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The purpose of this paper is to achieve the optimal system design of a four-wheel mobile robot on transmission line maintenance, as the authors know transmission line mobile robot is a kind of special robot which runs on high-voltage cable to replace or assist manual power maintenance operation. In the process of live working, the manipulator, working end effector and the working environment are located in the narrow space and with heterogeneous shapes, the robot collision-free obstacle avoidance movement is the premise to complete the operation task. In the simultaneous operation, the mechanical properties between the manipulator effector and the operation object are the key to improve the operation reliability. These put forward higher requirements for the mechanical configuration and dynamic characteristics of the robot, and this is the purpose of the manuscript.

Based on the above, aiming at the task of tightening the tension clamp for the four-split transmission lines, the paper proposed a four-wheel mobile robot mechanism configuration and its terminal tool which can adapt to the walking and operation on multi-split transmission lines. In the study, the dynamic models of the rigid robot and flexible transmission line are established, respectively, and the dynamic model of rigid-flexible coupling system is established on this basis, the working space and dynamic characteristics of the robot have been simulated in ADAMS and MATLAB.

The research results show that the mechanical configuration of this robot can complete the tightening operation of the four-split tension clamp bolts and the motion of robot each joint meets the requirements of driving torque in the operation process, which avoids the operation failure of the robot system caused by the insufficient or excessive driving force of the robot joint torque.

Finally, the engineering practicability of the mechanical configuration and dynamic model proposed in the paper has been verified by the physical prototype. The originality value of the research is that it has double important theoretical significance and practical application value for the optimization of mechanical structure parameters and electrical control parameters of transmission line mobile robots.

This paper aims to present a graphical comparison method for construction schedules, which illustrates the differences for each individual activity. The method overlays the observed differences on a bar chart creating a representation of whether each activity is ahead, on or behind schedule at a given date.

The method is implemented using a Microsoft Project add-in (plug-in). The paper demonstrates the method and its potential uses with three illustration cases: a time impact analysis, an alternative analysis for the selection of subcontractors and a multi-baseline analysis of an as-built schedule.

The cases included in the paper show that the proposed method uses a simplified and familiar attribute comparison for each activity in a schedule. The method affords flexibility in presenting differences between schedules such as the start/finish dates or duration. As the method does not rely on a specific software application or analysis method, it can be implement to different software applications as well as performance or delay analysis techniques. The method also makes it possible to present multiple and selective baseline comparisons overlaid on an updated or as-built schedule.

The method graphically presents a comparison of start dates, durations and finish dates for each activity that can be integrated with any schedule. The method can be used for forensic analysis as well as project control measures during construction. As the method does not rely on any specific performance or delay calculation method, it can be applied to any forensic analysis technique and delay analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the relationship between information sharing and performance of perishable product supply chains (PPSC). Building on transaction cost economics (TCE), organisational information processing theory (OIPT), and contingency theory (CT), this study proposes a theoretical framework to guide future research into information sharing in perishable product supply chains (IS-PPSC).

Using the systematic literature review methodology, 48 peer-reviewed articles are carefully selected, mapped, and assessed. Template analysis is performed to unravel the relationship mechanisms between information sharing and PPSC performance.

The authors find that the relationship between information sharing and PPSC performance is currently unclear, and there is inconsistency in the positioning of information sharing among constructs and variables in the IS-PPSC literature. This implies a requirement to refine the relationship between information sharing and PPSC performance. The review also revealed that the role of perishable product characteristics has largely been ignored in existing research.

This study applies relevant multiple theoretical perspectives to overcome the ambiguity of the IS-PPSC literature and contributes nine propositions to guide future research. Accordingly, this study contributes to the refined roles of relationship uncertainty, environmental uncertainty, information sharing capabilities, and perishable product characteristics in shaping the relationship between information sharing and PPSC performance.

As an increasingly popular tool for product exploration, online communities have an important impact on consumers’ purchasing decisions. The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of how visiting behaviors in online communities affect consumers’ offline purchasing behavior. The moderating role of two dimensions of consumer visiting behaviors (visiting depth and visiting breadth) also receives attention. Moreover, the impact of consumer visiting behaviors on offline sales for different types of online communities is also the focus of this paper.

To test the empirical model, the authors collected data on consumers’ visits to an online real estate platform with local housing sales data. In addition to the baseline regression analysis of the data with the help of Stata 17.0, the study also analyzes the robustness of the results through several methods.

The authors focus on an online community for newly-built housing and find that consumer visits to the focal online community have a positive impact on offline sales. Visiting breadth has a negative moderating effect on this relationship, and no statistically significant moderating effect is found for visiting depth. Further, our empirical exploration finds that consumer visits to competitive online communities have a positive impact on offline focal product sales, but visits to complementary online communities have no statistically significant effect on offline sales.

Our findings contribute to the understanding of consumers’ cross-channel purchasing behavior and provide new insights into how visiting behaviors in online communities affect consumers’ purchasing decisions.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how complementors’ marketing capability and technology capability affect their performance. Drawing on social capital theory, the authors examine platform network centrality as a mediator and platform reputation as a moderator of the relationships between these two capabilities and complementor performance.

This study collects data by questionnaire from 154 Chinese firms adopting e-commerce platforms. Hierarchical multiple regression is used to test the hypotheses of this study.

This study finds that complementors’ marketing capability and technology capability positively affect performance by increasing their platform network centrality. Moreover, platform reputation positively moderates the relationship between platform network centrality and complementor performance, and it strengthens the mediating role of platform network centrality.

This paper emphasizes the critical role of marketing capability and technology capability on complementor performance. It explores the improvement path of complementor performance from the perspective of network position, which is a key element for complementors to effectively leverage their capabilities to build competitive advantage.

To provide ways of how organizations can benefit from entrainment, the purpose of this paper is to create a better theoretically grounded understanding of entrainment in organizations by reviewing the literature, describing managerial implications and identifying future research directions.

A systematic literature review of relevant literature based on peer-reviewed research papers published in highly ranked scientific journals.

It provides a clear understanding as to what constitutes entrainment in organizations and emphasizes its complexity. Further, six benefits of entrainment are highlighted, including the positive relationship between entrainment and organizational outcomes. The review may also provide entrepreneurs and practitioners a scientific basis for developing innovative tools to help managers’ foster entrainment in organizations.

The review indicates that entrainment plays a much larger role in organizations than we think. Change leaders' actions may impact the emotions and actions of change recipients through entrainment. The selected keywords used in the search and the researcher's bias of including or excluding articles for this review are the major research limitations.

It is one of the first papers, to our knowledge, to provide a structured overview and understanding of the entrainment phenomenon in an organizational context, based on 41 peer-reviewed articles.

Concrete-filled steel tube structures are widely used for their high bearing capacity, good plasticity, good fire resistance and optimal seismic performance. In order to give full play to the advantages of concrete-filled steel tube, this paper proposes a prefabricated concrete-filled steel tube frame joint.

The concrete-filled steel tube column and beam are connected by high-strength bolted end-plate, and the steel bars in the concrete beam are welded vertically with the end-plates through the enlarged pier head. In addition, the finite element software ABAQUS is used numerically to study the seismic performance of the structure.

The ductility coefficient of the joint is in 1.72–6.82, and greater than 2.26 as a whole. The equivalent viscous damping coefficient of the joint is 0.13–3.03, indicating that the structure has good energy dissipation capacity.

The structure is convenient for construction and overcomes the shortcomings of the previous on-site welding and on-site concrete pouring. The high-strength bolted end-plate connection can effectively transfer the load, and each component can give play to its material characteristics.

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of an exploratory study that investigates Portuguese academics’ conceptions concerning the temporal properties of e-learning, in the context of traditional Higher Education Institutions.

Grounded Theory methodology was used to systematically analyse data collected in semi-structured interviews with 62 academics. Data analysis followed the constant comparative method and its three-staged coding approach: open, axial and selective coding. Data collection and analysis developed until theoretical saturation was reached.

Emergent academics’ conceptions concerning the temporal properties of e-learning indicate the existence of unregulated and unaccounted for dynamics, which are a direct consequence of transitioning from campus-based lecturing to teaching online using the affordances of virtual learning environments. This transition produces disruptions to established workload metrics and work patterns, as well as conflicts with dominant modes of instructional delivery that are not synchronised with the demands of online interaction and immediacy.

This paper is valuable to e-learning strategists and administrators. An understanding of the temporal properties of e-learning as perceived by academics provides actionable knowledge that is directly applicable to the design of suitable work arrangements, normative frameworks and e-learning practices that address perceived time-related barriers. To mitigate the time-related conflicts and disruptions identified in the study the authors suggest the establishment of university-wide norms of virtual presence and the implementation of temporal protocols to sustain the productive engagement between instructors and learners.

The purpose of this paper is both to provide an overview of existing knowledge pertaining to the management of price risks in manufacturing companies from an operations management (OM) perspective and to establish an agenda for future research. Risks related to the purchase prices of industrial consumption factors (raw materials, semi-finished/finished goods, auxiliary materials and operating materials) exert an increasing influence on manufacturing companies’ business continuity and economic sustainability.

A systematic literature review was conducted following the literature search approach of vom Brocke et al. (2009). In total, 138 relevant articles were identified, analysed and synthesised.

The literature review reveals that the existing OM literature devotes little attention to price risks and their management in manufacturing companies. In particular, further empirical investigation is required to support decision-making in various risk contexts.

This paper emphasises that in addition to existing national resource funds and inter-company alliances, alternative concepts are required to secure both stable prices and access to natural resources. Otherwise, in the future, small- and medium-sized companies, along with companies based in countries lacking available resource funds, will not have an opportunity to engage in fair competition.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first literature review to focus on price as a specific supply risk.

The purpose of this review paper is to address the substantial challenges of the outdated exoskeletons used for rehabilitation and further study the current advancements in this field. The shortcomings and technological developments in sensing the input signals to enable the desired motions, actuation, control and training methods are explained for further improvements in exoskeleton research.

Search platforms such as Web of Science, IEEE, Scopus and PubMed were used to collect the literature. The total number of recent articles referred to in this review paper with relevant keywords is filtered to 143.

Exoskeletons are getting smarter often with the integration of various modern tools to enhance the effectiveness of rehabilitation. The recent applications of bio signal sensing for rehabilitation to perform user-desired actions promote the development of independent exoskeleton systems. The modern concepts of artificial intelligence and machine learning enable the implementation of brain–computer interfacing (BCI) and hybrid BCIs in exoskeletons. Likewise, novel actuation techniques are necessary to overcome the significant challenges seen in conventional exoskeletons, such as the high-power requirements, poor back drivability, bulkiness and low energy efficiency. Implementation of suitable controller algorithms facilitates the instantaneous correction of actuation signals for all joints to obtain the desired motion. Furthermore, applying the traditional rehabilitation training methods is monotonous and exhausting for the user and the trainer. The incorporation of games, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies in exoskeletons has made rehabilitation training far more effective in recent times. The combination of electroencephalogram and electromyography-based hybrid BCI is desirable for signal sensing and controlling the exoskeletons based on user intentions. The challenges faced with actuation can be resolved by developing advanced power sources with minimal size and weight, easy portability, lower cost and good energy storage capacity. Implementation of novel smart materials enables a colossal scope for actuation in future exoskeleton developments. Improved versions of sliding mode control reported in the literature are suitable for robust control of nonlinear exoskeleton models. Optimizing the controller parameters with the help of evolutionary algorithms is also an effective method for exoskeleton control. The experiments using VR/AR and games for rehabilitation training yielded promising results as the performance of patients improved substantially.

Robotic exoskeleton-based rehabilitation will help to reduce the fatigue of physiotherapists. Repeated and intention-based exercise will improve the recovery of the affected part at a faster pace. Improved rehabilitation training methods like VR/AR-based technologies help in motivating the subject.

The paper describes the recent methods for signal sensing, actuation, control and rehabilitation training approaches used in developing exoskeletons. All these areas are key elements in an exoskeleton where the review papers are published very limitedly. Therefore, this paper will stand as a guide for the researchers working in this domain.