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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the tribological properties, antiwear mechanism and anticorrosion properties of two novel halogen-free borate ionic liquids (ILs) in 500 N base oil.

Different qualities of borate ILs were added to 500 N, and their tribological properties were tested on a four-ball machine. The tribological properties of the additives were evaluated by measuring the wear scar diameter (WSD) and average coefficient of friction. The antiwear and antifriction mechanism of ILs was analyzed by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).

The corrosion degrees of the two borate ILs 1-butyl-3-octyl-imidazole bis(mandelato)-borate ([OBIM][BMB]) and 1-butyl-3-(3-methoxypropyl)-imidazole bis(mandelato)-borate ([MPBIM][BMB]) are 1b and 1a, respectively, suggesting that they both possess significant corrosion resistance and can effectively protect the steel surface. When the concentration of [OBIM][BMB] and [MPBIM][BMB] is 2.5 Wt.%, the friction coefficient of 500 N is reduced by 37.3% and 26.2%, respectively. According to the analysis of the thermo gravimetric analyzer curves, [OBIM][BMB] and [MPBIM][BMB] decomposed at 369.7°C and 374.3°C, respectively, indicate that two additives both can be applied in higher temperature condition. The results of XPS and scanning electron microscope (SEM) reveal that [OBIM][BMB] and [MPBIM][BMB] both can react with the steel surface, thereby forming chemical films composed of iron oxide, B₂O₃ and organic N-containing compounds.

Two new environmentally friendly borate ILs were synthesized and their tribological properties in 500 N base oil were investigated for the first time.

This paper aims to present a fully actuated aerial manipulator (AM) with a robust motion/force hybrid controller for conducting contact-typed inspection tasks in industrial plants.

An AM is designed based on a hexarotor with tilted rotors and a rigidly attached end effector. By tilting the rotors, the position and attitude of the AM can be controlled independently, and the AM can actively exert forces on industrial facilities through the rigidly attached end effector. A motion/force hybrid controller is proposed to perform contact-typed inspection tasks. The contact-typed inspection task is divided into the approach phase and the contact phase. In the approach phase, the AM automatically approaches the contact surface. In the contact phase, a motion/force hybrid controller is used for contact-typed inspection. Finally, a disturbance observer (DOB) is used to estimate external disturbances and used as feedforward compensation.

The proposed AM can slowly approach the contact surface without significant impact in the contact phase. It can realize constant force control in the direction normal to the contact surface in the contact phase, whereas the motion of the remaining directions can be controlled by the operator. The use of the DOB ensures the robustness of the AM in the presence of external wind disturbances.

A fully actuated AM system with a robust motion/force hybrid controller is proposed. The effectiveness of the proposed AM system for conducting contact-typed industrial inspection tasks is validated by practical experiments.

The purpose of this article is to understand how academics in management deal with the concept of generation in the workplace. We begin by conducting an interdisciplinary literature analysis, thereby elaborating a conceptual framework concerning generational diversity. This framework consists of four levels of analysis (society, career, organisation and occupation) and three dimensions (age, cohort and event/period). We then conduct a meta-analysis using this conceptual framework to analyse papers from the management field. The results from this analysis reveal the existence of a diversity of generational approaches, which focus on the dimensions of age and cohort on a societal level. Four factors seem to explain these results: the recent de-synchronisation of generational dimensions and levels, the novelty of theoretical models, the amplification of stereotypes by mass media and the methodologies employed by researchers. In sum, this article contributes to a more realistic view of generational diversity in the workplace for both academics and practitioners.

To solve several “inorganic” problems generated recently by community development in China (e.g., waste of social resources, environmental pollution, and decreased economic energy efficiency), focus should be on improving the community traffic organic micro-circulation system. As a historic and mixed functional urban community, the micro-circulation system of Xi'an Railway Bureau exhibits representativeness and complexity. Based on existing research results and years of follow-up investigations, which concentrate on circulation patterns and inherent organic development requirements of the community traffic micro-circulation system, this paper builds an evaluation index system. Value function method was used to implement the index factor quantitative analysis and comprehensive evaluation. Several related strategies were proposed to improve the organic micro-circulation system of the community, which is based on the analysis of the evaluation, in order to adopt the trend in both increasing urban development and stock updating. The analysis results demonstrate that it is necessary to present guiding renewal strategies on community land, road, people, and the environment for those mixed functional communities which use progressive renewed mode. It compensates the problems of overly strong export-oriented system, which is caused by the lack of organic traffic micro-circulation, so as to achieve the selective opening of community external. The study mainly highlights the significance of the systematic analysis of evaluation in influencing strategies on community renewal.

The increasing use of social media after work hours for work purposes, termed social media connectivity (SMC), is an emerging phenomenon in supply chain management. Although SMC can have debilitating effects on supply chain professionals and their organizations, research on its effects on work-related attitudes, especially turnover intentions, remains largely unexplored. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of SMC on voluntary turnover of supply chain professionals and the resulting implications for them and their organizations.

The study draws from the conservation of resources theory and the concept of information overload to explain how SMC leads to emotional exhaustion and impacts turnover intentions of supply chain professionals, contingent on work–life balance. The model is tested using survey data (n=325) collected at multiple times from a large Chinese pharmaceutical manufacturer and distributor with spatially dispersed workforce and distribution facilities.

The results confirm that emotional exhaustion mediates the association between SMC and turnover intentions and that SMC exacerbates the intentions of supply chain professionals to quit their jobs. However, work–life balance is found to dampen the exhausting effects of SMC on emotional exhaustion thereby reducing its debilitating effects on turnover intentions of supply chain professionals.

The focus on SMC highlights the need for greater understanding of the dark side of social media on supply chain professionals and their organizations and how SMC can be better managed in an age of social media ubiquity.

Aiming at the problem that quadruped crawling robot is easy to collide and overturn when facing obstacles and bulges in the process of complex slope movement, this paper aims to propose an obstacle avoidance gait planning of quadruped crawling robot based on slope terrain recognition.

First, considering the problem of low uniformity of feature points in terrain recognition images under complex slopes, which leads to too long feature point extraction time, an improved ORB (Oriented FAST and Rotated BRIEF) feature point extraction method is proposed; second, when the robot avoids obstacles or climbs over bumps, aiming at the problem that the robustness of a single step cannot satisfy the above two motions at the same time, the crawling gait is planned according to the complex slope terrain, and a robot obstacle avoidance gait planning based on the artificial potential field method is proposed. Finally, the slope walking experiment is carried out in the Robot Operating System.

The proposed method provides a solution for the efficient walking of robot under slope. The experimental results show that the extraction time of the improved ORB extraction algorithm is 12.61% less than the original ORB extraction algorithm. The vibration amplitude of the robot’s centroid motion curve is significantly reduced, and the contact force is reduced by 7.76%. The time it takes for the foot contact force to stabilize has been shortened by 0.25 s. This fact is verified by simulation and test.

The method proposed in this paper uses the improved feature point recognition algorithm and obstacle avoidance gait planning to realize the efficient walking of quadruped crawling robot on the slope. The walking stability of quadruped crawling robot is tested by prototype.

This paper aims to collect and compile the historical data of Guanfu Salt Farm, officially built by the Song Dynasty (960–1279) within modern Hong Kong territories, to reconstruct its history for the reflection of Hong Kong society of the time.

This paper is largely based on identification and analysis of historical documents, including keyword search on electronic databases and verification with the original sources, with reference to archaeological findings when necessary.

This paper reconstructs the history of Guanfu Salt Farm based on documentary sources with reference to archaeological findings. English translation of Chinese sources is also provided when necessary.

There has been an absence of systematic compilation of historical data of Hong Kong during the Song Dynasty, which are limited in quantity and scattered across different sources. This paper seeks to fill the vacuum of knowledge about pre-colonial Hong Kong, with a more comprehensive reconstruction of the history of Guanfu Salt Farm.

Brand names contribute to product success. Studies on brand naming have been mainly conducted in western countries with western European languages and few researchers have focused on how cultural and linguistic diversity is related to brand naming. Attempts to fill the gap by investigating the linguistic content of brand names in the People’s Republic of China. Analyses over 500 brand names of Chinese award‐winning products. Generalizes the characteristics of Chinese brand naming and identifies the preferred syllabic, tonic, semantic and morphological structures. Aims to provide guidance to local marketers to generate a good Chinese brand name in their culture and international marketers to properly localize an international brand in Chinese words in order to enhance business success in the Chinese market.

Green technology adoption (GTA) in small and micro enterprises (SMEs) is a complex multi-attribute group decision-making issue. Conflicts of opinions can hamper the achievement of group coherence. The purpose of this paper is to solve the conflict decision-making problem in SMEs.

This paper reconstructs the GTA evaluation index system for SMEs and proposes an intragroup coordination relationship model to mitigate group decision-making conflicts based on the cloud model and social networks (GCS). The numerical characteristics of these GTA indicators are determined using fuzzy theory and cloud model.

It was found that establishing a trust relationship network and a conflict coordination relationship could improve the consistency of group decision-making. The degree of coordination has subtle differences with the trust relationship. Particularly, the coordination relationship has obvious influences on the decision-making results among small groups in SMEs.

The conflict coordination model can significantly improve the consistency of group decision-making in SMEs. At the same time, it discusses the differences between the level of conflict coordination and the trust propagation in the process of group decision-making.

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.