Search results

In response to the problem of insufficient traction/braking adhesion force caused by the existence of the third-body medium on the rail surface, this study aims to analyze the utilization of wheel-rail adhesion coefficient under different medium conditions and propose relevant measures for reasonable and optimized utilization of adhesion to ensure the traction/braking performance and operation safety of trains.

Based on the PLS-160 wheel-rail adhesion simulation test rig, the study investigates the variation patterns of maximum utilized adhesion characteristics on the rail surface under different conditions of small creepage and large slip. Through statistical analysis of multiple sets of experimental data, the statistical distribution patterns of maximum utilized adhesion on the rail surface are obtained, and a method for analyzing wheel-rail adhesion redundancy based on normal distribution is proposed. The study analyzes the utilization of traction/braking adhesion, as well as adhesion redundancy, for different medium under small creepage and large slip conditions. Based on these findings, relevant measures for the reasonable and optimized utilization of adhesion are derived.

When the third-body medium exists on the rail surface, the train should adopt the low-level service braking to avoid the braking skidding by extending the braking distance. Compared with the current adhesion control strategy of small creepage, adopting appropriate strategies to control the train’s adhesion coefficient near the second peak point of the adhesion coefficient-slip ratio curve in large slip can effectively improve the traction/braking adhesion redundancy and the upper limit of adhesion utilization, thereby ensuring the traction/braking performance and operation safety of the train.

Most existing studies focus on the wheel-rail adhesion coefficient values and variation patterns under different medium conditions, without considering whether the rail surface with different medium can provide sufficient traction/braking utilized adhesion coefficient for the train. Therefore, there is a risk of traction overspeeding/braking skidding. This study analyzes whether the rail surface with different medium can provide sufficient traction/braking utilized adhesion coefficient for the train and whether there is redundancy. Based on these findings, relevant measures for the reasonable and optimized utilization of adhesion are derived to further ensure operation safety of the train.

To authenticate the existence and principles of the adhesion recovery phenomenon under water pollution conditions, an innovative circumferential rail–wheel adhesion test rig was used. The study conducted extensive tests on the adhesion characteristics under large sliding conditions.

Experiments were conducted to investigate the influence of speed, axle load and slip on adhesion recovery. Based on the experimental results, the adhesion recovery transition function was re-fitted.

The study reveals that the adhesion recovery phenomenon truly exists under water conditions. The adhesion coefficient shows an increasing trend with the growth of the slip ratio. Moreover, at the current speed and axle load levels, the adhesion recovery is directly proportional to the square of the slip ratio and inversely proportional to the axle load.

The phenomenon of adhesion recovery and the formulated equations in this study can serve as an experimental and theoretical foundation for the design of braking and anti-skid control algorithms for trains.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-11-2023-0379/

The purpose of this study is to investigate the adhesion characteristics of the wheel–rail under water and large sliding conditions. This is carried out by conducting a series of tests on a full-scale roller rig. The measured data provides an experimental base for conducting further theoretical research.

The influence of the slip ratio, rolling speed and the axle load on the adhesion coefficient between the wheel and the rail is analyzed under wet conditions using a full-scale roller rig.

From the research, it is found that the adhesion coefficient–slip ratio curve varies from the traditional theoretical description under water and large sliding conditions. Moreover, it is also observed that after the adhesion coefficient reaches the saturation point, the adhesion coefficient does not decrease, but continues to increase as the slip ratio increases.

The adhesion improvement phenomenon in this paper may provide new ideas for designing anti-skid control and braking system mechanisms for trains.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-07-2020-0236/

Weather and climate have a strong impact on tourism. However, because meteorological forecast information is considered a public good, people often overlook its market value. This study uses the contingent valuation method (CVM) to evaluate the economic value of a stargazing forecast system and assessed whether such a system would increase the public's willingness to stargaze. The results demonstrate that the economic value of the proposed stargazing forecast system is NT$ 0.2–2.5 billion, and the total value was 0.27–3.5 billion when protest responses are excluded. In addition, a stargazing forecast system could increase the public's willingness to engage in stargazing, indicating that both the system and meteorological information have a tremendous nonmarket value. Accordingly, this study suggests that the government could develop a stargazing forecast system and partner with famous stargazing destinations to popularize stargazing to propel the growth of the tourism industry.

The research aims to measure the effectiveness of collaborative learning exchanges transpired through digital tools and technologies (DT&Ts) employed by the mentor universities during the COVID-19 pandemic by conducting an empirical study on undergraduate students in Indian higher educational institutions (HEIs) under the mentorship program based on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative. The pandemic scenario, its impact on the mentor university's social responsibility and the way DT&Ts can assist are investigated in this article.

The interactions with experts and students were conducted to explore the DT&Ts for learning exchanges. Next, structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to validate the model and perform regression analysis. The quantitative data collection was made through questionnaires during the second deadly wave of COVID-19 that hit India.

The independent variables (IVs) such as the IT infrastructure support (IT_IS), virtual collaborative tools (VCTs) and future-oriented technologies (FOTs) have a significant impact on the CSR learning outcomes (CSR_LOs) of undergraduate students under the mentorship program. However, IV research instruments for innovation could not make a significant effect.

The IVs IT_IS, VCTs and FOTs influence the CSR_LOs, while RII does not have an influential impact.

As the online learning environment is expected to stay at least in a blended form, adequate CSR funding in infrastructure is necessitated to harness the full potential of this important resource, technology. The results of this empirical investigation affirm that IT_IS, VOTs and FOTs significantly impact CSR_LOs during the crisis. The study findings would encourage the mendtor universities and their stakeholders, including the mentee universities, to evolve and create an ecosystem for effective management of these resources to attain positive outcomes. The study findings can guide the mentor universities in managing uncertainties like pandemics and effectively using the earlier-mentioned critical resources for social responsibility. This research also allows the development of future applications adnd models in mentor-mentee universities for social responsibility, post-pandemic transformation and resilience.

The DT&Ts came to the immediate rescue during the pandemic and positively affected collaborative CSR_LOs by the mentor universities, but they have not evolved to a level where offline learning can be replaced entirely. Hence, it can be inferred that a hybrid model is preferable. The study also improves the understanding of how DT&Ts are being harnessed to aid collaborative learning in fulfilling the mentors' CSR in fatal emergencies. The purpose is to equip the education system through mentorship so that universities can sustain, innovate and grow even in trying times. Also, it discusses the dynamics of various DT&Ts for creating a sustainable learning environment and utilizing them to make the teaching prolific and influential.

There is a scarcity of literature regarding the learning outcomes realized through CSR initiatives and collaboration between mentor-mentee institutions. There is a need to understand how these knowledge exchanges continued despite the physical restrictions during the pandemic. In this direction, this study helps to understand how the DT&Ts played a critical role in continuing learning and keeping abreast in a knowledge society from the perspective of resource-based view (RBV) in these precarious situations.

Man has been seeking an ideal existence for a very long time. In this existence, justice, love, and peace are no longer words, but actual experiences. How ever, with the American preemptive invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the subsequent prisoner abuse, such an existence seems to be farther and farther away from reality. The purpose of this work is to stop this dangerous trend by promoting justice, love, and peace through a change of the paradigm that is inconsistent with justice, love, and peace. The strong paradigm that created the strong nation like the U.S. and the strong man like George W. Bush have been the culprit, rather than the contributor, of the above three universal ideals. Thus, rather than justice, love, and peace, the strong paradigm resulted in in justice, hatred, and violence. In order to remove these three and related evils, what the world needs in the beginning of the third millenium is the weak paradigm. Through the acceptance of the latter paradigm, the golden mean or middle paradigm can be formulated, which is a synergy of the weak and the strong paradigm. In order to understand properly the meaning of these paradigms, however, some digression appears necessary.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between potential affecting factors and the local communities’ willingness to pay (WTP) for housing earthquake insurance (HEI) in the context of ethnic minority communities.

A literature review was done to identify possible factors affecting WTP for HEI. Fieldwork was conducted in 2017 in Dali Minority Autonomous Prefecture, where the first Chinese HEI was launched in 2015. Interviews were done in two earthquake-prone counties, as the main ethnic minority communities in the area. A total of 536 questionnaires were collected and used as empirical data for testing the impacts mechanism.

Respondents’ risk perception, risk exposure, self-prevention behaviors, government aid, insurance experience and sociodemographic characteristics were hypothesized as theoretical indicators correlated to WTP for HEI. Empirical analysis results predict that WTP for HEI is significantly influenced by risk perception, insurance experience, government aid, and age and out-migrating labors. It is evident that higher risk perception and more insurance experience lead to stronger desire for HEI coverage. However, dependency on government aid negatively affects WTP for HEI. Moreover, WTP for HEI is negative in relation to age and out-migrating labors. Surprisingly, ethnic-culture factors were not statistically significant to WTP for HEI.

This paper is an attempt to identify and verify factors affecting WTP for HEI, bridging the gap of inadequate research on WTP for HEI in ethnic minority communities.

The quad‐rotor is an under‐actuation, strong coupled nonlinear system with parameters uncertainty, unmodeled disturbance and drive capability boundedness. The purpose of the paper is to design a flight control system to regulate the aircraft track the desired trajectory and keep the attitude angles stable on account of these issues.

Considering the dynamics of a quad‐rotor, the closed‐loop flight control system is divided into two nested loops: the translational outer‐loop and the attitude inner‐loop. In the outer‐loop, the translational controller, which exports the desired attitude angles to the inner‐loop, is designed based on bounded control technique. In consideration of the influence of uncertain rotational inertia and external disturbance, the backstepping sliding mode approach with adaptive gains is used in the inner‐loop. The switching control strategy based on the sign functions of sliding surface is introduced into the design procedure with respect to the input saturation.

The validity of the proposed flight control system was verified through numerical simulation and prototype flight experiment in this paper. Furthermore, with relation to the flying, the motor speed is kept in the predetermined scope.

This article introduces a new flight control system designed for a quad‐rotor.

This chapter examines the ‘embodied turn’ in the study of traditional Chinese sports and identifies issues within this area of research. It introduces new interpretative perspectives and approaches within the framework of bodily sociology to elucidate the link between locally-informed sports practices and the formation of socialized individuals. The chapter categorises the current research into three main themes: self-giving, the creation of bodily value and the construction of national identity through sports. It then integrates these themes with the findings of embodied sociology. The chapter compiles and analyzes the existing literature on traditional Chinese sports culture from both Chinese and international scholars, offering insights into the status, rationale and challenges of bodily sociological research. By contextualising the concept of the embodied turn in traditional Chinese sports culture – through concepts such as self-givenness, self-techniques, the generation of value and the creation of collective memory – the chapter discusses the impact of bodily sociology on cultural research. The chapter advocates for further bodily sociological studies of Chinese sports culture, which could enhance the understanding of Chinese studies among Western scholars and contribute to a genuine embodied turn in this field of study. Providing one of the initial explorations of embodied studies in traditional Chinese sports, the chapter reveals a transition from broad cultural interpretations and symbolic, structuralist sociology to a phenomenological approach in sports cultural studies. It posits that the bodily sociology approach is beneficial for sports studies although current research has not yet fully realized the embodied turn.

Man has been seeking an ideal existence for a very long time. In this existence, justice, love, and peace are no longer words, but actual experiences. How ever, with the American preemptive invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the subsequent prisoner abuse, such an existence seems to be farther and farther away from reality. The purpose of this work is to stop this dangerous trend by promoting justice, love, and peace through a change of the paradigm that is inconsistent with justice, love, and peace. The strong paradigm that created the strong nation like the U.S. and the strong man like George W. Bush have been the culprit, rather than the contributor, of the above three universal ideals. Thus, rather than justice, love, and peace, the strong paradigm resulted in in justice, hatred, and violence. In order to remove these three and related evils, what the world needs in the beginning of the third millenium is the weak paradigm. Through the acceptance of the latter paradigm, the golden mean or middle paradigm can be formulated, which is a synergy of the weak and the strong paradigm. In order to understand properly the meaning of these paradigms, however, some digression appears necessary.