Search results

Purpose – This paper aims to provide an overview of how the National University of Singapore (NUS) Libraries has been using FourSquare Specials to engage users and to promote library activities and events. This paper will describe the implementation of various FourSquare “Specials” in the different library branches and the reactions of the users. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides an analysis of the check‐ins at the different NUS Libraries. Firstly, there is a comparison of the historical total number of check‐ins at the main Central Library versus other popular venues on campus, as well as a benchmark against other academic libraries internationally. FourSquare Specials were conducted in five of six libraries on Kent Ridge Campus and the total monthly check‐ins at six different NUS Libraries were compared across time to assess the effect of the “Specials” conducted. Lastly, the number of check‐ins as a percentage of walk‐ins is also analyzed. Findings – Overall, the results show that while FourSquare Specials were generally successful in increasing the number of check‐ins, it was unlikely to affect the number of walk‐ins as the vast majority of users were not using FourSquare to check in. Originality/value – This paper describes the use of FourSquare for marketing at an academic library. A description on how to conduct FourSquare “Specials” is included for academic libraries considering running one and possible issues that staff might face running such events.

The goal is to explore the role of international education in a developing country's nation building in a mostly indigenous process.

This study reviews China's history of international education set in the larger context of different nation building tasks in the past two centuries.

The unique case of China with dramatic ups and downs in national fortunes in the past two hundred years serves to show that an open attitude to and an active engagement in international education are contributing factors for national prosperity. The case of China also serves to show that a self-determined agenda is of paramount importance in international education as a tool for nation building.

Few studies so far have paid attention to the specific relationship between the internationalization of higher education and nation building, so the topic of the paper is an important one and a necessary addition to the existing literature. What has been the role of international education in China's national transformation? What contributions has international education made to China's achievement of nation building goals at different stages of this transformation process? What implications can other developing nations draw from China's case with regard to the role of international education in nation building? These are the questions the researchers hope to answer in this study.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the alternative accounts produced by Green Earth Volunteers (GEV), a Chinese environmental non-governmental organisation, over a 10-year period in the context of their campaign to create visibilities about hydroelectric dam projects along the Chang Jiang.

Drawing on conceptions of the human–nature relationship, including those evident in ancient Chinese philosophy and mythology, and the Chinese way of viewing and resolving conflict, this paper offers an interpretive analysis of the alternative accounts of GEV in terms of their form and content.

In terms of their content, the alternative accounts reflect elements of interrelated thinking, being underpinned by a recognition of the relationship between humans and nature, which is evident in Confucianism, Taoism and ancient Chinese mythology. The strategies adopted by GEV are a non-confrontational but feasible way to promote their ecological beliefs in the Chinese context.

The study suggests that social and environmental accounting (SEA) in developing countries is steeped in local cultural and philosophical traditions that need to be considered and incorporated into the design of alternative accounts.

The study contributes to the very limited literature that offers qualitative analyses of SEA in developing countries.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a corrected unresolved CFD-DEM method that can reproduce the wake effects in modeling particulate flows at moderate Reynolds number.

First, the velocity field in the wake behind a settling particle is numerically investigated by a resolved method, in which the finite volume method (FVM) is applied to model the fluid flow, discrete element method (DEM) is applied to simulate the motion of particles and immersed boundary method (IBM) is used to tackle fluid solid interaction. Second, an analytical scaling law is given, which can effectively describe the velocity field in the wake behind the settling particle at low and middle Reynolds numbers. Third, this analytical expression is incorporated into unresolved modeling to correct the relative velocity between the particle and its surrounding fluid and enable the influence of the wake of the particle on its neighboring particles.

Two numerical examples, the sedimentation of dual particles, a list of particles and even more particles are provided to show the effectiveness of the presented velocity corrected unresolved method (VCUM). It is found that, in both examples simulated with VCUM, the relative positions of the particles changed, and drafting & kissing phenomenon and particle clustering phenomenon were clearly observed.

The developed VCUM can be highly beneficial for modeling industrial particulate flows with DKT and particle clustering phenomena.

VCUM innovatively incorporates the wake effects into unresolved CFD-DEM method. It improves the computational accuracy of conventional unresolved methods with comparable results from resolved modeling, while the computational cost is greatly reduced.

This study aims to investigate the responses of young Chinese consumers with different cultural characteristics to negative brand information about electric vehicles.

The current study is quantitative research with an experimental method. It shows two different levels of severity for negative publicity and asks participants to self-report through questionnaires.

Chinese young consumers, being collectivist and of high uncertainty avoidance, tend to search for and spread information; consumers with low power distance search and share information more under low information severity. In addition, information search positively affects brand attitude under lower severity; negative word-of-mouth intention negatively affects brand attitudes at both severity levels.

The current study examines the influence of personal cultural values on information searching and negative information dissemination among young consumers, providing insights to complement previous studies. Furthermore, it explores how such exposure influences young consumers’ brand attitude and intention to purchase. Limitations include simple sample scopes and single-product stimuli.

This research highlights the importance of cultural dimensions in shaping young consumers’ responses to negative publicity. Marketers worldwide should consider cultural influence and develop specific strategies to address negative information about different products. Understanding customers’ unique characteristics and preferences can help marketers effectively tailor their approaches to counter negative publicity.

This study originally provides a supplement to prior studies on cultural dimensions and consumer behavior and provides suggestions to marketers on young Chinese consumers.

This paper aims to present a novel approach for computing particle temperatures in simulations coupling computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and discrete element method (DEM) to predict flow and heat transfer in fluidized beds of thermally thick spherical particles.

An improved lumped formulation based on Hermite-type approximations for integrals to relate surface temperature to average temperature and surface heat flux is used to overcome the limitations of classical lumped models. The model is validated through comparisons with analytical solutions for a convectively cooled sphere and experimental data for a fixed particle bed. The coupled CFD-DEM model is then applied to simulate a Geldart D bubbling fluidized bed, comparing the results to those obtained using the classical lumped model.

The validation cases demonstrate that ignoring internal thermal resistance can significantly impact the temperature in cases where the Biot number is greater than 0.1. The results for the fixed bed case clearly demonstrate that the proposed method yields significantly improved outcomes compared to the classical model. The fluidized bed results show that surface temperature can deviate considerably from the average temperature, underscoring the importance of accurately accounting for surface temperature in convective heat transfer predictions and surface processes.

The proposed approach offers a physically more consistent simulation without imposing a significant increase in computational cost. The improved lumped formulation can be easily and inexpensively integrated into a typical DEM solver workflow to predict heat transfer for spherical particles, with important implications for various industrial applications.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a combined method for three-dimensional incompressible flow and heat transfer by the spectral collocation method (SCM) and the artificial compressibility method (ACM), and further to study the performance of the combined method SCM-ACM for three-dimensional incompressible flow and heat transfer.

The partial differentials in space are discretized by the SCM with Chebyshev polynomial and Chebyshev–Gauss–Lobbatto collocation points. The unsteady artificial compressibility equations are solved to obtain the steady results by the ACM. Three-dimensional exact solutions with trigonometric function form and exponential function form are constructed to test the accuracy of the combined method.

The SCM-ACM is developed successfully for three-dimensional incompressible flow and heat transfer with high accuracy that the minimum value of variance can reach. The accuracy increases exponentially along with time marching steps. The accuracy is also improved exponentially with the increasing of nodes before stable accuracy is achieved, while it keeps stably with the increasing of the time step. The central processing unit time increases exponentially with the increasing of nodes and decreasing of the time step.

It is difficult for the implementation of the implicit scheme by the developed SCM-ACM. The SCM-ACM can be used for solving unsteady impressible fluid flow and heat transfer.

The SCM-ACM is applied for two classic cases of lid-driven cavity flow and natural convection in cubic cavities. The present results show good agreement with the published results with much fewer nodes.

The combined method SCM-ACM is developed, firstly, for solving three-dimensional incompressible fluid flow and heat transfer by the SCM and ACM. The performance of SCM-ACM is investigated. This combined method provides a new choice for solving three-dimensional fluid flow and heat transfer with high accuracy.

While prior research has examined customer acceptance of humanized chatbots, the mechanisms through which they influence customer value creation remain unclear. This study aims to investigate the emerging concept of Perceived Humanization (PH), examining how hedonic motivation, social influence and anthropomorphism influence value creation through the serial mediation of PH and trust. The moderating roles of rapport and social presence are also explored.

Based on data from an online survey involving 257 respondents, this study employs Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling utilizing SmartPLS3 software.

Hedonic motivation leads to value creation via two routes: PH and affective trust; and PH and cognitive trust. Social influence and anthropomorphism also positively impact value creation through similar pathways. Rapport moderates the impact of social influence on PH, while social presence moderates the relationship between PH and both affective and cognitive trust. A cross-cultural analysis of China, India and New Zealand highlights varying cultural dimensions influencing PH and its effects on value creation.

For practitioners in the tourism industry, the findings highlight the strategic importance of enhancing PH in chatbot interactions. By understanding and optimizing these elements, businesses can significantly improve their customer value-creation process.

This study contributes to the service marketing literature by generating a comprehensive framework for the comprehension and application of PH. Its cross-cultural perspective provides rich insights, offering valuable information for service marketers aiming to thrive in the dynamic and competitive tourism industry.

This study aims to assess the use of variational quantum imaginary time evolution for solving partial differential equations using real-amplitude ansätze with full circular entangling layers. A graphical mapping technique for encoding impulse functions is also proposed.

The Smoluchowski equation, including the Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek potential energy, is solved to simulate colloidal deposition on a planar wall. The performance of different types of entangling layers and over-parameterization is evaluated.

Colloidal transport can be modelled adequately with variational quantum simulations. Full circular entangling layers with real-amplitude ansätze lead to higher-fidelity solutions. In most cases, the proposed graphical mapping technique requires only a single bit-flip with a parametric gate. Over-parameterization is necessary to satisfy certain physical boundary conditions, and higher-order time-stepping reduces norm errors.

Variational quantum simulation can solve partial differential equations using near-term quantum devices. The proposed graphical mapping technique could potentially aid quantum simulations for certain applications.

This study shows a concrete application of variational quantum simulation methods in solving practically relevant partial differential equations. It also provides insight into the performance of different types of entangling layers and over-parameterization. The proposed graphical mapping technique could be valuable for quantum simulation implementations. The findings contribute to the growing body of research on using variational quantum simulations for solving partial differential equations.