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Most epidemic transmission forecasting methods can only provide deterministic outputs. This study aims to show that probabilistic forecasting, in contrast, is suitable for stochastic demand modeling and emergency medical resource planning under uncertainty.

Two probabilistic forecasting methods, i.e. quantile regression convolutional neural network and kernel density estimation, are combined to provide the conditional quantiles and conditional densities of infected populations. The value of probabilistic forecasting in improving decision performances and controlling decision risks is investigated by an empirical study on the emergency medical resource planning for the COVID-19 pandemic.

The managerial implications obtained from the empirical results include (1) the optimization models using the conditional quantile or the point forecasting result obtain better results than those using the conditional density; (2) for sufficient resources, decision-makers' risk preferences can be incorporated to make tradeoffs between the possible surpluses and shortages of resources in the emergency medical resource planning at different quantile levels; and (3) for scarce resources, the differences in emergency medical resource planning at different quantile levels greatly decrease or disappear because of the existing of forecasting errors and supply quantity constraints.

Very few studies concern probabilistic epidemic transmission forecasting methods, and this is the first attempt to incorporate deep learning methods into a two-phase framework for data-driven emergency medical resource planning under uncertainty. Moreover, the findings from the empirical results are valuable to select a suitable forecasting method and design an efficient emergency medical resource plan.

To investigate the influence of an organic corrosion inhibitor on the enhanced dissolution of metal, initiated by AFM tip scratching in corrosive media.

The test solutions were 1.5 M NaCl and 0.01 M HCl. AFM tip scratching experiments were performed for Cu‐Ni alloys in solutions with or without 0.005 M dodecylamine. AFM frictional loop tests were also performed to investigate the effect of dodecylamine on the tip‐surface frictional interaction.

Enhanced dissolution of Cu‐Ni alloy was observed as a result of AFM tip scratching both in NaCl and HCl solutions, and in HCl the effect was more severe than was the case in NaCl. Enhanced dissolution was inhibited markedly by adding 0.005 M dodecylamine to the corrosive media. The results of frictional loop tests indicated that frictional interaction between the tip and the alloy surface was diminished by the adsorption of dodecylamine on the sample surface. The weakening of tip‐surface frictional interaction and the elevation of the ionization energy of metal atoms were responsible for the notable inhibition effect of dodecylamine on the accelerated dissolution.

In this paper, the influence of an organic corrosion inhibitor on the corrosion of metal induced by outside forces was investigated. This was carried out initially by AFM scratching skill and the inhibition mechanism of dodecylamine on the enhanced dissolution of Cu‐Ni alloy initiated by AFM tip scratching.

The stress–strain behaviors of rockfill materials in dams are significantly affected by the anisotropy and grain crushing. However, these factors are rarely considered in numerical simulations of high rockfill dams. This study intends to develop a reasonable and practical constitutive model for rockfill materials to overcome the above problems.

The effects of anisotropy and grain crushing are comprehensively considered by the spatial position of the reference state line. After the improved generalized plasticity model for rockfill materials (referred to as the PZR model) is developed and verified by laboratory tests, it is used with the finite element method to simulate the stress–strain behaviors of the Nuozhadu high core rockfill dam.

The simulated results agree well with the laboratory tests data and the situ monitoring data, verifying the reliability and practicability of the developed PZR model.

A new anisotropic state parameter is proposed to reflect the nonmonotonic variation in the strength as the major principal stress direction angle varies. This advantage is verified by the simulation of a set of conventional triaxial tests with different inclination angles of the compaction plane. 2) This is the first time that the elastoplastic model is verified by the situ monitoring data of high core rockfill dams. The numerical simulation results show that the PZR model can well reflect the stress–strain characteristics of rockfill materials in high core rockfill dams and is better than the traditional EB model.

Partnering has drawn attention from both academics and practitioners in the construction industry in the context of construction and facilities management. The past decades have seen a number of articles reporting the application of partnering in construction. The Chinese construction industry is one of the largest industries in the world; however, to the authors' best knowledge, no project in mainland China has adopted this procurement approach in a formal and systematic manner as yet. This paper presents a timely study that aims to investigate the feasibility of implementing the partnering concept into Chinese industry and to understand the current barriers to this concept in China.

The study employed a qualitative approach to investigate the factors that support or impede the implementation of partnering in mainland China. The methodology encompassed a critical review of relevant laws, regulations, and policy documents; and semi‐structured interviews.

The findings indicate that the partnering practice is feasible in the construction industry of China due to the large demand brought about by China's strong economic growth and government support. However, the implementation of partnering in the Chinese construction industry is being impeded by the restrictions of the current Chinese regulatory framework and tender evaluation framework, the incompatible features of Chinese culture and the general lack of trust.

Six strategies that help to facilitate the implementation of partnering in China have been developed based on the supporting and impeding factors identified in this study. It is worth noting that not all aspects of Chinese culture are compatible with partnering principles. This study offers a useful reference to implement collaborative contracting models such as partnering in developing countries with a consideration of new factors such as political environment and emerging economies.

The purpose of this paper is to study the correlation between the dynamic features of the running-in attractor and the wear particle group, so as to characterize the running-in attractor by means of the wear particle group.

Wear particles are collected in phased wear experiments, and their dynamic features are investigated by the equivalent mean chord length L. Then, the correlation between the equivalent mean chord length L and the correlation dimension D of the running-in attractor is studied.

In the wear process, the equivalent means chord length L first decreases, then remains steady, and finally increases, this process agrees with the increase, stabilization and decrease of the correlation dimension D. Therefore, the wear particle group has a dynamic nature, which characterizes the formation, stabilization, and disappearance of a running-in attractor. Consequently, the dynamic characteristics and evolution of a running-in attractor can be revealed by the wear particle group.

The intrinsic relationship between the wear particle group and the running-in attractor is proved, and this is advantageous for further revealing the dynamic features of the running-in attractor and identifying the wear states.

This chapter seeks to investigate the role of student emotional intelligence (EI) in countering in-class cyberloafing behaviour by students, by exploring the mediating role of boredom proneness through a quantitative approach. A sample of 163 postgraduate university students in India was selected. The authors assessed the mediation model using PROCESS macro. The authors found that students who are more aware of their emotions are better equipped to handle internal and external distractions and work towards a desired goal or outcome and therefore are less likely to experience boredom. Results from this study revealed a significant direct and indirect negative relationship between students’ EI and cyberloafing behaviour. This chapter contributes to the body of literature by highlighting the positive effects of EI as an important antidote to student cyberloafing behaviour. On the practical front, the findings of this study can be used by academicians who are charged with the responsibility of understanding and enhancing student learning by diminishing cyberloafing behaviour among them. The proposed framework could provide a foundation for countering cyberloafing behaviour in educational settings.

This research aims to investigate the impacts of project culture on the performance of construction projects. Cultural issues in the construction industry have attracted growing attention from both practitioners and academia. However, there are few studies on culture issues at the project level. The influence of project culture has not traditionally been on the research radar.

A case study approach, utilising questionnaire surveys, in-depth interviews and review of project documents, was used to investigate project culture and its associated impacts in two major hospital projects.

The results indicated that project culture played an important role in achieving harmonious relationships between project participants and better project outcomes in terms of schedule, functionality, satisfaction with the process, satisfaction with the relationships, environmental issues addressed commercial success, further business opportunities and overall performance. Case 1 outperformed Case 2 in these performance indicators. Similarly, it became clear that the project’s culture should be developed from the outset and sustained during the project period. Furthermore, it was also highlighted that the project culture should be translated to all levels of the supply chain, i.e. sub-contractors and suppliers.

The findings enabled the client to understand the role of project culture and actively commit towards the development and maintenance of the project culture from very early on. It also helps project teams to understand how to deal with cultural issues at the project level.

This study is one of limited empirical studies that offer in-depth insights of how project culture affects the performance of construction projects. It is also the first study of hospital projects on the research topic.

This study aims to investigate the determinants of herd behavior in online hotel service evaluations, focusing on the cultural and geographic distance characteristics of customers.

On the basis of 381,462 TripAdvisor reviews of hotels in the USA written by more than 100,000 customers from 92 countries, this study uses the empirical analysis to explore the collective roles of cultural distance, geographic distance and hospitality experience on herd behavior in online hotel ratings.

Cultural and geographic distances between customers and product and service locations positively affect herding and these two effects are substitutable. The hospitality experience of customers attenuates the impacts of distances on herding. These results are robust for multiple hotel service ratings.

Findings help hotels understand perceptual biases of customers on hotel services under the social influence and consequently develop effective marketing strategies to boost hotel revenues and increase profitability.

The research contributes to hospitality and online review literature by understanding how cultural and geographic distances shape online hotel service evaluations under the root of the uncertainty of decision-making and the observation of others’ behavior. The research also contributes to the distances in international business literature by deepening the understanding of the substitution and heterogeneity of distance effects. Methodologically, a time-varying and monotonously increasing variable is constructed to depict customers’ hospitality experience. The extensive data volume ensures the generalizability of our results.

The purpose of this paper is to find the specific competitive industries in emerging industries of strategic importance of each province in China in order to provide references for industrial cultivation and development.

This paper uses quantitative analysis methods on RCA and R&D efficiency.

Different provinces have specific competitive emerging industries of strategic importance. Taking biotechnology, equipment manufacturing, and new generation of information technology industry as examples, this paper finds: for the advanced equipment manufacturing industry, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Tianjin, Liaoning, Heilongjiang and Jiangxi provinces have obvious characteristics and relatively high R&D efficiency; for bio‐technology, Jiangsu, Henan, Jiangxi, Hunan, Zhejiang and Shandong provinces have obvious characteristics and relatively high R&D efficiency; and for the next generation of the information technology industry, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Fujian, Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai provinces have obvious characteristics and relatively high R&D efficiency.

This study is limited by lack of industrial comprehensiveness so that more statistical data about emerging industry of strategic importance is needed for more in‐depth analysis.

The identification of specific competitive emerging industry of strategic importance of each province will give managers and policy makers train of thought for the cultivation and development of strategic emerging industry and make future policies more targeted.

The paper contributes to the research on the differentiated cultivation and development tactics of strategic emerging industry by, respectively, finding out the specific competitive emerging industries of each province in China.

The purpose of this paper is to establish an appraisal system for evaluating and choosing traction battery for electric vehicle (EV) quantitatively and effectively.

Traction battery always bottlenecks the development of EV. It is difficult to evaluate and choose traction battery for EV because there are many kinds of battery and each kind has many performance parameters. An estimating system for traction battery was proposed with every factor considered. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy comprehensive theory are both used to evaluate program with many aims and influencing factors. It is relatively easy and exact using AHP to determine the weighting value vector of every criterion but not so exact when marking the appraisal objects. Objections can be marked more reasonably with fuzzy comprehensive theory. Both the advantages of these two theories were integrated in this paper in order to evaluate battery more effectively. It was proved effective by the application example.

An estimating system and appraisal method for traction battery.

Weighing factors of different criteria should be determined based on the EV type and application condition.

Very useful method and system for EV designers to choose and evaluate traction battery.

The appraisal system eliminates the blindness when choosing and evaluating traction battery for EV. Both the merits of AHP and fuzzy comprehensive theory were combined for the evaluating process.