Search results

11 – 20 of over 2000
Article
Publication date: 4 January 2021

Jianghong Zhao and Xin Li

Vortex grippers use tangential nozzles to form vortex flow and are able to grip a workpiece without any physical contact, thus avoiding any unintentional workpiece damage. This…

Abstract

Purpose

Vortex grippers use tangential nozzles to form vortex flow and are able to grip a workpiece without any physical contact, thus avoiding any unintentional workpiece damage. This study aims to use experimental and theoretical methods to investigate the effects of nozzle diameter on the performance.

Design/methodology/approach

First, various suction force-distance curves were developed to analyze the effects of nozzle diameter on the maximum suction force. This study determines the tangential velocity distribution on the workpiece surface by substituting the experimental pressure distribution data into simplified Navier-Stokes equations and then used these equations to analyze the effects on the flow field. Subsequent theoretical analysis of the distribution of pressure and circumferential velocity further validated the experimental results. Next, by rearranging these relationships, the study considered the effects of nozzle diameter on the inherent vortex gripper characteristics. In addition, this study developed various suction force-energy consumption curves to analyze the effects of nozzle diameter.

Findings

The results of this study indicated that the vortex gripper’s circumferential velocity and maximum suction force decrease with increasing nozzle diameter. Nozzle diameter did not significantly affect the inherent frequency of the vortex gripper-workpiece inertial system or the corresponding suspension stability of the workpiece. However, an increase in nozzle diameter did effectively increase the vortex gripper’s suspension region. Finally, as the nozzle diameter increased, the energy required to achieve the same maximum suction force decreased.

Originality/value

This study’s findings can enable optimization of nozzle design in emerging vortex gripper designs and facilitate informed selection among existing vortex grippers.

Details

Assembly Automation, vol. 41 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-5154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 October 2023

Jingyu Cheng, Minxi Wang, Lilin Wu and Xin Li

The purpose of this paper is to explore the high-quality development (HQD) strategy of Chinese mineral resource enterprises, which is important for Chinese mineral resource…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the high-quality development (HQD) strategy of Chinese mineral resource enterprises, which is important for Chinese mineral resource enterprises to improve the efficiency and benefit of resource utilization, reduce the intensity of resource and energy consumption and gradually form resource-saving and environment-friendly enterprises.

Design/methodology/approach

This study establishes an evaluation index system with four dimensions: economy, environment, society and management innovation. The entropy value method assigns weights to them and then uses the system dynamics (SD) model for case simulation.

Findings

The results of the SD simulation conclude that the fulfillment of social responsibility and the implementation of management innovation can accelerate the realization of HQD of mineral resource enterprises; profitability plays a crucial role in economic indicators; the improvement of energy-saving volume has the most significant impact on environmental benefits; the social contribution is the key element to measure social indicators; and the sales rate of core products has the most significant impact on the benefits of management innovation.

Originality/value

Based on the few studies on the evaluation of the development strategy of mineral resource enterprises, this study establishes an evaluation index system that considers the interactions between indicators, combines the entropy value method with SD and uses the SD model to comprehensively and systematically analyze the impact and degree of each factor on the HQD of mineral resource enterprises.

Details

Chinese Management Studies, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-614X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 March 2020

Yan Song, Xin Yun Li, Yi Li and Xianpei Hong

The purpose of this paper is to establish a deterministic equivalent income model (DEIM) based on the risk cost (RC) and risk aversion of investors. The model fully considers both…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to establish a deterministic equivalent income model (DEIM) based on the risk cost (RC) and risk aversion of investors. The model fully considers both subjective and objective factors that affect risk investment and reasonably evaluates risk investment schemes to choose the correct investment scheme and gain greater investment returns.

Design/methodology/approach

The utility function is used to measure the extent to which an investor is satisfied by investment returns in various scenarios. Risk aversion expresses subjective attitude of investors to risk. RC represents risk loss in currency. This methodology is based on risk aversion function, utility function and RC theory to establish DEIM.

Findings

This study shows that investors with different risk preferences have different certainty equivalent returns (CER), so their choices of investment options change accordingly.

Practical implications

In this paper, the authors use DEIM to test an investment case and conclude that the CER and investment scheme both change with different risk preferences. At the same time, case analysis shows that DEIM is reasonable and stable when evaluating risk investment schemes.

Originality/value

In this study, the authors innovate by introducing both the RC and risk aversion degree into risk investment schemes evaluation and by deriving a utility function from the absolute risk aversion function to build a utility decision matrix and establish DEIM. The model combines the subjective and objective factors that influence risk investment decisions.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 50 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 August 2018

Yanwu Yang, Xin Li, Daniel Zeng and Bernard J. Jansen

The purpose of this paper is to model group advertising decisions, which are the collective decisions of every single advertiser within the set of advertisers who are competing in…

1352

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to model group advertising decisions, which are the collective decisions of every single advertiser within the set of advertisers who are competing in the same auction or vertical industry, and examine resulting market outcomes, via a proposed simulation framework named Experimental Platform for Search Engine Advertising (EXP-SEA) supporting experimental studies of collective behaviors in the context of search engine advertising.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors implement the EXP-SEA to validate the proposed simulation framework, also conduct three experimental studies on the aggregate impact of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), the competition level and strategic bidding behaviors. EXP-SEA supports heterogeneous participants, various auction mechanisms and also ranking and pricing algorithms.

Findings

Findings from the three experiments show that both the market profit and advertising indexes such as number of impressions and number of clicks are larger when the eWOM effect is present, meaning social media certainly has some effect on search engine advertising outcomes, the competition level has a monotonic increasing effect on the market performance, thus search engines have an incentive to encourage both the eWOM among search users and competition among advertisers, and given the market-level effect of the percentage of advertisers employing a dynamic greedy bidding strategy, there is a cut-off point for strategic bidding behaviors.

Originality/value

This is one of the first research works to explore collective group decisions and resulting phenomena in the complex context of search engine advertising via developing and validating a simulation framework that supports assessments of various advertising strategies and estimations of the impact of mechanisms on the search market.

Details

Internet Research, vol. 28 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1066-2243

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2022

Pei Liu, Yu Ma, Xin Li, Caodie Peng and Yaoqi Li

Frontline service employees are often subjected to customer mistreatment and considerable studies have tested outcomes of customer mistreatment. However, the importance of its…

Abstract

Purpose

Frontline service employees are often subjected to customer mistreatment and considerable studies have tested outcomes of customer mistreatment. However, the importance of its antecedents is particularly underestimated. This meta-analytic paper aims to develop an overarching framework that identifies the antecedents of customer mistreatment as well as potential boundary conditions to account for observed variations reported in extant studies.

Design/methodology/approach

Comprehensive electronic and manual searches were performed to retrieve relevant studies on customer mistreatment, which yielded 125 articles, including 141 independent samples. Altogether, these studies included 40,151 participants. The data were analyzed through random-effect meta-analytic methods in R using the psychmeta package.

Findings

Three types of antecedents were identified. In particular, regarding employees’ demographic characteristics, age was found to be negatively correlated with customer mistreatment. Employees’ personality traits such as agreeableness, conscientiousness, positive affectivity, emotion regulation ability and self-efficacy were found to be negatively correlated with customer mistreatment, while neuroticism and negative affectivity were positively correlated with customer mistreatment. In terms of contextual factors, perceived social support and service climate were negatively related to customer mistreatment, whereas job demands were positively related to customer mistreatment. Moreover, the power distance culture and types of service industries moderated some relationships.

Originality/value

This meta-analytic research, drawing upon the perpetrator predation framework, proposed a new and comprehensive framework to explain why customer mistreatment occurs. It not only promoted the advancement of literature on customer mistreatment but also provided effective and targeted guidance for helping frontline service employees reduce such negative experience.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 34 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 July 2022

Xubo Yu, Jianghong Zhao and Xin Li

The Bernoulli gripper fixedly installed on the manipulator is subject to limitations such as a small-working region and poor anti-interference capacity. This paper aims to propose…

Abstract

Purpose

The Bernoulli gripper fixedly installed on the manipulator is subject to limitations such as a small-working region and poor anti-interference capacity. This paper aims to propose a novel Bernoulli gripper design that involves the connection of a positive stiffness component such as a spring in series, based on the force characteristic curve synthesis method, to optimize the mechanical performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed gripper is designed and manufactured. In the suction procedure, the force characteristic curve of the proposed gripper is theoretically and experimentally investigated. In the hovering detection procedure, a dynamic model of the manipulator-gripper-workpiece system is established, and an apparatus is set up to compare the displacements of the workpiece and the manipulator. The proposed gripper is finally applied in the lifting procedure, showing good impact resistance.

Findings

The optimization of mechanical performance of the proposed gripper is realized. The proposed gripper has the effect of increasing the stiffness of the negative stiffness part of the force characteristic curve and reducing the stiffness of the positive stiffness part, increasing the working region. The stability and the anti-interference ability of the workpiece under high-frequency vibration are improved. Meanwhile, the impact resistance in the lifting procedure is enhanced, compared with the original one.

Originality/value

This research proposes a novel design for the Bernoulli grippers to optimize the mechanical performance. The proposed gripper has advantages of a larger working region, better anti-interference ability and better impact resistance. These findings serve as important theoretical and experimental references for the design of the Bernoulli gripper.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. 49 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 7 February 2018

Xin Li

The purpose of this paper is to comment on Professor Ming-Jer Chen’s recent publication titled “Competitive dynamics: Eastern roots, Western growth” and present an asymmetry…

5065

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to comment on Professor Ming-Jer Chen’s recent publication titled “Competitive dynamics: Eastern roots, Western growth” and present an asymmetry reversing perspective on the competitive dynamics between two nonobvious, invisible or indirect competitors, namely, how emerging market resource-poor firms compete and outcompete advanced country resource-rich rivals.

Design/methodology/approach

The author first identifies an important neglect in Professor Chen’s scholarship on competitive dynamics, i.e., the neglect of the ubiquity of the less visible competition between two actors who initially would not be considered as competitors. Then, the author proposes an asymmetry reversing theory (ART) of competitive dynamics to redress this neglect. The theory is presented in two parts. The first part describes the competitive dynamics between the two actors as a three-stage process of reversing the asymmetry in resource possession and market position between the resource-poor firm and its resource-rich rivals. The second part explains the key success factors for the resource-poor firm to go through each of the three stages.

Findings

The growth process of the resource-poor firm can be broadly divided into three stages: surviving, catching-up, and outcompeting. For ambitious yet pragmatic resource-poor firms, in the surviving stage, they often (have to) accept the asymmetry between themselves and their resource-rich rivals in terms of resource possession and market position, and try to avoid any direct competition with the strong incumbents. They often tactically appear to pursue different paths of development from those of the strong incumbents by focusing on particular product categories and market segments. Doing so allows the resource-poor firms to win times and spaces for non-interrupted growth. Once they have accumulated sufficient resources and market experiences, they start to reduce the asymmetry between themselves and their better-endowed rivals by entering the similar or same product categories and market segments. To effectively catch up and outcompete the incumbents, they often differentiate themselves from their rivals by offering cheaper products or services, adding new features to their products, providing extra services to their customers, inventing new business models, etc.

Research limitations/implications

One limitation of this paper is that the ART framework has so far been built on anecdotal evidences. It needs to be tested by empirical studies and refined further in the future. Another limitation is that the proposed theory is based on competitive dynamics between emerging market resource-poor firms and advanced country resource-rich firms. It needs to be tested whether this theory has applicability to any other firms.

Originality/value

This paper fills an important research gap in the competitive dynamics literature by proposing an asymmetry reversing theory of competitive dynamics between a weak latecomer and a strong incumbent in a competitive field.

Details

Cross Cultural & Strategic Management, vol. 25 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-5794

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 December 2017

Jiaojiao Fan, Xin Li, Qinghua Shi and Chi-Wei Su

The purpose of this paper is to examine the causal relationship between Chinese housing and stock markets. The authors discuss the three transmission mechanisms between the two…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the causal relationship between Chinese housing and stock markets. The authors discuss the three transmission mechanisms between the two markets: wealth effect, modern portfolio theory and credit-price effect. Moreover, the authors focus on the effects of inflation on the relationship between the two markets.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses wavelet analysis to test the housing and stock markets relationship both in the frequency domain and time domain.

Findings

The empirical results indicate that housing prices have a positive effect on stock prices, and these have the same effect on housing prices. Moreover, this positive effect means that stock prices have a wealth effect on housing prices and these have a credit-price effect on stock prices.

Research limitations/implications

These results provide information to financial institutions and individual investors in China to assist them in constructing investment portfolios within these two asset markets.

Originality/value

The authors first use wavelet analysis to analyze Chinese housing and stock markets and to provide information both on the frequency domain and time domain. Moreover, the authors take the inflation factor as a control variable in the causal relationship between the housing and stock markets.

Details

China Finance Review International, vol. 8 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2044-1398

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 July 2021

Xiaokun Li and Xin Li

Autonomous mobile cleaning robots are widely used to clean solar panels because of their flexibility and high efficiency. However, gravity is a challenge for cleaning robots on…

Abstract

Purpose

Autonomous mobile cleaning robots are widely used to clean solar panels because of their flexibility and high efficiency. However, gravity is a challenge for cleaning robots on inclined solar panels, and robots have problems such as high working power and short battery life. This paper aims to develop a following robot to improve the working time and efficiency of the cleaning robot.

Design/methodology/approach

The mechanical structure of the robot is designed so that it can carry a large-capacity battery and continuously power the cleaning robot. The robot determines its position and orientation relative to the edge of solar panel by using optoelectronic sensors. Based on the following distance, the robot changes its state between moving and waiting to ensure that supply cable will not drag.

Findings

Prototype following robot test results show that the following robot can stably follow the cleaning robot and supply continuous power to cleaning robot. The linear error of the following robot moving along the solar panel is less than 0.3 m, and the following distance between the robot and the cleaning robot is in 0.5–1.5 m.

Practical implications

The working time of cleaning robots and working efficiency is improved by using following robot, thereby reducing the labor intensity of workers and saving the labor costs of cleaning.

Originality/value

The design of the following robot is innovative. Following robot works with the existing cleaning robots to make up for shortcomings of the existing cleaning system. It provides a more feasible and practical solution for using robots to clean solar panels.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. 49 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 September 2020

Ming Kong, Li Xin, Mengyuan Chen and Haonan Li

Based on role theory, from the perspective of workplace behaviors (proactive behavior, in-role behavior and organizational citizenship behavior), this paper provides a perspective…

Abstract

Purpose

Based on role theory, from the perspective of workplace behaviors (proactive behavior, in-role behavior and organizational citizenship behavior), this paper provides a perspective of matching process on the importance of fit in personnel selection.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a sample of 231 leader–employee dyadic in a two-wave survey, the hypotheses were demonstrated with hierarchical regression analyses.

Findings

The results presented that: (1) Employees' perceptions of implicit leadership prototype fit and leaders' perceptions of implicit followership prototype fit were positively related to employees' workplace behaviors; (2) Employees' perceptions of implicit leadership prototype fit and leaders' perceptions of implicit followership prototype fit increased person-supervisor fit; (3) The influence of the interaction between employees' perceptions of implicit leadership prototype fit and leaders' perceptions of implicit followership prototype fit on employees' workplace behaviors will be mediated, first by person-supervisor fit and then by work engagement.

Originality/value

This study introduces the perspective of matching process that reflects the relative importance of fit in personnel selection. The results also enriched role theory from the perspective of implicit prototype fit, which provides an important basis for managers to effectively use managerial cognition and inspire employees' positive workplace behaviors.

Details

Personnel Review, vol. 50 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0048-3486

Keywords

11 – 20 of over 2000