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This study examined the reciprocal influence of demand learning and preference matching in the context of store brand customization. The demand-learning effect refers to the collection of market demand information through production, based on pre-order demands, enabling retailers to accurately predict and allocate product quantities, thus improving inventory management. The preference-matching effect involves engaging consumers in the production and design processes of store brands to align fully with their preferences, thereby increasing the purchase impact of store brand products and promoting consumption.

We employ game-theoretic models to analyze a two-echelon supply chain consisting of a manufacturer and a retailer. The retailer offers both national brands, manufactured by the supplier and in-house store brands. To enhance their competitive edge, the retailer can adopt a customized strategy targeting the store brand to attract a wider consumer base.

The analysis reveals that, under low commission fees, the manufacturer consistently opts for high production quantities, irrespective of the level of demand uncertainty. However, when the perceived value of a store brand is low and demand uncertainty is either low or high, the retailer should choose a minimal or zero production quantity. The decision-making process is influenced by the customization process, wherein the effects of demand learning and preference matching occasionally mutually reinforce each other. Specifically, when the perceived value of a store brand is low, or the product cost is high, along with high customization costs, the interplay between demand learning and preference matching becomes mutually inhibiting. Consequently, the significance of store brand customization diminishes.

This study enhances the current body of knowledge by providing a deeper understanding of the theoretical value of store brand customization. In addition, it offers valuable decision-making support to enterprises by assisting them in selecting appropriate inventory and customization strategies.

This paper aims to address the safety concerns of path-planning algorithms in dynamic obstacle warehouse environments. It proposes a method that uses improved artificial potential fields (IAPF) as expert knowledge for an improved deep deterministic policy gradient (IDDPG) and designs a hierarchical strategy for robots through obstacle detection methods.

The IAPF algorithm is used as the expert experience of reinforcement learning (RL) to reduce the useless exploration in the early stage of RL training. A strategy-switching mechanism is introduced during training to adapt to various scenarios and overcome challenges related to sparse rewards. Sensor inputs, including light detection and ranging data, are integrated to detect obstacles around waypoints, guiding the robot toward the target point.

Simulation experiments demonstrate that the integrated use of IDDPG and the IAPF method significantly enhances the safety and training efficiency of path planning for mobile robots.

This method enhances safety by applying safety domain judgment rules to improve APF’s security and designing an obstacle detection method for better danger anticipation. It also boosts training efficiency through using IAPF as expert experience for DDPG and the classification storage and sampling design for the RL experience pool. Additionally, adjustments to the actor network’s update frequency expedite convergence.

This paper aims to examine the Chinese indigenous concept of suzhi (素质) by analyzing its historical evolution and its contemporary implications for human resource management (HRM) research and practice at the national and organizational levels.

An integrated review of literatures in sinology, political science, anthropology and sociology concerned with suzhi-related research, combined with recent incidents associated with suzhi.

Suzhi is an indigenous concept embedded in the centuries-long historical context of China. Suzhi development has been focused on three key dimensions, moral, physical and mental, as a way of building quality employees and citizens. Yet developing and quantifying the moral aspects of suzhi is more challenging than measuring its physical and mental dimensions. Linking suzhi development to human capital theory enriches the understanding of this indigenous concept at both organizational and national levels.

By analyzing a three-dimensional suzhi composite, the article offers an example of how suzhi may be linked to human capital theory and identifies directions for future research.

By analyzing suzhi at organizational and national levels for HRM purposes, this article broadens the suzhi literature from its place in the political sciences and social anthropology to encompass a theoretical analysis in HRM and development for the benefit of organizations and the society.

This chapter critically evaluates whether football can attain recognition as a national sport in China. Article No. 11, released by the Chinese government in 2015, aimed to develop a new national strategy centralised on the sport of football to foster consumption and enhance national soft power. Consequently, this also means encouraging Chinese football fans to support the national football team. Comparing the significance of local football clubs and the national football team to Chinese football fans is deemed meaningless and unable to generate useful information to comprehend Chinese people's attitudes towards local and national communities. Through literature comparisons with established Chinese national sports such as Chinese martial arts, badminton and table tennis, the discussion reveals that football currently falls short of meeting the general criteria of invention and popularity to be considered a Chinese national sport. In the specific Chinese context, it also proves that football fails to meet the criterion of politics, hindering its identification as a national sport. Consequently, the chapter rebuts the assumption and advocates for the validity of comparing how fans assess their fandom for local and national football teams.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the great contributions made by the American library expert, Mary Elizabeth Wood, to Chinese library development.

As a pioneer of the modern library movement Mary Elizabeth Wood devoted herself to a Chinese library career. It was structured according to the following theme: setting up the Boone Library and introducing the modern American public library into China; establishing Boone Library School and initiating Chinese library science education; raising money and appealing for China's library development; helping forward the foundation of the Library Association of China; as well as promoting Chinese library intercommunion and cooperation with the West.

With the background of underdeveloped Chinese librarianship, Mary Elizabeth Wood introduced modern American public library spirit into China, opened the gate of Chinese library science, and promoted Chinese library science.

The paper discusses the library history of China and the role of an American librarian in Chinese library history; thus, it should be of wide interest to researchers involved in library history.

Mary Elizabeth Wood devoted herself to a Chinese library career, and promoted Chinese library science greatly, but research on her is limited. This paper considers her contribution to Chinese library science.

The former residences of historical figures are typical landscape elements of historic districts, which are characterised by the styles of these residences and spiritual historical figures cultures. The purpose of this paper is to determine how the former residences respond once the historical figures living there have passed.

The history of human culture and progression of urban construction – which are submerged in societal transformation – is recorded for old Beijing city. Narrative space theory is used and methods such as a content analysis, map overlay and the Geographic Information System are employed to analyse the selected 300 former residences of historical figures in old Beijing city.

The results are as follows: the political setting played a key role in the evolution process, three political narrative areas in the inner city and one cultural narrative area in the outer city form the narrative spatial structure of the former residences of historical figures, “government construction” and “resident construction” are the main reasons for the loss and destruction of narrative spaces and ordinary life is an important channel for showcasing the history of former residences. The narrative spaces of these residences carry double histories, namely, the development of human history and of city construction.

Different from former studies that focus on the preservation of the single historical building, this study explores the integral logic of historic buildings in the whole city through narrative space theory to get a combination of culture and space.