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The construction industry accounts for a large proportion of the economy of developing countries, but the connotation and influencing factors of high-quality development (HQD) are still unclear. This study aims to gain a more comprehensive insight into the current development status of the regional construction industry under China's HQD orientation and the obstructive factors affecting its development and to provide informative suggestions for its HQD prospects.

In this study, the construction industry of 16 cities in the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle (CCEC), a new region in southwest China, was used as the research object to collect data from the 2006–2019 yearbooks, construct an evaluation index system for HQD of the construction industry, derive the development level of the construction industry using the entropy value method and spatial autocorrelation method and then apply the barrier Diagnostic model was used to compare and analyze the impact level of each index.

In terms of the time dimension, the development of the construction industry in CCEC is characterized by “high in the twin core and low in the surrounding area”, with unbalanced and insufficient development; in terms of spatial correlation, some factors have positive aggregation in spatial distribution, but the peripheral linkage decreases; through barrier analysis, the impact of different barrier factors is different.

This paper will help governments and enterprises in developing countries to make urban planning and management policies to fundamentally improve the development of the construction industry in underdeveloped regions.

This paper investigates school library services in the digital age for students with dyslexia and explores the impact of current library services on students’ learning.

A qualitative study with semi-structured interviews was designed according to the LAFE (Look and listen, Assistance and accessibility, Format and fit, and Environment) framework for learners with dyslexia and the 5E instructional model and conducted with 11 school librarians.

Results indicated that participants lacked knowledge of dyslexia for appropriate library services. Awareness, IT skills, school administration, funding and parental attitudes would influence the library’s tailored services to dyslexic children, despite the rich resources in these participants’ libraries, including paperbacks, digital resources and electronic devices. Adaptations are necessary to provide accessible services, especially by applying digital technologies, and school libraries can positively impact students’ reading interests, promote knowledge inquiry and strengthen information literacy skills.

While students with dyslexia spend significant time in schools, limited studies focus on school library services in the digital age, especially in Asia. This study fills the gap by systematically exploring the issue with the 5E instructional model.

To identify what constitutes web site quality or what makes a web site effective.

This article examines and integrates four sets of factors that capture e‐commerce web site quality using an IS success model: system quality, information quality, service quality, and attractiveness. A questionnaire survey was conducted to verify the measures of web site quality. Based on TAM, a framework is also developed relating web site quality to customers' beliefs (perceived usefulness and ease of use), attitudes (preferences for the site), and intentions (to revisit the site).

A set of instruments of web site quality has been developed and empirically validated by factor analysis.

The research is based on a sample of students browsing several book web sites and they may not sense the web site quality across different B2C commercial web sites such as music, computer, travel, clothes and flowers. Data in these domains should be collected in any future research to examine further the measures developed here.

Guidelines for web interface design are proposed.

This paper fulfils the identification of web site quality and the development and validation of its measures and offers a framework and practical guidelines for e‐commerce managers and web designers.

The purpose of this paper is to reveal the influence of dimples on the tribological properties of the “washers-cage-rollers” system of rolling element bearing (REB) under starved lubrication.

A fiber laser marking system was used to prepare dimples patterns on the raceways of the shaft washers of cylindrical roller thrust bearings (CRTBs). The friction and wear properties of dimples textured CRTBs with different diameter of dimples (200 µm, 250 µm, 300 µm) and depth of dimples (4 µm, 8 µm, 12 µm) were researched through a vertical universal wear test rig using a customized tribo-pair under starved lubrication. The surface stresses and the influence mechanism of dimple units on the tribological behavior of REBs were also compared and discussed.

Although the surface stresses on the raceways of dimples textured bearings are significantly higher than that of the smooth group, the coefficients of friction and wear losses of them are all reduced under starved lubrication. When the effective volume of dimples is between 1.13 and 2.25 and the depth of dimples is smaller than 12 µm, the tribological properties of dimples textured CRTBs are significantly improved. In this work, when the diameter of dimples is 250 µm, and the depth of dimples is 8 µm, the textured bearings can provide the excellent friction-reduction ability and outstanding wear resistance.

This work is a valuable reference for the raceway design and optimization of REBs.

Augmented reality (AR) adoption has boomed globally in recent years. The prospective of AR to seamlessly integrate digital information into the actual environment has proven to be a challenge for academics and industry, as they endeavor to understand and predict the influence on users' perceptions, adoption intentions and usage. This study investigates the factors affecting consumers’ behavioral intention to adopt AR technology in shopping malls by offering the mobile technology acceptance model (MTAM).

This conceptual framework is based on mobile self-efficacy, rewards, social influence and enjoyment of existing MTAM constructs. A self-administered questionnaire, constructed by measuring questions modified from previous research, elicited 311 usable responses from mobile respondents who had recently used AR technology in shopping malls. This analysis was performed using SmartPLS3.0.

Grounded on the findings of the study, it was found that, aside from factors such as mobile usefulness, ease of use and social influence, the remaining independent variables had the most significant impact on adopting AR technologies. Considering the limitations of this study, the paper concludes by discussing the significant implications and insinuating avenues for future research.

To better investigate mobile AR app adoption in Pakistan’s shopping malls, the researchers modified the newly proposed MTAM model by incorporating mobile self-efficacy theory, social influence, rewards and perceived enjoyment. However, the extended model has not been extensively studied in previous research. This study is the first to examine the variables that affect an individual’s intention to accept mobile AR apps by using a novel extended MTAM.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of enterprise social media (ESM) use on two trust dimensions – affect-based trust (ABT) and cognition-based trust (CBT) – as mediators in the relationship between ESM use and knowledge sharing. In the first stage of the proposed model, the authors also consider transparent communication (TC) and personal blogging with colleagues (PBC) during work and non-work hours as moderators that reshape trust levels and subsequently promote knowledge sharing within the organisation.

The authors collected the data in three waves from employees in China, the world’s largest market for social media. Five companies, including three information technology companies and two software companies, were targeted for data collection. Initially, a total of 403 ESM users were recruited, but the final sample in the final round was reduced to N = 292. The authors used Mplus (v8.5) to calculate direct path coefficients and indirect moderated-mediation effects.

The use of ESM promotes ABT and CBT, thereby improving knowledge sharing. ABT and CBT both fully mediate the effect of ESM use on knowledge sharing. However, the research reveals paradoxical findings regarding moderation. For example, on the one hand, TC negatively moderates the association between ESM use and ABT, thereby reducing knowledge sharing in the workplace. On the other hand, TC strengthens the relationship between the use of ESM and CBT, thereby increasing knowledge sharing. These contradictory findings indicate that TC functions as a double-edged sword; thus, the effective use of ESM in the workplace requires managers’ intervention. Finally, the analysis reveals that the moderating role of PBC strengthens the association between ESM use and both ABT and CBT, thereby increasing knowledge sharing.

While stakeholders have expressed concern regarding the adverse impacts of workplace ESM adoption on employee performance, the authors provide a broad, novel perspective on the potential of ESM use to enhance knowledge sharing via trust (i.e. ABT and CBT). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to offer a comparative view of trust dimensions, such as ABT and CBT, and to discuss how, why and when TC and PBC interactions moderate the relationship of ESM to ABT and CBT and thereby lead to knowledge sharing. These interesting findings guide further research into the role of ESM in the workplace, especially research based on rational choice theory and communication visibility theory, by illuminating the ways in which employees can use ESM to reshape social communication in the workplace and thereby enhance knowledge sharing.

The quality and quantity of data are vital for the effectiveness of problem solving. Nowadays, big data analytics, which require managing an immense amount of data rapidly, has attracted more and more attention. It is a new research area in the field of information processing techniques. It faces the big challenges and difficulties of a large amount of data, high dimensionality, and dynamical change of data. However, such issues might be addressed with the help from other research fields, e.g., swarm intelligence (SI), which is a collection of nature-inspired searching techniques. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In this paper, the potential application of SI in big data analytics is analyzed. The correspondence and association between big data analytics and SI techniques are discussed. As an example of the application of the SI algorithms in the big data processing, a commodity routing system in a port in China is introduced. Another example is the economic load dispatch problem in the planning of a modern power system.

The characteristics of big data include volume, variety, velocity, veracity, and value. In the SI algorithms, these features can be, respectively, represented as large scale, high dimensions, dynamical, noise/surrogates, and fitness/objective problems, which have been effectively solved.

In current research, the example problem of the port is formulated but not solved yet given the ongoing nature of the project. The example could be understood as advanced IT or data processing technology, however, its underlying mechanism could be the SI algorithms. This paper is the first step in the research to utilize the SI algorithm to a big data analytics problem. The future research will compare the performance of the method and fit it in a dynamic real system.

Based on the combination of SI and data mining techniques, the authors can have a better understanding of the big data analytics problems, and design more effective algorithms to solve real-world big data analytical problems.

In the electronic assembly industry, low-temperature soldering holds great potential to be used in surface mounting technology. Tin–bismuth (Sn–Bi) eutectic alloys are lead-free solders applied in consumer electronics because of their low melting point, high strength and low cost. This paper aims to investigate how to address the problem of hot tear crack formation during Sn–Bi low-temperature solder (LTS) in the mass production of consumer electronics.

This paper explored the development of hot tear cracks during Sn–Bi soldering in the fabrication of flip chip ball grid arrays. Experiments were designed to simulate various conditions encountered in Sn–Bi soldering. Quantitative analysis was conducted on the number of hot tear cracks observed in different alloy compositions and solder volumes to explore the primary cause of hot tear cracks and possible methods to suppress crack formation.

Hot tear cracks existed in Sn–Bi solders with different bismuth (Bi) contents, but increasing the solder volume reduced the number of hot tear cracks. Experiments were designed to test the degree of chip transient thermal warpage with temperature change, and, according to the results, glue was dispensed in specific areas to reduce chip warpage deformation. Finally, the results of combined process experiments pointed to an effective method of low-temperature soldering to suppress hot tear cracks.

The study focuses on Sn–Bi solders only without other solder pastes such as SAC305 or Sn–Zn series.

With the growing popularity of smart electronics, especially in intelligent terminals, new energy vehicles electronics, solar photovoltaic and other field, there will be more and more demand for low- temperature, energy-saving, lead-free solders. Therefore, this study will help the industry to roll out LTS (Sn–Bi) solutions rapidly.

In the long term, lean and green manufacturing is expected to be essential for maintaining an advanced manufacturing industry across the world. Developing new LTSs and soldering processes is the most effective, direct solution for energy conservation and emission mitigation. With the growing popularity of smart electronics, especially in intelligent terminals, new energy vehicles and solar photovoltaics, there would be an increased demand for low-temperature, energy-saving, lead-free techniques.

Although there are many methods that can be used to suppress hot tear cracks, there is little research on how to control the hot tear cracks caused by the low-temperature soldering of Sn–Bi in laptop applications. The authors studied the hot tear cracks that developed during the world’s first mass production of 50 million personal laptops based on low-temperature Sn–Bi alloy solder pastes. By controlling the Bi content, redesigning the solder paste printing process (e.g. through a printer’s stencil) and adding dispensing processes, the authors obtained reliable and stable experimental data and conclusions.

Previous studies demonstrate that market-oriented reform has contributed significantly to China's economic growth from the efficiency-based economic view. But some argue that state-owned firms have access to policy information, scarce resources, and government support, and thus state-owned firms might foster innovation. This study tries to find out either market force or state ownership helps improve firms' R&D efficiency.

Using data from China's high-tech industry, we employed the fixed-effect stochastic frontier model and the spatial panel Han-Philips linear dynamic regression model to investigate the relationship between market-oriented reform and the dynamic evolution of R&D efficiency in both temporal and spatial dimensions. Moreover, we examined whether the relationship is affected in a state-owned economy and an industry protection environment.

The results indicate the following: (1) the R&D efficiency of China's high-tech industry has improved steadily and has converged gradually across its regions during the market-oriented reform; (2) the marketization degree is positively correlated with R&D efficiency and its regional convergence; (3) the state-owned economy and industry protection have significantly weakened the ability of market forces to shape R&D efficiency — i.e. they reduce, rather than enhance, R&D efficiency.

This investigation helps understand the drivers of R&D efficiency in transition economies, and the findings are also helpful in defining the boundaries and constraints of market forces.

This paper aims to study the synergistic effect of graphene sponge on the thermal properties and shape stability of composite phase change material (PCM).

Graphene oxide sponge is first prepared from an aqueous solution of graphene oxide by freeze-drying method. The oxidized graphene sponge is reduced by hydrazine hydrate. Finally, use vacuum impregnation method to introduce paraffin into graphene sponge to prepare composite PCM.

Graphene sponge is used to improve the shape stability of paraffin wax and improves the thermal conductivity and latent heat of the composite PCM. The thermal conductivity increases by 200 per cent and the composite PCM has excellent reliability in 100 melt-freezing cycles.

A simple way for fabricating composite PCM with high thermal conductivity and latent heat which has the potential to be used as thermal storage materials without container encapsulation has been developed by using graphene sponge and paraffin.

The materials and preparation methods with special structure and properties in this paper provide a new idea for the research of PCM, which can be widely used in the fields of energy conversion and storage.