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This study aims to investigate the optimal pricing decisions and shared channel strategy selection of battery manufacturers considering heterogeneous consumers' range anxiety.

Amidst the rapid growth of the electric vehicle sector, countries are promoting upgrades in the automotive industry. However, insufficient driving range causes consumer range anxiety. The study utilizes the Stackelberg game model to assess how range anxiety influences battery manufacturers' pricing and channel strategy decisions across three strategies.

We find that electric vehicle battery manufacturers' decisions to cooperate with third-party sharing platforms (TPSPs) are primarily influenced by fixed costs and consumer range anxiety levels. As range anxiety increases, the cost threshold for joining shared channels rises, reducing cooperation likelihood. However, considering diverse consumer needs, especially a higher proportion of leisure-oriented consumers, increases the likelihood of cooperation. Furthermore, higher battery quality makes direct participation in shared channels more probable.

In the electric vehicle industry, range anxiety is a significant concern. While existing literature focuses on its impact on consumer behavior and charging infrastructure, this study delves into battery manufacturers' strategic responses, offering insights into channel options and pricing strategies amidst diverse consumer segments.

Even though following the laws of nature to construct harmonious nature–human interactions has long been one of the most influential philosophies in Chinese history, nature-based solutions (NBS), an innovative concept referring to the sustainable utilization of nature in solving various social and environmental challenges facing contemporary societies, can hardly be found in research papers and practices in Chinese context until very recently. Yet, some NBS features, and also NBS thinking, have already been successfully embedded within many environmental management decisions and practices, which are commonly characterized by (1) prioritization of nature preservation/restoration to economic activities and (2) functionalization of nature as a countermeasure to environmental and/or social issues. This chapter will present a comprehensive overview of the Beijing Afforestation Scheme, an exemplar case of NBS in the Chinese context. Starting from a description of Beijing and this massive afforestation project, it delineates major characteristics of this NBS, signified by (1) a shift from outcome-driven to integrated ecological resilience, (2) a change from recreating tree rows to restoring natural boreal forest, and (3) an evolution from top-down to adaptive and inclusive governance. Lastly, lessons learnt and future challenges are discussed.

The compliance checking of Building Information Modeling (BIM) models is crucial throughout the lifecycle of construction. The increasing amount and complexity of information carried by BIM models have made compliance checking more challenging, and manual methods are prone to errors. Therefore, this study aims to propose an integrative conceptual framework for automated compliance checking of BIM models, allowing for the identification of errors within BIM models.

This study first analyzed the typical building standards in the field of architecture and fire protection, and then the ontology of these elements is developed. Based on this, a building standard corpus is built, and deep learning models are trained to automatically label the building standard texts. The Neo4j is utilized for knowledge graph construction and storage, and a data extraction method based on the Dynamo is designed to obtain checking data files. After that, a matching algorithm is devised to express the logical rules of knowledge graph triples, resulting in automated compliance checking for BIM models.

Case validation results showed that this theoretical framework can achieve the automatic construction of domain knowledge graphs and automatic checking of BIM model compliance. Compared with traditional methods, this method has a higher degree of automation and portability.

This study introduces knowledge graphs and natural language processing technology into the field of BIM model checking and completes the automated process of constructing domain knowledge graphs and checking BIM model data. The validation of its functionality and usability through two case studies on a self-developed BIM checking platform.

In today’s Taiwan, sha-cha sauce is an indispensable ingredient for beef hot pot and stir-fried dishes. The purpose of this paper contextualizes the history of sha-cha sauce in Tainan, the oldest city in Taiwan, and argues that sha-cha sauce, introduced by Chaoshan immigrants, has contributed to new styles and habits of beef consumption tastes and habits in the post-1949 Tainan and beyond.

This paper uses documentary materials, oral interviews and diaries to explore the relationship between beef consumption and sha-cha sauce. It begins with an historical overview of Taiwan’s beef consumption during the Japanese colonial era (1895-1945). Then, it focuses on two Chaoshan business enterprises: the Bull-Head, which makes the world’s largest “canned sha-cha sauce,” and the Xiao Haozhou, a Tainan restaurant specializing in sha-cha beef hot pot. Finally, this study analyzes Xinrong Wu, a Tainan gentry whose diary entries from 1933 to 1967 documented the changing dietary habits of beef consumption among Taiwanese.

The Chaoshan migrants played an important role in introducing the sha-cha sauce to postcolonial Tainan, and this input bolstered the beef consumption among Taiwanese. The production of sha-cha provided a reliable source of income for these migrants in Tainan, and major businesses like the Bull-Head became the international brands of Taiwanese food products.

The study, though limited to Tainan, reveals the symbiosis between popularization of sha-cha sauce and widespread beef consumption in Taiwan.

This study helps researchers examine the connection between Chinese migrations and food culture.

This paper is an original scholarly investigation of the relationship between food diet and Chaoshan migration in postcolonial Tainan.

The purpose of this paper is to study the tribological performance of tri(hydroxymethyl)propane esters containing boron and nitrogen as lubricant additives in rapeseed oil.

Thermal degradation tests were performed to analyze their thermal stability using a thermo‐gravimetric analyzer. Two four‐ball testers were used to measure the tribological properties of tri(hydroxymethyl)propane esters containing boron and nitrogen as lubricant additives in rapeseed oil. The worn surfaces of steel balls were investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).

The results show that the tri(hydroxymethyl)propane esters containing boron and nitrogen have excellent thermal stability, good antiwear performance, improve the load‐carrying capacity, and possess friction‐reducing behavior especially at 98 N when they are used as additives in rapeseed oil. The results of XPS show that the adsorption and tribochemical reactions have been occurred to form a complex boundary lubrication film.

The paper illustrates two novel tri(hydroxymethyl)propane esters which contain B and N elements used as additives in rapeseed oil. The results are useful for further applications in advanced environment friendly lubricating oils and additives.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the tribological characteristics with different area density of concave-convex micro-texture on the mold surface. It is a new technology to improve the quality of the workpiece to control the tribological properties through the application of concave-convex micro-texture on the mold surface.

Five groups of laser micro-texture with different area density (ratio of the concave-convex micro-texture area to the all-area) were processed on the surface of the mold steel, and the tribological properties were compared with the smooth surface of the reference sample.

The time of the running-in stage in different experimental groups was about 300 s. The fluctuation amplitude of concave-convex micro-texture friction coefficient is much larger than that of smooth plane specimen in the running-in stage. After the running-in stage, the friction coefficients were lower than that in the smooth condition and decreased with the increase of the concave-convex micro-texture area density. When the area density reached 25%, the friction coefficients no longer decreased significantly. In addition, the wear of concave-convex micro-texture surface is much lower than that of smooth surface and decreases with the increase of concave-convex micro-texture area density.

Domestic and foreign scholars have done a lot of research on the relationship between concave micro-texture and tribological properties. However, the object of this paper is a new concave-convex micro-texture, which is rarely studied in the field of tribology.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-03-2020-0081/