Lei Huang, Yandong Zhao, Guangxi He, Yangxu Lu, Juanjuan Zhang and Peiyi Wu
The online platform is one of the essential components of the platform economy that is constructed by a large scale of the personal data resource. However, accurate empirical test…
Abstract
Purpose
The online platform is one of the essential components of the platform economy that is constructed by a large scale of the personal data resource. However, accurate empirical test of the competition structure of the data-driven online platform is still less. This research is trying to reveal market allocation structure of the personal data resource of China's car-hailing platforms competition by the empirical data analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is applying the social network analysis by R packages, which include k-core decomposition and multilevel community detection from the data connectedness via the decompilation and the examination of the application programming interface of terminal applications.
Findings
This research has found that the car-hailing platforms, which establish more constant personal data connectedness and connectivity with social media platforms, are taking the competitive market advantage within the sample network. Data access discrimination is a complementary method of market power in China's car-hailing industry.
Research limitations/implications
This research offers a new perspective on the analysis of the multi-sided market from the personal data resource allocation mechanism of the car-hailing platform. However, the measurement of the data connectedness requires more empirical industry data.
Practical implications
This research reveals the competition structure that relies on personal data resource allocation mechanism. It offers empirical evidence for governance, which is considered as the critical issue of big data research, by reviewing the nature of the data network.
Social implications
It also reveals the data convergence process of the social system and the technological system.
Originality/value
This research offers a new research method for the real-time regulation of the car-hailing platform.
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Yandong Hou, Zhengbo Wu, Xinghua Ren, Kaiwen Liu and Zhengquan Chen
High-resolution remote sensing images possess a wealth of semantic information. However, these images often contain objects of different sizes and distributions, which make the…
Abstract
Purpose
High-resolution remote sensing images possess a wealth of semantic information. However, these images often contain objects of different sizes and distributions, which make the semantic segmentation task challenging. In this paper, a bidirectional feature fusion network (BFFNet) is designed to address this challenge, which aims at increasing the accurate recognition of surface objects in order to effectively classify special features.
Design/methodology/approach
There are two main crucial elements in BFFNet. Firstly, the mean-weighted module (MWM) is used to obtain the key features in the main network. Secondly, the proposed polarization enhanced branch network performs feature extraction simultaneously with the main network to obtain different feature information. The authors then fuse these two features in both directions while applying a cross-entropy loss function to monitor the network training process. Finally, BFFNet is validated on two publicly available datasets, Potsdam and Vaihingen.
Findings
In this paper, a quantitative analysis method is used to illustrate that the proposed network achieves superior performance of 2–6%, respectively, compared to other mainstream segmentation networks from experimental results on two datasets. Complete ablation experiments are also conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the elements in the network. In summary, BFFNet has proven to be effective in achieving accurate identification of small objects and in reducing the effect of shadows on the segmentation process.
Originality/value
The originality of the paper is the proposal of a BFFNet based on multi-scale and multi-attention strategies to improve the ability to accurately segment high-resolution and complex remote sensing images, especially for small objects and shadow-obscured objects.
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Shan Chen, Fuli Zhou, Jiafu Su, Longxiao Li, Biyu Yang and Yandong He
The paper investigates firms' optimal pricing policies and green strategies in a dynamic green supply chain with consideration of different retail service strategies. The purpose…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper investigates firms' optimal pricing policies and green strategies in a dynamic green supply chain with consideration of different retail service strategies. The purpose of the paper is to address the following research questions: (1) What are the optimal pricing policies and green strategies of the dynamic decentralized supply chain with the competitive or supportive retail service? (2) How does the dynamic consumer's perception of green product affect these equilibrium solutions?
Design/methodology/approach
The paper establishes the dynamic game models and then derives a firm's instantaneous and steady-state feedback equilibrium solutions in three scenarios as follows: (1) the integrated supply chain; (2) the decentralized supply chain with competitive retail service and (3) the decentralized supply chain with supportive retail service. Finally, we conduct numerical analyses to compare the firm's instantaneous and steady-state equilibrium solutions and profit in the three scenarios.
Findings
The theoretical and numerical analysis results suggest that the supportive retail service is less inefficient than the competitive retail service in the decentralized supply chain and that the types of retail service have no influence on the green strategy. Moreover, a firm's myopia leads to lowering the greenness degree, retail service level and severe price competition, resulting in economic losses. Consumers’ initial perception of greenness degree determines whether the retailer should adopt the skimming pricing strategy or penetration pricing strategy. Furthermore, only when consumers’ perception of greenness degree is higher than a threshold, will the manufacturer produce green product with positive greenness degree.
Originality/value
This is one of few studies on the effect of different types of retail service on horizontal competition in green supply chain. The extension of the static study by adopting differential game approaches provides researchers with a deeper understanding of the application of retail service in green supply chain.
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Zhengquan Chen, Lu Han and Yandong Hou
This paper proposes a novel method of fault detection, which is based on H_/H∞ Runge–Kutta observer and an adaptive threshold for a class of closed-loop non-linear systems. The…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper proposes a novel method of fault detection, which is based on H_/H∞ Runge–Kutta observer and an adaptive threshold for a class of closed-loop non-linear systems. The purpose of this paper is to improve the rapidity and accuracy of fault detection.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the authors design the H_/H∞ Runge–Kutta fault detection observer, which is used as a residual generator to decouple the residual from the input. The H_ performance index metric in the specified frequency domain is used to describe how sensitive the residual to the fault. The H∞ norm is used to describe the residual robustness to the external disturbance of the systems. The residual generator is designed to achieve the best tradeoff between robustness against unknown disturbances but sensitivity to faults, thus realizing the accurate detection of the fault by suppressing the influence of noise and disturbance on the residual. Next, the design of the H_/H∞ fault detection observer is transformed into a convex optimization problem and solved by linear matrix inequality. Then, a new adaptive threshold is designed to improve the accuracy of fault detection.
Findings
The effectiveness and correctness of the method are tested in simulation experiments.
Originality/value
This paper presents a novel approach to improve the accuracy and rapidity of fault detection for closed-loop non-linear system with disturbances and noise.
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The purpose of this paper is to apply the theory of cultural diplomacy to explore and explain the role and function of the Confucius Institution project and its implications for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to apply the theory of cultural diplomacy to explore and explain the role and function of the Confucius Institution project and its implications for understanding of China's soft power projection.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper first presents the theories of soft power and cultural diplomacy as an analytic framework. It then delineates an interpretative illustration of the CI project as a platform for China's cultural diplomacy. The paper concludes with a discussion of the CI project's implications for understanding of China's soft power projection.
Findings
The paper argues that the Confucius Institute project can be understood as a form of cultural diplomacy that is state‐sponsored and university‐piloted, a joint effort to gain China a more sympathetic global reception. As such, the Confucius Institution project involves a complex of soft power techniques. However, it is not entirely representative of soft power capability, because the problems embedded in the project and in the wider society run counter to the Chinese government's efforts to increase the Confucius Institutions’ attractiveness and popularity.
Originality/value
This article sheds light on Chinese universities in the role of “unofficial cultural diplomats.” On this topic, further research may need to explore more fundamental issues that bear far‐reaching significance and impact, i.e. the mechanics of Chinese university involvement in Confucius Institutes. Interesting questions arising from this study may help open up a wider spectrum of research topics for understanding the university‐state relationship, cross‐border higher education, as well as the possibilities and limits of educational globalization. At this stage, this article serves as a start to move scholarship in that direction.
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Lifang Wu, Zechao Liu, Yupeng Guan, Kejian Cui, Meng Jian, Yuanyuan Qin, Yandong Li, Feng Yang and Tianqin Yang
This paper aims to address the problem of uncertain product quality in digital light processing (DLP) three-dimensional (3D) printing, a scheme is proposed to qualitatively…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to address the problem of uncertain product quality in digital light processing (DLP) three-dimensional (3D) printing, a scheme is proposed to qualitatively estimate whether a layer is printed with the qualified quality or not cured .
Design/methodology/approach
A thermochromic pigment whose color fades at 45°C is prepared as the indicator and it is mixed with the resin. A visual surveillance framework is proposed to monitor the visual variation in a period of the entire curing process. The exposure region is divided into 30 × 30 sub-regions; gray-level variation curves (curing curves) in all sub-regions are classified as normal or abnormal and a corresponding printing control strategy is designed to improve the percentage of qualified printed objects.
Findings
The temperature variation caused by the releasing reaction heat on the exposure surface is consistent in different regions under the homogenized light intensity. The temperature in depth begins to rise at different times. The temperature in the regions near the light source rises earlier, and that far from the light source rises later. Thus, the color of resin mixed with the thermochromic pigment fades gradually over a period of the entire solidification process. The color variation in the regions with defects of bubbles, insufficient material filling, etc., is much different from that in the normal curing regions.
Originality/value
A temperature-sensitive organic chromatic chemical pigment is prepared to present the visual variation over a period of the entire curing process. A novel 3D printing scheme with visual surveillance is proposed to monitor the layer-wise curing quality and to timely stop the possible unqualified printing resulted from bubbles, insufficient material filling, etc.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the post-enactment status of China’s Labour Contract Law and Labour Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Law, focusing on the dramatic rise in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the post-enactment status of China’s Labour Contract Law and Labour Dispute Mediation and Arbitration Law, focusing on the dramatic rise in remuneration litigation amidst much criticism of weak or ineffective implementation of these laws.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper deploys both quantitative and qualitative analysis methods to investigate the features of remuneration litigation. Remuneration judgments by Beijing People’s Courts from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2017 provide the primary empirical data. The intrinsic features of remuneration disputes are investigated to delineate subcategories of claims. Several judges were also interviewed to further explore the nature of remuneration disputes.
Findings
Four types of remuneration claims were identified: regular wage, minimum wage, overtime and others (including subsidies and welfare). Examination of these four types, especially how they are processed until concluded by court adjudication, provides a fuller picture of the post-enactment status of these laws and yields objective and rational findings. To explain the continuing steady rise in the volume of remuneration claims, as more workers have knowledge of their rights and access to the courts, this study identifies an increase in the number of factually complicated cases (e.g. overtime claims) and abmiguity in the relevant law, leaving some remuneration disputes difficult, if not impossible, to adjudicate. Conversely, the study also finds significant positive trends following these laws’ enactment, particularly a reduction in straightforward cases, such as disputes concerning non-payment of wages/minimum wages, on which the law is clear. It is evidently imperative to improve the clarity of the current laws through further legislation, as the most appropriate next step in China’s juridification process of developing its own rule of Labour Law.
Research limitations/implications
This study is purposely limited to examining remuneration litigation in Beijing’s courts from 2014 to 2017, which is representative of the national trend of dramatically rising remuneration disputes, and thus provides valuable insights. Future studies should cover a wider geographic territory and other categories of labour disputes to provide an even more comprehensive picture of the challenges and potential solutions.
Practical implications
By understanding the driving factors of rising labour remuneration disputes, the legislature, workers and employers can act accordingly to curb labour conflicts. The growing complexity and technicality of remuneration litigation indicates that the pressing need of labour juridification is to deploy a subtle, comprehensive method to improve legal clarity and judicial professionalism.
Originality/value
This study uniquely divides the types of remuneration litigation in Beijing, adopting methods and yielding findings absent from the prior literature. Both the progress and challenges in China’s rule of Labour Law process are reflected in this work, together with public policy and theoretical implications for further study.
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Fuli Zhou, Yandong He, Panpan Ma and Raj V. Mahto
The booming of the Internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques contributes to knowledge adoption and management innovation for the healthcare industry. It…
Abstract
Purpose
The booming of the Internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques contributes to knowledge adoption and management innovation for the healthcare industry. It is of great significance to transport the medical resources to required places in an efficient way. However, it is difficult to exactly discover matched transportation resources and deliver to its destination due to the heterogeneity. This paper studies the medical transportation resource discovery mechanism, leading to efficiency improvement and operational innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
To solve the transportation resource semantic discovery problem under the novel cloud environment, the ontology modelling approach is used for both transportation resources and tasks information modes. Besides, medical transportation resource discovery mechanism is proposed, and resource matching rules are designed including three stages: filtering reasoning, QoS-based matching and user preferences-based rank to satisfy personalized demands of users. Furthermore, description logic rules are built to express the developed matching rules.
Findings
An organizational transportation case is taken as an example to describe the medical transportation logistics resource semantic discovery process under cloud medical service scenario. Results derived from the proposed semantic discovery mechanism could assist operators to find the most suitable resources.
Research limitations/implications
The case study validates the effectiveness of the developed transportation resource semantic discovery mechanism, contributing to knowledge management innovation for the medical logistics industry.
Originality/value
To improve task-resource matching accuracy under cloud scenario, this study develops a transportation resource semantic discovery procedure from the viewpoint of knowledge management. The novel knowledge management practice contributes to operational management of the cloud medical logistics service by introducing ontology modelling and creative management.
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Yandong He, Xu Wang, Fuli Zhou and Yun Lin
This paper aims to study the vehicle routing problem with dynamic customers considering dual service (including home delivery [HD] and customer pickup [CP]) in the last mile…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study the vehicle routing problem with dynamic customers considering dual service (including home delivery [HD] and customer pickup [CP]) in the last mile delivery in which three decisions have to be made: determine routes that lie along the HD points and CP facilities; optimize routes in real time, which mode is better between simultaneous dual service (SDS, HD points and CP facilities are served simultaneously by the same vehicle); and respective dual service (RDS, HD points and CP facilities are served by different vehicles)?
Design/methodology/approach
This paper establishes a mixed integer linear programing model for the dynamic vehicle routing problem considering simultaneous dual services (DVRP-SDS). To increase the practical usefulness and solve large instances, the authors designed a two-phase matheuristic including construction-improvement heuristics to solve the deterministic model and dynamic programing to adjust routes to dynamic customers.
Findings
The computational experiments show that the CP facilities offer greater flexibility for adjusting routes to dynamic customers and that the SDS delivery system outperforms the RDS delivery system in terms of cost and number of vehicles used.
Practical implications
The results provide managerial insights for express enterprises from the perspective of operation research to make decisions.
Originality/value
This paper is among the first papers to study the DVRP-SDS. Moreover, this paper guides the managers to select better delivery mode in the last mile delivery.
Details
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Fuli Zhou, Panpan Ma, Yandong He, Saurabh Pratap, Peng Yu and Biyu Yang
With an increasingly fierce competition of the shipbuilding industry, advanced technologies and excellent management philosophies in the manufacturing industry are gradually…
Abstract
Purpose
With an increasingly fierce competition of the shipbuilding industry, advanced technologies and excellent management philosophies in the manufacturing industry are gradually introduced to domestic shipyards. The purpose of this study is to promote the lean management of Chinese ship outfitting plants by lean production strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
To promote the lean implementation of Chinese shipyards, the lean practice of ship-pipe part production is highlighted by lot-sizing optimization and strategic CONWIP (constant work-in-process) control. A nonlinear programming model is formulated to minimize the total cost of ship-pipe part manufacturing and the particle swarm optimization (PSO)-based algorithm is designed to resolve the established model. Besides, the pull-from-the-bottleneck (PFB) strategy is used to control ship-pipe part production, verified by Simulink simulation.
Findings
Results show that the proposed lean strategy of the programming model and strategic PFB control could assist Chinese ship outfitting plants to leverage competitive advantage by waste reduction and lean achievement. Specifically, the PFB double-loop control strategy shows better performance when there is high productivity and the PFB single-loop control outperforms at lower productivity scenarios.
Practical implications
To verify the effectiveness of the proposed lean strategy, a case study is performed to validate the formulated model. Also, simulation experiments realized by FlexSim software are conducted to testify results obtained by the constructed programming model.
Originality/value
Lean production management practice of the shipyard building industry is performed by the proposed lean production strategy through lot-sizing optimization and strategic PFB control in terms of ship-pipe part manufacturing.