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The differential magnetic gradient tensor system is usually constructed from the three-axis magnetic sensor array. While the effects of measurement error, sensor performance and baseline distance on localization performance of such systems have been widely reported, the research about the effect of spatial design of sensor array is less presented. This paper aims to provide a spatial design method of sensor array and corresponding optimization strategy to localization based on magnetic tensor gradient to get the optimum design of the sensor array. Based on the results of simulation, magnetic localization systems constructed from the proposed array and the traditional array have been built to carry out a localization experiment. The results of experiment have verified the effectiveness of magnetic localization based on the proposed array.

The authors focus on the localization of the magnetic target based on magnetic gradient by using three-axis magnetic sensor array and combine a design method with corresponding optimization strategy to get the optimum design of the sensor array.

This paper provides an array design and optimization method for magnetic target localization based on magnetic gradient to improve the localization performance.

In this paper, the authors focus on the magnetic localization based on magnetic gradient by using three-axis magnetic sensors and study the effect of the spatial design of sensor array on localization performance.

This study investigates the different effects of the (mis)alignment between servitization strategies (i.e. product-oriented and customer-oriented services) and inter-organizational information technology (IT) capabilities (i.e. IT reconfiguration and integration) concerning the environmental performance of servitized manufacturing firms.

Using hierarchical regression analysis, this study examines the theoretical model based on multi-respondent survey data from 1,149 senior managers of 383 manufacturers in China.

Product-oriented services have a non-significant effect on environmental performance, whereas customer-oriented services exert a significantly positive effect. The alignment between product-oriented services and IT reconfiguration, and that between customer-oriented services and IT integration, improve environmental performance. In contrast, the misalignment between product-oriented services and IT integration, and that between customer-oriented services and IT reconfiguration, hurt environmental performance.

This study elucidates the different effects of the (mis)alignment between servitization strategies and inter-organizational IT capabilities on environmental performance. It also resolves the inconsistency regarding the implications of servitization on environmental performance.

The purpose of this study is to reveal the friction reduction performance and mechanism of granular flow lubrication during the milling of difficult-to-machining materials and provide a high-performance lubrication method for the precision cutting of nickel-based alloys.

The milling tests for Inconel 718 superalloy under dry cutting, flood lubrication and granular flow lubrication were carried out, and the milling force and machined surface quality were used to evaluate their friction reduction effect. Furthermore, based on the energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) spectrums and the topographical features of machined surface, the lubrication mechanism of different granular mediums was explored during granular flow lubrication.

Compared with flood lubrication, the granular flow lubrication had a significant force reduction effect, and the maximum milling force was reduced by about 30%. At the same time, the granular flow lubrication was more conducive to reducing the tool trace size, repressing surface damage and thus achieving better surface quality. The soft particles had better friction reduction performance than the hard particles with the same particle size, and the friction reduction performance of nanoscale hard particles was superior to that of microscale hard particles. The friction reduction mechanism of MoS₂ and WS₂ soft particles is the mending effect and adsorption film effect, whereas that of SiO₂ and Al₂O₃ hard particles is mainly manifested as the rolling and polishing effect.

Granular flow lubrication was applied in the precision milling of Inconel 718 superalloy, and a comparative study was conducted on the friction reduction performance of soft particles (MoS₂, WS₂) and hard particles (SiO₂, Al₂O₃). Based on the EDS spectrums and topographical features of machined surface, the friction reduction mechanism of soft and hard particles was explored.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the responsibility that should be taken by different pork supply chain participants to ensure pork quality and safety, with the aim of providing some guidance for strengthening the supervision of pork quality and safety.

The pig farmer survey and the pork consumer survey were conducted in Funing County, Jiangsu Province, using the best-worst scaling (BWS) and a mixed logit model.

The results showed that the designation of responsibility for ensuring pork quality and safety was of, in descending order, feed producers and suppliers, backyard farmers and farms of designated size, pork processing workshops and companies of and above designated size, slaughterhouses, supermarkets, farmer’s markets, pig transporters, and consumers. Both pig farmers and pork consumers believed that those involved in the initial pork supply chain should take greater responsibility for pork quality and safety.

Allocation of responsibilities across the entire pork industry chain was investigated from the perspective of pig farmers and pork consumers using the BWS and a mixed logit model. The results of this study might explain the unique problems that occur in pork supply chain management in large developing countries like China.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how crop price insurance premium can be calculated using an option pricing model and how insurers can transfer underwriting risks in the futures market.

Based on data from spot and futures market in China, this paper develops an improved B-S model for the calculation of crop price insurance premium and tests the possibility of hedging underwriting risks by insurance firms in the futures market.

The authors find that spot price of crops in China can be estimated with agricultural commodity futures prices, and can be taken as the insured price for crop price insurance. The authors also find that improved B-S model yields better estimation of crop price insurance premium than traditional B-S model when spot price does not follow geometric Brownian motion. Finally, the authors find that hedging can be one good alternative for insurance firms to manage underwriting risks.

This paper develops an improved B-S model that is data-driven in nature. Insured price of the crop price insurance, or the exercise price used in the B-S model, is estimated from a co-integration model built on spot and futures market price series. Meanwhile, distributional patterns of spot price series, one important factor determining the applicability of B-S model, is factored into the improved B-S model so that the latter is more robust and friendly to data with varied distributions. This paper also verifies the possibility of hedging of underwriting risks by insurance firms in the futures market.

This study aims to clarify the influence mechanism of polishing solution type on the glazing evolution of fixed abrasive pad under different interfacial pressure conditions.

The tribological experiments were carried out on the friction and wear machinery with W3-5 diamond fixed abrasive pad and quartz glass workpiece under three polishing solution types of five pressure conditions. The changes of surface morphology, porosity and hardness of fixed abrasive pad were detected by white light interferometer, optical microscope and shore hardness tester.

The results showed that the glazed phenomenon of fixed abrasive pad is occurred after a certain time, which is more obvious with the increasing of interfacial pressures. The polishing solution type has a significant effect on the glazing time, although the glazed phenomenon is inevitable. The mechanism of it is that the micro-convex peaks on the surface of the fixed abrasive pad are easily wear, and the pores are blocked by the accumulation of waste debris generated during the experiment process. Thus, a smooth and high-density hard layer is formed on the surface of the fixed abrasive pad which induces the decreasing of the friction coefficient and surface roughness value. For selected polishing solution types, the wear rate of micro-convex peaks is different due to the corrosion action difference with polishing pad surface.

The main contribution of this work is to provide a new investigating method for further understanding the glazing evolution mechanism of fixed abrasive pad.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-08-2023-0257/

In order to solve the problem that the performance of the existing local feature descriptors in uncontrolled environment is greatly affected by illumination, background, occlusion and other factors, we propose a novel face recognition algorithm in uncontrolled environment which combines the block central symmetry local binary pattern (CS-LBP) and deep residual network (DRN) model.

The algorithm first extracts the block CSP-LBP features of the face image, then incorporates the extracted features into the DRN model, and gives the face recognition results by using a well-trained DRN model. The features obtained by the proposed algorithm have the characteristics of both local texture features and deep features that robust to illumination.

Compared with the direct usage of the original image, the usage of local texture features of the image as the input of DRN model significantly improves the computation efficiency. Experimental results on the face datasets of FERET, YALE-B and CMU-PIE have shown that the recognition rate of the proposed algorithm is significantly higher than that of other compared algorithms.

The proposed algorithm fundamentally solves the problem of face identity recognition in uncontrolled environment, and it is particularly robust to the change of illumination, which proves its superiority.

In China, it is the continuation of citizenship education in primary schools, which lays the foundation for citizenship education in senior high schools. So the authors have chosen citizenship education at the junior high schools stage in mainland China as the purpose of this paper is to provide answers to three research questions: (1) is ideological and moral education citizenship education at junior high schools in China? (2) What is the content of citizenship education at junior high schools in China? (3) What are the characteristics of citizenship education at junior high schools in China?

This paper adopts the methods of literature review and text analysis. Text analysis means that researchers must study from the surface to the depths of a text and grasp the profound meaning which cannot be found otherwise by general readers. Of course, there are many modes of text analysis. Here, we mainly adopt intertextuality and dialogue analysis modes to understand citizenship education and its characteristics from the Ideology and Morality textbooks. The analysis of the textbooks has been carried out from three perspectives (i.e. the concepts, contents and teaching methods of citizenship education), where the focus is on the analysis of the textbook content. Through literature review, this study presents a critique of the definitions, and of analogous and conflicting ideas, to provide answers to research questions RQ1 and RQ2. Because of the authority and representativeness of the Ideology and Morality textbooks in citizenship education studies at the relevant stage in mainland China, they are chosen and are subject to text analysis from three perspectives (i.e. the concept, content and teaching method of citizenship education), to answer RQ3. The paper’s argument is built on an appropriate base of theory and concepts.

Through a textual analysis of Ideology and Morality for junior high schools in China, we can report the following findings: First, the junior high school ideological and moral course is citizenship education with Chinese characteristics. Second, the contents of citizenship education in junior high schools in China include the identification of the Chinese state and nation, the enhancement of citizenship education based upon the unity of right and obligations, and the importance of the contents and requirements of such civic knowledge as a means for public consciousness education. Third, the methods involve classroom instruction and the participation in practical activities.

The Ideology and Morality course in junior high schools in China is representative of a citizenship education that has Chinese characteristics. The citizenship education at this stage is peculiar, but its construction is far from perfect. Besides, this special form of education is now facing challenges from burgeoning nationalism and globalization, which is creating pressure for the improvement of the theories of citizenship education presented in this period, the standardization of its content and the change of its methods of delivery. This paper sheds light on this issue to some extent.

This paper aims to clarify the fluid infiltration mechanism at the micro-contact zone boundary of rubber-glass interfaces.

An in situ observation instrument was putted up; then the fluid infiltration process was recorded. Experimental results indicated that the fluid infiltration was more likely to occur in a high-contact-area-ratio zone, and the path order of fluid infiltration was first inner normal to the boundary of micro-contact area, and then along the boundary, at last external normal to the direction of boundary.

By analysis, capillary pressure is the driven force of fluid at interfaces. The micro-channel size at higher-contact-area-ratio zone is smaller, and the capillary pressure is bigger. Moreover, along different section directions of wedge-shaped region, the horizontal driving force of fluid is different due to difference of conical angle.

The main contribution of this study is proposing a new wedge-shaped model for better understanding the phenomena of fluid infiltration at rubber contact interfaces.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-10-2019-0453

Granular lubrication can solve some lubrication problems under many extreme operating conditions. Meanwhile, the flow constitutive relation is one of its unsolved problems in fully understanding its rheological mechanism.

In this paper, a plane shear cell under granular lubrication is established by the discrete element method to study the flow constitutive relation and its mechanical mechanism of the hard granular lubricants.

Research results show that the flow regimes in granular flow lubrication strongly rely on the dimensionless parameter I, in which it is called the inertial coefficient. When the inertial coefficient I increase, the flow regimes of the granular lubricants also evolve from a quasi-static state to a collisional state accordingly. Comparing to the influence of the restitution coefficient, the friction coefficient of the hard granular lubricants has a strong influence on its constitutive relation of the granular flow lubrication. Finally, it is shows that the dimensionless parameter I has strong influence on the contacts and flow states of this granular lubrication system than the influence of the dimensionless parameter R.

These findings reveal the constitutive relation and mechanical mechanism of granular lubrication and can also offer the helpful reference for the design of the new granular lubrication bearing.