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In typical model-based calibration, linearization errors are derived inevitably, and non-negligible negative impact will be induced on the identification results if the rotational kinematic errors are not small enough or the lengths of links are too long, which is common in the industrial cases. Thus, an accurate two-step kinematic calibration method minimizing the linearization errors is presented for a six-DoF serial robot to improve the calibration accuracy.

The negative impact of linearization on identification accuracy is minimized by removing the responsible linearized kinematic errors from the complete kinematic error model. Accordingly, the identification results of the dimension-reduced new model are accurate but not complete, so the complete kinematic error model, which achieves high identification accuracy of the rest of the error parameters, is combined with this new model to create a two-step calibration procedure capable of highly accurate identification of all the kinematic errors.

The proportions of linearization errors in measured pose errors are quantified and found to be non-negligible with the increase of rotational kinematic errors. Thus, negative impacts of linearization errors are analyzed quantitatively in different cases, providing the basis for allowed kinematic errors in the new model. Much more accurate results were obtained by using the new two-step calibration method, according to a comparison with the typical methods.

This new method achieves high accuracy with no compromise on completeness, is easy to operate and is consistent with the typical method because the second step with the new model is conveniently combined without changing the sensors or measurement instrument setup.

South Africa is the highest consumer of commercial energy per capita in Africa, ranking 16th in the world for primary energy consumption. It is also ranked among the bottom 50 of the 150 countries regarding energy efficiency. The cold chain is a large contributor through refrigerated transport vehicles. To comply with the changing climate regulations, cryogenic and eutectic systems are systems with great potential for small distance refrigerated transport. The purpose of this paper is to introduce eutectic system to medium distance refrigerated transport.

This study presents the potential use of Eutectic plates inside a medium refrigerated transport vehicle, by numerically investigating the characteristics of phase change material eutectic plates applied at low-temperature ranges. A physical model and a mathematical model for three-dimensional transient natural flow were developed as proposed by Xiaofeng and Zhang. Using the governing equation of mass, momentum and energy conservation, three Eutectic plate configurations were modeled and simulated in ANSYS Fluent for 5 h.

A uniform heat transfer and airflow condition inside a refrigerated compartment were predicted using the Reynolds stress model. The configuration with eutectic plates placed at the top and side showed great potential for the system functioning in the South African climate.

Medium refrigerated transport vehicle.

This configuration had a high-temperature distribution across the compartment and promoted high air circulations, showing that it could be ideal for medium refrigerated transport vehicles delivering perishable foodstuffs or non-food goods.

The purpose of this paper is to propose an extended Kalman particle filter (EPF) approach for dynamic state estimation of synchronous machine using the phasor measurement unit’s measurements.

EPF combines the extended Kalman filter (EKF) with the particle filter (PF) to accurately estimate the dynamic states of synchronous machine. EKF is used to make particles of PF transfer to the likelihood distribution from the previous distribution. Therefore, the sample impoverishment in the implementation of PF is able to be avoided.

The proposed method is capable of estimating the dynamic states of synchronous machine with high accuracy. The real-time capability of this method is also acceptable.

The effectiveness of the proposed approach is tested on IEEE 30-bus system.

Introducing EKF into PF, EPF is proposed to estimate the dynamic states of synchronous machine. The accuracy of a dynamic state estimation is increased.

The general objectives of environmental protection by the year 2000 are: o basic control of environmental pollution o enhancement of environmental quality of major cities o co‐ordination of environmental, economic and social development. Proposals are listed and suggestions for the main measures to be undertaken are given for the advances that should be made by 2000 with respect to: (1) cities and economic areas; (2) industrial pollution; (3) pollution and construction of rural environment; (4) use and conservation of natural resources; (5) conservation of the water supply; (6) protection of the marine environment; (7) scientific and technological progress and environmental education; and (8) environmental management.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibility of an enhanced continuous liquid interface production (CLIP) with a porous track-etched membrane as the oxygen-permeable window, which is prepared by irradiating polyethylene terephthalate membranes with accelerated heavy ions.

Experimental approaches are carried out to characterize printing parameters of resins with different photo-initiator concentrations by a photo-polymerization matrix, to experimentally observe and theoretically fit the oxygen inhibition layer thickness during printing under conditions of pure oxygen and air, respectively, and to demonstrate the enhanced CLIP processes by using pure oxygen and air, respectively.

Owing to the high permeability of track-etched membrane, CLIP process is demonstrated with printing speed up to 800 mm/h in the condition of pure oxygen, which matches well with the theoretically predicted maximum printing speed at difference light expose. Making a trade-off between printing speed and surface quality, maximum printing speed of 470 mm/h is also obtained even using air. As the oxygen inhibition layer created by air is thinner than that by pure oxygen, maximum speed cannot be simply increased by intensifying the light exposure as the case with pure oxygen.

CLIP process is capable of building objects continuously instead of the traditional layer-by-layer manner, which enables tens of times improvement in printing speed. This work presents an enhanced CLIP process by first using a porous track-etched membrane to serve as the oxygen permeable window, in which a record printing speed up to 800 mm/h using pure oxygen is demonstrated. Owing to the high permeability of track-etched membrane, continuous process at a speed of 470 mm/h is also achieved even using air instead of pure oxygen, which is of significance for a compact robust high-speed 3D printer.

The purpose of this research is to explore the relationship between supervisor-subordinate Guanxi (SSG) and employee affective commitment. Integrating social exchange theory (SET) with conservation of resource (COR) theory, this paper explores the mixed effect of SSG on affective commitment as well as the moderating roles of an individual difference (subordinate work ethic) and a contextual variable (procedural fairness).

This research adopted a survey involving 249 subordinates to test the hypothesized model.

The results showed that the relationship between SSG and affective commitment was inverted U-shaped, and this relationship was moderated by work ethic and procedural fairness, respectively.

Despite those contributions listed above, there are still some limitations that future research should seek to address. First, the data of this research are cross-sectional, which might cause common method bias to responses. However, all the hypotheses are higher-order forms of the main effects (curvilinear and moderating effects), which are not affected by the cross-sectional nature of the study (Podskoff et al., 2003). Moreover, given these variables in the model are related to subordinates' internal psychological states or perceptions, data for the study should be collected from subordinates. Relatedly, the cross-sectional nature of the dataset may raise a question about the directionality of the relationships. However, the research model is based on strong theories (i.e. SET and COR theory). In addition, prior research has indicated that Guanxi has an influence on commitment, not vice versa (Cheung et al., 2009; Chen and O'Leary, 2018). However, given that only experimental design can conclusively prove the directionality of the relationship, the authors encourage to replicate the current study using such a design. In addition, the authors encourage future studies to collect longitudinal data and replicate the current study. Second, this study only tested how work ethic and procedural fairness moderated the relationship between SSG and affective commitment. The authors encourage future research to explore the moderating effect of other moderators, such as the integrity of supervisors. In particular, when the supervisor has a high level of integrity, the negative influence of higher SSG may be weakened. Third, this study did not explore the mechanism linking SSG with affective commitment. Future studies should explore the potential mechanisms. For example, subordinates' emotional exhaustion might be the potential mechanism between SSG and affective commitment.

The results imply that supervisors should treat SSG as a double-edged sword and maximize the positive influence of SSG. In addition, organizations should hire individuals with high work ethic or provide related training. At last, organizations should realize the importance of procedural fairness and set a sector that oversees making and executing well-designed roles.

Previous studies on SSG mainly focused on its positive effect on affective commitment, neglecting to explore its negative effect. This paper helped to illustrate the relationship between SSG and affective commitment comprehensively by indicating the relationship between SSG and affective commitment was inverted U-shaped and moderated by work ethic and procedural fairness, respectively.

The essence of “Chinese element” has been pinpointed as the representation of national cultural archetype resource of China, which reflects to the overall power enhancement of China. Applying the Chinese national cultural archetype resource, which will be used for promoting the Chinese Brand internationalization, aims for the consumers' approval with the hope of integrating and spreading the unique cultural advantage of Chinese brand. The recognizing of Chinese brand's cultural archetype in this paper has constituted the basis of Chinese brand's cultural archetype strategy.

Based on the Grounded Theory, this paper has collected and analyzed the value symbols, character images and theme stories of Chinese narrative advertisements and constructed the cultural archetype framework of Chinese brands. This paper makes a comprehensive application of Charmaz's constructivist analysis and the main axis analysis and inspection method advocated by Strauss, with the aim of building a more objective and systematic theoretical framework for the Chinese brand cultural archetype.

In this framework, it revealed: (1) Chinese brand's cultural archetype can be divided into 12 concrete archetypes according to individual's relationship with self, the other, community and nature; (2) Consumers' different ways of self-categorization are attributed as the essential difference among various archetypes. This paper also compared and analyzed the differences between Chinese and Western cultural archetypes from three perspectives, formation of social structure, pedigree of myth and character's feature.

This paper has certain innovative significance to the theoretical construction of the archetype of Chinese brand culture. First, based on the cultural perspective, this paper applied the cultural psychological connotation of archetype to the brand research across culture, which is more conducive to the researchers' investigation of the cultural psychology of consumers in the cross-cultural context? Second, based on the identification and comparative study of Chinese brand culture archetype, it provides a new expansion and supplement for the research on brand internationalization and globalization in emerging countries.

The paper aims to propose a virtual reality (VR) wisdom teaching model in open university English course from the perspective of “Metaverse”. The study aims to testify the stimulation for English learning and the effectiveness of English-expressing with VR tools for adult learners from the practice in a pilot reform project.

The paper opted for an exploratory study using ICARE Design Model as the framework, under the grounded theories of constructivism and multi-modal teaching. The study compared the evaluation data of one-semester English learning performance between the experimental class (67 students) with VR practice and the controlled class (67 students), including speaking test score, qualitative feedback and in-depth experience analysis. The data were complemented by reflection paper analysis, including manual evaluation (the criteria of semantics, pronunciation, fluency and completeness), questionnaire survey (in the form of five-point Likert scale) and semi-structured interview.

The paper provides empirical insights about the VR wisdom teaching model in English language teaching and learning in a Chinese Open University. The empirical results suggest that “3I” features of VR technology could make up for the shortcomings of traditional English classes in open universities in China, and VR resources designed with curriculum teaching materials could also be helpful for students’ command of knowledge points and language skills. What’s more, the sense of authentic experience in virtual could promote the teaching and learning effect in college English classes.

The present study focuses on a wisdom mode of foreign language teaching and learning for adult learners in open education, so the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to further explore the deep integration of VR/artificial intelligence in foreign language teaching and learning.

This paper fulfills an identified need to study how VR tools provide an engaging, fun and immersive language learning environment, to enhance autonomous learning and learning engagement.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, tremendous changes have taken place in the US economy – the economic growth in the whole year of 2020 was negative, and though it enjoyed a significant rebound for the first half of 2021, the growth rate began to decline rapidly by the third quarter, and inflation suddenly rises rapidly, which after came the all-time highs of the “misery index” consisted of the inflation rate and unemployment rate. All signs indicate that the US economy will likely enter a “stagflation” crisis.

This paper analyzes the institutional and social contradictions in the United States during the neoliberal era from the perspectives of domestic social structure of accumulation (SSA) and international SSA based on the SSA theory.

The current risk of stagflation in the US economy is a concentrated outbreak of the long-term accumulated contradictions in neoliberal SSA under the impact of the epidemic, which is the product of the irreconcilable contradictions inherent in the capitalist mode of production.

Based on this analysis, the paper points out that with the deepening of the crisis, the neoliberal SSA is likely to end and a new SSA will be established gradually.

This paper is a response to the doctrine that capital is incompatible with public ownership. The fundamental characteristics of modern productivity determine the co-existence of the market economy and capital relations.

Socialism can neither bypass the market economy nor “go beyond capital”; capital appears in two historical forms, including the private capital and the public capital. Public capital is the inevitable outcome of the inherent contradictions of public ownership in a socialist market economy.

It represents an economic relationship that compels individual labourers to provide surplus labour for the society. The combination of the strong accumulation function of public capital and the improvement of people's welfare is the main cause of China's development miracle.

The innovation impetus of the public capital and its “immunity” to the capitalist crisis highlight the tremendous power of socialism with Chinese characteristics in breaking free of the shackles of capitalism and continuously developing productive forces. Public capital demonstrates and will continue to demonstrate the historical legitimacy of socialism.