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1 – 10 of 722Peng Yin, Tao Liu, Baofeng Pan and Ningbo Liu
The coal-based synthetic natural gas slag (CSNGS) is a solid waste remaining from the incomplete combustion of raw coal to produce gas. With the continuous promotion of efficient…
Abstract
Purpose
The coal-based synthetic natural gas slag (CSNGS) is a solid waste remaining from the incomplete combustion of raw coal to produce gas. With the continuous promotion of efficient and clean utilization of coal in recent years, the stockpiling of CSNGS would increase gradually, and it would have significant social and environmental benefits with reasonable utilization of CSNGS. This study prepared a new geopolymer by mixing CSNGS with PC42.5 cement in a certain mass ratio as the precursor, with sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate solution as the alkali activators.
Design/methodology/approach
The formulation of coal-based synthetic natural gas slag geopolymer (CSNGSG) was determined by an orthogonal test, and then the strength mechanism and microstructure of CSNGSG were characterized by multi-scale tests.
Findings
The results show that the optimum ratio of CSNGSG was a sodium silicate modulus of 1.3, an alkali dosage of 21% and a water cement ratio of 0.36 and the maximum unconfined compressive strength of CSNGSG at 7 d was 26.88 MPa. The increase of curing temperature could significantly improve the compressive strength of CSNGSG, and the curing humidity had little effect on the compressive strength of CSNGSG. The development of the internal strength of CSNSG at high temperatures consumed SiO2, Al2O3 and CaO and the intensity of corresponding crystalline peaks decreased.
Originality/value
Moreover, the vibration of chemical bonds in different wavenumbers also revealed the reaction mechanism of CSNSG from another perspective. Finally, the relevant test results indicated that CSNGS had practical application value as a raw material for the preparation of geopolymer cementing materials.
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Xiaoqing Zhang, Genliang Xiong, Peng Yin, Yanfeng Gao and Yan Feng
To ensure the motion attitude and stable contact force of massage robot working on unknown human tissue environment, this study aims to propose a robotic system for autonomous…
Abstract
Purpose
To ensure the motion attitude and stable contact force of massage robot working on unknown human tissue environment, this study aims to propose a robotic system for autonomous massage path planning and stable interaction control.
Design/methodology/approach
First, back region extraction and acupoint recognition based on deep learning is proposed, which provides a basis for determining the working area and path points of the robot. Second, to realize the standard approach and movement trajectory of the expert massage, 3D reconstruction and path planning of the massage area are performed, and normal vectors are calculated to control the normal orientation of robot-end. Finally, to cope with the soft and hard changes of human tissue state and body movement, an adaptive force tracking control strategy is presented to compensate the uncertainty of environmental position and tissue hardness online.
Findings
Improved network model can accomplish the acupoint recognition task with a large accuracy and integrate the point cloud to generate massage trajectories adapted to the shape of the human body. Experimental results show that the adaptive force tracking control can obtain a relatively smooth force, and the error is basically within ± 0.2 N during the online experiment.
Originality/value
This paper incorporates deep learning, 3D reconstruction and impedance control, the robot can understand the shape features of the massage area and adapt its planning massage path to carry out a stable and safe force tracking control during dynamic robot–human contact.
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Sha Xu, Xiaojie Wu, Jie He, Renhong Zhu, Alastair M. Morrison and Cheng Xie
Although it is acknowledged that entrepreneurial networks play a crucial role in fostering business model innovation (BMI) for start-ups, it is unclear how and when these networks…
Abstract
Purpose
Although it is acknowledged that entrepreneurial networks play a crucial role in fostering business model innovation (BMI) for start-ups, it is unclear how and when these networks affect BMI. This research developed a moderated mediation model to explore the impact of entrepreneurial networks on BMI in start-ups and examined the dual mediating effects of causation and effectuation, as well as the moderation of environmental dynamism.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed framework was tested by hierarchical regression analyses and bootstrapping using samples of 248 start-ups in China.
Findings
The results showed that entrepreneurial networks significantly positively impacted start-up BMI. Causation and effectuation played dual mediating roles between entrepreneurial networks and BMI. Furthermore, the entrepreneurial networks-effectuation-BMI association was more substantial in highly dynamic environments, whereas the entrepreneurial networks-causation-BMI relationship was unaffected.
Research limitations/implications
There are several theoretical contributions resulting from this research. The findings offer new insights for understanding the antecedents of start-up BMI from the network perspective. This research adds to the growing literature on resource orchestration (RO) by exploring the dual mediating influences of causation and effectuation in resource management. This investigation revealed the boundary condition between entrepreneurial networks and BMI by testing the moderating influence of environmental dynamism.
Practical implications
Start-ups must effectively use external resources embedded within networks to advance BMI. Start-up entrepreneurs should apply causation and effectuation to transform entrepreneurial network resources into BMI. Start-up entrepreneurs must dynamically manage resources in response to ever-changing environmental conditions. Resource acquisition and management of entrepreneurial networks can vary significantly in their influence on start-up BMI under different environmental contexts.
Originality/value
Unlike previous BMI research focused on internal organizational factors, this study highlighted the critical importance of entrepreneurial networks as a prerequisite for achieving start-up BMI, contributing to the literature on open innovation and resource-based view. Examining the dual mediating roles of causation and effectuation illustrated the bridging role of strategic decision-making logic in connecting resources to value creation, contributing to the developing RO literature. The moderating influence of environmental dynamism was explored, clarifying how start-up BMI benefits from entrepreneurial networks in differing situations. A framework for reconciling contradictory findings concerning the association between entrepreneurial networks and innovation is provided.
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The research is devoted to the theoretical foundations of capital management efficiency based on the existing management problems in joint-stock companies. The author develops…
Abstract
The research is devoted to the theoretical foundations of capital management efficiency based on the existing management problems in joint-stock companies. The author develops conclusions and recommendations for improving the efficiency of capital management. The research analyzes the capital management status of a joint-stock company using indicators that show the enterprise's capital efficiency, the seasonality of the chemical industry, low profitability, high turnover of working capital, and other peculiarities. The methodology presented in this research allows chemical enterprises to assess capital efficiency. In this research, the author created a regression model based on the financial data of enterprises, approaching the existing methodology in the world, and analyzed the specific situation that affects the growth of enterprise assets. According to the six-year financial data for “Farg'onaazot” Joint Stock Company (JSC) and “Bekabadcement” JSC, the author concludes that the ratio for the last three years shows a satisfactory level in the remaining indicators despite recording a good result, indicating that capital management is not reasonable. The practical significance of this research is that the results obtained will serve to improve the financial management of enterprises in the chemical industry.
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Yuqi Zhang, Xue Chen and Chunping Tan
This paper aims to understand how quantum leaders influence employee work behavior through effective tasks.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to understand how quantum leaders influence employee work behavior through effective tasks.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, 516 questionnaires were collected using the interval data method to explore the triggering mechanisms and paths of emerging quantum leadership on constructive deviance.
Findings
The findings indicate that quantum leadership promotes constructive deviance through facilitating recovery experience (affective path), job crafting (task path) and the chained mediation path between the two. Additionally, the moderating effect of openness to experience strengthens the pathways between quantum leadership and recovery experience, and between quantum leadership and job crafting.
Research limitations/implications
This study focuses closely on the mechanism of leadership behavior on employees, neglecting the psychological state and behavior of the leader as a key resource element in the work environment. Quantum leadership emphasizes value-bound characteristics, so the role played by quantum leaders may vary in different cultures and values.
Practical implications
First, this study calls for the organizational management focusing on the advantages of quantum leadership thinking and its positive effects in practice. Second, the mediating mechanisms of recovery experience and job crafting provide insights into how quantum leadership can be used to enhance constructive deviance. Third, this study elucidates how individual responses to organizational environment and leadership style vary in management practices. Our study helps managers better understand how individual characteristics, such as openness to experience, influence managerial behavior.
Social implications
This study enriches the qualitative research on emerging “quantum” perspectives of leadership, expands the mechanism of employee constructive deviance and highlights the need for organizations to take measures that encourage constructive deviance by their employees, as this can lead to high-quality and long-term growth.
Originality/value
Based on conservation of resources theory, authors revealed the mechanisms by which quantum leadership influences employees’ constructive deviance, confirming the mediating role of recovery experience and job crafting as well as the moderating role of openness to employee experience. We explored the moderating mechanisms of the individual trait of openness to experience in the quantum leadership-to-job crafting and the recovery experience-to-job crafting.
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Siqi Wang, Xiaofei Zhang and Fanbo Meng
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the convergence of linguistic features between physicians and patients with chronic diseases facilitates the effectiveness of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the convergence of linguistic features between physicians and patients with chronic diseases facilitates the effectiveness of physician–patient communication in online health communities (OHCs). Drawing on communication accommodation theory (CAT), the authors develop a research model that illustrates how the convergence of semantic features (language concreteness and emotional intensity) and stylistic features (language style) influence patient satisfaction and compliance. The model also incorporates the moderating effects of the physician's social status and the patients' complications.
Design/methodology/approach
The data, collected from a prominent online health platform in China, include 15,448 consultation records over five years. The logistic regression is leveraged to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The findings reveal that convergent semantic features, such as language concreteness and emotional intensity, along with stylistic features like language style, enhance patient satisfaction, which in turn leads to increased compliance. Additionally, the physician’s social status strengthens the effect of convergent emotional intensity but weakens the effect of convergent language concreteness. The physician’s social status has no significant impact on the link between convergent language style and satisfaction. Patients' complications weaken the effect of satisfaction on their compliance.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the CAT and OHC literature by enhancing the understanding of the role of linguistic convergence in the effectiveness of online physician–patient communication and provides managerial implications for physicians on how to accommodate their communicative styles toward chronic patients to improve patient satisfaction and compliance.
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Kostas Theologou and Spyridon Stelios
In this chapter, we introduce the concept of techno-constructionism that identifies with the Technical Construction of Reality (TCR) suggesting the replacement of mere…
Abstract
In this chapter, we introduce the concept of techno-constructionism that identifies with the Technical Construction of Reality (TCR) suggesting the replacement of mere constructivism or Social Construction of Reality. We discuss of course the idea of a theoretical investigation of the lifeworld or Lebenswelt through the lens of technology. Today, we are witnessing technology prevailing on most important functions and systems that were previously done in a completely different way and logic. Rapid advances in computer science have made engineering a dynamically expanding industry that has infiltrated all areas of social life. Artificial intelligence (AI)-based applications are not merely technical, but also cultural and ethical (regarding values). A new perception of reality emerges that ostracizes all kind of societal entities and human communities and alter even lifeworld itself, transforming it into a tech-lifeworld (a Technik-Lebenswelt). Against this perspective, it is important to identify and address the ethical challenges that the unavoidable evolution of technology will bring forward.
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Tourist attractions promote their marketing campaigns by releasing short tourism promotional videos for their potential to promote tourists’ decision-making. However, few scholars…
Abstract
Purpose
Tourist attractions promote their marketing campaigns by releasing short tourism promotional videos for their potential to promote tourists’ decision-making. However, few scholars have studied the impact of short videos of cultural heritage tourism sites on potential tourists’ destination decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the Wudang Mountain Complex, a world cultural heritage site, was used as a case study, and stimulus-organism-response theory was applied to forecast the behavioral motives of prospective tourists. About 401 responses from those who watched the short videos of the Wudang Mountain Complex were collected for the structural equation modeling test.
Findings
The study’s findings have validated the link among tourists’ cultural involvement, cultural experience, positive emotions, cultural identity, destination image, cultural heritage value and destination decisions. Positive emotions and cultural heritage values directly and significantly influence decision-making. Meanwhile, cultural involvement is very important, and it indirectly influences decision-making through cultural experience, positive emotions and cultural heritage values. However, cultural identity and destination image do not significantly influence decision-making.
Originality/value
The research enhances comprehension of how short video promotions influence cultural heritage tourism. It sheds light on the development of tourism promotions for cultural heritage sites and the creation of short tourism videos.
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Jiahua Jin, Qin Chen and Xiangbin Yan
Given the popularity of online health communities (OHCs) and medical question-and-answer (Q&A) services, it is increasingly important to understand what constitutes useful answers…
Abstract
Purpose
Given the popularity of online health communities (OHCs) and medical question-and-answer (Q&A) services, it is increasingly important to understand what constitutes useful answers and user-adopted standards in healthcare domain. However, few studies provide insights into how health information characteristics, provider characteristics and recipient characteristics jointly influence user information adoption decisions. To fill this research gap, this study examines the combined effects of physicians' certainty tone as information characteristics, seniority as provider characteristics and disease severity as recipient characteristics on patients' health information adoption.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on dual-process theory and information adoption model, an extended information adoption model is established in this study to examine the effect of attitude certainty on patients' health information adoption, and the moderating effects of online seniority and offline seniority, as well as patient motivation level—disease severity. Utilizing logit regression models, the authors empirically tested the hypotheses based on 4,224 Q&A records from a popular Chinese OHC.
Findings
The results show that (1) attitude certainty has a significant positive impact on patients' health information adoption, (2) the relationship between attitude certainty and information adoption is negatively moderated by physicians' online seniority, but is positively moderated by offline seniority; (3) there is a negative three-way interaction effect of attitude certainty, online seniority and disease severity on patients' health information adoption.
Originality/value
This study extends the information adoption model to examine the two-way interaction between argument quality and source reliability, as well as the three-way interaction with user motivation level, especially for health information adoption in the healthcare field. These findings also provide direct practical applications for knowledge contributors and OHCs.
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