Haiou Zhang, Xiangping Wang, Guilan Wang and Yang Zhang
The purpose of this paper is to report a new direct metal manufacturing method which integrates freeform deposition process and micro rolling process, introduce the manufacturing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report a new direct metal manufacturing method which integrates freeform deposition process and micro rolling process, introduce the manufacturing principle and show the advantages of this method.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper introduces the hybrid manufacturing principle and devices first. Then, the key parameters of hybrid manufacturing process are studied by contrast experiments. The results of comparisons of manufacturing accuracy, microstructure and tensile test between freeform fabricated parts and hybrid manufactured parts show the advantages of this new direct manufacturing method.
Findings
The experiments results show that the accuracy of hybrid manufacturing method is improved obviously comparing with arc-based freeform deposition manufacturing method; the microstructure of the hybrid manufacturing part turns into cellular crystal instead of dendrite; the tensile strength of the part increases by 33 percent and the tensile deformation improved more than two times.
Originality/value
The paper presents a new hybrid direct metal manufacturing method for the first time. The hybrid manufacturing devices are developed. The experiments results show that the hybrid manufacturing method can be used on directly fabricating large metal components with outstanding quality, efficiency and low cost. The application prospect is great.
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Qiuhong Chen, Ning Geng and Kan Zhu
The purpose of this paper is to reveal the distributional characteristics and evolutional patterns in source periodicals, topics, authors, funding, and institutes of research…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to reveal the distributional characteristics and evolutional patterns in source periodicals, topics, authors, funding, and institutes of research papers in Chinese Agricultural Economics so as to understand the current situations and developmental tendency of Chinese agricultural economics research over the past decade.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the citation analysis method, this paper analyzed the distributional characteristics and evolution of source periodicals, fields, authors and topics of 2,203 highly cited journal papers from the database of China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and 189 cited journal papers from database of Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) in agricultural economics first-authored by Chinese scholars from 2006 to 2015.
Findings
First, over the past decade, agricultural economics research in China has seen a rapid development. Specially, 103 scholars and 42 institutes have played key roles in the development, and 12 Chinese periodicals and 3 international journals have been the most influential outlets. Second, the coverage of the topics in Chinese agricultural economics research is broad and has expanded over the past decade. The rural land issue has been the most popular topic, while the issues regarding rural institutional arrangements and industrialization in rural areas have been explored extensively. However, issues in other fields, such as agricultural markets and trade, rural labor, food safety, etc. have to be further studied. Third, the improvements of economic theory and quantitative analytic techniques, the supports from research funding, and an increase in the collaboration between Chinese scholars and those from other countries have made great contribution to the rapid development of Chinese agricultural economics research over the past decade.
Originality/value
This paper is an original work that identifies the most influential journal papers including highly cited journal papers from CNKI and cited journal papers from SSCI, using citation frequency and standard Essential Science Indicators method. This is a contribution relative to the methods used by previous studies, which did not account for frequency of citation of a paper. Moreover, this study is based on data from two databases, CNKI and SSCI, suggesting that the coverage of sample papers is broader compared to those of previous studies.
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Xiaohong Shi, Ziyan Wang, Runlu Zhong, Liangliang Ma, Xiangping Chen and Peng Yang
Smart contracts are written in high-level programming languages, compiled into Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) bytecode, deployed onto blockchain systems and called with the…
Abstract
Purpose
Smart contracts are written in high-level programming languages, compiled into Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) bytecode, deployed onto blockchain systems and called with the corresponding address by transactions. The deployed smart contracts are immutable, even if there are bugs or vulnerabilities. Therefore, it is critical to verify smart contracts before deployment. This paper aims to help developers effectively and efficiently locate potential defects in smart contracts.
Design/methodology/approach
GethReplayer, a smart contract testing method based on transaction replay, is proposed. It constructs a parallel transaction execution environment with two virtual machines to compare the execution results. It uses the real existing transaction data on Ethereum and the source code of the tested smart contacts as inputs, conditionally substitutes the bytecode of the tested smart contract input into the testing EVM, and then monitors the environmental information to check the correctness of the contract.
Findings
Experiments verified that the proposed method is effective in smart contract testing. Virtual environmental information has a significant effect on the success of transaction replay, which is the basis for the performance of the method. The efficiency of error locating was approximately 14 times faster with the proposed method than without. In addition, the proposed method supports gas consumption analysis.
Originality/value
This paper addresses the difficulty that developers encounter in testing smart contracts before deployment and focuses on helping develop smart contracts with as few defects as possible. GethReplayer is expected to be an alternative solution for smart contract testing and provide inspiration for further research.
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Xiangping Jia and Harvey S. James
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role and importance of trust in a type of Chinese farmer cooperative organization called “Farm Bases” (FBs), considering the extent to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role and importance of trust in a type of Chinese farmer cooperative organization called “Farm Bases” (FBs), considering the extent to which trust affects their performance and how the relationship between trust and FB performance is affected by perceptions of risk and uncertainty and other considerations.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors interviewed a random sample of 355 farmers, most of whom are from 42 different FBs in China. The authors operationalized organizational trust by assessing the perception of trustworthiness and competence that farmers have in FB managers. The authors conducted a regression analysis of the data to answer the research questions.
Findings
The findings support a nuanced role of trust for performance measures of FBs. Trust matters but in limited and specific contexts. Specifically, trust does not correlate with the marketing volume of Chinese FBs and only weakly correlates with FB compliance of production standards.
Originality/value
FBs play an essential role in China’s agribusiness policies and are pervasive in Chinese business practices. Very little research has been conducted on Chinese FBs and of the role of trust in organizational performance.
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Weiming Huang, Fangbin Qiao, Huaiju Liu, Xiangping Jia and Bryan Lohmar
– The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of structural changes in hog production manure management practices.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of structural changes in hog production manure management practices.
Design/methodology/approach
The data used in this study are obtained from a large-scale nationwide hog producers’ survey in rural China conducted by the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2010. A descriptive analysis between hog manure management and its main determinants was conducted. Based on the collected data, an econometric model on the determinants of hog manure management was constructed and used for analysis.
Findings
The results of this study suggest that the scale of hog production has an important impact on the pattern of hog manure management. Moreover, the results from descriptive statistics and multivariate estimation suggest that smaller hog producers are more likely to apply hog manure to their own lands, while larger hog producers are more likely to sell the manure or find other ways to dispose of it.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the existing literature by examining the impact of structural changes in hog production on hog manure management and the environment.
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Ye Liu and Changjiang Lyu
The performance of the first batch of listed companies since the restart of new initial public offerings (IPOs) in January 2014 and their accounting information face repeated and…
Abstract
Purpose
The performance of the first batch of listed companies since the restart of new initial public offerings (IPOs) in January 2014 and their accounting information face repeated and volatile questioning from different sides. This paper aims to take Guirenniao (China) Co. Ltd. (GRN for short), one of the first batch of listed companies in 2014 that suffered performance decline, as an example to analyze how it managed earnings before IPO.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper examines earnings management signs that exist in GRN through analysis of its financial statements compared to those of its industry peers. This paper then uses the modified Jones model to detect its accrual earnings management and build three models, which are abnormal levels of cash flows from operations, abnormal production costs and abnormal discretionary expenses, to detect real earnings management.
Findings
This paper finds that GRN managed earnings through accrual and real activities in 2012 and 2013. Finally, this paper provides evidence on the specific methods of earnings management, which are easing credit policy to recognize revenue in advance, abnormal expansion, decreasing costs and connected transactions.
Originality/value
This paper examines earnings management signs exist in GRN through analysis of its financial statements comparing to those of its industry peers. This paper then uses the modified Jones Model to detect its accrual earnings management and build three models which are abnormal levels of cash flows from operations, abnormal production costs and abnormal discretionary expenses to detect real earnings management.
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Shaoze Jin, Xiangping Jia and Harvey S. James
This paper aims to explore the relationship between prudence in risk attitudes and patience of time preference of Chinese apple growers regarding off-farm cold storage of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the relationship between prudence in risk attitudes and patience of time preference of Chinese apple growers regarding off-farm cold storage of production and marketing in non-harvest seasons. The authors also consider the effect of farmer participation in cooperative-like organizations known as Farm Bases (FBs).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use multiple list methods and elicitation strategies to measure Chinese apple farmers' risk attitudes and time preferences. Because these farmers can either sell their apples immediately to supermarkets or intermediaries or place them in storage, the authors assess correlations between their storage decisions and their preferences regarding risk and time. The authors also differentiate risks involving gains and losses and empirically examine individual risk attitudes in different scenarios.
Findings
Marketing decisions are moderately associated with risk attitudes but not time preference. Farmers with memberships in local farmer cooperatives are likely to speculate more in cold storage. Thus, risk aversion behavioral and psychological motives affect farmers' decision-making of cold storage and intertemporal marketing activities. However, membership in cooperatives does not always result in improved income and welfare for farmers.
Research limitations/implications
The research confirms that behavioral factors may strongly drive vulnerable smallholder farmers to speculate into storage even under seasonal and uncertain marketing volatility. There is the need to think deeper about the rationale of promoting cooperatives and other agricultural forms, because imposing these without careful consideration can have negative impacts.
Originality/value
Do risk and time preferences affect the decision of farmers to utilize storage facilities? This question is important because it is not clear if and how risk preferences affect the tradeoff between consuming today and saving for tomorrow, especially for farmers in developing countries.
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The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of semantic fluency on consumers' aesthetic evaluation in graphic designs with text and the mediating effect of visual…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of semantic fluency on consumers' aesthetic evaluation in graphic designs with text and the mediating effect of visual complexity in this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
The hypotheses are examined in three experiments. Experiments 1 and 2 both verify that Chinese consumers rated the designs with low (vs high) semantic fluency words as more beautiful, and Experiment 3 further confirmed this effect in non-Chinese speakers.
Findings
Confirmed by Chinese and non-Chinese consumers, high fluency text leads to lower perceived visual complexity and less aesthetic perception of the entire design.
Research limitations/implications
Findings enrich the theory of beauty standards and put forward challenges to the positive relationship between processing fluency and aesthetic pleasure. Findings are limited to the decorative function of text, and lack discussions on how designers should balance when the informational function of text is equally important.
Originality/value
This study is the first to discuss how designs with text influence consumers' aesthetic perception and provides meaningful guidelines of transnational marketing for fashion designers and enterprises.
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Pei Guo and Xiangping Jia
Historically, China's political attempts to provide access to rural credit has met with mixed results and an institutional structure that often strays from intended policy goals…
Abstract
Purpose
Historically, China's political attempts to provide access to rural credit has met with mixed results and an institutional structure that often strays from intended policy goals. Unlike Robin Hood of English lore, the emergence of financial institutions in China appears to have robbed from the poor to lend to the rich, with actions that severely depleted the lending resources required for rural development. Historically, there has been a close correspondence between financial depression and the many policy‐driven financial institutions that dominated the rural financial system in China. More recently, ongoing reforms are dedicated towards a gradual liberalization within the system. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to rethink the structure of rural finance in China, reviewing the current reform and putting forward the policy implications.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper explores the context of agricultural transition and political process as defined by the various interlinkages across the Chinese rural financial system.
Findings
The paper finds that there has been negligible progress in the evolution of the rural financial market in China. The policy‐led financial institutions ended up as merely a disbursement window and a costly drain on state budget. Institutional changes were locked in by patching up the existing institutions. The ongoing reforms projected by policymakers promote competition among different institutional lenders and thus potentially improve the financial services in rural areas.
Originality/value
This paper analyzes the new‐round reform of rural finance in China and brings forward the future direction of rural finance in China.
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Jing Xu, Xizhi Gu, Donghong Ding, Zengxi Pan and Ken Chen
The purpose of this paper is to systematically review the published slicing methods for additive manufacturing (AM), especially the multi-direction and non-layerwise slicing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to systematically review the published slicing methods for additive manufacturing (AM), especially the multi-direction and non-layerwise slicing methods, which are particularly suitable for the directed energy deposition (DED) process to improve the surface quality and eliminate the usage of support structures.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the published slicing methods are clarified into three categories: the traditional slicing methods (e.g. the basic and adaptive slicing methods) performed in the powder bed fusion (PBF) system, the multi-direction slicing methods and non-layerwise slicing methods used in DED systems. The traditional slicing methods are reviewed only briefly because a review article already exists for them, and the latter two slicing methods are reviewed comprehensively with further discussion and outlook.
Findings
A few traditional slicing approaches were developed in the literature, including basic and adaptive slicing methods. These methods are efficient and robust when they are performed in the PBF system. However, they are retarded in the DED process because costly support structures are required to sustain overhanging parts and their surface quality and contour accuracy are not satisfactory. This limitation has led to the development of various multi-direction and non-layerwise slicing methods to improve the surface quality and enable the production of overhangs with minimum supports.
Originality/value
An original review of the AM slicing methods is provided in this paper. For the traditional slicing methods and the multi-direction and non-layerwise slicing method, the published slicing strategies are discussed and compared. Recommendations for future slicing work are also provided.