Shams Rahman and Nie Qing
The aim of this research is to identify the relevant skills and their relative importance, required by supply chain managers, and to suggest the key skill items that require…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this research is to identify the relevant skills and their relative importance, required by supply chain managers, and to suggest the key skill items that require improvement.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a survey questionnaire, data were collected against 41 supply chain management skills. Using expert opinion, these skill items were then grouped to create four higher level supply chain skill-categories. These are supply chain general management (SCG) skill-category, supply chain analytical (SCA) skill-category, supply chain information technology (SCIT) skill-category, and supply chain environmental-related (SCE) skill-category. Subsequently, the importance-performance matrix (IPM) analysis was conducted to these higher level skill-categories to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the offered skills as perceived by the respondents.
Findings
The analysis revealed that in order to prepare supply chain managers to face up to the future challenges educational institutions are required to devote their attention on areas such as warehousing management, distribution planning, demand forecasting, negotiation skill, cross-functional coordination skill, and knowledge of environmental issues in supply chains.
Originality/value
This research provided insight into skills need for supply chain managers using IPM analysis. The results of the study could be adopted to upgrade the existing logistics and supply chain management program or design new logistics education and training programs to meet the current and future needs.
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Jihong Liang, Hao Wang and Xiaojing Li
The purpose of this paper is to explore the task design and assignment of full-text generation on mass Chinese historical archives (CHAs) by crowdsourcing, with special attention…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the task design and assignment of full-text generation on mass Chinese historical archives (CHAs) by crowdsourcing, with special attention paid to how to best divide full-text generation tasks into smaller ones assigned to crowdsourced volunteers and to improve the digitization of mass CHAs and the data-oriented processing of the digital humanities.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper starts from the complexities of character recognition of mass CHAs, takes Sheng Xuanhuai archives crowdsourcing project of Shanghai Library as a case study, and makes use of the theories of archival science, including diplomatics of Chinese archival documents, and the historical approach of Chinese archival traditions as the theoretical basis and analysis methods. The results are generated through the comprehensive research.
Findings
This paper points out that volunteer tasks of full-text generation include transcription, punctuation, proofreading, metadata description, segmentation, and attribute annotation in digital humanities and provides a metadata element set for volunteers to use in creating or revising metadata descriptions and also provides an attribute tag set. The two sets can be used across the humanities to construct overall observations about texts and the archives of which they are a part. Along these lines, this paper presents significant insights for application in outlining the principles, methods, activities, and procedures of crowdsourced full-text generation for mass CHAs.
Originality/value
This study is the first to explore and identify the effective design and allocation of tasks for crowdsourced volunteers completing full-text generation on CHAs in digital humanities.
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Qing Wang, Xuening Wang, Shaojing Sun, Litao Wang, Yan Sun, Xinyan Guo, Na Wang and Bin Chen
This study aims to study the distribution characteristics of antibiotic resistance in direct-eating food and analysis of Citrobacter freundii genome and pathogenicity. Residual…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to study the distribution characteristics of antibiotic resistance in direct-eating food and analysis of Citrobacter freundii genome and pathogenicity. Residual antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment severely threaten human health and the ecological environment. The diseases caused by foodborne pathogenic bacteria are increasing daily, and the enhancement of antibiotic resistance of pathogenic bacteria poses many difficulties in the treatment of disease.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, six fresh fruits and vegetable samples were selected for isolation and identification of culturable bacteria and analysis of antibiotic resistance. The whole genome of Citrobacter freundii isolated from cucumber was sequenced and analyzed by Oxford Nanopore sequencing.
Findings
The results show that 270 strains of bacteria were identified in 6 samples. From 12 samples of direct food, 2 kinds of probiotics and 10 kinds of opportunistic pathogens were screened. The proportion of Citrobacter freundii screened from cucumber was significantly higher than that from other samples, and it showed resistance to a variety of antibiotics. Whole genome sequencing showed that Citrobacter freundii was composed of a circular chromosome containing signal peptides, transmembrane proteins and transporters that could induce antibiotic efflux, indicating that Citrobacter freundii had strong adaptability to the environment. The detection of genes encoding carbohydrate active enzymes is more beneficial to the growth and reproduction of Citrobacter freundii in crops. A total of 29 kinds of ARGs were detected in Citrobacter freundii, mainly conferring resistance to fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides, carbapenem, cephalosporins and macrolides. The main mechanisms are the change in antibiotic targets and efflux pumps, the change in cell permeability and the inactivation of antibiotics and the detection of virulence factors and ARGs, further indicating the serious risk to human health.
Originality/value
The detection of genomic islands and prophages increases the risk of horizontal transfer of virulence factors and ARGs, which spreads the drug resistance of bacteria and pathogenic bacteria more widely.
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This essay focuses on the Chinese-Japanese Library of the Harvard-Yenching Institute and examines how the Library collected and transported Chinese rare books to the United States…
Abstract
Purpose
This essay focuses on the Chinese-Japanese Library of the Harvard-Yenching Institute and examines how the Library collected and transported Chinese rare books to the United States during the 1930 and 1940s. It considers Harvard's rationale for its collection of Chinese books and tensions between Chinese scholars and the Harvard-Yenching Institute leaders and librarians over the purchase and “export” of Chinese books.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is a historical study based on archival research at Harvard-Yenching Institute and the Harvard-Yenching Library, as well as careful readings of published primary and secondary sources.
Findings
By examining the debates that surrounded the ownership of Chinese books, and the historical circumstances that enabled or hindered the cross-national movement of books, this essay uncovers a complex and interwoven historical discourse of academic nationalism, internationalism and imperialism.
Originality/value
Drawing upon the unexamined primary sources and published second sources, this essay uncovers a complex and interwoven historical discourse of academic nationalism, internationalism and imperialism.
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Miao Li, Bi Qing Chen, Min He, Tongtong Xiong and Lixia Gao
This paper aims to obtain rare earth magnesium alloy with good adhesion and corrosion resistance.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to obtain rare earth magnesium alloy with good adhesion and corrosion resistance.
Design/methodology/approach
In 353 K oil bath, cyclic voltammetry was used to study the electrochemical behavior of Pr(III), Mg(II) and Ni(II) in choline chloride-urea ionic liquid. The constant potential method was adopted for electrodeposition of Pr-Mg-Ni ternary alloy films. The content of Pr in the Pr-Mg-Ni alloy films changes with respect to the deposition potential, deposition time and concentration ratio of Pr3+:Mg2+:Ni2+. Response surface methodology was applied to optimize the conditions for obtaining high-quality deposition films.
Findings
The results showed that the reaction of Ni(II) to Ni is irreversible; this result can be verified by Tafel polarization curve and chronocoulometry curve. Its transfer coefficient on the platinum electrode of 0.32 and diffusion coefficient is 1.0510−6 cm2.s−1. Mg(II) and Pr(III) cannot solely be reduced to their elemental form, but they can be induced via codeposition by Ni(II). The result shows that under a voltage of −1.00 V, the alloy coating with even structure is obtained when the concentration ratio of Pr3+:Mg2+:Ni2+ is 1:1:1 and the deposition time is 20 min. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and other analyses revealed that the alloy coating is amorphous. Polarization curves of the cathode are tested, which manifest the lowest corrosion current density, stating which has good corrosion performance in alkaline solution and NaCl solution; this can be attributed to its dense film structure and good combination with the substrate.
Originality/value
It provides some technology for the production of corrosion-resistant materials.
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Yidu Zhang, Yongshou Liu and Qing Guo
This paper aims to develop a method for evaluating the failure probability and global sensitivity of multiple failure modes based on convex-probability hybrid uncertainty.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to develop a method for evaluating the failure probability and global sensitivity of multiple failure modes based on convex-probability hybrid uncertainty.
Design/methodology/approach
The uncertainty information of the input variable is considered as convex-probability hybrid uncertainty. Moment-independent variable global sensitivity index based on the system failure probability is proposed to quantify the effect of the input variable on the system failure probability. Two-mode sensitivity indices are adopted to characterize the effect of each failure mode on the system failure probability. The method based on active learning Kriging (ALK) model with a truncated candidate regions (TCR) is adopted to evaluate the systems failure probability, as well as sensitivity index and this method is termed as ALK-TCR.
Findings
The results of five examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the sensitivity index and the efficiency of the ALK-TCR method in solving the problem of multiple failure modes based on the convex-probability hybrid uncertainty.
Originality/value
Convex-probability hybrid uncertainty is considered on system reliability analysis. Moment-independent variable sensitivity index based on the system failure probability is proposed. Mode sensitivity indices are extended to hybrid uncertain reliability model. An effective global sensitivity analysis approach is developed for the multiple failure modes based on convex-probability hybrid uncertainty.
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Bai Yun, Zhao Yue and Zhou Yaolin
This study aims to identify the prominent topics, the distribution and association characteristics of topics and the topic evolutionary trends of Documentary Heritage Preservation…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify the prominent topics, the distribution and association characteristics of topics and the topic evolutionary trends of Documentary Heritage Preservation and Conservation (DHPAC) research in China.
Design/methodology/approach
Keywords of relevant papers in China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) were extracted as the data source in this study. First, frequency and co-occurrence of keywords of the selected papers were obtained by using SATI. Second, co-word network indicators were calculated with the Pajek software. Then, VOSviewer was applied to optimize the visualization of the sub-communities. Finally, a topics evolution map of this research field was implemented by CorTexT.
Findings
The research topics of DHPAC research in China were unbalanced but distinct. Topics of DHPAC research in China possessed inconspicuous orientation and consistency. The core topics had less influence on the overall network. A research system had formed with archival conservation and ancient books conservation as the core research directions. Research in this field had formed four continuous evolutionary paths about ancient books conservation, salvage conservation, archival conservation and archives conservation technology science with topics fusion and differentiation coexisting. Attentions on “ancient books conservation”, “paper relics conservation”, “electronic record”, “digitization”, “minority”, “documents in the republic of China” had increased during the past two decades and new hot topics of DHPAC research kept appearing in China.
Originality/value
This study synthesized and analyzed the research results of DHPAC research in China from a more comprehensive perspective and revealed the topic structure and longitudinal evolution process intuitively with co-word analysis and social network analysis, which can assist researchers to improve research systematization, discover new research directions and seek cooperative research path.
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This special “Anbar Abstracts” issue of the International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management is split into six sections covering abstracts under the following headings…
Abstract
This special “Anbar Abstracts” issue of the International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management is split into six sections covering abstracts under the following headings: Business Strategy; Personnel and Training; Marketing and Customer Service; Logistics and Distribution; Financial Management; Information Technology.
Qing Zou and Guoying Liu
The purpose of this paper is to investigate various issues related to Chinese language localisation in Evergreen, an open source integrated library system (ILS).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate various issues related to Chinese language localisation in Evergreen, an open source integrated library system (ILS).
Design/methodology/approach
A Simplified Chinese version of Evergreen was implemented and tested and various issues such as encoding, indexing, searching, and sorting specifically associated with Simplified Chinese language were investigated.
Findings
The paper finds that Unicode eases a lot of ILS development problems. However, having another language version of an ILS does not simply require the translation from one language to another. Indexing, searching, sorting and other locale related issues should be tackled not only language by language, but locale by locale.
Practical implications
Most of the issues that have arisen during this project will be found with other ILS‐like systems.
Originality/value
This paper provides insights into issues of, and various solutions to, indexing, searching, and sorting in the Chinese language in an ILS. These issues and the solutions may be applicable to other digital library systems such as institutional repositories.