Navid Bahmani, Zhenyu Jin and Sanjoy Ghose
While within-firm service failure and recovery have been studied extensively, the context in which a service failure at one firm “spills over” and provides an opportunity for an…
Abstract
Purpose
While within-firm service failure and recovery have been studied extensively, the context in which a service failure at one firm “spills over” and provides an opportunity for an external firm (a subsequent service provider) to recover (compensate) a customer has received limited attention. This study aims to examine how the extent of a service failure plays a role in how external firms should shape their recovery efforts, and how customers’ evaluations of the recovering firm and their feelings of unhappiness are affected.
Design/methodology/approach
A pretest conducted on MTurk gauged participants’ perceptions of equitability of the external firm’s recovery effort. In the main study, a 3 × 3 between-subjects experiment examined the effects of failure extent and external recovery type on evaluations of the recovering firm and reduced feelings of unhappiness.
Findings
It is found that equity judgments remain consistent in the external recovery context; transferred negative affect is able to be mitigate only in low-failure scenarios, and customers’ evaluations of the external firm increase only in high-failure scenarios.
Research limitations/implications
The use of hypothetical scenarios, as opposed to the employment of a field study, is the primary limitation of the study.
Originality/value
This research finds that external firms can reap the benefits of another firm’s service failure by offering no-cost recoveries, rather than ones that carry some form of cost.
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Feifei Zhong, Guoping Liu, Zhenyu Lu, Lingyan Hu, Yangyang Han, Yusong Xiao and Xinrui Zhang
Robotic arms’ interactions with the external environment are growing more intricate, demanding higher control precision. This study aims to enhance control precision by…
Abstract
Purpose
Robotic arms’ interactions with the external environment are growing more intricate, demanding higher control precision. This study aims to enhance control precision by establishing a dynamic model through the identification of the dynamic parameters of a self-designed robotic arm.
Design/methodology/approach
This study proposes an improved particle swarm optimization (IPSO) method for parameter identification, which comprehensively improves particle initialization diversity, dynamic adjustment of inertia weight, dynamic adjustment of local and global learning factors and global search capabilities. To reduce the number of particles and improve identification accuracy, a step-by-step dynamic parameter identification method was also proposed. Simultaneously, to fully unleash the dynamic characteristics of a robotic arm, and satisfy boundary conditions, a combination of high-order differentiable natural exponential functions and traditional Fourier series is used to develop an excitation trajectory. Finally, an arbitrary verification trajectory was planned using the IPSO to verify the accuracy of the dynamical parameter identification.
Findings
Experiments conducted on a self-designed robotic arm validate the proposed parameter identification method. By comparing it with IPSO1, IPSO2, IPSOd and least-square algorithms using the criteria of torque error and root mean square for each joint, the superiority of the IPSO algorithm in parameter identification becomes evident. In this case, the dynamic parameter results of each link are significantly improved.
Originality/value
A new parameter identification model was proposed and validated. Based on the experimental results, the stability of the identification results was improved, providing more accurate parameter identification for further applications.
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Zhenyu Li, Bin Wang, Haitao Yang and Hong Liu
Rapid satellite capture by a free-floating space robot is a challenge problem because of no-fixed base and time-delay issues. This paper aims to present a modified target…
Abstract
Purpose
Rapid satellite capture by a free-floating space robot is a challenge problem because of no-fixed base and time-delay issues. This paper aims to present a modified target capturing control scheme for improving the control performance.
Design/methodology/approach
For handling such control problem including time delay, the modified scheme is achieved by adding a delay calibration algorithm into the visual servoing loop. To identify end-effector motions in real time, a motion predictor is developed by partly linearizing the space robot kinematics equation. By this approach, only ground-fixed robot kinematics are involved in the predicting computation excluding the complex space robot kinematics calculations. With the newly developed predictor, a delay compensator is designed to take error control into account. For determining the compensation parameters, the asymptotic stability condition of the proposed compensation algorithm is also presented.
Findings
The proposed method is conducted by a credible three-dimensional ground experimental system, and the experimental results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Practical implications
Because the delayed camera signals are compensated with only ground-fixed robot kinematics, this proposed satellite capturing scheme is particularly suitable for commercial on-orbit services with cheaper on-board computers.
Originality/value
This paper is original as an attempt trying to compensate the time delay by taking both space robot motion predictions and compensation error control into consideration and is valuable for rapid and accurate satellite capture tasks.
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Zhenyu Tang, Xiaoyan Tang, Shi Pu, Yimeng Zhang, Hang Zhang, Yuming Zhang and Song Bo
To use the 4H-SiC material in integrated circuits for high temperature application, an accurate and simple circuit model of n-channel planar 4H-SiC MOSFET is required.
Abstract
Purpose
To use the 4H-SiC material in integrated circuits for high temperature application, an accurate and simple circuit model of n-channel planar 4H-SiC MOSFET is required.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, a SPICE model of n-channel planar 4H-SiC MOSFET was built based on the device simulation results and measurement results. Firstly, a device model was simulated with Sentaurus TCAD, with measured parameters from fabricated planar 4H-SiC MOSFET previously. Then the device simulation results were analyzed and parameters for SPICE models were extracted. With these parameters, an accurate SPICE model was built and simulated.
Findings
The SPICE model exhibits the same performance as the measured results with different environment temperatures. The simulation results indicate that the maximum fitting error is 0.22 mA (7.33% approximately) at 200 °C. A common-source amplifier with this model is also simulated and the simulated gain is stable at different environment temperatures.
Originality/value
This paper provides a reliable modeling method for n-Channel Planar 4H-SiC MOSFET and reference value for the design of 4H-SiC high temperature integrated circuit.
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The purpose of this paper is to present a hybrid method of intelligent optimization algorithm and Receding Horizon Control. The method is applied to solve the problem of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a hybrid method of intelligent optimization algorithm and Receding Horizon Control. The method is applied to solve the problem of cooperative search of multi‐unmanned aerial vehicles (multi‐UAVs).
Design/methodology/approach
The intelligent optimization of Differential Evolution (DE) makes the complex problem of multi‐UAVs cooperative search a regular function optimization problem. To meet the real‐time requirement, the idea of Receding Horizon Control is applied. An Extended Search Map based on hormone information is used to describe the uncertain environment information.
Findings
Simulation results indicate effectiveness of the hybrid method in solving the problem of cooperative search for multi‐UAVs.
Originality/value
The paper presents an interesting hybrid method of DE and Receding Horizon Control for the problem of cooperative multi‐UAVs.
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Keywords
Jinrong Huang, Zongjun Wang, Zhenyu Jiang and Qin Zhong
Previous studies have mostly discussed the impact of environmental policy on enterprise innovation, but the discussion on how turbulence in environmental policy may affect firms'…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous studies have mostly discussed the impact of environmental policy on enterprise innovation, but the discussion on how turbulence in environmental policy may affect firms' green innovation has been insufficient. This paper explores the effect of environmental policy uncertainty on corporate green innovation in the turnover of environmental protection officials (EPOT) context.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors manually collected the data on the EPOT of 280 Chinese prefecture-level cities, and used the Poisson regression model to conduct empirical analyses based on the panel data of 1472 Chinese listed manufacturing firms from 2008 to 2017.
Findings
The results show that environmental policy uncertainty leads firms to reduce their green patent applications only for green invention patent applications. Such an effect is more pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs). In addition, when the new directors of the Ecology and Environmental Bureau take office through promotions or are no more than 55 years old, the negative effect is more obvious, but there is no significant difference regardless of whether new directors have worked in environmental protection departments.
Originality/value
First, this paper supplements the research on the antecedents of corporate green innovation from the perspective of environmental policy uncertainty and extends the applications of real options theory. Second, this paper expands the research on the government–business relationship from the EPOT perspective.
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Chuanyuan Zhou, Zhenyu Liu, Chan Qiu and Jianrong Tan
The conventional statistical method of three-dimensional tolerance analysis requires numerous pseudo-random numbers and consumes enormous computations to increase the calculation…
Abstract
Purpose
The conventional statistical method of three-dimensional tolerance analysis requires numerous pseudo-random numbers and consumes enormous computations to increase the calculation accuracy, such as the Monte Carlo simulation. The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel method to overcome the problems.
Design/methodology/approach
With the combination of the quasi-Monte Carlo method and the unified Jacobian-torsor model, this paper proposes a three-dimensional tolerance analysis method based on edge sampling. By setting reasonable evaluation criteria, the sequence numbers representing relatively smaller deviations are excluded and the remaining numbers are selected and kept which represent deviations approximate to and still comply with the tolerance requirements.
Findings
The case study illustrates the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method in that it can reduce the sample size, diminish the computations, predict wider tolerance ranges and improve the accuracy of three-dimensional tolerance of precision assembly simultaneously.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed method may be applied only when the dimensional and geometric tolerances are interpreted in the three-dimensional tolerance representation model.
Practical implications
The proposed tolerance analysis method can evaluate the impact of manufacturing errors on the product structure quantitatively and provide a theoretical basis for structural design, process planning and manufacture inspection.
Originality/value
The paper is original in proposing edge sampling as a sampling strategy to generating deviation numbers in tolerance analysis.
Details
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Chuanyuan Zhou, Zhenyu Liu, Chan Qiu and Jianrong Tan
The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel mathematical model to present the three-dimensional tolerance of a discrete surface and to carry out an approach to analyze the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel mathematical model to present the three-dimensional tolerance of a discrete surface and to carry out an approach to analyze the tolerance of an assembly with a discrete surface structure. A discrete surface is a special structure of a large surface base with several discrete elements mounted on it, one, which is widely used in complex electromechanical products.
Design/methodology/approach
The geometric features of discrete surfaces are separated and characterized by small displacement torsors according to the spatial relationship of discrete elements. The torsor cluster model is established to characterize the integral feature variation of a discrete surface by integrating the torsor model. The influence and accumulation of the assembly tolerance of a discrete surface are determined by statistical tolerance analysis based on the unified Jacobian-Torsor method.
Findings
The effectiveness and superiority of the proposed model in comprehensive tolerance characterization of discrete surfaces are successfully demonstrated by a case study of a phased array antenna. The tolerance is evidently and intuitively computed and expressed based on the torsor cluster model.
Research limitations/implications
The tolerance analysis method proposed requires much time and high computing performance for the calculation of the statistical simulation.
Practical implications
The torsor cluster model achieves the three-dimensional tolerance representation of the discrete surface. The tolerance analysis method based on this model predicts the accumulation of the tolerance of components before their physical assembly.
Originality/value
This paper proposes the torsor cluster as a novel mathematical model to interpret the tolerance of a discrete surface.
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Zhiping Hou, Jun Wan, Zhenyu Wang and Changgui Li
In confronting the challenge of climate change and progressing towards dual carbon goals, China is actively implementing low-carbon city pilot policy. This paper aims to focus on…
Abstract
Purpose
In confronting the challenge of climate change and progressing towards dual carbon goals, China is actively implementing low-carbon city pilot policy. This paper aims to focus on the potential impact of this policy on enterprise green governance, aiming to promote the reduction and balance of carbon emissions.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the panel data of China's large-scale industrial enterprises from 2007 to 2013, this paper uses the Difference-in-differences (DID) method to study the impact and path mechanism of the implementation of low-carbon city pilot policy on enterprise green governance. Heterogeneity analysis is used to compare the effects of low-carbon city pilot policy in different regions, different enterprises and different industries.
Findings
The low-carbon pilot can indeed effectively enhance corporate green governance, a conclusion that still holds after a series of robustness tests. The low-carbon city pilot policy mainly enhances enterprise green governance through two paths: an industrial structure upgrade and enterprise energy consumption, and it improves green governance by reducing enterprise energy consumption through industrial structure upgrade. The impact of low-carbon city pilot policy on enterprise green governance shows significant differences across different regions, different enterprises and different industries.
Research limitations/implications
This paper examines the impact of low-carbon city pilot policy on enterprise green governance. However, due to availability of data, there are still some limitations to be further tackled. The parallel trend test in this paper shows that the pilot policy has a significant positive effect on the green governance of enterprises. However, due to serious lack of data in some years, the authors only selected the enterprise data of a shorter period as our experimental data, which leads the results to still have certain deficiencies. For the verification of the impact mechanism, the conclusions obtained in this paper are relatively limited. Although all the mechanism tests are passed, the reliability of the results still needs to be further tested through future data samples. In addition, as the pilot policy of low-carbon cities is still in progress, the policy can be tracked and analysed in the future as more data are disclosed, and further research can be carried out through dimensional expansion.
Practical implications
Low-carbon city pilot policy plays an important role in inducing the green governance of enterprises. Therefore, policy makers can continue to strengthen the construction of low-carbon city pilots by refining pilot experience, building typical cases, actively promoting pilot policy experience, expanding pilot scope and enhancing the implementation efficiency of pilot policy nationwide, which will contribute to the optimization and upgrading of the regional industrial structure at the urban level and will provide experience and reference for the synergistic implementation plan of pollution reduction and carbon reduction.
Social implications
The impact of the low-carbon city pilot policy on enterprise green governance not only exists in two separate paths of urban industrial upgrading and enterprise energy consumption but also exists in a chain transmission path from macro to micro. The authors find that the effect value of each influence path is different, and there is an obvious leading influence path for the role of enterprise green governance. Therefore, in the process of implementing a low-carbon city pilot policy, policies should be designed specifically for different mechanisms. Moreover, complementing and coordinating several paths should be advocated to give full play to the green governance effect of enterprises brought by different paths and to further expand the scope of industries and enterprises where policies play a role.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, for the first time, this paper connects macro mechanisms with micro mechanisms, discovering a macro-to-micro transmission mechanism in the process of low-carbon city pilot policy affecting enterprise green governance. That is, the low-carbon city pilot policy can facilitate industrial structure upgrading, resulting in reduced enterprise energy consumption, ultimately enhancing enterprise green governance.
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Weidan Du, Zhenyu Cheryl Qian, Paul Parsons and Yingjie Victor Chen
Modern Web browsers all provide a history function that allows users to see a list of URLs they have visited in chronological order. The history log contains rich information but…
Abstract
Purpose
Modern Web browsers all provide a history function that allows users to see a list of URLs they have visited in chronological order. The history log contains rich information but is seldom used because of the tedious nature of scrolling through long lists. This paper aims to propose a new way to improve users’ Web browsing experience by analyzing, clustering and visualizing their browsing history.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors developed a system called Personal Web Library to help users develop awareness of and understand their Web browsing patterns, identify their topics of interest and retrieve previously visited Web pages more easily.
Findings
User testing showed that this system is usable and attractive. It found that users can easily see patterns and trends at different time granularities, recall pages from the past and understand the local context of a browsing session. Its flexibility provides users with much more information than the traditional history function in modern Web browsers. Participants in the study gained an improved awareness of their Web browsing patterns. Participants mentioned that they were willing to improve their time management after viewing their browsing patterns.
Practical implications
As more and more daily activities rely on the internet and Web browsers, browsing data captures a large part of users’ lives. Providing users with interactive visualizations of their browsing history can facilitate personal information management, time management and other meta-level activities.
Originality/value
This paper aims to help users gain insights into and improve their Web browsing experience, the authors hope that the work they conducted can spur more research contributions in this underdeveloped yet important area.