Li-Ping Guo, Li-Juan Chai, Yan-Hui Xu, Cong Ding and Yuan-Zhang Cao
High-ductility cementitious composites (HDCC) have an excellent crack controlled capacity and corrosion resistance capacity, which has a promising application in structure…
Abstract
Purpose
High-ductility cementitious composites (HDCC) have an excellent crack controlled capacity and corrosion resistance capacity, which has a promising application in structure engineering under harsh environment. The purpose of this study is to explore the corrosion mechanism of steel bar in HDCC.
Design/methodology/approach
Intact and the pre-cracked HDCC specimens under the coupled action of different dry–wet cycles and chloride attack were designed, and intact normal concrete (NC) was also considered for comparison. Corrosion behavior of a steel bar embedded in HDCC was analyzed by an electrochemical method, a chloride permeability test and X-ray computed tomography.
Findings
Steel corrosion probability is related to the chloride permeability of the HDCC cover, and the chloride permeability resistance of HDCC is better than that of NC. Besides, crack is the key factor affecting the corrosion of steel bars, and the HDCC with narrower cracks have a lower corrosion rate. Slight pitting occurs at the crack tips. In addition, the self-healing products and corrosion products fill up the cracks in HDCC, preventing the external aggressive ions from entering and thereby decreasing the steel corrosion rate.
Originality/value
HDCC has a superior corrosion resistance than that of NC, effects of variable crack width on corrosion behavior of steel bar in HDCC under the coupled actions of different dry–wet cycles and chloride attack are investigated, which can provide the guide for the design application of HDCC material in structure engineering exposed to marine environment.
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Jing Guo, Ping Li, Huaicheng Yan and Hongliang Ren
The purpose of this paper is to design a model-based bilateral teleoperation method to improve the feedback force and velocity/position tracking for robotic-assisted tasks (such…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to design a model-based bilateral teleoperation method to improve the feedback force and velocity/position tracking for robotic-assisted tasks (such as palpation, etc.) under constant and/or varying time delay with environment dynamic property. Time delay existing in bilateral teleoperation easily destabilizes the system. Proper control strategies are able to make the system stable, but at the cost of compromised performance. Model-based bilateral teleoperation is designed to achieve enhanced performance of this time-delayed system, but an accurate model is required.
Design/methodology/approach
Viscoelastic model has been used to describe the robot tool-soft tissue interaction behavior. Kevin-Boltzmann (K-B) model is selected to model the soft tissue behavior due to its good accuracy, transient and linearity properties among several viscoelastic models. In this work, the K-B model is designed at the master side to generate a virtual environment of remote robotic tool-soft tissue interaction. In order to obtain improved performance, a self perturbing recursive least square (SPRLS) algorithm is developed to on-line update the necessary parameters of the environment with varying dynamics.
Findings
With fast and optimal on-line estimation of primary parameters of the K-B model, the reflected force of the model-based bilateral teleoperation at the master side is improved as well as the position/velocity tracking performance. This model-based design in the bilateral teleoperation avoids the stability issue caused by time delay in the communication channel since the exchanged information become position/velocity and estimated parameters of the used model. Even facing with big and varying time delay, the system keeps stably and enhanced tracking performance. Besides, the fast convergence of the SPRLS algorithm helps to track the time-varying dynamic of the environment, which satisfies the surgical applications as the soft tissue properties usually are not static.
Originality/value
The originality of this work lies in that an enhanced perception of bilateral teleoperation structure under constant/varying time delay that benefits robotic assisted tele-palpation (time varying environment dynamic) tasks is developed. With SPRLS algorithm to on-line estimate the main parameters of environment, the feedback perception of system can be enhanced with stable velocity/position tracking. The superior velocity/position and force tracking performance of the developed method makes it possible for future robotic-assisted tasks with long-distance communication.
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Yi liu, Ping Li, Boqing Feng, Peifen Pan, Xueying Wang and Qiliang Zhao
This paper analyzes the application of digital twin technology in the field of intelligent operation and maintenance of high-speed railway infrastructure from the perspective of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper analyzes the application of digital twin technology in the field of intelligent operation and maintenance of high-speed railway infrastructure from the perspective of top-level design.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the definition, connotations, characteristics and key technologies of digital twin technology. It also conducts a thorough analysis of the current state of digital twin applications, with a particular focus on the overall requirements for intelligent operation and maintenance of high-speed railway infrastructure. Using the Jinan Yellow River Bridge on the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway as a case study, the paper details the construction process of the twin system from the perspectives of system architecture, theoretical definition, model construction and platform design.
Findings
Digital twin technology can play an important role in the whole life cycle management, fault prediction and condition monitoring in the field of high-speed rail operation and maintenance. Digital twin technology is of great significance to improve the intelligent level of high-speed railway operation and management.
Originality/value
This paper systematically summarizes the main components of digital twin railway. The general framework of the digital twin bridge is given, and its application in the field of intelligent operation and maintenance is prospected.
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Wang Hongwei and Li Ping
This paper aims to reflect the quality of Chinese economic growth and analyze its influential factors through measuring the change rate of technological progress and its…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to reflect the quality of Chinese economic growth and analyze its influential factors through measuring the change rate of technological progress and its contribution rate to economic growth between 1978 and 2008.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, an all factor productivity (AFP) method is taken. AFP is essentially a weighted sum of all input factors' productivity. Besides, general hypotheses for production function, such assumptions are not required as neutral technological progress, constant returns to scale and producer equilibrium in method of AFP. Furthermore, specific forms of production function are not needed and can be calculated directly. This method tries to relax the assumptions to make the estimated rate of technological progress closer to the reality in China.
Findings
Empirical research using the AFP method shows a contribution rate of AFP to economic growth has been significantly improved since reform and opening‐up; however, that AFP fluctuates during different periods. China's economic growth is driven by investment and mainly depends on accumulation of capital input and moderate technological progress. Generally speaking, China's change of technological progress is consistent with its economic growth and technological progress plays an important role in its economic growth. The paper concludes that it is becoming significant for China to speed up its large‐scale technological progress, strengthen indigenous innovation, accelerate human resource development, and to facilitate promotion of system reform in an in‐depth manner.
Originality/value
First, in order to ensure the accuracy measurement, and taking into account the impact of macro‐economic control policies, the rate of change of technological progress and its contribution to economic growth are measured, according to the stages of China's economic cycles. Second, the perpetual inventory method is taken to calculate the annual value of fixed asset investment, and price deflated index is used to convert fixed asset investment into comparable data of the base year, 1978. Since the data of fixed assets price index began to be released from 1992, data from 1978 to 1991 are obtained by mathematical method through extension. Third, the theoretical model of AFP is transformed into an empirical one to estimate the change rate of technological progress and its contribution to economic growth in China.
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Due to the cross-network effect, two-sided users communicate with each other, producing a coupling network. To study the spread of platform self-operation in two-sided users'…
Abstract
Purpose
Due to the cross-network effect, two-sided users communicate with each other, producing a coupling network. To study the spread of platform self-operation in two-sided users' marketing and purchasing tactics, this paper considers the differences in reputation acquired by platform-owned and third-party operating channels.
Design/methodology/approach
This study proposes a two-layer network with cross-network links: one layer represents the social network of consumers, while the other layer represents the competitive network of buyers. A closed system of differential equations, based on the binary dynamics of the stochastic network, is developed to study the trend and stability points of the platform self-operation dissemination. Then the overall benefits of platform are analyzed to unify the platform diffusion and pricing strategies.
Findings
The degree of difference in social influence and cross-network effects affect diffusion synergistically. Cross-network effects hinder diffusion when there is a significant difference of social influence between consumers and sellers but promote diffusion when there is little difference of social influence between consumers and sellers. Additionally, the network weights and reputation gap exhibit a nonlinear correlation with diffusion. For pricing strategy of the platform, it can achieve maximum profit when the pricing of self-operated goods and third-party-operated goods is equal.
Originality/value
This study considers the complex network architecture created by bilateral markets and the dynamic influence of group interactions on product. Additionally, this study takes reputation into account when considering the price and dissemination tactics of various operating channels, offering guidelines for platforms to control merchants and mediate disputes between various operating channels.
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Shi-Qi Huang, Wen-Sheng Wu, Li-Ping Wang and Xiang-Yang Duan
This paper aims to study the removal of wide-stripe noise in hyperspectral remote sensing images. There is a great deal of stripe noises in short-wave infrared hyperspectral…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study the removal of wide-stripe noise in hyperspectral remote sensing images. There is a great deal of stripe noises in short-wave infrared hyperspectral remote sensing image, especially wide-stripe noise, which brings great challenge to the interpretation and application of hyperspectral images.
Design/methodology/approach
To remove the noise and to reduce the impact based on in-depth study of the mechanism of the stripe noise generation and its distribution characteristics, this paper proposed two statistical local processing and moment matching algorithms for the elimination of wide-stripe noise, namely, the gradient mean moment matching (GMMM) algorithm and the gradient interpolation moment matching (GIMM) algorithm.
Findings
The experiments were carried out with the practical short-wave infrared hyperspectral image data and good experiment results were obtained. Experiments show that both can reduce the impact of wide-stripe noise, and the filtering effect and the application range of the GIMM algorithm is better than that of the GMMM algorithm.
Originality/value
Using new methods to deal with the hyperspectral remote sensing images, it can effectively improve the quality of hyperspectral images and improve their utilization efficiency and value.
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Ping Li, Siew Fan Wong, Shan Wang and Younghoon Chang
This study aims to study the mechanisms and conditions of users' intention to continue to use online health platforms from an information technology (IT) affordance perspective.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to study the mechanisms and conditions of users' intention to continue to use online health platforms from an information technology (IT) affordance perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
b This research proposes that a critical affordance effect on an online health platform, users' intention to continue the use of the platform, is affected by five platform affordances via two actualized affordances (i.e. perceived benefits (PBs) and online engagement (OE)). Perceived health threat moderates the effect generated by affordance actualization. A dataset involving 409 users from the “Ping An Health” platform was collected through an online survey and analyzed to validate the research hypotheses.
Findings
The data analysis results confirm that the proposed online health platform affordances affect users' PBs and OE, which influence users' intentions to continue using the platform. Perceived threats (perceived vulnerability (PVU) and perceived severity (PSE)) moderate the relationship between PBs and continuance intention (CI) and between OE and CI.
Practical implications
The research provides important recommendations for online health platform designers to develop IT affordances that can support users' needs for healthcare services.
Originality/value
Limited studies investigated why users continue participating in online diagnosis and treatment. This study provides a new perspective to expand the affordance framework by combining technology features and user health behavior. The study also emphasizes the importance of perceived threats in IT use.
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Tiancong Hao, Weiping Wang, Geng Wang, Qiuyue Yang and Kang Ma
This paper examines students’ educational choices in vocational education and training (VET) to understand the low reputation of vocational education in China. By analysing the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines students’ educational choices in vocational education and training (VET) to understand the low reputation of vocational education in China. By analysing the individualisation of these choices within structural and individual relationships, the study explores how the decline of state endorsement and the shift towards rational, individualistic actions influence students' decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
Multiple types of data were collected in this study, including administrative records, interviews and autobiographical stories, which were analysed using individualisation theory.
Findings
The research indicated three historical periods of the educational choice of Chinese VET students. Stage one (1978–1991) saw vocational education treated as “the first choice” for graduates. Stage two (1992–2000) was marked by the polarisation of educational choice during the social transition from a socialist planned economy to a market economy. During this period, more students started to choose academic high schools over vocational schools, even though the latter still had certain advantages for attracting the better-performing students. The third stage (2001-now) is a time in which vocational education is viewed as “the last choice” under the socialist market economy system. During this period, junior high school graduates prefer to enrol in academic high schools rather than in vocational schools. Aligned with the overall individualisation trend in Chinese society, vocational education decisions situated between societal structures and individuals are also experiencing a shift towards more micro-level individualized behaviours.
Research limitations/implications
The paper provides a historical analysis of education and training provision in China and the complexity of students’ educational choices, revealing the influencing factors across different stages.
Originality/value
This paper draws a comprehensive analysis of the developmental trajectory of vocational education in China across different historical periods, notably under the socialist planned economy and the socialist market economy systems.