Zhongcheng Gui, Yongjun Deng, Zhongxi Sheng, Tangjie Xiao, Yonglong Li, Fan Zhang, Na Dong and Jiandong Wu
This paper aims to present a new intelligent wall-climbing welding robot system for large-scale steel structure manufacture, which is composed of robot body, control system and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a new intelligent wall-climbing welding robot system for large-scale steel structure manufacture, which is composed of robot body, control system and welding system.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors design the robot system according to application requirements, validate the design through simulation and experiments and use the robot in actual production.
Findings
Experimental results show that the robot system satisfies the demands of automatic welding of large-scale ferromagnetic structure, which contributes much to on-site manufacturing of such structures.
Practical implications
The robot can work with better quality and efficiency compared with manual welding and other semi-automatic welding devices, which can much improve large-scale steel structure manufacturing.
Originality/value
The robot system is a novel solution for large-scale steel structures welding. There are three major advantages: the robot body with reliable adsorption ability, large payload capability and good mobility which meet the requirements of welding; the control system with good welding seam tracking accuracy and intelligent automatic welding ability; and friendly human – computer interface which makes the robot easy to use.
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Keywords
Purpose – Informed by Chinese mothers from four villages, the purpose of this chapter is to address the old issue of feminization of family survival, but situated within the…
Abstract
Purpose – Informed by Chinese mothers from four villages, the purpose of this chapter is to address the old issue of feminization of family survival, but situated within the landscape of neoliberalism. This study investigates the interplay between Chinese patriarchal values and neoliberal ideas that have shaped the Happiness Project – Action to Aid Impoverished Mothers – an official population control program that has been combined with poverty reduction “Action.”
Methodology – This research began in 2001 in Sichuan Province, Southwest China. Over a period of three years I interviewed 48 women who were participants in the Happiness Project.
Findings – The goal of the Happiness Project is to bring “happiness” to poor mothers through the introduction of microcredit, literacy programs, and the improvement of reproductive health. Three maternal aspects of the Happiness Project, as the study indicates, coincide with three particular patriarchal values. These include an official construction of a good mother image, targeting women's bodies as objects of the state's population control, and reinforcing gender stereotypes through market activity. The findings of this research suggest that feminization of family survival coincided with achieving the goal of the Project. Mothers thus have carried a double burden on behalf of the Chinese state and their families: the goals of declining fertility and increasing family prosperity.
Social implications – Based on this outcome, the study not only calls for reevaluating this “women-only” economic development model, but also calls into question whether bringing Chinese women into public production/market activity is a path to women's emancipation under neoliberalism.
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The purpose of this paper is to apply the theory of cultural diplomacy to explore and explain the role and function of the Confucius Institution project and its implications for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to apply the theory of cultural diplomacy to explore and explain the role and function of the Confucius Institution project and its implications for understanding of China's soft power projection.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper first presents the theories of soft power and cultural diplomacy as an analytic framework. It then delineates an interpretative illustration of the CI project as a platform for China's cultural diplomacy. The paper concludes with a discussion of the CI project's implications for understanding of China's soft power projection.
Findings
The paper argues that the Confucius Institute project can be understood as a form of cultural diplomacy that is state‐sponsored and university‐piloted, a joint effort to gain China a more sympathetic global reception. As such, the Confucius Institution project involves a complex of soft power techniques. However, it is not entirely representative of soft power capability, because the problems embedded in the project and in the wider society run counter to the Chinese government's efforts to increase the Confucius Institutions’ attractiveness and popularity.
Originality/value
This article sheds light on Chinese universities in the role of “unofficial cultural diplomats.” On this topic, further research may need to explore more fundamental issues that bear far‐reaching significance and impact, i.e. the mechanics of Chinese university involvement in Confucius Institutes. Interesting questions arising from this study may help open up a wider spectrum of research topics for understanding the university‐state relationship, cross‐border higher education, as well as the possibilities and limits of educational globalization. At this stage, this article serves as a start to move scholarship in that direction.