Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to establish the framework of pansystems variation theory (PVT) and discuss its principles, models, methods, and related applications to computer science.
Design/methodology/approach
The PVT has been established based on the traditional variation theory from the viewpoint of pansystems theory. The theoretical foundation of PVT is pansystems variational principle. It is an interpretation or a specialized expression of relative objective regularity in the variation of things. The application layer of PVT is pansystems variational operations research (PVOR).
Findings
The applications of PVT for computer science can be summarized as actualizations of PVOR: V−d(xy)=*0*/PRR′P′/0**.
Originality/value
Some new ideas of PVT can illuminate the researches of computer science.
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Yuan Li and Jacqueline Eastman
Cute products have found market success. The literature has identified various factors of cuteness, but the effect of size is under-addressed. This study aims to investigate…
Abstract
Purpose
Cute products have found market success. The literature has identified various factors of cuteness, but the effect of size is under-addressed. This study aims to investigate whether and how size perception influences consumers’ cuteness perception.
Design/methodology/approach
In three experiments, size was manipulated in terms of visual cue, product description and product name to determine its impact on cuteness perception.
Findings
The results of the three experiments demonstrate that a size cue of smallness can heighten consumers’ perception of product cuteness. The first two studies provided converging evidence for the main hypothesis that smaller objects are evaluated as cuter. Study 3 not only replicated the findings of the first two studies but also revealed that vulnerability acts as the underlying process for the smallness-cuteness relationship. Study 3 also showed that the purchase likelihood for an extended product warranty is higher in the small condition compared to the control condition.
Research limitations/implications
While the findings were robust across product types and size manipulations, possible boundary conditions related to product types or individual characteristics were not tested.
Practical implications
The findings suggest how brand managers can use size perceptions to influence consumers’ perceptions of the cuteness of their products and brands.
Originality/value
The findings inform brand managers about the nuances of size cues that may affect how customers perceive their products and identify a more generally applicable cuteness factor that may have downstream implications for marketing practitioners.
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Hyunju Shin, Jacqueline Eastman and Yuan Li
This study aims to focus on understanding the consumer-luxury brand relationships among Generation Z. Generation Z is an up-and-coming generational cohort that has received…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to focus on understanding the consumer-luxury brand relationships among Generation Z. Generation Z is an up-and-coming generational cohort that has received limited research attention in the domains of both consumer-brand relationships and luxury branding, despite its growing size and purchasing power. Therefore, this study highlights the distinctive patterns of Generation Z’s relationship with luxury by identifying their choice of a luxury brand, the nature of the brand relationships, what characterizes these relationships and the internal and external influences that shape these relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used brand collage construction. A total of 56 Generation Z respondents created brand collages that covered 38 different luxury brands. The data from the collages and their accompanying descriptions were evaluated using content analysis.
Findings
This study identifies Generation Z’s unique yet expansive view of luxury that encompasses not only traditional luxury but also masstige and non-traditional luxury brands. Moreover, the findings generally support that Generation Z’s relationships with luxury brands are characterized by “like” rather than “love”; while Generation Z may feel a high level of loyalty toward luxury brands in terms of attitudes and behaviors, they do not necessarily have strong, passionate feelings for them.
Originality/value
The findings of this study offer a comprehensive understanding of Generation Z’s brand relationship with luxury. Luxury marketers need to recognize that for Generation Z consumers, luxury is an integral part of their everyday lifestyle more than a display of success, which is clearly different from previous generations.
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Peng Wang, Luyu Liu, Fanghao Nan and RenQuan Dong
Assisted training using upper limb rehabilitation robots is beneficial for flaccid paralysis patients in recovering their functional abilities. In the assisted training mode, the…
Abstract
Purpose
Assisted training using upper limb rehabilitation robots is beneficial for flaccid paralysis patients in recovering their functional abilities. In the assisted training mode, the patient’s motor ability is limited by factors such as limb muscle tension, and it is prone for the rehabilitation robot to deviate from the prescribed training trajectory. A sliding mode control method based on a fixed time observer is proposed to address the problem of delayed trajectory tracking response of upper limb rehabilitation robots caused by external disturbances such as patient limbs.
Design/methodology/approach
First, aiming at the problem of estimating and compensating for external disturbances in the upper limb rehabilitation robot system, a fixed time observer was designed based on the robot’s dynamic model. Second, the composite sliding mode reaching law combining the smooth function and the power-exponential function is proposed to shorten the convergence time of system states in the startup phase, thereby reducing chattering in the control process and realizing the real-time tracking of the training trajectory by the control system.
Findings
The proposed method provides a solution for the trajectory tracking speed of upper limb rehabilitation robot controllers. In the circular trajectory tracking control, compared to the sliding-mode control method combined with the variable-exponential composite reaching law based on the fixed-time observer, the method in this paper reduces the time for the system state to reach the sliding surface by 0.89 s and improves the response speed by 0.66%.
Originality/value
The composite sliding mode approach law based on smooth function and power exponent function can reduce the time it takes for the system state to reach and remain on the sliding surface and improve the trajectory tracking speed of upper limb rehabilitation robots. This controller improves the accuracy of trajectory control and ensures the robustness of auxiliary rehabilitation training.
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Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) on the mechanical, thermal and electrical conductivity properties of polyurethane (PU) by in situ polymerisation of MWNTs and PU.
Design/methodology/approach
A number of analytical techniques, including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, were employed to assess the effects of acid treatment on MWNTs. The mechanical and thermal properties of PU, MWNTs and PU composites were characterised using a tensile tester machine and dynamic mechanical analysis. The electoral conductivity properties of the materials were characterised by ohmmeter.
Findings
It was found that desirable modifications to MWNTs occurred after acid treatment, thus mainly carboxylic acid groups were introduced onto the surface of MWNTs. And the acid‐treated MWNTs could improve the mechanical, thermal and electrical conductivity properties of PU by in situ polymerisation of MWNTs and PU successfully.
Practical implications
The investigation established a method to synthesise MWNTs and PU composites by in situ polymerisation. The mechanical, thermal and electrical conductivity properties of PU could be improved by the inclusion of MWNTs.
Originality/value
The paper establishes a method to synthesise MWNTs and PU composites by in situ polymerisation; and the effects of MWNTs on modifying mechanical, thermal and electrical conductivity properties of PU by in situ polymerisation are investigated in detail.
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Yaqi Diao, Jihui Wang, Renhong Song, Xue Fei, Zhichang Xue and Wenbin Hu
The purpose of this paper is to prepare a multifunctional nanocomposite that is slow-release and resistant to seawater corrosion and biofouling corrosion and to explore the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to prepare a multifunctional nanocomposite that is slow-release and resistant to seawater corrosion and biofouling corrosion and to explore the synergistic effect between the two corrosion inhibitors.
Design/methodology/approach
The morphology, structure and release properties of CAP@HNTs, BTA@HNTs and CAP/BTA@HNTs were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, specific surface area analysis and UV spectrophotometry. The corrosion resistance and antimicrobial properties were investigated by electrochemical measurements and bioinhibition rate tests, and the synergistic effect between the two corrosion inhibitors was explored by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.
Findings
The CAP/BTA@HNTs are responsive to acidic environments and have significantly improved antibacterial and corrosion resistance compared with CAP@HNTs and BTA@HNTs. CAP and BTA have a positive synergistic effect on anticorrosion and antifouling.
Originality/value
Two types of inhibitors, anticorrosion and antifouling, were loaded into the same nanocontainer to prepare a slow-releasable and multifunctional nanocomposite with higher resistance to seawater corrosion and biocorrosion and to explore the synergistic effect of CAP and BTA on corrosion resistance.
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Guocheng Xiang, Jingjing Liu and Yuxuan Yang
The modernization of China’s economy is an integral part of Chinese-style modernization. According to the principle of unifying…
Abstract
Purpose
The modernization of China’s economy is an integral part of Chinese-style modernization. According to the principle of unifying theoretical, historical and practical logic, theoretically explaining the modernization of China’s economy is both a political necessity and a higher scientific requirement.
Design/methodology/approach
Following this evolutionary line – from modes of production to the general economic development mechanism and then to patterns of economic operation and development – this paper employs the principal contradiction analysis method to offer an interpretation of China’s economic modernization from the broad Marxist political economy perspective.
Findings
In economic terms, “get organized” primarily refers to the development and mutual promotion of team-based and market-based division of labor organizations, as discussed by Karl Marx. “Get organized” (specifically the development of team-based division of labor organizations) acts as the engine of China’s economic modernization and serves as the historical logical starting point. Division of labor is the theoretical logical starting point for interpreting China’s economic modernization. The two of them are congruent, achieving the unity of theoretical and historical logic at the starting point. The development and mutual promotion of these “two types of division of labor” inherently generate the general mechanism of economic development first comprehensively discussed by Marx and Friedrich Engels, which involves the division of labor development and market expansion accumulating cyclically and reinforcing each other. This mechanism drives both the high-speed and high-quality development of China’s economic modernization.
Originality/value
The broad Marxist political economy paradigm facilitates explaining China’s economic modernization theoretically, historically and practically with unified logic. “Get organized” serves as both the engine and the realization mechanism of this modernization, with the Communist Party of China (CPC) consistently being the core force of this organizational effort.
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This study aims to understand the epistemic foundation of the classification applied in the first Chinese library catalogue, the Seven Epitomes (Qilue).
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to understand the epistemic foundation of the classification applied in the first Chinese library catalogue, the Seven Epitomes (Qilue).
Design/methodology/approach
Originating from a theoretical stance that situates knowledge organization in its social context, the study applies a multifaceted framework pertaining to five categories of textual data: the Seven Epitomes; biographical information about the classificationist Liu Xin; and the relevant intellectual, political, and technological history.
Findings
The study discovers seven principles contributing to the epistemic foundation of the catalogue's classification: the Han imperial library collection imposed as the literary warrant; government functions considered for structuring texts; classicist morality determining the main classificatory structure; knowledge perceived and organized as a unity; objects, rather than subjects, of concern affecting categories at the main class level; correlative thinking connecting all text categories to a supreme knowledge embodied by the Six Classics; and classicist moral values resulting in both vertical and horizontal hierarchies among categories as well as texts.
Research limitations/implications
A major limitation of the study is its focus on the main classes, with limited attention to subclasses. Future research can extend the analysis to examine subclasses of the same scheme. Findings from these studies may lead to a comparison between the epistemic approach in the target classification and the analytic one common in today's bibliographic classification.
Originality/value
The study is the first to examine in depth the epistemic foundation of traditional Chinese bibliographic classification, anchoring the classification in its appropriate social and historical context.
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Karl Marx's social capital reproduction theory is his significant contribution to economics. The purpose of this paper is to review the contributions of the exploration of Chinese…
Abstract
Purpose
Karl Marx's social capital reproduction theory is his significant contribution to economics. The purpose of this paper is to review the contributions of the exploration of Chinese economists (especially Professor Liu Guoguang) in the concretization of Marx’s social capital reproduction theory combined with socialist construction since 1949.
Design/methodology/approach
During this process, Professor Liu Guoguang, a famous Chinese Marxist economist, has made an outstanding contribution by creating a Marxist social capital reproduction model with Chinese characteristics and a distinctive Marxist economic growth model. Professor Liu's exploration is still of crucial practical significance to building a socialist market economy today.
Findings
The process and achievements in the sinicization exploration of Marx's social capital reproduction theory were reviewed. With the reform and opening up, fundamental changes have occurred in China's economic system – the centralized planned economic system has been transformed into a socialist market economic system.
Originality/value
The planned management of the national economy is replaced by a macro-regulation system characterized by gross control gradually, and the concepts of agriculture, light industry, and heavy industry, and their intercorrelation are no longer applied in theory and policy. However, the sinicization exploration of Marx's social capital reproduction theory in the older generation of Marxist economists represented by Liu is not only of historical significance but also of important practical significance.