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In this paper, the standard Peridynamic Timoshenko beam model accounting for the shear deformation is chosen to describe the thick beam kinematics. Unfortunately, when applied to very thin beam structures, the standard Peridynamics (PD) encounters the shear locking phenomenon, leading to incorrect solutions.

PD differs from classical continuum mechanics and other nonlocal theories that do not involve spatial derivatives of the displacement field. PD is based on the integral equation instead of differential equations to handle discontinuities and other singularities.

The shear locking can be successfully alleviated using the developed selective integration method. In particular, this technique has been implemented in the standard PD, which allows an accurate result for a wide range of slenderness from very thin to thick (10 < L/t < 10³) structures. It can also accelerate the computational time for particular dynamic problems using fewer neighboring integration particles. Several numerical examples are solved to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for modeling beam structures.

The paper highlights the severe shear locking phenomenon in the Peridynamic Timoshenko beam available in the literature, especially for very thin structures. A new alternative for the alleviation of shear locking in the Peridynamic Timoshenko beam, using selective integration. Hence the developed Peridynamic Timoshenko beam model is effective for thin and thick structures. A new peridynamic formulation for the low-velocity impact beam models is presented and validated.

1. The paper highlights the severe shear locking phenomenon in the Peridynamic Timoshenko beam proposed in the literature, especially for very thin structures.

2. The developed Peridynamic Timoshenko beam model based on selective integration is effective for thin and thick structures.

3. A new peridynamic formulation for the low-velocity impact beam models is presented and validated.

The paper highlights the severe shear locking phenomenon in the Peridynamic Timoshenko beam proposed in the literature, especially for very thin structures.

The developed Peridynamic Timoshenko beam model based on selective integration is effective for thin and thick structures.

A new peridynamic formulation for the low-velocity impact beam models is presented and validated.

Typical feature-matching algorithms use only unary constraints on appearances to build correspondences where little structure information is used. Ignoring structure information makes them sensitive to various environmental perturbations. The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel graph-based method that aims to improve matching accuracy by fully exploiting the structure information.

Instead of viewing a frame as a simple collection of keypoints, the proposed approach organizes a frame as a graph by treating each keypoint as a vertex, where structure information is integrated in edges between vertices. Subsequently, the matching process of finding keypoint correspondence is formulated in a graph matching manner.

The authors compare it with several state-of-the-art visual simultaneous localization and mapping algorithms on three datasets. Experimental results reveal that the ORB-G algorithm provides more accurate and robust trajectories in general.

Instead of viewing a frame as a simple collection of keypoints, the proposed approach organizes a frame as a graph by treating each keypoint as a vertex, where structure information is integrated in edges between vertices. Subsequently, the matching process of finding keypoint correspondence is formulated in a graph matching manner.

The purpose of this paper is to posit that coding should be considered as a critical part of new literacies. Teacher educators should first adopt the new literacies perspective, and then prepare pre-service teachers to teach both traditional literacy and new literacies skills, especially preparing them how to weave coding into K-5 literacy curricula to cultivate younger learners’ new ways of expressions and computational thinking skills. To facilitate this educational transformation, low-cost Web 2.0 tools and apps were introduced as one practical approach, along with some literacy lesson ideas to help teacher educators and pre-service teachers begin to integrate coding into the K-5 literacy curricula.

This paper is a viewpoint paper.

A table of low-cost Web 2.0 tools was presented with sample lesson ideas.

More than ever, coding breaks the traditional definition of literacy as paper-based reading and writing. It empowers students to read, write and create with multimodality on multiple platforms. Weaving coding into the literacy curricula offers the window to promote both computational thinking and new literacies skills. Teacher educators, among all other stakeholders, should begin the efforts to prepare pre-service teachers to weave coding into the literacy curricula and other content areas in the teacher educations programs now.

With the growing pressure to gain optimum level of quality and speed, Lean Six Sigma (LSS) practices have drawn considerable attention as a viable alternative for process improvement. However, previous studies revealed that there is very little systematic and rigorous research to validate the claims. In this regard, this paper aims to empirically examine the effect of LSS practices on quality performance in the medical device manufacturing industry.

For this study, partial least square–based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to empirically examine the effect of LSS practices on quality performance in Malaysian medical device manufacturing industry.

The findings of this paper revealed that LSS practices have a significant and positive effect on quality performance in the medical device manufacturing industry.

This paper will serve as a valuable implication for industry practitioners in providing them with a clearer managerial direction to exploit the strength of LSS practices to achieve company’s quality goals. Moreover, this study will serve as a basis for future LSS scholars, providing them with valuable insights and directions for future research.

This paper develops a conceptual LSS framework that captures the integrated nature of two methodologies and provides empirical evidence that supports the positive influence of LSS practices on quality performance; hence, it contributes to the growing body of LSS literature in both theoretical and empirical sense.

The purpose of this paper is to propose the complementary design rules, give a quantitative comparison and analyze the force production mechanism of two kinds of primary wound field flux-switching linear (PWFFSL) motors.

PWFFSL motors have the merits of no use of rare-earth magnet, low cost and a wide operation range in which the armature windings and the field windings are all located at the short primary mover and the secondary is very robust. Hence, the PWFFSL motor is ideal for rail transportation systems which need a long stator and a wide speed range. To overcome the disadvantages of the existing PWFFSL motors, new complementary design rules will be proposed. Also, to offer a better PWFFSL motor for the rail transportation systems, it is necessary to investigate different structures of PWFFSL motors and give a comprehensive comparison. To predict the force performance of two kinds of PWFFSL motors with different secondary types, their flux density analysis and force production mechanism will be presented and compared.

The comparison result shows that the PWFFSL motor with toothed secondary can offer larger thrust force, higher force density and higher efficiency, whereas the PWFFSL motor with segmented secondary has the merits of lower force ripple, less use of stator iron, higher power factor and less critical saturation.

Many PWFFSL motors with different primary/secondary pole pitches based on the proposed design principle have not been considered in this paper.

This paper has presented the air-gap flux analysis, proposed the complementary design rules for two kinds of PWFFSL motors with different secondary types and compared the electromagnetic performance of the two motors.

In 2017, the Chinese Super League (CSL), the first professional football division in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), became the highest-spending league in the international players’ transfer market, with a total spending of €377m. Moreover, the government of the PRC is backing the CSL with an ambitious football plan. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the governance of the CSL by questioning the organisational viability of the league.

In addition to the relevant international literature, this study is based on 14 recent scholarly articles published in Mandarin from 2013 to 2018 to reflect the national academic debate. Moreover, website research on all CSL clubs has been conducted. The institutional analysis follows the integrative change model of Cunningham (2002) complemented by agency and bureaucracy theory.

The CSL still faces substantial governance problems caused by the divergence of goal setting, organisational inefficiencies and compliance issues. The organisational change is notably constrained by internal competitive value commitments and external power dependency.

The institutional findings on the CSL provide a starting point for empirical studies. The approach contributes to the theory of sport governance processes.

The material and insights are informative for decision makers to evaluate the competitiveness of the CSL.

This paper is the first international in-depth analysis of the governance of the CSL using the body of knowledge published in Mandarin.

The SERVPERF (for Service Performance) and the HEdPERF (for Higher Education Performance) are two questionnaires for collecting customer/student feedback on service quality that have been tested and used mainly in non‐Chinese contexts. The purpose of this paper is to adapt and initially validate a Chinese translation of these two instruments for application in the context of post‐secondary education in Hong Kong.

Given that a Chinese translation of the two questionnaires concerned has not been tested in this new response‐context, an exploratory approach was adopted by examining the psychometric properties of the SERVPERF scales and the HEdPERF scales via scale alpha, item‐correlation analysis and exploratory factor analysis using valid responses collected from 271 students.

The alpha values of both the SERVPERF scales and the HEdPERF scales are good or acceptable, with the latter better than the former in general. In the present study, the validity of employing the SERVPERF in the targeted response‐context is supported as all the five SERVERF dimensions have been cleanly identified in the exploratory factor analysis. However, only three out of the five HEdPERF dimensions were identified in the present study, and two of the identified dimensions are complex concepts with each of them exhibited as two factors in the exploratory factor analysis, casting doubt on the appropriateness of the direct employment of the HEdPERF in the targeted response‐context for the measurement of service quality.

The students who participated in the present study were pursuing Project Yi Jin, which was a special one‐year post‐secondary programme in Hong Kong.

Taking both reliability and validity issues into consideration, this initial investigation indicates that the SERVPERF may be a more appropriate instrument than the HEdPERF for supporting quality assurance in the context of Hong Kong post‐secondary education, especially when multiple questionnaires will be used for collecting students' feedback on their various experiences at different levels, where it is important for these questionnaires to be, as much as possible, simple and non‐overlapping.

As the virtual reference service (VRS) is becoming a standard service of the digital library, efficient collaboration among virtual reference services is also becoming more and more important for information exchange and sharing. This paper seeks to examine existing collaborative VRS systems with a view to achieving collaboration.

This paper studies existing collaborative VRS (CVRS) systems and analyzes their structures, methods and functions for achieving collaboration.

Three collaborative structure models are proposed and basic collaborative methods and collaborative functions are concluded. A CVRS reference model is depicted.

Since the study is not based on an exhaustive list of CVRS systems and technologies are always developing, the collaborative structure models, methods and functions presented in this paper are possibly not complete and may need to be adjusted and amended. There is also urgent work to be done to advance and establish related standards and protocols for CVRS.

The study is intended to help libraries to identify quickly the necessary elements and mechanisms for the design of a proper degree of CVRS or to develop or evaluate VRS systems.

This paper proposes and concludes collaborative structure models, methods, functions and a reference model of CVRS. It should prove helpful for libraries wishing to provide CVRS, as well as for further research on CVRS.

The flammability of epoxy resin is a major disadvantage in applications that require flame resistance. Epoxy monomers and hardeners containing flame-retardant elements are molecularly incorporated in the resin network are expected to exhibit better flame resistance than those borne on an additive approach. In recent years, because of health and environmental regulation, the use of waterborne coatings has received many attentions. However, waterborne epoxy resin curing agent with excellent flame retardancy has been seldom reported. The paper aims to study the preparation of waterborne P-N-containing epoxy resin curing agent and its performances (P-N – phosphorous and nitrogen).

Waterborne P-N-containing epoxy curing agent was prepared in this study using reactive flame retardant 10-(2,5-dihydroxyphenyl)-9,10-dihydro-9-xa-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide, liquid epoxy resin, triethylenetetramine and butyl glycidyl ether at the mole ratio of 1.0:2.0:2.0:2.0.

The results show that the epoxy thermoset from the prepared P-N-containing curing agent presents good flame retardancy and can pass the V-1 rating, and the cured epoxy thermoset film presents excellent performances such as water resistance, adhesion, impact resistance and pencil hardness. This study provides useful suggestions for the application of the water-borne flame retardancy epoxy resins in coating industry.

Each step of products during the preparation of waterborne P-N-containing epoxy curing agent cannot be accurately tested.

This method for synthesis of waterborne P-N-containing epoxy curing agent is novel and could be used for various applications in epoxy coating industry.

The purpose of this paper is to relate how Shanghai Jiao Tong University Library integrates its resources and services, the functions realised and technologies adopted in order to meet user's information needs in a simple, convenient and personalised way. As information resources become more web‐based, disparate and distributed, libraries are facing the challenge of how to provide information efficiently to their users. A promising approach is to integrate resources and deliver services via a portal.

This paper analyses existing portal features, needs and functions, and carries out the approach to meet portal requirements through resource integration and service integration supported by MetaLib, SFX and Web 2.0 technologies.

Portal requirements can be met by resource integration and service integration. Methods to achieve cross searching, ways to enhance resource linking, and integration of library, subject and personalisation services are analysed and concluded. The service framework is depicted in the end.

Since the analysis is not based on an exhaustive list of portals and as technologies are always developing rapidly, the methods and functions to achieve information integration and provision presented in this paper perhaps are not complete and may need to be adjusted and amended. Work is also needed urgently to develop and establish related standards and protocols for service collaboration.

This paper should be helpful for libraries that plan to provide services to their users via information portals, or to develop or evaluate portal systems or products.

This paper analyses and concludes methods and functions to meet portal requirements through resource integration and service integration supported by MetaLib, SFX and Web 2.0 technologies. It discusses the service collaboration and depicts the service framework.