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The purpose of this paper is to determine the effects of clothing ease and body postures on the size and distribution of the air gap as well as the body coverage with the clothing.

Visual and quantitative analyses were conducted using a 3D body scanner and Geomagic Software. The air gap size and clothing area factor (f_cl) in three test coverall and seven selected postures were calculated and compared.

The results indicated that both the clothing ease and body postures had a strong effect on the air gap and clothing coverage, especially the more complex the postures, the wider the range of influence. Nevertheless, these effects varied over body regions, being stronger at the lower body than the upper body. The air gap size at the left side of the body was generally larger than the right side. It was also found that the clothing coverage was linearly correlated with the air gap size and could be employed as an indicator to evaluate clothing protective capabilities.

The findings suggested that greater attention should be paid to the protection and flexibility at the lower body and asymmetrical distribution of the air gap should be considered in the future air gap modeling.

The outcomes provided useful information to improve the protective clothing and develop more realistic air gap models to simulate the heat and mass transfer.

Digital finance has the transformative power to realise financial inclusion. However, evidence on the relationship between digital finance and poverty reduction remains limited. This study examines the mitigating effects of digital financial inclusion (DFI) on vulnerability to poverty in rural China, explores potential mechanisms at the micro-level, and investigates the external conditions for DFI to validate these effects.

Rural household data from the China Labour Force Dynamics Survey and the regional DFI index compiled by Peking University are used. The probit and mediation effect models are employed to assess the impacts of the DFI on vulnerability to poverty and explore its mechanisms, with an appropriate instrumental variable to mitigate potential endogeneity.

DFI can mitigate vulnerability to poverty in Chinese rural households. Specifically, both sub-indices – coverage breadth and depth of use – have a significant effect. Further analyses based on the mediation model show that improving agricultural productivity, stimulating entrepreneurial activities and promoting non-agricultural employment are the core mechanisms for alleviating poverty vulnerability. Heterogeneity analysis shows that DFI is pro-poor and benefits those who lack economic opportunities. Moreover, adequate endowment in rural households, such as production and human capital, is an external condition for digital finance to mitigate vulnerability to poverty.

This study is among the first to examine the vulnerability-mitigation effects from the perspective of digital finance development, relying on data from a large-scale, nationwide household survey and the regional DFI index. It also checks for the mechanisms and heterogeneity of the effects, which prove the effects can help balance efficiency and equity.

This study investigates the relationship between financial inclusion (FI) and banks’ performance in the economy of Jordan using annual data of 13 commercial banks from 2009 to 2014. Performance is measured by gross income and return on assets (ROA) of these banks. To ensure the robustness of our results, we used six different measures of FI. These include credits for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), deposits for SMEs, number of ATMs, number of ATM services, number of credit cards, and new services. We found a significant impact of FI on ‘ performance when measured by gross income, and ROA, although our study displays different results when considering the effect of FI variables separately. Thus, FI contributes to enhance the banks’ performance. Therefore, the banks should devote more resources to increase FI as it benefits their profitability.

Rural China has been undergoing the “religion fever” since the Reform and Opening-up. By comparing the intergenerational lock-in effects of religious belief with that of non-religious belief, the purpose of this paper is to explain why more and more peasants convert to religion especially Christianity in China.

Data used in this paper comes from a field survey conducted in villages, Funan county. The samples were obtained by the two-stage cluster probability proportional sampling method. Based on the collected survey data, econometric model on the intergenerational lock-in effects of belief was constructed and used for analysis.

Compared with non-religious believers, religious believers can transmit their beliefs more successfully. In addition, the intergenerational lock-in effects of religious beliefs is weakened by oblique socialization in contemporary rural China.

This is the first paper focussing on intergenerational transmission of belief in rural China; although many researchers did careful analyses on effects of parents’ belief or religiosity on children’s belief or religiosity in the West, few of them compared the success of intergenerational transmission between different beliefs. This paper fills this gap; as an interdisciplinary study, this paper tries to study religion in economics analysis approaches. This attempt extends research field in Economics and at the same time enriches analysis tools in Religion.

This study aims to solve the premature failure of the rubber stator due to wear, reduce the frictional resistance moment of the screw pump to solve the problem of a model of Daqing oilfield screw pump oil recovery system shutdown after the difficult start.

For the first time, the rotor surface of a screw pump was treated with dot-matrix texture to study the effect of dot matrix texture on the tribological performance of the stator-rotor friction subsets of screw pump. Reciprocating friction tests with different texture morphologies (S-shape, double tongue) and angular parameters (0°, 45° and 90°) were conducted at 10% of the texture area and pump silicone grease.

When point texture was added to the surface of the rotor sample, the friction coefficient and wear quantity of the sample were lower than those of the surface without texture treatment, and the double tongue 0° combination showed the best tribological properties. At this time, the average coefficient of friction and wear is reduced by 22.8% and 62%, 28.6% and 64.8%.

The introduction of texture can effectively improve the tribological performance of progressive screw pumps, and this paper provides important theoretical and experimental support for the design of progressive screw pumps in practical applications.

Copper matrix composites are widely used in high-voltage switches, electrified railways and other electric friction fields. The purpose of this study is to improve its wear resistance and investigate the effect of hybrid carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and titanium diboride (TiB₂) particles reinforced copper matrix composites on electrical wear performance.

CNTs and TiB₂ particles were introduced into copper matrix simultaneously by powder metallurgy combined with electroless copper plating. Electrical wear performance of the composites was studied on self-made pin on disk electrical wear tester.

The results show that the friction coefficient and wear rate of (1CNTs–4TiB₂)/Cu composite are respectively reduced by 40% and 25.3%, compared with single TiB₂/Cu composites. The micron-sized TiB₂ particles can hinder the plastic deformation of composites, and bear part of the load to weaken the wear rate of composites. CNTs with the self-lubricating property can form lubricating layer to reduce the friction coefficient of composites.

This work can provide a design method for further improving the wear properties of TiB₂/Cu composites.

The effect of different service parameters on the current-carrying tribological properties of CF-Al₂O₃/Cu composites was investigated, and the damage behavior of the composites under different service parameters was probed. The purpose of this study is to provide a theoretical basis for the application of CF-Al₂O₃/Cu composites.

The composites were fabricated by internal oxidation combined with powder metallurgy. The current-carrying tribological properties of CF-Al₂O₃/Cu composites were investigated on an electrical damage test system at different loads and currents.

As the load increases, the wear mechanism of the composite changes from abrasive wear to delamination wear. As the current increases, the oxidation wear and arc erosion of the composites gradually intensified. Under the service parameters of 0–25 A and 30–40 N, the composite has relatively stable current-carrying tribological properties.

This paper could provide a theoretical basis for the practical application of CF-Al₂O₃/Cu composites.