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Many waste-to-energy (WTE) plants are constructed and operated using the public-private partnership (PPP) mode in China. However, risk events of PPP WTE incineration projects sometimes occur. This study aims to clarify the relationship of risks in China's PPP WTE incineration projects and identify the key risks accordingly and risk transmission paths.

A risk list of PPP WTE incineration projects was obtained based on literature analysis. Moreover, a hybrid approach combining fuzzy sets, decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) and interpretive structural modeling (ISM) was developed to analyze the causality of risks, explore critical risks and reveal the risk transmission paths. The quantitative analysis process was implemented in MATLAB.

The results show that government decision-making risk, government credit risk, government supervision behavior risk, legal and policy risk, revenue and cost risk and management capacity risk are the critical risks of PPP WTE incineration projects in China. These critical risks are at different levels in the risk hierarchy and often trigger other risks.

Currently, there is a lack of exploration on the interaction between the risks of PPP WTE incineration projects. This study fills this gap by examining the key risks and risk transfer pathways of PPP WTE incineration projects from the perspective of risk interactions. The findings can help the public and private sectors to systematically understand the risks in PPP WTE incineration projects, thus enabling them to identify the risks that need to be focused on when making decisions and to optimize risk prevention strategies. The proposed hybrid approach can offer methodological ideas for risk analysis of other types of PPP projects.

It is a challenge to print a model with the size that is larger than the working volume of a three-dimensional (3D) printer. The purpose of this paper is to present a feasible approach to divide a large model into small printing parts to fit the volume of a printer and then assemble these parts into the final model.

The proposed approach is based on the skeletonization and the minima rule. The skeleton of a printing model is first extracted using the mesh contraction and the principal component analysis. The 3D model is then partitioned preliminarily into many smaller parts using the space sweep method and the minima rule. The preliminary partition is finally optimized using the greedy algorithm.

The skeleton of a 3D model can effectively represent a simplified version of the geometry of the 3D model. Using a model’s skeleton to partition the model is an efficient way. As it is generally desirable to have segmentations at concave creases and seams, the cutting position should be located in the concave region. The proposed approach can partition large models effectively to well retain the integrity of meaningful parts.

The proposed approach is new in the rapid prototyping field using the model skeletonization and the minima rule. Based on the authors’ knowledge, there is no method that concerns the integrity of meaningful parts for partitioning. The proposed method can achieve satisfactory results by the integrity of meaningful parts and assemblability for most 3D models.

Despite the growing popularity of ride-sharing in China, our understanding regarding users' trust and behavioral intention toward this new type of hailing service is still limited. This study aims to examine the joint influences of institution-based, process-based and characteristic-based antecedents on customers' trust and continuance intention toward ride-sharing. Furthermore, the study aims to investigate if the relative influences of institution-based and process-based antecedents on trust are contingent upon customers' prior experience.

Drawing upon trust-building literature and the elaboration-likelihood model, we developed a research model and conducted an online survey to users of Didi, the largest ride-sharing platform in China. We used the structural equation modeling technique to analyze the collected data and examine the proposed research model.

Ther major research findings of the study suggest that structural assurance, government support, platform reputation and disposition to trust exhibit significant and different degrees of influences on customers' trust beliefs and continuance intention toward ride-sharing. A multi-group analysis further suggests that customers with less use experience focus more on government support and platform reputation, while customers with more use experience are more likely influenced by structural assurance.

The study contributes to the extant literature by identifying the joint influences of institutional-based, process-based and characteristic-based antecedents on users' continuance intention of ride-sharing service and uncovers the mediation mechanism of trust and perceived risk. Moreover, the study refines the boundary condition of the proposed research model by revealing the moderating effect of use experience.

The purpose of this study is to develop a molecular imprinting electrochemical sensor for the specific detection of the anticancer drug amsacrine. The sensor used a composite of bacterial cellulose (BC) and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as a platform for the immobilization of a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) film. The main objective was to enhance the electrochemical properties of the sensor and achieve a high level of selectivity and sensitivity toward amsacrine molecules in complex biological samples.

The composite of BC-AgNPs was synthesized and characterized using FTIR, XRD and SEM techniques. The MIP film was molecularly imprinted to selectively bind amsacrine molecules. Electrochemical characterization, including cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, was performed to evaluate the modified electrode’s conductivity and electron transfer compared to the bare glassy carbon electrode (GCE). Differential pulse voltammetry was used for quantitative detection of amsacrine in the concentration range of 30–110 µM.

The developed molecular imprinting electrochemical sensor demonstrated significant improvements in conductivity and electron transfer compared to the bare GCE. The sensor exhibited a linear response to amsacrine concentrations between 30 and 110 µM, with a low limit of detection of 1.51 µM. The electrochemical response of the sensor showed remarkable changes before and after amsacrine binding, indicating the successful imprinting of amsacrine in the MIP film. The sensor displayed excellent selectivity for amsacrine in the presence of interfering substances, and it exhibited good stability and reproducibility.

This study presents a novel molecular imprinting electrochemical sensor design using a composite of BC and AgNPs as a platform for MIP film immobilization. The incorporation of BC-AgNPs improved the sensor’s electrochemical properties, leading to enhanced sensitivity and selectivity for amsacrine detection. The successful imprinting of amsacrine in the MIP film contributes to the sensor's specificity. The sensor's ability to detect amsacrine in a concentration range relevant to anticancer therapy and its excellent performance in complex sample matrices add significant value to the field of electrochemical sensing for pharmaceutical analysis.

This paper aims to explore the influence of marketing investment on drug diffusion processes, to analyze the heterogeneity of the diffusion characteristics and to understand the drug diffusion patterns in the prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) markets.

The study introduces marketing investment into the Bass model. The authors use the Generalized Bass Model (GBM) to examine the influence of marketing efforts on drug diffusion in Chinese prescription and OTC markets.

The results of this study suggest that the imitation effect in the prescription drug market is greater than that in the OTC drug market; drug diffusion in the OTC market reaches saturation earlier in the diffusion process. Before reaching the critical state, the effect of marketing investment on drug diffusion in the OTC market is greater than that in the prescription market, and after the critical state, drug diffusion in the prescription market is more sensitive to marketing investment.

The study demonstrates the value of the GBM in empirical analyses of drug diffusion across two distinct markets, and the marketing regulation policies governments adopt have a powerful impact on the speed at which drugs become available in different markets. It enriches the extant product diffusion literature by highlighting the different diffusion patterns of the two segments of pharmaceutical market.

This paper aims to examine the effect of differential leadership on organizational corruption by developing a measure of organizational corruption and proposing a moderated mediation model. The model focuses on the mediating role of moral disengagement underpinning the relationship between differential leadership and organizational corruption, and the moderating role of organizational justice in influencing the mediation.

The authors collected 210 responses from online participants with full time work experience and 57 MBA students answered the survey offline.

Results showed that differential leadership was positively associated with organizational corruption. Furthermore, moral disengagement fully mediated the relationship between differential leadership and organizational corruption. Besides, distributive justice negatively but procedural justice positively moderated the indirect effect of moral disengagement.

Testing the moderated mediation model helps to advance the theoretical understanding of the mechanisms that underlie the effect of differential leadership on organizational corrupt behavior.

This empirical study provides preliminary evidence of the mediating role of moral disengagement in the positive relationship between differential leadership and organizational corruption. The mediated moderation also extends the finding by adding organizational justice as the moderator to explain how the effect of differential leadership on organizational corruption. Finally, this study provides initial evidence for organizational corruption measure.

This study aims to explore the effect of chief executive officer education on firms’ action timing and acquisition performance in industry merger waves. In addition, this study investigated the moderating influence of CEO duality and firm cash flow on the relationship between education and entry timing.

Following the methodology for determining merger waves in previous studies, the authors identified 16 industry merger waves of Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2019. Multiple linear regression was employed to examine the hypotheses.

The results showed that higher CEO education was associated with early participation in merger waves. CEO duality negatively moderated the education-entry timing relation. The effect of CEO education on entry timing was more pronounced when firms had higher cash flow. Moreover, more educated CEOs materially enhanced acquisition performance in merger waves.

Entry timing in industry merger waves has important implications, as early movers establish competitive advantages and achieve higher acquisition performance. However, the managerial characteristics determining entry timing have not received adequate attention. Meanwhile, studies examining the effect of CEO education on acquisitions are limited. This study explored the effect of CEO education on firms’ entry timing and acquisition performance in merger waves, thereby contributing to the literature on merger waves and managerial characteristics. This study’s findings regarding the moderators of the education-entry timing relation enrich the literature on corporate governance and agency theory.

This paper aims to explore the influence of entrepreneur’s political involvement on private-own enterprises’ (POEs’) selection of two inter-organizational conflict resolutions approaches (private approach and public approach), in the context of China’s transition economy.

Drawing on a sample of POEs operating in China’s transition economy in the year 2000, this study investigates the possible association between the entrepreneur’s political involvement and the approach chosen to resolve inter-organizational conflicts. A further step is taken to look into the implications of such a choice.

The empirical study reveals that those POEs with greater entrepreneurial political involvement have the propensity to rely on public approach. In general, POEs are more satisfied with the private approach than the public approach when managing conflicts. Besides, the study shows that the positive effects derived from the entrepreneur’s satisfaction on private approach will be weakened in more established institutions.

This paper has its unique contribution in highlighting the significance of how entrepreneurs’ political involvement interferes with inter-organizational conflict resolution.

This study applied eye-tracking techniques and questionnaires within the framework of the Stimulus-Organism-Response Model (SOR) and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), to investigate the influencing factors of the public acceptance of 5G base stations.

This study used a combination of eye-tracking experiments and questionnaires. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

(1) The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) could be used to explain the effects on public acceptance of 5G base stations in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The public's perceived usefulness and ease of use of 5G base stations positively affects public acceptance of 5G base stations. (2) The public's perceived risk of 5G base stations has a negative influence on the public acceptance of 5G base stations. (3) The public's visual attention to the different valence information about 5G base stations positively impacts the perceived ease of use while having negative impacts on perceived risk. (4) Visual attention to various valence information of 5G base stations can indirectly influence public acceptance through the perceived risk.

Applying the SOR and TAM to data obtained from eye-tracking experiments and questionnaires, this study analyzed the factors and mechanisms influencing public acceptance of 5G base stations in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To paint large workpieces automatically, painting manipulators with hollow wrists must be transported by mobile platforms to different positions because of their limited workspaces. This paper aims to provide a visualization method for finding appropriate base positions (BPs) and maximum painting areas for manipulators.

This paper begins by analyzing the motion characteristics of manipulators possessing a spherical wrist and summarizing them into three constraints – positioning, orientation and singularity avoidance. The hollow wrist is simplified and considered as spherical by introducing the concepts of an inner wrist center and an outer wrist center. Taking the three constraints into consideration, the boundaries of the manipulating space are formulated analytically. Finally, to verify the method, the space obtained is applied to determine the maximum painting areas for flat, cylindrical and conical surfaces. Experiments of robotic painting were used to confirm the results.

Compared with previous studies, the maximum areas obtained using the proposed method increased by 17-131 per cent with an algorithm of lower complexity, and the process remained visually intuitive, thereby demonstrating that the method of manipulating space is more effective.

Such a method allows individuals to visualize the entire painting area at the current BP, thereby maximizing painting areas or optimizing BPs. It opens a black box that is the relationship between BPs and blocks. The method can also be used to choose the best configuration for painting manipulators, select the end-effector structure parameters, split surfaces into blocks, etc.