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The purpose of this paper is to summarize the progress in grey system research during 2000-2015, so as to present some important new concepts, models, methods and a new framework of grey system theory.

The new thinking, new models and new methods of grey system theory and their applications are presented in this paper. It includes algorithm rules of grey numbers based on the “kernel” and the degree of greyness of grey numbers, the concept of general grey numbers, the synthesis axiom of degree of greyness of grey numbers and their operations; the general form of buffer operators of grey sequence operators; the four basic models of grey model GM(1,1), such as even GM, original difference GM, even difference GM, discrete GM and the suitable sequence type of each basic model, and suitable range of most used grey forecasting models; the similarity degree of grey incidences, the closeness degree of grey incidences and the three-dimensional absolute degree of grey incidence of grey incidence analysis models; the grey cluster model based on center-point and end-point mixed triangular whitenization functions; the multi-attribute intelligent grey target decision model, the two stages decision model with grey synthetic measure of grey decision models; grey game models, grey input-output models of grey combined models; and the problems of robust stability for grey stochastic time-delay systems of neutral type, distributed-delay type and neutral distributed-delay type of grey control, etc. And the new framework of grey system theory is given as well.

The problems which remain for further studying are discussed at the end of each section. The reader could know the general picture of research and developing trend of grey system theory from this paper.

A lot of successful practical applications of the new models to solve various problems have been found in many different areas of natural science, social science and engineering, including spaceflight, civil aviation, information, metallurgy, machinery, petroleum, chemical industry, electrical power, electronics, light industries, energy resources, transportation, medicine, health, agriculture, forestry, geography, hydrology, seismology, meteorology, environment protection, architecture, behavioral science, management science, law, education, military science, etc. These practical applications have brought forward definite and noticeable social and economic benefits. It demonstrates a wide range of applicability of grey system theory, especially in the situation where the available information is incomplete and the collected data are inaccurate.

The reader is given a general picture of grey systems theory as a new model system and a new framework for studying problems where partial information is known; especially for uncertain systems with few data points and poor information. The problems remaining for further studying are identified at the end of each section.

Strategic management scholars have acknowledged the existence of a dark side of strategy, but have failed to consider how companies engage and adapt “dark and immoral” non-market strategies to gain competitive advantage and to maintain corrupt alliances. In this chapter, I analyze the use of corruption as a non-market strategy by construction companies’ suppliers of the Oil and Gas Company Petrobras from 2002 to 2014. The author use verifiable court decisions and analyze the set of rules created by a corrupt cartel to enact their corrupt strategies. The author extend the management literature by showing how a corrupt group of firms adopt a series of strategies not only for their short-term competitive advantage but also to maintain their internal cohesion. Finally, the author develop a model that explains the maintenance of long-term corrupt relationships.

While qualitative work has a long tradition in the strategy field and has recently regained popularity, we have not paused to take stock of how such work offers contributions. We address this oversight with a review of qualitative studies of strategy published in five top-tier journals over an extended period of 15 years (2003–2017). In an attempt to organize the field, we develop an empirically grounded organizing framework. We identify 12 designs that are evident in the literature, or “designs-in-use” as we call them. Acknowledging important similarities and differences between the various approaches to qualitative strategy research (QSR), we group these designs into three “families” based on their philosophical orientation. We use these designs and families to identify trends in QSR. We then engage those trends to orient the future development of qualitative methods in the strategy field.

Purpose: The study focusses on the systematic review of the greenwashing literature to present the research gaps to researchers for future studies.

Design/methodology/approach: The systematic review has been used to analyse past studies on ‘greenwashing’. The 325 research articles of the previous 10 years (2014–2023) were downloaded from the Scopus-indexed database using the keyword ‘greenwashing’.

The findings: There is a need for a study on greenwashing in developing countries like India. An attempt should be made to analyse the research with a large sample size.

Research limitations: The scope of the data used in this study is limited by the source of retrieval, that is, the Scopus. The current source adequately serves the study’s purpose, as the Scopus database is one of the most significant citation databases. This study analyses data from the years 2014 to 2023 to improve credibility and reduce biases.

Practical implications: The research findings will significantly help researchers, green marketers, and practitioners be aware of the emerging markets of greenwashing and consumers’ rising greenwashing perception of green products.

Originality/value: This study is a novel attempt to explore a better understanding of greenwashing for researchers. The study is original; work has yet to be performed on this topic.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a fractional order optimization method based on perturbation bound and gamma function of a DGM(r,1).

By analyzing and minimizing perturbation bound, the sub-optimal solution on fractional order interval is obtained through offline solving without iterative calculation. By this method, an optimized fractional order non-equidistant ROGM (OFONEROGM) is applied in fitting and prediction water quality parameters for a surface water pollution monitoring system.

This method can narrow fractional order interval in this work. In a surface water pollution monitoring system, the fitting and prediction performances of OFONEROGM are demonstrated comparing with integer order non-equidistant ROGM (IONEROGM).

A method of offline solving the sub-optimal solution on fractional order interval is proposed. It can narrow the optimized fractional order range of NEROGM without iterative calculation. A large number of calculations are eliminated. Besides that, optimized fractional order interval is only related to the number of original data, and convenient for practical application. In this work, an OFONEROGM is modeled for predicting water quality trend for preventing water pollution or stealing sewage discharge. It will provide guiding significance in water quality parameter fitting and predicting for water environment management.

As more and more people are beginning to take virtual communities (VC) as effective communication channels and the main places to get information and knowledge, understanding the factors that can support or hinder one’s knowledge sharing seems important for the management of VCs. The purpose of this paper is to explore the antecedents that influence people’s knowledge sharing in VCs, and to explore influence mechanism and the boundary condition of how the antecedent affect people’s knowledge sharing in VCs.

The authors conducted empirical research to test our hypotheses. The authors designed a questionnaire based on previous research and collected the questionnaires from seven VCs in China, including two specific topic-based forums in Baidu Tieba which is the largest Chinese online communication platform, three in traditional university bulletin board system (BBS) forums and another two based on instant messaging service. The final sample the authors got included 96 individuals. Then the authors used the hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) technique to analysis the data.

The results suggest that community member’s attachment can be a strong indicator of his/her knowledge-sharing intention which will possibly lead to knowledge-sharing behavior. However, this effect can be contingent on individual centrality and community member fluctuations. In a stable community, those who are in the peripheral position are more likely to transfer their attachment into knowledge sharing because they have the intention to move into central positions and knowledge sharing can help them gain status. While in an unstable environment, it does not make any difference between people in different position in the social network.

First, this paper reveals member’s attachment as the antecedent of people’s knowledge sharing in VCs. Second, this paper adopts a network perspective to construct the research model. And the basic point made is that knowledge sharing can be seen as a channel to attain status and centrality in a community. Thus, people who are in periphery positions are more likely to transfer their community attachment into knowledge-sharing intention. Third, this paper emphasizes the dynamic characteristic of members in VCs and proves the moderation effect of community member fluctuations.

This study elicits the critical attributes, consequences and values associated with the purchasing process in the context of cross-border e-commerce (CBEC). The purpose is to provide a better understanding of the fundamental factors that determine consumer values in CBEC.

The study applies the means-end-chain theory and soft-laddering techniques to interview 60 CBEC consumers to construct an implication matrix and a hierarchical value map (HVM) of the consumer purchasing process, consisting of attribute-consequence-value (A-C-V) paths.

By analyzing the significant linkages, elements, ladders and chains in the HVM, four dominant A-C-V paths were identified: economic-driven, efficiency-driven, progress-driven and quality-driven paths.

This study included only Chinese CBEC buyers. This limitation might affect the generalizability of the conclusions as culture, purchase habits and economic development differ between China and other countries.

The results of this study provide CBEC practitioners an understanding of the consumer purchasing process and how consumer values are associated with platform characteristics. Thus, the results aid practitioners in allocating resources and developing CBEC platforms in an appropriate manner and direction.

This study sheds lights on the emerging phenomenon of CBEC. By applying the means-end-chain approach, the study provides a comprehensive HVM for interpreting the consumer online purchasing process in this novel context. By illustrating the dominant paths, this research provides deeper theoretical insights into the specific focuses of CBEC consumer purchasing.

This paper aims to investigate the corrosion behavior of zinc in a typical hot and dry atmosphere. It proposes the dynamic corrosion for different exposure periods. Results can provide the basic data and corrosion mechanism of zinc in such environment.

In this paper, the authors investigated the corrosion behavior of pure zinc exposed in the typical hot and dry environment in Turpan for one-four years, which has never been studied. Scanning electron microscopy, laser scanning confocal microscopy, electron probe micro-analyzer (EPMA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were conducted to measure the corrosion morphology and products of zinc. Finally, combining electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and scanning Kelvin probe techniques, the corrosion mechanism of zinc in Turpan was examined.

The thickness loss of the zinc followed an exponential law with respect to exposure time: D = 3.17 t^0.61, and both of the rust layer resistance and the charge transfer resistance increased with exposure time. The corrosion products mainly comprised ZnO, Zn(OH)₂, Zn₅(CO₃)₂(OH)₆, Zn₄SO₄(OH)₆·5H₂O and Zn₁₂(SO₄)₃Cl₃(OH)₁₅·5H₂O. The Kelvin potentials shifted toward the positive direction from −0.380 to −0.262 V (vs saturated calomel electrode [SCE]) when the exposure time extended from one to four years and the distribution of the corrosion products became more and more uniform.

The corrosion behavior of pure zinc in the typical hot and dry environment in Turpan has not been studied. The dynamic corrosion for different exposure periods was obtained. The corrosion products were systemically investigated via energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, EPMA, XPS and XRD.

The bridge expansion joint (BEJ) is a key device for accommodating spatial displacement at the beam end, and for providing vertical support for running trains passing over the gap between the main bridge and the approach bridge. For long-span railway bridges, it must also be coordinated with rail expansion joint (REJ), which is necessary to accommodate the expansion and contraction of, and reducing longitudinal stress in, the rails. The main aim of this study is to present analysis of recent developments in the research and application of BEJs in high-speed railway (HSR) long-span bridges in China, and to propose a performance-based integral design method for BEJs used with REJs, from both theoretical and engineering perspectives.

The study first presents a summary on the application and maintenance of BEJs in HSR long-span bridges in China representing an overview of their state of development. Results of a survey of typical BEJ faults were analyzed, and field testing was conducted on a railway cable-stayed bridge in order to obtain information on the major mechanical characteristics of its BEJ under train load. Based on the above, a performance-based integral design method for BEJs with maximum expansion range 1600 mm (±800 mm), was proposed, covering all stages from overall conceptual design to consideration of detailed structural design issues. The performance of the novel BEJ design thus derived was then verified via theoretical analysis under different scenarios, full-scale model testing, and field testing and commissioning.

Two major types of BEJs, deck-type and through-type, are used in HSR long-span bridges in China. Typical BEJ faults were found to mainly include skewness of steel sleepers at the bridge gap, abnormally large longitudinal frictional resistance, and flexural deformation of the scissor mechanisms. These faults influence BEJ functioning, and thus adversely affect track quality and train running performance at the beam end. Due to their simple and integral structure, deck-type BEJs with expansion range 1200 mm (± 600 mm) or less have been favored as a solution offering improved operational conditions, and have emerged as a standard design. However, when the expansion range exceeds the above-mentioned value, special design work becomes necessary. Therefore, based on engineering practice, a performance-based integral design method for BEJs used with REJs was proposed, taking into account four major categories of performance requirements, i.e., mechanical characteristics, train running quality, durability and insulation performance. Overall BEJ design must mainly consider component strength and the overall stiffness of BEJ; the latter factor in particular has a decisive influence on train running performance at the beam end. Detailed BEJ structural design must stress minimization of the frictional resistance of its sliding surface. The static and dynamic performance of the newly-designed BEJ with expansion range 1600 mm have been confirmed to be satisfactory, via numerical simulation, full-scale model testing, and field testing and commissioning.

This research provides a broad overview of the status of BEJs with large expansion range in HSR long-span bridges in China, along with novel insights into their design.

This study is dedicated to systematically collating the distribution and utilization circumstances of geothermal resources in China. Moreover, it endeavors to formulate a comprehensive utilization scheme for geothermal resources during the construction and operation phases of the railway, thereby furnishing robust support and valuable reference for the holistic utilization of geothermal resources along the railway corridor.

Through an in-depth analysis of the extant utilization of geothermal resources in China, it is discerned that the current utilization modalities are relatively rudimentary, bereft of rational planning and characterized by a low utilization rate. Concurrently, by integrating the practical requisites of railway construction and operation and conducting theoretical dissections, a comprehensive utilization plan for the construction and operation periods of railway is proffered.

In light of the railway’s construction and operation characteristics, geothermal utilization models are categorized. During construction, comprehensive modalities include tunnel illumination power generation, construction area heating, tunnel antifreeze using shallow geothermal energy, tunnel pavement antifreeze and construction concrete maintenance. During operation, they comprise operation tunnel antifreeze, railway roadbed antifreeze, railway switch snow melting and deicing, geothermal power station establishment and railway hot spring health tourism planning.

According to the characteristics and actual needs of railway construction and operation, it is of great significance to rationally utilize geothermal resources to promote the construction and operation of green railways.