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Although researchers have long recognized the importance of participating organizations’ (POs) relational behavior for mega construction projects (MCPs) performance, relational behavior may not be executed by POs without effective leadership from project owners. However, little is known about the mechanisms linking owners’ leadership styles to POs’ relational behavior. This study draws on full range leadership theory and role theory to examine the relationships between owners’ leadership styles (i.e. transformational and transactional) and relational behavior. POs’ role orientations (i.e. normative and economic) are considered as potential mediators.

Data were collected from 175 managers deeply involved in MCPs. Hierarchical regression model and bootstrapping methods were performed on the data to examine the direct effects of owners’ leadership on POs’ relational behavior and the mediating effects of POs’ role orientations.

The results revealed that both owners’ transformational and transactional leadership positively affect POs’ relational behavior, despite the former being higher than the latter, and indirectly influence relational behavior via POs’ normative and economic role orientation, respectively.

This study provides a clear picture of how owners’ leadership can motivate POs’ relational behavior to achieve high-quality inter-organizational relationships in MCPs. The findings can guide owners’ top manager selection by prioritizing those with transformational leadership, which is beneficial to achieving high-level relational behavior of POs. The results also imply that owners should pay greater attention to cultivating POs’ normative role orientation by encouraging teamwork and open communication to enhance their implementation of relational behavior.

Unlike previous research focusing more on intra-organizational leader–follower relationship within one PO, this study is one of the first to empirically confirm owners’ leadership as a critical antecedent of POs’ relational behavior, thus enhancing the theoretical understanding of inter-organizational relationship management in MCPs. Based on role theory, this study considers a novel organizational psychology mechanism, i.e. POs’ role orientations, as the mediator to unravel how owners’ leadership affects POs’ relational behavior, which was rarely invoked in MCP leadership literature.

China has been going through a “museum boom” paralleling the domestic tourism boom since 2000; such growth changed the cultural landscape; museums became a vital characteristic of some Chinese cities for both residents and tourists. Encouraged by this growth, the more ambitious “All-for-one Museum (全域博物馆)” was proposed. The physical boundary between museums and living spaces is infinite ambiguity, challenging the idea of museums as “heterotopias.” This study aims to explore the musealization of urban spaces in the context of anthropology and museology, scrutinizing the cultural-political intentions and meanings of these developments, and seeks to ignite further investigation into the reconstruction of historical imaginaries for tourists and urban populations across related disciplines.

This paper examines two cases in Chinese metropolises, Beijing and Shanghai, to illustrate this development of musealization, that is, how the cities actively leverage museological values and methods to connect with their past. In the Beijing case, the authors explore how the local government is leading the effort to musealize the city; in the Shanghai case, they will see how tourists, especially dweller-tourists, navigate through a curated past story in the city and connect their own experience, memory and identity with the place.

The all-for-one museum creates a museal layer projected onto the bigger urban space, even though the authenticity of the “past” is challenged by the modernization development of the city. The authors also find out that for some tourists (especially dweller-tourists), an existential sense of authenticity plays a more significant role as they not only seek to sightsee the past of the city but also to take part in its creation.

This paper discusses two kinds of musealization in cosmopolitan cities of Beijing and Shanghai: top-down and bottom-up. It approaches questions about the musealization of urban spaces from the perspectives of anthropology and museology, and discusses musealization in the specific historical context of China’s modernization process.

As the complex influencing factors for financing decisions and limited information at the early project stage often render inappropriate financing mode and scheme (FMS) selection in the large-scale urban rail transit (URT) field, this study aims to identify the multiple influencing factors and establish a revised case-based reasoning (CBR) model by drawing on experience in historical URT projects to provide support for effective FMS decisions.

Our research proposes a two-phase, five-step CBR model for FMS decisions. We first establish a case database containing 116 large-scale URT projects and a multi-attribute FMS indicator system. Meanwhile, grey relational analysis (GRA), the entropy-revised G1 method and the time decay function have been employed to precisely revise the simple CBR model for selecting high-similarity cases. Then, the revised CBR model is verified by nine large-scale URT projects and a demonstration project to prove its decision accuracy and effectiveness.

We construct a similarity case indicator system of large-scale URT projects with 11 indicators across three attributes, in which local government fiscal pressure is considered the most influential indicator for FMS decision-making. Through the verification with typical URT projects, the accuracy of our revised CBR model can reach 89%. The identified high-similarity cases have been confirmed to be effective for recommending appropriate financing schemes matched with a specific financing mode.

This is the first study employing the CBR model, an artificial intelligence approach that simulates human cognition by learning from similar past experiences and cases to enhance the accuracy and reliability of FMS decisions. Based on the characteristics of the URT projects, we revise the CBR model in the case retrieval process to achieve a higher accuracy. The revised CBR model utilizes expert experience and historical information to provide a valuable auxiliary tool for guiding the relevant government departments in making systematic decisions at the early project stage with limited and ambiguous project information.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the influence of low earth orbit space environment on the wear mechanism of TC4 alloy material and crank rocker mechanism.

In this study, friction experiments were carried out on TC4 alloy friction discs and crank rocker mechanisms, both before and after exposure to atomic oxygen and proton irradiation. Nanoindentation, grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were employed to systematically characterize alterations in mechanical properties, surface phase, and chemical composition.

The results show that the wear mechanism of TC4 alloy friction disc is mainly adhesive wear in vacuum environment, while the wear mechanism of crank rocker mechanism includes not only adhesive wear but also abrasive wear. Atomic oxygen exposure leads to the formation of more oxides on the surface of TC4 alloy, which form abrasive particles during the friction process. Proton irradiation will lead to a decrease in fatigue performance and an increase in hardness on the surface of TC4 alloy, thus causing fatigue wear on the surface of TC4 alloy, and more furrows appear on the crank rocker mechanism after proton irradiation. In the three environments, the characteristics of abrasive wear of the crank rocker mechanism are more obvious than those of the TC4 alloy friction disc.

These results highlight the importance of understanding the subtle effects of atomic oxygen and proton irradiation on the wear behavior of TC4 alloy and provide some insights for optimizing its performance in space applications.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-02-2024-0051/

This study examines how local governments and enterprises can implement ecological restoration of abandoned mines based on ecology-oriented development (EOD), which will be more beneficial to local environmental protection and economic development under the central government’s policy of outcome incentives or process subsidies.

We construct a dynamic differential game model to simulate the interactions between local governments and enterprises during the ecological restoration of abandoned mines from an EOD perspective.

The findings suggest that under the central government’s outcome incentive policy, cooperation between local governments and enterprises is an optimal strategy. Under the process subsidy policy, while neither cooperative nor non-cooperative models significantly affect the investment levels of local governments and enterprises, a cooperative approach ensures optimal investments from both without solely relying on the process subsidy. Additionally, incorporating altruistic preferences can lead to Pareto improvements in economic and environmental results under central government outcome incentives.

This research offers a policy foundation for governments to encourage the EOD model in the ecological restoration of abandoned mines. It provides theoretical support for achieving environmental sustainability and high-quality economic development, and is particularly significant for resource-depleted cities seeking to transform their development strategies.

Through a dynamic differential game model involving government agencies and enterprises to simulate decision-making in the ecological restoration of abandoned mines, incorporating altruistic preferences into this restoration process, and identifying optimal strategies and policies for ecological restoration.

The objective is to address financing challenges with an innovative technical approach and provide financial support to facilitate the sustainable development of characteristic tourist towns.

In this study, a novel decision model is proposed, which utilizes the CRITIC improved G1 weighting method to analyze financing factors and applies GRA to enhance the TOPSIS model under a Z-Number fuzzy environment. Finally, sensitivity analysis and comparative assessment were conducted to validate the findings and the model.

The findings indicate that equity financing is the optimal mode of financing for characteristic tourist towns, with bond financing serving as a viable alternative. Key factors influencing financing include economic benefit, social benefit and policy risk. Managers should carefully consider these factors when selecting financing methods in order to enhance efficiency and mitigate risks.

As a new business model and value creation method of cultural and tourism integration, the financing decision of a characteristic tourism town has always been the key to the overall promotion and operation. The research constructs a financing index system for characteristic tourism towns based on benefit and risk considerations, using the hot spring town in Anhui Province, China, as a case study to evaluate eight financing models.

The study aims to devise a comprehensive evaluation model (CEM) for evaluating spatial equity in the layout of elderly service facilities (ESFs) to address the inequity in the layout of ESFs within city center communities characterized by limited land resources and a dense elderly population.

The CEM incorporates a suite of analytical tools, including accessibility assessment, Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient evaluations and spatial autocorrelation analysis. Utilizing this model, the study scrutinized the distributional equity of three distinct categories of ESFs in the city center of Xi’an and proposed targeted optimization strategies.

The findings reveal that (1) there are disparities in ESFs’ accessibility among different categories and communities, manifesting a distinct center (high) and periphery (low) distribution pattern; (2) there exists inequality in ESFs distribution, with nearly 50% of older adults accessing only 18% of elderly services, and these inequalities are more pronounced in urban areas with lower accessibility, and (3) approximately 14.7% of communities experience a supply-demand disequilibrium, with demand surpassing supply as a predominant issue in the ongoing development of ESFs.

The CEM formulated in this study offers policymakers, urban planners and service providers a scientific foundation and guidance for decision-making or policy amendment by promptly assessing and pinpointing areas of spatial inequity in ESFs and identifying deficiencies in their development.

Selective jet electrodeposition (SJED) is an emerging additive manufacturing (AM) technology for realizing metallic components of nano and micro sizes. The deposited parts on the substrate form metallurgical bonding, so separating them from the substrate is an unsolved issue. Therefore, this paper aims to propose a method for separating the deposited micro parts from a sacrificial substrate. Furthermore, single and multi-bead optimization is performed to fabricate microparts with varying density.

A typical SJED process consists of a nozzle (to establish a column of electrolytes) retrofitted on a machine tool (to provide relative motion between substrate and nozzle) that deposits material atom-by-atom on a conductive substrate.

A comprehensive study of process parameters affecting the layer height, layer width and morphology of the deposited micro-parts has been provided. The uniformity in the deposited parts can be achieved with the help of low applied voltage and high scanning speed. Multi-bead analysis for the flat surface condition is experimentally performed, and the flat surface condition is achieved when the centre distance between two adjacent beads is kept at half of the width of a single bead.

Although several literatures have demonstrated that the SJED process can be used for the fabrication of parts; however, part fabrication through multi-bead optimization is limited. Moreover, the removal of the fabricated part from the substrate is the novelty of the current work.

Works procurement performance is critical to successful project delivery. However, early supplier involvement (ESI) has been touted in other industries to impact procurement performance positively. Works procurement has been attracting significant attention from major players due to poor performance characterized by poor performance, budget overruns and incompetence. Hence, the purpose of this study was to assess the impact of ESI on public works procurement performance.

Based on a thorough review of the literature for a pilot survey, the main questionnaires were administered to 103 public procurement officers. To assess the impact of ESI on public works procurement performance, three constructs that served as factors for implementing ESI and five that measure works procurement performance were validated using partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

The outcome of this study shows a significant positive impact of ESI on works procurement performance. This included communication, trust and supplier capabilities. The study further showed that even though cost, schedule, quality, health and safety are essential, sustainability measures are also crucial for work procurement.

The results of this study could help firms make better decisions regarding public works procurement by encouraging ESI. This will likely significantly impact the successful project delivery and preservation of sustainability and efficiency objectives.

The application of PLS-SEM analysis in this study provides insights into how ESI can impact the procurement of public works in Ghana.

This study aims to investigate the mechanism of the misinformation spread based on the elaboration likelihood model and the effects of four factors – emotion, topic, authority and richness – on the depth, breadth and structural virality of misinformation spread.

The authors collected 2,514 misinformation microblogs and 142,006 reposts from Weibo, used deep learning methods to identify the emotions and topics of misinformation and extracted the structural characteristics of the spreading network using the network analysis method.

Results show that misinformation has a smaller spread size and breadth than true news but has a similar spread depth and structural virality. The differential influence of emotions on the structural characteristics of misinformation propagation was found: sadness can promote the breadth of misinformation spread, anger can promote depth and disgust can promote depth and structural virality. In addition, the international topic, the number of followers, images and videos can significantly and positively influence the misinformation's spread size, depth, breadth and structural virality.

The influencing factors of the structural characteristics of misinformation propagation are clarified, which is helpful for the detection and management of misinformation.