Liantao Hou, Yinsheng Yang, Xiaoyi Zhang and Chunming Jiang
The relationship between farm size and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has not been clearly defined. This paper aims to assess and compare the impact of farm size on greenhouse gas…
Abstract
Purpose
The relationship between farm size and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has not been clearly defined. This paper aims to assess and compare the impact of farm size on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions derived from wheat and maize production in the North China Plain (NCP), one of the most important agricultural regions in China.
Design/methodology/approach
A field survey through face-to-face interviews was conducted to collect the primary data, and life cycle assessment method, a worldwide comparable framework, was then adopted to characterize the farm-size effect on greenhouse gas (GHG) wheat and maize production in NCP.
Findings
It was confirmed that GHG emissions from N fertilizer production and use were the primary contributor to total carbon footprint (CF). As farm size increased, maize yield increased but wheat yield barely changed, while area-scaled and yield-scaled CF declined for both crops. These results were supposed to relate to utilize the inputs more efficiently resulting from increased application of modern agriculture methods on larger operations. It was also found maize not only had higher grain yields, but possessed much smaller CFs. More notably, the reduction of CF with farm size seemed to be more sensitive for maize as compared to wheat. To further mitigate GHG emissions, farm size should better be larger for wheat than for maize.
Originality/value
This study provides useful information guide for Chinese agriculture in increasing crop production, raising farm income and relieving environmental burdens caused by the misuse of agricultural resources.
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Zhirun Li, Yinsheng Yang, Namho So and Jong-In Lee
During the planting process, agricultural products produce large amounts of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This has placed tremendous pressure on sustainable global development…
Abstract
Purpose
During the planting process, agricultural products produce large amounts of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This has placed tremendous pressure on sustainable global development. Many countries and regions in the world have adopted intensive subsistence cultivation methods when planting maize; however, limited studies exist on these methods. The main purpose of this research is to show the impact of climate change on maize yields and carbon footprint (CF) in South Korea over 10 years, find the proper operating method and promote the advanced combination of inputs for the sustainable development of maize farmers.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used survey data from the South Korea Rural Development Administration of 2010, 2014 and 2019 to estimate the CF of maize planting under intensive subsistence cultivation. Life-cycle assessment was used to determine the CF. Farmers were grouped according to significant differences in yield and GHG emissions. Linear regression was used to measure the dependence of the main contributors on the CF production and carbon efficiency.
Findings
In South Korean maize planting, N in chemical fertiliser was the most significant contributor to the CF and organic fertiliser was the most significant input. The use of chemical and organic fertilisers significantly affects the production of the CF and carbon efficiency. Households in the high-yield and low-GHG emission groups are more sustainable because they generate the least GHG when producing and earning through maize cultivation. Globally, maize production in South Korea has a relatively low CF and maize production produces fewer GHG.
Originality/value
This study provides information for policymakers to determine key operational options for reducing GHG emissions using intensive subsistence cultivation of maize production in South Korea and other countries.
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Jingli Yang, Zhen Sun and Yinsheng Chen
This paper aims to enhance the reliability of self-validating multifunctional sensors.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to enhance the reliability of self-validating multifunctional sensors.
Design/methodology/approach
An effective fault detection, isolation and data recovery (FDIR) strategy by using kernel principal component analysis (KPCA) coupled with gray bootstrap and fault reconstruction methods.
Findings
The proposed FDIR strategy is able to the address fault detection, isolation and data recovery problem of self-validating multifunctional sensors efficiently.
Originality/value
A KPCA-based model which can overcome the limitation of existing linear-based models is used to achieve the fault detection task. By using gray bootstrap method, the position of all faulty sensitive units can be calculated even under the multiple faults situation. A reconstruction-based contribution method is adopted to evaluate the amplitudes of the fault signals, and the fault-free output of the faulty sensitive units can be used to replace the fault output.
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Yi Zhang and Hao Dong Gu
Scholars have examined the relationship between sports and urban development and proposed to use sport programs and events as a catalyst to revitalize communities, upgrade urban…
Abstract
Purpose
Scholars have examined the relationship between sports and urban development and proposed to use sport programs and events as a catalyst to revitalize communities, upgrade urban infrastructure, promote city image, shift economic structure, nurture an active lifestyle, and enhance societal harmony and solidarity. Yet, previous studies were usually focused on mega sport events and were typically conceptual, theoretical and lack of practical applications. This study was designed to attain in-depth understanding on how a specific sport, table tennis, can be systematically organized and utilized to influence urban development through a qualitative research injury.
Design/methodology/approach
This investigation was carried by conducting in-depth interviews of the executive director of the Shanghai Table Tennis Association, on-site observations and comprehensive review of literature. Development of interview questions took into consideration the conceptual framework postulated by Preuss (2007) that contains six structures of urban development through sports. Triangulation analyses were conducted to cross validate the three information sources to generate themes and assertions.
Findings
While the identified practices were consistent with Preuss' (2007) framework, specific management activities earnestly practiced in Shanghai are centered on utilizing cultural and historical heritage, star power, branding strategies, staging tournaments, hallmark events, technical innovation and government relations to achieve the objectives of table tennis as a sport and the objectives of urban development through table tennis.
Originality/value
The findings of this study help fill the void that a theory usually cannot specify, namely, detailed, unambiguous practices. While table tennis may be a viewed as a small sport in many parts of the world, it has a strong, unprecedented historical heritage in Shanghai. This city has made a prudent choice and investment in this sport, which has proved to be effective. Other cities in the world should look into their own social, cultural and historical heritage and develop sport strategies, operations and programs accordingly.
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Bariş Özkan, Eren Özceylan, I.brahim Halil Korkmaz and Cihan Çetinkaya
The purpose of this study is to measure the R&D performance of 81 cities in Turkey by using a scientific approach.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to measure the R&D performance of 81 cities in Turkey by using a scientific approach.
Design/methodology/approach
A four-step solution approach is developed for this problem. In the first step, a hierarchical structure of 14 indicators (including number of patents, publications, R&D expense, etc.) in three dimensions is constructed. In the second step, explicitly and implicitly spatial indicators such as university location and R&D manpower are mapped by using geographic information system (GIS). In the third step, a hybrid multi-criteria decision making model, namely, DANP that combines decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) and analytic hierarchy process (ANP) techniques is applied to assign different level of importance to the indicators. In the last step, Višekriterijumska Optimizacijai kompromisno Rešenje (VIKOR) method is used to rank the performance of 81 cities. Obtained results are visualized using GIS to show the pros and cons of each city in terms of R&D performance.
Findings
Results of the paper show that Istanbul, Ankara and Konya are ordered as contenders of best R&D performances and on the contrary, Igdir, Sirnak and Tunceli are ordered as the worst R&D performances among 81 cities.
Research limitations/implications
One limitation of the study can be the considered criteria. However, all the criteria are obtained from literature and experts; thus, the paper covers as much criteria as possible.
Practical implications
The proposed study may allow Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology of Turkey to formulate more effective strategies to improve cities’ R&D performance. In addition, any country can apply the same methodology for measuring the R&D performance of their cities by using their related data. As the worst R&D city performances belong to the eastern part of Turkey, it can be deducted that the socio-cultural structure of the eastern part of the country needs improvement.
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study which applies a GIS-based MCDM approach for R&D performance measurement. Thus, the value of this paper belongs to both literature and real life.
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Guofu Wang, Yuhua Yang, Jiangong Cui, Wendong Zhang, Guojun Zhang, Renxin Wang, Pengcheng Shi and Hua Tian
In recent years, the incidence of cardiovascular disease has continued to rise, and early screening and prevention are especially critical. Phonocardiography (PCG) and…
Abstract
Purpose
In recent years, the incidence of cardiovascular disease has continued to rise, and early screening and prevention are especially critical. Phonocardiography (PCG) and electrocardiography (ECG), as simple, cost-effective and non-invasive tests, are important tools for clinical analysis. However, it is difficult to fully reflect the complexity of the cardiovascular system using PCG or ECG tests alone. Combining the multimodal signals of PCG and ECG can provide complementary information to improve the detection accuracy. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to propose a multimodal signal classification method based on continuous wavelet transform and improved ResNet18.
Design/methodology/approach
The classification method is based on the ResNet18 backbone, and the ResNet18 network is improved by embedding the global grouped coordinate attention mechanism module and the improved bidirectional feature pyramid network. Firstly, a data acquisition system was built using a MEMS-integrated PCG-ECG sensor to construct a private data set. Second is the time-frequency transformation of PCG and ECG synchronized signals on public and private data sets using continuous wavelet transform. Finally, the time-frequency images are categorized.
Findings
The global grouped coordinate attention mechanism and bidirectional feature pyramid network modules proposed in this paper significantly enhance the model’s performance. On public data sets, the method achieves precision, sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and F1 score of 97.96%, 98.51%, 97.58%, 98.08% and 98.23%, respectively, which represent improvements of 3.54%, 3.92%, 4.18%, 4.03% and 3.72% compared to ResNet18. Additionally, it demonstrates a clear advantage over existing mainstream algorithms. On private data sets, the method’s five metrics are 98.15%, 98.76%, 98.08%, 98.42% and 98.45%, further validating the model’s generalization ability.
Originality/value
The method proposed in this paper not only improves the accuracy and efficiency of the test but also provides an effective solution for early screening and prevention of cardiovascular diseases.
Details
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Xingdong Shi, Weili Han, Yinsheng Li and Ying Huang
An enterprise application can be quickly built up by service composition. Business process composition is the essence of service composition. To build up such service‐oriented…
Abstract
Purpose
An enterprise application can be quickly built up by service composition. Business process composition is the essence of service composition. To build up such service‐oriented enterprise application, the developer needs an integrated design tool. The purpose of this paper is to present and integrated business‐process driven design for service‐oriented enterprise applications.
Design/methodology/approach
In the approach, there are three phases: business environment modeling, business process modeling, and script compiling. Business environment modeling adopts a new modeling technique which combines both the advantages of use case diagram and sequence diagram in UML. Business process modeling builds a concrete model according to business environment modeling. The mapping algorithms from business environment model to business process model are also given. At script compiling phase, the business process model is compiled into several deployable files. And then the paper presents a demonstration which shows how to apply our approach to developing a supply chain management system for the retail industry.
Findings
The analysis shows that the approach can meet the requirement of service‐composition. The approach can help business expert freely express their business requirement at business environment modeling phase; and help IT expert quickly design service‐oriented enterprise application according to business environment model at business process modeling phase.
Originality/value
This paper proposes a novel integrated approach to model and implement business‐process driven service composition, and presents an integrated tool based Eclipse to implement this approach.
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Lin fang Wang, Brian Yim, Doori Song and Yi Zhang
Adopting the context, input, process and product (CIPP) evaluation assessment model, this study aims to achieve three objectives: (1) to identify the characteristics of…
Abstract
Purpose
Adopting the context, input, process and product (CIPP) evaluation assessment model, this study aims to achieve three objectives: (1) to identify the characteristics of educational activities conducted by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) museum; (2) to explore the key factors that promote and optimize the educational objectives of the ITTF museum and (3) to develop a framework that attempts to unpack the complex and dynamic processes of activities conducted by the ITTF museum.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative research using in-depth interviews was conducted to explore the functions and activities of the ITTF museum.
Findings
The path of educational activities carried out is expressed in four aspects: (1) educational background including philosophy and purpose, advantages possessed and the learning needs and readiness of the audience; (2) the resource input includes resource allocation, venue structure, funding channels and the basis of activity program design; (3) the educational activity process includes external cooperation and exchange, the specific content of the activity programs, the teaching strategies and methods during the activities and the response to the challenges of the epidemic and (4) the results of the activities include the number of audience and population distribution, evaluation and feedback of the activities, ways and means of promoting the activities and difficulties and challenges faced.
Research limitations/implications
In the follow-up studies, quantitative research can be conducted by developing a questionnaire based on the current study’s findings. Evaluation scales can be set to continue to enrich and improve the uncovered research content, which is conducive to promoting the objectives of the ITTF museum and giving full play to the educational function, thus enriching the research of sports museums.
Originality/value
The contributions of this study are as follows. First, it enriches the application of the CIPP assessment model in the context of sports museums. It helps the ITTP museum better perform its educational function and provides a reference for future activities of sports museums.