Hao Qin, Hongwei Wang and Aylmer Johnson
This paper aims to explore the information needs and information-seeking behaviours of the new generation of engineering designers. A survey study is used to approach what their…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the information needs and information-seeking behaviours of the new generation of engineering designers. A survey study is used to approach what their information needs are, how these needs change during an engineering design project and how their information-seeking behaviours have been influenced by the newly developed information technologies (ITs). Through an in-depth analysis of the survey results, the key functions have been identified for the next-generation management systems.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper first proposed four hypotheses on the information needs and information-seeking behaviours of young engineers. Then, a survey study was undertaken to understand their information usage in terms of the information needs and information-seeking behaviours during a complete engineering design process. Through analysing the survey results, several findings were obtained and on this basis, further comparisons were made to discuss and evaluate the hypotheses.
Findings
The paper has revealed that the engineering designers' information needs will evolve throughout the engineering design project; thus, they should be assisted at several different levels. Although they intend to search information and knowledge on know-what and know-how, what they really require is the know-why knowledge in order to help them complete design tasks. Also, the paper has shown how the newly developed ITs and web-based applications have influenced the engineers' information-seeking practices.
Research limitations/implications
The research subjects chosen in this study are engineering students in universities who, although not as experienced as engineers in companies, do go through a complete design process with the tasks similar to industrial scenarios. In addition, the focus of this study is to understand the information-seeking behaviours of a new generation of design engineers, so that the development of next-generation information and knowledge management systems can be well informed. In this sense, the results obtained do reveal some new knowledge about the information-seeking behaviours during a general design process.
Practical implications
This paper first identifies the information needs and information-seeking behaviours of the new generation of engineering designers. On this basis, the varied ways to meet these needs and behaviours are discussed and elaborated. This intends to provide the key characteristics for the development of the next-generation knowledge management system for engineering design projects.
Originality/value
This paper proposes a novel means of exploring the future engineers' information needs and information-seeking behaviours in a collaborative working environment. It also characterises the key features and functions for the next generation of knowledge management systems for engineering design.
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Kexin Zhang, Qi Tianyu, Li Dachao, Xue Xingwei, Fayue Wu and Xinfeng Liu
In order to understand the status of the bridge reinforcement process, the construction process monitoring of the reinforced bridge is carried out. The T-beam bridge was tested…
Abstract
Purpose
In order to understand the status of the bridge reinforcement process, the construction process monitoring of the reinforced bridge is carried out. The T-beam bridge was tested using the truck loading test. The displacements and concrete strains of the bridge at mid-span were measured during the test.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper describes an innovative technique, external prestressing, used to strengthen a 36-year-old prestressed T-beam bridge. This paper introduces the construction process of the prestressed reinforcement method, and makes a theoretical analysis of the reinforced bridge through the establishment of the reinforcement model.
Findings
This study showed that the structural capacity and performance of the bridge were enhanced with externally prestressed steel strand strengthening.
Originality/value
The innovative reinforcement method of prestressed T-shaped bridge is put forward, which has guiding significance for similar bridge reinforcement and maintenance.
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Minh Thanh Vo, Anh H. Vo and Tuong Le
Medical images are increasingly popular; therefore, the analysis of these images based on deep learning helps diagnose diseases become more and more essential and necessary…
Abstract
Purpose
Medical images are increasingly popular; therefore, the analysis of these images based on deep learning helps diagnose diseases become more and more essential and necessary. Recently, the shoulder implant X-ray image classification (SIXIC) dataset that includes X-ray images of implanted shoulder prostheses produced by four manufacturers was released. The implant's model detection helps to select the correct equipment and procedures in the upcoming surgery.
Design/methodology/approach
This study proposes a robust model named X-Net to improve the predictability for shoulder implants X-ray image classification in the SIXIC dataset. The X-Net model utilizes the Squeeze and Excitation (SE) block integrated into Residual Network (ResNet) module. The SE module aims to weigh each feature map extracted from ResNet, which aids in improving the performance. The feature extraction process of X-Net model is performed by both modules: ResNet and SE modules. The final feature is obtained by incorporating the extracted features from the above steps, which brings more important characteristics of X-ray images in the input dataset. Next, X-Net uses this fine-grained feature to classify the input images into four classes (Cofield, Depuy, Zimmer and Tornier) in the SIXIC dataset.
Findings
Experiments are conducted to show the proposed approach's effectiveness compared with other state-of-the-art methods for SIXIC. The experimental results indicate that the approach outperforms the various experimental methods in terms of several performance metrics. In addition, the proposed approach provides the new state of the art results in all performance metrics, such as accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score and area under the curve (AUC), for the experimental dataset.
Originality/value
The proposed method with high predictive performance can be used to assist in the treatment of injured shoulder joints.
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Qin Xu, Hao Huang and Shuming Zhao
Prior studies have consistently treated participative leadership as a given leadership style. Conversely, this study aims to prove that participative leadership can be predicted…
Abstract
Purpose
Prior studies have consistently treated participative leadership as a given leadership style. Conversely, this study aims to prove that participative leadership can be predicted by leaders and teams collectively, depending on leaders' work characteristics (i.e. workload).
Design/methodology/approach
A two-source survey was designed to collect data from a sample of 89 leader-team dyads in a trading company in a southeastern Chinese city. Polynomial regression and response surface analysis were used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The leader showed more participative leadership when leader-team future orientation was congruent rather than incongruent; in the congruent situation, there was an inverted U-shaped relationship between leader-team future orientation congruence and participative leadership; in the incongruent situation, when the team's future orientation gradually exceeded the leader's, participative leadership first increased and then decreased; and leader workload positively moderated the relationship between leader-team future orientation congruence and participative leadership.
Originality/value
These findings theoretically respond to the call for investigating the influence of leader-team future orientation congruence on leaders’ behaviors, and in practice enlighten managers on how to encourage supervisors to involve employees in decision-making processes.
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Abstract
Purpose
Fully automatic operation (FAO) metro system is the trend of urban rail in modern cities. This study aims to develop a service quality scale for measuring passenger service perception in the context of FAO metro system.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the interviews and the dimensions proposed in the previous service quality scales of the public transport sector, this study develops a multidimension service quality scale. Face-to-face interviews and surveys are conducted to obtain the riding experience and satisfaction of passengers in the metro stations of Beijing Subway Yanfang Line and Beijing Daxing International Airport Express that are FAO metro lines. Reliability, validity and nomological validity of our scale are demonstrated.
Findings
Six dimensions (i.e. tangibles, information, safety, efficiency, empathy and innovation) and 22 items are included in the scale through quantitative analysis. It is found that all of the six dimensions have a significant relationship with passenger satisfaction. Especially information and innovation are the more important dimensions of FAO metro system service quality.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the service quality literature in the public transport sector taking the FAO metro system as the object. The findings may provide a guide for the FAO metro operators to evaluate and improve their service quality.
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WenFeng Qin, Yunsheng Xue, Hao Peng, Gang Li, Wang Chen, Xin Zhao, Jie Pang and Bin Zhou
The purpose of this study is to design a wearable medical device as a human care platform and to introduce the design details, key technologies and practical implementation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to design a wearable medical device as a human care platform and to introduce the design details, key technologies and practical implementation methods of the system.
Design/methodology/approach
A multi-channel data acquisition scheme based on PCI-E (rapid interconnection of peripheral components) was proposed. The flexible biosensor is integrated with the flexible data acquisition card with monitoring capability, and the embedded (device that can operate independently) chip STM32F103VET6 is used to realize the simultaneous processing of multi-channel human health parameters. The human health parameters were transferred to the upper computer LabVIEW by intelligent clothing through USB or wireless Bluetooth to complete the transmission and processing of clinical data, which facilitates the analysis of medical data.
Findings
The smart clothing provides a mobile medical cloud platform for wearable medical through cloud computing, which can continuously monitor the body's wrist movement, body temperature and perspiration for 24 h. The result shows that each channel is completely accurate to the top computer display, which can meet the expected requirements, and the wearable instant care system can be applied to healthcare.
Originality/value
The smart clothing in this study is based on the monitoring and diagnosis of textiles, and the electronic communication devices can cooperate and interact to form a wearable textile system that provides medical monitoring and prevention services to individuals in the fastest and most accurate way. Each channel of the system is precisely matched to the display screen of the host computer and meets the expected requirements. As a real-time human health protection platform technology, continuous monitoring of human vital signs can complete the application of human motion detection, medical health monitoring and human–computer interaction. Ultimately, such an intelligent garment will become an integral part of our everyday clothing.
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Jie Hao, Zhenzhen Xie and Kunpeng Sun
The purpose of this study is to examine if the international experience of a family firm’s chairman, second-generation managers and other top managers all have impacts of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine if the international experience of a family firm’s chairman, second-generation managers and other top managers all have impacts of different strengths using information about Chinese family firms’ international expansion.
Design/methodology/approach
Matching tactics and dynamic Heckman 2-stage analysis were applied to data on 766 publicly-listed Chinese family businesses covering 2008–2014.
Findings
The international experience of the chairman, second-generation family managers and other senior managers all were found to correlate with the proportion of a firm’s revenue earned abroad, as well as with the number of its cross-border mergers and acquisitions. The impact of a chairman’s international experience is stronger than the impact of the other two groups when internationalization is measured in terms of the proportion of revenue earned overseas. The second-generation managers’ international experience is the most influential when internationalization is measured in terms of the number of cross-border mergers and acquisitions.
Originality/value
This paper bridges agency theory with upper echelons theory in the context of the family business. The findings contribute to the scholarly understanding of family business by illuminating the mechanisms through which second-generation managers may influence family firms’ internationalization. They also enrich the knowledge of family firms in China.
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Shafiullah Khan, Shiyou Yang and Obaid Ur Rehman
The aim of this paper is to explore the potential of particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to solve an electromagnetic inverse problem.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to explore the potential of particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to solve an electromagnetic inverse problem.
Design/methodology/approach
A modified PSO algorithm is designed.
Findings
The modified PSO algorithm is a more stable, robust and efficient global optimizer for solving the well-known benchmark optimization problems. The new mutation approach preserves the diversity of the population, whereas the proposed dynamic and adaptive parameters maintain a good balance between the exploration and exploitation searches. The numerically experimental results of two case studies demonstrate the merits of the proposed algorithm.
Originality/value
Some improvements, such as the design of a new global mutation mechanism and introducing a novel strategy for learning and control parameters, are proposed.
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Liguo Qin, Hao Yang, Yuquan Ni and Guangneng Dong
This study aims to improve the tribological performance of Babbitt alloy under oil lubricant condition. Thus, the surface was treated into oleophobic state by modifying with low…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to improve the tribological performance of Babbitt alloy under oil lubricant condition. Thus, the surface was treated into oleophobic state by modifying with low surface energy fluorosilane (1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane). It is believed that the oleophobic surface offered excellent wear resistance of Babbitt-based tribo-pairs.
Design/methodology/approach
By modifying the Babbitt alloy with low surface energy fluorosilane and measuring the oil contact angle, the wetting behavior was evaluated. Using Pin on Disk tribometer, the tribological properties of bare Babbitt and modified Babbitt were quantified. The samples after the friction test were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the anti-wear performance was evaluated under dry and oil lubrication conditions.
Findings
Results showed that oil contact angle of modified Babbitt was109° which was tripled compared to that of prime surface, which indicates the oleophobic behavior was greatly improved. Under dry conditions, the friction coefficient of the modified surface with different load conditions is slightly lower than that of the bare surface, while the friction coefficient of the modified surface under lubrication conditions is significantly decreased compared to that of the bare surface. Interestingly, under low load and high load, the wear rate of the modified Babbitt alloy surface is only 1/4 and 1/3 of that of the bare surface, respectively.
Originality/value
The work proposed an effective method to improve the Babbitt tribological performances and will lighten future ideas for the Babbitt alloy bearing with high wear resistance, which is beneficial to improve the service life of sliding bearings and has huge promotion and application value in the manufacture of sliding bearings.
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Qin Zhang, Li Xu, Keying Wang and Xunpeng Shi
The role of energy or emission intensive firms face contradictory demands from advancing economic development and environmental improvement and protection and thus require…
Abstract
Purpose
The role of energy or emission intensive firms face contradictory demands from advancing economic development and environmental improvement and protection and thus require appropriate policy interventions to balance the two needs. China's “Green Credit” policy that restricts loans to energy or emission intensive firms provides an example to study the impact of these kinds of policy intervention.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the data of all A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, our paper empirically analyzes the impact of the Green Credit Policy on performance of these energy or emission intensive firms.
Findings
(1) Using difference-in-difference (DID) and propensity score matching (PSM)-DID method and the dynamic effect method, we found that from 2012 to 2015, the Green Credit Policy had an inhibiting effect on the performance of energy or emission intensive firms. This inhibiting effect was gradually weakened in 2016, and it turned into a positive promoting effect in 2017; (2) The performance's change of these firms around 2015 showed that Green Credit promoted the green transformation and upgrading of these firms; (3) Loans were helpful to the performance of energy or emission intensive firms to some extent, but government subsidies were not significant.
Originality/value
The results suggest that the government, banks and other institutions should dynamically assess the implementation results of the Green Credit Policy on energy or emission intensive firms.