Search results

Stereo vision technique simulates the function of the human eyes to observe the world, which can be used to compute the spatial information of weld seam in the robot welding field. It is a typical kind of application to fix two cameras on the end effector of robot when stereo vision is used in intelligent robot welding. In order to analyse the effect of vision system configuration on vision computing, an accuracy analysis model of vision computing is constructed, which is a good guide for the construction and application of stereo vision system in welding robot field.

A typical stereo vision system fixed on welding robot is designed and constructed to compute the position information of spatial seam. A simplified error analysis model of the two arbitrary putting cameras is built to analyze the effect of sensors' structural parameter on vision computing accuracy. The methodology of model analysis and experimental verification are used in the research. And experiments related with image extraction, robot movement accuracy is also designed to analyze the effect of equipment accuracy and related processed procedure in vision technology.

Effect of repeatability positioning accuracy and TCP calibration error of welding robot for visual computing are also analyzed and tested. The results show that effect of the repeatability on computing accuracy is not bigger than 0.3 mm. However, TCP affected the computing accuracy greatly, when the calibrated error of TCP is bigger than 0.5, the re‐calibration is very necessary. The accuracy analysis and experimental technique in this paper can guide the research of three‐dimensional information computing by stereo vision and improve the computed accuracy.

The accuracy of seam position information is affected by many interactional factors, the systematic experiments and a simplified error analysis model are designed and established, the main factors such as the sensor's configurable parameters, the accuracy of arc welding robot and the accuracy of image recognition, are included in the model and experiments. The model and experimental method are significant for design of visual sensor and improvement of computing accuracy.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how signals of uncertainty in the media affect retail investor decisions and initial public offering (IPO) underpricing through theoretical and empirical methods.

The authors construct a theoretical model of the influence of media signals on IPO pricing, which describes the micro process in which uncertain signals in media influence retail investors’ decisions and IPO underpricing. Besides, the authors take 516 small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) listed in A-share from July 2009 to December 2012 as samples for empirical tests and establish an in-depth learning model for text analysis with Java programming to measure Chinese media tone. Finally, the results of the model analysis are verified by empirical results.

The results show that authoritative media with high credibility can reduce the uncertainty of information sources attract more investors’ attention and improve the valuation and demand of retail investors. The higher the media credibility is the higher the IPO underpricing rate is. The uncertain tone of the media will increase the decision-making cost of investors reduce the valuation expectation and demand of the secondary market and lead to a lower IPO underpricing rate.

The authors study the influence of the uncertainty of media source and media content on the degree of IPO underpricing of SMEs. This is a useful supplement to the Chinese media tone research system that is still in the exploration stage. The research has reference value for government regulation and investor decision-making.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the principles on how to reuse the reclaimed wastewater in urban areas and furthermore, to determine appropriate reuse targets and optimize the selection of reuse targets on wastewater.

Use Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to suggest the assessment criteria and subject weights of wastewater reuse. Candidate reclaimed wastewater reuse targets in this study includes “agriculture irrigation,” “industrial use,” “environmental use,” “urban use,” “groundwater recharge,” “life-use water,” and “infusion reservoir.”

The analysis results of the pairwise comparison of the water targets under different assessment criteria level show that in all water targets, agriculture irrigation is more important than industrial use under the “public acceptance” at first. Then, the order results were used to suggest the future wastewater reuse targets under different assessment criteria levels and conducted an acceptance survey on the people of the urban areas.

The results of this study can be a useful information for the system analysis of wastewater reclamation and reuse.

During COVID-19 restrictions, people spent more time in cyberspace and consuming health-related information. An increase was also observed in mediated caring messages or health-relevant information sent to one another. This study aims to explore how the information and interactions around COVID-19 can provide a good learning opportunity for public health, specifically related to eHealth literacy and eHealth promotion.

While mainstream literature has concentrated on experimental designs and a priming effect, this study inspects psychological distance related to a health threat under real-life circumstances. The article adopted a survey approach and utilized PLS-SEM techniques to examine the proposed hypotheses.

Results indicated that whereas closer social support correlates with closer psychological distance and less usage of the social media approach, more substantial COVID-19 impacts were associated with closer psychological distance but greater use of social media. Since both closer psychological distance and social media approach contribute to eHealth literacy, social support from closer and virtual social networks should be embraced but utilized through different routes and for different purposes. The timing of messages but not psychological distance affects people's social media approach, indicating that morning messages should be employed. Moreover, eHealth literacy mediates timing preferences and leads to a preference for eHealth communication earlier in the day. Overall, morning messages create a virtuous circle during a health crisis.

This paper establishes a mechanism of virtuous cycles for eHealth communication during a health threat. Additionally, it bridges existing research gaps by expanding chronopsychology and CLT in the health domain using an empirical approach, a real-life case and an extension of performance regarding information-seeking and utilization.

This paper aims to propose a numerical definition-based systematic design approach (NDSDA) to generate an explicit numerical definition of the product form profile and to establish the correlation between the product form features and the corresponding consumers’ image perceptions.

To illustrate the feasibility of the proposed method, this study considers the design of a two-dimensional automobile profile for illustration purposes and commences by developing a detailed numerical definition of an automobile profile using Bézier curves. A series of automobile image evaluations are conducted to examine the relationship between the characteristics of an automobile profile and its associated consumer image perception. Finally, the evaluation results are analyzed statistically, and the statistical results are used to construct mathematical models formalizing the correlations between the automobile profile design variables and the consumers’ perceptions of the product image.

The results of the evaluation trials are used to construct mathematical models capable of predicting the likely consumer response to any automobile profile designed in accordance with the numerical definition. Furthermore, the evaluation data enable the critical design variables and form features to be determined such that the efficacy of the design process in creating automobiles which better meet the consumers’ image aspirations can be improved.

The major contribution of the NDSDA methodology presented in this study is the ability it gives to designers to specify the product form in a detailed yet highly efficient manner. Furthermore, the numerical definition of the product form not only provides a suitable basis for identifying the critical design variables and form features of the product but also provides an understanding of how these variables should be manipulated to obtain or reinforce the desired product image.

By adding a Ce salt and an Nd salt to an anodizing electrolyte, modified anodic films are obtained on aluminum surfaces. This paper aims to study the effects of rare‐earth elements on the corrosion resistance of the anode film.

The crystalline film was studied by X‐ray diffraction. The methods of scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive X‐ray analysis, electrochemical polarization, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were used to characterize the properties of the films.

After rare‐earth element modification, the pores of the porous layer were very evidently smaller, the anodic film was more compact, and the thickness and hardness of the films had increased. The corrosion resistance of the anodic films modified with rare‐earth elements clearly was improved in neutral, acidic, and basic NaCl solutions. Ce showed a better effect than Nd in increasing the corrosion resistance of the films, and the film modified with Ce+Nd showed the highest corrosion resistance. EIS analysis showed that the impedances of both the barrier layer and porous layer of the anodic films increased after modification with the rare‐earth elements, indicating that the anodizing process was affected by the presence of the rare‐earth elements.

The results presented in this paper offer a foundation for further research and application of rare‐earth elements in aluminum anodic oxide films.

This paper presents an alternative approach to evaluating the overall efficiency and performance of Taiwanese container ports. Specifically, a parallel activity with series structure concept in the form of data envelopment analysis (MNDEA) is used to construct a model that applies to three different activities: harbor management, stevedoring and warehousing operations. We will further divide each activity into two process types, production processes and services processes. We will also adopt a Delphi survey approach and use the Analytic Network Process (ANP) to identify these processes’influence dependence and their degree of importance for the MNDEA model setting. An empirical application demonstrates the performance of Taiwanese container ports by using MNDEA with window analysis techniques via the directional distance functionThe results demonstrate that the application is effective in indicating and/or suggesting resource-adjustments, while considering which undesirable output levels and shared inputs were involved. The results also present directions for possible improvements in workplace efficiency.

The purpose of this paper is to improve the efficiency of loading and discharging operations in container terminals. Accounting for an increase in the size of ships, the yard truck (YT) routing and scheduling problem has become an important issue to terminal operators.

A (binary) integer programming model is developed using the time-space network technique to optimally move YTs between quay cranes (QC) and yard cranes (YC) in the time and space dimensions. The objective of the model is to minimize the total operating cost, and the model employs the M/M/S model in the queuing theory to determine the waiting time of YTs. The developed model can obtain the optimal number of YTs and their scheduling and routing plans simultaneously, as shown by the computational results.

The results also show that the model can be applied to practical operations. In this research, an experimental design of the QC and YC operation networks was considered with the import and export containers carried by YTs. The model can be used to tackle a real world problem in an international port, and the analysis results could be useful references for port operators in actual practice.

The purpose of this research only focusses on YTs routing and scheduling problem, however, the container terminal operation problems are interrelated with berth allocation and yard stacking plan. The managerial application of this study is to analyze the trade-off between truck numbers and truck waiting time can be used for terminal operators to adjust the truck assignment. This research can assist an operator to determine the optimal fleet size and schedule in advance to avoid wasted costs and congestion in the quayside and yard block.

This research solves the YT scheduling and routing problem for container discharging and loading processes with a time-space network model, which has not been previously reported, through an empirical research.

The purpose of this paper is to test and explain the context where motivation to learn (MTL) reduces innovative behavior in the organizational context.

The authors used questionnaire survey to collect data in a field study. In order to test the moderating effect of transfer climate, MTL on the relationship between MTL and innovative behavior, a sample of 606 employees was analyzed to examine the theoretical expectation by using multiple regression and bootstrapping.

The authors found employees motivated to learn showed less innovative behavior when perceived transfer climate is less favorable. The authors further revealed that motivation to transfer mediates the moderating effect of transfer climate for the relationship between MTL and innovative behavior.

One suggestion for further research is to investigate the relationship among the four constructs by using multi-source, multi-wave and multi-level method.

This study provides several useful guidance of how organization and manager avoid the negative effects of MTL through encouraging employees to learn new knowledge and skills, and providing employee opportunities to use their acquired knowledge and skills.

The authors contribute to the motivational literature by taking a step further to understand the effect of MTL. The authors propose and confirm that employee MTL can lead to negative outcomes when individuals perceived transfer climate is low. The results offer new insight beyond previous findings on positive or non-significant relationship between MTL and innovative behavior. The results further show that this interactive effect is induced by motivation to transfer. Particularly, low transfer climate reduces individuals’ motivation to transfer, and individuals with high MTL have low innovative behavior when they are less motivated to transfer.