bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Pose-estimation and reorientation of pistons for robotic bin-picking
Authors: Su Jianhua , Liu Zhi-Yong , Qiao Hong , Liu Chuankai 
Published: January 2016

Purpose
– Picking up pistons in arbitrary poses is an important step on car engine assembly line. The authors usually use vision system to estimate the pose of the pistons and then guide a stable grasp. However, a piston in some poses, e.g. the mouth of the piston faces forward, is hardly to be directly grasped by the gripper. Thus, we need to reorient the piston to achieve a desired pose, i.e. let its mouth face upward, for grasping.

Design/methodology/approach
– This paper aims to present a vision-based picking system that can grasp pistons in arbitrary poses. The whole picking process is divided into two stages. At localization stage, a hierarchical approach is proposed to estimate the piston’s pose from image which usually involves both heavy noise and edge distortions. At grasping stage, multi-step robotic manipulations are designed to enable the piston to follow a nominal trajectory to reach to the minimum of the distance between the piston’s center and the support plane. That is, under the design input, the piston would be pushed to achieve a desired orientation.

Findings
– A target piston in arbitrary poses would be picked from the conveyor belt by the gripper with the proposed method.

Practical implications
– The designed robotic bin-picking system using vision is an advantage in terms of flexibility in automobile manufacturing industry.

Originality/value
– The authors develop a methodology that uses a pneumatic gripper and 2D vision information for picking up multiple pistons in arbitrary poses. The rough pose of the parts are detected based on a hierarchical approach for detection of multiple ellipses in the environment that usually involve edge distortions. The pose uncertainties of the piston are eliminated by multi-step robotic manipulations.
Europe continues to lead the way in the collaborative robot business
Authors: Bogue Robert 
Published: January 2016

Purpose
– This paper aims to provide a European perspective on the collaborative robot business and to consider the factors governing future market development.

Design/methodology/approach
– Following an introduction, this first describes the collaborative robots launched recently by European manufacturers and their applications. It then discusses major European research activities and finally considers the factors stimulating the market.

Findings
– This article shows that collaborative robots are being commercialised by the major European robot manufacturers as well as by several smaller specialists. Although most have low payload capacities they are inexpensive and offer a number of operational benefits, making them well suited to a range of existing and emerging applications. Europe has a strong research base and several EU-funded programmes aim to stimulate collaborative robot development and use. Rapid market development is anticipated, driven in the main by applications in electronic product manufacture and assembly; new applications in the automotive industry; uses by small to medium-sized manufacturers; and companies seeking robots to support agile production methods.

Originality/value
– This paper provides a timely review of the rapidly developing European collaborative robot industry.
The Pransky interview: Dr Steve Cousins, CEO, Savioke, Entrepreneur and Innovator
Authors: Pransky Joanne 
Published: January 2016

Purpose
– The following paper is a “Q
&
A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of Industrial Robot Journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business and personal experience of a prominent, robotic industry engineer-turned successful business leader, regarding the commercialization and challenges of bringing technological inventions to market while overseeing a company. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach
– The interviewee is Dr Steve Cousins, a seasoned executive, entrepreneur and innovator with a strong track record for managing research and development organizations and realizing a significant return on investment. Dr Cousins has dedicated the past near-decade of his life to the mission of building and deploying personal and service robotic technology to assist people. In this interview, Dr Cousins discusses some of the technical and business insights that have led to his most recent robotic advancements as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Savioke, a company that is creating autonomous robot helpers for the services industry.

Findings
– Dr Cousins received his BS and MS degrees in computer science from Washington University, and holds a PhD in computer science from Stanford University. Dr Cousins managed the Advanced Systems Development Laboratory at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) and then went on to lead the IBM Almaden Research Center, one of the top human–computer interaction research groups in the world, as the Senior Manager of the User-Focused Systems Research Group. While at IBM, Dr Cousins earned a micro-MBA.

Originality/value
– Dr Cousins is spearheading a new business model for robotics, Robots as a Service (RaaS), with Savioke’s flagship mobile robot, Relay. Based on the information technology industry service trend of improving customer experiences, Savioke is successfully applying RaaS to the hospitality industry with about 10 Relays at half a dozen US major hotels. Before founding Savioke, Dr Cousins was the President and CEO of Willow Garage, where he oversaw the creation of the robot operating system (ROS), the PR2 robot and the open-source TurtleBot. In the last three years of his tenure at Willow Garage, Dr Cousins spun off eight successful companies: Suitable Technologies (maker of the Beam remote presence system); Industrial Perception, Inc. (acquired by Google in 2013); Redwood Robotics (acquired by Google in 2013); HiDOF (ROS and robotics consulting); Unbounded Robotics; The Open Source Robotics Foundation; The OpenCV Foundation; and The Open Perception Foundation. Dr Cousins is an active participant in the Robots for Humanity project.
Leading school-wide improvement in low-performing schools facing conditions of accountability
Authors: Cosner Shelby , Jones Mary F. 
Published: January 2016

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to advance a framework that identifies three key domains of work and a set of more nuanced considerations and actions within each domain for school leaders seeking to improve school-wide student learning in low-performing schools facing conditions of accountability.Design/methodology/approach– Review of literature.Findings– Drawing from the work of Robinsonet al.(2008), the authors identify and discuss a set of nuanced considerations and actions for school leaders seeking to improve school-wide student learning in low-performing schools facing conditions of accountability. These considerations and actions fall into three broad domains of leader work: first, goal setting and planning for goal achievement; second, promoting and participating in teacher learning; and third, planning, coordinating, and evaluating teaching and curriculum.Practical implications– This paper generates implications for school leaders, and school leader developers, school districts, and state departments’ of education. The authors detail two key implications for school districts and/or state departments’ of education as they seek to offer guidance and support to low-performing schools facing conditions of accountability. It also generates a testable framework that can be drawn upon to examine school improvement and the work of school leaders in low-performing schools facing conditions of accountability.Originality/value– The analysis reveals unique challenges and considerations situated within each of the three domains of leader work found by Robinsonet al.(2008) to have moderate to strong effects on student outcomes. These issues motivate an assortment of more nuanced leader actions and considerations in each of the three domains of leader work of consequence to student learning. The analysis provides an important accounting of an assortment of nuanced actions and considerations likely to be necessary if leaders are to support the improvement of student learning in these uniquely challenged settings.
Revisiting instructional and transformational leadership
Authors: Aas Marit , Brandmo Christian 
Published: January 2016

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the taxonomy of two conceptual models of leadership roles for principals – instructional and transformational leadership (IL and TL) – can be traced empirically in a sample of Norwegian school leaders.Design/methodology/approach– The participants consisted of 149 school leaders attending a national training program for newly appointed principals at the University of Oslo. Leadership preference was measured according to a theoretically grounded self-report scheme representing the most important aspects of both leadership models. Estimations were conducted by means of principal component analyses and confirmatory factor analyses.Findings– The principal component analyses revealed seven meaningful factors: demand-supportive leading, outcome control and loyalty to school owner, management by objective, trust in standard programs for development, trust in professional community, emphasis on collective responsibility, and distributed leadership. Furthermore, by using these seven factors as inputs, the authors attempted to model second-order factors representing IL and TL. The results showed that the structure of IL and TL could not be replicated. Instead, a more complex cross-model structure was revealed.Practical implications– The results suggest that even though the concepts of IL and TL are valuable analytic tools, they may be too simplistic to represent the reality of school leaders’ thoughts and actions.Originality/value– The study contributes to the field by challenging the established models of school leadership and by generating insights into Norwegian school leaders’ leadership beliefs and preferences.
Variables influencing teacher autonomy, administrative coordination, and collaboration
Authors: Prichard Caleb , Moore Jana E. 
Published: January 2016

Purpose– Schools often vary in how they balance teacher autonomy (TA) and administrative control, and research suggests that there may be several context-specific variables which may be influential. The purpose of this paper is to determine the influence of program variables on the level of TA, administrative coordination, and administration-staff collaboration in English as a second or other language (ESOL) programs.Design/methodology/approach– Administrators from 130 ESOL programs completed an empirical questionnaire aiming to understand the influence of variables on the level of TA, coordination, and collaboration. The following five variables were hypothesized to be influential based on the literature review: complexity/size; the variability of students’ needs; external pressures; teacher qualifications; and feasibility.Findings– Top-down coordination was significantly influenced by four of the five of the program variables, and collaboration was predicted by two. However, program complexity/size was the only significant variable influencing the reported level of TA.Research limitations/implications– Teachers were not surveyed in this stage of the research. Follow-up research is planned to involve teaching staff.Practical implications– Administrators may benefit from reflecting more on how they coordinate their program by considering the potential influence of context-specific variables highlighted in the research. The findings could influence administrators to adapt their management style potentially leading to a better working environment and improved student learning outcomes.Originality/value– Previous research has looked at the influence of situational variables on leadership style, but research has not explicitly analyzed the effect of context variables on the level of TA and administrative coordination in educational programs.
State of green marketing research over 25 years (1990-2014)
Authors: Kumar Prashant 
Published: January 2016

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to present a literature survey on, and classification for, green marketing research.Design/methodology/approach– Suitable keywords were used to search peer-reviewed journal articles published in marketing, business and management journals in duration 1990-2014. The articles identified were screened for titles, abstracts, keywords, frameworks, headings and sub-headings that resulted in 161 relevant articles. These articles were classified across thematic categories and their distribution was also presented for year of publication, publication outlets, location of authors, key contributing authors.Findings– The articles were classified across four thematic categories: eco-orientation, green marketing strategy, green marketing functions and green marketing consequences. It outlined the contribution of the earlier work under each theme, illustrated upon their implications for green marketing practice and research and provided directions for future research.Research limitations/implications– This literature survey provides a source for understanding current state of research on green marketing and to stimulate further interest of researchers in the domain.Originality/value– The paper provides a comprehensive review of green marketing literature on green marketing, distinctly adding to the contributions made by earlier literature reviews in the domain. It outlines the classifications of the literature, and key concepts and themes related to green marketing that intend to shape future research directions.
Antecedents, outcomes, and mediating role of internal reference prices in pay-what-you-want (PWYW) pricing
Authors: Roy Rajat , Rabbanee Fazlul K. , Sharma Piyush 
Published: January 2016

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to explore the mediating role of internal reference price (IRP) in a pay-what-you-want (PWYW) price setting. Specifically, it examines the effects of altruism, social desirability and price consciousness as the antecedents of IRP and consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP), future purchase intention and attitude toward the seller as the outcomes of IRP.

Design/methodology/approach
– The data for the study were collected from 272 respondents through a structured survey and analyzed through structural equation modeling technique using AMOS 22.0.

Findings
– Altruism and social desirability positively influence IRP whereas price consciousness influences IRP negatively. IRP mediates the effects of altruism, social desirability and price consciousness on WTP, future purchase intention and attitude toward the seller.

Research limitations/implications
– PWYW pricing strategy can help attract consumers with self-less characteristics or a desire to behave in a socially appropriate manner but not those who are highly price conscious as reflected by the differences in the way in which their IRPs influence their WTP, future purchase intention and attitude toward the seller.

Originality/value
– This paper introduces a parsimonious framework to explain how three consumer characteristics influence consumers’ pricing decisions in PWYW context. The finding that the effects of antecedent variables on WTP, attitude and future purchase intention are mediated by IRP provides new insights that have not been explored earlier.
What can social marketing learn from Dirichlet theory patterns in a physical activity context?
Authors: Gruneklee Naomi , Rundle-Thiele Sharyn , Kubacki Krzysztof 
Published: January 2016

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to explore whether patterns suggested in Dirichlet theory can be observed in a single behaviour change context, namely, physical activity; second, to provide implications for social marketing practice based on the Dirichlet theory patterns observed in a social context of physical activity.

Design/methodology/approach
– A total of 1,459 respondents residing within 20 kilometres of the Melbourne Central Business District participated in an online survey. The questions in the survey included items relating to respondents’ self-reported physical activity.

Findings
– The results of the current study indicate that Dirichlet patterns can be observed in social contexts such as physical activity.

Research limitations/implications
– The sample in this study cannot be considered to be demographically representative of the target population and the physical activity categories selected for this study were limited to the most popular activities and a category level and whole of sample assessment.

Practical implications
– To encourage participation in physical activity social marketers need to promote and offer a broad range of physical activity options to increase overall physical activity participation. This is a substantial change from current social marketing practice where one form of physical activity is typically promoted.

Originality/value
– This research indicates that commercial marketing theories may be extended to a social marketing context thereby overcoming social marketing’s health myopia. The current study is the first to apply Dirichlet theory in full to a social marketing setting, namely, physical activity.
A portable embedded explosion gas detection and identification device based on intelligent electronic nose system
Authors: Gong Gu , Zhu Hua 
Published: January 2016

Purpose
– The purpose of this study satisfied the need for rapid, sensitive and highly portable identification of an explosion gas. In our study, a battery-operated, low-cost and portable gas detection system consisting of a cataluminescence-based sensor array was developed for the detection and identification of explosion gas. This device shows how the discriminatory capacity of sensor arrays utilizing pattern recognition operate in environments.

Design/methodology/approach
– A total of 25 sensor units, including common metal oxides and decorated materials, have been carefully selected as sensing elements of 5 × 5 sensor array. Dynamic and static analysis methods were utilized to characterize the performance of the explosion gas detection system to five kinds of explosion gases. The device collects images of chemical sensors before and after exposing to the target gas and then processes those images to extract the unique characteristic for each gas. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to analyze the image patterns.

Findings
– Our study demonstrated that the portable gas detection device shows promising perspective for the recognition and discrimination of explosion gas. It can be used for the olfactory system of robot made by integrating the electronic nose and computer together.

Originality/value
– The device collects images of chemical sensors before and after exposing to the target gas and then processes those images to extract the unique characteristic for each gas. HCA and (PCA were used to analyze the image patterns. Our study demonstrated that the portable gas detection device shows promising perspective for the recognition and discrimination of explosion gas. It can be used for olfactory system of robot made by integrating the electronic nose and computer together.
Time series estimation of gas sensor baseline drift using ARMA and Kalman based models
Authors: Zhang Lei , Peng Xiongwei 
Published: January 2016

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to present a novel and simple prediction model of long-term metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) gas sensor baseline, and it brings some new perspectives for sensor drift. MOS gas sensors, which play a very important role in electronic nose (e-nose), constantly change with the fluctuation of environmental temperature and humidity (i.e. drift). Therefore, it is very meaningful to realize the long-term time series estimation of sensor signal for drift compensation.

Design/methodology/approach
– In the proposed sensor baseline drift prediction model, auto-regressive moving average (ARMA) and Kalman filter models are used. The basic idea is to build the ARMA and Kalman models on the short-term sensor signal collected in a short period (one month) by an e-nose and aim at realizing the long-term time series prediction in a year using the obtained model.

Findings
– Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach based on ARMA and Kalman filter is very effective in time series prediction of sensor baseline signal in e-nose.

Originality/value
– Though ARMA and Kalman filter are well-known models in signal processing, this paper, at the first time, brings a new perspective for sensor drift prediction problem based on the two typical models.
Design of capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) linear array for underwater imaging
Authors: Zhang Rui , Zhang Wendong , He Changde , Song Jinlong , Mu Linfeng , Cui Juan , Zhang Yongmei , Xue Chenyang 
Published: January 2016

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper was to develop a novel capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) reception and transmission linear array for underwater imaging at 400 kHz. Compared with traditional CMUTs, the developed transducer array offers higher electromechanical coupling coefficient and higher directivity performance.

Design/methodology/approach
– The configuration of the newly developed CMUT reception and transmission array was determined by the authors’ previous research into new element structures with patterned top electrodes and into directivity simulation analysis. Using the Si-Silicon on insulator (Si-SOI) bonding technique and the principle of acoustic impedance matching, the CMUT array was fabricated and packaged. In addition, underwater imaging system design and testing based on the packaged CMUT 1 × 16 array were completed.

Findings
– The simulation results showed that the optimized CMUT array configuration was selected. Furthermore, the designed configuration of the CMUT 1 × 16 linear array was good enough to guarantee high angular resolution. The underwater experiments were conducted to demonstrate that this CMUT array can be of great benefit in imaging applications.

Practical implications
– Based on our research, the CMUT linear array has good directivity and good impedance matching with water and can be used for obstacle avoidance, distance measurement and imaging underwater.

Originality/value
– This research provides a basis for CMUT directivity theory and array design. CMUT array presented in this paper has good directivity and has been applied in the underwater imaging, resulting in a huge market potential in underwater detection systems.