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Purpose — The aims of this article are to describe the current status, usage, and acceptance of domestic preprint servers in mainland China by investigating three integrated preprint servers in mainland China. These are the Qiji e-print archive (Qiji), the Chinese Preprint Server (CPS), Chinese Science Papers Online (CSPO)., Design/methodology/approach — This research gives a quantitative analysis of the submission numbers to three preprint servers, the subject distribution and citations. An investigation of university websites and their policies was also carried out. Findings — Preprint submissions have a strong correlation with official promotion and policies. The preprints communication pattern in mainland China concentrates on the disciplines of physics, mathematics and computer science which reflects international preprint communication behaviour. As yet the domestic preprint servers in mainland China attract little attention from excellent scholars and have a low impact on scientific communication. Research limitations/implications — No author survey was conducted. Originality/value — This is the first paper to characterize the usage and acceptance of domestic preprint servers in mainland China using a quantitative method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This commentary discusses the paper by Reardon et al. (2024; this issue) entitled, "Overcoming implementation challenges through using a train-the-trainer approach to teach numeracy in a special school setting." This commentary outlines the necessary contribution this paper adds to the substantive area of research it is couched within while also identifying potential areas of future research to expand the understanding of this phenomenon and its impact upon practice. Design/methodology/approach: What is fidelity of implementation, how do we measure it and how does it impact our interpretations of experimental findings? This commentary focuses specifically on the nebulous construct of fidelity in experimental studies and how this impacts experimental findings' internal and external validity. Findings: Although fidelity is frequently referenced as an important aspect to consider, the measurement of the construct has been critiqued in experimental studies. To understand if an intervention was "implemented as intended," the core dimensions of the intervention must be considered in the measurement process, as well as potential confounding variables. Originality/value: With an increased need for experimental work to inform what works, for whom and under what conditions, there becomes a need to better investigate the implementation of the intervention in these contexts – thus, fidelity must be reconceptualized. This commentary provides an overview of this dilemma with potential ideas to investigate moving forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to identify the current situation of higher education institutions in Spain regarding the introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals in the classroom, and what is the role of mathematics in this task. Design/methodology/approach: A review is made of how the concept of sustainability has evolved in higher education, its gradual introduction in the University and the way in which this subject is approached in the field of mathematics. Findings: The study concludes that higher education has a key role to play in designing strategies that lead to the global sustainability of the planet. This implies major changes in degree curricula, assessment, competences and teacher training. Cross-disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity between different subjects within the same degree is a strategy for students to analyse the Sustainable Development Goals using mathematical techniques. Social implications: The University as an institution must train socially responsible professionals who are aware of the importance of promoting a sustainable world. Changes should be made to introduce values in the classroom that promote and encourage sustainability. Training should be seen as a continuous process that leads to the preparation of professionals committed to society and nature and who develop strategies aimed at improving the planet through values. Originality/value: Through practical activities, the Sustainable Development objectives can be analysed from several subjects of the same degree, emphasising the interdisciplinary and transversal nature that should be the central axis of higher education. Each subject can develop a strategy for change in favour of sustainability that will be reinforced and increased by working together on the proposed teaching practice. In this way, the contents of the different subjects are not isolated, but rather the student can see how there is an interrelationship between them and with real life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose |!|#8211; The Colebrook equation for determination of hydraulic resistances is implicit in fluid flow friction factor and hence it has to be approximately solved using iterative procedure or using some of the approximate explicit formulas developed by many authors. The purpose of this paper is to compare different Lambert W based solutions of the Colebrook equation and to make comparisons among them and identify some constraints in applicability of certain solutions. Design/methodology/approach |!|#8211; Alternate mathematically equivalents to the implicit Colebrook equation in explicit form with no approximation involved actually exist. Findings |!|#8211; These alternate equations were developed using Lambert W-function. The paper compares various implementations of the Lambert W methodology and shows that some of these are less able than others to yield solutions using modern computer hardware. This is because the functions require the evaluation of terms with numerical values outside the ranges that can be expressed on most computers. Research limitations/implications |!|#8211; Some of existed transformations cannot be applied for high values of relative roughness of inner pipe surface and the Reynolds number. This limitation applied only for computer computations. Other presented transformations do not sufferer of this limitation. Practical implications |!|#8211; Presented procedures can be easily implemented in a computer code. Recommended solution can be used in all cases that can occur in engineering practice. Originality/value |!|#8211; The paper shows some possible practical procedures for solution of the transformed Colebrook equation. Accuracy analysis and comparisons of presented formulas are also performed and recommendation for use is shown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - In a time that could be described as a "perfect storm" in higher education, faculty and administration have been exploring all possible tools to attract students and help them stay on a curriculum path so they can graduate within a reasonable time. The purpose of this paper is to explore three strategies for riding the storm in a large mid-western USA university. Design/methodology/approach - The authors identify three strategies for increasing student retention and course completion, including: increased choices in scheduling; redesigning the curriculum; and offering multiple options for mode of delivery. In addition, the pilot of these strategies in a Technical Data Analysis class will be described and evaluated. Findings - Providing choices in scheduling courses (strategy 1), redesigning the curriculum to offer flexible pathways to graduation (strategy 2), and offering students options in delivery modes (strategy 3) increase the likelihood of student success, allowing them to find a way out of and therefore escape the "perfect storm" that higher education finds itself in today. Practical implications - Flexibility in scheduling courses by offering multiple delivery modes increases student access while maintaining the same learning objectives and outcomes. Originality/value - This paper addresses a known challenge in higher education and offers three strategies to improve retention and completion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Progress in theory building in the field of collaborative networks in manufacturing is preponderantly seen in contributions from disciplines outside manufacturing science. Interdisciplinary research is one way of accelerating the development of appropriate theory for this emerging domain where industrial practice has moved beyond the state of the art of scientific knowledge for establishing workable, competitive solutions. The purpose of this paper is to examine to what extent interdisciplinary research has contributed to a better understanding of collaborative (manufacturing) networks. Design/methodology/approach – To find out more about provenances of on-going studies, to identify clusters of contributions and to provide direction for future work of researchers in this domain, publications of the past 22 years have been evaluated. To retrieve these contributions, a structured literature review has been undertaken by applying keywords to selected databases and using a strictly defined stepwise procedure. In total, 202 publications of all kinds have been evaluated. Findings – From the analysis of the results, it appears that most interdisciplinary contributions to collaborative (manufacturing) networks rely on one original outside discipline for either developing solutions or advancing theoretical insight. Consequently, and after further analysis, it seems that researchers in collaborative networks hardly resort to multi-disciplinary approaches, unless "natural"; further advances might arrive from stimulating these multi-disciplinary avenues rather than sticking to more mono-disciplinary, and less risky, takes on both applications and theoretical insight. A more detailed investigation of the value of contributions reveals that efforts to make interdisciplinary advances are either difficult or limited. Also, the findings indicate that researchers tend to follow a more "technical" approach to decision making by actors in networks rather than searching for a shift in paradigm. Originality/value – While setting out these directions for future research and guiding research, this first-of-its-kind review introduces the collaboration model as a systematic approach to collaborative (manufacturing) networks. This model might serve as a reference model to integrate disciplines for addressing the characteristics of Collaborative Networks. Its use in the review led to the finding that typical traits of networks, such as changeability, supplementary assets and decentralisation of decision making, are under-researched. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that affect knowledge-sharing attitudes in Malaysia, with emphasis on a manufacturing firm and how this attitude influences their intention to share knowledge. Design/methodology/approach – This is a survey research conducted within a manufacturing firm. The questionnaire was developed by adapting items and concepts from prior works, and by developing a new variable, kiasuism. A census sampling method was used to select participants for this research. The data derive from a case analysis in a manufacturing company in Malaysia. The analysis was based on 141 valid responses. Findings – The findings indicate that collectivism, social network, social trust, shared goal, incentive systems, kiasuism and self-efficacy emerged significant except for individualism. A unique finding is that kiasuism emerged as proposed, which suggest that future works could focus more on this variable to highlight its impact in a firm's ability to share knowledge. Overall, the data support our framework and indicate that knowledge sharing among employees in Malaysia's private companies is gaining grounds. Research limitations/implications – The limitations of this research include the case study approach adopted, which does not allow the generalization of the results beyond that of the firm being studied. The implications emanating from this research is that the ability of a firm, especially electronic manufacturing firms, to harness internal resources and capabilities to enhance knowledge sharing among employees, would be critical for the firm to maintain a competitive position in the marketplace. Originality/value – This paper provides specific backgrounds of the key factors that could affect the effective implementation of knowledge-sharing initiatives in a firm, particularly those in the manufacturing sector. The findings suggest key implications for practice and research involved in knowledge-sharing activities in their firms and related initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper's objective is to explain the concept of proper kinematic constraint to guide requirements-driven design of mechanical assemblies and to connects proper constraint to the datum flow chain (DFC) and key characteristics (KCs). Design/methodology/approach - The paper presents proper constraint as a way to support the goal of placing key parts in particular geometric relationships with respect to one another so that a DFC can deliver KCs unambiguously. Such a DFC is said to be competent. Additionally, a competent DFC is robust in the sense that the constraint relationships between parts retain their definition and effect under all allowed variations in parts. Findings - Failure to provide proper constraint can lead to undesired consequences including locked-in stresses and difficult or inconsistent assembly. Some designs need to be over-constrained, and this requires very careful control and tight tolerances on the over-constrained degrees of freedom in order to avoid or at least understand the consequences listed above. Research limitations/implications - Mathematical methods exist to test designs for proper constraint. The simplest, and occasionally unsuccessful, is the Kutzbach criterion. Screw theory is the most reliable method but its application requires extra knowledge and mathematical tools. Practical implications - Most CAD software and tolerance analysis software do not test designs for their state of constraint. The engineer needs to take account of this independently and be aware of the limitations of software as a guide. Tolerance analysis software that does not take account of constraint may yield incorrect answers. Originality/value - The paper reinvigorates a once-well-known principle and makes engineers aware of it. It also links this concept to the concepts of DFC and KCs and supports a mathematically-based method for designing assemblies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The distribution of natural numbers in the Ulam spiral manifests a series of unexpected regularities of the elusive prime numbers. Their sequencing remains a topic of research interest, with many ramifications in different branches of Mathematics, especially in number theory and the prime factorisation problem. Accordingly, the focus of the research is on the most known and widespread asymmetric cryptographic system, that is, the RSA encryption. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents the presence of one, two, three or four adjacencies for the diverse primes that appear in a spiral, considering the Hardy–Littlewood twin prime conjecture and the constellations of primes. Findings: Through equations, the calculation formulas of primes inside a spiral that have one to four primes in their adjacent places is offered, with approximate expressions that facilitate the operations, showing that the adjacencies decrease very rapidly as the spiral progresses, although without disappearing. Originality/value: A generalisation to cases in which the distances to the prime values change in an ascending way in accordance with the step of the Ulam spiral is offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The linear matrix equations have wide applications in engineering, physics, economics and statistics. The purpose of this paper is to introduce iterative methods for solving the systems of linear matrix equations. Design/methodology/approach – According to the hierarchical identification principle, the authors construct alternating direction gradient-based iterative (ADGI) methods to solve systems of linear matrix equations. Findings – The authors propose efficient ADGI methods to solve the systems of linear matrix equations. It is proven that the ADGI methods consistently converge to the solution for any initial matrix. Moreover, the constructed methods are extended for finding the reflexive solution to the systems of linear matrix equations. Originality/value – This paper proposes efficient iterative methods without computing any matrix inverses, vec operator and Kronecker product for finding the solution of the systems of linear matrix equations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare the efficiency of four different algorithmic parallelization methods for inverse shape design flow problems. Design/methodology/approach – The included algorithms are: a parallelized differential evolution algorithm; island-model differential evolution with multiple subpopulations; Nash differential evolution with geometry decomposition using competitive Nash games; and the new Global Nash Game Coalition Algorithm (GNGCA) which combines domain and geometry decomposition into a "distributed one-shot" method. The methods are compared using selected academic reconstruction problems using a different number of simultaneous processes. Findings – The results demonstrate that the geometry decomposition approach can be used to improve algorithmic convergence. Additional improvements were achieved using the novel distributed one-shot method. Originality/value – This paper is a part of series of articles involving the GNGCA method. Further tests implemented for more complex problems are needed to study the efficiency of the approaches in more realistic cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of financial development on the rural-urban income inequality in India using annual data from 1965 to 2008. Design/methodology/approach – The Ng-Perron unit root test is utilised to check for the order of integration of the variables. The long run relation is examined by implementing the ARDL bounds testing approach to cointegration. Findings – The results confirm a relation among the variables. Evidence suggest that financial development, economic growth and consumer prices aggravate rural-urban income inequality in the long run. Research limitations/implications – The present study offers fresh insights to policy makers on crafting appropriate policies that reduce rural-urban income inequality in India. Originality/value – The contribution of this paper is lies in extending the literature in the context of India towards an extensively researched area of rural-urban divide but in time series framework and utilization of a better approach of time series approach, i.e. ARDL. Specifically, to the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first empirical study to test poverty-finance nexus using the basic principles of the GJ hypothesis and provide evidence of short- and long-run dynamics on the postulated relation for India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]