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The past 40 years of reform and opening up have seen the role of core competence receive unprecedented attention because of the impact of the new normal economy as well as the pressure of transformation and upgrading. Few Chinese enterprises have effectively constructed core competence, and there is also a lack of strategic perspective and contextual embedding of its construction process in theory. This study aims to analyse the unique contextual characteristics of China in the transitional period and the impact on the core competence construction of Chinese enterprises and proposes its construction mechanism for Chinese enterprises.

Through theoretical deduction and speculation, this paper analyses the process of concept formation, clarifies the concept, analyses its connotations and structure and emphasises its relativity. Based on a review of the theoretical research on the core competence construction process and an analysis of dual contextual impact, this paper puts forward a mechanism for core competence construction.

The results reveal that four specific characteristics of entrepreneurs in balancing and coping with the dual nature of external context constitute the key driving force for a Chinese enterprises’ core competence construction; under the influence of this driving force, the core competence construction mechanism includes process mode, knowledge source, management mode and key success factors.

Approaching it from a Chinese context, this study deepens the concept of core competence; enriches and develops the research related to the core strategic research proposition of its construction; and provides positive significance for Chinese enterprises to effectively build, develop and strengthen core competence and enhance their international competitiveness.

Based on upper echelon theory and signaling theory, we aim to examine the impact of returnee executives on firms’ relative exploratory innovation focus and the moderating effect of economic policy uncertainty on this relationship.

Using panel data of Chinese listed companies from 2009 to 2020, we obtained empirical evidence to support our arguments.

Returnee executives positively influence firms’ relative exploratory innovation focus. This means that firms with returnee executives will shift the focus of their innovation activities toward exploratory innovation more than exploitative innovation. In addition, we find that economic policy uncertainty strengthens this relationship.

First, by showing how returnee executives positively influence firms’ shift in focus to exploratory rather than exploitative innovation, we expand our understanding of firms’ trade-offs between exploratory and exploitative innovation. Second, this study examines how returnee executives influence the relative importance that firms place on exploratory and exploitative innovation, allowing us to build a realistic and nuanced view of how returnee executives influence firms’ strategic choices. Finally, this study expands the strategic leadership literature and responds directly to the call for studies focusing on how institutional environmental conditions and executive characteristics work together to shape firm outcomes.

Drawing on the gender self-schema theory, upper echelons theory and the literature on international business, this study aims to examine the impact of board gender diversity on firms' internationalization speed.

In this study, secondary data of 886 listed Chinese manufacturing firms from 2009 to 2018 are studied using the ordinary least squares regression model as the baseline method, an instrumental variable method is adopted for endogeneity control and both fixed and random effect models are adopted for the robustness test.

Board gender diversity reduces firms' internationalization speed, and the negative effect between board gender diversity and internationalization speed is stronger when the average age of female directors is older and weaker when female directors have international experience or financial background.

First, Chinese firms need to increase or decrease board gender diversity to match the board to firms' internationalization strategy. Increasing board gender diversity may be a more appropriate choice for firms that are expanding rapidly internationally, and vice versa. Second, when introducing female directors to international firms, it is essential to address other characteristics of these directors beyond their gender.

First, the authors contribute to the literature on board gender diversity using Chinese manufacturing firms as our research sample, which provides new insights into the economic consequences of increasing the number of female directors. Second, this research contributes to the literature on firms' internationalization speed. Third, the authors capture in more detail the economic consequences of increasing board gender diversity in the context of China.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the tannase-assisted extraction of tea stem pigment from waste tea stem, after which the stability of the purified pigment was determined and analyzed.

The extracting process was optimized using the response surface methodology (RSM) approach. Material-liquid ratio, temperature and time were chosen as variables and the absorbance as a response. The stability of the tea stem pigment at the different conditions was tested and analyzed.

The optimized extraction technology was as follows: material-liquid ratio 1:20 g/ml, temperature 50°C and time 60 min. The stability test results showed that tea stem pigment was sensitive to oxidants, but the reducing agents did not affect it. The tea stem pigment was unstable under strong acid and strong alkali and was most stable at pH 6. The light stability was poor. Tea stem pigment would form flocculent precipitation under the action of Fe²⁺ or Fe³⁺ and be relatively stable in Cu²⁺ and Na²⁺ solutions. The tea stem pigment was relatively stable at 60°C and below.

No comprehensive and systematic study reports have been conducted on the extraction of pigment from discarded tea stem, and researchers have not used statistical analysis to optimize the process of tannase-assisted tea stem pigment extraction using RSM. Additionally, there is a lack of special reports on the systematic study of the stability of pigment extracted from tea stem.

The purpose of this paper is to use the corresponding magnetic sensor and detection method to detect and image the defects of small diameter pipelines. Urban gas pipeline is an energy transportation tool for urban industrial production and social life, which is closely related to urban safety. Preventing the occurrence of urban gas pipeline transportation accidents and carrying out pipeline defect detection are of great significance for the urban economic and social stability. To perform pipeline defect detection, the magnetic flux leakage internal detection method is generally used in the detection of large-diameter long-distance oil and gas pipelines. However, in terms of the internal detection of small-diameter pipelines, due to the heavy weight, large structure of the detection device and small pipe diameter, the detection is more difficult.

In order to solve the above matters, self-made three-dimensional magnetic sensor and three-dimensional magnetic flux leakage imaging direct method are proposed for studying the defect identification. Firstly, for adapting to the diameter range of small-diameter pipelines, and containing the complete information of the defect, a self-made three-dimensional magnetic sensor is made in this paper to improve the accuracy of magnetic flux leakage detection. And on the basis of it, a small diameter pipeline defect detection system is built. Secondly, as detection signal may be affected by background magnetic field interference and the jitter interference, the complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise method is utilized to screen the detected signal. As a result, the useful signal is reconstructed and the interference signal is removed. Finally, the defect contour inversion imaging of detection is realized based on the direct method of three-dimensional magnetic flux leakage imaging, which includes three-dimensional magnetic flux leakage detection data and data segmentation recognition.

The three-dimensional magnetic flux leakage imaging experimental results shown that, compared to the actual defects, the typical defects, irregular defects and crack groove defects can be analyzed by the magnetic flux leakage defect contour imaging method in qualitative and quantitative way respectively, which provides a new idea for the research of defect recognition.

A three-dimensional magnetic sensor is made to adapt the diameter range of small diameter pipeline, and based on it, a small-diameter pipeline defect detection system is built to collect and display the magnetic flux leakage signal.

To solve the problems of short battery life and low transportation safety of logistics drones, this paper aims to propose a design of logistics unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) wing with a composite ducted rotor, which combines fixed wing and rotary-wing.

This UAV adopts tiltable ducted rotor combined with fixed wing, which has the characteristics of fast flight speed, large carrying capacity and long endurance. At the same time, it has the hovering and vertical take-off and landing capabilities of the rotary-wing UAV. In addition, aerodynamic simulation analysis of the composite model with a fixed wing and a ducted rotor was carried out, and the aerodynamic influence of the composite model on the UAV was analyzed under different speeds, fixed wing angles of attack and ducted rotor speeds.

The results were as follows: when the speed of the ducted rotor is 2,500 rpm, CL and K both reach maximum values. But when the speed exceeds 3,000 rpm, the lift will decrease; when the angle of attack of the fixed wing is 10° and the rotational speed of the ducted rotor is about 3,000 rpm, the aerodynamic characteristics of the wing are better.

The novelty of this work comes from a composite wing design of a fixed wing combined with a tiltable ducted rotor applied to the logistics UAVs, and the aerodynamic characteristics of the design wing are analyzed.

This article presents an introduction to the Delphi method and review of Delphi studies published in the literature of library and information science (LIS).

A review of Delphi studies published between the years of 1971 and 2019 is performed, using studies retrieved from the Library and Information Science Source database. A total of 122 articles were retrieved and evaluated based on the population studied, means of identifying experts, number of participants for each study round, type of Delphi, and type of findings.

General librarians (any type), academic librarians, and information science researchers are the most common populations in LIS Delphi studies. On average (middle 50 percent of studies), 14–36 experts are used in the first round of LIS Delphi studies (median n = 23). Employment in a specific role and publications in scholarly journals are the most common means of identifying experts. Variants of the e-Delphi (online survey/email) method are increasingly common, particularly in LIS Delphi studies that focus on general information science, rather than library, topics. Though LIS Delphi studies are relatively few in number, they have a consistent record of being published in some of the most prestigious LIS journals.

This paper provides an introduction to the Delphi method for LIS research and presents an overview of existing literature in LIS that utilizes the research method. No overview of this extent exists in the LIS literature, and, thus, this paper may serve as an important information source about the method for LIS researchers.

Surface mount technology (SMT) is widely used and plays an important role in electronic equipment. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the effects of interface cracks on the fatigue life of SMT solder joint under service load and to provide some valuable reference information for improving service reliability of SMT packages.

A 3D geometric model of SMT package is established. The mechanical properties of SMT solder joint under thermal cycling load and random vibration load were solved by 3D finite element analysis. The fatigue life of SMT solder joint under different loads can be calculated by using the modified Coffin–Manson model and high-cycle fatigue model.

The results revealed that cracks at different locations and propagation directions have different effect on the fatigue life of the SMT solder joint. From the location of the cracks, Crack 1 has the most significant impact on the thermal fatigue life of the solder joint. Under the same thermal cycling conditions, its life has decreased by 46.98%, followed by Crack 2, Crack 4 and Crack 3. On the other hand, under the same random vibration load, Crack 4 has the most significant impact on the solder joint fatigue life, reducing its life by 81.39%, followed by Crack 1, Crack 3 and Crack 2. From the crack propagation direction, with the increase of crack depth, the thermal fatigue life of the SMT solder joint decreases sharply at first and then continues to decline almost linearly. The random vibration fatigue life of the solder joint decreases continuously with the increase of crack depth. From the crack depth of 0.01 mm to 0.05 mm, the random vibration fatigue life decreases by 86.75%. When the crack width increases, the thermal and random vibration fatigue life of the solder joint decreases almost linearly.

This paper investigates the effects of interface cracks on the fatigue life and provides useful information on the reliability of SMT packages.

The purpose of this study is to investigate (1) how female blog users' perceived benefits (i.e. perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, community identification and perceived norm of reciprocity) influence their perceived social capital on fashion blogs, (2) the influence of structural social capital and cognitive social capital on users' relational social capital and (3) the influence of relational social capital on blog loyalty.

Structural equation modeling was performed using 530 useable data collected through an online survey.

The result indicated that perceived usefulness and the norm of reciprocity led to the development of cognitive social capital, while community identification and the norm of reciprocity led to the development of structural social capital. Cognitive and structural social capital both led to the development relational social capital, which in turn influenced blog loyalty.

This study provides insights for a fashion brand marketing strategy that uses fashion blogs to target relevant consumers. It helps firms to understand the factors that lead people to embed their resources in a blog and to learn how the different perceived benefits impact blog users' contributions to the community.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of laser scanning speed (LSS) on the corrosive-tribological performance of Ni-60%WC coating in Wusu mine water, which was beneficial to improve the friction–wear performance of cylinder liner on water injection pump.

Ni-60%WC coatings were fabricated on 45 steel by laser cladding, and the microstructure and tribological performance was analyzed using a super depth of field microscope and ball-on-plate friction tester, and the wear mechanism was also discussed.

At room temperature (RT, 25 ± 2 °C), the average coefficients of friction of substrate and Ni-60%WC coatings fabricated at the LSS of 6, 10, 12 and 14 mm/s are 0.48 ± 0.08, 0.23 ± 0.01, 0.21 ± 0.05, 0.22 ± 0.02 and 0.25 ± 0.04, respectively, and the corresponding wear rates are 8.755 × 10⁴, 4.525 × 10³, 1.539 × 10³, 1.957 × 10³ and 2.743 × 10³ µm³·s^–1·N^–1, respectively, showing that the coating fabricated at the LSS of 10 mm/s has best friction reduction and wear resistance. The wear mechanism of Ni-60%WC coating is abrasive wear, fatigue wear and oxidative wear, which is resulted from the WC particles with the high-hardness.

Ni-60%WC coatings were first applied for cylinder liner, and the effect of laser scanning speed on its tribological performance was investigated.