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The adoption of metaverse in manufacturing holds significant benefits, but there are several barriers to its seamless integration. This paper aims to identify such barriers and prioritize them in a manner that allows industrial leaders to strategize for smooth adoption.

In this study, we applied two-stage methods, first the identification and validation of barriers through an empirical study applied to Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). A purposive sampling technique and snowball sampling facilitated data collection from these expert sources. Through snowball sampling, additional contacts working in the metaverse field were reached, resulting in 235 possible respondents; the survey yielded 104 completed responses. Thereafter, the best-worst method (BWM) was used to measure and rank the barriers.

The study results show that the two most critical barriers are “Lack of data security and privacy” and “Lack of integration compatibility with existing systems.” Such findings inform industry leaders of specific recommendations for structural changes, training programs, necessary technological investments and collaborative efforts to overcome these barriers.

This work adds significantly to academic discussion by prioritizing barriers towards integrating metaverse technology in manufacturing. In addition, this strategic methodology aids in critical appraisal and ranking of barriers for successful adoption. This study also identifies key barriers but acknowledges that other unexamined factors might be lurking in the background, such as virtual economy, financial risks and cross-border legal issues.

The study’s conclusions cannot be generalized to the other sectors, thus indicating the necessity of carrying out a comparative multi-sector study in the future.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study on systematic prioritization of barriers to adopting metaverse technology in manufacturing is the original contribution of the authors.

This study aims to investigate the integration of smart contracts into the legal framework of Saudi Arabia, spotlighting the pivotal role of blockchain technology in revolutionizing contractual processes. It evaluates the capacity of smart contracts to enhance the efficiency, security and transparency of legal transactions, while critically examining the legal challenges their adoption presents.

Through qualitative analysis, this research explores the operational dynamics of smart contracts, with a focus on their autonomous execution and the digital codification of contractual terms. It scrutinizes the alignment of smart contracts with the Saudi legal system, concentrating on pivotal issues such as the establishment of mutual consent, the verification of contracting parties’ capacity and adherence to conventional legal doctrines.

This study uncovers the transformative potential of smart contracts in redefining the execution of contracts, highlighting their advantages in streamlining transactions and enhancing contractual reliability. However, it also identifies significant obstacles in the path of their full integration into Saudi Arabia’s legal landscape, notably the challenge of reconciling smart contracts’ technology-driven operations with established legal norms and rectifying potential legal inconsistencies.

Offering fresh perspectives on the confluence of technology and law, this paper illuminates the complex task of implementing smart contracts within a legal framework that is in the process of adapting to digital innovation. It advocates for a sophisticated strategy of regulatory adjustment that promotes the legal system's evolution alongside technological progress, ensuring the effective and legally sound utilization of smart contracts.

The purpose of this paper is to present a high-precision method for localizing the Target Ball of an industrial robot, using Binocular Stereo Vision (BSV).

The steps for modeling the kinematics of a flexible robot include three steps. First, the kinematic model was developed, and robot motion tests were conducted, which is multiple sets of static joint angle motions. The kinematic parameters were calibrated based on a laser tracker and BSV, respectively. Second, the dynamics model was developed and operate the robot to perform motions, which is Fourier series excitation trajectories. The dynamics parameters were calibrated. Third, the static joint angles were brought into the dynamics model to calculate the external forces and moments of each joint. The stiffness parameters were calibrated.

The experimental results show that after calibrating the kinematic parameters of the Target Ball, the Target Ball positioning error approximately 4.597 mm. After calibrating the kinematic parameters of the Spherically Mounted Retro and stiffness parameters, the Target Ball positioning error is reduced from about 6.962 mm to approximately 4.956 mm, which is close to 4.597 mm.

The limitation of the approach is that, kinematic model and dynamics model are both required. Therefore, the high openness degree of robot is required, the robot needs to support path planning functions and joint moment extraction. However, some mature commercial robots do not support this.

In this paper, the stiffness model could effectively replace the calibration of the kinematic parameters of the load.

This study aims to investigate the effect of different microstructures and its grain boundary character distribution (GBCD) on the corrosion behavior of weathering bridge steel.

The rust layer characteristics and corrosion resistance of specimens with different microstructures in the simulated industrial environment were studied by Electron Probe X-ray Micro-Analyzer, wavelength-dispersive spectrometer and electrochemical techniques. Electron backscatter diffraction technique was used to characterize the GBCD in steels with different microstructures.

Results revealed a significant difference in the corrosion susceptibility among the four microstructures, with corrosion rates decreasing in the following order: ferrite + pearlite > ferrite + bainite > bainite > martensite. The variation in corrosion resistance is primarily influenced by the microstructure type and the proportion of special grain boundaries, rather than the alloying elements. The proportion of Σ3 boundaries within the coincidence site lattice boundaries is positively correlated with improved corrosion resistance. A higher Σ3 boundary fraction resulted in a lower effective grain boundary energy, elevated self-corrosion potential, increased polarization resistance and reduced areas of localized galvanic corrosion; this led to enhanced inhibition of the electrochemical corrosion reaction, consequently reducing the corrosion rate.

This study elucidates and quantifies the intrinsic relationship between microstructure, GBCD and corrosion rate. This understanding is crucial for enhancing the corrosion resistance of weathering bridge steels in industrial atmospheric corrosion environments.

The purpose of this paper is to develop advanced materials with outstanding mechanical properties and high-temperature oxidation performance for their potential application in high-temperature structural components.

The alloy ingots with high-purity Co, Cr, Ni, Al and Y metals (= 99.9 Wt.%) were prepared in a vacuum arc melting furnace under an argon atmosphere.

This study investigated the impact of the Y content on the microstructure and oxidation behavior of CoCrNiAl medium entropy alloys at 1,200°C. All alloys exhibit a combination of ß and γ phases, with CoCrNiAlY 0.11revealing the presence of obvious sub-micron γ phase precipitates within the ß phase. The oxidation behavior of CoCrNiAlYx (x = 0.05, 0.08, 0.11) at 1,200°C demonstrates the formation of a dense oxide scale on the alloy surface. The surface with aluminum oxide accompanied by yttrium oxide exhibits improved adhesion between the matrix and oxide scale. The CoCrNiAlY0.11 alloy, with a decreased oxidation rate of 7.8 × 10^–6 mg² cm⁻⁴s⁻¹, displays the best oxidation resistance among these alloys with varying Y content.

The study examines the optimal content of Y in the CoCrNiAl medium alloy and its superior oxidation behavior at 1,200°C.

Recognition of the complexity of job embeddedness in the work environment has grown, highlighting the need for a deeper understanding of the factors that contribute to this phenomenon. This study analyzed how and when job crafting and leisure crafting are linked to job embeddedness by investigating employee resilience as a mediator and employee adaptivity as a moderator.

Data were gathered from 568 Taiwanese hotel employees. The PROCESS macro was used to verify all hypotheses.

Both job crafting and leisure crafting increased job embeddedness. Employee resilience mediated the impacts of job and leisure crafting on job embeddedness. The positive relationship between employee resilience and job embeddedness was stronger when employee adaptivity was high. Employee adaptivity moderated the indirect impacts of job and leisure crafting on job embeddedness through employee resilience.

Hotel managers should foster a workplace culture that encourages employees to engage in job crafting. Additionally, managers can offer employee assistance programs to proactively encourage workers to participate in leisure crafting. Providing training and wellness programs to strengthen employee resilience, along with allocating resources and designing learning programs to enhance employee adaptability, can further promote job embeddedness.

This research contributes to the literature through the construction of a moderated mediation model that explored how and when job and leisure crafting affect job embeddedness.

This study examines whether Confucian culture can promote enterprise total factor productivity (TFP), and it also studies how transmission mechanism works on enterprise TFP.

Based on the data of A-share listed companies on Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2008 to 2019, this study measures the influence of Confucian culture on enterprise TFP by the number of Confucian academies and Confucian temples within three radius ranges of a company's registered address.

The empirical results show that Confucian culture has a positive effect on the enterprise TFP. The transmission mechanism test shows that Confucian culture can promote the TFP of Chinese enterprises through reducing agency cost, improving agency efficiency and enhancing innovation.

The findings in this study provide implications for policymakers, scholars and enterprises. The results show that Confucian culture can enhance the TFP of Chinese enterprises. Especially in emerging markets including China, the Confucian culture, as an informal institution, can effectively complement formal institutions, promoting enterprise TFP.

This study expands the literature on Confucian culture in two aspects: the influence of Confucian culture on TFP and its transmission mechanism. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to identify a link between Confucian culture and enterprise TFP.

The aim was to investigate the effect of Cr₃C₂ mass fraction the high-temperature tribological performance of laser cladded WC-10Co₄Cr coating, in which the Cr₃C₂ played the role in enhancing wear resistance.

The WC-10Co₄Cr-xCr₃C₂ (x = 5%, 10% and 15%) were prepared on H13 steel using laser cladding, and their coefficients of friction and wear rates at 500°C were investigated using a ball-on-disc wear tester.

The WC-10Co4Cr-xCr₃C₂ powders are composed of WC, Co₃W₃C, CoCr and Cr₃C₂ phases, and the defects such as pores and cracks are reduced by the addition of Cr₃C₂. The coefficient of friction and wear rats of WC-10Co4Cr-xCr₃C₂ coatings are decreased with the Cr₃C₂ mass fraction, showing that the addition of Cr₃C₂ significantly enhances the tribological properties of WC-10Co₄Cr coating. The wear mechanism is adhesive wear and oxidation wear, and the Cr₃C₂ plays the roles of friction reduction and wear resistance, which provides valuable insights into optimizing the performance of WC-10Co₄Cr coating.

The Cr₃C₂ was first added into the laser cladded WC-10Co₄Cr coating, which improved its high-temperature tribological performance.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-12-2024-0471/

This study aims to propose and validate a research framework pertaining to the willingness to disclose information in the context of mobile banking apps. The interrelationships between privacy protection, perceived personalization, social presence, design aesthetics, consumer empowerment, parasocial interactions and privacy concerns are assessed as antecedents of willingness to disclose information.

Based on a self-administered survey, this study gathered data from 450 Chinese consumers. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling via SmartPLS 4 software.

The findings indicate that (1) privacy concerns are negatively related to willingness to disclose information, (2) parasocial interaction reduces privacy concerns, (3) consumer empowerment is positively influenced by privacy protection and perceived personalization and (4) social presence and design aesthetics positively contribute to the formation of parasocial interaction.

The current study serves to reinforce a theoretical understanding of the willingness to disclose information in mobile banking apps, which is underresearched. The findings offer alternative psychological mechanisms (i.e. consumer empowerment and parasocial interaction) and relevant mobile banking app attributes to explain the willingness to disclose information.

This study examines the accuracy of a homogenization scheme for the linear buckling analysis of structures assembled from beam-based lattice plates. Regardless of in-plane acting loads, the buckling behavior is characterized by the abrupt out-of-plane deformation. Apparently, if the lattice plates are modeled as homogenized ones, the out-of-plane effective material properties should be considered. However, as prevalently implemented in literature, the in-plane effective material properties are assigned to the homogenized plates for the linear buckling analysis, and thus, the results are erroneous.

The linear buckling analysis is performed by two finite element models, i.e. the high- and low-fidelity finite element models. In the former one, each strut of the lattice structures is modeled as an Euler–Bernoulli beam, and thus, all the geometrical features are explicitly simulated. On the other hand, the low-fidelity one involves the homogenized plates having the out-of-plane effective material properties determined from the lattice counterparts using an energy-based homogenization method.

The accuracy of the homogenization scheme is confirmed by the comparison of results obtained by the high- and low-fidelity finite element models. Six topological configurations of the unit cells are considered, and the first five buckling modes are inspected. In all examinations, the low-fidelity finite element model offers the acceptable level of accuracy, i.e. the relative difference between two finite element models is lower than 5%. Furthermore, it is recommended to use the out-of-plane effective material properties rather than the in-plane ones to ensure the precise simulation.

The current study is original. In literature, there are some studies regarding the buckling analysis of lattice plates or panels with out-of-plane material properties. However, these studies use the analytical approach, and consequently, they are confined to lattice structures whose geometry is simple. In the present paper, structures assembled from beam-based lattice plates are examined. It can be noticed that these structures can have complex geometry. Therefore, the feasibility and accuracy of using out-of-plane effective material properties with homogenized plates for the linear buckling analysis of lattice plates are validated.