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The purpose of the present study is to examine how local consumers disassociate themselves from migrants' acculturative practices and negotiate their identity through the symbolic consumption of fashion.

Data for this interpretive study were obtained via phenomenological interviews with locally-born Chinese youth in Guangzhou, China, to examine their acculturative consumption practices as well as their subjective experiences of perceived threats to their lifestyle imposed by the influx of outsiders. Snowballing and purposive sampling methods were adopted in recruiting the research participants.

Data analyses revealed that local consumers adopt three dissociative strategies (stigmatization, avoidance and self-assertion) in order to ascribe meanings to their fashion consumption practices as a means of resolving identity conflicts and differentiate themselves from the migrant consumers.

This research offers a single perspective (i.e. that of local-born young consumers residing in Guangzhou) on the locals' attitudes aimed at distinguishing and negotiating their identities in an intercultural setting via specific fashion-clothing choices. This research has theoretical implications for the consumer acculturation theory and identity negotiation.

Findings yielded by the present study have important implications for commercial companies focusing on fashion consumption, in particular for marketing practices aimed at rural-urban identification and youth market segmentation.

This study contributes to the existing discussion on consumer acculturation by offering an intracultural perspective to the understanding of local consumers' responses to migrants' acculturation. It also provides managerial insights for fashion retailers, prompting them to rethink their market segmentation strategies to address population mobility in the marketplace and better understand how it alters the in-between social relationships that result in different consumption patterns and practices.

This study contributes to the existing discussion on youth consumer acculturation theories by offering an intercultural perspective to the understanding of local consumers' responses to migrants' acculturation attempts. It also offers managerial insights for fashion retailers, prompting them to rethink their market segmentation strategies to address population mobility and better understand how it alters the social relationships that result in different consumption patterns and practices.

Major findings of a project, Investigating The Markets Of Denim Wear In Hong Kong And China, sponsored by Institute of Textiles and Clothing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, are discussed. The project was conducted in Hong Kong and six other major cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Harbin, Xi'an and Chengdu. Total sample size was 3,623. Three aspects of denim wear consumption were investigated and are discussed in the paper: dressing habit of Chinese consumers in denim wear, their consumption pattern, and brand awareness. Based on the findings, marketing implications are discussed as well. This information should be of use to manufacturers and retailers of denim wear and denim products for more effective marketing.

This study aims to explore and understand consumers' perceptions and behaviour towards pyjamas in the People's Republic of China (China).

A quantitative analysis and comparative methods were used for this study. From a large body of literature, seven product attributes were identified and used to measure and evaluate what constitutes consumers' purchasing decision for pyjamas. A total of 203 usable surveys were compiled, analyzed and collated.

This study shows evidence that consumers are more conscious of the functional values of a low‐involvement product than the symbolic values. The results of this survey indicate that comfort, fabric and quality are significant attributes, whereas country‐of‐origin and brand are relatively insignificant determinants for purchasing a pair of pyjamas.

Limitations of this study include the use of a convenience sample of female college students and confinement to a specific product – pyjamas. The results of this study are useful for fashion designers and marketers to understand Chinese consumers' perceptions of pyjamas.

This study is one of the few consumer research studies on a low‐involvement and privately consumed apparel product – pyjamas. The findings of this study provide insight and implications for fashion practitioners to develop their product and business in China.

The purpose of this paper is to design a biomimetic surface structure for use in a glass transport device to enhance the suspension lift of a glass transport unit.

This paper presents a surface structure of a suspended glass transport device based on the principle of bionics. First, a mapping model is constructed based on the wing structure. Second, the optimal structural parameters are given according to genetic algorithm optimization. Finally, the experimental comparison of the test bench verified the feasibility of the theory.

Through experimental comparison, the biomimetic suspension glass transport device saves 20% of air pressure compared with the ordinary suspended glass transport device, which verifies the effectiveness of the theoretical method.

This paper proposes a suspended glass transport device based on the principle of bionics, which saves the air pressure required for work. It is expected to be used in suspension glass transport devices.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-09-2019-0389/

This study aims to propose a new kind of deployable morphing structure based on shape memory polymer (SMP), which can overcome the drawbacks of traditional deployable morphing structures, such as unavoidable system impact, unsatisfied deformation accuracy and complex mechanical masses.

In this study, although the deployment of the morphing structure was still driven by the specially designed mechanical structures, the application of SMP material realized a steady and accurate deploying process. Besides, SMP material was also utilized as the wing’s filler. During its shape recovery process, the internal SMP filler helps to form an aerofoil for the wing to sustain the surface aerodynamic loads.

Primary experiments were also completed to demonstrate the feasibility and the controllability of the designed deployable morphing structure, including the deploying velocity of the SMP filler and morphing structure. Finally, the wing’s deformation under the air loads was also analyzed by using the finite element method to validate the structural stability.

This paper shows a new approach to design a deployable morphing structure based on the SMP material.

This paper aims to study the application of reinforcement learning (RL) in the control of an output-constrained flapping-wing micro aerial vehicle (FWMAV) with system uncertainty.

A six-degrees-of-freedom hummingbird model is used without consideration of the inertial effects of the wings. A RL algorithm based on actor–critic framework is applied, which consists of an actor network with unknown policy gradient and a critic network with unknown value function. Considering the good performance of neural network (NN) in fitting nonlinearity and its optimum characteristics, an actor–critic NN optimization algorithm is designed, in which the actor and critic NNs are used to generate a policy and approximate the cost functions, respectively. In addition, to ensure the safe and stable flight of the FWMAV, a barrier Lyapunov function is used to make the flight states constrained in predefined regions. Based on the Lyapunov stability theory, the stability of the system is analyzed, and finally, the feasibility of RL in the control of a FWMAV is verified through simulation.

The proposed RL control scheme works well in ensuring the trajectory tracking of the FWMAV in the presence of output constraint and system uncertainty.

A novel RL algorithm based on actor–critic framework is applied to the control of a FWMAV with system uncertainty. For the stable and safe flight of the FWMAV, the output constraint problem is considered and solved by barrier Lyapunov function-based control.

In the process of group decision-making, there may be multilayer subjects. In other words, members of the decision-making group may come from different layers and there is interest game among decision experts. Therefore, it is an extremely important topic to aggregate the information of decision experts who are involved in hierarchical relations and gaming relations so as to effectively address game conflicts and reach game cooperation.

First, a programming model is established to minimize the difference of expert opinions in hierarchical decision-making, and the method to solve the optimal solution is given. Second, the cooperative game model and its properties are discussed by using cooperative game and Shapley value, and the method to determine the weight vector between layers is also proposed.

This model can quickly aggregate information and achieve game equilibrium among decision-makers with hierarchical relationships. It can be widely used in decision evaluation with hierarchy structure and has certain practical value.

In order to solve the problem that experts at different levels may have conflicts of interest in multilayer grey situation group decision-making process, cooperative game and Shapley value theory are introduced into the study, and a multilayer grey situation group decision-making model based on cooperative game is constructed. The validity and practicability of the model are illustrated by an example.

Entomology is a useful tool when applied to engineering challenges that have been solved in nature. Especially when these special abilities of olfactory sensation, vision, auditory perception, fly, jump, navigation, chemical synthesis, exquisite structure and others were connected with mechanization, informationization and intelligentization of modern science and technology, and produced innumerable classical bionic products. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

All kinds of special abilities of insects and application status have been described and discussed in order to summarize the advanced research examples and supply bibliographic reference to the latters. Future perspectives and challenges in the use of insect bionics were also given.

In the period of life sciences and information sciences, insect bionics not only promoted the development of modern science and technology on the sides of mechanics, molecule, energy, information and control greatly but also provided new ideas and technologies for the crisis of science and technology, food, environment and ecosystem.

It may provide strategies to solve the problems and be a source of good ideas for researchers.

In currently facing dynamic environments, the tools of strategic management appear to be more and more important in improving the quality of decision‐making. Among the great Chinese wisdoms, Sun Tzu's, The Art of War, is probably the oldest military book in Chinese with principles which Sun Tzu advocated, still very valuable in business operations today. Thus, this study tends to evaluate the relationships among Sun Tzu's principles of situation appraisal, strategy implementation, and strategic control through an empirical study. Furthermore, how the levels of adoption on Sun Tzu's principles of situation appraisal, strategy implementation, and strategic control impact on a firm acquiring its key success factors is also verified. The results show that the adoption levels of Sun Tzu's principles on situation appraisal, strategy implementation, and strategic control are highly interrelated. The adoption levels are positively related to the firm acquiring its key success factors, as well.