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Article
Publication date: 13 June 2016

Qin Qin, Zu-huai Wu, Yong Zang, Ben Guan and Jinxin Zhang

This study aims to reduce the warping deformation of the stainless composite plate after removal strake by using a finite element method. A three-dimensional thermo-mechanical…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to reduce the warping deformation of the stainless composite plate after removal strake by using a finite element method. A three-dimensional thermo-mechanical coupled elastic-plastic finite element model has been suggested by using ABAQUS to simulate the multi-pass hot rolling of stainless composite plate.

Design/methodology/approach

A three-dimensional thermo-mechanical coupled elastic-plastic finite element model has been suggested by using ABAQUS to simulate the multi-pass hot rolling of stainless composite plate. Warping deformation rules of 316L/Q345R stainless composite plate after removal strake have been analyzed. Moreover, the influences of some different rolling parameters on this deformation have been discussed.

Findings

The warping deformation just varies in the range of cladding ratio from 0.1 to 0.25. Therefore, cladding ratio does not have a great influence on warping deformation.

Originality/value

The results show that higher heating temperature, larger final thickness and less rolling passes are beneficial for reducing the warping deformation.

Details

World Journal of Engineering, vol. 13 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1708-5284

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 October 2014

Maggie M. Wang, Cherrie J.H. Zhu, Connie Zheng and Susan Mayson

The purpose of this paper is to explore suzhi requirements and expectations to double-shouldered academics as middle-level cadres (双肩挑处级干部) in a Chinese higher education institute…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore suzhi requirements and expectations to double-shouldered academics as middle-level cadres (双肩挑处级干部) in a Chinese higher education institute (HEI) as an initial step to examine the interplays between suzhi requirement and expectations and organizational operational mechanism in the Chinese context.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopted an exploratory single-case approach for the study. In this study, 22 participants composed of middle-level cadres, other stakeholders at the university, college/department and business unit levels were interviewed.

Findings

Suzhi requirements for the cadres followed the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) guideline, the required de, neng, qin, ji and lian (德, 能, 勤, 绩, 廉) was abstract and vague. With the parallel systems, the CPC and administrative lines, there were discrepancies between the CPC required suzhi and those expected by the stakeholders. A social phenomenon, “official rank-oriented standard” (ORS, guan ben wei, 官本位), was found significantly intertwining with the self suzhi expectation of the cadres, unveiling a more complex dynamics than most research reported for the Chinese public sector organizations (PSOs).

Researchimplications

With the initial qualitative findings unveiling suzhi as an organizational construct, this study informs future empirical research in the indigenous suzhi phenomenon in organizational setting. The conceptualized results of our study offer new insight for future indigenous Chinese management research in all PSOs including state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

Originality/value

As an initial step, this study endeavored to explore suzhi as an organizational construct in a Chinese HEI. The paper contributes to the literature by unveiling the complexity of PSOs in the interplays of dual management systems and ORS coupled with dual-role suzhi requirements for the cadres.

Details

Journal of Chinese Human Resource Management, vol. 5 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-8005

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 August 2019

Zheng Fan, Xiner Tong, Peihua Fan and Qingli Fan

This study aims to build an indigenous Chinese management model based on Chinese culture.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to build an indigenous Chinese management model based on Chinese culture.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopts new institutionalism as its theoretical foundation, examines the core values of Chinese civilization in retrospect and identifies the key features of a Chinese management model. In this study, the authors develop a “glacier model” and test its reliability with the Haier Group.

Findings

This study proposes a new definition for a management model: a knowledge system based on institutional civilization that reflects management theory and practice. It analyzes the institutional environment of Chinese civilization: the recessive bottom-most layers are CBTLG (Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, legalism and Guan theory) and MDSX (Mao Zedong thought, Deng Xiaoping theory, scientific thoughts of development and Xi Jinping thought), the dominant principles are “Socialism and Mixed Economy” and the core values of Chinese culture compose the layer between them. This study concludes that the distinguishing features of Chinese management are harmonious management, the order-diversity pattern and Tai Chi management.

Research limitations/implications

This paper only discussed the management model of China. Based on the conclusions of this paper, in the future, researchers comparative studies on Chinese management and other countries’ management models with glacier model. By so doing, people can have a more comprehensive understanding of management models of different cultures.

Practical implications

The management characteristics contained in Chinese culture can provide more abundant knowledge for understanding current organizational management issues. A better understanding of the characteristics of a Chinese management model based on Chinese civilization is conducive to foreign investment or cross-cultural cooperation between Chinese and foreign enterprises.

Originality/value

This study provides a new perspective in studying Chinese management. The theoretical values of the glacier model are as follows: it is rooted in a Chinese management context; it makes up for the insufficiency in the current study of institutionalism; and it guides cross-cultural communication and management. The authors hope that the study attracts the attention of more scholars. Any civilization of any region or country can construct its own management model using the frame of the glacier model.

Details

Chinese Management Studies, vol. 13 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-614X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 16 June 2021

Ziyu Long

This chapter uses the entrepreneurial experiences of women entrepreneurs in urban China as an empirical case to discuss contextual influences on women's everyday entrepreneurial…

Abstract

This chapter uses the entrepreneurial experiences of women entrepreneurs in urban China as an empirical case to discuss contextual influences on women's everyday entrepreneurial experience in developing countries. Based on thematic analysis of women's own accounts of their entrepreneurial experiences, four contextual influences emerged: (1) preentrepreneurial work experience, (2) national entrepreneurial development, (3) cultural values, and (4) gendered work ideology. These influences shaped and were shaped by women's entrepreneurial identities, decisions, and actions in situated contexts. To further understand women's negotiations with these influences in developing countries, future research are called for to investigate how women resist dominant structures to carve out entrepreneurial agencies and enact resiliency to build sustainable businesses.

Details

The Emerald Handbook of Women and Entrepreneurship in Developing Economies
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-327-7

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 May 2020

Kwun-fu Chan

This study aims to examine the problems encountered during the establishment of the Central Police Academy (CPA) under the Nationalist regime from 1936 to 1949. While the…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine the problems encountered during the establishment of the Central Police Academy (CPA) under the Nationalist regime from 1936 to 1949. While the authoritarian party-state unified the police academies by forceful means, this catalyzed the cleavage between the schools of police studies and resulted in power struggles over police education, intellectual thought, collectivity and even the national reform of police administration. More than narrating the progress of power consolidation, this study attempts to identify the problems underlying the factional strife and to reveal the interwoven pattern of these power struggles, exploring the confusion regarding what the police is, a question that troubled Chinese policemen from the mainland to Taiwan.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper explains the emergence of the factional strife from the beginning of the preliminary growth of the Police Academies in Nanking and Chekiang. It widely makes use of the official archives from Japan Center for Asian Historical Records and Historica Academia to show the dynamic situation in police education and administration. Rather, the official publications of the Police Academies and their affiliated associations reveal the hidden political agenda behind a unified framework as the party-state claimed. Moreover, official gazettes, memorials and newspapers are also used to strengthen the core argument of this study.

Findings

This paper examines the impact of the factional strife between the police leaders Dai Li and Li Shizhen on the CPA from 1936 to 1949. It illustrates that the establishment of the CPA ostensibly unified the nationwide police force but triggered power struggles over the control of the police administration. More importantly, it also shows how the factions strove for larger shares of power under the supreme doctrines that Chiang Kai-shek and the party-state imposed.

Originality/value

The failure of police education to become powerful was a special case among other more typical institutions. The governors coercively merged the police academies and created robust conditions for growth under the shelter of state authority. The police force did not follow the same path of national monopoly as what recent studies found but drifted apart with its vested interests and incompatible beliefs. Hence, the greater the demand for centralized control by the state, the greater the tension of the factional strife.

Details

Social Transformations in Chinese Societies, vol. 16 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1871-2673

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 December 2018

A. Syafiq, A.K. Pandey, Vengadaesvaran Balakrishnan and Nasrudin Abd Rahim

The paper aims to investigate the effect of Degussa P-25 Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles on hydrophobicity and self-cleaning ability as a single organic coating on glass…

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to investigate the effect of Degussa P-25 Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles on hydrophobicity and self-cleaning ability as a single organic coating on glass substrate.

Design/methodology/approach

Two methods have been used to enhance the hydrophobicity on glass substrates, namely, surface modification by using low surface energy isooctyltrimethoxysilane (ITMS) solution and construction of rough surface morphology using Degussa P-25 TiO2 nanoparticles with simple bottom-up approach. The prepared sol was applied onto glass substrate using dip-coating technique and stoved in the vacuum furnace 350°C.

Findings

The ITMS coating with nano TiO2 pigment has modified the glass substrate surface by achieving the water contact angle as high as 169° ± 2° and low sliding angle of 0° with simple and low-cost operation. The solid and air phase interface has created excellent anti-dirt and self-cleaning properties against dilute ketchup solution, mud and silicon powder.

Research limitations/implications

Findings will be useful in the development of self-cleaning and anti-dirt coating for photovoltaic panels.

Practical implications

Sol method provides the suitable medium for the combination of organic–inorganic network to achieve high superhydrophobicity and optimum self-cleaning ability.

Originality/value

Application of blended organic–inorganic sol as self-cleaning and anti-dirt coating film.

Details

Pigment & Resin Technology, vol. 53 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0369-9420

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 July 2023

Narjess Said, Kaouther Ben Mansour, Nedra Bahri-Ammari, Anish Yousaf and Abhishek Mishra

This study aims to propose a research model integrating technology acceptance model 3 (TAM3) constructs and human aspects of humanoid service robots (HSRs), measured by the…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to propose a research model integrating technology acceptance model 3 (TAM3) constructs and human aspects of humanoid service robots (HSRs), measured by the Godspeed questionnaire series and tested across two hotel properties in Japan and the USA.

Design/methodology/approach

Potential participants were approached randomly by email invitation. A final sample size of 395 across two hotels, one in Japan and the other in the USA, was obtained, and the data were analysed using structural equation modelling.

Findings

The results confirm that perceived usefulness, driven by subjective norms and output quality, and perceived ease of use, driven by perceived enjoyment and absence of anxiety, are the immediate direct determinants of users’ re-patronage intentions for HSRs. Results also showed that users prefer anthropomorphism, perceived intelligence and the safety of an HSR for reusing it.

Practical implications

The findings have practical implications for the hospitality industry, suggesting multiple attributes of an HSRs that managers need to consider before deploying them in their properties.

Originality/value

The current study proposes an integrated model determining factors that affect the re-patronage of HSRs in hotels.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 36 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 June 2008

Walid Ben‐Amar and Franck Missonier‐Piera

Accounting research has emphasized target and bidder managers' incentives to manipulate earnings during corporate control contests. However, prior studies examining earnings…

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Abstract

Purpose

Accounting research has emphasized target and bidder managers' incentives to manipulate earnings during corporate control contests. However, prior studies examining earnings management by takeover targets have obtained mixed results. Moreover, the existing evidence is mainly based on US data and hostile mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions. The purpose of this study is to examine earnings management by friendly takeover targets in the year preceding the deal announcement in Switzerland.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper examines earnings management practices of a sample of 50 Swiss firms that were targets of a friendly takeover proposition during the period 1990‐2002. Discretionary accruals are used as a measure of earnings management. It uses a matching approach and a cross‐sectional regression analysis to test the hypothesis of earnings management by takeover targets.

Research limitations/implications

The paper expands and provides further international insights to the existing literature through the investigation of earnings management by takeover targets managers in a European setting and in a friendly corporate control environment.

Originality/value

These empirical findings document the existence of a significant downward earnings management during the year preceding the transaction. These results suggest that earnings management incentives may differ between negotiated friendly and hostile disciplinary transactions.

Details

International Journal of Managerial Finance, vol. 4 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1743-9132

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 February 2021

Yao Zhang and Xin Guan

The purpose of this paper is to propose a method integrating fault tree analysis and optimization model to allocate response budget from the preventive and protective perspectives.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a method integrating fault tree analysis and optimization model to allocate response budget from the preventive and protective perspectives.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed method consists of two main steps. The first step is to analyze and calculate the probability and the loss of the risk. The second step is to build an optimization model for allocating response budget.

Findings

First, there exists an optimal response budget. Second, risk protection is preferred to risk prevention when the total budget is limited. Third, the protective budget should be first invested for the consequence event with greatest expected loss. Fourth, the preventive budget should be first allocated to the risk cause with highest occurrence probability that belongs to the OR set in the fault tree.

Practical implications

Managerially, our results indicate that project managers (PMs) should make a tradeoff between the budget invested for risk response and reduced expected loss of the risk. Then, in the case of inadequate response budget, PMs should pay more attention to risk protection and cope with the event that can cause severe loss. In addition, under this circumstance, PMs had to better allocate the risk preventive budget in proper order.

Originality/value

Project risk response is a critical issue in project risk management as PMs can take actions actively to cope with project risks in this phase. Effective risk response, in general, requires financial support in practice, and reasonable allocation of the total budget among risk response strategies can produce better response effects.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 50 no. 12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 May 2020

Yassine Bouteraa, Ismail Ben Abdallah and Ahmed Elmogy

The purpose of this paper is to design and develop a new robotic device for the rehabilitation of the upper limbs. The authors are focusing on a new symmetrical robot which can be…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to design and develop a new robotic device for the rehabilitation of the upper limbs. The authors are focusing on a new symmetrical robot which can be used to rehabilitate the right upper limb and the left upper limb. The robotic arm can be automatically extended or reduced depending on the measurements of the patient's arm. The main idea is to integrate electrical stimulation into motor rehabilitation by robot. The goal is to provide automatic electrical stimulation based on muscle status during the rehabilitation process.

Design/methodology/approach

The developed robotic arm can be automatically extended or reduced depending on the measurements of the patient's arm. The system merges two rehabilitation strategies: motor rehabilitation and electrical stimulation. The goal is to take the advantages of both approaches. Electrical stimulation is often used for building muscle through endurance, resistance and strength exercises. However, in the proposed approach the electrical stimulation is used for recovery, relaxation and pain relief. In addition, the device includes an electromyography (EMG) muscle sensor that records muscle activity in real time. The control architecture provides the ability to automatically activate the appropriate stimulation mode based on the acquired EMG signal. The system software provides two modes for stimulation activation: the manual preset mode and the EMG driven mode. The program ensures traceability and provides the ability to issue a patient status monitoring report.

Findings

The developed robotic device is symmetrical and reconfigurable. The presented rehabilitation system includes a muscle stimulator associated with the robot to improve the quality of the rehabilitation process. The integration of neuromuscular electrical stimulation into the physical rehabilitation process offers effective rehabilitation sessions for neuromuscular recovery of the upper limb. A laboratory-made stimulator is developed to generate three modes of stimulation: pain relief, massage and relaxation. Through the control software interface, the physiotherapist can set the exercise movement parameters, define the stimulation mode and record the patient training in real time.

Research limitations/implications

There are certain constraints when applying the proposed method, such as the sensitivity of the acquired EMG signals. This involves the use of professional equipment and mainly the implementation of sophisticated algorithms for signal extraction.

Practical implications

Functional electrical stimulation and robot-based motor rehabilitation are the most important technologies applied in post-stroke rehabilitation. The main objective of integrating robots into the rehabilitation process is to compensate for the functions lost in people with physical disabilities. The stimulation technique can be used for recovery, relaxation and drainage and pain relief. In this context, the idea is to integrate electrical stimulation into motor rehabilitation based on a robot to obtain the advantages of the two approaches to further improve the rehabilitation process. The introduction of this type of robot also makes it possible to develop new exciting assistance devices.

Originality/value

The proposed design is symmetrical, reconfigurable and light, covering all the joints of the upper limbs and their movements. In addition, the developed platform is inexpensive and a portable solution based on open source hardware platforms which opens the way to more extensions and developments. Electrical stimulation is often used to improve motor function and restore loss of function. However, the main objective behind the proposed stimulation in this paper is to recover after effort. The novelty of the proposed solution is to integrate the electrical stimulation powered by EMG in robotic rehabilitation.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. 47 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

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