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Chatbots are increasingly engaged in service marketing. Some academics and managers think using anthropomorphism chatbots will improve positive attitudes and behaviors in the customer journey, but at a high degree of anthropomorphism, consumers may experience negative emotions such as fear and disgust due to the feeling that the robots resemble humans too much, which is known as the uncanny valley effect. Therefore, the authors aim to explore whether chatbot anthropomorphism will promote or limit the development of the customer journey and explore the moderating factors and the antecedent factors affecting consumers' perceptions of chatbot anthropomorphism.

The authors collected 72,782 unique data points from 42 articles and 82 samples using a meta-analysis. Based on the stimuli-organism-response (SOR) model, the impact of anthropomorphic chatbots on the consumer journey was discussed.

The authors’ findings show that chatbot anthropomorphism positively impacts the customer journey but not their negative attitudes. Further moderator analysis reveals that the impact depends on service result, chatbot gender and sample source. The chatbot anthropomorphism is significantly influenced by social presence cues, emotional message cues and mixed cues.

This research contributes to the chatbot anthropomorphism literature and offers guidance for managers on whether and how to enhance chatbot anthropomorphism to facilitate the customer journey and improve service sustainability.

Wireless network localization technology is very popular in recent years and has attracted worldwide attention. The purpose of this paper is to improve the localization accuracy of ultra-wideband (UWB) with lower localization error taking into consideration the special real environment with the closed long and narrow space.

The principle of multidimensional scaling (MDS), particle swarm optimization (PSO) and Taylor series expansion algorithm (Taylor-D) were introduced. A novel positioning algorithm, MDS-PSO-Taylor was proposed to minimize the localization error. MDS-PSO algorithm provided a more accurate preliminary coordinate by applying the PSO algorithm so that the Taylor-D was used for further enhancing the localization accuracy.

Experimental results manifested that the proposed algorithm, providing small localization error value and higher positioning accuracy, can effectively reduce errors and achieve better performance in terms of the considerable improvement of localization accuracy.

The presented study with the real environment test attempts to demonstrate the proposed algorithm is hopeful to be applied to the underground environment for in the future.

China has been going through a “museum boom” paralleling the domestic tourism boom since 2000; such growth changed the cultural landscape; museums became a vital characteristic of some Chinese cities for both residents and tourists. Encouraged by this growth, the more ambitious “All-for-one Museum (全域博物馆)” was proposed. The physical boundary between museums and living spaces is infinite ambiguity, challenging the idea of museums as “heterotopias.” This study aims to explore the musealization of urban spaces in the context of anthropology and museology, scrutinizing the cultural-political intentions and meanings of these developments, and seeks to ignite further investigation into the reconstruction of historical imaginaries for tourists and urban populations across related disciplines.

This paper examines two cases in Chinese metropolises, Beijing and Shanghai, to illustrate this development of musealization, that is, how the cities actively leverage museological values and methods to connect with their past. In the Beijing case, the authors explore how the local government is leading the effort to musealize the city; in the Shanghai case, they will see how tourists, especially dweller-tourists, navigate through a curated past story in the city and connect their own experience, memory and identity with the place.

The all-for-one museum creates a museal layer projected onto the bigger urban space, even though the authenticity of the “past” is challenged by the modernization development of the city. The authors also find out that for some tourists (especially dweller-tourists), an existential sense of authenticity plays a more significant role as they not only seek to sightsee the past of the city but also to take part in its creation.

This paper discusses two kinds of musealization in cosmopolitan cities of Beijing and Shanghai: top-down and bottom-up. It approaches questions about the musealization of urban spaces from the perspectives of anthropology and museology, and discusses musealization in the specific historical context of China’s modernization process.

The selection of purchasing channels by wine consumers indirectly affects buying experience and satisfaction, therefore, it is of great practical significance to study consumers' preference on channel selection. The purpose of this study is to investigate the current state of consumer selection for purchasing channel and the corresponding influencing factors.

A total of 2,976 valid questionnaires were collected by convenience sampling from 34 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions of China in 2020 via the Internet, yielding a response rate of 82.2%. A categorical statistical approach was used to understand consumer's selection for each channel. Besides, binary logistic regression model was used to analyze the factors affecting consumers' channel selection.

The results show that Chinese wine consumers' main purchasing channels are as follows: supermarket/mall, wine specialty stores, comprehensive e-business flagship stores, comprehensive e-business individual stores, restaurants and short video and live streaming platforms. Estimation results showed that among the 12 influencing factors in 4 categories, consumers' education and some other factors significantly influenced consumers' decision on wine purchasing channels.

Limited by time and experimental conditions, this study did not analyze the trend of wine consumers' purchasing channel selection. Future work would concentrate on multi-year data and conduct longitudinal comparative analysis.

This study innovatively subdivides the currently popular wine sales channels in Chinese market and conducts research related to consumer channel selection. The results of the study can provide reference for wine producers and distributors to update their strategic layout and also help various channels to understand the characteristics of their customer groups for targeted marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a micro historical account of the work of a key Chinese educational reformer, Tao Xingzhi (1891–1946), who transformed educational ideas from John Dewey to effect social and cultural change in 1920s–1940s China.

This paper examines English and Chinese language sources, including Tao’s poetry, to present a fresh analysis of Tao’s epistemological life history. It draws upon transnational historical approaches to chart the multidirectional circulation of progressive education philosophies around the globe. It also explores some conceptual dimensions of Chinese historical thinking and historiographical strategies.

Tao Xingzhi engaged in critical intercultural knowledge exchange in implementing educational reforms in China. He blended and critiqued Chinese and Deweyian educational philosophies to create unique educational reform, which involved reversing some of Dewey’s approaches as well as adapting others.

This paper foregrounds Tao Xingzhi’s agency in transforming some of Dewey’s ideas in the Chinese context and challenges studies that adopt an “impact-response” approach to Tao’s contribution, which suggest a one-way flow of knowledge from a “modern” West to a “traditional” China. It brings hitherto unexplored Chinese language sources to an English-speaking audience, particularly Tao’s poetry, to gain new historical insights into Tao’s educational reforms. It contributes to transnational understandings of the multidirectional flows of knowledge about Progressive educational philosophies around the world.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the friction and wear mechanisms in copper-based self-lubricating composites with MoS₂ as the lubricating phase, which provides a theoretical basis for subsequent research on high-performance copper-based self-lubricating materials.

Friction tests were performed at a speed of 100 r/min, a load of 10 N, a friction radius of 5 mm and a sliding speed of 30 min. Friction experiments were carried out at RT-500°C. The phase composition of the samples was characterized by X-ray diffraction of Cu Ka radiation, and the microstructure, morphology and elemental distribution were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy. Reactants and valences formed during the wear process were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

The addition of MoS₂ can effectively improve friction-reducing and anti-wear action of the matrix, which is beneficial to form a lubricating film on the sliding track. After analyzing different changing mechanism of the sliding tracks, the oxides and sulfides of MoS₂, MoO₂, Cu₂O, CuO and Ni(OH)₂ were detected to form a synergetic lubricating film on the sliding track, which is responsible for the excellent tribological properties from room to elevated temperature.

For self-lubrication Cu–Sn–Ni–MoS₂ material in engineering field, there are still few available references on high-temperature application.

This paper provides a theoretical basis for the following research on copper-based self-lubricating materials with high performance.

With this statement, the authors hereby certify that the manuscript is the results of their own effort and ability. They have indicated all quotes, citations and references. Furthermore, the authors have not submitted any essay, paper or thesis with similar content elsewhere. No conflict of interest exits in the submission of this manuscript.

This study aims to clarify the relationship of friction material type and brake disc temperature through braking experiment.

The braking performances of resin materials (RM), semimetallic materials (SM) and copper-based powder metallurgy materials (PM) friction blocks mating with forged steel brake disc were examined based on TM-I-type reduced-scale inertial braking dynamometer. The brake disc surface temperature was recorded by infrared thermal camera during braking.

Experimental results indicate that the thermal wear resistance of three friction materials differs with mental content, resulting in the deviation of pad-disc system contact state during braking, thus forming different temperature distribution on the brake disc surface. The peak temperature on the disc face of RM (190°C) is 36.6% and 45.4% lower than that of PM (300°C) and SM (348°C) at 160 km/h. The maximum radial temperature deviation of PM (35°C) is approximately three times than that of RM (12°C) and 40% higher than that of SM (25°C) at 50 km/h, whereas the maximum temperature deviation of SM (97°C) is six times than that of RM (16°C) and 31% higher than that of PM (74°C) at 160 km/h.

The effect of friction material type on the disc surface temperature distribution is revealed, which provides a meaningful reference for the design of brake friction pairs and choice of brake pad materials.

The purpose of this study is to present a systematic and comprehensive review of personalized, adaptive and semantic e-learning systems.

Preferred reporting items of systematic reviews and meta-analyses guidelines have been used for a thorough insight into associated aspects of e-learning that complement the e-learning pedagogies and processes. The aspects of e-learning systems have been reviewed comprehensively such as personalization and adaptivity, e-learning and semantics, learner profiling and learner categorization, which are handy in intelligent content recommendations for learners.

The adoption of semantic Web based technologies would complement the learner’s performance in terms of learning outcomes.

The evaluation of the proposed framework depends upon the yearly batch of learners and recording is a cumbersome/tedious process.

E-Learning systems may have diverse and positive impact on society including democratized learning and inclusivity regardless of socio-economic or geographic status.

A preliminary framework of an ontology-based e-learning system has been proposed at a modular level of granularity for implementation, along with evaluation metrics followed by a future roadmap.

The rotor in screw motor is driven to rotate by highly pressure difference of drilling fluid (DF), while rotor drives drill bit to break rocks. DF works in the volume cavity (VC) which exists between the stator and rotor (SAR), these process realizes the conversion from hydraulic energy to mechanical energy finally. In order to assure seal performance and output power reliability of VC in common hypocycloid screw motor (CHSM), it’s essential to survey SAR end-face profile.

In this article, based on the internal and external cycloid method given for SAR end-face of φ172 7/8-head LZ type CHSM, the interference among SAR is established based on the meshing model through theoretical equilibrium method (TEM). Last, the reasonable design value of SAR interference in TEM is verified with the hydraulic parameters test results.

The profile optimization that top-root part of rotor end-face profiles is replaced by elliptical-circular arcs (ECA) makes the transition area of tooth-top and tooth-root connect smoother than before. The reasonable interference of SAR in TEM is almost 0.16mm~0.22mm to ensure better sealing performance. Through the hydraulic test, the interference positive fluctuation or the number of SAR head reduces increase (starting-pressure-drop) SPD while negative fluctuations by contraries. Meanwhile, DF penetration also decreases the revolution speed with the SAR interference decreases. The less SAR head revolution speed is always below the more with the constant driving power and DF hydraulic drop. Ultimately, decreasing in overall-efficiency occurs for larger fluctuation of interference or or less interference among SAR.

The line type optimization and analysis in TEM for CHSM improves the motor seal and output performance, also has important application values simultaneously.

As artificial intelligence technology empowers service robots, they increasingly communicate with consumers in a human-like manner. This study aims to investigate the effect of service robots’ different conversational styles (competent conversational style vs. cute conversational style) on consumer service acceptance and demonstrate the moderating role of consumers’ technology anxiety.

Based on anthropomorphism theory and social presence theory, the authors conducted two scenario-based experiments (restaurant scenario and hotel scenario) to investigate this issue.

The results indicate that service robots’ conversational styles impact consumers’ willingness to accept the use of service robots through perceived social presence and positive emotion. Moreover, consumers perceived social presence and positive emotion play a serial mechanism. In addition, the effect of competent conversational style on consumers perceived social presence is less effective than that of cute conversational style. Finally, the authors demonstrate the moderating role of consumer technology anxiety in the relationship between conversational styles and perceived social presence.

To provide consumers with a positive human–robot interaction experience at the service front line, managers need to make better use of the conversational styles of service robots by comprehensively considering the characteristics of consumer technology anxiety.

This research extends the literature on service robots by integrating consumer characteristics and robots’ conversational styles. These findings highlight the effectiveness of cute conversational style in alleviating consumer technology anxiety.