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The paper focuses on the issue of manual rebar-binding tasks in the construction industry, which are marked by high labor intensity, high costs and inefficient operations. The rebar-binding robots that are currently available are not fully mature. Most of them can only bind one or two nodes in one position, which leads to significant time wastage in movement. Based on a new type of rebar-binding robot, this paper aims to propose a new movement and binding control that reduces manpower and enhances efficiency.

The robot is combined with photoelectric sensors, travel switches and other sensors. It is supposed to move accurately and run in a limited area on the rebar mesh through logical judgment, speed control and position control. Machine vision is used by the robot to locate the rebar nodes and then adjusts the binding-gun position to ensure that multiple rebar nodes are bound sequentially.

By moving on the rebar mesh with accuracy, the robot meets the positioning accuracy requirements of the binding module, with experimental testing accuracy within 5 mm. Furthermore, its ability to bind four rebar nodes in one place results in a high efficiency and a binding effect that meets building standards.

The innovative design of the robot can adapt itself to the rebar mesh, move accurately to the target position and bind four nodes at that position, which reduces the number of movements on the mesh. Repetitive and heavy rebar-binding tasks can be efficiently completed by the robot, which saves human resources, reduces worker labor intensity and reduces construction overhead. It provides a more feasible and practical solution for using robots to bind rebar nodes.

Sociology of sport in China has evolved from being an “exotic” subject to a localized subject over the past 35 years. It is closely associated with social changes, sports policy and athletic achievement of China. As a discipline of humanitarian and social sciences of sport, it is taught in virtually all universities with sports majors. There are about 500 scholars specializing in sport sociology in the country. Textbooks written by Chinese and foreign scholars are published. Academic papers on sport sociology are often published in the 15 accredited core sports journals. The most productive authors are from universities and the developed provinces and municipalities. The established research areas of sport sociology are extensive. These include national identity, athlete mobility, Olympic legacy, sport for all, sports industry issues, feminist studies, community sport, sport for the aged and disabled, etc. However, there are few studies with critical analysis and only a few in the areas of sport and religion, sport and race, and deviance in sport in China. Various kinds of financial support at different levels are available in the country. Empirical research is common with literature review, questionnaire, case study, and interview being the most frequently used methods. However, sport sociology is not considered as a major topic but as a research direction and it is not accepted widely by mainstream sociology. The future of sport sociology is promising, but not without challenges.

This paper aims to anticipate the possible development direction of WAAM. For large-scale and complex components, the material loss and cycle time of wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) are lower than those of conventional manufacturing. However, the high-precision WAAM currently requires longer cycle times for correcting dimensional errors. Therefore, new technologies need to be developed to achieve high-precision and high-efficiency WAAM.

This paper analyses the innovations in high-precision WAAM in the past five years from a mechanistic point of view.

Controlling heat to improve precision is an effective method. Methods of heat control include reducing the amount of heat entering the deposited interlayer or transferring the accumulated heat out of the interlayer in time. Based on this, an effective and highly precise WAAM is achievable in combination with multi-scale sensors and a complete expert system.

Therefore, a development direction for intelligent WAAM is proposed. Using the optimised process parameters based on machine learning, adjusting the parameters according to the sensors’ in-process feedback, achieving heat control and high precision manufacturing.

The aim of this paper is to synthesize graphene-modified titanium dioxide (GR-TiO₂) nanorod arrays nanocomposite films, so that these can enhance the photocatalytic properties of titanium dioxide and overcome the problem of difficult separation and recovery of photocatalysts.

The GR-TiO₂ nanocomposite films were synthesized via hydrothermal method and spin-coating. The obtained samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), ultraviolet–visible (UV-Vis) diffuse reflectance spectrum and Raman spectrum. The photocatalytic performance of the GR-TiO₂ nanocomposite films for degrading Rhodamin B under ultraviolet (UV) was studied by a UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The photocatalytic enhancement mechanism of graphene was studied by photoelectrochemical analysis.

The introduction of graphene expanded the range of the optical response of TiO₂ nanorod arrays, improving the separation efficiency of the photogenerated electron-hole pairs, and thus dramatically increasing its photocatalytic performance.

A simple and novel way for synthesizing GR-TiO₂ nanocomposite films has enhanced the photocatalytic performance of TiO₂.

The photocatalyst synthesized is easy to separate and recycle in the process of photocatalytic reaction, so it is possible to achieve industrialization.

The purpose of this study is to examine job engagement and creativity of employees in the hospitality industry of Pakistan as outcomes of empowering leadership through the mediating role of creative self-efficacy.

An electronic survey was conducted to collect data from 373 employees of food-chain restaurants in Pakistan. The data was analyzed by applying structural equation modeling (SEM) through Smart PLS 3.

Results indicated that empowering leadership has a positive association with job engagement and employee creativity in the hospitality industry. Further, creative self-efficacy has been found as mediating the relationship of empowering leadership with job engagement and employee creativity.

The study has substantial implications for the employees, managers and organizations of the hospitality industry as well as for the scholars of services industry research.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the wettability and intermetallic (IMC) layer formation of Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu (SAC305)/CNT/Cu solder joint according to the formulation of solder paste because of different types of fluxes.

Solder pastes were prepared by mixing SAC305 solder powder with different flux and different wt.% of carbon nanotube (CNT). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to identify functional groups from different fluxes of as-formulated solder paste. The solder pastes were then subjected to stencil printing and reflow process. Solderability was investigated via contact angle analysis and the thickness of cross-sectionally intermetallic layer.

It was found that different functional groups from different fluxes showed different physical behaviour, indicated by contact angle value and IMC layer thickness. “Aromatic contain” functional group lowering the contact angle while non-aromatic contain functional group lowering the thickness of IMC layer. The higher the CNT wt.%, the lower the contact angle and IMC layer thickness, regardless of different fluxes. Relationship between contact angle and IMC layer thickness is found to have distinguished region because of different fluxes. Thus it may be used as guidance in flux selection for solder paste formulation.

However, detail composition of the fluxes was not further explored for the scope of this paper.

The quality of solder joint of SAC305/CNT/Cu system, as indicated by contact angle and the thickness of IMC layer formation, depends on existence of functional group of the fluxes.