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Article
Publication date: 4 April 2016

Yang Lu, Shujuan Yi, Yurong Liu and Yuling Ji

This paper aims to design a multi-layer convolutional neural network (CNN) to solve biomimetic robot path planning problem.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to design a multi-layer convolutional neural network (CNN) to solve biomimetic robot path planning problem.

Design/methodology/approach

At first, the convolution kernel with different scales can be obtained by using the sparse auto encoder training algorithm; the parameter of the hidden layer is a series of convolutional kernel, and the authors use these kernels to extract first-layer features. Then, the authors get the second-layer features through the max-pooling operators, which improve the invariance of the features. Finally, the authors use fully connected layers of neural networks to accomplish the path planning task.

Findings

The NAO biomimetic robot respond quickly and correctly to the dynamic environment. The simulation experiments show that the deep neural network outperforms in dynamic and static environment than the conventional method.

Originality/value

A new method of deep learning based biomimetic robot path planning is proposed. The authors designed a multi-layer CNN which includes max-pooling layer and convolutional kernel. Then, the first and second layers features can be extracted by these kernels. Finally, the authors use the sparse auto encoder training algorithm to train the CNN so as to accomplish the path planning task of NAO robot.

Details

Assembly Automation, vol. 36 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-5154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 February 2014

Yiheng Deng and Kaibin Xu

– This paper aims to explore language strategies and techniques in Chinese mediation that are adopted by mediators to motivate and facilitate compromise among disputants.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore language strategies and techniques in Chinese mediation that are adopted by mediators to motivate and facilitate compromise among disputants.

Design/methodology/approach

Ten cases were audio-recorded on the spot, transcribed for analysis in their Chinese form, and then translated into English for English readers. The translation of excerpts used in this paper to demonstrate points was double checked to ensure accuracy. Discourse analysis was adopted to explore the meanings and functions of the utterances in these excerpts.

Findings

It is found that power is embedded in the mediator's position and in his/her role in the mediation. Furthermore, neutrality is less of a concern as compared to justice in the mediator's terms. Finally, socio-cultural indications of the language strategies and techniques were drawn about contemporary Chinese society.

Practical implications

When dealing with Chinese people in conflict, one may emphasize common goals and bring in external reasons such as seniority, face, and status to motivate and facilitate compromise.

Originality/value

Studying transcripts of cases that were recorded in real time and recently is rare in studies of Chinese mediation. Studying what people actually say provides us data in reality, in contrast to the ideals as well as what they say they do in mediation.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 25 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1044-4068

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 July 2023

Zhang Yanyan, Chuen-Khee Pek and Tat-Huei Cham

This study aims to look into consumers' green consumption intention by incorporating social media exposure, environmental concern and habit into theory of planned behavior (TPB…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to look into consumers' green consumption intention by incorporating social media exposure, environmental concern and habit into theory of planned behavior (TPB) in the context of China advocating green consumption.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the data collected from online survey, this study use partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analysis the measurement model and structure model.

Findings

The results show attitude, social media exposure, environmental concern and subjective norms are important determinants of consumers' intention to purchase green products.

Originality/value

This study explores the new associations between the major constructs of the TPB model in green consumption. This study also expanded the TPB model by adding three extra factors, namely social media exposure, habit and environmental concern. In addition, this study attempts to bridge the gap between attitude and intention from a new perspective by using social media exposure as a moderating variable.

Details

Journal of Strategy and Management, vol. 16 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1755-425X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 August 2014

Wei Meng, Quan Liu, Zude Zhou and Qingsong Ai

The purpose of this paper is to propose a seamless active interaction control method integrating electromyography (EMG)-triggered assistance and the adaptive impedance control…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a seamless active interaction control method integrating electromyography (EMG)-triggered assistance and the adaptive impedance control scheme for parallel robot-assisted lower limb rehabilitation and training.

Design/methodology/approach

An active interaction control strategy based on EMG motion recognition and adaptive impedance model is implemented on a six-degrees of freedom parallel robot for lower limb rehabilitation. The autoregressive coefficients of EMG signals integrating with a support vector machine classifier are utilized to predict the movement intention and trigger the robot assistance. An adaptive impedance controller is adopted to influence the robot velocity during the exercise, and in the meantime, the user’s muscle activity level is evaluated online and the robot impedance is adapted in accordance with the recovery conditions.

Findings

Experiments on healthy subjects demonstrated that the proposed method was able to drive the robot according to the user’s intention, and the robot impedance can be updated with the muscle conditions. Within the movement sessions, there was a distinct increase in the muscle activity levels for all subjects with the active mode in comparison to the EMG-triggered mode.

Originality/value

Both users’ movement intention and voluntary participation are considered, not only triggering the robot when people attempt to move but also changing the robot movement in accordance with user’s efforts. The impedance model here responds directly to velocity changes, and thus allows the exercise along a physiological trajectory. Moreover, the muscle activity level depends on both the normalized EMG signals and the weight coefficients of involved muscles.

Details

Industrial Robot: An International Journal, vol. 41 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 February 2015

Jiunn-Liang Guo, Hei-Chia Wang and Ming-Way Lai

The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel feature selection approach for automatic text classification of large digital documents – e-books of online library system. The…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel feature selection approach for automatic text classification of large digital documents – e-books of online library system. The main idea mainly aims on automatically identifying the discourse features in order to improving the feature selection process rather than focussing on the size of the corpus.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed framework intends to automatically identify the discourse segments within e-books and capture proper discourse subtopics that are cohesively expressed in discourse segments and treating these subtopics as informative and prominent features. The selected set of features is then used to train and perform the e-book classification task based on the support vector machine technique.

Findings

The evaluation of the proposed framework shows that identifying discourse segments and capturing subtopic features leads to better performance, in comparison with two conventional feature selection techniques: TFIDF and mutual information. It also demonstrates that discourse features play important roles among textual features, especially for large documents such as e-books.

Research limitations/implications

Automatically extracted subtopic features cannot be directly entered into FS process but requires control of the threshold.

Practical implications

The proposed technique has demonstrated the promised application of using discourse analysis to enhance the classification of large digital documents – e-books as against to conventional techniques.

Originality/value

A new FS technique is proposed which can inspect the narrative structure of large documents and it is new to the text classification domain. The other contribution is that it inspires the consideration of discourse information in future text analysis, by providing more evidences through evaluation of the results. The proposed system can be integrated into other library management systems.

Details

Program, vol. 49 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0033-0337

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 January 2022

Joanna Dyczkowska and Justyna Fijałkowska

This longitudinal research paper is based on a case study analysis of two Danish life science companies. The general purpose of the paper is to uncover changes in the reporting…

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Abstract

Purpose

This longitudinal research paper is based on a case study analysis of two Danish life science companies. The general purpose of the paper is to uncover changes in the reporting practices of experienced integrated reporting (IR) reporters. In order to meet that objective, a pragmatic constructivist paradigm was applied to make a better understanding of factors affecting disclosure decisions in the integrated reports.

Design/methodology/approach

The research uses a qualitative methodological approach. It is based on content and discourse analyses of the written documents, including the integrated reports, auditors' statements and independent assurance reports.

Findings

The model developed in this study reflects a real phenomenon related to the development of IR practices. The pragmatic constructivist paradigm explains how practitioners perceive business reality, act in the face of changing facts and values and make decisions regarding material disclosures.

Research limitations/implications

The investigation of only two companies may be perceived as a limitation of this study. However, a small number of life science companies have prepared integrated reports for a long time. The selected organisations are the pioneers in that field and have drawn up integrated reports since 2002 or 2004.

Originality/value

This paper develops an original model of IR “concept in practice”. It considers the regulatory framework regarding materiality in IR through the prism of facts that form a basis for practical work. It also emphasises an impact of a value system and social context on disclosure decisions in integrated reports. In that way, a link between the constructivist paradigm and IR is created.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 35 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 August 2021

Hendrik Kohrs, Benjamin Rainer Auer and Frank Schuhmacher

In short-term forecasting of day-ahead electricity prices, incorporating intraday dependencies is vital for accurate predictions. However, it quickly leads to dimensionality…

Abstract

Purpose

In short-term forecasting of day-ahead electricity prices, incorporating intraday dependencies is vital for accurate predictions. However, it quickly leads to dimensionality problems, i.e. ill-defined models with too many parameters, which require an adequate remedy. This study addresses this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

In an application for the German/Austrian market, this study derives variable importance scores from a random forest algorithm, feeds the identified variables into a support vector machine and compares the resulting forecasting technique to other approaches (such as dynamic factor models, penalized regressions or Bayesian shrinkage) that are commonly used to resolve dimensionality problems.

Findings

This study develops full importance profiles stating which hours of which past days have the highest predictive power for specific hours in the future. Using the profile information in the forecasting setup leads to very promising results compared to the alternatives. Furthermore, the importance profiles provide a possible explanation why some forecasting methods are more accurate for certain hours of the day than others. They also help to explain why simple forecast combination schemes tend to outperform the full battery of models considered in the comprehensive comparative study.

Originality/value

With the information contained in the variable importance scores and the results of the extensive model comparison, this study essentially provides guidelines for variable and model selection in future electricity market research.

Article
Publication date: 14 October 2021

Isabel Vaz de Freitas, Cristina Sousa, Makhabbat Ramazanova and Helena Albuquerque

This paper aims to monitor the urban landscape through the perceptions of residents and visitors, identifying features that cause visual impacts and providing insights for…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to monitor the urban landscape through the perceptions of residents and visitors, identifying features that cause visual impacts and providing insights for landscape management decision-makers. Captured impressions about the city whilst moving around are important to assess the satisfaction of city residents and city visitors through key elements, such as directional signage, outdoor advertising, restaurants’ outdoor terrace furniture, urban furniture, green spaces, traffic, cleaning, pedestrian areas, visitor flow and conservation of monuments, museums and buildings.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was applied in the historical Porto city centre (Portugal) to understand residents’ and visitors’ perceptions of the city landscape and assess the differences between these two groups. Cronbach’s alpha was used to assess the reliability of the constructs (dimensions) of urban landscape. Non-parametric Mann-Whitney test was used to find significant differences in the perceptions of residents and visitors.

Findings

The results suggest significant differences in the perceptions. Residents value more two constructs of the landscape (heritage conservation and transport mobility) whilst visitors value more other two (pedestrian mobility and aesthetic quality). It is showed that residents have a strong sense of place and are concerned with the conservation of historical heritage. Visitors are more concerned with dimensions intrinsically related to tourism.

Originality/value

This research allowed to fill a gap found in the literature, namely, the importance of considering the perceptions of different actors in the urban landscape monitoring. These results are an important contribution for local authorities to understand the value of urban landscape elements from the perspective of residents and visitors. This study opened the possibility of comparing the results from different historical cities centres.

Details

International Journal of Tourism Cities, vol. 8 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-5607

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 May 2018

Qing Yang, Ling He, Xingxing Liu and Mengying Cheng

This study aims to analyze reform path for waste management policy implementation. With reference to the Bayesian theory, this study provides a dynamic policy conversion method…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to analyze reform path for waste management policy implementation. With reference to the Bayesian theory, this study provides a dynamic policy conversion method through various context settings. Furthermore, this study attempts to present an empirical research paradigm.

Design/methodology/approach

Matland’s “ambiguity-conflict model” is applied to explain the problems and reform paths of China’s waste management policy implementation. Integrating structure discovery and bibliometrics into qualitative analysis, this study used search data from literature search engine with specific themes to achieve structure learning of Bayesian network with key factors refined in waste management policy.

Findings

The results show that China’s waste management policy implementation belongs to symbolic implementation with high ambiguity and high conflict. Four basic conversion paths for the waste management policy are proposed, which are classified by length and stability. Then, it is possible to locate the factors, paths and types of policy implementation through involvement analysis with features of each path and each district of policy implementation. Public education holds direct but unstable impact on waste management. Economic incentives hold continuous but gradually diminishing impact. Perceived policy effectiveness plays the crucial role like a central bridge. Resident conditions have a positive impact, which could be enhanced through economic development of China. The impact of subjective norm on waste management is not significant. But subjective norm has the potential breakthrough for solving stagnation of waste classification policy. However, the impacts from each factor may change along with economy growth and technology innovation.

Originality/value

This study uses the “ambiguity-conflict model” to position China’s waste classification policy and suggests that structure discovery methods help understand feasible reform paths for reform policy. The integration of theoretical analysis and quantitative simulation can achieve a comprehensive analysis of problems and solutions in waste management policy implementation of China. Promotion and education, economic incentives, perceived value, behavior control, subjective norm, perceived policy effectiveness, informal waste recycling system and residential conditions are explored as key factors for waste classification policy implementation as a representative in waste management policy. The role of each key factor and features of each conversion paths are integrated to position reform paths in the ambiguity-conflict model. This work helps to explain the stagnation of waste management policy implementation from the perspective of dynamic structure evolution, and some specific suggestions to get out of stagnation are proposed.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 29 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1044-4068

Keywords

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