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This study aims to provide insights into the development of firm strategies of international expansion by examining the direct relationship between internationalization speed and firm performance and by exploring the interactive role played by networking capability.

This is an empirical study based on survey data collected from 343 small and medium-sized enterprises operating in Australia and New Zealand. Regression modelling analysis was performed.

This study found an inverted U-shape relationship between the speed at which a firm expands internationally and its performance. Expanding too fast or too slow leads to lower performance, and this performance implication is because of an interactive effect of the firm's networking capability.

This study contributes to the literature by generating insights into how firm strategies of international expansion lead to improvement of firm performance, thereby giving guidance and providing suggestions to managers regarding how quickly to internationalize.

This study contributes to the literature by generating insights into how firm strategies of international expansion lead to improvement of firm performance and by providing suggestions to managers regarding decision-making in developing strategies for international expansion speed.

This is an original study based on empirical data collected from a management survey.

Aqueous zinc-ion battery has broad application prospects in smart grid energy storage, power tools and other fields. Co₃O₄ is one of the ideal cathode materials for water zinc-ion batteries due to their high theoretical capacity, simple synthesis, low cost and environmental friendliness. Many studies were concentrated on the synthesis, design and doping of cathodes, but the effect of process parameters on morphology and performance was rarely reported.

Herein, Co₃O₄ cathode material based on carbon cloth (Co₃O₄/CC) was prepared by different temperatures hydrothermal synthesis method. The temperatures of hydrothermal reaction are 100°C, 120°C, 130°C and 140°C, respectively. The influence of temperatures on the microstructures of the cathodes and electrochemical performance of zinc ion batteries were investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy, cyclic voltammetry curve, electrochemical charging and discharging behavior and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy test.

The results show that the Co₃O₄/CC material synthesized at 120°C has good performance. Co₃O₄/CC nanowire has a uniform distribution, regular surface and small size on carbon cloth. The zinc-ion battery has excellent rate performance and low reaction resistance. In the voltage range of 0.01–2.2 V, when the current density is 1 A/g, the specific capacity of the battery is 108.2 mAh/g for the first discharge and the specific capacity of the battery is 142.6 mAh/g after 60 charge and discharge cycles.

The study aims to investigate the effect of process parameters on the performance of zinc-ion batteries systematically and optimized applicable reaction temperature.

The purpose of this paper is to reveal the friction and wear performance of grooves textured cylindrical roller thrust bearings with different groove dimensions under starved lubrication.

The groove dimensions include: width of grooves (WOG, 50 µm, 100 µm and 150 µm), depth of grooves (DPOG, 7 µm, 11 µm and 15 µm) as well as groove deflection angle (GDA, 45°). A fiber laser marking system was used to prepare groove patterns on the raceways of shaft washers. The friction and wear properties of grooves textured bearings were researched through a vertical universal wear test rig using a customized roller bearing tribo-pair under starved lubrication. Static finite element analyses were conducted to reveal their surface stresses. Through the comprehensive comparison and analyses, the influence mechanism of grooves on the tribological behavior of cylindrical roller thrust bearings was proposed and discussed.

When grooves textured bearings run under starved lubrication, their average coefficients of friction (COFs) and wear losses are all significantly reduced and much lower than those of smooth group. The influence of DPOG on the COF curves is significant, while the influence of WOG on the COF curves is a little weak. The influence of groove dimensions on the surface stresses of grooves textured bearings is weak, whether the WOG or DPOG. In this work, when the WOG is 100 µm and the DPOG is 15 µm, its average COF and wear loss are both the lowest, 0.0066 and 0.61 mg, respectively. Compared with the data of smooth group, its friction coefficient is reduced by 75.3% and its mass loss is reduced by 95.8%, showing a significant improvement in this condition.

This work can provide a valuable reference for the raceway design and reliability optimization of rolling element bearings.

This paper presents a comprehensive pallet-picking approach for forklift robots, comprising a pallet identification and localization algorithm (PILA) to detect and locate the pallet and a vehicle alignment algorithm (VAA) to align the vehicle fork arms with the targeted pallet.

Opposing vision-based methods or point cloud data strategies, we utilize a low-cost RGB-D camera, and thus PILA exploits both RGB and depth data to quickly and precisely recognize and localize the pallet. The developed method guarantees a high identification rate from RGB images and more precise 3D localization information than a depth camera. Additionally, a deep neural network (DNN) method is applied to detect and locate the pallet in the RGB images. Specifically, the point cloud data is correlated with the labeled region of interest (RoI) in the RGB images, and the pallet's front-face plane is extracted from the point cloud. Furthermore, PILA introduces a universal geometrical rule to identify the pallet's center as a “T-shape” without depending on specific pallet types. Finally, VAA is proposed to implement the vehicle approaching and pallet picking operations as a “proof-of-concept” to test PILA’s performance.

Experimentally, the orientation angle and centric location of the two kinds of pallets are investigated without any artificial marking. The results show that the pallet could be located with a three-dimensional localization accuracy of 1 cm and an angle resolution of 0.4 degrees at a distance of 3 m with the vehicle control algorithm.

PILA’s performance is limited by the current depth camera’s range (< = 3 m), and this is expected to be improved by using a better depth measurement device in the future.

The results demonstrate that the pallets can be located with an accuracy of 1cm along the x, y, and z directions and affording an angular resolution of 0.4 degrees at a distance of 3m in 700ms.

This paper aims to focus on the development and characterization of a new electrochemical sensor, designed for the detection of methylene blue present in aqueous medium.

This sensor is obtained through the coupling of a polymeric membrane and an ion-sensitive electrode (platinum electrode). The preparation of the polymeric membrane involves the incorporation of a receptor: β-cyclodextrin (β-CD), a polymer (polyvinylchloride) and a plasticizer (dioctylphtalate). Cyclic voltammetry method (CV) was used to investigate the electrical properties of this electrochemical sensor. The effect of the experimental parameters such as dye initial concentration, scan rate, interfering elements presence and additional Nafion membrane presence was investigated in this paper.

The results are interesting because the developed sensor gives a linear response in concentrations range of 10⁻¹³ M–10⁻³ M with a good correlation coefficient of 0.979 and a detection limit of 10⁻¹³ M, which reflects the sensitivity of this sensor to the target element. The sensibility value is equal to 2. 40 µA mol⁻¹ L.

The present study has shown that the modified electrode is a very good candidate in terms of price, sensibility and reproducibility for the construction of the sensitive sensor for the control of wastewater containing methylene blue.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

IPO underpricing occurs more when the CEO of the listing firm is a celebrity, which is increased further when they are also founders of the firm and act as the firm Chair.

The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

The purpose of this paper is to present Part II of an interview with Dr Anne Tsui, Motorola Professor of International Management. Part I – the scholarly journey, was published in JCHRM Vol. 2 No. 2, 2011. This part of the interview focuses on the following issues: how Dr Anne Tsui has developed her interest and passion in Chinese management research over the years; how Dr Tsui has contributed to the management field; what researchers should do in order to conduct quality management research in China; and what Dr Tsui has envisioned for the future opportunities and challenges of Chinese management research.

The paper reports a recent interview with Dr Anne Tsui, Motorola Professor of International Management at Arizona State University.

Anyone who is interested in quality management research in China should choose interesting topics that are relevant to the Chinese local context and grounded in local phenomena. Qualitative research method and cross‐cultural collaborations are highly recommended for Chinese researchers.

The interview shows the direction of the development of Chinese management research and provides practical advice to researchers in this field on how to conduct quality research in the Chinese context.

The paper presents a real‐world role model for junior scholars in management research.

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the advances in grey system theory research and various application achievements in science and engineering. At the same time, it commemorates the 40th anniversary of the birth of grey system theory and the 10th anniversary of Grey Systems–Theory and Application.

Firstly, the innovations of theoretical research in grey system theory were summarized and some of the widely recognized new results are briefly described. By searching and combing the research results of grey system theory in China national knowledge infrastructure (CNKI) database and Web of Science by Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), this paper shows the rapid development trend of grey system theory in the past 40 years, and the successful applications of grey system theory in the fields of social sciences, natural sciences and engineering technologies.

More than 227 thousands literature were found by input 10 phrases such as grey system, grey number and sequence operator etc. in CNKI database. After entering the new century, the number of grey system papers included in CNKI database is increasing rapidly. Since 2008, more than 10 thousands papers have been included per year and more than 15 thousands papers have been included per year since 2014. Grey system method and model are widely used in physics, chemistry, biology and other fields of natural science, as well as transportation, electric power, machinery and other fields of engineering technology, and a large number of valuable results have been achieved.

It can be seen that the grey system theory plays an important role in promoting China’s scientific and technological progress, innovation and development and high-level talent training from tens of thousands of literatures marked with important national science and technology projects and a large number of grey system literatures published by China’s double first-class universities and double first-class discipline construction universities.

Both innovations of theoretical research and practical application play important role in the growth of new theory. The innovations of theoretical research provide methods and tools for practical application, which is conducive to improve application efficiency and broaden application fields. A large number of practical applications needs have become the source of theoretical innovation and the solid background for the birth of theoretical innovation achievements.