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This paper aims to determine how the viscosity and curing agent content affect the flowability of moist silica sand granules. In addition, a coating device was designed according to the flow properties of silica sand granules.

The flowability of silica sand granules premixed with two curing agents of different viscosities is studied using a Jenike shear apparatus. An open-ended device was used in discharge testing of sand granules with a design based on the variable dip angle of the two plates and variable outlet size.

The test results show that increasing the curing agent content would significantly decrease the flowability of silica sand granules, and a curing agent of higher viscosity has a greater effect on the flowability of silica sand. The presence of a curing agent strengthens the cohesion among sand granules, lubricates them and restrains their deformation. The shape function of the coating device was obtained by theoretical derivation.

The flow properties provide a valuable theoretical guidance for the design of coating device for sand mold printing.

This paper deals with experimental work on flow properties of silica sand granules with different viscosities and curing agent content. The shape function of a wedge-shaped coating device is obtained based on experimental data.

This study aims to investigate “immersive reading,” which occurs when individuals read text while in a virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) environment.

In Experiment 1, 64 participants read text passages and answered multiple-choice questions in VR and AR head-mounted displays (HMDs) compared with doing the same task on liquid crystal display (LCD). In Experiment 2, 31 participants performed the same reading tasks but with two VR HMDs of different display quality.

Compared with reading on LCD as the baseline, participants reading in VR and AR HMDs got 82% (VR) and 88% (AR) of the information accurately. Participants tended to respond more accurately and faster, though not statistically significant, with the VR HMD of higher pixel density in the speed-reading task.

The authors observed the speed and accuracy of reading in VR and AR environments, compared with the reading speed and accuracy on an LCD monitor. The authors also compared the reading performance on two VR HMDs that differed in display quality but were otherwise similar in every way.

In this paper, the effects of the adhesive and curing agent contents on the tensile strength, bending strength, gas evolution and gas permeability of three-dimensional printed sand molds are studied. A strength model of the three-dimensional printed sand molds is proposed. The multi-material composite sand mold forming test is carried out. In addition, the mesostructure of the sand mold is studied.

The performances of three-dimensional printed sand mold such as tensile strength, bending strength, gas evolution and gas permeability are studied using the standard test methods. The mesostructure of the sand mold is studied by digital core technology.

A sand mold strength model based on the resin adhesive content, curing agent content and sand mold compactness are obtained. Two types of multi-material composite three-dimensional printed sand molds are proposed. An increase in the curing agent content in the sand mold widens the mesoscopic characteristic size distribution of the sand mold, and large-sized mesostructures appear, resulting in a decrease in the sand mold bearing capacity.

Process parameters that affect the performance of three-dimensional printed sand mold are revealed. The sand mold bearing curve provides a reference for the ultimate design of three-dimensional printed sand mold.

The paper deals with experimental work on the performance and mesostructure of multi-material composite three-dimensional printed sand mold with different contents of adhesive and curing agent. That gives a perspective on future designs of sand mold based on these principles.

Pressure-based methods have been demonstrated to be powerful for solving many practical problems in engineering. In many pressure-based methods, inner iterative processes are proposed to get efficient solutions. However, the number of inner iterations is set empirically and kept fixed during the whole computation for different problems, which is overestimated in some computations but underestimated in other computations. This paper aims to develop an algorithm with adaptive inner iteration processes for steady and unsteady incompressible flows.

In this work, with the use of two different criteria in two inner iterative processes, a mechanism is proposed to control inner iteration processes to make the number of inner iterations vary during computing according to different problems. By doing so, adaptive inner iteration processes can be achieved.

The adaptive inner iterative algorithm is verified to be valid by solving classic steady and unsteady incompressible problems. Results show that the adaptive inner iteration algorithm works more efficient than the fixed inner iteration one.

The algorithm with adaptive inner iteration processes is first proposed in this paper. As the mechanism for controlling inner iteration processes is based on physical meaning and the feature of iterative calculations, it can be used in any methods where there exist inner iteration processes. It is not limited for incompressible flows. The performance of the adaptive inner iteration processes in compressible flows is conducted in a further study.

This paper investigates how relative environmental regulation influences the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI), and thereby assesses the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH). In this field, conflicting results exist, partly due to the mere consideration of absolute environmental regulation or the inadequate consideration of endogeneity. Concerning these, we study China’s inward FDI from 26 developed countries and 12 developing countries over 1996–2009, and collect four different environmental regulation indicators at relative values of CO₂, SO₂, PM10, and an environmental regulation index. Using an instrumental variable approach, we find strong PHH evidence no matter for the subsample of FDI from developed countries or the one from developing countries. Moreover, we show how such results can be masked if failing to consider the endogeneity.

The National People’s Congress (NPC) of People’s Republic of China, the highest organ of state power, is popularly seen as a rubber-stamp entity. However, it has been substantially evolving its roles to accommodate the governance discourses within China’s political system over the decades. This study aims to explore the changes of governance discourse of the NPC within China’s political system through which to offer a thorough understanding of the NPC’s evolving substantial role in current China.

This study deploys a historical approach to explore the changes of governance discourse of the NPC that has seen a growing importance in China’s political agenda, as argued by this study.

The authors find that the NPC has been substantially evolving its role within China’s political system in which the Chinese Communist Party has created different governance discourses. Besides, the NPC and its Standing Committee have asserted its authority as a substantial actor within China’s political system. The NPC is no longer functioned as a rubber-stamp institution, though it is still popularized as a rubber stamp by many scholars.

This study is a historical elaboration on the development of NPC under three governance discourses. It might be, to some extent, relatively descriptive in nature.

This study, therefore, sheds some light on a revisit on the governance discourses in current China.

Considers TQM from a cultural perspective using the influence of Confucian work dynamism and Chinese cultural beliefs on Hong Kong companies. Asks if these cultural beliefs conflict with modern quality management philosophy and presents the findings of research covering Chinese literature, experts in Chinese philosophy and Hong Kong TQM experts. Outlines research methods and concludes that there are relevant principles which can be used when implementing TQM.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relevant sayings and stories of the ancient Chinese sages in relation to the style of Chinese human resource management (HRM).

Related texts generated from the quotations and stories from four Chinese sages, Guanzi, Hanfeizi, Xunzi and Yanzi, were translated and analyzed and their thinking regarding ruling the state and managing the people was discussed in line with the thoughts from the mainstream and modern Western management gurus such as Warren Bennis, Peter Drucker, Mary Parker Follett, Douglas McGregor, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Elton Mayo and Jeffrey Pfeffer.

It was found that there were striking similarities in thoughts and call for actions to address key issues in HRM by both old and contemporary, east and west thinkers across 2,500 years. The main concerns are to select the right leaders and managers and recruit the right people; create attractive organisational culture and environments that promote a participative management approach to encourage, empower and engage employees to achieve desirable outcomes; uphold the people‐centred management principles; and focus on designing reward schemes that emphasise service and contribution instead of position and profits.

There is much to be learned from the past to address the present people management issues among modern organisations both inside China and perhaps from other parts of the world. It was as difficult to take seriously the principles‐based ruling and management approaches in ancient times as it is today. However, if these principles had been put into practice, the world would have had fewer of the corporate corruption scandals and less of the mischievous behaviour in the state that are manifested in today's society, but more productive population, effective organisations, ethical governments and harmonious environment; hence less global human suffering.

This study aims to explore the relationship between corporate environmental information disclosure and digital finance.

The authors used Chinese listed enterprises as the sample. Data on digital finance are from the China Digital Inclusive Finance Index published by the Institute of Digital Finance of Peking University, and corporate environmental information disclosure is collected from the China Securities Market and Accounting Research database. Multivariate regression and Stata software were used for data analysis.

The findings suggest that digital finance significantly inhibits firms’ environmental information disclosure. Digital finance increases firms’ motivation to meet low-income customers’ demands, which is achieved at the expense of environmental performance, leading to deteriorated environmental information disclosure. Furthermore, this inhibitory effect is exacerbated by managerial power but mitigated by institutional shareholdings and political connections.

The findings have important implications for policymakers and managers when formulating relevant policies regarding the co-development of digital finance and corporate environmental information disclosure.

Environmental information disclosure is a crucial element in CSR disclosure quality.

This study enriches the literature on the environmental influences of digital finance by examining the relationship between digital finance and corporate environmental information disclosure, a crucial way through which external stakeholders obtain information about corporate environmental behaviours.

Through examining the development of the video compact disc player industry in China, this article aims to explore the main characteristics of world‐first innovation and identify four success factors for innovation followers to launch world‐first products in catching‐up countries.

This article takes the form of a case study

The main characteristics of world‐first innovation in catching‐up countries include: from the demand side, innovation is mainly pulled by the local market, rather than technology‐push; from the supply side, innovation cannot isolate itself from the rest of the world – suppliers of key technologies in advanced countries play an important role; inter‐firm alliances are an increasingly important way to generate world‐first innovation; and downstream integration capabilities are required for followers to mix pieces of technologies together at competitive pricing. The success of followers from catching‐up countries to launch world‐first products hinges on the four critical factors: strengths of complementary assets; figuring out ways to meet local market demand without relying on large R&D spending; emphasizing untapped innovation opportunities by multinationals; and positioning themselves on the proper points of the globally coordinated network for innovation.

This article identifies the main characteristics of world‐first innovation and points out four success factors for innovation followers to launch world‐first products, which could be significant to managers in catching‐up countries. Findings of this paper are more relevant to large catching‐up countries such as India, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia where a large domestic market could serve as important launch markets for the world‐first innovation.