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Article
Publication date: 14 June 2019

Pingping Xiong, Zhiqing He, Shiting Chen and Mao Peng

In recent years, domestic smog has become increasingly frequent and the adverse effects of smog have increasingly become the focus of public attention. It is a way to analyze such…

154

Abstract

Purpose

In recent years, domestic smog has become increasingly frequent and the adverse effects of smog have increasingly become the focus of public attention. It is a way to analyze such problems and provide solutions by mathematical methods.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper establishes a new gray model (GM) (1,N) prediction model based on the new kernel and degree of grayness sequences under the case that the interval gray number distribution information is known. First, the new kernel and degree of grayness sequences of the interval gray number sequence are calculated using the reconstruction definition of the kernel and degree of grayness. Then, the GM(1,N) model is formed based on the above new sequences to simulate and predict the kernel and degree of the grayness of the interval gray number sequence. Finally, the upper and lower bounds of the interval gray number are deduced based on the calculation formulas of the kernel and degree of grayness.

Findings

To verify further the practical significance of the model proposed in this paper, the authors apply the model to the simulation and prediction of smog. Compared with the traditional GM(1,N) model, the new GM(1,N) prediction model established in this paper has better prediction effect and accuracy.

Originality/value

This paper improves the traditional GM(1,N) prediction model and establishes a new GM(1,N) prediction model in the case of the known distribution information of the interval gray number of the smog pollutants concentrations data.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 49 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

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Article
Publication date: 16 August 2024

Jie Chen, Guanming Zhu, Yindong Zhang, Zhuangzhuang Chen, Qiang Huang and Jianqiang Li

Thin cracks on the surface, such as those found in nuclear power plant concrete structures, are difficult to identify because they tend to be thin. This paper aims to design a…

51

Abstract

Purpose

Thin cracks on the surface, such as those found in nuclear power plant concrete structures, are difficult to identify because they tend to be thin. This paper aims to design a novel segmentation network, called U-shaped contextual aggregation network (UCAN), for better recognition of weak cracks.

Design/methodology/approach

UCAN uses dilated convolutional layers with exponentially changing dilation rates to extract additional contextual features of thin cracks while preserving resolution. Furthermore, this paper has developed a topology-based loss function, called ℓcl Dice, which enhances the crack segmentation’s connectivity.

Findings

This paper generated five data sets with varying crack widths to evaluate the performance of multiple algorithms. The results show that the UCAN network proposed in this study achieves the highest F1-Score on thinner cracks. Additionally, training the UCAN network with the ℓcl Dice improves the F1-Scores compared to using the cross-entropy function alone. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of the UCAN network and the value of incorporating the ℓcl Dice in crack segmentation tasks.

Originality/value

In this paper, an exponentially dilated convolutional layer is constructed to replace the commonly used pooling layer to improve the model receptive field. To address the challenge of preserving fracture connectivity segmentation, this paper introduces ℓcl Dice. This design enables UCAN to extract more contextual features while maintaining resolution, thus improving the crack segmentation performance. The proposed method is evaluated using extensive experiments where the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm.

Details

Robotic Intelligence and Automation, vol. 44 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2754-6969

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Article
Publication date: 27 August 2019

Shengliang Zhang, Yuan Chen, Xiaodong Li and Guowei Dou

The purpose of this study is to use role expectation theory to identify potential determinants of user voting avoidance on mobile social media.

257

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to use role expectation theory to identify potential determinants of user voting avoidance on mobile social media.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected through a survey of 602 WeChat users, and the proposed model was analysed using structural equation modelling.

Findings

Results indicate that user voting avoidance was positively influenced by unfair competition, perceived inauthenticity, perceived information insecurity, over-consumption of renqing (a unique Chinese human relation) and organisation placement in the context of mobile social media.

Originality/value

This study illustrates mobile user voting avoidance from the perspective of role expectation theory and clarifies the importance of avoidance in current voting research.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 49 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

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Book part
Publication date: 19 December 2017

Michael Gibson-Light

To be denied the status of formal worker is to be denied the rights and protections of the formal sector. Such classification is a source of insecurity and uncertainty for many…

Abstract

To be denied the status of formal worker is to be denied the rights and protections of the formal sector. Such classification is a source of insecurity and uncertainty for many. When employers privilege disembedded employment arrangements, workers in precarious semi-formal settings face many financial and relational challenges, yet receive limited support. In hostile economic, social, and legal contexts, what practices and discourses do these workers draw on to respond to their work situations? When, and against whom, do they struggle for labor embeddedness? Analyses of ethnographic and interview data from two fieldwork projects studying semi-formal work – one study of inmate labor in a US prison and one of a local independent culture industry – reveal that workers engage in collective and independent classification struggles in search of formal and symbolic reclassification. A typology of such struggles is presented. By viewing these practices through this lens, this chapter aims to reveal parallels in the experiences of workers in seemingly disconnected fields and advance our understanding of worker action and embeddedness in contemporary capitalism.

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Article
Publication date: 27 February 2024

Yu Yang, Shiting Shao and Dongping Cao

Despite the critical role of the policy environment in facilitating the advancement of building information modeling (BIM) as a systemic innovation to reshape traditional facility…

268

Abstract

Purpose

Despite the critical role of the policy environment in facilitating the advancement of building information modeling (BIM) as a systemic innovation to reshape traditional facility design, construction and operation processes, scant scholarly attention has been paid to systematically investigating how and why complex BIM policies are concretely and gradually implemented in different regional contexts from a dynamic policy diffusion perspective. This study aims to empirically investigate how different types of BIM policy instruments are dynamically implemented in heterogeneous regions over time and how the diffusion of BIM policies across different regions is comprehensively impacted by both internal efficiency needs and external legitimacy pressures.

Design/methodology/approach

This study employed a positivist research paradigm in which BIM policy data from 182 prefecture-level and above cities in China during 2011–2022 were analyzed with quantitative approaches for theory verification. Based on the content analysis of the evolutionary characteristics of the adopted BIM policy instruments in heterogeneous regions over time, the event history analysis (EHA) method was then used to further examine the mechanisms underlying the diffusion of BIM policies across different regions.

Findings

The content analysis results show that while environmental instruments (such as technological integration and goal planning) are the primary policy instruments currently adopted in China, recent years have also witnessed increasing adoptions of supply-side instruments (such as fiscal support and information support) and demand-side instruments (such as demonstration projects and tax incentives). After controlling for the impacts of regional fiscal and technical resources, the EHA results illustrate that BIM policy adoption positively relates to regional construction industry scale but negatively relates to regional industry productivity and that compared with public pressures from industry participants, vertical pressures from the central government and horizontal pressures from neighboring regions are more substantial drivers for policy adoption.

Originality/value

As an exploratory effort of using a dynamic policy diffusion perspective to systematically investigate how BIM policies are adopted in heterogeneous regional contexts to facilitate BIM advancement, this study not only characterizes the complexity and dynamics of BIM policies but also provides deepened understandings of the mechanisms underlying policy adoption in the conservative construction industry. The findings hold implications for how multifarious policy instruments can be more effectively and dynamically adopted to facilitate the advancement of BIM and related technologies as innovative solutions in the construction domain.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

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Article
Publication date: 17 December 2019

Fang Wang, Shiting Lin, Xiaoyu Liu, Chunyan Jiang and Jianing Li

The former residences of historical figures are typical landscape elements of historic districts, which are characterised by the styles of these residences and spiritual…

262

Abstract

Purpose

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.

Design/methodology/approach

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.

Findings

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.

Originality/value

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.

Details

International Journal of Tourism Cities, vol. 6 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-5607

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Article
Publication date: 24 January 2022

Amélia Brandão and Paolo Popoli

This paper aims to provide a better understanding of negative consumer–brand relationships in social-media-based anti-brand communities from a consumer culture theory (CCT…

3347

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to provide a better understanding of negative consumer–brand relationships in social-media-based anti-brand communities from a consumer culture theory (CCT) perspective. In particular, it investigates the purpose and the meaning of the consumer participation in online anti-brand communities, also through the analysis of the ways in which they express negative feelings toward the hated brands.

Design/methodology/approach

This study applies a “symbolic netnographic” method to six anti-brand communities related to four global brands, namely, Apple, Nestlé, Uber and McDonald’s. Moreover, several interviews were conducted with anti-brand community administrators.

Findings

The findings show that the main reason for consumers to join anti-brand communities is a desire to participate in the construction of new meanings and values of modern consumption, translating their ideological incompatibility with certain brands into negative engagement and activism aimed at destroying the hated brand’s image and reputation. Furthermore, the findings reveal that brand anthropomorphism is a frequent means of communication also used in the context of negative consumer–brand relationships, to strengthen the battle against the hated brand in a more frontal and direct manner.

Research limitations/implications

Although this research provides some initial insights into negative consumer–brand relationships in the social media anti brand communities, the paper also has some limitations. The netnographic approach should be analyzed within more and different anti-brand communities. In this investigation, the authors perceived how difficult it is to obtain feedback from communities and to secure the collaboration of their administrators. There is also a need for research on other potential factors that can play a key role in negative consumer–brand relationships in social-media anti-brand communities, such as cultural capital or the impact of cultural perceptions. Moreover, future research should focus on different types of products and brand services, such as hedonic vs. utilitarian brands, as these might generate different types of consumer behavioral responses. Finally, a further direction for future research would be to consider the set of “brand recovery strategies” that can be implemented by companies to deal with negative consumer–brand relationships, including the identification of situations in which “not acting” could be preferable.

Practical implications

Understanding the antecedents and types of negative consumer–brand relationships enables companies to identify “brand recovery strategies” for managing negativity in the appropriate manner. Moreover, negative feelings toward brand could even be an opportunity for improving branding management.

Originality/value

This research improves on previous few studies dealing with online anti-brand communities from a CCT perspective. Firstly, it provides a holistic perspective of negative consumer–brand relationships in general and specifically of brand hate, thus advancing our understanding of the sociocultural dynamics of negative consumer–brand relationships; secondly, it provides new insights into the brand anthropomorphism phenomenon emerging in the negative feelings context. Overall, this research contributes to knowledge for both academics and managers as to why, how and for what purpose consumers experience negative engagement toward certain brands in the specific context of social-media-based anti-brand communities.

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Article
Publication date: 19 March 2021

Dongping Cao, Shiting Shao, Bin Huang and Guangbin Wang

Despite its great potential to improve the sustainability of architectural, engineering, construction and facility management activities, the implementation of building…

1165

Abstract

Purpose

Despite its great potential to improve the sustainability of architectural, engineering, construction and facility management activities, the implementation of building information modeling (BIM) in many projects has failed to achieve expected benefits due to negative behavioral responses such as user resistance. This paper aims to characterize the complexity of end user's behavioral responses to BIM implementation in construction projects using a multidimensional perspective and examines how these responses are impacted by different levels of contextual factors.

Design/methodology/approach

By integrating technology acceptance, resistance and adoption literature, this paper theoretically proposes a research model to characterize the associations between different dimensions of behavioral responses and different levels of contextual factors. The model is then empirically tested with survey and interview data collected from BIM-based construction projects in China.

Findings

The empirical results not only validate the two-dimensional view of the behavioral responses (i.e. the dimension of support/resistance that ranges from aggressive resistance to enthusiastic support, and the dimension of actual use that ranges from non-use to high use) but also provide evidence for the prevalence of ambivalent responses such as supporting but lowly using and resisting but highly using. The empirical results also provide evidence that different levels of contextual factors generally play different roles in shaping the behavioral responses. Specifically, the dimension of support/resistance is more substantially impacted by the team-level factor while the dimension of actual use of BIM is more significantly associated with the project-level factor.

Originality/value

While previous research on BIM adoption or implementation behaviors has primarily focused on investigating users' response from single-dimension perspectives such as acceptance or non-acceptance, this study represents an exploratory effort of using a two-dimensional view to characterize the complexity and ambivalence of end users' behavioral responses to the implementation of innovative technologies such as BIM in construction projects. This study also contributes to deepened understandings of how these different dimensions of behavioral responses are intricately shaped by different levels (i.e. individual-, team- and project-levels) of contextual factors in construction projects which are characterized as temporary and inter-organizational.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 29 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

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Article
Publication date: 3 May 2016

Kai Wang, Shiting Wen, Rizwan Zahoor, Ming Li and Božidar Šarler

The purpose of this paper is to find solution of Stokes flow problems with Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions in axisymmetry using an efficient non-singular method of…

215

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to find solution of Stokes flow problems with Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions in axisymmetry using an efficient non-singular method of fundamental solutions that does not require an artificial boundary, i.e. source points of the fundamental solution coincide with the collocation points on the boundary. The fundamental solution of the Stokes pressure and velocity represents analytical solution of the flow due to a singular Dirac delta source in infinite space.

Design/methodology/approach

Instead of the singular source, a non-singular source with a regularization parameter is employed. Regularized axisymmetric sources were derived from the regularized three-dimensional sources by integrating over the symmetry coordinate. The analytical expressions for related Stokes flow pressure and velocity around such regularized axisymmetric sources have been derived. The solution to the problem is sought as a linear combination of the fields due to the regularized sources that coincide with the boundary. The intensities of the sources are chosen in such a way that the solution complies with the boundary conditions.

Findings

An axisymmetric driven cavity numerical example and the flow in a hollow tube and flow between two concentric tubes are chosen to assess the performance of the method. The results of the newly developed method of regularized sources in axisymmetry are compared with the results obtained by the fine-grid second-order classical finite difference method and analytical solution. The results converge with a finer discretization, however, as expected, they depend on the value of the regularization parameter. The method gives accurate results if the value of this parameter scales with the typical nodal distance on the boundary.

Originality/value

Analytical expressions for the axisymmetric blobs are derived. The method of regularized sources is for the first time applied to axisymmetric Stokes flow problems.

Details

International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, vol. 26 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0961-5539

Keywords

Available. Open Access. Open Access
Article
Publication date: 5 July 2024

Matteo Corciolani

This article explores brand positioning and authenticity within the global-local continuum, utilizing the evolution of the Italian rock band, Måneskin, as a case study.

400

Abstract

Purpose

This article explores brand positioning and authenticity within the global-local continuum, utilizing the evolution of the Italian rock band, Måneskin, as a case study.

Design/methodology/approach

Employing Greimas’s (1987) semiotic framework, I analyze social media and media articles on Måneskin’s success, unveiling consumer perceptions of global, local and intermediate brand positionings and related authenticity dimensions. I particularly uncover a narrative centered on “global” versus “local” brand positioning and their counterparts (i.e. “not global” and “not local”), forming a semiotic square.

Findings

In the “global” perception, the band is evaluated in terms of conforming to global standards, while, in the “local” understanding, the emphasis shifts to connections to local roots. In the “glocalization” perspective (global and local), the band’s activities are assessed concerning an integration between global conformity and local connections. The “glalienation” viewpoint (neither global nor local) is related to consistency, in the sense of being unique and avoiding a commitment to either global or local values. The data also highlight issues of inconsistency regarding brand positioning’s contradictions, such as the band’s incoherently merging local and non-local elements.

Originality/value

The proposed structural semiotics approach enriches previous theories by examining authenticity within global-local dynamics, offering insights into various authenticity dimensions and their interplay. It underlines shifts in authenticity perceptions and challenges binary brand positioning, advocating for strategic placement across the global-local continuum. Moreover, it emphasizes leveraging cultural elements and semiotics to effectively communicate authenticity.

Details

International Marketing Review, vol. 41 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-1335

Keywords

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