Search results

Stab-resistant body armor (SRBA) can protect the human body from injury as a result of stabbing by sharp projectiles. However, in its current design SRBA, it has not been widely adopted for use, because of its weight and poor flexibility. Herein, this paper aims to detail a new type of SRBA that is inspired by the armor plating of mammals and is fabricated using laser sintering (LS) technology.

This new type of SRBA was fabricated using LS technology. The laser sintered SRBA was subjected to a stab resistance performance test that conformed to the GA 68-2008 Chinese National Standard. The stab resistance response of the novel structured, stab resistance test plates in this study was analyzed using the using the AUTODYN explicit module in ANSYS-Workbench.

The structure of the novel stab resistance plate was designed and the optimum structural parameters were tested, discussed and achieved. The mechanism of dissipation of the impact energy by the pyramidal structures of the novel SRBA was studied, and it was found that this structure dispersed the kinetic energy of the knife and minimized the structural damage to the plate. Interlinks inspired by the pangolin hierarchy structure were designed and used to fabricate a large piece of laser sintered body armor.

High-performance laser sintered stab resistance plate was produced via the material and structure studies, which could reduce 40 per cent weight on the stab resistance body armor and increase the wearability.

The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively investigate the combined influence of a firm's political connection and diversification on corporate performance, and to explore whether firm's political connection has an impact on the diversification effect, and whether this diversification effect would promote its performance significantly or not.

The research used a regression model to explore the correlation among political connection, diversification strategy, and corporate performance. The research subjects are the private enterprises listed on Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange in China for the period 2002‐2005.

The study found that: first, for those firms without political connections, the relationship between diversification strategy and corporate performance displayed an “inverted U” curve; for firms with political connection, the relationship was a “reverse L”. Second, firms with political connections are more likely to implement a diversification strategy, especially unrelated diversification. Third, when implementing an internationalization strategy, private enterprises with political connections are more likely to expand through unrelated diversification strategy. Fourth, the diversification of the enterprises with political connection are more likely to promote the short‐term accounting performance than those without political connection, but the unrelated diversification of politically connected enterprises would have a negative impact upon its future performance, that is to damage the company's market value.

The paper expands the literature on the relationship between diversification and firm performance. It contributes to the research about the influence of political connection upon corporate performance.