How scientific research incorporates policy: an examination using the case of China’s science and technology evaluation system

Scientometrics - Governments typically formulate sets of policies to guide the direction of scientific research. And the possible effects of these policies on scientific research have been...     

Impacts of knowledge expectations on recipients’ continuous cross-project learning intention

Given the importance of cross-project learning for continuous improvement in project-based organizations (PBOs), few studies have revealed how recipient employees’ expectations of internal and external knowledge results influence their continuance intention. Thus this study examines the impact of recipients’ internal knowledge expectations—perceived internal knowledge usefulness, growth, and accessibility-and positive expectation confirmation on their continuous cross-project learning intention and the moderating role of perceived external knowledge usefulness between internal knowledge expectations and continuance intention. Results of 318 valid questionnaires form China shows that recipients’ continuous cross-project learning intention is directly and positively affected by their internal knowledge expectations and satisfaction with learning, and is indirectly affected by their positive expectation confirmation through the mediating effect of internal knowledge expectations and satisfaction. Perceived external knowledge usefulness negatively moderates the relationship between perceived internal knowledge usefulness and continuance intention. Furthermore, the theoretical and practical implications of this study are presented along with acknowledged limitations and suggestions for further work.     

New insights into the thermodynamics and kinetics of triacylglycerols crystallization

Understanding the transition from an isotropic liquid state to an organized crystalline state of triacylglycerols has great significance when designing lipid-based materials in general and food products in particular. In the current research, the balance between the demand for the tuning-fork (Tf) conformation, which is the suitable conformation for most crystalline organizations, and the supply of these molecules was discussed. Based on the negative dependency of the nucleation rates and the induction times on temperature, it was suggested that the limiting factor for the nucleation process is the conversion from the Tf conformation to any other conformation. On the other hand, based on the positive dependency of the melting temperatures and enthalpies on crystallization temperature, and the organized morphologies obtained at higher temperatures, it was suggested that the limiting factor during the crystal growth process is the conversion to the Tf conformation from another conformation.     

On the design of secure primitives for real world applications

This editorial paper provides an overview of new advances on hardware security challenges and promising solutions for real world applications. It first presents the increasing hardware vulnerabilities with the emergence of diverse computing platforms. Then, it details the technical challenges, research opportunities, and potential solutions to cyber-attacks on -physical- devices.     

The use of seed texture features for discriminating different cultivars of stored apples

The aim of this study was to identify the textural features of apple seeds with the highest discriminatory power for distinguishing the seeds of different apple cultivars with the use of discriminative classifiers. The seeds of apple cvs. Gala, Jonagold and Idared were scanned with the use of a flatbed scanner, and the acquired images were processed to calculate textural features from color channels: L, a, b, R, G, B, Y, U, V, H, S, I, X, Y and Z. The selected textures were used to develop discriminative models and distinguish the seeds of the examined apple cultivars. The analyses were performed for color spaces and color channels. The seeds of apple cvs. Gala and Idared were discriminated with 100% accuracy in models based on the textures from Lab and YUV color spaces and color channel L for the Naive Bayes, Multilayer Perceptron and Multi Class classifiers. The discriminatory accuracies of the seeds of all analyzed apple cultivars (Gala, Idared and Jonagold) ranged from 72% to 85%. The discriminatory accuracy of the textures selected from Lab color space for the Naive Bayes classifier reached 85%. The seeds of apple cvs. Gala and Jonagold were discriminated with 78–90% accuracy, and the discriminatory accuracy of the textures from Lab color space and color channel b for the Naive Bayes classifier reached 90%. The seeds of apple cvs. Idared and Jonagold were distinguished with 80–94% accuracy. The models based on textures from Lab color space and color channel b for the Naive Bayes classifier were characterized by 94% discriminatory accuracy. The study demonstrated that textural features are useful for discriminating the seeds of different apple cultivars.     

A techno-economic review of biomass gasification for production of chemicals

Gasification is a thermochemical process which can be used as a low-emission and highly efficient method to produce syngas and chemicals such as biomethanol and dimethyl ether (DME). In this paper, a review of technologies and methods for economic production of chemicals through gasification of biomass and other fuels has been carried out. A variety of techno-economic studies and analysis have been proposed in order to better understand the technical and economic assessments during the biomass gasification. Results showed that the methanol production cost for biomass (wood) is from 195 to 935 €/t, for waste residues is from 200 to 930 €/t, for coal is from 160 to 480 €/t, and for natural gas is from 90 to 290 €/t. It also concluded that fuel (wood) cost has positive linear relationship with ethanol production cost, meaning as the feedstock cost increases from 30 to 50 $/day-ton, the ethanol production cost enhances from 1.66 to 1.95 $/gal.     

中国省际绿色技术创新效率测度及影响因素研究

文章基于2011—2017年中国30个省份面板数据，运用super-SBM模型对绿色技术创新效率进行测算，并利用ML指数对绿色技术创新效率进行动态分析，最后通过空间滞后模型分析影响效率的关键因素。研究结果表明：中国绿色技术创新效率呈逐渐增长的趋势，但整体效率偏低，有较大进步空间；中国绿色技术创新效率存在明显区域差异，呈现由东部向西部递减的格局；绿色技术创新水平的提高是技术效率和技术进步共同贡献的结果；产业结构、区域开放程度和教育水平对绿色技术创新效率产生积极的正向影响，环境规制和研发投入强度对绿色技术创新效率影响不显著。     

考虑员工合作关系的单元装配系统构建方法

针对流水线装配向单元装配转换的基本问题,考虑员工之间的合作关系,以最小化总装配周期和最小化员工总工作时间为目标,建立流水装配线向单元装配系统转换的多目标优化模型.针对模型的特征,采用基于NSGA-II的多目标优化算法进行求解.通过数值实验证明考虑员工合作关系的必要性,并分析员工合作系数的均值和方差的变化对单元系统构建的组成和性能的影响.结果表明,整体合作程度较高及合作关系差异较大时,单元系统的性能提升程度较为明显.     

Uncovering sentiment and retweet patterns of disaster-related tweets from a spatiotemporal perspective – A case study of Hurricane Harvey

Social media has been widely used for emergency communication both in disaster-affected areas and unaffected areas. Comparing emotional reaction and information propagation between on-site users and off-site users from a spatiotemporal perspective can help better comprehend collective human behavior during natural disasters. In this study, we investigate sentiment and retweet patterns of disaster-affected areas and disaster-unaffected areas at different stages of Hurricane Harvey. The results show that off-site tweets were more negative than on-site tweets, especially during the disaster. As for retweet patterns, indifferent-neutral and positive tweets spread broader than mixed-neutral and negative tweets. However, negative tweets spread faster than positive tweets, which reveals that social media users were more sensitive to negative information in disaster situations. With the development of the disaster, social media users were more sensitive to on-site positive messages than off-site negative posts. This data-driven study reveals the significant effect of sentiment expression on the publication and re-distribution of disaster-related messages. It generates implications for emergency communication and disaster management.