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Today’s Internet technology provides a convenient way for us to develop an integrated network environment for the diversified applications of different robotic systems. To be successful in real‐world applications, Internet‐based robots require a high degree of autonomy and local intelligence to deal with the restricted bandwidth and arbitrary transmission delay of the Internet. This paper describes the first step toward building such an Internet‐based robotic system for teleoperation in the University of Essex. The system has a standard network protocol and an interactive human‐machine interface. Using a Web browser, a remote operator can control the mobile robot to navigate in our laboratory with visual feedback and a simulated environment map via the Internet. The employment of an intuitive user interface enables Internet users to control the mobile robot and implement useful tasks remotely. Although at its first stage, the developed system has the potential to be extended to many real‐world applications such as tele‐manufacturing, tele‐training and tele‐service.

This study aims to solve the problems of ambiguous localization, large calculation, poor real-time and limited applicability of bolt thread defect detection.

First, the acquired ultrasound image is used to acquire the larger area of the image, which is set as the compliant threaded area. Second, based on the determined coordinates of the center point in each selected region, the set of coordinates on the left and right sides of the bolts is acquired by DBSCAN method with parameters eps and MinPts, which is determined by data set dimension D and the k-distance curve. Finally, the defect detection boundary line fitting is completed using the acquired coordinate set, and the relationship between the distance from each detection point to the curve and d, which is obtained from the measurement of the standard bolt sample with known thread defect, is used to locate the bolt thread defect simultaneously.

In this paper, the bolt thread defect detection method with ultrasonic image is proposed; meanwhile, the ultrasonic image acquisition system is designed to complete the real-time localization of bolt thread defects.

The detection results show that the method can effectively detect bolt thread defects and locate the bolt thread defect location with wide applicability, small calculation and good real-time performance.

Travel time at inter-stops is a set of important parameters in bus timetabling, which is usually assumed to be normal (log-normal) random variable in literature. With the development of digital technology and big data analytics ability in the bus industry, practitioners prefer to generate deterministic travel time based on the on-board GPS data under maximum probability rule and mean value rule, which simplifies the optimization procedure, but performs poorly in the timetabling practice due to the loss of uncertain nature on travel time. The purpose of this study is to propose a GPS-data-driven bus timetabling approach with consideration of the spatial-temporal characteristic of travel time.

The authors illustrate that the real-life on-board GPS data does not support the hypothesis of normal (log-normal) distribution on travel time at inter-stops, thereby formulating the travel time as a scenario-based spatial-temporal matrix, where K-means clustering approach is utilized to identify the scenarios of spatial-temporal travel time from daily observation data. A scenario-based robust timetabling model is finally proposed to maximize the expected profit of the bus carrier. The authors introduce a set of binary variables to transform the robust model into an integer linear programming model, and speed up the solving process by solution space compression, such that the optimal timetable can be well solved by CPLEX.

Case studies based on the Beijing bus line 628 are given to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed methodology. The results illustrate that: (1) the scenario-based robust model could increase the expected profits by 15.8% compared with the maximum probability model; (2) the scenario-based robust model could increase the expected profit by 30.74% compared with the mean value model; (3) the solution space compression approach could effectively shorten the computing time by 97%.

This study proposes a scenario-based robust bus timetabling approach driven by GPS data, which significantly improves the practicality and optimality of timetable, and proves the importance of big data analytics in improving public transport operations management.

The purpose of this paper is to review the major systemic educational reforms that China has undertaken over the past three decades and analyze the reasons behind their different degrees of success.

Two running themes are identified among various reforms on the Chinese educational system: decentralization and marketization. The authors explore the driving forces behind these reforms and discuss whether the reforms were successful or not.

In conclusion, the authors highlight four takeaway lessons of Chinese educational reforms.

This is an original discussion of educational reforms in China in the contexts of decentralization and marketization.

The aim of this study is to investigate the role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in assisting firms in their response to public emergency crises under the integrated view of government emergency response.

Using event study and survival analysis method, the authors examine whether CSR can act as a stock price stabilizer for companies from China by splitting the stock price fluctuations into two phases – CSR price insurance, which decrease the shock on stock prices during the emergency crisis, and CSR price recovery, which helps stock prices rebound faster during the postcrisis phase.

The authors’ empirical results confirm the stabilizer role of CSR during crisis and that effective government response can strengthen such effect. Furthermore, the authors examine the different aspects of the government’s response and the impact of multiple waves of public emergency.

This study provides empirical evidence on the topic of CSR and the government’s response to public emergency under the emerging context.

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of retail investors’ green attention in promoting corporate environmental investments (EIs) using a communication sample on “Hudongyi” from 2011 to 2022.

In this paper, Python is used to capture data and text analysis techniques to obtain green attention information. In the word-matching process, words are matched in the target document one by one based on the preset dictionary and vocabulary rules. In addition to employing fixed effects, this study also incorporates instrumental variables using two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimation and applies the Heckman two-step method to verify the regression results.

First, this paper empirically examines the positive influence of retail investors’ green attention on EIs. Second, the findings show that retail investors’ green attention promotes EIs through decreasing principal-agent costs and principal-principal costs. Third, the results show that retail investor’s supervision effect is strengthened under the following three circumstances: executives with stronger green conception, corporations with less information asymmetry and areas with higher level of investor protection.

Our findings broaden the scope of prior research by exploring the impact of retail investor activism on nonfinancial outcomes, contributing to understanding the “black box” of how investor attention fosters EIs. Moreover, by leveraging the power of technology, retail investors have evolved from being the “silent majority” to being actively engaged. The internet has empowered retail investors by providing them with access to information and enabling them to exercise “voice” rights by appealing companies to engage in pro-environmental activities. Our study can provide useful suggestions for the green development of listed companies in China, as well as in other emerging countries.

Unlike other studies that focus on the deterrent effect and corporate financial outcomes of retail investors, we focus on the supervisory effect of retail investors and verify its role in driving EIs. This fills the knowledge gap in prior studies and contributes new insights to explain EIs and extends the understanding of retail investor activism.

This paper aims to put forward an extended lattice hydrodynamic model, explore its effects on alleviating traffic congestion and provide theoretical basis for traffic management departments and traffic engineering implementation departments.

The control method is applied to study the stability of the new model. Through nonlinear analysis, the mKdV equation representing kink-antikink soliton is acquired.

The predictive effect and the control signal can enhance the traffic flow stability and reduce the energy consumption.

The predictive effect and feedback control are first considered in lattice hydrodynamic model simultaneously. Numerical simulations demonstrate that these two factors can enhance the traffic flow stability.

Sociology of sport in China has evolved from being an “exotic” subject to a localized subject over the past 35 years. It is closely associated with social changes, sports policy and athletic achievement of China. As a discipline of humanitarian and social sciences of sport, it is taught in virtually all universities with sports majors. There are about 500 scholars specializing in sport sociology in the country. Textbooks written by Chinese and foreign scholars are published. Academic papers on sport sociology are often published in the 15 accredited core sports journals. The most productive authors are from universities and the developed provinces and municipalities. The established research areas of sport sociology are extensive. These include national identity, athlete mobility, Olympic legacy, sport for all, sports industry issues, feminist studies, community sport, sport for the aged and disabled, etc. However, there are few studies with critical analysis and only a few in the areas of sport and religion, sport and race, and deviance in sport in China. Various kinds of financial support at different levels are available in the country. Empirical research is common with literature review, questionnaire, case study, and interview being the most frequently used methods. However, sport sociology is not considered as a major topic but as a research direction and it is not accepted widely by mainstream sociology. The future of sport sociology is promising, but not without challenges.

Drawing from social contagion theory, this study aims to clarify whether consumers become motivated to help a brand and its community when observing other members contributing to society. The authors also analyzed the boundary conditions and mechanisms of this process.

A mixed-method approach was used to test hypotheses. Study 1 collected survey data from Chinese automobile brand communities, which were analyzed by using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Study 2 conducted an experiment with a fictional Chinese smartphone brand community.

Results showed that brand community social responsibility influenced brand community citizenship behavior but did not directly influence brand citizenship behavior. Collective self-esteem respectively mediated the relationships between brand community social responsibility and both brand community citizenship behavior and brand citizenship behavior. Additionally, a sequential mediation mechanism was identified, where collective self-esteem and brand community citizenship behavior functioned as the first and second mediators. Furthermore, membership duration positively moderated the relationship between brand community social responsibility and collective self-esteem and moderated the mediation effects.

Brand community managers should conduct various social responsibility activities to elicit community and brand citizenship behaviors by cultivating ethical awareness. These activities should be tailored to the membership duration.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to explore how brand community social responsibility cultivates community and brand citizenship behavior. It is also based on social contagion theory to demonstrate the sequential mediation mechanism.