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1 – 10 of over 16000Jingyu Pei, Xiaoping Wang, Leen Zhang, Yu Zhou and Jinyuan Qian
This paper aims to provide a series of new methods for projecting a three-dimensional (3D) object onto a free-form surface. The projection algorithms presented can be divided into…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a series of new methods for projecting a three-dimensional (3D) object onto a free-form surface. The projection algorithms presented can be divided into three types, namely, orthogonal, perspective and parallel projection.
Design/methodology/approach
For parametric surfaces, the computing strategy of the algorithm is to obtain an approximate solution by using a geometric algorithm, then improve the accuracy of the approximate solution using the Newton–Raphson iteration. For perspective projection and parallel projection on an implicit surface, the strategy replaces Newton–Raphson iteration by multi-segment tracing. The implementation takes two mesh objects as an example of calculating an image projected onto parametric and implicit surfaces. Moreover, a comparison is made for orthogonal projections with Hu’s and Liu’s methods.
Findings
The results show that the new method can solve the 3D objects projection problem in an effective manner. For orthogonal projection, the time taken by the new method is substantially less than that required for Hu’s method. The new method is also more accurate and faster than Liu’s approach, particularly when the 3D object has a large number of points.
Originality/value
The algorithms presented in this paper can be applied in many industrial applications such as computer aided design, computer graphics and computer vision.
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Keywords
Suyun Liu, Hu Liu, Ningning Shao, Zhijun Dong, Rui Liu, Li Liu and Fuhui Wang
Polyaniline (PANI) has garnered attention for its potential applications in anticorrosion fields because of its unique properties. Satisfactory outcomes have been achieved when…
Abstract
Purpose
Polyaniline (PANI) has garnered attention for its potential applications in anticorrosion fields because of its unique properties. Satisfactory outcomes have been achieved when using PANI as a functional filler in organic coatings. More recently, research has extensively explored PANI-based organic coatings with self-healing properties. The purpose of this paper is to provide a summary of the active agents, methods and mechanisms involved in the self-healing of organic coatings.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses specific doped acids and metal corrosion inhibitors as active and self-healing agents to modify PANI using the methods of oxidation polymerization, template synthesis, nanosheet carrier and nanocontainer loading methods. The anticorrosion performance of the coatings is evaluated using EIS, LEIS and salt spray tests.
Findings
Specific doped acids and metal corrosion inhibitors are used as active agents to modify PANI and confer self-healing properties to the coatings. The coatings’ active protection mechanism encompasses PANI’s own passivation ability, the adsorption of active agents and the creation of insoluble compounds or complexes.
Originality/value
This paper summarizes the active agents used to modify PANI, the procedures used for modification and the self-healing mechanism of the composite coatings. It also proposes future directions for developing PANI organic coatings with self-healing capabilities. The summaries and proposals presented may facilitate large-scale production of the PANI organic coatings, which exhibit outstanding anticorrosion competence and self-healing properties.
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Liangyin Chen, Jun Huang, Danqi Hu and Xinyuan Chen
This paper aims to examine the effect of dividend regulation on cost stickiness (i.e. the asymmetric change in firm expense between sales increase and sales decrease) and explore…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the effect of dividend regulation on cost stickiness (i.e. the asymmetric change in firm expense between sales increase and sales decrease) and explore the underlying mechanism.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the quasi-natural experiment of the Guideline for Dividend Policy of Listed Companies issued by the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) in 2013, the authors employ a difference-in-difference model to investigate the impact of dividend regulation on cost stickiness.
Findings
The authors find that the cost stickiness of treatment group firms has decreased significantly when compared with control group firms after the dividend regulation. Moreover, this effect is more pronounced among firms in lower marketization regions, in lower competition industries and those with less analyst coverage and lower cash flow levels. Further analyses show that dividend regulation reduces the cost stickiness of firms by mitigating agency problems. Finally, the conclusion holds after several robust tests, including controlling for firm fixed effect, propensity score matching (PSM), placebo test and reconstruction of expense variable.
Originality/value
This paper confirms that dividend regulation serves an important role in corporate governance, which reduces firms' agency costs and thereby decreases cost stickiness. The conclusions shed light on the dividend policies of listed companies and capital market regulation in the future.
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Jiang Qin and Björn Albin
Due to social transformation in China, more than 100,000,000 people are migrating within the country. Many parents are forced to leave their children behind when they migrate. In…
Abstract
Due to social transformation in China, more than 100,000,000 people are migrating within the country. Many parents are forced to leave their children behind when they migrate. In 2008, 58,000,000 children were living as left‐behind children, mainly in the rural parts of China (Zhang, 2009).Migration and its accompanying stressors may affect the mental health of the left‐behind children. This unique literature review of Chinese literature summarises the present state of knowledge and reviews the influential factors. Possible approaches to intervention and system reforms are discussed.A literature review was performed of published studies between 2001 and 2008. Databases used were Fujian Medical University Library Interface, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data, and VIP Information. The Chinese word for ‘left‐behind’ was used as a key word. Books, book chapters, monographs and studies on caring were searched electronically and by hand. Altogether, 53 items were found, discussed and grouped together. Migration affected the mental health of the left‐behind children in a passive way, especially their emotions and social behaviour.There is still controversy over how serious mental health problems are among children who have been left behind. Life events, personality, coping strategies and social suppor t can be regarded as four main factors that are predictive of mental health, which provides theoretical guidance for intervention. Suppor t and prevention of mental health problems in schools, in families and in primary care should be developed and studied.
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J.N. Chakraborty, Priyanka Kumari Dhaka, Akshit Vikram Sethi and Md Arif
Shape memory polymers (SMPs) respond with a change in their shape against a specific stimulus by memorizing their original shape and are reformed after deformation most often by…
Abstract
Purpose
Shape memory polymers (SMPs) respond with a change in their shape against a specific stimulus by memorizing their original shape and are reformed after deformation most often by changing the temperature of the surrounding without additional mechanical efforts. In the coming years, these polymers indeed will be in limelight to manufacture textile materials which will retain their shape even after prolonged use under disturbed conditions. This study aims at defining shape memory materials and polymers as well as their technological characteristics and also highlights application in various fields of textiles.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology used to explain these SMPs have been carried out starting with the discussion on their properties, their physical nature, types, viz., shape memory alloys (SMAs), shape memory ceramics, shape memory hybrid, magnetic shape memory alloy, shape memory composites, shape memory gels and SMP along with properties of each type. Other related details of these polymers, such as their advantages, structure and mechanism, shape memory functionality, thermally responsive SMPs and applications, have been detailed.
Findings
It has been observed that the SMPs are very important in the fields of wet and melt-spun fibers to offer novel and functional properties, cotton and wool fabric finishing, to produce SMP films, foams and laminated textiles, water vapor permeable and breathable SMP films, etc.
Originality/value
The field of SMPs is new, and very limited information is available to enable their smooth production and handling.
Details
Keywords
Donald F. Kuratko, Travis J. Brown and Marcus Wadell
In e-commerce, consumers have begun to rely on the opinions of fellow consumers who posted through online consumer reviews to a reputation management system. An ethical concern…
Abstract
In e-commerce, consumers have begun to rely on the opinions of fellow consumers who posted through online consumer reviews to a reputation management system. An ethical concern has arisen in the use and abuse of these new systems. We examine the underlying ethical issues that entrepreneurs are confronting in this time of surging e-commerce. Using 32 vignettes, one for each cross-section of our research construct framework, followed by two Likert scales for respondents to indicate their agreement with the action described from both the perspective of ethicality and professional acceptability, we received responses for 1,252 vignettes, which generated a dataset of 2,504 data points. The results of our pilot study suggest that the ethical considerations for business professionals conducting business online are more nuanced and complex than conventional wisdom on the subject might suggest. While 60 research subjects are small, the use of paired vignettes in our survey allowed us to measure at least 1,000 paired responses for each research construct. The results have the potential of revealing how young professionals have been conditioned by the prevalence of web-based interactions and the anonymity they afford participants, as well as the degree to which they rationalize the misrepresentation of information by business professionals for the purpose of manipulating consumers’ purchasing decisions in order to drive sales. If consumers’ trust in reputation management systems erodes, the result could be a collapse of the entire system as a meaningful source of information. We also demonstrate the tolerance of what is deemed ethical versus professionally acceptable with online business practices.
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Lixin Xia, Zhongyi Wang, Chen Chen and Shanshan Zhai
Opinion mining (OM), also known as “sentiment classification”, which aims to discover common patterns of user opinions from their textual statements automatically or…
Abstract
Purpose
Opinion mining (OM), also known as “sentiment classification”, which aims to discover common patterns of user opinions from their textual statements automatically or semi-automatically, is not only useful for customers, but also for manufacturers. However, because of the complexity of natural language, there are still some problems, such as domain dependence of sentiment words, extraction of implicit features and others. The purpose of this paper is to propose an OM method based on topic maps to solve these problems.
Design/methodology/approach
Domain-specific knowledge is key to solve problems in feature-based OM. On the one hand, topic maps, as an ontology framework, are composed of topics, associations, occurrences and scopes, and can represent a class of knowledge representation schemes. On the other hand, compared with ontology, topic maps have many advantages. Thus, it is better to integrate domain-specific knowledge into OM based on topic maps. This method can make full use of the semantic relationships among feature words and sentiment words.
Findings
In feature-level OM, most of the existing research associate product features and opinions by their explicit co-occurrence, or use syntax parsing to judge the modification relationship between opinion words and product features within a review unit. They are mostly based on the structure of language units without considering domain knowledge. Only few methods based on ontology incorporate domain knowledge into feature-based OM, but they only use the “is-a” relation between concepts. Therefore, this paper proposes feature-based OM using topic maps. The experimental results revealed that this method can improve the accuracy of the OM. The findings of this study not only advance the state of OM research but also shed light on future research directions.
Research limitations/implications
To demonstrate the “feature-based OM using topic maps” applications, this work implements a prototype that helps users to find their new washing machines.
Originality/value
This paper presents a new method of feature-based OM using topic maps, which can integrate domain-specific knowledge into feature-based OM effectively. This method can improve the accuracy of the OM greatly. The proposed method can be applied across various application domains, such as e-commerce and e-government.
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Lin-sheng Liu, Qian Lin, Hai-feng Wu, Yi-Jun Chen and Liu-Lin Hu
The design and implementation of a broadband quasi-monolithic microwave integrated circuit (q-MMIC) power amplifier (PA) is presented for 0.2 to 2.2 GHz applications.
Abstract
Purpose
The design and implementation of a broadband quasi-monolithic microwave integrated circuit (q-MMIC) power amplifier (PA) is presented for 0.2 to 2.2 GHz applications.
Design/methodology/approach
To obtain an efficient, high-gain and high-power performance with in a compact and low-cost size, the prototype is based on Gallium nitride (GaN) on SiC 0.25-µm transistors, whereas the passive matching networks are realized on an AlN substrate as thin film circuit.
Findings
Measured results of the q-MMIC PA across the 0.2 to 2.2 GHz band show at least 32 ± 3 dB small-signal gains, an output power of 7 to 12 W and an average power add efficiency greater than 54%. The q-MMIC occupies an area of 12.8 × 14.5 mm2.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work reports the first full integrated PA which covers the frequency range of 0.2 to 2.2 GHz and achieves the combination of highest gain, about 10 W output power, together with the smallest component size among all published GaN PAs to date.
Details
Keywords
The author investigates and debates around authenticity in relation to the heritage communities of a Chinese intangible cultural heritage (ICH) item ‘Nüshu’. Nüshu is a…
Abstract
The author investigates and debates around authenticity in relation to the heritage communities of a Chinese intangible cultural heritage (ICH) item ‘Nüshu’. Nüshu is a monosyllabic phonetic system of writing created and used by women in the Jiangyong County, Hunan Province, in Southern China. Drawing on insights from both online and offline ethnographies, this study argues that in the field of ICH, disputes over heritage authenticity are fiercely negotiated by different stakeholders, including powerful state and supra-state actors. However, the emergence of digital platform has become a way for Nüshu participants to perform their identity and competence and lay claim to their own heritage authenticity.
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Yinhua Liu, Shiming Zhang and Guoping Chu
This paper aims to present a combination modeling method using multi-source information in the process to improve the accuracy of the dimension propagation relationship for…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a combination modeling method using multi-source information in the process to improve the accuracy of the dimension propagation relationship for assembly variation reduction.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a variable weight combination prediction method, the combination model that takes the mechanism model and data-driven model based on inspection data into consideration is established. Furthermore, the combination model is applied to qualification rate prediction for process alarming based on the Monte Carlo simulation and also used in engineering tolerance confirmation in mass production stage.
Findings
The combination model of variable weights considers both the static theoretical mechanic variation propagation model and the dynamic variation relationships from the regression model based on data collections, and provides more accurate assembly deviation predictions for process alarming.
Originality/value
A combination modeling method could be used to provide more accurate variation predictions and new engineering tolerance design procedures for the assembly process.
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