Jia-Neng Cheng, Yan Liu, Hongwei Che, Guoping Yan, Xinghai Liu, Xiaojing Liu, Xiaoyan Wang and Bo Bi
The purpose of this investigation was to study a transparent coating based on organic silicone resins prepared by the hydrolysis and condensation of methyltriethoxysilane and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this investigation was to study a transparent coating based on organic silicone resins prepared by the hydrolysis and condensation of methyltriethoxysilane and tetraethoxysilane.
Design/methodology/approach
The coating film was characterized by IR, UV, thermal gravity analysis, scanning electron microscope and an automatic contact angle meter. Some properties of the coating film, such as adhesion, impact resistance and wear-resistance also were evaluated.
Findings
These uniform, clear and smooth coating films possessed the high transparent and light transmittance, high density, high hydrophobicity, good adhesion, hardness and anti-corrosion.
Originality/value
The coating may be considered as a protective film for the surfaces of the metals and plastics.
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Keywords
Ce Rong, Zhongbo He, Guangming Xue, Guoping Liu, Bowen Dai and Zhaoqi Zhou
Owing to the excellent performance, giant magnetostrictive materials (GMMs) are widely used in many engineering fields. The dynamic Jiles–Atherton (J-A) model, derived from…
Abstract
Purpose
Owing to the excellent performance, giant magnetostrictive materials (GMMs) are widely used in many engineering fields. The dynamic Jiles–Atherton (J-A) model, derived from physical mechanism, is often used to describe the hysteresis characteristics of GMM. However, this model, despite cited by many different literature studies, seems not to possess unique expressions, which may cause great trouble to the subsequent application. This paper aims to provide the rational expressions of the dynamic J-A model and propose a numerical computation scheme to obtain the model results with high accuracy and fast speed.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper analyzes different published papers and provides a reasonable form of the dynamic J-A model based on functional properties and physical explanations. Then, a numerical computation scheme, combining the Newton method and the explicit Adams method, is designed to solve the modified model. In addition, the error source and transmission path of the numerical solution are investigated, and the influence of model parameters on the calculation error is explored. Finally, some attempts are made to study the influence of numerical scheme parameters on the accuracy and time of the computation process. Subsequently, an optimization procedure is proposed.
Findings
A rational form of the dynamic J-A model is concluded in this paper. Using the proposed numerical calculation scheme, the maximum calculation error, while computing the modified model, can remain below 2 A/m under different model parameter combinations, and the computation time is always less than 0.5 s. After optimization, the calculation speed can be enhanced with the computation accuracy guaranteed.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first one trying to provide a rational form of the dynamic J-A model among different citations. No other research studies focus on designing a detailed computation scheme targeting the fast and accurate calculation of this model as well. And the performance of the proposed calculation method is validated in different conditions.
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Feifei Zhong, Guoping Liu, Zhenyu Lu, Lingyan Hu, Yangyang Han, Yusong Xiao and Xinrui Zhang
Robotic arms’ interactions with the external environment are growing more intricate, demanding higher control precision. This study aims to enhance control precision by…
Abstract
Purpose
Robotic arms’ interactions with the external environment are growing more intricate, demanding higher control precision. This study aims to enhance control precision by establishing a dynamic model through the identification of the dynamic parameters of a self-designed robotic arm.
Design/methodology/approach
This study proposes an improved particle swarm optimization (IPSO) method for parameter identification, which comprehensively improves particle initialization diversity, dynamic adjustment of inertia weight, dynamic adjustment of local and global learning factors and global search capabilities. To reduce the number of particles and improve identification accuracy, a step-by-step dynamic parameter identification method was also proposed. Simultaneously, to fully unleash the dynamic characteristics of a robotic arm, and satisfy boundary conditions, a combination of high-order differentiable natural exponential functions and traditional Fourier series is used to develop an excitation trajectory. Finally, an arbitrary verification trajectory was planned using the IPSO to verify the accuracy of the dynamical parameter identification.
Findings
Experiments conducted on a self-designed robotic arm validate the proposed parameter identification method. By comparing it with IPSO1, IPSO2, IPSOd and least-square algorithms using the criteria of torque error and root mean square for each joint, the superiority of the IPSO algorithm in parameter identification becomes evident. In this case, the dynamic parameter results of each link are significantly improved.
Originality/value
A new parameter identification model was proposed and validated. Based on the experimental results, the stability of the identification results was improved, providing more accurate parameter identification for further applications.
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Haiquan Li, Liucheng Duan, Xiaofeng Liu and Guoping Cai
The purpose of this study is to investigate the deployment and control of cable-driven flexible solar arrays.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the deployment and control of cable-driven flexible solar arrays.
Design/methodology/approach
First, dynamic model of the system is established by using the Jourdain’s velocity variation principle and the single direction recursive construction method, including the dynamic equation of a single flexible body, the kinematical recursive relation of two adjacent flexible bodies and the dynamic equation of the solar array system. Then, the contribution of joint friction to the dynamic equation of the system is derived based on the virtual power principle. A three-dimensional revolute joint model is introduced and discussed in detail. Finally, a proportion-differentiation (PD) controller is designed to control the drift of the system caused by the deployment.
Findings
Simulation results show that the proposed model is effective to describe the deployment of flexible solar arrays, joint friction may affect the dynamic behavior of the system and the PD controller can effectively eliminate the spacecraft drift.
Practical implications
This model is useful to indicate the dynamics behavior of the solar array system with friction.
Originality/value
The relationship between ideal constraint force and Lagrange multipliers is derived. The contribution of joint friction to the dynamic equation of the system is derived based on the virtual power principle. A PD controller is designed to control the drift of the system caused by the deployment of solar arrays.
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Zhuming Bi, Guoping Wang, Li Da Xu, Matt Thompson, Raihan Mir, Jeremy Nyikos, Armela Mane, Colton Witte and Cliff Sidwell
The purpose of this paper is to develop an information system which is based on the Internet of things (IoT) and used to support the communication and coordination in a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop an information system which is based on the Internet of things (IoT) and used to support the communication and coordination in a cooperative robot team.
Design/methodology/approach
The architecture of the IoT applications for decision-making activities in a complex system is elaborated, the focus lies on the effective implementation of system interactions at the device-level. A case study is provided to verify system performances.
Findings
The IoT concept has been introduced in an information system of a football robot team to support the coordination among team players. Various sensors are used to collect data from IoT, and data are processed for the controls of robotic players to achieve the better performance at the system level. The field test has shown the feasibility and effectiveness.
Research limitations/implications
To investigate how IoT can be utilized in an information system for making complex decisions effectively, the authors use the decision-support system for a football robot team to illustrate the approaches in developing data acquisition infrastructure, processing and utilizing real-time data for the communication and coordination of robot players in a dynamic competing environment. While the presented work has shown the feasibility of an IoT-based information system, more work are needed to integrate advanced sensors within the IoT and develop more intelligent algorithms to replace manually remote control for the operations of robot players.
Practical implications
The proposed system is specifically for a football robot team; however, the associated approaches are applicable to any decentralized system for developing an information system to support IoT-based communication and coordination within the system in the real-time mode.
Originality/value
The exploration of IoT applications is still at its early stage, existing relevant work is mostly limited to the development of system architecture, sensor networks, and communication protocols. In this paper, the methods on how to use massive real-time data for decision-making of a decentralized team have been investigated, and the proposed system has its theoretical significance to developing other decentralized wireless sensor networks and decision-making systems.
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Jing Peng, Guoping Tu, Yanhong Liu, Hao Zhang and Bibing Leng
The purpose of this paper is to provide a feasible scheme for local governments to regulate corporate environmental data fraud and to discuss whether the influence of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a feasible scheme for local governments to regulate corporate environmental data fraud and to discuss whether the influence of the construction of online information disclosure platform on the environmental behavior of enterprises is better than the offline spot check.
Design/methodology/approach
Under the background of changing environmental fees into taxes in China, this paper conducts evolutionary game analysis between local governments and enterprises in view of the existing problem of environmental data fraud. Furthermore, through the introduction of government information disclosure platform, this paper discusses the impact of the integration of direct government regulation and indirect public concern regulation on the evolution of environmental behavior of both sides. Finally, the evolutionary game is simulated by adopting system dynamics to analyses the implementation effect of different cases on the game process and game equilibrium.
Findings
The results showed that the introduction of information disclosure platform mechanism can effectively suppress the fluctuations existing in the game play and stabilize the game. Moreover, it is worth noting that the regulatory effect of local governments investing part of the monitoring cost in the construction of online information platform is proved to be better than that of putting all the monitoring cost into offline investigation. While optimizing the monitoring cost allocation, the local government still needs to attach great importance to organically combine the attention of the public and media with the governmental official platform.
Practical implications
The obtained results confirm that the proposed model can assist local government in refining the effects of their environmental regulatory decisions, especially in the case of corporate data fraud under environmental tax enforcement.
Originality/value
Previous literature only suggested that local governments should reduce the cost of supervision to change the corporate behavior to a better direction, but no further in-depth study. Thus, this study fills the gap by discussing the positive transformation effect of local government cost allocation scheme on corporate environmental behavior.
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Guoping Liu and Jerry Sun
The purpose of this study is to examine whether independent directors' financial expertise affects the use of private information in setting bank chief executive officer (CEO…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine whether independent directors' financial expertise affects the use of private information in setting bank chief executive officer (CEO) bonuses.
Design/methodology/approach
The association between future firm performance and bank CEO bonuses is used to measure the incorporation of private information into bonuses. Both level and change specifications are employed to test the effect of independent directors' financial expertise on the use of private information in setting CEO bonuses.
Findings
It is found that future firm performance is more positively associated with bank CEO bonuses for banks with a higher proportion of financial experts among independent directors than for other banks. The findings suggest that independent directors with financial expertise can more effectively use private information in setting bank CEO bonuses.
Originality/value
Research on independent directors' role in the use of private information in setting compensation is valuable for understanding how corporate governance can enhance the efficiency of CEO compensation contracts. This study indicates that financial experts on the bank board play an important role in this regard.
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Zhuming Bi, Guoping Wang and Li Da Xu
– The purpose of this paper is to present a visualization platform to control and monitor wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in manufacturing applications.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a visualization platform to control and monitor wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in manufacturing applications.
Design/methodology/approach
To make the platform flexible and versatile, a modular framework is adopted in modeling and visualizing WSNs. The Eclipse programming environment is used to maximize the scalability and adaptability of the platform. A set of the core functional modules have been designed and implemented to support the system operation. The platform is validated through a case study simulation.
Findings
The platform is capable of accommodating different operating systems such as Windows and Linux. It allows integrating new plug-ins developed in various languages such as Java, C, C++, and Matlab. The Graphic User Interface has been applied to process and visualize the acquired real-time data from a WSN, and the embodied methodologies can be used to predict the behaviors of objects in the network.
Research limitations/implications
The work has shown the feasibility and potential of the proposed platform in improving the real-time performance of WSN. However, the number of the developed functional modules is limited, and additional effort is required to develop sophisticated functional modules or sub-systems for a customized application.
Practical implications
The platform can be applied to monitor and visualize various WSN applications in manufacturing environments such as automated workcells, transportation systems, logistic, and storage systems.
Originality/value
The work is motivated by the scarce research on the development tools for monitoring and visualization of WSNs in manufacturing applications. The proposed platform serves for both of system developers and users. It is modularized with a set of core functional modules; it can be extended to accommodate new functional modules with a minimal effort for a different application.
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Julia Rey-Pérez and Ana Pereira Roders
The main aim of this paper is to determine how well the UNESCO 2011 Recommendation on Historic Urban Landscape (hereafter, the HUL approach) is understood by the academic…
Abstract
Purpose
The main aim of this paper is to determine how well the UNESCO 2011 Recommendation on Historic Urban Landscape (hereafter, the HUL approach) is understood by the academic community today. It will review relevant research, highlight shortcomings regarding the HUL concept and approach and explore how well the six proposed steps are being considered when implementing the HUL approach.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents and discusses the results of a systematic review of 140 peer-reviewed publications, published in international academic journals between 2008 and 2019 and available in databases such as WoS and Scopus, such as journal articles, book chapters and books. More specifically, this research takes the six-step process as its theoretical framework in order to understand if the six steps are being followed in the case studies where the HUL approach has been implemented. Following this, it assesses gaps in the HUL concept and approach. The paper explores the HUL implementation management process, investigating what is being done, how it is being done and who is involved.
Findings
The concept ‘Historic Urban Landscape’ has been used in research since 2008. However, the first case studies implementing the HUL approach were not published until 2013. While there is an abundance of theoretical research in relation to the HUL concept and approach from different perspectives and to varying degrees of depth, the case studies which practically demonstrate the HUL approach and its six steps are scarce. This paper will also show how feasible the steps are and which are used the most.
Originality/value
This research demonstrates if the HUL approach is being understood in the academic field and if the implementation of the six steps is being reflected in the literature. This approach will reveal how these steps are being implemented and if this is having an effect on the heritage planning process.
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Sifeng Liu, Yong Tao, Naiming Xie, Liangyan Tao and Mingli Hu
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…
Abstract
Purpose
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.
Design/methodology/approach
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.
Findings
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.
Practical implications
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.
Originality/value
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.