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1 – 10 of 31Xianzhi Jiang, Caihua Xiong, Ronglei Sun, Xiaolin Huang and Youlun Xiong
The purpose of this paper is to present the static and dynamic characteristics of the rehabilitation joint.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the static and dynamic characteristics of the rehabilitation joint.
Design/methodology/approach
The rehabilitation joint is driven by pneumatic muscle actuators (PMAs). Rehabilitation robot is normally composed of several rehabilitation joints. The static and dynamic characteristics of the rehabilitation joint are important for control of the rehabilitation robot. Analysis and modeling of the rehabilitation joint is based on experiments.
Findings
The static model of the PMA is obtained by the method of curve fitting and achieved better precision compared to the existing representative models. A second‐order model fits the dynamic characteristic of the rehabilitation joint better than a first order one.
Research limitations/implications
The rehabilitation joint and the patient's joint combine to make an independent system, and the unstable factors of the patient's joint make it difficult in precisely modeling the rehabilitation joint.
Originality/value
The characteristics of the rehabilitation joint are all based on the data that were recorded in a series of with experiments, the same with modeling of the rehabilitation joint.
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Caihua Xiong, Xianzhi Jiang, Ronglei Sun, XiaoLin Huang and Youlun Xiong
The purpose of this paper is to present the control methods of the exoskeleton robotic arm for stroke rehabilitation.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the control methods of the exoskeleton robotic arm for stroke rehabilitation.
Design/methodology/approach
The robotic arm is driven by the pneumatic muscle actuators. The control system provides independent control for the robot. The joint axes of the robotic arm are arranged to mimic the natural upper limb workspace.
Findings
Findings are the classification of training modes and control methods of rehabilitation training, and the characters of both the instant spasm and the sustaining one.
Research limitations/implications
This paper is a preliminary step in the control system and the kinematical characteristics should be analyzed to achieve high precision of movement.
Originality/value
Based on a hierarchical structure, the control system allows the execution of sequence of switching control methods: position, force, force/position and impedance. Patient‐active‐robot‐passive and patient‐passive‐robot‐active (PPRA) training modes are also presented in this paper. In PPRA mode, the robotic arm can provide pre‐specified resistances on the patient's arm. Both instant and sustaining spasms are taken into account for safety.
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Biao Zhang, Zetian Fu, Jieqiong Wang, Xiaolin Tang, Yousen Zhao and Lingxian Zhang
Farmers’ selection of vegetable marketing channels directly affects their income and is important to stable vegetable supply and food control. The purpose of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
Farmers’ selection of vegetable marketing channels directly affects their income and is important to stable vegetable supply and food control. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the farmers’ selection behavior of vegetable marketing channels, and to determine the key factors which affected farmer’ decision making.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 191 valid questionnaires were collected from 50 villages in seven main vegetable production districts in Beijing urban areas from September to December 2015, yielding a response rate of 86.8 percent. The multinomial logit model was used for analysis in this study.
Findings
The results revealed that the farmers mainly selected farmers’ market, cooperative, and wholesaler to sell their vegetables, which comprised 96.57 percent of total vegetable sales. Estimation results showed that cooperative, vegetable acreage, price satisfaction, and slow sales were most important factors which influence positively the probability of opting to sell vegetables at a cooperative rather than at the farmer’s market. For wholesalers, gender of the household head and cooperative had most significantly negative effect, and age had a positive impact on farmer’s choice of market channels.
Originality/value
The results and implications obtained in the present study could help policymakers to establish a scientific-based and reasonable policy to encourage vegetable producers to participate in the circulation of vegetables in Beijing and guarantee their income in vegetable supply chain. The suggestions of this study could also be used for the improvement of the vegetable sector in other cities facing similar issues.
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Lin Xiao, Jian Mou and Lihua Huang
Despite the various benefits of social networking services (SNSs), users have begun to experience fatigue in recent years, as evidenced by a decline in active user numbers. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the various benefits of social networking services (SNSs), users have begun to experience fatigue in recent years, as evidenced by a decline in active user numbers. This relatively new phenomenon has only recently received significant managerial and academic attention. The antecedents of SNS fatigue are still unclear in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to identify the key factors causing SNS fatigue, based on a socio-technical approach.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors empirically tested this research model with 424 SNS users via an online survey. Structural equation modeling with partial least squares was used to analyze the data.
Findings
The results showed that the social factors of social comparison, social interaction overload, social surveillance and social information overload, and the technical factor of system complexity are significantly related to SNS fatigue.
Practical implications
This research benefits SNS providers by allowing them to better understand how to effectively design social networking platforms to retain and attract more users. It also benefits users by providing guidance on how to actively manage their own behavior to avoid potential negative outcomes induced by SNS usage.
Originality/value
This study focuses on the “dark side” of SNS from the perspective of fatigue, extending existing research on technostress. It also extends the applicability of the socio-technical approach to the phenomenon of SNS fatigue. Moreover, it enriches SNS fatigue research by addressing the importance of both social and technical factors in causing SNS fatigue.
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Zhiyi Li, Jiayu Zhu and Xiaolin Li
With the increasing abundance of network resources and big data, multi-modal information search (MMIS) has been paid more and more attention, but the research results of MMIS are…
Abstract
Purpose
With the increasing abundance of network resources and big data, multi-modal information search (MMIS) has been paid more and more attention, but the research results of MMIS are relatively few. This paper attempts to put forward constructive suggestions for the design of multi-modal information system, so that the system can have a better user experience, help users improve the efficiency of obtaining information and optimize the information service mode.
Design/methodology/approach
A research model of influencing factors is established by using the TAM (technology acceptance model) theory. The influencing factors of users' multi-modal information search behavior (MMISB) are analyzed by using questionnaire, experiment and the structural equation model. On the basis of this, some suggestions are put forward to build the multi-modal search (MMS) system and improve the efficiency of MMIS.
Findings
The research shows that users' MMISB is directly related to their search intention, and the search intention can influence users' cognition of the usefulness and ease of MMIS through their own information search ability and system characteristics. The user's MMIS ability is affected by the demand expression ability and retrieval ability cognition; the user's cognition of system characteristics is affected by the system function and information quality. This shows that the user's MMISB is closely related to the user's cognitive situation, but due to the author's limited time and research ability, only the questionnaire survey method cannot be used to in-depth research and explore the influencing factors of MMIS. Therefore, in the future research, we should combine the interview method to further track the user's emotional factors and scene factors.
Originality/value
For the first time, TAM theory is combined with cross-modal retrieval behavior and the paper explores the influencing factors and evaluation indexes of users' MMISB. The second, the questionnaire was compiled to investigate the influencing factors of the MMISB of the university group, and the reliability analysis, validity analysis, correlation analysis and structural equation model analysis of the survey data are carried out . The survey data and analysis results are original, which can provide a theoretical basis for improving the service level of MMIS.
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Lin Xiao, Ting Pan, Jian Mou and Lihua Huang
The purpose of this paper is to build a comprehensive structural model to demonstrate the interrelationships of factors influencing social networking service (SNS) fatigue and to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to build a comprehensive structural model to demonstrate the interrelationships of factors influencing social networking service (SNS) fatigue and to identify the varying degrees of influence.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 14 factors influencing SNS fatigue are identified through an extensive literature review. Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and Matrice d'Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliqué à un Classement (MICMAC) analysis are employed to build a hierarchical model and classify these factors into four clusters.
Findings
The results revealed that ubiquitous connectivity and immediacy of feedback are key factors contributing to SNS fatigue through their strong influence on other factors. Privacy concern, impression management concern and work–life conflict lead directly to SNS fatigue. In contrast, system feature overload and system pace of change are relatively insignificant in generating SNS fatigue.
Originality/value
This study represents an initial step toward comprehensively understanding the interrelationships among the factors leading to SNS fatigue and reveals how determinants of SNS fatigue are hierarchically organized, thus extending existing research on SNS fatigue. It also provides logical consistency in the ISM-based model for SNS fatigue by grouping identified factors into dependent and independent categories. Moreover, it extends the applicability of the integration of the ISM and MICMAC approaches to the phenomenon of SNS fatigue.
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Saleh Bazi, Alireza Hajli, Nick Hajli, Mohana Shanmugam and Xiaolin Lin
Under the sunlight of social commerce, few concepts have blossomed like value co-creation. But when blurred strategies are implemented, the opportunity to wilt a brand is high. To…
Abstract
Purpose
Under the sunlight of social commerce, few concepts have blossomed like value co-creation. But when blurred strategies are implemented, the opportunity to wilt a brand is high. To avoid the miscues and the controversies, an ascendant step is to engage consumers with social commerce sites. The purpose of this paper is to propose three antecedents to engage consumers with social commerce sites, namely, social support, social commerce value and social commerce information sharing, and the effect of brand engagement on the intention of brand co-creation.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used survey data from 234 Iranians with experience using social commerce sites. Variance-based structural equation modeling using the partial least squares path modeling approach was adopted to analyze the structural model.
Findings
The authors found that social support, social commerce value and social commerce information sharing positively foster brand engagement. The study also revealed that brand engagement is a significant predictor of brand co-creation intention.
Originality/value
The study is the first study that considers and explains brand engagement from social support theory, social commerce value theory and social commerce information exchange. Also, the study shows how consumers can be an integral part of a brand. Unlike other studies which were done in industrialized countries, this study was employed in Iran.
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The purpose of this study is to examine how knowledge integration influences entrepreneurial firms’ frugal innovation in the service industry. This study builds a moderated…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine how knowledge integration influences entrepreneurial firms’ frugal innovation in the service industry. This study builds a moderated mediation framework to investigate the effect of knowledge integration on frugal innovation via entrepreneurial bricolage and under moderations of competitive intensity and government support.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a two-wave survey study among 278 entrepreneurial firms from the service industry in China.
Findings
The findings reveal that knowledge integration positively influences entrepreneurial firms’ frugal innovation via entrepreneurial bricolage. Competitive intensity strengthens both the direct effect of knowledge integration on entrepreneurial bricolage and the indirect effects of knowledge integration on frugal innovation via entrepreneurial bricolage. Government support buffers the effect of entrepreneurial bricolage on frugal innovation but does not influence the indirect effect of knowledge integration on frugal innovation.
Practical implications
This study advocates for managers in entrepreneurial firms to cultivate knowledge integration to improve frugal innovation through activating entrepreneurial bricolage strategy and to pay attention to competitive intensity and government support in the transformation process from knowledge integration to frugal innovation.
Originality/value
While the link between knowledge integration and frugal innovation of entrepreneurial firms in the service industry remains unexplored in the fields of knowledge and innovation management, this study contributes to the knowledge and innovation management literature by exploring the mediating role of entrepreneurial bricolage based on a knowledge-based view and the moderation roles of competitive intensity and government support in this relationship.
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Keywords
Mahmood Hajli, Hatem Bugshan, Xiaolin Lin and Mauricio Featherman
The emergence of Web 2.0 opened a new route for education to use the values derived from this development. The future of e-learning is social learning, where individuals can learn…
Abstract
Purpose
The emergence of Web 2.0 opened a new route for education to use the values derived from this development. The future of e-learning is social learning, where individuals can learn online due to the facility of social media. Social media such as online communities are places for social interactions between users. These social interactions are the way forward and can drive social support in an online context. This paper aims to explore the impact of these interactions
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses social support theory to explore the impact of social interactions on the internet on learning and education. The research uses a case study and investigates the health industry.
Findings
The paper explains the development in e-learning through social media and the emerging concept of social learning.
Originality/value
The contribution of this research is to emphasise social relationships of individuals in the internet and social interaction in online communities which enhance their learning qualities. The research drawn on social support theory describes social learning as a future for e-learning.
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Lei Yin, Xiaolin Zheng, Dongxing Tang, Yanfeng Han, Rui Zhao and Yi Chen
This study aims to develop a new method to treat the numerical singularity at the critical nodes of two skew coordinates, and optimize the leakage of micro herringbone grooved…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to develop a new method to treat the numerical singularity at the critical nodes of two skew coordinates, and optimize the leakage of micro herringbone grooved journal bearings (MHGJBs) with this method.
Design/methodology/approach
A side leakage numerical algorithm is proposed by using the skew meshes with a virtual node (SMVN) method to evaluate the effects of groove angle, bank/groove ratio, groove depth and groove number on load capacity, friction and side leakage of MHGJB.
Findings
The SMVN method is effective in treating the numerical singularity at the critical nodes of two skew coordinates. Besides, a group of optimized parameters of micro herringbone groove is obtained which can not only minimize the side leakage but also improve the load capacity and friction force.
Originality/value
A virtual node method was proposed, which can significantly improve the calculation accuracy in the side leakage model.
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