Chao Tao, Jing Wan and Jianliang Ai
The purpose of the paper is to design a robust control system for a generic hypersonic vehicle which includes dynamic nonlinear, open loop unstable and parametric uncertainties.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to design a robust control system for a generic hypersonic vehicle which includes dynamic nonlinear, open loop unstable and parametric uncertainties.
Design/methodology/approach
For a complex longitudinal model of a generic hypersonic vehicle which includes dynamic nonlinear, open loop unstable and parametric uncertainties, a nonlinear dynamic inverse (NDI) approach combined with proportional differential (PD) control is used to design a strong robust control system to deal with the sensitivity to changes of atmosphere condition. In this way, a simple genetic algorithm is used to search a group of parameters of the control system to satisfy the specific performance indices. Then parametric uncertainties are considered to verify the robustness of the control system.
Findings
The PD hypersonic vehicle control system using NDI approach can satisfy the specific flight performance. And it has strong robustness under the parametric uncertainties.
Originality/value
The paper fulfills a complete process of the nonlinear control system design for a generic hypersonic vehicle. And, the simulation results show the efficiency and robustness of the control system.
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Hajar Fatemi and Jing Wan
Natural environments and imagery are known to have a myriad of effects on people’s physical and psychological states. However, little is known about how exposure to nature-related…
Abstract
Purpose
Natural environments and imagery are known to have a myriad of effects on people’s physical and psychological states. However, little is known about how exposure to nature-related imagery can influence consumers’ motivational states. This research investigates the effect of exposure to nature on consumers’ regulatory focus. More specifically, this paper proposes that consumers exposed to nature will exhibit stronger promotion-oriented focus and weaker prevention-oriented focus, and as such, these consumers will prefer promotion-framed marketing messages over prevention-framed ones. This paper aims to explore a mediating mechanism and a boundary condition for this effect.
Design/methodology/approach
A series of six experiments, including an Implicit Association Test, examined the effect of exposure to images of natural objects and scenes (in contrast with non-nature imagery) on consumers’ regulatory focus and whether they experienced regulatory fit when encountering promotion-framed (vs prevention-framed) advertising messages.
Findings
The results revealed that consumers exhibited lower prevention-focused and higher promotion-focused motivational orientation after exposure to nature. Furthermore, exposure to nature led consumers to experience more regulatory fit with promotion-oriented marketing messages than prevention-oriented ones. This study found that natural environments offer urban consumers a reprieve from their day-to-day life, which mediates the effect of exposure to nature on regulatory focus. This study investigated the boundary condition of engaging in maintenance of nature (e.g. mow the grass) in which the effects of nature on regulatory focus were attenuated.
Research limitations/implications
This study used text and pictures related to nature as a way to expose the online participants to nature. Future research may use field studies with participants in real natural settings, with expectation of stronger effects. Second, this study examined mostly urban American participants. There may be cultural differences or living situations (e.g. living “off the grid” and in the “wild”) that influence people’s relationship with nature. Future research may examine how these differences can affect the influence of exposure to nature on motivational orientation.
Practical implications
The findings have direct implications for marketing managers and other related stakeholders. Exposing urban consumers to nature – even images of nature – they become more receptive to promotion-framed advertisements and marketing communications (vs prevention-framed messaging).
Originality/value
Little is currently known about how exposure to nature can influence psychological processes such as motivational orientation. This research contributes to the understanding of consumers’ responses to nature-related imagery in advertising and the effect that nature imagery has on consumers’ motivational orientation. This research also contributes to the body of work on regulatory focus by identifying a novel context in which consumers’ motivational orientation can be influenced.
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Trade-offs that involve secular values of money and sacred human values are often seen as taboo. This paper aims to examine how consumers avoid making taboo trade-offs with…
Abstract
Purpose
Trade-offs that involve secular values of money and sacred human values are often seen as taboo. This paper aims to examine how consumers avoid making taboo trade-offs with anthropomorphized products, by choosing options that ensure the well-being of the humanized products, even at a financial cost to themselves.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted five experiments, across different marketplace contexts (i.e. repairing, buying and selling), to test the broad generalizability of the extent to which consumers are willing to incur a financial cost due to concern for the well-being of anthropomorphized products.
Findings
The results reveal that consumers are willing to accept financially inferior options to protect the humanness endowed upon anthropomorphized products. The effect is mediated by consumers’ concern for the treatment of the anthropomorphized product. The effect is moderated by consumers’ trait empathy level, such that those low in empathy are willing to sacrifice human value for the sake of greater financial gain.
Research limitations/implications
Future research could examine, in the context of anthropomorphized products, if there are types of human values that are less inviolable, leading consumers to be more willing to trade them off for monetary gains.
Practical implications
The findings have direct implications for second-hand markets. For potential buyers of anthropomorphized products, they should signal concern for the product; for sellers, anthropomorphizing their products can reduce haggling behavior. From a sustainability perspective, consumers may be more motivated to repair or recycle their products if it is framed as “infusing new life” into their products.
Originality/value
This work highlights a novel effect of anthropomorphism: when marketplace decisions are involved, anthropomorphizing a product can introduce a tension between secular monetary values and sacred human values. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is the first to show that consumers are willing to incur a monetary loss to protect the humanness of anthropomorphized product, driven by their concern for the proper treatment of such humanized products.
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Wan‐Jing April Chang and Tung Chun Huang
Previous studies suggest that strategic human resource management (SHRM) is beneficial to firm performance. This study seeks to investigate the moderating effect of product market…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous studies suggest that strategic human resource management (SHRM) is beneficial to firm performance. This study seeks to investigate the moderating effect of product market strategy (PMS), one of the contextual factors, on the relationship between SHRM and firm performance.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted a survey on 235 Taiwanese firms and hierarchical regression analysis was performed.
Findings
The results failed to support the “universalistic” SHRM perspective. Only the interaction between an innovative PMS and SHRM exerted a significant effect on firm performance, which supporting the argument of the “contingency” perspective. The findings of this study confirmed the validity of the contingency model in an Asian society.
Research limitations/implications
Different from most previous studies conducted in a Western context, this study examined the data of Taiwan, and thus examined a very different cultural and institutional environment. Although this study obtained valuable results, the limitations of the subjective data, number of measurement items and the cross‐sectional design were discussed. In a future study, more work on revealing the influence of other unexplored factors to better understand the determinants of firm performance should be done.
Practical implications
Coping with innovation needs, the degree to which traditional human resource management (THRM) is transformed into SHRM determines how well a firm is able to sustain and enhance growth. This will enable firms to keep pace with the rapid environmental changes associated with globalization.
Originality/value
Investigates the moderating effect of PMS on the relationship between SHRM and firm performance in a Taiwanese context.
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Despite the strategic importance of the approaches, most of the approaches consider “internal fit” or “external fit”, and do not consider the role of creative climate. The purpose…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the strategic importance of the approaches, most of the approaches consider “internal fit” or “external fit”, and do not consider the role of creative climate. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between approaches to strategic human resource management (SHRM) and organisational performance through a creative climate.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper has divided into three parts. First, the paper explores the literatures on the constructs. Second, it examines the relationships between constructs dealt with in the literature. Third, the review identifies the gaps in the literature and describes future recommendations of research for this field.
Findings
This study can serve as a starting point for future research on the relationship between SHRM practices, creative climate and organisational performance in terms of financial, human resource and customer retention. Researchers and practitioners need to understand the relationship between the three constructs.
Originality/value
The paper helps managers need to design strategic HRM policies and practices that are aligned with creative climate and organisational performance. Furthermore, it helps scholars/researchers focus their research on the relationship between HRM approaches (universal and contingency approaches), organisational performance and examining the role of creative climate as a mediator to overcome its causal limitations.
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Lizhu Liu, Hongju He, Ling Weng and Xiaorui Zhang
The purpose of this paper was to comprehensively understand the effects of imidization process on the structure and properties of polyimide (PI) films through the preparation and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper was to comprehensively understand the effects of imidization process on the structure and properties of polyimide (PI) films through the preparation and characterization of a variety of PI/aluminium oxide (Al2O3) nanocomposite films by using several imidization-based strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
Poly(amic acid) (PAA) containing different amounts of inorganic materials (namely, 0 Wt.%, 4 Wt.%, 8 Wt.%, 12 Wt.% and 16 Wt.%) was synthesized by using pyromellitic dianhydride and 4,4-diaminodiphenyl ether as raw material and N,N-dimethylacetamide as solvent. Subsequently, the solution obtained was casted on a glass substrate and dried by the means of various curing processes. The micro-structure, Fourier transform–infrared spectral features, breakdown field strength, dielectric properties and the corona-resistant time parameters of films were achieved.
Findings
The imidization process influences substantially the properties of composite films. Therefore, as the imidization rate is increased, the corona-resistant time and the electrical breakdown strength of composite films are also improved, while the dielectric constant faces a+ decreasing.
Research limitations/implications
In this paper, the impact of imidization process on the performance of PI/nano-Al2O3 three-layered composite film is reported. However, there are multiple factors governing these systems (such as, interlayer thickness ratio and humidity), which are not discussed herein.
Originality/value
The current study expounds the relationship between imidization ratios as well as the effect of imidization ratio on the performance of the film.
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Ganggang Teng, Feng Wei and Yingwu Yao
This paper aims to improve the corrosion resistance performance and stability of PbO2 electrodes in chloride wastewater.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to improve the corrosion resistance performance and stability of PbO2 electrodes in chloride wastewater.
Design/methodology/approach
The morphology of PbO2-ZrO2 nanocomposite electrodes was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The open circuit potential (OCP) curves, anodic polarization curves, electrochemical impedance spectra, accelerated life tests, weight-loss tests and reusability tests were used to study the corrosion resistance properties and stability of PbO2-ZrO2 nanocomposite electrodes in NaCl solution.
Findings
SEM showed that the surface morphology of PbO2-ZrO2 nanocomposite electrodes became compacted and smooth. Electrochemical tests showed that ZrO2 nanoparticles could increase the OCP, corrosion potential and charge transfer resistance, and decrease the corrosion current density in 3.5 Wt. per cent NaCl electrolyte solution. Besides, PbO2-ZrO2 nanocomposite electrodes showed high reusability for acetamiprid degradation, the accelerated service life could reach 146 h, which was almost 3.3 times longer than that of PbO2 electrodes (44 h), weight-loss tests showed that the corrosion resistance for PbO2-ZrO2 nanocomposite electrodes was 2.3 times as compared to PbO2 electrodes.
Originality/value
By the codeposition of ZrO2 nanoparticles, the corrosion resistance performance and stability of PbO2 electrodes in NaCl electrolyte were improved.
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J. Samuel Baixauli-Soler, Gabriel Lozano-Reina and Gregorio Sánchez-Marín
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of managerial discretion on the effectiveness of say on pay (SOP) as a governance mechanism. This goal covers an important…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of managerial discretion on the effectiveness of say on pay (SOP) as a governance mechanism. This goal covers an important gap since the issue of how effective SOP is in promoting more aligned compensation has proved somewhat controversial.
Design/methodology/approach
This empirical research opted for a panel methodology for the period 2003–2017, using a sample of large UK listed-companies (specifically, 3,445 firm-year observations). Data were obtained from several sources (Manifest Ltd, BoardEx, Worldscope, Factset Ownership and DataStream).
Findings
Results show that managerial discretion plays an important role in the effectiveness of SOP as a mechanism for increasing aligned CEO compensation. While individual discretion (latitude of objectives) exerts a negative effect, contextual discretion (latitude of action) increases SOP effectiveness. The global effect of managerial discretion is positive when there is high level of both individual and contextual discretion.
Originality/value
This empirical study provides evidence concerning an emerging topic in the literature regarding the impact of SOP as a shareholder activism mechanism of corporate governance on executive compensation. By taking managerial discretion into consideration as a relevant moderating factor, it also offers a better explanation of SOP effectiveness as a governance mechanism.
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Discussion of China's one-child policy generally centres on its demographic effects. Bereavement among parents of singleton children and the role of social capital in the…
Abstract
Purpose
Discussion of China's one-child policy generally centres on its demographic effects. Bereavement among parents of singleton children and the role of social capital in the bereavement process have been under-explored. The purpose of this paper is to focus on mothers who lost their only children during the Sichuan earthquake in 2008. The paper aims to discuss the under-explored yet crucial issues of the one-child policy – the ways in which Chinese bereaved mothers handle the death of their singleton children – and the roles that social capital can play in their bereavement process.
Design/methodology/approach
The author conducted eight case studies on bereaved mothers through home visits, semi-structured interviews and participation in public activities during August 2010 and May 2011. In-depth interviews were used to collect information from these bereaved mothers in Sichuan, China.
Findings
The case studies reveal two major experiences of bereaved mother whose familial support varies substantially. One major experience is shared by those who had received emotional support from husband (who offered bonding social capital), and were able to get through the psychological pain. Another experience is shared by bereaved mothers who lost their familial relations. Weak social ties (i.e. an NGO which offered bridging social capital) remained the only source of support. Policies can target at the latter group of mothers by helping them to organise themselves into community-based groups and help to relieve their frustration and grief.
Originality/value
These research findings have implications for the development of NGOs, as well as complementary support for community-based bereavement counselling and community care in China.