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This study aims to extend ambidexterity theory from the perspective of organisational learning and examine how process ambidexterity, which comprises operational flexibility and operational routine, responds to environmental uncertainty and ultimately reduces organisational risks.

This study tests the hypotheses by analysing 464 annual reports of 115 listed companies in the Chinese agricultural and food industry using content and secondary data analyses. Four case studies are also provided.

The results show that (1) environmental uncertainty has a positive effect on either operational flexibility or operational routine; (2) both operational flexibility and operational routine have negative effects on organisational risks, supporting the view that process ambidexterity mediates the relationship between environmental uncertainty and organisational risks; and (3) organisational slack plays the role of “double-edged sword” by negatively moderating the effect of environmental uncertainty on operational flexibility and positively moderating the effect of environmental uncertainty on operational routine.

In an uncertain environment, companies are exposed to greater risk. This study contributes to risk management in three ways: first, it extends ambidexterity theory to process management and proposes how process ambidexterity balances operational flexibility and routines. Second, it distinguishes between the different conditions under which flexibility or routines are superior. Third, it explains the mechanisms related to how organisations can resolve environmental uncertainty into risk through process ambidexterity.

This study aims to process multi-agent system with kinds of limitations and constraints, and consider the robot in-hand manipulation as a problem of coordination and cooperation of multi-fingered hand.

A cooperative distributed model predictive control (MPC) algorithm is proposed to perform robot in-hand manipulation.

A cooperative distributed MPC approach is formulated for robot in-hand manipulation problem, which enables address complex limitation and constraint conditions in object motion planning, and realizes tracking trajectory of the object more than tracking position of the object.

This method to implement the moving object task uses the kinematic parameters without the knowledge of dynamic properties of the object. The cooperative distributed MPC scheme is designed to guarantee the movement of the object to a desired position and trajectory at algorithmic level.

The purpose of this paper is to quantitatively investigate the effect of process parameters (including welding current, voltage and speed) and plate thickness on in-plane inherent deformations in typical fillet welded joint; meanwhile, the plastic strains remaining in the weld zone are also analyzed under different influencing factors.

To achieve the purpose of this study, a thermal-elastic-plastic finite element (TEP FE) model is developed to analyze the thermal-mechanical behavior of the T-welded joint during the welding process. Experimental measurements have verified the validity of the established TEP FE model. Using the effective model, a series of numerical experiments are performed to obtain the inherent deformations under the conditions of different influencing factors, and then the calculation results are discussed based on the relevant data obtained.

Through numerical simulation analysis, it is found that the longitudinal and transverse inherent deformations decrease with the increase of welding speed and plate thickness, whereas as the nominal heat input increases, the inherent deformations increase significantly. The longitudinal shrinkage presents a quasi-linear and nonlinear distribution in the middle and end of the weld, respectively. The plastic strains in the cross section of the T-joint also vary greatly because of the process parameters and plate thickness, but the maximum value always appears near the location of the welding toe, which means that this point faces a relatively large risk of fatigue cracking. The inherent deformations are closely related to the plastic strains remaining in the weld zone and are also affected by many influencing factors such as process parameters and plate thickness.

In this study, relatively few influencing factors such as welding current, voltage, speed and plate thickness are considered to analyze the inherent deformations in the T-welded joint. Also, these influencing factors are all within a certain range of parameters, which shows that only limited applicability can be provided. In addition, only in-plane inherent deformations are considered in this study, without considering the other two out-of-plane components of inherent deformations.

This study can help to expand the understanding of the relationship between the inherent deformations and its influencing factors for a specific form of the welded joint, and can also provide basic data to supplement the inherent deformation database, thereby facilitating further researches on welding deformations for stiffened-panel structures in shipbuilding or steel bridges.

This paper aims to improve the scene sense of a virtual scene, the welding model of a virtual reality system of riser automatic equipment was constructed using Unity3D and UG software, which mainly included a welding car, welding guide rail, welding power supply, virtual camera and other equipment and the model was rendered.

The human-computer interaction page and simulation test of the system was produced using the user interface GUI system for creating a human-computer interaction scene. The operator could capture the welding status of the physical equipment accurately and in real-time so the virtual reality technology was very suitable for the remote monitoring operation integrated with the welding system.

Human-computer interaction design and collision detection were realized. In addition, the system simulation experiment was accomplished. With the continuous improvement and development of virtual reality technology real-time virtual simulation and monitoring, technology will become the main development trend.

Based on virtual reality, the monitoring system can capture the operation status of physical welding equipment in real-time and accurately, which is very suitable for remote monitoring operation integrated with the welding system and also conducive to improving the monitoring level of the welding process.

This technology is time-saving and money-saving, for the operators do not have to be in a real welding environment and therefore they can get away from dangerous places. Consequently, it can avoid unnecessary injuries and problems.

This technology can replace people to enter the dangerous and extreme environment to carry out welding operation, so it becomes the most effective means of nuclear power plant maintenance, space structure construction and marine engineering construction. In addition, it is time-saving and money-saving.

With the rapid development of virtual reality technology in recent years, it is a new research direction to apply virtual reality technology to the remote welding operation. This technology is different from the traditional way of welding for the operators can stay away from the welding scene especially some dangerous places.

This paper aims to explore the mechanism of influence on the subordinate's sense of gain at work (SGW) in terms of the coaching leadership behavior (CL), supervisor-subordinate guanxi (SSG) and commitment-based practice of human resource management (CHRM).

Based on the survey of 584 employees from 50 firms operating in China, this study explores the effect of CL on employees’ SGW, which concerns two dimensions: sense of material gain and sense of spiritual gain.

Results show that the CL has a significant positive influence on both the subordinate’s sense of material gain and his/her sense of spiritual gain, in which there exists a mediating effect of SSG and moderating effects of CHRM for the influence.

This study not only develops the theory of SGW, but also provides a scientific basis and policy suggestions for employers to implement in order to enhance their employees’ SGW.

Few integrative studies have examined the impact of CL on employees’ SGW. Based on the Need-to-Belong Theory, this study adds new empirical evidence and constructs a theoretical model for the mechanism of influence on the SGW, examines the influence of CL on the subordinate’s SGW and finds a mechanism of transmission (SSG) and a boundary condition (CHRM) for the influence.

This paper aims to propose a diverless weld bead maintenance welding technology to prevent the leakage of subsea oil and gas pipeline and solve the key problems in the maintenance of subsea pipeline.

Based on the analysis of the cross-section of the fillet weld, the multi-layer and multi-pass welding path planning of the submarine pipeline sleeve fillet weld is studied, and thus a multi-layer and multi-pass welding path planning strategy is proposed. A welding seam filling method is designed, and the end position of the welding gun is planned, which provides a theoretical basis for the motion control of the maintenance system.

The trajectory planning and adjustment of multi-layer and multi-pass fillet welding and the motion stability control of the rotating mechanism are realized.

It provides the basis for the prototype design of the submarine pipeline maintenance and welding robot system, and also lays the foundation for the in-depth research on the intelligent maintenance system of submarine pipeline.

The maintenance of diverless subsea pipeline is a new type of maintenance method, which can solve the problem of large amount of subsea maintenance work with high efficiency.

This paper aims to gain a clear understanding of the ventilated cavity evolution around an NACA0015 hydrofoil by using both experimental and numerical investigation.

The bubble evolution around an NACA0015 hydrofoil with or without air injection was observed in a water tunnel, and the simulation was conducted using a modified turbulence model and homogeneous cavitation model.

The present simulation method can successfully predict the bubble evolutions around the NACA0015 hydrofoil with or without air injection. Air injection can alleviate the nature cavitation oscillation, and the suppression effect on nature cavitation depends on the air-entrant coefficient. It is confirmed that the air and vapor cavity have the same shedding frequency. It is seen that the air sheet closely attaches to the hydrofoil surface and is surrounded by the vapor sheet. Thus, the injected air promotes vapor growth and results in an increase in the cavity shedding frequency. Further, with a large air-entrant coefficient, the pressure fluctuation is suppressed completely.

The new simulation method is adopted to explore the mechanism of ventilated cavitation. The bubble evolutions with and without air injection have been comprehensively studied by experimental and numerical investigation. The effects of air injection on natural cavity oscillations and pressure fluctuations have been revealed in the present study.

Supply chain flexibility is crucial for firms to respond to uncertain circumstances caused by environmental factors, such as the diversity of customer demands, problems of product safety, and adjustments of industrial policies. To investigate the approach to enhance supply chain flexibility, the purpose of this paper is to propose that both internal and external information integration contribute to reactive and proactive supply chain flexibilities, which elicit high operational performance.

Using a sample of 84 food companies that have been listed three years in China and content analysis based on their annual reports, evidence was collected to test the hypotheses through hierarchical regressions.

The results reveal that external information integration results in both reactive and proactive flexibilities, which further improve operational performance. Internal information integration positively affects both reactive and proactive flexibilities, but its mediating role was not determined in the study.

The research provides insights into how supply chain flexibility mediates the effect of supply chain information integration on operational performance in the context of the Chinese food industry.

Using a sample of 9,898 firm-year observations from 1,821 unique Chinese listed firms over the period from 2004 to 2019, this study aims to investigate whether the market rewards meeting or beating analyst earnings expectations (MBE).

The authors use an event study methodology to capture market reactions to MBE.

The authors document a stock return premium for beating analyst forecasts by a wide margin. However, there is no stock return premium for firms that meet or just beat analyst forecasts, suggesting that the market is skeptical of earnings management by these firms. This market underreaction is more pronounced for firms with weak external monitoring. Further analysis shows that meeting or just beating analyst forecasts is indicative of superior future financial performance. The authors do not find firms using earnings management to meet or just beat analyst forecasts.

The authors provide evidence of market underreaction to meeting or just beating analyst forecasts, with the market's over-skepticism of earnings management being a plausible mechanism for this phenomenon.

The findings of this study are informative to researchers, market participants and regulators concerned about the impact of analysts and earnings management and interested in detecting and constraining managers' earnings management.

The authors provide new insights into how the market reacts to MBE by showing that the market appears to focus on using meeting or just beating analyst forecasts as an indicator of earnings management, while it does not detect managed MBE. Meeting or just beating analyst forecasts is commonly used as a proxy for earnings management in the literature. However, the findings suggest that it is a noisy proxy for earnings management.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a theory based on transaction cost economics to help explain how firms venturing into different foreign markets should properly formulate and implement contractual governance mechanisms to create greater efficiency, lower costs, and minimize conflict with partners.

Defines and discusses a conceptual framework of the determinants regarding contracts and strategies used to manage conflict in foreign ventures through the integration of foreign venture conflict resolution, contract, and transaction cost economics literature.

Suggests that perceived transaction costs will predict which contractual governance mechanism and which conflict resolution strategy a partner firm will choose when resolving conflict in a foreign venture. Postulates that consistency of conflict resolution strategy with contract type will impact the performance of the foreign venture, and that cultural distance, relative power, and interest alignment will all play a moderating role in this process.

The model demonstrates the necessity of examining how coupling certain conflict resolution strategies and contract types will impact foreign venture performance.