Yufeng Zhou, Ying Gong, Xiaoqing Hu and Changshi Liu
The purpose of this paper is to propose a new casualty scheduling optimisation problem and to effectively treat casualties in the early stage of post-earthquake relief.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a new casualty scheduling optimisation problem and to effectively treat casualties in the early stage of post-earthquake relief.
Design/methodology/approach
Different from previous studies, some new characteristics of this stage are considered, such as the grey uncertainty information of casualty numbers, the injury deterioration and the facility disruption scenarios. Considering these new characteristics, we propose a novel casualty scheduling optimisation model based on grey chance-constrained programming (GCCP). The model is formulated as a 0–1 mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINP) model. An improved particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithm embedded in a grey simulation technique is proposed to solve the model.
Findings
A case study of the Lushan earthquake in China is given to verify the effectiveness of the model and algorithm. The results show that (1) considering the facility disruption in advance can improve the system reliability, (2) the grey simulation technology is more suitable for dealing with the grey uncertain information with a wider fluctuation than the equal-weight whitening method and (3) the authors' proposed PSO is superior to the genetic algorithm and immune algorithm.
Research limitations/implications
The casualty scheduling problem in the emergency recovery stage of post-earthquake relief could be integrated with our study to further enhance the research value of this paper.
Practical implications
Considering the facility disruption in advance is beneficial to treat more patients. Considering the facility disruption in the design stage of the emergency logistics network can improve the reliability of the system.
Originality/value
(1) The authors propose a new casualty scheduling optimisation problem based on GCCP in the early stage of post-earthquake relief. The proposed problem considers many new characteristics in this stage. To the best of the authors' knowledge, the authors are the first to use the GCCP to study the casualty scheduling problem under the grey information. (2) A MINP model is established to formulate the proposed problem. (3) An improved integer-encoded particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithm embedded grey simulation technique is designed in this paper.
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Ping He and Xiaoqing Hu
Individuals tend to simplify a complex portfolio decision problem into several manageable dimensions, each of which can frame their perception of risk.We check this view by…
Abstract
Individuals tend to simplify a complex portfolio decision problem into several manageable dimensions, each of which can frame their perception of risk.We check this view by studying the effect of investment horizons on households’ portfolio decisions. Using the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) data, we find that households allocate more of their wealth in stocks if they report longer planning horizons. The existence of foreseeable expenditure significantly changes the dependence of risky stock investment on the planning horizon.We decompose the reported planning horizon into an objective part and a subjective mental accounting part, and find that the mental accounting part has a greater effect on household portfolio choice. This is consistent with the argument that individuals make investment decisions based on the horizon at which the risk is perceived rather than the horizon at which the investment reward or cash is needed.
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Xigang Yuan, Zujun Ma and Xiaoqing Zhang
This paper investigates the dynamic pricing strategy of a firm for the successive-generation products under the conditions of the limited trade-in duration and strategic…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the dynamic pricing strategy of a firm for the successive-generation products under the conditions of the limited trade-in duration and strategic customers. Further, it explores the effect of a limited trade-in duration on the choice of the myopic and strategic customers, besides the optimal dynamic pricing and trade-in strategy of the firm.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the choice behavior of the myopic and strategic customers, the authors have developed a two-period game-theoretic analytical model to decide the optimal retail prices of the successive-generation products and the optimal trade-in rebate when the firm adopts a dynamic pricing strategy and then investigate three extensions of the basic model to discuss the change in the results owing to the relaxation of certain conditions.
Findings
The authors find from the results that, in terms of profit maximization, it is better to extend the limited trade-in duration, and hence, the firm should implement a dynamic pricing strategy. However, in the situation of using a static pricing strategy, the firm should extend the limited trade-in duration only if the incremental value of the new generation products is below a certain threshold. Moreover, the firm should use a dual rollover strategy instead of a single rollover one. If all customers in the market are myopic, then the firm should also extend the limited trade-in duration.
Research limitations/implications
This study mainly discusses the impact of limited trade-in duration on the firm's dynamic pricing strategy when facing strategic customers, which provides several directions for future research. First, if the government offers subsidies to consumers, how will strategic consumers make purchase decisions? How would the enterprise make its pricing decision? Second, when asymmetric information exists between consumers and firms, how will it affect consumers' choice behavior and firms' pricing decisions? All these issues are worth exploring in the future.
Practical implications
These results offer certain managerial insights for the firm in the decision making on pricing within the trade-in program.
Originality/value
This is the first work to study the dynamic pricing strategy of the firm for the successive-generation products under the conditions of the limited trade-in duration and strategic customers. Further, this work discusses the changes in results owing to the relaxation of certain conditions.
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Huifang Liu, Weidong Chen, Pengwei Yuan and Xiaoqing Dong
This study aims to examine the impact of climate change on the total factor productivity (TFP) of tourism in Chinese cities. Using temperature and precipitation as proxies for…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the impact of climate change on the total factor productivity (TFP) of tourism in Chinese cities. Using temperature and precipitation as proxies for climate change, the research analyzes both the direct negative effects of climate change on tourism productivity and the positive spillover effects on neighboring cities. In addition, it investigates how geographic location and economic development contribute to the variation in these effects. The study also explores the mechanisms through which government intervention and industrial structure upgrading influence these impacts.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a spatial Durbin model to analyze the relationship between climate change and tourism TFP in 287 Chinese cities from 2000 to 2020. Panel data is used, with temperature and precipitation serving as proxies for climate change. The model evaluates both the direct and spillover effects of climate change on tourism productivity, while also analyzing the mechanisms through which government intervention and industrial upgrading affect these relationships. The study further considers how geographic location and economic development impact the results.
Findings
This study finds that climate change directly reduces tourism TFP, while generating positive spillover effects for neighboring cities. Cities in the eastern and more economically developed regions are more sensitive to climate change, experiencing stronger impacts compared to cities in central and western regions. The findings suggest that government intervention and industrial structure upgrading are important mechanisms through which climate change affects tourism productivity in Chinese cities.
Originality/value
This research fills a gap in the literature regarding how climate change affects tourism productivity in developing countries, particularly in China. By applying a spatial Durbin model and panel data analysis, the study provides empirical evidence on both the direct and spillover effects of climate change on tourism productivity. It highlights the critical role of government intervention and industrial upgrading as mechanisms shaping the impact of climate change, offering new insights for policymakers and tourism businesses to address the challenges posed by climate change and enhance productivity and competitiveness.
目的
本研究旨在探讨气候变化对中国城市旅游全要素生产率的影响。通过温度和降水量作为气候变化的代理变量, 研究分析了气候变化对旅游全要素生产率的直接抑制效应及其对邻近城市的积极溢出效应。此外, 研究考察了地理位置与经济发展水平如何导致这些效应的异质性。通过分析政府干预和产业结构升级的机制, 本研究为气候变化影响旅游全要素生产率的机制分析提供了理论支持, 为提升发展中国家旅游竞争力提供了指导。
设计/方法论/研究方法
本研究采用空间杜宾模型分析2000年至2020年期间, 中国287个城市的气候变化与旅游全要素生产率之间的关系。研究使用面板数据, 温度和降水量作为气候变化的代理变量。模型分析了气候变化对旅游全要素生产率的直接效应与溢出效应, 并研究了政府干预与产业结构升级的机制效应。研究还考察了基于地理位置与经济发展水平的异质性影响, 提供了气候变化对城市旅游全要素生产率影响的综合分析。
研究发现
气候变化直接抑制旅游全要素生产率, 同时对邻近城市产生积极的溢出效应。东部城市及高经济水平地区对气候变化更为敏感, 影响强于中西部地区。研究发现, 政府干预与产业结构升级是气候变化影响中国城市旅游全要素生产率的关键机制。
原创性/价值
本研究填补了气候变化如何影响发展中国家, 尤其是中国, 旅游全要素生产率领域的研究空白。通过运用空间杜宾模型和面板数据分析, 提供了气候变化对旅游全要素生产率的直接效应与溢出效应的实证证据。研究强调了政府干预和产业结构升级作为气候变化影响旅游全要素生产率的主要机制。通过关注区域异质性与经济发展水平, 本研究为旅游企业与政策制定者应对气候变化挑战,提升生产力和竞争力提供了新的思路。
Objetivo
Este estudio examina el impacto del cambio climático en la productividad total de los factores (PTF) del turismo en las ciudades chinas. Utilizando la temperatura y las precipitaciones como indicadores del cambio climático, la investigación analiza tanto los efectos negativos directos del cambio climático sobre la productividad del turismo como los efectos indirectos positivos sobre las ciudades vecinas. Además, investiga cómo la ubicación geográfica y el desarrollo económico contribuyen a la variación de estos efectos. El estudio también explora los mecanismos a través de los cuales la intervención gubernamental y la mejora de la estructura industrial influyen en estos impactos.
Diseño/Metodología/Enfoque
Este estudio utiliza un modelo espacial de Durbin (SDM) para analizar la relación entre el cambio climático y la productividad total de los factores del turismo en 287 ciudades chinas entre 2000 y 2020. Se emplean datos de panel, en los que la temperatura y las precipitaciones sirven como variables sustitutivas del cambio climático. El modelo evalúa tanto los efectos directos como los indirectos del cambio climático sobre la productividad del turismo, al tiempo que analiza los mecanismos a través de los cuales la intervención gubernamental y la modernización industrial afectan a estas relaciones. El estudio examina además cómo influyen en los resultados la ubicación geográfica y el desarrollo económico.
Resultados
El estudio concluye que el cambio climático reduce directamente la productividad total de los factores del turismo, al tiempo que genera efectos indirectos positivos para las ciudades vecinas. Las ciudades de las regiones orientales y económicamente más desarrolladas son más sensibles al cambio climático y experimentan impactos más fuertes que las ciudades de las regiones centrales y occidentales. Los resultados sugieren que la intervención gubernamental y la mejora de la estructura industrial son mecanismos importantes a través de los cuales el cambio climático afecta a la productividad del turismo en las ciudades chinas.
Originalidad/Valor
Esta investigación llena un vacío en la literatura sobre cómo el cambio climático afecta a la productividad del turismo en los países en desarrollo, especialmente en China. Aplicando un modelo espacial de Durbin y un análisis de datos de panel, el estudio aporta pruebas empíricas sobre los efectos directos y indirectos del cambio climático en la productividad del turismo. Destaca el papel decisivo de la intervención pública y la modernización industrial como mecanismos que determinan el impacto del cambio climático, ofreciendo nuevas perspectivas a los responsables políticos y las empresas turísticas para afrontar los retos que plantea el cambio climático y mejorar la productividad y la competitividad.
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This paper aims to analyse the conceptual bases of the related terms of “host” and “guest” in Chinese and reveal essential, though overlooked, cultural differences that relate to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyse the conceptual bases of the related terms of “host” and “guest” in Chinese and reveal essential, though overlooked, cultural differences that relate to “hospitality” in Western and Chinese cultural contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
A presupposition of this conceptual investigation is that culture manifests itself linguistically. The analytic approach used here is textual analysis. Confucian classical texts are the main source of evidence for examining the conceptual commitments of the Chinese characters 主 and 客 and their corresponding practical expressions.
Findings
Cross-cultural comparison reveals asymmetries between the term “hospitality” and its Chinese translations, etymologically and culturally. This study demonstrates how the Chinese 主–客 paradigm is both hierarchal in nature and centred on the role and interests of the host. It further compares this paradigm with its Western counterpart along five different dimensions.
Research limitations/implications
The specific Chinese norms for the host–guest paradigm synthesized here could prompt both academicians and operators to question the cultural attachments associated with hospitality by participants and the cultural differences in hospitality transactions and management. The cultural sensitivity modelled here is intended to facilitate harmony between a hospitality setting and the culture in which it is embedded.
Originality/value
This conceptual paper is the first in the Anglophone literature to explore the Chinese cultural roots of the concepts “host” and “guest”. The linguistic perspective used in this study allows the concept of “hospitality” to be studied cross-culturally and in an interdisciplinary way, addressing a blind spot in the extant hospitality literature.
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Xiaoqing Zhang, Genliang Xiong, Peng Yin, Yanfeng Gao and Yan Feng
To ensure the motion attitude and stable contact force of massage robot working on unknown human tissue environment, this study aims to propose a robotic system for autonomous…
Abstract
Purpose
To ensure the motion attitude and stable contact force of massage robot working on unknown human tissue environment, this study aims to propose a robotic system for autonomous massage path planning and stable interaction control.
Design/methodology/approach
First, back region extraction and acupoint recognition based on deep learning is proposed, which provides a basis for determining the working area and path points of the robot. Second, to realize the standard approach and movement trajectory of the expert massage, 3D reconstruction and path planning of the massage area are performed, and normal vectors are calculated to control the normal orientation of robot-end. Finally, to cope with the soft and hard changes of human tissue state and body movement, an adaptive force tracking control strategy is presented to compensate the uncertainty of environmental position and tissue hardness online.
Findings
Improved network model can accomplish the acupoint recognition task with a large accuracy and integrate the point cloud to generate massage trajectories adapted to the shape of the human body. Experimental results show that the adaptive force tracking control can obtain a relatively smooth force, and the error is basically within ± 0.2 N during the online experiment.
Originality/value
This paper incorporates deep learning, 3D reconstruction and impedance control, the robot can understand the shape features of the massage area and adapt its planning massage path to carry out a stable and safe force tracking control during dynamic robot–human contact.
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Hasan Ghura, Arezou Harraf, Xiaoqing Li and Allam Hamdan
Corruption has been shown to discourage entrepreneurship in both developed and developing countries. However, it is less clear to what extent corruption affects the development of…
Abstract
Purpose
Corruption has been shown to discourage entrepreneurship in both developed and developing countries. However, it is less clear to what extent corruption affects the development of institutions’ impact on entrepreneurial activity in the context of emerging economies, such as those in the post-communist countries. The purpose of this study is to use institutional economics as a conceptual framework to analyse the moderating effect of control of corruption (informal institution) on the relationship between formal institutions (such as the number of procedures, education and training [TEDU], access to finance and technology absorption) and entrepreneurial activity.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used panel data of 14 post-communist countries and different secondary databases from the years 2006-2016.
Findings
The main findings showed the importance of the institutional environment (formal and informal) on encouraging the rates of entrepreneurial activity. Overall, corruption showed that it behaves as a moderator between formal institutions and entrepreneurship. In particular, the evidence from this study showed that formal institutions, such as the number of procedures and TEDU, are more likely to encourage individual’s choice to become an entrepreneur and start a new business activity in post-communist economies that have a perception of lower levels of corruption.
Originality/value
This study has several implications from both theoretical perspectives (advancing the application of institutional economics for the study of entrepreneurship) and from the practical point of view (providing insights for governmental policies interested in fostering higher levels of entrepreneurial activity).
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Yujing Ni, Qiong Li, Xiaoqing Li and Jun Zou
This chapter provides a synthesis of the research project which investigated whether or not the most recent mathematics curriculum reform has reached the classroom and influenced…
Abstract
This chapter provides a synthesis of the research project which investigated whether or not the most recent mathematics curriculum reform has reached the classroom and influenced classroom practice and student learning in the mainland China. Three types of evidence for change as a result of the curriculum reform were examined. These included the beliefs and perceptions of teachers about learning and teaching mathematics, the cognitive features of learning tasks and of classroom interaction that were implemented in classroom, and student learning outcomes. Two groups of elementary math teachers and their students participated in the study. One group had participated in the reform implementation in classroom for several years, and the other group had used the conventional curriculum when the project was conducted in 2005. About 150 videotaped class sessions were analyzed from 58 classrooms of the two groups. Survey methods were used to probe the changes in the beliefs and perceptions of teachers about teaching and learning mathematics. The student learning outcomes were assessed for three times with multiple measures of mathematics achievement. Findings of the project provide the converging evidence that the curriculum reform has resulted in some of the expected changes. Reform teachers were more likely to hold a dynamic view of mathematics and to indicate the importance to provide students the learning opportunity to hypothesize, to proof, and to communicate in learning mathematics. The reform classrooms used more learning tasks with higher cognitive demands. The teachers in the reform classrooms asked more questions that required students to describe procedures leading to their answers and the students in the reform classrooms raised more questions in learning mathematics. Students of the reform classrooms showed to have achieved a relatively more balanced development in different cognitive areas of mathematics achievement.
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Catherine L. Wang, Mohammed Rafiq, Xiaoqing Li and Yu Zheng
– The purpose of this paper is to advance the conceptualisation of entrepreneurial preparedness (EP), and study how EP occurs in new venture creation and management.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to advance the conceptualisation of entrepreneurial preparedness (EP), and study how EP occurs in new venture creation and management.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper primarily draws evidence from an exploratory case study of two Chinese high-tech private enterprises operating in the healthcare industry in Beijing, following a two-stage sampling process: informal, purposive sampling; and formal, theoretical sampling. Qualitative data collected from multiple semi-structured interviews within each firm were analysed using a thematic analytical framework.
Findings
The paper advances the conceptualisation of EP as a cumulative, social and purposeful learning process. Accordingly, the paper highlights the roles of experiential learning, social learning and entrepreneurial goals (both performance and learning goals) as mechanisms that enable EP in entrepreneurial management.
Research limitations/implications
The findings reveal idiosyncrasies of EP in a particular context. Future research may investigate different types of entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial firms. Furthermore, this study uses triangulation of retrospective interview data with concurrent interview and secondary data. Future research may pursue concurrent longitudinal case study data to unpack real-time events in entrepreneurial management.
Practical implications
The findings have practical implications for entrepreneurs and “would-be” entrepreneurs to better understand their learning needs and how they can prepare themselves for entrepreneurial challenges.
Originality/value
EP as an emerging concept within the entrepreneurial learning (EL) literature requires conceptual and empirical development. The paper advances the conceptualisation of EP, supported with empirical evidence. By articulating the cumulative, social and purposeful nature of EP, the paper contributes to the understanding of the human and social dynamics of EL.
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Jingcheng Wen, Yihao Qin, Ye Bai and Xiaoqing Dong
Express freight transportation is in rapid development currently. Owing to the higher speed of express freight train, the deformation of the bridge deck worsens the railway line…
Abstract
Purpose
Express freight transportation is in rapid development currently. Owing to the higher speed of express freight train, the deformation of the bridge deck worsens the railway line condition under the action of wind and train moving load when the train runs over a long-span bridge. Besides, the blunt car body of vehicle has poor aerodynamic characteristics, bringing a greater challenge on the running stability in the crosswind.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the aerodynamic force coefficients of express freight vehicles on the bridge are measured by scale model wind tunnel test. The dynamic model of the train-long-span steel truss bridge coupling system is established, and the dynamic response as well as the running safety of vehicle are evaluated.
Findings
The results show that wind speed has a significant influence on running safety, which is mainly reflected in the over-limitation of wheel unloading rate. The wind speed limit decreases with train speed, and it reduces to 18.83 m/s when the train speed is 160 km/h.
Originality/value
This study deepens the theoretical understanding of the interaction between vehicles and bridges and proposes new methods for analyzing similar engineering problems. It also provides a new theoretical basis for the safety assessment of express freight trains.