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The National People’s Congress (NPC) of People’s Republic of China, the highest organ of state power, is popularly seen as a rubber-stamp entity. However, it has been substantially evolving its roles to accommodate the governance discourses within China’s political system over the decades. This study aims to explore the changes of governance discourse of the NPC within China’s political system through which to offer a thorough understanding of the NPC’s evolving substantial role in current China.

This study deploys a historical approach to explore the changes of governance discourse of the NPC that has seen a growing importance in China’s political agenda, as argued by this study.

The authors find that the NPC has been substantially evolving its role within China’s political system in which the Chinese Communist Party has created different governance discourses. Besides, the NPC and its Standing Committee have asserted its authority as a substantial actor within China’s political system. The NPC is no longer functioned as a rubber-stamp institution, though it is still popularized as a rubber stamp by many scholars.

This study is a historical elaboration on the development of NPC under three governance discourses. It might be, to some extent, relatively descriptive in nature.

This study, therefore, sheds some light on a revisit on the governance discourses in current China.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the friction and wear mechanisms in copper-based self-lubricating composites with MoS₂ as the lubricating phase, which provides a theoretical basis for subsequent research on high-performance copper-based self-lubricating materials.

Friction tests were performed at a speed of 100 r/min, a load of 10 N, a friction radius of 5 mm and a sliding speed of 30 min. Friction experiments were carried out at RT-500°C. The phase composition of the samples was characterized by X-ray diffraction of Cu Ka radiation, and the microstructure, morphology and elemental distribution were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. Reactants and valences formed during the wear process were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

The addition of MoS₂ can effectively improve friction-reducing and anti-wear action of the matrix, which is beneficial to form a lubricating film on the sliding track. After analyzing different changing mechanism of the sliding tracks, the oxides and sulfides of MoS₂, MoO₂, Cu₂O, CuO and Ni(OH)₂ were detected to form a synergetic lubricating film on the sliding track, which is responsible for the excellent tribological properties from room to elevated temperature.

For self-lubrication Cu–Sn–Ni–MoS₂ material in engineering field, there are still few available references on high-temperature application.

This paper provides a theoretical basis for the following research on copper-based self-lubricating materials with high performance.

With this statement, the authors hereby certify that the manuscript is the results of their own effort and ability. They have indicated all quotes, citations and references. Furthermore, the authors have not submitted any essay, paper or thesis with similar content elsewhere. No conflict of interest exits in the submission of this manuscript.

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the application of optimal globalization grey relational analysis (GGRA) as a workable decision-making tool to prioritize emotional intelligence (EI) training needs of specific groups of academic leaders.

The study involved administrating the emotional skills assessment process to 50 academic leaders in the USA and 50 in Taiwan. Optimal GGRA was utilized to prioritize EI training needs of the two distinct groups of academic leaders.

Results of the optimal GGRA suggest that context-specific EI interventions focusing on enhancing weak areas of emotional competency are made possible through optimal globalization grey analysis.

Optimal GGRA is introduced as a valid decision-making technique for planning effective EI interventions. The results have implications for designing training courses targeting on enhancing weak areas of emotional competency.

The utility of optimal GGRA as a decision-making tool to prioritizing training needs for the two cultural groups of academic leaders in the study aims at going beyond the narrow psychometric perspectives of measurements on leadership potentials and reaching out to practical approaches to leadership development and training.

Assessing image quality is a difficult task. Different demands need distinct criteria, so it is not realistic to decide which contrast enhancement method is better only through one criterion. The main purpose is to propose an efficient scheme to effectively evaluate image quality. Furthermore, the idea can be applied in other fields.

To objectively and quantitatively assess image quality, the authors integrate four criteria into one composite criterion and use it to evaluate seven existing contrast enhancement methods. The mechanism of integration is through a newly proposed way of computing a grey relational grade (GRGd), called the consistent grey relational grade (CGRGd).

In this paper, the authors propose the CGRGd, which is more efficient and consistent than other existing GRGds. When applied to image quality evaluation, the proposed CGRGd can effectively choose the best method than others. The results also indicate that the proposed CGRGd combined with appropriate criteria can be widely used in the field of multiple criteria.

The proposed CGRGd is a new approach to the problem of multi-criteria evaluation, and its application to the evaluation of image quality is a novel idea. For readers interested in the field of multi-criteria decision-making, the CGRGd provides an efficient and effective alternative.

The purpose of this paper is to propose novel civil aircraft cost parameters’ selection method and novel cost estimation approach for civil aircraft so as to effectively simulate or forecast civil aircraft cost under poor information and small sample.

Based on existent cost estimation indexes, this paper summarized civil aircraft research and manufacturing cost impact index system and adopted grey relational model to select most important impact factors. Consider civil aircrafts’ cost information could not be easily collected, the author must estimate their costs with limited sample and poor information. A combination model of GM (0, N) model and BP neural network algorithm is proposed. Both advantages of simulation of BP neural network algorithm and poor information generation of GM (0, N) were effectively combined. Then steps of combined model were given out. Finally, nine types of aircrafts were used to test the validity of proposed model. As comparing with the traditional multiple linear regression model and simple GM (0, N) model, results indicated that proposed model can do the work better.

Grey relational model can be applied for parameters’ selection and combined GM (0, N) model and BP neural network algorithm can estimate aircraft’s cost as well. Results show that novel combined model could get high forecasting accuracy.

Cost estimation is key problem in production management of civil aircraft. Effective cost management could promote competitiveness of aircraft manufacturing company. Proposed combined model can be applied for civil aircraft cost estimation. Similarly, it could be applied for other complex equipment cost estimation.

The paper succeeds in proposing grey relational model for cost parameters’ selection and constructing a combination model of GM (0, N) model and BP neural network algorithm. Algorithm of the proposed model was discussed and steps were given out.

This study aims to explore the role of international ambidexterity (IA) in improving the innovation capability of emerging market multinationals. In particular, the main purpose of this research is to study the relationship amongst digitalisation, IA and innovation performance (IP) amongst multinational enterprises in China’s healthcare industry.

The data for this investigation were collected from 134 listed companies in China’s healthcare industry during the study period. This study tested the hypotheses by constructing a two-way fixed-effects model.

The results show that both the balance dimension and the combined dimension of IA have significant positive effects on IP. Digitalisation not only has a direct positive effect on IP but also positively moderates the positive correlation between IA and IP.

Previous studies have not captured the relationship between ambidexterity, digitalisation and IP, and this study helps to fill in the gap and examine these associations in China’s healthcare industry. The results of this study provide valuable insights for healthcare industry managers to understand the role of ambidexterity and digitalisation in innovation in the context of internationalisation.

The concept of business process (BP) as a service is a new solution in enterprises for the purpose of using specific BPs. BPs represent combinations of software services that must be properly executed by the resources provided by a company’s information technology infrastructure. As the policy requirements are different in each enterprise, processes are constantly evolving and demanding new resources in terms of computation and storage. To support more agility and flexibility, it is common today for enterprises to outsource their processes to clouds and, more recently, to cloud federation environment. Ensuring the optimal allocation of cloud resources to process service during the execution of workflows in accordance with user policy requirements is a major concern. Given the diversity of resources available in a cloud federation environment and the ongoing process changes required based on policies, reallocating cloud resources for service processing may lead to high computational costs and increased overheads in communication costs.

This paper presents a new adaptive resource allocation approach that uses a novel algorithm extending the natural-based intelligent water drops (IWD) algorithm that optimizes the resource allocation of workflows on the cloud federation which can estimate and optimize final deployment costs. The proposed algorithm is implemented and embedded within the WokflowSim simulation toolkit and tested in different simulated cloud environments with different workflow models.

The algorithm showed noticeable enhancements over the classical workflow deployment algorithms taking into account the challenges of data transfer. This paper made a comparison between the proposed IWD-based workflow deployment (IWFD) algorithm with other proposed algorithms. IWFD presented considerable improvements in the makespan, cost and data transfer in most situations in the cloud federation environment.

An extension for WorkflowSim to support the implementation of BPs in a federation cloud space regarding BP policy. Optimize workflow execution performance in Federated clouds by means of IWFD algorithm.

Until now, many different varieties of grey relational grade methods had been proposed, and there are also many relevant publications, which include ordinal grey relational grade and cardinal grey relational grade. However, the most original and important formula is Deng’s grey relational grade. After careful study it was found that although it is an ordinal form of grey relational grade, a rational mathematics model can be used to transfer it from ordinal into cardinal. It not only can enhance the essential of Deng’s grey relational grade, but also can let Deng’s grey relational grade be used more widely. The paper aims to discuss these issue.

The paper uses fuzzy set theory to get the rational value of distinguish coefficient in Deng’s grey relational grade, then uses grey entropy method to decide the rational weighting for the analysis sequences in Deng’s grey relational grade.

Through the mathematics derivation, it indeed can transfer the Deng’s grey relational grade from ordinal form into cardinal form.

The paper has deeply enhanced the essential of Deng’s grey relational grade, and made Deng’s grey relational grade more available and more usable in grey system theory.

The paper has transferred the Deng’s grey relational grade from ordinal into cardinal, it can let Deng’s grey relational grade be used in a wider area.

In flexible electronics applications, organic inks are mostly used for inkjet printing. Three-dimensional (3 D) printing technology has the advantages of low cost, high speed and good precision in modern electronic printing. The purpose of this study is to solve the high cost of traditional printing and the pollution emissions of organic ink. It is necessary to develop a water-based conductive ink that is easily degradable and can be 3 D printed. A nano-silver ink printed circuit pattern with high precision, high conductivity and good mechanical properties is a promising strategy.

The researched nano-silver conductive ink is mainly composed of silver nanoparticles and resin. The effect of adding methyl cellulose on the ink was also explored. A simple 3 D circuit pattern was printed on photographic paper. The line width, line length, line thickness and conductivity of the printed circuit were tested. The influence of sintering temperature and sintering time on pattern resistivity was studied. The relationship between circuit pattern bending performance and electrical conductivity is analyzed.

The experimental results show that the ink has the characteristics of low silver content and good environmental protection effect. The printing feasibility of 3 D printing circuit patterns on paper substrates was confirmed. The best printing temperature is 160°C–180°C, and the best sintering time is 30 min. The circuit pattern can be folded 120°, and the cycle is folded more than 60 times. The minimum resistivity of the circuit pattern is 6.07 µΩ·cm. Methyl cellulose can control the viscosity of the ink. The mechanical properties of the pattern have been improved. The printing method of 3 D printing can significantly reduce the sintering time and temperature of the conductive ink. These findings may provide innovation for the flexible electronics industry and pave the way for alternatives to cost-effective solutions.

In this study, direct ink writing technology was used to print circuit patterns on paper substrates. This process is simple and convenient and can control the thickness of the ink layer. The ink material is nonpolluting to the environment. Nano-silver ink has suitable viscosity and pH value. It can meet the requirements of pneumatic 3 D printers. The method has the characteristics of simple process, fast forming, low cost and high environmental friendliness.

The purpose of this research article is to investigate the critical risk factors associated with the digitalization impact on the Indian construction industry, as these firm plans to implement digitalization in order to improve their construction management processes.

In this research article, risk factors and dimensions are taken from diverse industries and validated in the construction domain by industry and academic experts. Further, multi-criteria decision-making techniques are employed to assess the Indian construction sector scenario quantitatively. The interrelationship and weightage of risk factors and dimensions are determined by the Fuzzy Decision-making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory Analytic Network Process (DANP) method. However, the method Grey Technique for the Order of Prioritization by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is used to determine the ranking of each risk factor.

This study finds 14 critical risk factors along with four risk dimensions. Operational and financial dimensions are significant risk dimensions. Whereas the threat of high outlay and low yield is a significant risk factor in construction. Besides that, the interrelationship among risk factors, the weightage of each factor and the ranking of critical risk factors are also identified.

This research article uses Fuzzy DANP and Grey TOPSIS techniques as exploratory research methods with a limited group of construction professionals from a leading Indian construction firm. Furthermore, comprehensive confirmatory research can also be performed with a large group of construction experts using advanced analytical techniques to validate the ranking of critical risk factors.

The findings of this study provide insight into the knowledge of construction firms by emphasizing significant risk factors related to digitalization in construction operations. Another finding of this study shows that the risks associated with digitalization in construction are similar to those in manufacturing, where high outlay and low yield hold a significant role in the transformation process.

The research is unique since there have only been limited studies in the Indian construction scenario to analyze the significant risks associated with digitalization. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that the combination of Fuzzy DANP and Grey TOPSIS techniques may be used successfully to prioritize risks in construction digitalization, which is still in its early phases.