Shengyang Sun, Chao Zhang and Ruifa Hu
The negative externalities of pesticide overuse increasingly concern the public. However, little empirical evidence has been provided for pesticide overuse and the relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
The negative externalities of pesticide overuse increasingly concern the public. However, little empirical evidence has been provided for pesticide overuse and the relationship between the governmental agricultural extension system reforms and pesticide use in grain production from a nationwide perspective. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the productive effect and overuse of pesticides, and it also investigates the effect of the governmental agricultural extension system reforms on pesticide expenditure in rice, maize and wheat production in China.
Design/methodology/approach
A two-equation system model consisting of an exponential-specific damage-control production function and a pesticide use function is applied to the provincial-level data during the period 1985–2016.
Findings
While pesticide expenditure significantly increases grain productivity, the actual pesticide expenditure exceeds the economically optimal level. The commercialization reform of the governmental agricultural extension system contributed to the increase in pesticide expenditure. Moreover, the de-commercialization reform of the governmental agricultural extension system plays a limited role in pesticide reduction. Price fluctuations for grain and pesticide also impose significant effects on pesticide expenditure.
Originality/value
This study has two important policy implications for pesticide reduction in China. It is urgent to specify the functions of the governmental agricultural extension system, and encourage the development of the socialized agricultural technology service. More efforts should also be made to remove the bureaucratic intervention on the pricing mechanism of grain product and pesticide.
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Zengxin Kang, Jing Cui, Yijie Wang, Zhikai Hu and Zhongyi Chu
Current flexible printed circuit (FPC) assembly relies heavily on manual labor, limiting capacity and increasing costs. Small FPC size makes automation challenging as terminals…
Abstract
Purpose
Current flexible printed circuit (FPC) assembly relies heavily on manual labor, limiting capacity and increasing costs. Small FPC size makes automation challenging as terminals can be visually occluded. The purpose of this study is to use 3D tactile sensing to mimic human manual mating skills for enabling sensing offset between FPC terminals (FPC-t) and FPC mating slots (FPC-s) under visual occlusion.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed model has three stages: spatial encoding, offset estimation and action strategy. The spatial encoder maps sparse 3D tactile data into a compact 1D feature capturing valid spatial assembly information to enable temporal processing. To compensate for low sensor resolution, consecutive spatial features are input to a multistage temporal convolutional network which estimates alignment offsets. The robot then performs alignment or mating actions based on the estimated offsets.
Findings
Experiments are conducted on a Redmi Note 4 smartphone assembly platform. Compared to other models, the proposed approach achieves superior offset estimation. Within limited trials, it successfully assembles FPCs under visual occlusion using three-axis tactile sensing.
Originality/value
A spatial encoder is designed to encode three-axis tactile data into feature maps, overcoming multistage temporal convolution network’s (MS-TCN) inability to directly process such input. Modifying the output to estimate assembly offsets with related motion semantics overcame MS-TCN’s segmentation points output, unable to meet assembly monitoring needs. Training and testing the improved MS-TCN on an FPC data set demonstrated accurate monitoring of the full process. An assembly platform verified performance on automated FPC assembly.
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Z.R. Hu, P.A. Mawby, M.S. Towers and K. Board
The transient thermal behaviour, based on a rigorous transient thermodynamic treatment, of a power VDMOS transistor during turn‐off is presented. The time variation of the…
Abstract
The transient thermal behaviour, based on a rigorous transient thermodynamic treatment, of a power VDMOS transistor during turn‐off is presented. The time variation of the interior lattice temperature within the device is calculated by self‐consistently solving the fully coupled Poisson's equation and transient electron continuity equation together with the transient heat flow equation. The simulation takes account of temperature dependent heat conduction and capacity and includes thermoelectric currents due to temperature gradient. To make the transient thermal simulation more robust, a new analytical expression for heat capacity is used.
Qing-Yun Deng, Shun-Peng Zhu, Jin-Chao He, Xue-Kang Li and Andrea Carpinteri
Engineering components/structures with geometric discontinuities normally bear complex and variable loads, which lead to a multiaxial and random/variable amplitude stress/strain…
Abstract
Purpose
Engineering components/structures with geometric discontinuities normally bear complex and variable loads, which lead to a multiaxial and random/variable amplitude stress/strain state. Hence, this study aims how to effectively evaluate the multiaxial random/variable amplitude fatigue life.
Design/methodology/approach
Recent studies on critical plane method under multiaxial random/variable amplitude loading are reviewed, and the computational framework is clearly presented in this paper.
Findings
Some basic concepts and latest achievements in multiaxial random/variable amplitude fatigue analysis are introduced. This review summarizes the research status of four main aspects of multiaxial fatigue under random/variable amplitude loadings, namely multiaxial fatigue criterion, method for critical plane determination, cycle counting method and damage accumulation criterion. Particularly, the latest achievements of multiaxial random/variable amplitude fatigue using critical plane methods are classified and highlighted.
Originality/value
This review attempts to provide references for further research on multiaxial random/variable amplitude fatigue and to promote the development of multiaxial fatigue from experimental research to practical engineering application.
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Gui Yuan, Shali Huang, Jing Fu and Xinwei Jiang
This study aims to assess the default risk of borrowers in peer-to-peer (P2P) online lending platforms. The authors propose a novel default risk classification model based on data…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to assess the default risk of borrowers in peer-to-peer (P2P) online lending platforms. The authors propose a novel default risk classification model based on data cleaning and feature extraction, which increases risk assessment accuracy.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use borrower data from the Lending Club and propose the risk assessment model based on low-rank representation (LRR) and discriminant analysis. Firstly, the authors use three LRR models to clean the high-dimensional borrower data by removing outliers and noise, and then the authors adopt a discriminant analysis algorithm to reduce the dimension of the cleaned data. In the dimension-reduced feature space, machine learning classifiers including the k-nearest neighbour, support vector machine and artificial neural network are used to assess and classify default risks.
Findings
The results reveal significant noise and redundancy in the borrower data. LRR models can effectively clean such data, particularly the two LRR models with local manifold regularisation. In addition, the supervised discriminant analysis model, termed the local Fisher discriminant analysis model, can extract low-dimensional and discriminative features, which further increases the accuracy of the final risk assessment models.
Originality/value
The originality of this study is that it proposes a novel default risk assessment model, based on data cleaning and feature extraction, for P2P online lending platforms. The proposed approach is innovative and efficient in the P2P online lending field.
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Mingli Mei, Ru Zhao and Miaochen Zhu
This study investigated four different economic level areas of China (Shanghai, Shandong, Shaanxi, and Guizhou) to analyze the eastern and western urban and rural media service…
Abstract
This study investigated four different economic level areas of China (Shanghai, Shandong, Shaanxi, and Guizhou) to analyze the eastern and western urban and rural media service status at different development stages. This set of data comes from the comparison of regional urban and rural areas and indicates the various aspects of differences in the survey area, including the media use habits, media resources, media consumer demand, evaluation of media services, the role of media in public life, public knowledge level, and so on. On analyzing data comprehensively, one thing can be found that there is a positive correlation between the public media contact degree and the public knowledge level. The media plays an extremely important role in public life and regional public knowledge gap between urban and rural areas exists. Furthermore, this gap is positively correlated to the media resources and media exposure. The trend of media using on mobile phone and computer in urban areas increases significantly greater than in rural areas. Then, how to narrow the urban–rural and regional public knowledge gap and reduce the negative impact of the digital divide will be an important urgent task.
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Yanan He, Xindong Zhang, Panpan Hao, Xiaoyong Dai and Haiyan Xue
This paper investigates whether China's R&D tax deduction policy triggers firms to manipulate their R&D expenditures upward.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates whether China's R&D tax deduction policy triggers firms to manipulate their R&D expenditures upward.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper employs the ratio of actual tax savings as a proxy for the benefits of the R&D tax deduction policy based on manually collected and systematically cross-checked data. The relationship between tax benefits and abnormal R&D spending is estimated in a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies for the period 2007–2018.
Findings
The findings suggest that tax deductions lead to positive abnormal R&D spending and that this deviation in R&D spending may be attributed to firms' upward R&D manipulation for tax avoidance. The results also indicate that this behavior is more significant for the period after the policy revision, in non-HNTEs (high and new technology enterprises), and in firms with a high ratio of R&D expenses.
Research limitations/implications
It is difficult to establish a sophisticated and unified model to identify the specific strategy of upward R&D manipulation that firms use to obtain tax benefits.
Practical implications
Managers should take into account upward R&D manipulation when designing governance mechanisms. Policymakers in developing countries may further pursue preferential tax policies that cover every stage of innovation activities gradually; the local provincial governments need to leverage their proximity and flexibility advantages to develop a tax collection and administration system.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the understanding of the complex effect of R&D tax incentives and helps more fully illuminate firms' upward R&D manipulation behavior from the perspective of tax planning strategies, which are underexplored in previous research.
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Jiao Li, Tianshu Li, Jodie A. Yuwono, Guozhe Meng and Zhiyuan Feng
This study aims to develop a sol-gel-based coating to provide a long-lasting corrosion protection on AZ31 Mg alloy. Silane-based sol-gel coatings have been successfully applied to…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to develop a sol-gel-based coating to provide a long-lasting corrosion protection on AZ31 Mg alloy. Silane-based sol-gel coatings have been successfully applied to Mg alloys for corrosion protection. However, the micro or nano defects formed during condensation and solidification will cause the coating failure during a long-lasting immersion in a saline solution. More durable corrosion-protective sol-gel coatings are needed.
Design/methodology/approach
A sol-gel-based coating was modified on AZ31 Mg alloy by levodopa (DOPA). The long-lasting corrosion protection mechanism was studied by multiple electrochemical testing methods and surface characterization techniques.
Findings
Long-term testing by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in aqueous 0.1 M NaCl indicated that the modified DOPA@sol-gel coating exhibited significant corrosion protection performance (>14 days). In comparison, the DOPA-free sol-gel coating failed only after three days of testing. The improved corrosion protection is attributed to the self-polymerized DOPA filling to the micro or nano defects in the glassy cross-linked networks of the sol-gel coating, which greatly improves the compactness of the coating.
Originality/value
The method of this study is simple and easy to process, the raw materials are green and the protective effect is excellent, which is of significance for the study of magnesium alloy corrosion protection.
Hong Luo, Yongliang Zeng, Linyu Wan and Yali Shen
From the perspective of top management heterogeneity, this paper aims to study the impact of the psychological traits of executive pay bandwagon on earnings management in the…
Abstract
Purpose
From the perspective of top management heterogeneity, this paper aims to study the impact of the psychological traits of executive pay bandwagon on earnings management in the listed companies of China.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper applies the ratio of executive pay to the median pay level of executives in firms of similar size and industry, namely, the comparing coefficient, as an alternative variable of executive pay bandwagon, and earnings management as the behavior choice of executive pay bandwagon, to examine whether executives in the listed companies of China have comparing mentality, and whether the result is influenced by executive heterogeneity by using the multiple linear regression models.
Findings
The lower the executives’ compensation is than the median pay level of executives in firms of similar size and industry, the stronger the incentive the executives have to compare with others whose pay is higher, increasing the extent of earnings management in the future, and executives tend to use real activities manipulation rather than accrual-based earnings management to increase their performance-based compensation. As pay bandwagon is a kind of executives’ individual psychological reaction, in a large extent, its behavioral performance is likely to be affected by executive heterogeneity. Specifically, when the proportion of male executives, young executives or low educated executives is relatively high, or executives are located in remote cities, there will breed more earnings management behaviors induced by pay bandwagon. Further study shows that pay bandwagon is positively correlated with rigging compensation based on real earnings management and pay bandwagon also has significantly negative effects on the firms’ future value creation.
Research limitations/implications
Pay bandwagon is an important inducement of executives’ earnings management, with implication that for executives with different characteristics, one should pay attention to the subjective psychological perception and expectation of their pay in the future studies related to executives’ compensation incentives.
Originality/value
This study introduces the research within sociology, psychology and experimental economics, and considers the executives’ subjective perception of their pay, to explore the internal mechanism that executives affect firm performance via a specific earnings management method and to implement self-interested behavior due to pay bandwagon. And this is the first study to select several typical executive individual characteristics to investigate the influence of executive heterogeneity on pay bandwagon and its economic consequences.
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Bingjun Li, Shuhua Zhang, Wenyan Li and Yifan Zhang
Grey modeling technique is an important element of grey system theory, and academic articles applied to agricultural science research have been published since 1985, proving the…
Abstract
Purpose
Grey modeling technique is an important element of grey system theory, and academic articles applied to agricultural science research have been published since 1985, proving the broad applicability and effectiveness of the technique from different aspects and providing a new means to solve agricultural science problems. The analysis of the connotation and trend of the application of grey modeling technique in agricultural science research contributes to the enrichment of grey technique and the development of agricultural science in multiple dimensions.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the relevant literature selected from China National Knowledge Infrastructure, the Web of Science, SpiScholar and other databases in the past 37 years (1985–2021), this paper firstly applied the bibliometric method to quantitatively visualize and systematically analyze the trend of publication, productive author, productive institution, and highly cited literature. Then, the literature is combed by the application of different grey modeling techniques in agricultural science research, and the literature research progress is systematically analyzed.
Findings
The results show that grey model technology has broad prospects in the field of agricultural science research. Agricultural universities and research institutes are the main research forces in the application of grey model technology in agricultural science research, and have certain inheritance. The application of grey model technology in agricultural science research has wide applicability and precise practicability.
Originality/value
By analyzing and summarizing the application trend of grey model technology in agricultural science research, the research hotspot, research frontier and valuable research directions of grey model technology in agricultural science research can be more clearly grasped.