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In structural health monitoring, localization of multiple slight damage without baseline data is significant and difficult. The purpose of this paper is to discuss these issues.

Damage in the structure causes singularities of displacement modes, which in turn reveals damage. Methods based on the displacement modes may fail to accurately locate the slight damage because the slight damage in engineering structure results in a relatively small variation of the displacement modes. In comparison with the displacement modes, the strain modes are more sensitive to the slight damage because the strain is the derivative of the displacement. As a result, the slight variation in displacement data will be magnified by the derivative, leading to a significant variation of the strain modes. A novel method based on strain modes is proposed for the purpose of accurately locating the multiple slight damage.

In the two bay beam and steel fixed-fixed beams, the numerical simulations and the experimental cases, respectively, illustrate that the proposed method can achieve more accurate localization in comparison with the one based on the displacement modes.

The paper offers a practical approach for more accurate localization of multiple slight damage without baseline data. And the robustness to measurement noise of the proposed method is evaluated for increasing levels of artificially added white Gaussian noise until its limit is reached, defining its range of practical applicability.

New product development (NPD) is crucial to the survival and thriving of a business entity and a firm’s sources of advantages are important to the NPD success. This paper explores the marketing and technical resources adequacy of Australian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in NPD. A survey of 276 Australian SMEs in the chemical and machinery industries was conducted. Analytical procedures include factor analysis, cluster analysis, and discriminant analysis. Findings from these analyses suggest that three distinct groups in terms of their NPD resources exist in Australian SMEs: one group with rich marketing and technical resources and skills, one with rich technical resource only, and one with rich technical skill only. The organisational and managerial characteristics of each group of these firms are described. The findings imply that different resource groups need to adopt different strategies in NPD.

The new programming period of 2021–2027 of the European Union (EU) Common Agricultural Policy requires reconsidering the policy measures. In the new period, the European Commission is to allow each member state (MS) developing eco-schemes to support and/or incentivise farmers to observe agricultural practices beneficial for the climate and the environment beyond their mandatory requirements. The purpose of this paper is to compare the performance of organic and conventional family farms.

Organic farming under the organic farming measure of the Rural Development Programme is one of the most widely applied sustainable farming practices in the EU as well as in Lithuania. By assessing the ex post economic impact of the organic farming measure on farm performance indicators, the authors seek to reveal possibilities and obstacles for the implementation of sustainable farming practices. A counterfactual ex post impact assessment method – propensity score matching (PSM) analysis – was used to evaluate ex post economic impact of the organic farming measure on the performance of farming indicators.

The application of the PSM allowed assessing both the effectiveness of the implemented measure and possibilities for applying this measure in the future. The research has revealed that organic farming is less profitable and the gap between farm income in organic and conventional farms has increased during the period of 2007–2013.

The most comprehensive economic information about the farm activities from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) was used for the ex post economic impact evaluation of the organic farming measure in Lithuania. The matched groups of Lithuanian family farms (organic and conventional) were compared. The results of the research provide a new knowledge about the effectiveness of the organic farming measure in Lithuania and suggest the ways of their improvement in the future. The results can also be generalised to other countries with similar agricultural structure.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the Chinese media’s performance on reporting the issue of waste incineration power plants. The authors analyze the role of media in supervising relevant agencies and meeting the public need for related information.

This paper provides a content analysis of media reports toward waste incineration projects that follow the anti-incinerator event that occurred in Panyu district of Guangzhou city in 2009. The sample of this paper is based on 469 news reports that were released on the state-level search engine “ChinaSo.com” from January 2010 to June 2016.

Chinese media did not continue to focus on waste incineration issues after the anti-incinerator event in the Panyu district and there were only a few news reports about this topic. News reports of the information disclosure category accounts for the largest proportion but lack a depth of explanation. The proportion of news reports of media supervision and popular science information categories is relatively small.

This paper is a pilot study of the media’s reporting characteristics on waste incineration issues. There are some shortcomings in terms of sample selection and analysis, more in-depth assessment will be implemented and improved upon the future research. This study highlights the importance of media reports before or after relevant events in examining the media’s social function. Besides, this study provides a new analytical idea for assessing the functions of the media on social public issues through media reports and the conclusions of this study have certain practical significance for the media to improve report behaviors.

This paper selects media reports on waste incineration power plant after the anti-incinerator event in Panyu district as media industry could pay much attention to relevant topics before the beginning of conflict events and continue tracking reports even after the events subside. This paper points out that Chinese media might increase sustained attention to waste incineration issues, strengthen the depth of interpretation, increase the supervision of relevant agencies, and enhance the relevance of the news reports to the public.

This paper aims to provide a fabrication and measurement of a highly stretchable pressure sensor with a “V-type” array microelectrode on a grating PDMS substrate.

First, the “V-type” array structure on the silicon wafer was fabricated by the MEMS technology, and the fabrication process included ultra-violet lithography and silicon etching. The “V-type” array structure on the master mold was then replicated into polycarbonate, which served as an intermediate, negative mold, using a conventional nanoimprint lithography technique. The negative mold was subsequently used in the PDMS molding process to produce PDMS “V-type” array structures with the same structures as the master mold. An Ag film was coated on the PDMS “V-type” array structure surface by the magnetron sputtering process to obtain PDMS “V-type” array microelectrodes. Finally, a PDMS prepolymer was prepared using a Sylgard184 curing agent with a weight ratio of a 20:1 and applied to the cavity at the middle of the two-layer PDMS “V-type” array microelectrode template to complete hot-press bonding, and a pressure sensor was realized.

The experimental results showed that the PDMS “V-type” array microelectrode has high stretchability of 65 per cent, temperature stability of 0.0248, humidity stability of 0.000204, bending stability and cycle stability. Capacitive pressure sensors with a “V-type” array microelectrode exhibit ideal initial capacitance (111.45 pF), good pressure sensitivity of 0.1143 MPa-1 (0-0.35 Mpa), fast response and relaxation times (<200 ms), high bending stability, high temperature/humidity stability and high cycle stability.

The PDMS “V-type” array structure microelectrode can be used to fabricate pressure sensors and is highly flexible, crack-free and durable.

This paper aims to successfully synthesize three-dimensional spindle-like Au functionalized Co₃O₄-ZnO nanocomposites; characterize the structure, morphology and surface chemical properties of the products; study the effect of Au NPs doping concentration, operating temperature different gas to, sensing properties; and introduce an attractive gas sensor for acetone detection.

Au NPs functionalized Co₃O₄-ZnO nanocomposite was prepared by coprecipitation and impregnation methods; the structure and surface chemical property of the products were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, UV-Vis, BET and XPS. The sensing ability of Au@Co₃O₄-ZnO for acetone and mechanism was analyzed systematically.

The results of gas sensing tests show that the unique component structure, Schottky junction and catalytic effect of Au functionalization make it have low operating temperature, excellent selectivity, high response (10 ppm, 56) and rapid response recovery time.

All the characterization and test data of the prepared materials are provided in this paper and reveals the gas sensing mechanism of the gas sensor.

The detection limit is 2.92–100 ppb acetone. It is promising to be applied in low-power, micro detection and miniature acetone gas sensors.

The gas sensor prepared has a lower working temperature and low detection limit, so it has promising application prospects in low-concentration acetone detection and early warning.

The unique component structure, Schottky junction and catalytic effect of Au functionalization Co₃O₄-ZnO make it have low operating temperature, excellent selectivity and rapid response recovery time.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the dimensionality of intragroup conflict and to develop an instrument with acceptable psychometric properties for the comprehensive measurement of conflict.

This paper strictly follows the standard scale-developing method: first, establish theoretical dimensions of intragroup conflict; then, develop the initial scale through in-depth interviews and coding schemes; third, revise and verify the scale through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis; and, finally, examine the predictive validity of the new intragroup conflict scale.

This study identifies four dimensions of intragroup conflict – cognitive conflict, affective conflict, behavioral conflict, and interest-based conflict – and provides evidence of construct validity for a new measure. The results show that cognitive and interest-based conflict affect group innovation performance positively, whereas affective and behavioral conflict affects it negatively.

This study first detects interest-based conflict as a new dimension and explores a more comprehensive scale (ABCI) that reflects all the connotations of conflict, which deepens the understanding of intragroup conflict, laying a solid foundation for empirical studies of conflict.

The purpose of this study is to examine the challenges involved in the trade-offs of labor productivity and per capita carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission.

In this research, we used a balanced dataset of 36 OECD countries and China between 1990 and 2018. We examined the relationship between labor productivity and per capita CO₂ emission for OECD countries and China based on an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. Further, the fixed effects model of estimation was employed to examine the impact of variables during the sample period and explore the relationship between predictor and outcome variables within an entity while controlling for all time-invariant differences.

This study confirmed the existence of the N-shape EKC hypothesis in 36 OECD countries and China. This implies that at the initial development stage, per capita CO₂ emission increased with labor productivity; however, after reaching certain threshold, per capita CO₂ emission began to fall with rising labor productivity. Then the per capita CO₂ emission rises again when labor productivity continually increases.

In this study, we explored the dynamic association between labor productivity and per capita CO₂ emissions for 36 OECD countries and China under the EKC framework from 1990 to 2018 by using the labor productivity and per capita CO₂ emission as economic and environmental indicators of one country respectively. This study’s contribution showed the following: first, the empirical findings confirmed the N-shape relationship between labor productivity and per capita CO₂ emissions for 36 OECD countries and China; second, the findings demonstrated that the association among the underlying variables by testing through the fixed effect model.

Corporations, as key contributors of greenhouse gas emissions, have been increasingly scrutinized by governments and stakeholders. Corporations have been asked to disclose their carbon-related information. This study investigates public corporate carbon disclosure, an imperative communication channel between firms.

This study uses generalized estimation equation models with a longitudinal panel data of 311 listed firms in the China A-share stock index from 2010 to 2020. This study collected firm-level data from the Carbon Disclosure Project survey, the China Stock Market and Accounting Research, and the National Economic Research Institute of China. Stata was used as the primary statistic software in empirical analyses.

This study finds that compared to state-owned enterprises (SOEs), private firms are more willing to disclose carbon information under legitimate environmental pressure, and firms in highly distorted factor-markets are reluctant to disclose carbon information. This study finds that factor-distortion markets further moderate ownership and lead private firms in highly distorted factor-markets to behave like SOEs by significantly reducing their carbon disclosures.

This study intends to contribute to the corporate carbon disclosure literature by adding important institutional determinants to the conversation in the context of China.

This paper aims to examine how the official discourse of frugality evolved in China between 1979 and 2015.

The study uses historical and textual analysis. It divides the Chinese official discourse on frugality between 1979 and 2015 into four periods: 1979-1992, 1993-2002, 2003-2012 and 2013-2015.

A Chinese official discourse on frugality persisted between 1979 and 2015, even though during the same period, China transformed from a socialist economy of central planning and insufficient supply to a market economy of excessive supply and weak consumer demand. The intensity of this official discourse frequently vacillated, adjusting to both economic and political conditions of the time as part of the larger political-economic contestation between competing ideas and policies.

There have been calls for more studies on how frugality discourses have evolved in international markets, especially in terms of how they are shaped by local historical antecedents and long-standing tensions. Through the Chinese case, this article illuminates why some traditional values persist and obtain a paradoxical co-existence with consumerist ethos in our modern society.