Zhixue Liu, Juan Xu, Yan Li, Xiaojing Wang and Jianbo Wu
The purpose of this paper is to use systemic thinking to explain and predict the cost of logistics outsourcing, and to devise policies to minimize the cost of risk.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to use systemic thinking to explain and predict the cost of logistics outsourcing, and to devise policies to minimize the cost of risk.
Design/methodology/approach
A method of system dynamics is adopted to capture the dynamic interaction of logistics outsourcing systems and to analyze the impact of some factors in the system on policy decisions over a long‐term horizon.
Findings
This paper illustrates the internal mechanism of the logistics outsourcing cost of risk systems by virtue of system dynamic principles, to develop a system dynamics model, and to give a quite detailed description of how the model could work.
Practical implications
The results of the simulation analysis provide useful information for logistics outsourcing risk managers.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the discussion on the use of system dynamics for studying logistics outsourcing cost of risk.
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Keywords
Xin Feng, Xu Wang and Mengxia Qi
In the era of the digital economy, higher demands are placed on versatile talents, and the cultivation of students with innovative and entrepreneurial abilities has become an…
Abstract
Purpose
In the era of the digital economy, higher demands are placed on versatile talents, and the cultivation of students with innovative and entrepreneurial abilities has become an important issue for the further development of higher education, thus leading to extensive and in-depth research by many scholars. The study summarizes the characteristics and patterns of dual-innovation education at different stages of development, hoping to provide a systematic model for the development of dual-innovation education in China and make up for the shortcomings.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses Citespace software to visualize and analyze the relevant literature in CNKI and Web of Science databases from a bibliometric perspective, focusing on quantitative analysis in terms of article trends, topic clustering, keyword co-linear networks and topic time evolution, etc., to summarize and sort out the development of innovation and entrepreneurship education research at home and abroad.
Findings
The study found that the external characteristics of the literature published in the field of bi-innovation education in China and abroad are slightly different, mainly in that foreign publishers are more closely connected and have formed a more stable ecosystem. In terms of research hotspots, China is still in a critical period of reforming its curriculum and teaching model, and research on the integration of specialization and creative education is in full swing, while foreign countries focus more on the cultivation of students' entrepreneurial awareness and the enhancement of individual effectiveness. In terms of cutting-edge analysis, the main research directions in China are “creative education”, “new engineering”, “integration of industry and education” and “rural revitalization”.
Originality/value
Innovation and entrepreneurship education in China is still in its infancy, and most of the studies lack an overall overview and comparison of foreign studies. Based on the econometric analysis of domestic and foreign literature, this paper proposes a path for domestic innovation and entrepreneurship education reform that can make China's future education reform more effective.
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Yerui Fan, Yaxiong Wu and Jianbo Yuan
This study aims to improve the muscle model control performance of a tendon-driven musculoskeletal system (TDMS) to overcome disadvantages such as multisegmentation and strong…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to improve the muscle model control performance of a tendon-driven musculoskeletal system (TDMS) to overcome disadvantages such as multisegmentation and strong coupling. An adaptive network controller (ANC) with a disturbance observer is established to reduce the modeling error of the musculoskeletal model and improve its antidisturbance ability.
Design/methodology/approach
In contrast to other control technologies adopted for musculoskeletal humanoids, which use geometric relationships and antagonist inhibition control, this study develops a method comprising of three parts. (1) First, a simplified musculoskeletal model is constructed based on the Taylor expansion, mean value theorem and Lagrange–d’Alembert principle to complete the decoupling of the muscle model. (2) Next, for this simplified musculoskeletal model, an adaptive neuromuscular controller is designed to acquire the muscle-activation signal and realize stable tracking of the endpoint of the muscle-driven robot relative to the desired trajectory in the TDMS. For the ANC, an adaptive neural network controller with a disturbance observer is used to approximate dynamical uncertainties. (3) Using the Lyapunov method, uniform boundedness of the signals in the closed-loop system is proved. In addition, a tracking experiment is performed to validate the effectiveness of the adaptive neuromuscular controller.
Findings
The experimental results reveal that compared with other control technologies, the proposed design techniques can effectively improve control accuracy. Moreover, the proposed controller does not require extensive considerations of the geometric and antagonistic inhibition relationships, and it demonstrates anti-interference ability.
Originality/value
Musculoskeletal robots with humanoid structures have attracted considerable attention from numerous researchers owing to their potential to avoid danger for humans and the environment. The controller based on bio-muscle models has shown great performance in coordinating the redundant internal forces of TDMS. Therefore, adaptive controllers with disturbance observers are designed to improve the immunity of the system and thus directly regulate the internal forces between the bio-muscle models.
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Jianbo Yuan, Yerui Fan and Yaxiong Wu
This study aims to propose a novel lightweight tendon-driven musculoskeletal arm (LTDM-arm) robot with a flexible series–parallel mixed skeletal joint structure and modularized…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to propose a novel lightweight tendon-driven musculoskeletal arm (LTDM-arm) robot with a flexible series–parallel mixed skeletal joint structure and modularized artificial muscle system (MAMS). The proposed LTDM-arm exhibits human-like flexibility, safety and operational accuracy. In addition, to improve the safety and stability of the LTDM-arm, a control method is proposed to solve local artificial muscle overload accidents.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed LTDM-arm comprises seven degrees of freedom skeletons, 15 MAMSs and various sensor systems (joint sensing, muscle tension sensing, visual sensing, etc.). It retains the morphology of a human skeleton (humerus, ulna and radius) and a simplified muscle configuration. This study proposes an input saturation control with full-state constraints to reduce local artificial muscle overload accidents caused by redundant muscle tension calculations.
Findings
3D circular trajectory experiments were conducted to verify the stability of the control method and the flexibility of the LTDM-arm. The results showed that the average error of the muscle length was approximately 0.35 mm (0.38%), which indicates that the proposed control scheme can make the output follow the target trajectory while ensuring constraint satisfaction.
Originality/value
The human arm is capable of performing compliant operations rapidly, flexibly and robustly in unstructured environments. Existing musculoskeletal arm robots lack simulations of the full morphology of the human arm and are insufficient in dexterity. However, the flexibility and safety features of the proposed LTDM-arm were consistent with that of the human arm. Therefore, this study offers a new approach for investigating the advantages of the musculoskeletal system and the concepts of muscle control.
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Jianbo Huang, Hengyi Su and Hanqi Wu
Merchant guild culture derives from business practices associated with medieval and early modern merchant guilds. This study aims to investigate the nexus between merchant guild…
Abstract
Purpose
Merchant guild culture derives from business practices associated with medieval and early modern merchant guilds. This study aims to investigate the nexus between merchant guild culture and firm internationalization as well as the factors that moderate this nexus.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the distribution of the ten merchant guilds in China and data on Chinese listed companies, this study uses the geographical proximity-based method to measure the intensity of merchant guild culture, which is the nearest distance between the ten merchant guilds’ origins and each firm’s registered address.
Findings
This study provides robust evidence that merchant guild culture positively relates to the degree of firm internationalization. It also documents that this nexus is stronger for firms with overseas background executives and those situated in highly marketized regions.
Practical implications
The findings of this study have valuable implications for both governments and firms. Governments can leverage local cultures to promote the internationalization of domestic firms, particularly in emerging economies with rich cultural heritage. Firms can further enhance their internationalization efforts by hiring more executives with overseas backgrounds.
Originality/value
This study advances the imprinting literature, provides a novel perspective on the antecedents of firm internationalization and expands research on the contemporary value of historical business culture.
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Yaoqi Guo, Jianbo Huang and Hui Cheng
Recently, many scholars have been paying more attention to studying the existence and application of multifractality. However, most researches concentrate on studying multifractal…
Abstract
Purpose
Recently, many scholars have been paying more attention to studying the existence and application of multifractality. However, most researches concentrate on studying multifractal features of returns or volume separately, and ignore the correlation between them. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to give an empirical test on multifractal features of price‐volume correlation in China metal futures market and then to conduct a comparative analysis from time and space dimensions, in order to better understand metals futures market behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper gives an empirical test by means of multifractal detrended cross‐correlation analysis (MF‐DCCA) approach, which is a technique employed in statistical physics to detect multifractal features of two cross‐correlated nonstationary time series.
Findings
Empirical results show that the price‐volume correlation in China metal futures market is multifractal and that long range correlation and non‐Gaussian probability distribution are the main reasons for the existence of multifractality. Also, a comparative analysis is conducted and it is found that although China metal futures market is becoming more and more effective, the effectiveness is lower than that in mature LME metal futures markets. The futures market still needs further development.
Originality/value
The paper's conclusions would help to understand the nonlinear dependency relationship and potential dynamics mechanism in price‐volume correlation.
Details
Keywords
Jianbo Zhu, Qianqian Shi, Ce Zhang, Jingfeng Yuan, Qiming Li and Xiangyu Wang
Promoting low-carbon in the construction industry is important for achieving the overall low-carbon goals. Public–private partnership is very popular in public infrastructure…
Abstract
Purpose
Promoting low-carbon in the construction industry is important for achieving the overall low-carbon goals. Public–private partnership is very popular in public infrastructure projects. However, different perceptions of low-carbon and behaviors of public and private sectors can hinder the realization of low-carbon in these projects. In order to analyze the willingness of each stakeholder to cooperate towards low-carbon goals, an evolutionary game model is constructed.
Design/methodology/approach
An evolutionary game model that considers the opportunistic behavior of the participants is developed. The evolutionary stable strategies (ESSs) under different scenarios are examined, and the factors that influence the willingness to cooperate between the government and private investors are investigated.
Findings
The results illustrate that a well-designed system of profit distribution and subsidies can enhance collaboration. Excessive subsidies have negative impact on cooperation between the two sides, because these two sides can weaken income distribution and lead to the free-riding behavior of the government. Under the situation of two ESSs, there is also an optimal revenue distribution coefficient that maximizes the probability of cooperation. With the introduction of supervision and punishment mechanism, the opportunistic behavior of private investors is effectively constrained.
Originality/value
An evolutionary game model is developed to explore the cooperation between the public sector and the private sector in the field of low-carbon construction. Based on the analysis of the model, this paper summarizes the conditions and strategies that can enable the two sectors to cooperate.
Details
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Zhaohan Sheng, Marcel Hertogh, Jingfeng Yuan and Jianbo Zhu
Chunbo Lin, Wenbin Xu, Yuxiong Guo, Chengyong Shi, Jianbo Huang, Taisheng Wang, Hongxin Zhang, Zhankun Weng and Jia Xu
In this paper, a dynamic projection scanning lithography (DPSL) technology and system is proposed to achieve cross-scale 3D printing, addressing the limitations of the traditional…
Abstract
Purpose
In this paper, a dynamic projection scanning lithography (DPSL) technology and system is proposed to achieve cross-scale 3D printing, addressing the limitations of the traditional 3D printing methods that struggle to achieve both large build volumes and high precision. The method achieves a printing accuracy of 10 µm within a build volume of 100 × 100 × 100 mm, and successfully fabricates complex hollow structures and functional models.
Design/methodology/approach
DPSL uses a digital micromirror device (DMD)-based digital projector to generate light patterns for light-curing printing. The light patterns are created by sequentially loading the print design frame by frame, forming dynamic light patterns that are scanned line by line across the material surface for solidifying the printing materials. By controlling the scanning range of the digital projector, it is theoretically able to print models of any size. Additionally, by using DMD oblique scanning, the impact of the DMD micromirrors’ shape and arrangement on print accuracy is addressed by overlapping exposures along the scanning direction of the digital projector.
Findings
This study shows the printing system resolution of 1.3 µm, while the maximum size of the printing model depends on the system scanning range. Additionally, by using DMD oblique scanning, the impact of the DMD micromirrors’ shape and arrangement on print accuracy is addressed by overlapping exposures along the scanning direction of the digital projector.
Originality/value
This work demonstrates that DPSL based on oblique scanning technology is used to achieve 3D printing with high precision, large area and smoother surface. In addition, a rigid release method is used to achieve a precise printing layer thickness in the top-down printing process. By adhering the release film to the bottom surface of the glass and adjusting the descent distance of the stage for each layer, uniform layer thickness can be achieved for each exposure.
Details
Keywords
Qianqian Shi, Longyu Yao, Changwei Bi and Jianbo Zhu
The construction of megaprojects often involves substantial risks. While insurance plays an important role as a traditional risk transfer means, owners and insurance companies may…
Abstract
Purpose
The construction of megaprojects often involves substantial risks. While insurance plays an important role as a traditional risk transfer means, owners and insurance companies may still suffer huge losses during the risk management process. Therefore, considering the strong motivation of insurance companies to participate in the on-site risk management of megaprojects, this study aims to propose a collaborative incentive mechanism involving insurance companies, to optimize the risk management effect and reduce the risk of accidents in megaprojects.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on principal-agent theory, the research develops the static and dynamic incentive models for risk management in megaprojects, involving both the owner and insurance company. The study examines the primary factors influencing incentive efficiency. The results are numerically simulated with a validation case. Finally, the impact of parameter changes on the stakeholders' benefits is analyzed.
Findings
The results indicate that the dynamic incentive model is available to the achievement of a flexible mechanism to ensure the benefits of contractors while protecting the benefits of the owner and insurance company. Adjusting the incentive coefficients for owners and insurance companies within a specified range promotes the growth of benefits for all parties involved. The management cost and economic benefit allocation coefficients have a positive effect on the adjustment range of the incentive coefficient, which helps implement a more flexible dynamic incentive mechanism to motivate contractors to carry out risk management to reduce risk losses.
Originality/value
This study makes up for the absence of important stakeholders in risk management. Different from traditional megaproject risk management, this model uses insurance companies as bridges to break the island effect of risk management among multiple megaprojects. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by designing appropriate dynamic incentive mechanisms in megaproject risk management through insurance company participation, and provides practical implications to both owner and insurance company on incentive contract making, thus achieving better risk governance of megaprojects.