Min Hao, Guangyuan Liu, Desheng Xie, Ming Ye and Jing Cai
Happiness is an important mental emotion and yet becoming a major health concern nowadays. For this reason, better recognizing the objective understanding of how humans respond to…
Abstract
Purpose
Happiness is an important mental emotion and yet becoming a major health concern nowadays. For this reason, better recognizing the objective understanding of how humans respond to event-related observations in their daily lives is especially important.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses non-intrusive technology (hyperspectral imaging [HSI]) for happiness recognition. Experimental setup is conducted for data collection in real-life environments where observers are showing spontaneous expressions of emotions (calm, happy, unhappy: angry) during the experimental process. Based on facial imaging captured from HSI, this work collects our emotional database defined as SWU Happiness DB and studies whether the physiological signal (i.e. tissue oxygen saturation [StO2], obtained by an optical absorption model) can be used to recognize observer happiness automatically. It proposes a novel method to capture local dynamic patterns (LDP) in facial regions, introducing local variations in facial StO2 to fully use physiological characteristics with regard to hyperspectral patterns. Further, it applies a linear discriminant analysis-based support vector machine to recognize happiness patterns.
Findings
The results show that the best classification accuracy is 97.89 per cent, objectively demonstrating a feasible application of LDP features on happiness recognition.
Originality/value
This paper proposes a novel feature (i.e. LDP) to represent the local variations in facial StO2 for modeling the active happiness. It provides a possible extension to the promising practical application.
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Da‐jing Fang, Xu‐hui Mao, Ye‐ming Zhang, Zhi‐liang Chen, Min Liu and Fu‐xing Gan
The purpose of this paper is to study the compound effect between silane and cerium salts in the passivation process of chemical conversion treatment of zinc.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the compound effect between silane and cerium salts in the passivation process of chemical conversion treatment of zinc.
Design/methodology/approach
Chemical conversion treatment using 3‐Glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane on zinc is investigated as an alternative treatment to chromate conversion. The surface chemistry of the silane‐treated samples is investigated with mass change measurements, polarization curves, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and the salt spray tests (SST). The surface morphology of samples was studied using a scanning electron microscope.
Findings
The polarization curves, EIS and SST data are in agreement. On the surface of zinc, the silane formed a compound with the cerium, thus enhancing the adhesion and corrosion resistance of the polymer film.
Originality/value
There have been few reports on the compound effects of silanes and cerium salts in the passivation process. The mechanism of this compound effect may be due to the ability of Ce3 + ions to gain access to the interface through tiny cracks or micropores in the cross‐linking structure of GPS polymer films on zinc, and the subsequent oxidation of Ce3 + to Ce4 + by H2O2 may result in a barrier effect between the electrolyte and the metallic substrate.
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Huang Gui, Fu Chunguang, Chen Jingli and Pan Minting
This case is suitable for undergraduates, MBA students and students from business administration departments in the teaching of human resources management and performance…
Abstract
Study level/applicability
This case is suitable for undergraduates, MBA students and students from business administration departments in the teaching of human resources management and performance management.
Case overview
Luodian Electric Power Construction Corporation Group (LEPCC Group) is a state owned enterprise transformed from a construction unit of Luopu Power Supply Bureau (LPSB), a governmental organization in charge of all the electricity supply in Luopu City. The general manager of LEPCC, Gu Ming tried to set up a modern market-oriented management system for LEPCC. Unfortunately the problems that had accumulated in the past two decades during which LEPCC was a governmental organization made his reforms very difficult. The first headache for Gu Ming was the performance appraisal reform in LEPCC. The existing performance appraisal system seemed to have at least three problems in practice: unclear appraisal objectives, an improper assessment system, a different appraisal standard for similar positions. What should Gu Ming do to build a proper performance appraisal system to help the fast-growing LEPCC Group to make LEPCC a competitive market-oriented player?
Expected learning outcomes
The first objective of this case is to enable students to understand that the issues of working performance are issues of people first, rather than issues of the management system. If the management focuses on the system instead of on the staff of the company to design the performance management system, the system will be fruitless and inefficient. The second objective is to cultivate students' capability to apply the basic theories of human resource management and the knowledge of performance appraisal in case analysis and practical management. This case, seemingly about performance appraisal, is in fact about the organizational structure and processes of the organization. Reform should start with organizational analysis, job analysis and job descriptions. Only when all these have been done correctly, can the performance management system be designed more reasonably, scientifically and efficiently.
Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available; please consult your librarian for access.
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From the sixteenth to eighteenth century, China underwent a commercial revolution similar to the one in contemporaneous Europe. The rise of market did foster the rise of a nascent…
Abstract
From the sixteenth to eighteenth century, China underwent a commercial revolution similar to the one in contemporaneous Europe. The rise of market did foster the rise of a nascent bourgeois and the concomitant rise of a liberal, populist version of Confucianism, which advocated a more decentralized and less authoritarian political system in the last few decades of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). But after the collapse of the Ming Empire and the establishment of the Qing Empire (1644–1911) by the Manchu conquerors, the new rulers designated the late-Ming liberal ideologies as heretics, and they resurrected the most conservative form of Confucianism as the political orthodoxy. Under the principle of filial piety given by this orthodoxy, the whole empire was imagined as a fictitious family with the emperor as the grand patriarch and the civil bureaucrats and subjects as children or grandchildren. Under the highly centralized administrative and communicative apparatus of the Qing state, this ideology of the fictitious patrimonial state penetrated into the lowest level of the society. The subsequent paternalist, authoritarian, and moralizing politics of the Qing state contributed to China’s nontransition to capitalism despite its advanced market economy, and helped explain the peculiar form and trajectory of China’s popular contention in the eighteenth century. I also argue that this tradition of fictitious patrimonial politics continued to shape the state-making processes in twentieth-century China and beyond.
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Tao Ye, Ming Wang, Wuyang Hu, Yangbin Liu and Peijun Shi
Understanding farmers’ preferences for crop insurance attributes is crucial in designing better insurance products and guiding government policies but such research is lacking…
Abstract
Purpose
Understanding farmers’ preferences for crop insurance attributes is crucial in designing better insurance products and guiding government policies but such research is lacking, particularly in developing countries. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a survey featuring a discrete choice experiment and policy simulation.
Findings
Overall, crop insurance has positive values to farmers, although preference is heterogeneous based on socioeconomic characteristics and risk position. Policy simulation confirms the roles of liability in strengthening insurance participants’ welfare and premium subsidy in encouraging participation. Introducing one more product into the market can accommodate farmers’ diverse needs and lead to increases in both aggregated social welfare and participation while maintaining the current level of government expense in subsidy – a potential Pareto improvement.
Research limitations/implications
Methodology employed is not the most novel in the choice experiment literature as many of the advances in choice experiment design could not be applied due to the actual condition in rural China and Chinese farmers’ capability in understanding the experiment.
Practical implications
The results indicate that the current single-product market structure using “low liability with high premium subsidies” cannot accommodate the diverse needs among farmers. Providing more varieties of liability-subsidy combinations, e.g. a high liability with low premium subsidy insurance product, can substantially improve participants’ welfare with little impact to the probability of participation.
Originality/value
The authors believe that this is one of the very few studies that that analyze farmers’ preferences and willingness to pay for the attributes of crop insurance products. It also shows how crop insurance product design can build upon farmers’ choices to achieve a potential Pareto improvement in aggregated social welfare in the context of a fast-developing crop insurance market.
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Yu Lu, Pengpeng Ye, Ming-Zhe Dai, Jin Wu and Chengxi Zhang
This paper aims to address the spacecraft attitude regulation problem in the presence of extrinsic disturbances and actuator faults.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to address the spacecraft attitude regulation problem in the presence of extrinsic disturbances and actuator faults.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on adaptive backstepping design technique, a new concise adaptive dual-mode control scheme is proposed, which can either use the fault information detected by fault diagnosis mechanisms or switch to the fault-unknown mode when the fault diagnosis information is non-existent for control signal generation. These two modes share an adaptive mechanism that reduces the complexity of the algorithm.
Findings
The new fault-tolerant attitude control algorithm can accommodate both modes with and without fault diagnosis mechanisms.
Originality/value
The proposed algorithm in this paper can be applied to both cases when the attitude control system is equipped with or without fault diagnosis capability. This also enhances the robustness of attitude control algorithm. This study performs numerical simulations and verifies that the algorithm could effectively adapt to both modes.
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Hanmin Zhang, Ming Hu, Zhijie Wang, Qingchun He and Denghong Ye
The purpose of this paper is to attempt to study the failure mechanism of BGA (ball grid array) Cu wire bond ball lift and specifically focused on substrate outgassing’s impact on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to attempt to study the failure mechanism of BGA (ball grid array) Cu wire bond ball lift and specifically focused on substrate outgassing’s impact on Cu wire bonding quality and reliability.
Design/methodology/approach
The Galvanic corrosion theory has been widely adopted in explaining the failure mechanism of Cu ball bond lift issue during reliability test or field application in the presence of moisture. In this study, ion chromatography was performed on BGA substrate halogen analysis. EDX (energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy) was also used to detect the contaminant’s element at the bottom surface of a window clamp. Further FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) analysis verified that the contamination is from substrate outgassing during wire bonding. A new window clamp design proved effective in reducing the negative impact from substrate outgassing during wire bonding.
Findings
The solder mask in a fresh substrate contains a chlorine element. The chlorine can be detected in the BGA substrate outgassing during wire bonding by FTIR and EDX analyses, which have a negative impact on the Cu wire bonding. The window clamp with a larger opening can reduce the negative impact of the Cu wire bonding from the BGA substrate outgassing.
Research limitations/implications
Because of the limitation of time and resources, bonding pad surface contamination from substrate outgassing and its correlation with Cu bonding ball lift failure after reliability test will be studied in depth later.
Originality/value
The BGA substrate outgassing has negative impacts on Cu wire bondability. A window clamp with a larger opening can reduce the negative impact from substrate outgassing.
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Chengang Ye, Yanyan Wang, Yongmin Wu, Ming Jiang, Yasir Shahab and Yang Lu
The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of Confucianism on auditor changes by highlighting the role of the cultural embeddedness mechanism in audit contracts from the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of Confucianism on auditor changes by highlighting the role of the cultural embeddedness mechanism in audit contracts from the perspective of credit governance.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a unique sample of Chinese A-share listed firms from 2008 to 2018, this study uses logit regression as the baseline methodology while controlling for macro-level factors and firm-level characteristics, as well as industry and year fixed effects. This study also conducts different mediation/channel analyses, endogeneity tests (using two-stage least squares and difference-in-differences techniques) and robustness checks.
Findings
The findings show that the embeddedness of Confucianism in a corporation reduces auditor changes. Furthermore, the channel analyses (using moral self-discipline, social trust, professional ethics and the quality of accounting information as four potential channels) reveal that Confucianism can improve moral credit and consolidate the cultural foundation of credit governance. Specifically, the stronger the embeddedness of Confucianism, the more stable the auditing contract. Finally, Confucianism in formal and informal systems can be mutually substituted.
Originality/value
There is limited research on how culture affects auditing contracts. This study offers new contributions and extends the literature on the connection between cultural embeddedness and contract stability. Confucianism has the potential to strengthen the efficiency of credit governance and maintain the stability of contracts. This study offers a thoughtful orientation toward duly using Confucianism vis-à-vis credit governance.
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Ming-Yang Li, Xiao-Jie Zhao, Lei Zhang, Xin Ye and Bo Li
In recent years, the updating speed of products has been significantly accelerated, which not only provides diversified styles for consumers to select from but also makes…
Abstract
Purpose
In recent years, the updating speed of products has been significantly accelerated, which not only provides diversified styles for consumers to select from but also makes consumers face selection problems sometimes. In addition, a large number of online reviews for products emerge on many e-commerce websites and influence consumers’ purchasing decisions. The purpose of this study is to propose a method for product selection considering consumer’s expectations and online reviews to support consumers’ purchasing decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
The product attributes are divided into two categories, i.e. demand attributes and word-of-mouth (WOM) attributes. For the demand attributes, for which the consumers can give specific quantified expectations, the value function of prospect theory is used to determine the consumer’s perceived values to the alternative products according to consumers’ expectations for these attributes and products’ specifications. For the WOM attributes, for which the consumers cannot give specific quantified expectations, the sentiment analysis method is used to identify the sentiment strengths for these attributes in the online reviews, and then the consumer’s perceived values to the alternative products are determined. On this basis, the product selection methods for single consumers and group consumers are given respectively.
Findings
Finally, taking the data of JD.com (https://www.jd.com/) as an example, the practicability and rationality of the method proposed in this paper is validated.
Originality/value
First, a new product selection problem considering consumer’s expectations and online reviews is extracted. Second, the product attributes are considered more comprehensively and are classified into two main categories. Third, the bounded rationality of the consumers in the decision-making process is described more reasonably. Fourth, the sentiment dictionaries for each WOM attribute are constructed and the algorithm step of identifying the sentiment strengths is designed, which can help to identify the sentiment strengths in the online reviews more accurately. Fifth, the situation that a group plans to purchase the same products and the members have inconsistent expectations for the product attributes is considered.
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Mpho Trinity Manenzhe, Arnesh Telukdarie and Megashnee Munsamy
The purpose of this paper is to propose a system dynamic simulated process model for maintenance work management incorporating the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a system dynamic simulated process model for maintenance work management incorporating the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies.
Design/methodology/approach
The extant literature in physical assets maintenance depicts that poor maintenance management is predominantly because of a lack of a clearly defined maintenance work management process model, resulting in poor management of maintenance work. This paper solves this complex phenomenon using a combination of conceptual process modeling and system dynamics simulation incorporating 4IR technologies. A process for maintenance work management and its control actions on scheduled maintenance tasks versus unscheduled maintenance tasks is modeled, replicating real-world scenarios with a digital lens (4IR technologies) for predictive maintenance strategy.
Findings
A process for maintenance work management is thus modeled and simulated as a dynamic system. Post-model validation, this study reveals that the real-world maintenance work management process can be replicated using system dynamics modeling. The impact analysis of 4IR technologies on maintenance work management systems reveals that the implementation of 4IR technologies intensifies asset performance with an overall gain of 27.46%, yielding the best maintenance index. This study further reveals that the benefits of 4IR technologies positively impact equipment defect predictability before failure, thereby yielding a predictive maintenance strategy.
Research limitations/implications
The study focused on maintenance work management system without the consideration of other subsystems such as cost of maintenance, production dynamics, and supply chain management.
Practical implications
The maintenance real-world quantitative data is retrieved from two maintenance departments from company A, for a period of 24 months, representing years 2017 and 2018. The maintenance quantitative data retrieved represent six various types of equipment used at underground Mines. The maintenance management qualitative data (Organizational documents) in maintenance management are retrieved from company A and company B. Company A is a global mining industry, and company B is a global manufacturing industry. The reliability of the data used in the model validation have practical implications on how maintenance work management system behaves with the benefit of 4IR technologies' implementation.
Social implications
This research study yields an overall benefit in asset management, thereby intensifying asset performance. The expected learnings are intended to benefit future research in the physical asset management field of study and most important to the industry practitioners in physical asset management.
Originality/value
This paper provides for a model in which maintenance work and its dynamics is systematically managed. Uncontrollable corrective maintenance work increases the complexity of the overall maintenance work management. The use of a system dynamic model and simulation incorporating 4IR technologies adds value on the maintenance work management effectiveness.