Yuhua Dong, Chundong Geng, Xiang Wang and Qiong Zhou
This paper aims to investigate effect of porous polystyrene microspheres encapsulated inhibitor on the protection performance of epoxy resin coating.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate effect of porous polystyrene microspheres encapsulated inhibitor on the protection performance of epoxy resin coating.
Design/methodology/approach
Porous polystyrene (PS) microspheres were synthesized by soap-free emulsion polymerization. The morphology of microspheres was observed by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Corrosion inhibitor benzotriazole was encapsulated into porous PS microspheres. The protection performance of epoxy resin coating with different contents of PS microspheres was tested by polarization curve.
Findings
The findings of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and scanning vibrating electrode technique showed that addition of corrosion inhibitor to porous PS microspheres further improved the protection performance of the coatings.
Practical implications
Porous PS microspheres could be used as nanocontainer to encapsulate corrosion inhibitor.
Originality/value
Addition of porous PS microspheres with corrosion inhibitor improved the protection performance of the coatings.
Details
Keywords
Yu Hua Dong, Ya Nan Liu and Qiong Zhou
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate effects of different contents of composite ferrotitanium pigment on corrosion protection performance of epoxy resin coatings.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate effects of different contents of composite ferrotitanium pigment on corrosion protection performance of epoxy resin coatings.
Design/methodology/approach
Different contents of composite ferrotitanium pigment were added to the epoxy resin coatings and the corrosion performance of the coatings were investigated by electrochemical test (in 5 wt.% KCl solutions at 60°C), salt spray test and simulated test. The morphology of the coating before and after corrosion was characterised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS).
Findings
The composite ferrotitanium improved anti‐corrosion properties of the coating due to complex reaction of ferrous ions and phosphates as well as introduction of nano powder to the composite ferrotitanium. The coating with 10 wt.% composite ferrotitanium pigment had better anti‐corrosion properties than that of 5 wt.%. Simulated experiment in an autoclave indicated that the composite ferrotitanium pigment had the best protective performance among the three green pigments such as zinc phosphate, aluminium tri‐phosphate, and composite ferrotitanium.
Research limitations/implications
The pigments were added into the coating by high energy ball milling. Some of them dispersed in the coating heterogeneously and affected property of the coatings.
Practical implications
Composite ferrotitanium can be used to replace red lead and chromate pigments to meet environmental requirements.
Originality/value
The paper shows how the anti‐corrosion mechanism of the composite ferrotitanium pigment was investigated and several green pigments were selected to compare their protective performance in the autoclave.
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Binghai Zhou and Qiong Wu
The extensive applications of the industrial robots have made the optimization of assembly lines more complicated. The purpose of this paper is to develop a balancing method of…
Abstract
Purpose
The extensive applications of the industrial robots have made the optimization of assembly lines more complicated. The purpose of this paper is to develop a balancing method of both workstation time and station area to improve the efficiency and productivity of the robotic assembly lines. A tradeoff was made between two conflicting objective functions, minimizing the number of workstations and minimizing the area of each workstation.
Design/methodology/approach
This research proposes an optimal method for balancing robotic assembly lines with space consideration and reducing robot changeover and area for tools and fixtures to further minimize assembly line area and cycle time. Due to the NP-hard nature of the considered problem, an improved multi-objective immune clonal selection algorithm is proposed to solve this constrained multi-objective optimization problem, and a special coding scheme is designed for the problem. To enhance the performance of the algorithm, several strategies including elite strategy and global search are introduced.
Findings
A set of instances of different problem scales are optimized and the results are compared with two other high-performing multi-objective algorithms to evaluate the efficiency and superiority of the proposed algorithm. It is found that the proposed method can efficiently solve the real-world size case of time and space robotic assembly line balancing problems.
Originality/value
For the first time in the robotic assembly line balancing problems, an assignment-based tool area and a sequence-based changeover time are took into consideration. Furthermore, a mathematical model with bi-objective functions of minimizing the number of workstations and area of each station was developed. To solve the proposed problem, an improved multi-objective immune clonal selection algorithm was proposed and a special coding scheme is designed.
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Qiong Wu, Qiwei Zhou and Kathryn Cormican
Shared leadership is an effective mechanism for managing project teams. Its performance-enhancing benefits have been demonstrated in many studies. Nonetheless, there is an obvious…
Abstract
Purpose
Shared leadership is an effective mechanism for managing project teams. Its performance-enhancing benefits have been demonstrated in many studies. Nonetheless, there is an obvious silence about how to promote shared leadership in Lean Six Sigma (LSS) project teams. To address this deficit, the purposes of this study are to investigate the influence of shared leadership on LSS project success and to explore how team psychological safety, project task complexity and project task interdependence influence shared leadership.
Design/methodology/approach
A multi-source, time-lagged survey design with a four-month interval was conducted. To do this, the authors collected data from 71 project teams (comprising 71 project managers and 352 project members) using LSS approaches in the manufacturing and service industries.
Findings
The findings show that shared leadership positively influences LSS project success. The authors also found that team psychological safety fosters the development of shared leadership and, more importantly, these effects are stronger when the tasks are more complex and more interdependent.
Practical implications
These findings advance our understanding of the factors that enable shared leadership and equip LSS project managers with practical techniques to improve shared leadership for the success of their projects.
Originality/value
This study extends the theory of shared leadership to the context of LSS project management and is among the first, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to theoretically propose and empirically validate how to promote shared leadership in LSS project teams.
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Binghai Zhou and Qiong Wu
The balancing of robotic weld assembly lines has a significant influence on achievable production efficiency. This paper aims to investigate the most suitable way to assign both…
Abstract
Purpose
The balancing of robotic weld assembly lines has a significant influence on achievable production efficiency. This paper aims to investigate the most suitable way to assign both assembly tasks and type of robots to every workstation, and present an optimal method of robotic weld assembly line balancing (ALB) problems with the additional concern of changeover times. An industrial case of a robotic weld assembly line problem is investigated with an objective of minimizing cycle time of workstations.
Design/methodology/approach
This research proposes an optimal method for balancing robotic weld assembly lines. To solve the problem, a low bound of cycle time of workstations is built, and on account of the non-deterministic polynomial-time (NP)-hard nature of ALB problem (ALBP), a genetic algorithm (GA) with the mechanism of simulated annealing (SA), as well as self-adaption procedure, was proposed to overcome the inferior capability of GA in aspect of local search.
Findings
Theory analysis and simulation experiments on an industrial case of a car body welding assembly line are conducted in this paper. Satisfactory results show that the performance of GA is enhanced owing to the mechanism of SA, and the proposed method can efficiently solve the real-world size case of robotic weld ALBPs with changeover times.
Research limitations/implications
The additional consideration of tool changing has very realistic significance in manufacturing. Furthermore, this research work could be modified and applied to other ALBPs, such as worker ALBPs considering tool-changeover times.
Originality/value
For the first time in the robotic weld ALBPs, the fixtures’ (tools’) changeover times are considered. Furthermore, a mathematical model with an objective function of minimizing cycle time of workstations was developed. To solve the proposed problem, a GA with the mechanism of SA was put forth to overcome the inferior capability of GA in the aspect of local search.
Details
Keywords
Bojun Hou, Jin Hong, Qiong Chen, Xing Shi and Yu Zhou
It is widely accepted that enterprises obtaining academic discoveries through R&D collaboration improve their innovation performance. However, it is not necessarily true in…
Abstract
Purpose
It is widely accepted that enterprises obtaining academic discoveries through R&D collaboration improve their innovation performance. However, it is not necessarily true in emerging economies, such as China and post-socialist countries in Europe. The purpose of this paper is to fill the gap by investigating how R&D collaboration between industry and academia (i.e. universities and research institutes) affects the industrial innovation performance; and whether and how intermediaries moderate their relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper constructs the research model according to the knowledge production function, and the pooled ordinary least square regression is used to verify our hypotheses.
Findings
Evidence from a sample of Chinese industrial enterprises in thirty provinces spanning from 2009 to 2014 suggests that R&D collaboration with research institutes (CWR) is positively related to innovation output, while R&D collaboration with universities (CWU) exerts negative effect on innovation output measured by sales revenue of new product (NPSR). The significant moderating role of technology transfer institutions is confirmed in the negative relationship between CWU and NPSR.
Originality/value
This paper empirically examines the moderating role of intermediary organisations in academia–industry cooperation and industrial innovation, and has practical implications for the government to formulate policies to improve the quality and effectiveness of cooperation between academic and industrial sectors. These results vary in inland and coastal areas, which suggest the policy makers to formulate policies according to local conditions not only in China but also in other countries, like European countries.
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Yuzhen Duan, Xiaobao Peng, Qiong Gui, Haibin Zhou, Xuehe Zhang and Wei Song
This paper aims to investigate the effect of transformational leadership (TL), behavioral integration of top management team (TMT) and team conflict on manager ambidexterity…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the effect of transformational leadership (TL), behavioral integration of top management team (TMT) and team conflict on manager ambidexterity behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
Hierarchical linear modeling has been applied to test the degree of influence of TL and behavioral integration of TMT on manager ambidexterity using data collected from 60 chief executive officers (CEOs) and 322 TMT members of small- and medium-sized enterprises in the Chinese electronic commerce industry.
Findings
The results suggest the following: transformational leadership is positively associated with the behavioral integration of TMT and a high level of TMT behavioral integration strengthens the positive relationship between transformational leadership and manager ambidexterity. Also, team conflict moderates the mediating role of TMT behavioral integration in the relationship of transformational leadership to manager ambidexterity.
Research limitations/implications
First, this study does not directly test whether transformational leadership encourages a focus on manager ambidexterity, although the results on behavioral integration draw attention to the usefulness of such leadership. Second, in focusing on manager ambidexterity, this paper omits key variables, especially skills and abilities.
Practical implications
Given that several aspects of leadership can be learned and adjusted, the findings suggest that organizations can improve their individual ambidexterity by helping the CEOs develop and display transformational leadership through training and mentoring. TMTs were found to rely mostly on the behavioral integration approach (collaborative behavior, quality of information exchange and joint decision-making) and team conflict management. Such reliance, in turn, predicts effective team behavioral coordination and subsequent manager ambidexterity.
Originality/value
First, this study goes beyond the current research that focuses primarily on ambidexterity at the inter-organizational alliance, firm and business unit levels. This earlier research lacks a conceptually and empirically validated understanding of ambidexterity at the level of the manager. In contrast, by investigating and examining the antecedents of manager ambidexterity behavior, the study develops an individual perspective to elucidate the ambidextrous mechanisms. Second, the study also contributes by explaining how transformational leadership relates to manager ambidexterity. To date, only limited research has disentangled how transformational leaders enhance managers’ teamwork (e.g. behavioral integration) and how such leaders affect the ambidextrous orientation of managers.
Details
Keywords
Qiwei Zhou, Qiong Wu, Yuyuan Sun and Kathryn Cormican
Shared leadership has received significant empirical and theoretical attention in the project management literature. However, a dearth of studies reveals how shared leadership…
Abstract
Purpose
Shared leadership has received significant empirical and theoretical attention in the project management literature. However, a dearth of studies reveals how shared leadership promotes project performance. Drawing on the theory of conservation of resources, this research proposes a serial mediation model that investigates the relationship between shared leadership and project performance through team failure learning and team resilience.
Design/methodology/approach
A field study was conducted that surveyed 79 project teams in various industries (comprising 380 project team members and 79 project managers) using a multisource, time-lagged survey design.
Findings
Our findings show that shared leadership has a positive impact on project performance. More importantly, team failure learning and team resilience play sequential mediating roles in the relationship between shared leadership and project performance.
Practical implications
This research offers new ways for project managers to manage project performance effectively. Project managers are encouraged to recognize the benefits of shared leadership. To do this, they should facilitate team failure learning and improve team resilience, which serves to boost project performance.
Originality/value
This research provides a novel perspective on how shared leadership influences project performance. To the best of our knowledge, we are among the first to explore the serial mediating effects of team failure learning and team resilience on the relationship between shared leadership and project performance.
Details
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Meng Li, Li Yuan Liu, Rui Zhou, Jun Yang, Qiong Qu and Haitao Song
Considering the industrial site environment and installation requirements, the straight-beam ultrasound probe with easy installation and good coupling agent adaptability is…
Abstract
Purpose
Considering the industrial site environment and installation requirements, the straight-beam ultrasound probe with easy installation and good coupling agent adaptability is adopted to replace the traditional water immersion focusing probe for film thickness measurement in cylindrical roller bearings. The straight-beam probe has a large echo receiving range, which will result in measurement regions overlapping and bring about large measurement errors. In this paper, an improved measurement method for film thickness of cylindrical roller bearing with the straight-beam probe is developed.
Design/methodology/approach
An improved method is proposed to enhance the spatial resolution of the straight-beam probe. By introducing a correction coefficient based on the percentage of the effective measurement area, the method improves the measuring accuracy successfully.
Findings
The experimental results demonstrate that the lubricant-film thickness can be measured to reasonable accuracy by this method and have a better agreement with the theoretical film thickness solutions.
Originality/value
This paper used analytical method and model that is helpful for the improvement of the spatial resolution, which has great influence on the measuring accuracy, is mainly determined by the echo reflection area size of the ultrasound transducer.
Details
Keywords
Mohammad Tariqul Islam, Md. Shamim Talukder, Abul Khayer and A.K.M. Najmul Islam
Open government data (OGD) is a comparatively new field in e-government and the factors influencing its continuance use by citizens have not been extensively explored. A better…
Abstract
Purpose
Open government data (OGD) is a comparatively new field in e-government and the factors influencing its continuance use by citizens have not been extensively explored. A better understanding of these factors can help the government to articulate strategies and policies that can advance the acceptance and use of OGD technologies. Thus, this paper aims to empirically determine the predictors influencing the continuance usage intention of OGD technologies.
Design/methodology/approach
Following an empirical investigation among 370 respondents in Bangladesh, a developing country, the paper applied path analysis using the structural equation modeling approach. The unified theory of acceptance and use of the technology model is integrated with the information system continuance model to investigate the continuance usage intention of OGD technologies.
Findings
The outcomes of this study reveal that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence and facilitating conditions (FC) directly affect users’ satisfaction (SAT). In addition, SAT and FC were found statistically significant toward continuance usage intention of OGD technologies.
Practical implications
The findings of this study suggest policymaker and OGD providers to formulate or modify their strategies to retain the existing OGD users and stimulate persistence usage.
Social implications
Facilitating long-term use by citizens would increase their engagement and they might derive value from the OGD platforms. Concurrently, the government’s objective of ensuring increased future use of OGD technologies would be better realized.
Originality/value
The novelty of this study lies in the fact that it addresses a previously overlooked area of open data research, namely, the acceptance and use of open data technologies and ways to stimulate it. This study has contributed to the existing but limited literature on continuance usage intention of OGD technologies in the context of a developing country.