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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of char on the flame retardancy of fabrics by a cone calorimeter, which is an important factor to compare the flame retardancy of different fabrics.

Cone calorimeter measurements were carried out in a Fire Testing Technology (UK) apparatus at the heat fluxes of 50 and 75 kW/m². Fabrics with one and three layers were employed, with the name of cotton1, cotton3, FR cotton1, FR cotton3, PMIA1 and PMIA3. The dimension of the fabric was 100×100 mm². A cross-steel grid was used to prevent the fabrics from curling during burning. The distance between the bottom of the cone heater and the top of the sample was 25 mm.

This work was generously supported by National Key R&D Program of China (Project No. 2017YFB0309000), Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province of China (Project No. ZR2019BEM026), Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 51803101) and China postdoctoral science foundation funded project (Project No. 2018M632619).

The present research provides insight into the effect of the char formation on the flame retardancy of the fabrics, and a method to comprehensively investigate the char influence in the flame retardancy of the fabrics by a cone calorimeter is proposed.

Nylon 6 filaments have weak light and heat resistance in terms of stability, which restrict its application in engineering field. The purpose of this paper is to prepare a new photo-stabilization functional nanocomposite inks by using graphene nanosheet as UV light-resisting functional materials incorporated with polyurethane.

Sunlight-resisting functional nylon filaments were produced by the continuous solution dip coating technology, through which the functional inks was coated on the surface of nylon 6 filament. The surface morphology of the coated filaments was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and the graphene/polyurethane nanocomposite inks as the coating agent was confirmed and well dispersed on the fiber’s surface.

Under UV exposure, the strength loss rate of the graphene-modified nylon filaments was less than 50 percent, while that of the control nylon filament was over 85 percent, which indicated that graphene remarkably enhanced the light-resistant property of nylon. Besides, graphene/polyurethane-coated Nylon 6 filaments exhibited reasonable electrical properties and the electrical conductivity could reach 10–4 S/cm.

Graphene inks was first proposed as the UV photo-stabilization in this paper.

This chapter examines how the breakthrough of Zhang Ziyi's depiction of a female kung fu master in The Grandmaster (2013) transforms the figure of the heroine in Chinese action films. Zhang is well known for her acting in action films conducted by renowned directors, such as Ang Lee, Zhang Yimou and Wong Kar-wai. After winning 12 different Best Actress awards for her portrayal of Gong Ruomei in The Grandmaster, Zhang announced that she would no longer perform in any action films to show her highest respect for the superlative character Gong. Tracing Zhang's transformational portrait of a heroine in The Grandmaster alongside her other action roles, this analysis demonstrates how her performance projects the directors' distinctive gender viewpoints. I argue that Zhang's characterisation of Gong remodels heroine-hood in Chinese action films. Inheriting the typical plot of a daughter's use of martial arts for revenge for her father's death, Gong breaks from conventional Chinese action films that highlight romantic love during a woman's adventure and the decisive final battle scene. Beyond the propensity for sensory stimulation, Gong's characterisation enables Zhang to determine that women can really act in action films – demonstrating their inner power and ability to create multi-layered characters – not merely relying upon physical action. This chapter offers a relational perspective of how women transform the action film genre not merely as gender spectacles but as embodied figures that represent emerging female subjectivity.

The purpose of this paper is to present a visual detection approach to predict the poses of target objects placed in arbitrary positions before completing the corresponding tasks in mobile robotic manufacturing systems.

A hybrid visual detection approach that combines monocular vision and laser ranging is proposed based on an eye-in-hand vision system. The laser displacement sensor is adopted to achieve normal alignment for an arbitrary plane and obtain depth information. The monocular camera measures the two-dimensional image information. In addition, a robot hand-eye relationship calibration method is presented in this paper.

First, a hybrid visual detection approach for mobile robotic manufacturing systems is proposed. This detection approach is based on an eye-in-hand vision system consisting of one monocular camera and three laser displacement sensors and it can achieve normal alignment for an arbitrary plane and spatial positioning of the workpiece. Second, based on this vision system, a robot hand-eye relationship calibration method is presented and it was successfully applied to a mobile robotic manufacturing system designed by the authors’ team. As a result, the relationship between the workpiece coordinate system and the end-effector coordinate system could be established accurately.

This approach can quickly and accurately establish the relationship between the coordinate system of the workpiece and that of the end-effector. The normal alignment accuracy of the hand-eye vision system was less than 0.5° and the spatial positioning accuracy could reach 0.5 mm.

This approach can achieve normal alignment for arbitrary planes and spatial positioning of the workpiece and it can quickly establish the pose relationship between the workpiece and end-effector coordinate systems. Moreover, the proposed approach can significantly improve the work efficiency, flexibility and intelligence of mobile robotic manufacturing systems.

Both geometric and non-geometric parameters have noticeable influence on the absolute positional accuracy of 6-dof articulated industrial robot. This paper aims to enhance it and improve the applicability in the field of flexible assembling processing and parts fabrication by developing a more practical parameter identification model.

The model is developed by considering both geometric parameters and joint stiffness; geometric parameters contain 27 parameters and the parallelism problem between axes 2 and 3 is involved by introducing a new parameter. The joint stiffness, as the non-geometric parameter considered in this paper, is considered by regarding the industrial robot as a rigid linkage and flexible joint model and adds six parameters. The model is formulated as the form of error via linearization.

The performance of the proposed model is validated by an experiment which is developed on KUKA KR500-3 robot. An experiment is implemented by measuring 20 positions in the work space of this robot, obtaining least-square solution of measured positions by the software MATLAB and comparing the result with the solution without considering joint stiffness. It illustrates that the identification model considering both joint stiffness and geometric parameters can modify the theoretical position of robots more accurately, where the error is within 0.5 mm in this case, and the volatility is also reduced.

A new parameter identification model is proposed and verified. According to the experimental result, the absolute positional accuracy can be remarkably enhanced and the stability of the results can be improved, which provide more accurate parameter identification for calibration and further application.

Yi Jing is one of the most archaic works among the Chinese classics. Various schools of thought developed their philosophies from the philosophical perspectives in this book and its influence is wide ranging and far reaching. This paper attempts to show how leaders can approach the Yi Jing beneficially by identifying the principles, values and virtues in each of the 64 scenarios, deriving insights about change and leadership. It also aims to show how the Yi Jing compares with Western management literature.

This paper provides an analysis of Qian Gua of Yi Jing as an example of how leaders can draw insights from Yi Jing about change and leadership.

Qian Gua, which is the first scenario in the Yi Jing, offers us powerful insights about change and leadership by offering: a framework of understanding change and human enterprises, considering the aspects of beginning, process, benefit and sustainability; a framework to understand the leadership development process; and leadership principles of conscientious self‐cultivation, transformational leadership through virtues and riding the tides of change.

A change and leadership model inspired by the Yi Jing should interest business leaders both in the east and the west, and help Westerners gain success in doing business in China or collaborating with the Chinese on a joint venture.

This is the first paper to draw insights about change and leadership through an analysis of Qian Gua of Yi Jing.

Supply chain management literature recognizes that interorganizational networks provide resources that convey critical benefits, such as capital, competitive advantage and efficient strategy implementation. The purpose of this paper is to leverage network theory and identify technological innovations as the antecedents for organizations to achieve stronger interorganizational networks. Specifically, this paper investigates how supply chain technologies of its logistics affiliate, Cainiao Network (CN), affect Alibaba Group’s three fundamental network mechanisms reachability, richness and receptivity and how interorganizational networks subsequently drive Alibaba Group’s performance.

A case study approach was chosen as a methodology to develop an in-depth understanding of the proposed innovations-network-performance framework.

Results indicate that innovative technologies positively lead to network reachability, richness and receptivity. Stronger interorganizational networks directly lead to higher performance. In addition, CN is identified as a unique innovative business model.

The key contribution of this research is that it investigates Alibaba Group’s performance from a network and innovation perspective. It identifies technological innovations as a key driver for stronger interorganizational networks. Furthermore, three network mechanisms are introduced and investigated as the antecedents of organizational performance. This research also provides a comprehensive description of Alibaba Group and CN.

This paper aims to analyse how both Lin’s birthplace identity and his Christian identity contributed to his fruitful public career and to ascertain which identity became the most significant.

Archival research is the main method used in this paper. The most important archives drawn from are the Daniel Tse Collection in the Special Collection and Archives of the Hong Kong Baptist University Library. Oral history has also been used in this paper to uncover more material that has not yet been discussed in existing scholarly works.

This paper argues that although Lin’s birthplace identity and social networks helped him to start his business career in Nam Pak Hong and develop into a leader in the local Chaozhou communities, these factors were insufficient to his becoming a respectable member of the Chinese elite in post-war Hong Kong. He became well known not because of his leading position in local Chaozhou communities or any great achievement he had obtained in business but because of his contribution to the development of Christian education. These achievements earned him a reputation as a “Christian educator”. Thus Lin’s Christian identity became more important than his birthplace identity in contributing to his successful public career.

This paper has value in showing how Christian influences interacted with various cultural factors in early Hong Kong. It also offers insights into Lin’s life and motivations as well as the history of the institutions he contributed to/founded. It not only furthers our understanding of the Chinese Christian business elite in early Hong Kong but also provides us with insights when further studying this group of people in other British colonies in Asia.

This essay focuses on the Chinese-Japanese Library of the Harvard-Yenching Institute and examines how the Library collected and transported Chinese rare books to the United States during the 1930 and 1940s. It considers Harvard's rationale for its collection of Chinese books and tensions between Chinese scholars and the Harvard-Yenching Institute leaders and librarians over the purchase and “export” of Chinese books.

This research is a historical study based on archival research at Harvard-Yenching Institute and the Harvard-Yenching Library, as well as careful readings of published primary and secondary sources.

By examining the debates that surrounded the ownership of Chinese books, and the historical circumstances that enabled or hindered the cross-national movement of books, this essay uncovers a complex and interwoven historical discourse of academic nationalism, internationalism and imperialism.

Drawing upon the unexamined primary sources and published second sources, this essay uncovers a complex and interwoven historical discourse of academic nationalism, internationalism and imperialism.