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Article
Publication date: 20 June 2019

Yi An, Howard Davey, Harun Harun, Zebin Jin, Xin Qiao and Qun Yu

The purpose of this study is to examine the current state of online sustainability reporting in the Hong Kong higher education sector from a variety of perspectives.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the current state of online sustainability reporting in the Hong Kong higher education sector from a variety of perspectives.

Design/methodology/approach

The multiple case study was the research method for this research. Content analysis of the university website, as well as interview with university management, personnel in the sustainability office, academics and students, were adopted for data collection. An assessment framework for sustainability reporting was developed as an instrument for content analysis, based on G4 guidelines and prior literature.

Findings

The authors observe that most Hong Kong public universities have a specific webpage for sustainability reporting on the website, which consists of an amount of sustainability-related information in terms of general aspects, specific aspects and stakeholder participation. Moreover, they notice that Hong Kong public universities attach importance to sustainability and its reporting, and they would like to communicate their sustainability activities to various stakeholders and the community where they operate.

Practical implications

This paper indicates some practical implications for academics, university management, policymakers and sustainability education amongst universities in Hong Kong and beyond.

Social implications

This paper argues that universities, as a central place to foster talents and future leaders, should operate in a sustainable manner at the first place and then report their sustainability-related activities taking full advantage of the current information and communication technologies, so as to discharge accountability to various stakeholders and meet the expectations of the community where they operate.

Originality/value

This paper uses a multiple case study approach to explore the status of online sustainability reporting at Hong Kong universities, which contributes to limited research in the area, particularly for online sustainability reporting in the higher education institutions, and makes some contributions to the extant literature.

Details

Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, vol. 11 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-8021

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Article
Publication date: 20 June 2022

Renluan Hou, Jianwei Niu, Yuliang Guo, Tao Ren, Bing Han, Xiaolong Yu, Qun Ma, Jin Wang and Renjie Qi

The purpose of this paper is to enhance control accuracy, energy efficiency and productivity of customized industrial robots by the proposed multi-objective trajectory…

201

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to enhance control accuracy, energy efficiency and productivity of customized industrial robots by the proposed multi-objective trajectory optimization approach. To obtain accurate dynamic matching torques of the robot joints with optimal motion, an improved dynamic model built by a novel parameter identification method has been proposed.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper proposes a novel multi-objective optimal approach to minimize the time and energy consumption of robot trajectory. First, the authors develop a reliable dynamic parameters identification method to obtain joint torques for formulating the normalized energy optimization function and dynamic constraints. Then, optimal trajectory variables are solved by converting the objective function into relaxation constraints based on second-order cone programming and Runge–Kutta discrete method to reduce the solving complexity.

Findings

Extensive experiments via simulation and in real customized robots are conducted. The results of this paper illustrate that the accuracy of joint torque predicted by the proposed model increases by 28.79% to 79.05% over the simplified models used in existing optimization studies. Meanwhile, under the same solving efficiency, the proposed optimization trajectory consumes a shorter time and less energy compared with the existing optimization ones and the polynomial trajectory.

Originality/value

A novel time-energy consumption optimal trajectory planning method based on dynamic identification is proposed. Most existing optimization methods neglect the effect of dynamic model reliability on energy efficiency optimization. A novel parameter identification approach and a complete dynamic torque model are proposed. Experimental results of dynamic matching torques verify that the control accuracy of optimal robot motion can be significantly improved by the proposed model.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. 49 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

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Article
Publication date: 27 May 2022

Yuliang Guo, Jianwei Niu, Renluan Hou, Tao Ren, Bing Han, Xiaolong Yu and Qun Ma

Sensorless passive lead-through programming (LTP) is a promising physical human-robot interaction technology that enables manual trajectory demonstrations based on gravity and…

121

Abstract

Purpose

Sensorless passive lead-through programming (LTP) is a promising physical human-robot interaction technology that enables manual trajectory demonstrations based on gravity and friction compensation. The major difficulty lies in static friction compensation during LTP start-up. Instead of static friction compensation, conventional methods only compensate for Coulomb friction after the joint velocity exceeds a threshold. Therefore, conventional start-up external torques must overcome static friction. When the static friction is considerable, it is difficult for conventional LTP to start up and make small movements. This paper aims to decrease the start-up external torque and improve the small movement performance.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper reveals a novel usage of a high-gain position-loop in industrial robot applications aimed at sensitively detecting external torque during start-up. Then, the static friction is partly compensated by Coulomb friction to facilitate start-up. In addition, a detailed transition method between the proposed start-up and conventional passive LTP is proposed based on a finite state machine.

Findings

Experiments are implemented on the ROKAE XB4 robot to verify the effectiveness of the proposed external torque detection. Compared with the conventional LTP method, the proposed LTP method significantly decreases the start-up external torque and facilitates small movements.

Originality/value

This paper proposes and verifies a novel start-up method of sensorless LTP based on a start-up external torque detection and a transition method between start-up and conventional LTP. This research improves the LTP start-up performance, especially for industrial robots with large static friction.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. 50 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

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Article
Publication date: 1 August 2012

Zhang Hong-jie, Chen Zhen, Zhu Yin-lin, Du Zhao-qun and Yu Wei-dong

Cold weather and the subsequent demand for lightweight apparel have prompted research work in the field of thermal insulation clothing. In addition to natural fibres, such as wool…

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Abstract

Cold weather and the subsequent demand for lightweight apparel have prompted research work in the field of thermal insulation clothing. In addition to natural fibres, such as wool and cashmere, hollow chemical fibres, such as polyester or polypropylene fibre, have been studied and used to make thermal-insulation clothing. Primarily, modifications are made to increase the hollow ratio; however, this results in the fibre becoming brittle and prone to collapse. Yet many animals survive in harsh and cold conditions, and their hair plays a key role in keeping the body warm.

In the research under discussion, 4 types of cold-resistant animals are selected for observation of their hair fibres based on optical and scanning electronic microscopies. The characteristics of the hair fibres of cold-resistant animals are examined, including colour, scale density, scale thickness, medullary distribution and morphology of cross sections. The conclusions show that there are some common characteristics among cold-resistant animals, i.e., the cross sections are circular or ellipse or anomaly ellipse, scale density ranges from 40 to 100 scales per 1 mm, scale styles vary, and scale angles are small. The experimental results may be used to provide a modification method for functional fibres, especially for thermal-insulation fibres.

Details

Research Journal of Textile and Apparel, vol. 16 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1560-6074

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Article
Publication date: 27 November 2020

Xiting Wu, Qun CAO, Xiaoping Tan and Liang Li

This paper aims to examine the relationship between the audit of outgoing leading officials' natural resource accountability and environmental governance, as well as the internal…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the relationship between the audit of outgoing leading officials' natural resource accountability and environmental governance, as well as the internal mechanism of audit of outgoing leading officials' natural resource accountability that plays a role in national environmental governance.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on city-level panel data from 2012 to 2015, this paper adopts a difference-in-difference model to examine the role of government audit in national governance from an environmental perspective. Furthermore, using a mediating effect model, the study sheds light on the internal mechanism of audit of outgoing leading officials’ natural resource accountability that plays a role in national environmental governance.

Findings

This paper finds that: the implementation of the audit of outgoing leading officials’ natural resource accountability has significantly improved the water quality of the pilot area, but its effects on waste gas and smoke are not obvious; environmental supervision partly plays a mediating role in the improvement of regional environmental governance by the audit of outgoing leading officials’ natural resource accountability; the audit of outgoing leading officials’ natural resource accountability can complement the incentive mechanism of promotion. The older the local officials are, the more obvious the effect of the audit of outgoing leading officials’ natural resource accountability on the environmental quality of the pilot areas is.

Originality/value

This paper reveals the role of government audit from the perspective of environmental governance. It provides empirical evidence for policy regarding the audit of outgoing leading officials' natural resource accountability.

Details

Managerial Auditing Journal, vol. 35 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-6902

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Article
Publication date: 30 July 2024

Sheng-Qun Chen, Ting You and Jing-Lin Zhang

This study aims to enhance the classification and processing of online appeals by employing a deep-learning-based method. This method is designed to meet the requirements for…

16

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to enhance the classification and processing of online appeals by employing a deep-learning-based method. This method is designed to meet the requirements for precise information categorization and decision support across various management departments.

Design/methodology/approach

This study leverages the ALBERT–TextCNN algorithm to determine the appropriate department for managing online appeals. ALBERT is selected for its advanced dynamic word representation capabilities, rooted in a multi-layer bidirectional transformer architecture and enriched text vector representation. TextCNN is integrated to facilitate the development of multi-label classification models.

Findings

Comparative experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach and its significant superiority over traditional classification methods in terms of accuracy.

Originality/value

The original contribution of this study lies in its utilization of the ALBERT–TextCNN algorithm for the classification of online appeals, resulting in a substantial improvement in accuracy. This research offers valuable insights for management departments, enabling enhanced understanding of public appeals and fostering more scientifically grounded and effective decision-making processes.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

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Article
Publication date: 13 November 2024

Huaxiang Song, Hanjun Xia, Wenhui Wang, Yang Zhou, Wanbo Liu, Qun Liu and Jinling Liu

Vision transformers (ViT) detectors excel in processing natural images. However, when processing remote sensing images (RSIs), ViT methods generally exhibit inferior accuracy…

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Abstract

Purpose

Vision transformers (ViT) detectors excel in processing natural images. However, when processing remote sensing images (RSIs), ViT methods generally exhibit inferior accuracy compared to approaches based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs). Recently, researchers have proposed various structural optimization strategies to enhance the performance of ViT detectors, but the progress has been insignificant. We contend that the frequent scarcity of RSI samples is the primary cause of this problem, and model modifications alone cannot solve it.

Design/methodology/approach

To address this, we introduce a faster RCNN-based approach, termed QAGA-Net, which significantly enhances the performance of ViT detectors in RSI recognition. Initially, we propose a novel quantitative augmentation learning (QAL) strategy to address the sparse data distribution in RSIs. This strategy is integrated as the QAL module, a plug-and-play component active exclusively during the model’s training phase. Subsequently, we enhanced the feature pyramid network (FPN) by introducing two efficient modules: a global attention (GA) module to model long-range feature dependencies and enhance multi-scale information fusion, and an efficient pooling (EP) module to optimize the model’s capability to understand both high and low frequency information. Importantly, QAGA-Net has a compact model size and achieves a balance between computational efficiency and accuracy.

Findings

We verified the performance of QAGA-Net by using two different efficient ViT models as the detector’s backbone. Extensive experiments on the NWPU-10 and DIOR20 datasets demonstrate that QAGA-Net achieves superior accuracy compared to 23 other ViT or CNN methods in the literature. Specifically, QAGA-Net shows an increase in mAP by 2.1% or 2.6% on the challenging DIOR20 dataset when compared to the top-ranked CNN or ViT detectors, respectively.

Originality/value

This paper highlights the impact of sparse data distribution on ViT detection performance. To address this, we introduce a fundamentally data-driven approach: the QAL module. Additionally, we introduced two efficient modules to enhance the performance of FPN. More importantly, our strategy has the potential to collaborate with other ViT detectors, as the proposed method does not require any structural modifications to the ViT backbone.

Details

International Journal of Intelligent Computing and Cybernetics, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-378X

Keywords

Available. Open Access. Open Access
Article
Publication date: 4 November 2022

Xun Li, Qun Wu, Thomas J. Goldsby and Clyde W. Holsapple

The purpose of this research is to investigate the causal mechanisms that explain the relationship between the long-term buyer–supplier relationship and buyer performance…

2216

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to investigate the causal mechanisms that explain the relationship between the long-term buyer–supplier relationship and buyer performance. Building on the growing body of research on social capital in supply chain management (SCM), the authors examine how a buyer achieves superior performance in forming the enduring partnership with a supplier through two different forms of supplier embeddedness: buyer–supplier dyadic embeddedness and supplier external embeddedness.

Design/methodology/approach

The bootstrapping method is utilized in data analysis to examine the mediating effects of the two different forms of supplier embeddedness simultaneously on the linkage between the duration of buyer–supplier relationships and buyer performance outcomes.

Findings

The authors find that the two forms of supplier embeddedness serve as distinct conduits for the buyer to translate the long-term buyer–supplier relationship into performance effectiveness. Notably, dyadic embeddedness only mediates the linkage between the duration of buyer–supplier relationships and buyer economic performance, while supplier external embeddedness solely mediates the linkage between the duration of buyer–supplier relationships and buyer innovation performance.

Originality/value

This study empirically demonstrates that different forms of supplier embeddedness may benefit a buyer differentially when directed at distinct performance goals. If a buyer can leverage both buyer–supplier dyadic embeddedness and supplier external embeddedness, the buyer will overcome value creation limitations of social capital from a single source, obtaining more comprehensive performance benefits sought by developing long-term buyer–supplier relationships.

Details

European Journal of Management Studies, vol. 27 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2183-4172

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Article
Publication date: 23 July 2024

Xu Wang, Lei Ma, Qun Niu and Yong Zhang

In era of industry 4.0 all the organizations are investing their resources so they can adopt the latest technologies with no exception of supply chain. Accordingly, the present…

190

Abstract

Purpose

In era of industry 4.0 all the organizations are investing their resources so they can adopt the latest technologies with no exception of supply chain. Accordingly, the present study attempted to examine the influence of digitalization of supply chain and performance in context of Chinese sports industry. Additionally, it has considered the supply chain integration and time management as a mechanism along with boundary condition of supply chain resilience.

Design/methodology/approach

The study followed positivism philosophy and adopted quantitative methods. The data were collected by using the questionnaire from the Chinese sport industry organizations’ professionals related to logistics and supply chain. A total 746 questionnaires were distributed and 570 of them subjected to SPSS and Smart PLS for data analysis. Hypotheses were tested using PLS-SEM through the Smart-PLS 4.

Findings

The results of the study revealed that supply chain digitalization positively influences the both internal and external supply chain integration. Moreover, supply chain planning and scheduling influenced by both internal and external supply chain integration lead by supply chain digitalization. Ultimately resulting in improved sports industry performance. However, the supply chain resilience did not found as a significant moderator.

Originality/value

The study is few of the attempts that have tested a comprehensive mechanism through which the supply chain digitalization lead towards the higher performance. Also, the study results signify that the digitization can help the organizations to accomplish superior performance specifically in sports industry.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. 30 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

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Article
Publication date: 7 January 2019

Yankun Zhou and Hongtao Shen

This study aims to deem the new policy – talk for environmental protection – promoted in the second half of 2014 to be the exogenous event and adopts PSM and DID to verify whether…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to deem the new policy – talk for environmental protection – promoted in the second half of 2014 to be the exogenous event and adopts PSM and DID to verify whether and how the central government’s mechanism of supervision of environmental enforcement improves firm environmental performance and reveals the micro effect and working mechanism of the supervision of environmental enforcement.

Design/methodology/approach

The researchers first select reasonable control groups for target districts by means of PSM, then apply DID to compare corporations in the treatment group with those in the control group for the change of environmental performance before and after the talk for environmental protection, so as to evaluate the micro-level effect of such talks on corporate environmental performance; after that, the research examines the working mechanism of such talks on corporate environmental performance; then, it goes a step further to find out the environmental impact of such talks on corporations of different natures of property right.

Findings

It is found from the research that the talk for environmental protection will effectively improve the environmental performance of corporations in the target districts, and the improvement of environmental performance in state-owned corporations in the target districts will be more evident. However, such improvements, to a certain extent, are achieved by reducing the output value, and corporations do not increase environmental investments from a long-term perspective.

Research limitations/implications

First, the targets of the talk for environmental protection are mainly principals of municipal governments, but the research expands the scope to the whole province due to the small sample at the municipal level. Despite evidences showing that such a pressure of supervision impacts the whole province, the results obtained based on the data at the municipal level will be accurate. Second, the research selects a relatively short research period. Third, due to the limited data on corporate environmental performance in China, the research selects only listed companies from key monitored and controlled firms by state.

Practical implications

First, for the central government, environmental policy making is not the end of its job; it shall also supervise local governments’ work at environmental governance and properly handle its relationship with local governments. Second, for the local governments, in the course of implementing environmental policies, they should not only strengthen law enforcement but keep the continuity of law enforcement to avoid moving law enforcement. Third, in the long run, corporations must start from the source of production to enhance environmental governance and make cleaner production, so as to keep boosting corporate competitiveness and their ability of fighting risks.

Originality/value

First, the research innovatively provides empirical evidence about the effect of China’s supervision of environmental enforcement. Previous studies on this topic are mostly theoretical discussions only, while this research makes the talk for environmental protection the exogenous event about the supervision of law enforcement and achieves breakthroughs in empirical studies of administrative enforcement supervision. Second, the research pushes the studies on the implementation effect of environmental policies from a medium level to a micro level. Third, the research achieves some breakthroughs in the data for measuring corporate environmental performance.

Details

Nankai Business Review International, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-8749

Keywords

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