from historical regulation processes, provide guidance for the pressure regulation of test benches, and ultimately achieve the goal of reducing equipment operating costs.

The motivation of value co-creation among the multi-actor in sharing economy was an important topic in interactive marketing communication research. This study investigated how customer gratitude expression leads to value co-creation of PSPs in the sharing economy, and also investigates the moderating effect of platform benevolent climate.

A three-wave field survey (Study 1) and two experiments (Studies 2 and 3) were given to respondents with sharing economy practitioners.

First, customer gratitude expression positively influenced PSP's perceived meaningful work, which in turn enhanced their value co-creation intention. Second, PSP's perceived platform benevolent climate moderated the relationship between customer gratitude expression and PSP's perceived meaningful work.

Prior research discussed PSPs' value co-creation intention mainly from the perspective of platforms and PSPs, but few considered customer-PSP interaction perspective. This study revealed how customer gratitude expression influences PSP's value co-creation intention in highly interactive digital business context, examined the boundary condition of gratitude expression, and extended the application scenarios of social information processing theory.

This study delves into the challenges obstructing the integration of blockchain-enabled smart contracts (BESC) in the construction industry. Its primary objective is to identify these barriers and propose a roadmap to streamline BESC adoption, thereby promoting sustainability and resilience in building engineering.

Employing a unique approach, this study combines the Technology-Organization-Environment-Social (TOE + S) framework with the IF-Delphi-HF-DEMATEL-IFISM methodology. Data is collected through surveys and expert interviews, enabling a comprehensive analysis of BESC implementation barriers.

The analysis reveals significant hindrances in the construction industry’s adoption of BESC. Key obstacles include economic and market conditions, insufficient awareness and education about blockchain technology among stakeholders, and limited digital technology integration in specific cultural and societal contexts. These findings shed light on the complexities faced by the industry in embracing blockchain solutions.

The research makes a significant contribution by combining the TOE + S framework with the IF-Delphi-HF-DEMATEL-IFISM methodology, resulting in a comprehensive roadmap to address barriers in implementing BESC in Sustainable Construction Projects. Noteworthy for its practicality, this roadmap provides valuable guidance for construction stakeholders. Its impact extends beyond the industry, influencing both academic discourse and practical applications.

The target of this research is to develop a mathematical model which combines the Resource-Constrained Multi-Project Scheduling Problem (RCMPSP) and the Multi-Skilled Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (MSRCPSP). Due to the importance of resource management, the proposed formulation comprises resource leveling considerations as well. The model aims to simultaneously optimize: (1) the total time to accomplish all projects and (2) the total deviation of resource consumptions from the uniform utilization levels.

The K-Means (KM) and Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) clustering methods have been separately applied to discover the clusters of activities which have the most similar resource demands. The discovered clusters are given to the scheduling process as priori knowledge. Consequently, the execution times of the activities with the most common resource requests will not overlap. The intricacy of the problem led us to incorporate the KM and FCM techniques into a meta-heuristic called the Bi-objective Symbiosis Organisms Search (BSOS) algorithm so that the real-life samples of this problem could be solved. Therefore, two clustering-based algorithms, namely, the BSOS-KM and BSOS-FCM have been developed.

Comparisons between the BSOS-KM, BSOS-FCM and the BSOS method without any clustering approach show that the clustering techniques could enhance the optimization process. Another hybrid clustering-based methodology called the NSGA-II-SPE has been added to the comparisons to evaluate the developed resource leveling framework.

The practical importance of the model and the clustering-based algorithms have been demonstrated in planning several construction projects, where multiple water supply systems are concurrently constructed.

Reviewing the literature revealed that there was a need for a hybrid formulation that embraces the characteristics of the RCMPSP and MSRCPSP with resource leveling considerations. Moreover, the application of clustering algorithms as resource leveling techniques was not studied sufficiently in the literature.

Subway systems are highly susceptible to external disturbances from emergencies, triggering a series of consequences such as the paralysis of the internal network transportation functions, causing significant economic and safety losses to cities. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the factors affecting the resilience of the subway system to reduce the impact of disaster incidents.

Using the interval type-2 fuzzy linguistic term set and the K-medoids clustering algorithm, this paper improves the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method to construct a subway resilience factor analysis model for emergencies. Through comparative analysis, this study confirms the superior performance of the proposed approach in enhancing the precision of the DEMATEL method.

The results indicate that the operation and management level of emergency command organizations is the key resilience factors of subway operations in China. Furthermore, based on real case analyses, the corresponding suggestions and measures are put forward to improve the overall operation resilience level of the subway.

This paper identifies four emergency scenarios and 15 resilience factors affecting subway operations through literature review and expert consultation. The improved fuzzy DEMATEL method is applied to explore the levels of influence and causal mechanisms among the resilience factors of the subway system under the four emergency scenarios.