Yaokuang Li, Li Ling, Juan Wu, Daru Zhang and Weizhong Fu
This paper aims to investigate the role of informational and relational mechanisms on equity crowdfunding investors' conformity behaviors by focusing on a relational culture of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the role of informational and relational mechanisms on equity crowdfunding investors' conformity behaviors by focusing on a relational culture of China.
Design/methodology/approach
The data of 108 financing projects and 7,688 investment records from a union of Chinese equity crowdfunding platforms are gathered. Lead investors' response to a campaign and follow-investors’ former links explain investors' conformity by social network analysis (SNA) and ordinary least squares (OLS) analysis.
Findings
The results show that informational and relational influences drive conformity in Chinese equity crowdfunding. Moreover, the informational influence weakens in a highly centralized structure of linked investors.
Research limitations/implications
The results add new knowledge to follow-investors’ conformity behaviors in equity crowdfunding and enrich the literature on conformity theory by finding the contextual effect of information-influenced conformity and the adaption of conformity theory to cultural uniqueness. Besides, this preliminary work also suggests opportunities for future research.
Practical implications
The paper inspires new consideration on a strategical use of follow-investors’ conformity mentality to promote successfully financing and reminds platform managers to be alert to the interference of small groups formed based on informal relationships to the normal financing order.
Originality/value
This is the first study that discovers the non-informational influence and the limited influence of information on equity crowdfunding conformity through contextual concerns.
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Yaokuang Li, Junjuan Du and Weizhong Fu
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors influencing quick cash by crowd in agri-food crowdfunding campaigns; this paper utilizes prospect theory to analyze the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors influencing quick cash by crowd in agri-food crowdfunding campaigns; this paper utilizes prospect theory to analyze the value and weighting functions of the crowd's cash.
Design/methodology/approach
Using samples of crowdfunding campaigns launched in the Zhongchou (www.Zhongchou.cn) platform's agriculture and food category, this paper employs a multivariate linear regression model to investigate factors that motivate the crowd to make quick investment decisions.
Findings
The results demonstrate that lowering the investment threshold, improving publicity, and increasing the benefits of a campaign can increase the decision weight assigned to a campaign, thereby motivating the crowd to make quick investment decisions. Improving the product's reputation, enhancing campaign promotion, and diversifying the reward scheme can increase the crowd's expected value of the campaign – another motivation for a quicker cash decision.
Practical implications
This paper can help initiators, platforms and regulators better fulfil their roles in promoting the rapid, healthy development of crowdfunding in the agri-food industry, especially in the context of the Chinese launch of significant initiatives to develop crowdfunding aimed at rural e-commerce and poverty alleviation.
Originality/value
This paper extends the behavioral finance concept of prospect theory to agri-food crowdfunding campaigns and investigates factors that motivate the crowd to make quick investment decisions. Additionally, this paper demonstrates that the backers of crowdfunding are not perfectly rational and can be motivated to invest by increasing mean decision weight and expected value of a campaign.
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Lu Yang and Naiming Xie
The purpose of this paper is to establish a new evaluation system to assess the degree of integration between industry and the internet. And use the gray correlation matrix method…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to establish a new evaluation system to assess the degree of integration between industry and the internet. And use the gray correlation matrix method to evaluate the “internet + industry” integration degree of China’s provinces.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper establishes a new evaluation system to assess the degree of integration between industry and the internet using the matrix gray relational analysis method.
Findings
The main indexes and its rankings of the provinces’ integration degree and the rankings of the provinces’ integration degree are obtained.
Practical implications
The ranking of the degree of integration of various provinces in the country has certain guiding significance in promoting the development of “internet +” and “industry 4.0.”
Originality/value
Establishing a new model for the quantitative assessment of the degree of fusion, this method has a positive impact on the quantitative assessment of “internet + industrial” integration.
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Donghua Zhao, Gaohan Zhu, Jiapeng He and Weizhong Guo
With the development of 3D printing or additive manufacturing (AM), curved layer fused deposition modeling (CLFDM) has been researched to cope with the flat layer AM inherited…
Abstract
Purpose
With the development of 3D printing or additive manufacturing (AM), curved layer fused deposition modeling (CLFDM) has been researched to cope with the flat layer AM inherited problems, such as stair-step error, anisotropy and the time-cost and material-cost problems from the supporting structures. As one type of CLFDM, cylindrical slicing has obtained some research attention. However, it can only deal with rotationally symmetrical parts with a circular slicing layer, limiting its application. This paper aims to propose a ray-based slicing method to increase the inter-layer strength of flat layer-based AM parts to deal with more general revolving parts.
Design/methodology/approach
Specifically, the detailed algorithm and implementation steps are given with several examples to enable readers to understand it better. The combination of ray-based slicing and helical path planning has been proposed to consider the nonuniform path spacing between the adjacent paths in the same curved layer. A brief introduction of the printing system is given, mainly including a 3D printer and the graphical user interface.
Findings
The preliminary experiments are successfully conducted to verify the feasibility and versatility of the proposed and improved slicing method for the revolving thin-wall parts based on a rotary 3D printer.
Originality/value
This research is early-stage work, and the authors are intended to explore the process and show the initial feasibility of ray-based slicing for revolving thin-wall parts using a rotary 3D printer. In general, this research provides a novel and feasible slicing method for multiaxis rotary 3D printers, making manufacturing revolving thin-wall and complex parts possible.
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Donghua Zhao, Weizhong Guo, Baibing Zhang and Feng Gao
The purpose of this paper is to review available technologies, analyse their features, propose a new approach of 3D sand mould printing based on line forming, introduce the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review available technologies, analyse their features, propose a new approach of 3D sand mould printing based on line forming, introduce the manufacturing principle and show advantages of this approach, especially for larger parts with large Z steps in the build, such as 2 mm stepwise.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper introduces 3D sand mould printing, compares and analyses technological process and existing fabrication approaches among available technologies first. Then, a new approach of 3D sand mould printing is proposed to improve build speed. In addition, the proposed system will be analysed or benchmarked against existing systems.
Findings
A new approach based on line forming of sand mould printing is put forward by reviewing and analysing available technologies, to improve build speed from the aspect of basic moulding movement instead of optimization of moulding methods and process parameters. The theoretical calculation and analysis shows that build speed can be improved greatly, and it is more suitable for the manufacture of large-scale casting’s sand mould when considering dimensional accuracy and printing error, as well as uniformity of each layer.
Research limitations/implications
The specific implement scheme of line forming and nozzle’s specific structure of this new approach need further study.
Practical implications
Much higher build speed of 3D sand mould printing with new approach brings evident implication for moulds companies and manufacturing industry, having a far-reaching influence on the development of national economy.
Originality/value
This paper reviews available technologies and presents a new approach of 3D sand mould printing for the first time. Analysis of the new approach shows that this new method of sand mould printing can boost build speed greatly. So, its application prospect is great.
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Donghua Zhao, Tianqi Li, Beijun Shen, Yicheng Jiang, Weizhong Guo and Feng Gao
The purpose of this paper is to design and develop a rotary three-dimensional (3D) printer for curved layer fused deposition modeling (CLFDM), and discuss some technical…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to design and develop a rotary three-dimensional (3D) printer for curved layer fused deposition modeling (CLFDM), and discuss some technical challenges in the development.
Design/methodology/approach
Some technical challenges include, but are not limited to, the machine design and control system, motion analysis and simulation, workspace and printing process analysis, curved layer slicing and tool path planning. Moreover, preliminary experiments are carried out to prove the feasibility of the design.
Findings
A rotary 3D printer for CLFDM has been designed and developed. Moreover, this printer can function as a polar 3D printer for flat layer additive manufacturing (AM). Compared with flat layer AM, CLFDM weakens the staircase effect and improves geometrical accuracy and mechanical properties. Hence, CLFDM is more suitable for parts with curved surfaces.
Research limitations/implications
Double extruders have brought improved build speed. However, this paper is restricted to complex process planning and mechanical structures, which may lead to collisions during printing. Meanwhile, the rotation range of the nozzle is limited by mechanical structures, affecting the manufacturing capability of complex curved surfaces.
Originality/value
A novel rotary 3D printer, which has four degrees of freedom and double extruders, has been designed and manufactured. The investigation on the prototype has proved its capability of CLFDM. Besides, this rotary 3D printer has two working modes, which brings the possibility of flat layer AM and CLFDM.
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Donghua Zhao, Jiapeng He, Gaohan Zhu, Youcheng Han and Weizhong Guo
The rapid development of three-dimensional (3D) printing makes it familiar in daily life, especially the fused deposition modeling 3D printers. The process planning of traditional…
Abstract
Purpose
The rapid development of three-dimensional (3D) printing makes it familiar in daily life, especially the fused deposition modeling 3D printers. The process planning of traditional flat layer printing includes slicing and path planning to obtain the boundaries and the filling paths for each layer along the vertical direction. There is a clear division line through the whole fabricated part, inherited in the flat-layer-based printed parts. This problem is brought about by the seam of the boundary in each layer. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to propose a novel helical filling path generation with the ideal surface-plane intersection for a rotary 3D printer.
Design/methodology/approach
The detailed algorithm and implementation steps are given with several worked examples to enable readers to understand it better. The adjacent points obtained from the planar slicing are combined to generate each layer's helical points. The contours of all layers are traversed to obtain the helical surface layer and helical path. Meanwhile, the novel rotary four-degree of freedom 3D printer is briefly introduced.
Findings
As a proof of concept, this paper presents several examples based on the rotary 3D printer designed in the authors’ previous research and the algorithms illustrated in this paper. The preliminary experiments successfully verify the feasibility and versatility of the proposed slicing method based on a rotary 3D printer.
Originality/value
This paper provides a novel and feasible slicing method for multi-axis rotary 3D printers, making manufacturing thin-wall and complex parts possible. To further broaden the proposed slicing method’s application in further research, adaptive tool path generation for flat and curved layer printing could be applied with a combination of flat and curved layers in the same layer, different layers or even different parts of structures.
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Feng Luo, Guodong Li and Hao Zhang
The purpose of this paper is to obtain the mechanical behavior and damage mechanism of the coal and rock near the stope under the stress state and stress paths of the surrounding…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to obtain the mechanical behavior and damage mechanism of the coal and rock near the stope under the stress state and stress paths of the surrounding rock with the dynamic mining.
Design/methodology/approach
Through the three-axial compression test and the uniaxial compression test by meso experiment device, the mechanical behavior and fracture evolution process of coal and rock were studied, and the acoustic emission (AE) characteristics under uniaxial compression of the coal and rock were contrasted.
Findings
Under the three-axial compression, the strength of coal and rock enhance significantly by confining pressure. The volume of outburst coal shows obvious stages: compression is followed by expansion. The coal first appear to undergo compaction under vertical stress due to volume decrease, but with the development of micro- and macro-cracks, the specimens appeared to expand; under the uniaxial compression, through the comparison of stress–strain relationship and the crack propagation process, stress drop and fracture of coal have obvious correlation. The destruction of coal was gradual due to the slow and steady accumulation of internal damage. Due to the influence of the end effect, the specimens show the “conjugate double shear failure”. The failure process of the coal and rock and the characteristics of the AEs have a corresponding relationship: the failure causes a large number of AE events. Before the events peak, there was an initial stage, calm growth stage and explosive growth stage. There were some differences between the rock and coal in the characteristics of the AE.
Originality/value
These research studies are conducted to provide guidance on the basis of mine disaster prevention and control.