Search results

Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is employed to explore friction factor of single-phase fluid flow through porous media and the effects of local porous structure including geometry of grains in porous media and specific surface of porous media on two-phase flow dynamic behavior, phase distribution and relative permeability. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The 3D single-phase LBM model and the 2D multi-component multi-phase Shan-Chen LBM model (S-C model) are developed for fluid flow through porous media. For the solid site, the bounce back scheme is used with non-slip boundary condition.

The predicted friction factor for single-phase fluid flow agrees well with experimental data and the well-known correlation. Compared with porous media with square grains, the two-phase fluids in porous media with circle grains are more connected and continuous, and consequently the relative permeability is higher. As for the factor of specific porous media surface, the relative permeability of wetting fluids varies a little in two systems with different specific surface areas. In addition, the relative permeability of non-wetting fluid decreases with the increasing of specific surface of porous media due to the large flow resistance.

Fluid-fluid interaction and fluid-solid interaction in the SC LBM model are presented, and schemes to obtain immiscible two-phase flow and different contact angles are discussed. Two-off mechanisms acting on the wetting fluids is proposed to illustrate the relative permeability of wetting fluids varies a little in two systems with different specific surface.

Taiwan experiences frequent seismic activity. Major earthquakes in recent history have seriously damaged the school buildings. School buildings in Taiwan are intended to serve both as places of education and as temporary shelters in the aftermath of major earthquakes. Therefore, the seismic performance assessments of school buildings are critical issues that deserve investigation.

This paper develops a methodology that uses principal component analysis to generalize the seismic factors from the basic seismic parameters of school buildings, uses data mining to cluster different school building sizes and uses grey theory to analyze the relationship between seismic factors and the seismic performance of school buildings. Additionally, this paper employs the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to deduce the seismic assessment model for school buildings. Finally, it adopts support vector machine to validate the ANN’s deductive results.

An empirical study was conducted on 326 school buildings in the central area of Taichung City, Taiwan, to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Results show that thickness of wall and width of middle-row column relate significantly with school-building seismic performance.

This paper provides a model that structural engineers or architects may use to design school buildings that are adequately resistant to earthquakes as well as a reference for future academic research.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how personal engagement (PE) may be related with work-family conflict (WFC) and innovative behavior (IB) at the same time.

This study tested the proposed model using a longitudinal data with 1,501 employees from R&D departments in information technology industry of Greater China at multiple points (Time 1 to Time 3) in time over a ten-month period.

This study exhibits how charismatic leadership style, colleague support (CS), and self-esteem (SE) are capable of predicting the PE, which, in turn, positively related to the IB and the WFC.

The present study proposed a model of the PE, but there are other variables that might also be important for the PE.

These finding suggests that managers not only must inspire and enable employees to apply their full energy to their work (e.g. PE), but must also alleviate the WFC.

The study drawn from Kahn’s (1990) engagement theory and conservation of resources view to explain how the leadership style, CS, and SE can increase PE, which, in turn, increase positive organization behavior (IB) and negative organization behavior (WFC) at the same time.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss China’s New Silk Road initiative as an opportunity for European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to export to Chinese market. It offers research propositions on redefining the business process of European SMEs and Chinese importers in light of the initiative.

SMEs’ export barriers, particularly in SCM and marketing, are identified through literature review. Then they are discussed in accordance with the measures that New Silk Road proposed.

Logistic infrastructure development under the New Silk Road significantly lowers the supply chain barrier. Marketing remains a challenge for European SMEs to export to China. This paper argues that the European SMEs and the Chinese importers should create closer collaboration, expand their relationship beyond SCM, and integrate their marketing efforts for mutual benefits.

Several future research areas are proposed in this paper. The authors invite researchers and practitioners to deepen the discussion with empirical evidence.

The New Silk Road has already become a high stake project for many countries involved. Many measures are yet to be defined and the stakeholders, including industries and businesses, should have an influence on their definition. This paper provides the authors’ viewpoints on how businesses should act in this initiative.

Despite being an important topic of the world’s economy in the recent years, the New Silk Road initiative has rarely been studied in management research, possibly due to lack of evidence. As its development significantly sped up since 2017, it is high time that the research community starts to contribute to the knowledge building in this project. This paper is among the firsts to call for and to propose avenues for future research efforts.

This study proposes the novel construct of digital transformation anxiety and investigates its effect, which is mediated by absorptive capacity and dynamic capability, on digital innovation performance.

This study conducted a questionnaire survey among Taiwanese manufacturing and service companies to verify the research framework. A total of 130 valid responses were collected and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and bootstrapping to test direct and mediation effects, respectively.

Digital transformation anxiety negatively affects absorptive capacity and dynamic capability, whereas absorptive capacity and dynamic capability positively affect digital innovation performance. Dynamic capability more strongly mediates the association between digital transformation anxiety and digital innovation performance than absorptive capacity. Additionally, digital transformation anxiety does not negatively affect digital innovation performance. Finally, manufacturing companies had significantly higher levels of digital transformation anxiety than service companies.

This study proposes the novel construct of digital transformation anxiety to address a gap in the literature. Digital transformation anxiety leads companies to adopt unnecessarily conservative practices, preventing them from flexibly responding to technological advances. This insight highlights the negative effect of such anxiety on absorptive capacity and dynamic capability, extending the application of path dependency theory to companies. The findings underscore the value of enhancing dynamic capability and reallocating resources to foster digital innovation. The study identified and explored the concept of digital transformation anxiety and extended the perspective of dynamic capability to include digital transformation and digital innovation.

The current findings indicate that digital transformation anxiety does not substantially affect digital innovation performance in Taiwanese companies. Consequently, Taiwanese companies should focus on developing their absorptive capacity and dynamic capability to enhance digital innovation.

The study proposes the novel construct of digital transformation anxiety and explores its effect on business units. It presents a pioneering framework derived from path dependence theory and the perspective of dynamic capability.

The purpose of this research is to survey whether consumer ethnocentrism and animosity will affect consumers' perceived betrayal and cause negative word-of-mouth (NWOM).

This study conducted a 2 (consumer ethnocentrism) × 3 (consumer animosity) between-subject experiment design to test the hypotheses. Comprised of 380 respondents, this study used ANOVA to examine the data.

The results showed that if a brand violates the perception of fairness, ethnocentrism and animosity will have a positive effect on perceived betrayal. In addition, low consumer animosity revealed a significant consumer ethnocentrism effect and low ethnocentrism revealed a significant animosity effect, while the relationship between perceived betrayal and word of mouth is negative.

The current research adds to the understanding about how the reaction to a domestic brand's marketing strategies that are viewed as unfair and hurt the domestic consumers' expectations.

The purposes of two experiments were to examine how brands may create a broad brand impression and benefit brand extensions by crafting logo frames.

Two experimental studies were conducted. Study 1 examines how removing and breaking logo frames expands perceived brand breadth. Study 2 considers the implication of this logo frame effect and indicates the impact of logo frames on brand extension scenarios.

Removing and breaking logo frames could expand perceived brand breadth and, in turn, benefits the brand extensions, especially for promotion-focused consumers. However, prevention-focused people held favorable brand extension attitudes when the brand logo constructs a complete frame due to its perceived trustworthiness.

As an initial exploration, this study conceptualizes and manipulates logo frames as full framed, partial framed and open logo. Future research studies could include further design features in the examination.

If a brand seeks to be broad, removing or breaking its logo frame is an alternative. However, consequential negative impressions on brand extension attitudes among prevention-focused customers should be considered.

This study is the first investigation into the impacts of logo frame patterns on consumers’ perception of brand breadth and the consequent extension attitudes.

The purpose of this study is to identify conditions under which consumers prefer matte packages and those under which they prefer glossy packages and to extend the findings to the context of consumer evaluations.

A series of four experiments-conducted across a diverse range of settings and consumers (through lab experiments and field studies) and using different types of products (mobile phones, invitation cards, wrappers and coffee packs)- examined the effects of matte and glossy packaging finishes on consumer evaluations (i.e. preferences, attitudes and purchase intentions). This paper further developed moderated mediation models to illustrate the mechanisms underlying the examined effects.

People with warmth and competence focus favored matte and glossy packaging, respectively. In addition, the warmth (competence) focus enhanced the positive influence of matte (glossy) packaging on brand sincerity (competence), leading to more favorable consumer evaluations (i.e. brand attitudes, product attitudes and purchase intentions).

This study provides managers with insights into conferring desired impressions of sincerity (competence) upon a brand and methods of attracting certain warmth focused (competence focused) consumers by using matte (glossy) packaging finishes.

This is the study to systematically investigate the effect of packaging finishes on brand impressions and consumer evaluations.

This paper intends to address the decision-making and coordination of green supply chain (GSC) considering risk-averse manufacturers under mixed carbon policy.

This paper focuses on a GSC consisting of a manufacturer and a retailer, in which the manufacturer is risk-averse (R-A). This paper employs Stackelberg game theory and mean variance analysis to assess the pricing decision-making process under various scenarios. Furthermore, cost-sharing contracts are introduced to coordinate the GSC.

The research results suggest that the green level of the product and the profit of the GSC under a centralized scenario are higher than those under a decentralized scenario, while the retail price is lower. Under the decentralized scenario, the green level of product, wholesale price and manufacturer’s profit in the R-A scenario are lower than the values in the risk-neutrality scenario, while retailer's profit is higher. In addition, when a cost-sharing contract is utilized for coordination in the GSC, it can lead to Pareto improvement, regardless of whether the manufacturer makes risk-neutrality or R-A decisions.

This research provides a deeper understanding of GSC decision-making and coordination strategy under mixed carbon policy with consideration of R-A from a theoretical perspective and provides decision support for enterprises to choose strategies in practice.

The paper investigates firms' optimal pricing policies and green strategies in a dynamic green supply chain with consideration of different retail service strategies. The purpose of the paper is to address the following research questions: (1) What are the optimal pricing policies and green strategies of the dynamic decentralized supply chain with the competitive or supportive retail service? (2) How does the dynamic consumer's perception of green product affect these equilibrium solutions?

The paper establishes the dynamic game models and then derives a firm's instantaneous and steady-state feedback equilibrium solutions in three scenarios as follows: (1) the integrated supply chain; (2) the decentralized supply chain with competitive retail service and (3) the decentralized supply chain with supportive retail service. Finally, we conduct numerical analyses to compare the firm's instantaneous and steady-state equilibrium solutions and profit in the three scenarios.

The theoretical and numerical analysis results suggest that the supportive retail service is less inefficient than the competitive retail service in the decentralized supply chain and that the types of retail service have no influence on the green strategy. Moreover, a firm's myopia leads to lowering the greenness degree, retail service level and severe price competition, resulting in economic losses. Consumers’ initial perception of greenness degree determines whether the retailer should adopt the skimming pricing strategy or penetration pricing strategy. Furthermore, only when consumers’ perception of greenness degree is higher than a threshold, will the manufacturer produce green product with positive greenness degree.

This is one of few studies on the effect of different types of retail service on horizontal competition in green supply chain. The extension of the static study by adopting differential game approaches provides researchers with a deeper understanding of the application of retail service in green supply chain.