Search results
1 – 10 of over 9000Vasilii Erokhin and Tianming Gao
Sustainable development is inseparable from rational and responsible use of resources and promotion of green entrepreneurship. The contemporary green development agenda…
Abstract
Sustainable development is inseparable from rational and responsible use of resources and promotion of green entrepreneurship. The contemporary green development agenda encompasses climate, economic, technical, social, cultural, and political dimensions. International efforts to greening the global development are conducted by the major economies, including China as the world’s largest consumer of energy and the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. China is aware of its environmental problems, as well as of its part of the overall responsibility for the accomplishment of the sustainable development goals. By means of the decarbonization efforts, the latter are integrated both into the national development agenda (the concept of ecological civilization) and China’s international initiatives (the greening narrative within the Belt and Road Initiative). Over the past decade, China has made a breakthrough on the way to promoting green entrepreneurship and greening of its development (better quality of air and water, renewable energy, electric vehicles, and organic farming). On the other hand, emissions remain high, agricultural land loses productivity, and freshwater resources degrade due to climate change. In conventional industries (oil, coal mining, and electric and thermal energy), decarbonization faces an array of impediments. In this chapter, the authors summarize fundamental provisions of China’s approach to building an ecological civilization and measures to reduce emissions and achieve the carbon neutrality status within the nearest decades. The analysis of obstacles to the decarbonization of the economy and possible prospects for the development of green entrepreneurship summarizes China’s practices for possible use in other countries.
Details
Keywords
Qiushuang Zhang, Xin Jin, Zhihua Liu, Zhijing Zhang, Yan Fang, Zhongqing Zhang and Yann Ledoux
The modern manufacturing industry has put forward higher requirements for the assembly accuracy of components with the development of the industrial technology. For precision…
Abstract
Purpose
The modern manufacturing industry has put forward higher requirements for the assembly accuracy of components with the development of the industrial technology. For precision assembly, the traditional assembly process study based on tolerance has had difficulty in meeting these requirements. Hence, the distribution of the form errors must be considered. The registration between the two mating surfaces with form errors determines the parts’ assembly position, and is the basis for the prediction and control of the assembly accuracy. This study aims to provide a new surfaces registration method which takes form errors into consideration.
Design/methodology/approach
This study presents a new registration approach based on the minimum potential energy. A unique set of contact points on mating surfaces that meet the actual conditions can be obtained and the spatial position of the assembled part is calculated.
Findings
The experimental results show that the calculated values are in good agreement with the experimental values. Furthermore, the root mean square error is within 2%, which proves the validity and accuracy of the approach.
Originality/value
This paper provides an effective and new method for precision assembly which takes form errors into consideration. The method can give the optimal solution of the contact points, which is more consistent with the actual assembly situation and provides a basis for predicting assembly accuracy.
Details
Keywords
Kuncheng Zhang, Shi-Zheng Tian, Benshuo Yang, Xin-Chang Guo and Yi-Fang Zhang
The island areas, in particular, are characterized by a more fragile ecological carrying capacity and higher value of resources and environment, which requires us to take Xi…
Abstract
Purpose
The island areas, in particular, are characterized by a more fragile ecological carrying capacity and higher value of resources and environment, which requires us to take Xi Jinping's green ecological development view as the theoretical basis and adhere to the high-quality development path of gradual development and ecological environment priority. Taking Shengsi and Daishan counties as examples, on the basis of their high-quality development evaluation and identification of the main influencing factors, this study explores the specific path of Xi Jinping's ecological development view in the high-quality development of typical island counties in China.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper applies the interpretative structural model to construct an evaluation index system for the high-quality development of the island. In determining the factor weights of the index layer, the AHP hierarchical analysis method was combined with the Delphi method to increase the objectivity of the assignment process as much as possible. This study used the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution to calculate island high quality development index. To measure the main obstacle factors, the index factor contribution rate, the index factor deviation, and the index factor obstacle degree were applied in this research.
Findings
As China intensifies its maritime strategy, the sustainability of coastal and island regions is critical, particularly given their fragile ecosystems and high resource value. Our study reveals a declining trend in the high-quality development index for Shengsi, peaking at 0.4262 in 2010 and dropping to 0.3261 in 2012. To reverse this, it's essential to align with President Xi Jinping's green ecological development framework and commit to a high-quality development pathway.
Originality/value
The connotation and extension of Xi Jinping's view of ecological development should be continuously studied in depth and enriched, with green development as the core idea to guide the correct direction of the high-quality development of the island. In this paper, it is suggested that researchers are supposed to focus on these problems, such as the changes of sea water quality, the reduction of urban greening, the continuous negative growth of population in island areas, the decline of forestry added value and air quality protection, so as to ensure the sustainable high-quality development of example islands.
Details
Keywords
Yanhua Zhang, Kaixin Ying, Jialin Zhou, Yuehua Cheng, Chenghui Xu and Zhigeng Fang
This paper aims to optimize the air pressure regulation scheme of the aeroengine pressure test bench.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to optimize the air pressure regulation scheme of the aeroengine pressure test bench.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the requirements of pressure regulation process and the operating mechanism of aeroengine pressure test bench, a grey performance evaluation index system is constructed. The combination of principal component analysis and grey theory is employed to assign weights to grey indexes. The grey target evaluation model is introduced to evaluate the performance of historical regulation processes, and the evaluation results are analyzed to derive optimization mechanism for pressure regulating schemes.
Findings
A case study based on monitoring data from nearly 300 regulation processes verifies the feasibility of the proposed method. On the one hand, the improved principal component analysis method can achieve rational weighting for grey indexes. On the other hand, the method comparison intuitively shows that the proposed method performs better.
Originality/value
The pressure test bench is a fundamental technical equipment in the aviation industry, serving the development and testing of aircraft engines. Due to the complex system composition, the pressure and flow adjustment of the test bench heavily rely on manual experience, leading to issues such as slow adjustment speed and insufficient accuracy. This paper proposes a performance evaluation method for the regulation process of pressure test bench, which can draw knowledge from historical regulation processes, provide guidance for the pressure regulation of test benches, and ultimately achieve the goal of reducing equipment operating costs.
Details
Keywords
Guodong Ni, Yaqi Fang, Xinyue Miao, Yaning Qiao, Wenshun Wang and Jian Xuan
This study aims to provide a new perspective and path to reduce the unsafe behavior of new generation of construction workers (NGCWs) in China. The purpose of this study is to…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to provide a new perspective and path to reduce the unsafe behavior of new generation of construction workers (NGCWs) in China. The purpose of this study is to explore the influencing mechanism of work-family balance on the unsafe behavior of NGCWs and test the mediating effect of job satisfaction and the moderating effect of group safety climate.
Design/methodology/approach
A theoretical model on the influencing mechanism of work-family balance on unsafe behavior of NGCWs was constructed through theoretical analysis. Research data were collected from 502 NGCWs via a questionnaire survey, and research hypotheses were testified with regression analysis.
Findings
The results show that work-family balance not only directly reduces NGCWs’ unsafe behavior but also indirectly reduces it through job satisfaction, which plays a partial mediating role. In addition to positively moderating the relationship between work-family balance and NGCWs’ unsafe behavior, group safety climate can also moderate the relationship between work-family balance and job satisfaction in a positive way.
Practical implications
This study provides practical implications for construction companies to reduce the unsafe behaviors of NGCWs from the perspective of work-family balance. Specifically, construction companies should adopt more flexible work rules, such as flexible organization and rotation systems, to increase their work autonomy. Meanwhile, construction companies need to improve the work environment and basic conditions for NGCWs, establish a reasonable salary system and provide attractive promotion opportunities to increase their job satisfaction. In addition, construction companies should provide active safety lectures and training, and supervisors should improve safety communication and interaction levels. Co-workers should remind workers about their safety attitudes and behaviors promptly. A good group safety climate will be created through the efforts of construction companies, supervisors and co-workers.
Originality/value
This study clarifies the influencing mechanism of work-family balance on the NGCWs’ unsafe behavior and further tests the partial mediating role of job satisfaction and the positively moderating effect of group safety climate on the influence relationship of work-family balance on job satisfaction and NGCWs’ unsafe behavior, which defines the boundary conditions of the relationship between work-family balance and NGCWs’ unsafe behavior, and promotes the effective integration of social exchange theory and theoretical system of influencing mechanism of construction workers’ unsafe behavior.
Details
Keywords
Sam McLeod, Carey Curtis and John Stone
Modelling has been a mainstay of conventional planning support tools (PSTs) since the 1960s and is instrumental in transport and land use planning decision-making. Numerous…
Abstract
Modelling has been a mainstay of conventional planning support tools (PSTs) since the 1960s and is instrumental in transport and land use planning decision-making. Numerous studies have been conducted to model the potential impacts of emerging vehicle automation and sharing technologies. A systematic review of recent modelling studies of autonomous and shared vehicles in the research literature examines the extent of their contribution to ‘smart’ mobility knowledge. The findings suggest a limited knowledge base from which to support future planning. PSTs that can offer more pluralistic, discursive, and transparent methods in order to understand and proactively shape a transition to a planned urban future are also needed.
Details
Keywords
S. Abbasbandy and H. Roohani Ghehsareh
In this paper, an analysis is performed to find the solution of a nonlinear ordinary differential equation that appears in a model for MHD viscous flow caused by a shrinking sheet.
Abstract
Purpose
In this paper, an analysis is performed to find the solution of a nonlinear ordinary differential equation that appears in a model for MHD viscous flow caused by a shrinking sheet.
Design/methodology/approach
The cases of two dimensional and axisymmetric shrinking have been discussed. When the sheet is shrinking in the x‐direction, the analytical solutions are obtained by the Hankel‐Padé method. Comparison to exact solutions reveals reliability and high accuracy of the procedure, even in the case of multiple solutions. The case of sheet shrinking in the y‐direction is also considered, with success.
Findings
When the sheet shrinks in the x‐direction, the analytical solutions are obtained by Hankel‐Padé method. Also, when the sheet shrinks in the y‐direction, the obtained results with Hankel‐Padé method are presented.
Practical implications
Comparison to exact solutions reveals reliability and high accuracy of the procedure and convincingly could be used to obtain multiple solutions for certain parameter domains of this case of the governing nonlinear problem.
Originality/value
The numerical solutions are given for both two‐dimensional and axisymmetric shrinking sheets by using Hankel‐Padé method. It is clear that the Hankel‐Padé method is, by far, more simple, straightforward and gives reasonable results for large Hartman numbers and suction parameters.
Details
Keywords
Shah Khalid, Shengli Wu and Fang Zhang
How to provide the most useful papers for searchers is a key issue for academic search engines. A lot of research has been carried out to address this problem. However, when…
Abstract
Purpose
How to provide the most useful papers for searchers is a key issue for academic search engines. A lot of research has been carried out to address this problem. However, when evaluating the effectiveness of an academic search engine, most of the previous investigations assume that the only concern of the user is the relevancy of the paper to the query. The authors believe that the usefulness of a paper is determined not only by its relevance to the query but also by other aspects including its publication age and impact in the research community. This is vital, especially when a large number of papers are relevant to the query.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper proposes a group of metrics to measure the usefulness of a ranked list of papers. When defining these metrics, three factors, including relevance, publication age and impact, are considered at the same time. To accommodate this, the authors propose a framework to rank papers by a combination of their relevance, publication age and impact scores.
Findings
The framework is evaluated with the ACL (Association for Computational Linguistics Anthology Network) dataset. It demonstrates that the proposed ranking algorithm is effective for improving usefulness when two or three aspects of academic papers are considered at the same time, while the relevance of the retrieved papers is slightly down compared with the relevance-only retrieval.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the proposed multi-objective academic search framework is the first of its kind that is proposed and evaluated with a group of new evaluation metrics.
Details
Keywords
Xiaoyan Jiang, Haoyu Sun, Kun Lu, Sainan Lyu and Martin Skitmore
In China, external supervision on construction safety mainly comes from the government and supervision engineers (SEs). However, the construction safety supervisory mechanism…
Abstract
Purpose
In China, external supervision on construction safety mainly comes from the government and supervision engineers (SEs). However, the construction safety supervisory mechanism (CSSM) contains some dilemmas affecting the improvement of safety performance, such as the declining impact of SEs, the increasing rent-seeking behaviors of contractor and excessive government interference. This study aims to depict and analyze the CSSM in China from an evolutionary game view. The objectives are to understand the supervision strategy and evolutionary behaviors of different stakeholders, propose suggestions for improving safety performance and help the key safety supervision stakeholders, especially the government, formulate a suitable safety supervision strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
This research uses tripartite dynamic evolutionary game theory to study the CSSM in China and solve the stable equilibrium solution using system dynamics.
Findings
This study has revealed the game relationship of construction safety supervision mechanisms in China and solved the stable equilibrium solution. The results prove that a supervision engineer (SE) plays a crucial role in the CSSM, and “supervision engineer useless” is an unreasonable assertion. For government supervision agency (GSA), excessive inspection and free-market regulation are neither wise strategies. GSA can reduce the inspection frequency when general contractors (GCs) input high safety investments and SEs implement responsible supervision. But keeping proper government supervision to avoid GC's unlawful behaviors and SE's rent-seeking is indispensable. In addition, excessive governmental supervision will weaken SE's role, so the government should transfer some supervision powers to SE.
Originality/value
This study focuses on the dynamic evolution process between GSA, GC and SE. This method is different from most research that neglected the dynamic characteristic of system and game solution stability. The research methods not only contribute to construction safety supervision policy-making in China but also help to improve supervision efficiency in other countries and other fields.
Details
Keywords
Dengjun Zhang, Nirosha Wellalage and Viviana Fernandez
This study investigates the impact of temporary employment on various forms of financial distress for firms during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the impact of temporary employment on various forms of financial distress for firms during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors apply a logit model to evaluate the differences in the probabilities of experiencing financial distress for firms with or without temporary reemployment and for firms with different intensities of temporary workers. As an additional test, an ordinal logistic model is applied to reflect different degrees of financial distress.
Findings
Our main results indicate that firms with temporary employment are more likely to experience financial distress than firms without temporary employment, regardless of the severity of financial distress. Among firms with temporary employment, our analysis suggests that a firm’s likelihood of experiencing financial distress depends on its relative share (quantile) of temporary workers.
Practical implications
Our findings provide valuable insights for evaluating the impact of temporary employment on firms’ vulnerability during the COVID-19 crisis and suggest strategies for firms to enhance resilience to similar future crises.
Originality/value
Our study is the first one that explores the relationship between temporary employment and financial distress. Firms around the world have been pursuing flexible labor to improve resilience and firm performance. The pandemic may further ramify this trend, creating a future “new normal” regarding employment relationships, job segmentation and gender equality in the job market. This article adds a new dimension to the evaluation of the new normal, which may help firms evaluate the consequences of temporary employment, especially in times of crisis.
Details