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The influence of road surface temperature (RST) on vehicles is becoming more and more obvious. Accurate predication of RST is distinctly meaningful. At present, however, the prediction accuracy of RST is not satisfied with physical methods or statistical learning methods. To find an effective prediction method, this paper selects five representative algorithms to predict the road surface temperature separately.

Multiple linear regressions, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator, random forest and gradient boosting regression tree (GBRT) and neural network are chosen to be representative predictors.

The experimental results show that for temperature data set of this experiment, the prediction effect of GBRT in the ensemble algorithm is the best compared with the other four algorithms.

This paper compares different kinds of machine learning algorithms, observes the road surface temperature data from different angles, and finds the most suitable prediction method.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a robotic system for percutaneous surgery. The key component in the system, a robotic arm that can manipulate a puncture needle is presented. The mechanical design, the motion control and the force control method of the robotic arm are discussed in the paper.

The arm with an arc mechanism placed on a 3D Cartesian stage is developed as a puncture needle manipulator to locate the position of the needle tip, tune the needle’s posture and actuate the puncture motion under the visual guidance of two orthogonal X-ray images of a patient by a surgeon. A focusing method by using two laser spots is proposed to automatically move the needle tip to a surgery entry point on the skin. A dynamics model is developed to control the position of the needle mechanism and an explicit force control strategy is utilized to perform the needle insertion.

With the surgical system, a surgeon can easily perform puncture operation by taking two orthogonal real-time X-ray images as a visual feedback and accurately navigating the needle insertion. The laser-guided focusing method is efficient in placement of the needle tip. The explicit force control strategy is proved to be effective for holding constant and stable puncture force in experiments.

The robotic arm has an advantage in easy redirection of the needle because the rotation and the translation are decoupled in the mechanism. By adopting simple laser pens and a well-developed kinematics model, the system can handle the entry point, locating task automatically. The focusing method and the force control method proposed in the paper are useful for the present system and could be intuitive for similar surgical robots.

The purpose of this paper is to show that the droplet impact phenomenon is important for the advancement of industrial technologies in many fields such as spray cooling and ink jet printing. Droplet bouncing on the nonwetting surfaces is a special phenomenon in the impact process which has attracted lots of attention.

In this work, the authors fabricated two kinds of representative nonwetting surfaces including superhydrophobic surfaces (SHS) and a slippery liquid-infused porous surface (SLIPS) with advanced UV laser processing.

The droplet bouncing behavior on the two kinds of nonwetting surfaces were compared in the experiments. The results indicate that the increasing Weber number enlarges the maximum droplet spreading diameter and raises the droplet bounce height but has no effect on contact time.

In addition, the authors find that the topological SHS and SLIPS with the laser-processed microwedge groove array produce asymmetric droplet bouncing with opposite offset direction. Microdroplets can be continuously transported without any additional driving force on such a topological SLIPS. The promising method for manipulating droplets has potential applications for the droplet-based microfluidic platforms.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is used in the fresh agricultural product (FAP) supply chain, which can be coordinated through a revenue-sharing contract. The purpose of this paper is to make the three-level supply chain coordinate in IoT by considering the influence of FAP on market demand and costs of controlling freshness on the road.

A three-level FAP supply chain that comprises a manufacturer, distributor, and retailer in IoT is regarded as the research object. This study improves the revenue-sharing contract, determines the optimal solution when the supply chain achieves maximum profit in three types of decision-making situations, and develops the profit distribution model based on the improved revenue-sharing contract to coordinate the supply chain.

The improved revenue-sharing contract can coordinate the FAP supply chain that comprises a manufacturer, distributor, and retailer in IoT, as well as benefit all enterprises in the supply chain.

Resource utilization rate can be improved after coordinating the entire supply chain. Moreover, loss in the circulation process is reduced, and the circulation efficiency of FAPs is improved because of the application of IoT. The validity of the model is verified through a case analysis.

This study is different from other research in terms of the combination of supply chain coordination, FAPs, and radio frequency identification application in IoT.

The safety and reliability of high-speed trains rely on the structural integrity of their components and the dynamic performance of the entire vehicle system. This paper aims to define and substantiate the assessment of the structural integrity and dynamical integrity of high-speed trains in both theory and practice. The key principles and approaches will be proposed, and their applications to high-speed trains in China will be presented.

First, the structural integrity and dynamical integrity of high-speed trains are defined, and their relationship is introduced. Then, the principles for assessing the structural integrity of structural and dynamical components are presented and practical examples of gearboxes and dampers are provided. Finally, the principles and approaches for assessing the dynamical integrity of high-speed trains are presented and a novel operational assessment method is further presented.

Vehicle system dynamics is the core of the proposed framework that provides the loads and vibrations on train components and the dynamic performance of the entire vehicle system. For assessing the structural integrity of structural components, an open-loop analysis considering both normal and abnormal vehicle conditions is needed. For assessing the structural integrity of dynamical components, a closed-loop analysis involving the influence of wear and degradation on vehicle system dynamics is needed. The analysis of vehicle system dynamics should follow the principles of complete objects, conditions and indices. Numerical, experimental and operational approaches should be combined to achieve effective assessments.

The practical applications demonstrate that assessing the structural integrity and dynamical integrity of high-speed trains can support better control of critical defects, better lifespan management of train components and better maintenance decision-making for high-speed trains.

This paper summarizes the severity of global warming, collaboration and endeavor within international government and the trend of international development for “energy-saving and emission reduction.” The Chinese government is enduring high pressure under the environment of “global warming” and “energy-saving and emission reduction” and it has made a policy for “energy-saving and emission reduction.” Based on this, we analyzed the possibility and feasibility for our logistics to “energy-saving and emission reduction,” then propose some solutions for our logistics industry to development and “energy-saving and emission reduction.”

The purpose of this paper is to achieve effective governance of online rumors through the proposed rumor propagation model and immunization strategy.

The paper leverages the agent-based modeling (ABM) method to model individuals from two aspects, behavior and attitude. Based on the analysis and research of online data, we propose a rumor propagation model, namely the Untouched view transmit removed-Susceptible hesitate agree disagree (Unite-Shad), and devise an immunization strategy, namely the Gravity Immunization Strategy (GIS). A graph-based framework, namely Pregel, is used to carry out the rumor propagation simulation experiments. Through the experiments, the rationality of the Unite-Shad and the effectiveness of the GIS are verified.

The study discovers that the inconsistency between human behaviors and attitudes in rumor propagation can be explained by the Unite-shad model. Besides, the GIS, which shows better performance in small-world networks than in scale-free networks, can effectively suppress rumor propagation in the early stage.

This paper provides an effective immunization strategy for rumor governance. Specifically, the Unite-Shad model reveals the mechanism of rumor propagation, and the GIS provides an effective governance method for selecting immune nodes.

The inconsistency of human behaviors and attitudes in real scenes is modeled in the Unite-Shad model. Combined with the model, the definition of diffusion domain is proposed and a novel immunization strategy, namely GIS, is designed, which is significant for the social governance of rumor propagation.

Blockchain technology is one of the emerging innovative technologies making waves globally, and it has been adjudged to have the capability to transform businesses. With the different capabilities of the technology, such as immutability of information and decentralisation of authority attributes, the built environment is slow in its adoption. This study aims to explore the barriers to the implementation of blockchain technology in the construction using a principal component analysis (PCA) approach.

This research took a post-positivist philosophical stance, which informed a quantitative research approach through a questionnaire survey. From the South African built environment and information technology sector, 79 respondents were drawn through a snowballing sampling technique. The built environment professionals include architect, construction project manager, construction manager, quantity surveyor and engineer. Retrieved data were screened and analysed by adopting the descriptive analysis and PCA while Cronbach alpha evaluated the reliability. Also, Kruskal–Wallis H non-parametric test was used to determine the differences in the opinion of the respondent groups.

The analysis revealed that all the identified barriers ranked above the average mean with lack of clarity, scalability risks and lack of skills or knowledge ranking top three. PCA clustered the identified barriers into three components: organisational barriers, social barriers and technological barriers.

This study was carried out in the Gauteng province of South Africa, leaving out other provinces due to accessibility, cost and time constraints.

Built environment organisations need to be kept abreast of the capabilities of blockchain technology as the major barrier observed was the lack of clarity of blockchain technology. Also, the technological barriers identified from this study need to be addressed by information technology experts to give consumers the desired value for money in implementing blockchain technology for the built environment.

The blockchain technology capabilities are incomparable to any other invention thus far. Therefore, it is very important that the numerous stakeholders in the built environment be made aware of the blockchain technology capabilities while formulating a solution to the identified barriers. This will aid its implementation in the built environment and help the industry measure up with its counterparts.

The purpose of this research is to develop a framework of an ontology-based Asset Information Model (AIM) for a Digital Twin (DT) platform and enhance predictive maintenance practices in building facilities that could enable proactive and data-driven decision-making during the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) process.

A scoping literature review was accomplished to establish the theoretical foundation for the current investigation. A study on developing an ontology-based AIM for predictive maintenance in building facilities was conducted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with industry professionals to gather qualitative data for ontology-based AIM framework validation and insights.

The research findings indicate that while the development of ontology faced challenges in defining missing entities and relations in the context of predictive maintenance, insights gained from the interviews enabled the establishment of a comprehensive framework for ontology-based AIM adoption in the Facility Management (FM) sector.

The proposed ontology-based AIM has the potential to enable proactive and data-driven decision-making during the process, optimizing predictive maintenance practices and ultimately enhancing energy efficiency and sustainability in the building industry.

The research contributes to a practical guide for ontology development processes and presents a framework of an Ontology-based AIM for a Digital Twin platform.

This paper aims to elucidate the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, reverse innovation and international performance of emerging economy multinational enterprises (EMNEs).

The authors analyze archival data of Chinese limited companies between 2010 and 2016, including 11,230 firm-year observations about 1708 firms. In order to test the study’s mediation hypotheses, the authors apply an ordinary least square (OLS) regression.

The authors find evidence that the entrepreneurial orientation of EMNEs has a positive effect on reverse innovations. Furthermore, the authors find positive effects of reverse innovation on the international performance of EMNEs. This pattern of results suggests that the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and international performance is partially mediated by reverse innovation.

The study’s findings help managers in EMNEs to promote reverse innovation by building and using their entrepreneurial orientation. It also helps them to set out and gauge the chances of success of their internationalization strategies. The findings also hold relevance for firms in developed economies as well, as they may understand which emerging economy competitors stand to threaten their positions.

The strategic role of reverse innovations – i.e. clean slate, super value and technologically advanced products originating from emerging markets – has generated considerable research attention. It is clear that reverse innovations impact the international performance of EMNEs. Yet how entrepreneurial orientation influences international performance is still underexplored. Thus, the current study clarifies the mechanism by examining and testing the mediating role of reverse innovation among the entrepreneurial orientation–international performance link.