Lishuang Wang, Fan Zhang, Zehao Wang and Qiu Tan
The purpose of this paper is to propose and verify the influence mechanism of various kinds of infrastructure investment on farmers' income in rural China. It further analyzes the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose and verify the influence mechanism of various kinds of infrastructure investment on farmers' income in rural China. It further analyzes the effect of rural infrastructure investment on rural economic transformation.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is used to GMM model to verify the relationship between infrastructure investment and farmers' income; furthermore, the mediating effect model is used to verify the linear conduction mechanism, and panel threshold model is used to verify the nonlinear conduction mechanism.
Findings
The results show that: (1) Rural infrastructure investment can indirectly affect farmers' income by changing land efficiency and land use structure; (2) The impact of infrastructure investment on farmers' income is nonlinear; (3) Increasing infrastructural investment of productivity and transportation will contribute to accelerating the transformation of rural economy.
Originality/value
This paper expands the research on the impact of rural infrastructure investment on farmers' income; it analyzes the inner mechanism and enriches the research contents in this field; the influence of various infrastructure investment on rural economic transformation is further discussed; it provides policy suggestions and theoretical basis for accelerating the transformation of China's rural economy.
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Cheng Zhang and Zehao Ye
Owing to the consumption of considerable resources in developing physical pipe prediction models and the fact that the statistical models cannot fit the failure records perfectly…
Abstract
Purpose
Owing to the consumption of considerable resources in developing physical pipe prediction models and the fact that the statistical models cannot fit the failure records perfectly, the purpose of this paper is to use data mining method to analyze and predict the risks of water pipe failure via considering attributes and location of pipes in historical failure records. One of the Automatized Machine Learning (AutoML) methods, tree-based pipeline optimization technique (TPOT) was used as the key data mining technique in this research.
Design/methodology/approach
By considering pipeline attributes, environmental factors and historical pipeline broke/breaks records, a water pipeline failure prediction method is proposed in this research. Regression analysis, genetic algorithm, machine learning, data mining approaches are used to analyze and predict the probability of pipeline failure. TPOT was used as the key data mining technique. A case study was carried out in a specific area in China to investigate the relationships between pipeline broke/breaks and relevant parameters, such as pipeline age, materials, diameter, pipeline density and so on.
Findings
By integrating the prediction models for individual pipelines and small research regions, a prediction model is developed to describe the probability of water pipe failures and validated by real data. A high fitting degree is achieved, which means a good potential of using the proposed method in reality as a guideline for identifying areas with high risks and taking proactive measures and optimizing the resources allocation for water supply companies.
Originality/value
Different models are developed to have better prediction on regional or individual pipeline. A comparison between the predicted values with real records has shown that a preliminary model has a good potential in predicting the future failure risks.
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This paper aims to propose a soft actuator that combines a sponge-based actuating structure and a layer-jamming-based stiffness-improving structure in a cavity.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose a soft actuator that combines a sponge-based actuating structure and a layer-jamming-based stiffness-improving structure in a cavity.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed soft actuator consists of film-constrained sponge units (FCSUs) and jamming layers. The FCSUs in the proposed soft actuator bend under vacuum pressure, causing bending deformation of the entire actuator. The jamming layers are strongly coupled through friction under vacuum pressure, increasing the stiffness of the entire actuator. The performance of the proposed soft actuator was examined by measuring its stiffness, bending deformation and response performance. A four-finger soft robotic gripper was proposed based on the proposed soft actuator.
Findings
Through experiments, it was shown that the proposed soft actuator exhibited acceptable bending deformation, stiffness and response. Moreover, the proposed four-finger soft gripper could effectively grasp objects in daily life.
Originality/value
In this study, the authors proposed a novel bending actuator (with a volume of approximately 43.2 cm3) based on FCSUs and jamming layers. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to combine a sponge-based actuating structure and a layer-jamming structure in a cavity to achieve simultaneous change in actuation and stiffness. The soft actuator exhibited good bending deformation and high stiffness simultaneously under vacuum pressure. Consequently, it could be used effectively to fabricate soft grippers.
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Wei Yang, Linghui Xu, Linfan Yu, Yuting Chen, Zehao Yan and Canjun Yang
Walking-aid exoskeletons can assist and protect effectively the group with lower limb muscle strength decline, workers, first responders and military personnel. However, there is…
Abstract
Purpose
Walking-aid exoskeletons can assist and protect effectively the group with lower limb muscle strength decline, workers, first responders and military personnel. However, there is almost no united control strategy that can effectively assist daily walking. This paper aims to propose a hybrid oscillators’ (HOs) model to adapt to irregular gait (IG) patterns (frequent alternation between walking and standing or rapid changing of walking speed, etc.) and generate compliant and no-delay assistive torque.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed algorithm, HOs, combines adaptive oscillators (AOs) with phase oscillator through switching assistive mode depending on whether or not the AOs' predicting error of hip joint degree is exceeded our expectation. HOs can compensate for delay by predicting gait phase when in AOs mode. Several treadmill and free walking experiments are designed to test the adaptability and effectiveness of HOs model under IG.
Findings
The experimental results show that the assistive strategy based on the HOs is effective under IG patterns, and delay is compensated totally under quasiperiodic gait conditions where a smoother human–robot interaction (HRI) force and the reduction of HRI force peak are observed. Delay compensation is found very effective at improving the performance of the assistive exoskeleton.
Originality/value
A novel algorithm is proposed to improve the adaptability of a walking assist hip exoskeleton in daily walking as well as generate compliant, no-delay assistive torque when converging.