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Dust particles suspended in the atmosphere have been a big headache for electric power transmission industry in China. As transmission lines pass through dusty or air-polluted areas, dust contaminants are likely to deposit and accumulate on line insulators, which is one of the greatest causes of flashover and failure of power transmission. To study the statistical characteristics of this type of contamination, dust samples were collected and measured, and a physical model was set up to explain the deposition and accumulation mechanism of the particles. The trajectories of particles were tracked using fluid mechanics and contact mechanics, and an adhesion criterion was proposed. Simulation software was then applied to validate the model; further different environmental factors were studied that would affect the particle size distribution. The results show that under natural contamination conditions, the particle size distribution on the surface of the insulator shows a certain concentration at size ranges 1~100 μm and basically obeys a log-normal distribution. In addition, relative humidity, air velocity, and the charge accumulated on the surface all have significant influences on particle size distribution characteristics, while the effect of the electric field is mainly reflected in the difference in the number concentration of particle adhesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to ascertain the conceptual basics underlying the design of the Seven Epitomes, the first library catalog to establish the bibliographic model in imperial China. The analytical framework for the study consists of a reconstructed version of the catalog and its historical contexts. In analyzing the surviving text of the catalog, the study identifies its bibliographic objectives as the identification, choice, finding, and collocating objectives. Further deduced from these objectives, the study reasons out four general purposes that might be intended by the catalog's compiler Liu Xin: the catalog was to be a guide to literature, a plan for knowledge organization, a retrieval tool, and a library inventory. Ru classicism (or Confucianism) was the catalog's guiding philosophy. In classicism-dominated imperial China, generations of bibliographers followed this model and focused their attention primarily on making bibliography both a classicist guide to literature and a plan for organizing knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigates the main structure of the classification applied in the Seven Epitomes (Qilue), the first documented Chinese library catalog completed a few years before the Common Era. Based on a close examination of the partially extant text and structure of the catalog, other historical records and secondary sources, the authors identify two principal classification methods in the scheme being studied: dichotomy and ranking. It is theorized that the compiler of the catalog, Liu Xin, used ru classicism, or Confucianism, as the principle for guiding the construction of three sets of ranked dichotomies that manifested into the six main classes in the set sequence. As a result, he successfully achieved the chief goal he intended for the catalog—to proclaim classicism as the intellectual authority. This design made the catalog, and its numerous successors in imperial China for two thousand years, an effective aid for intellectual, political, and social control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Export channels into emerging markets differ markedly in channel intensity. This inductive study of 18 British manufacturers and their Chinese intermediaries led to propositions exploring the mechanism behind the marked differences. Findings from the study indicate that low channel intensity may restrict exporting manufacturers' market coverage and expose them to high risks of intermediary opportunism in emerging markets where channel environments are highly uncertain and legal frameworks are weak. However, low channel intensity policy can be an appropriate option when exporting manufacturers face the threats of gray marketing and fake products.

How does online trading affect Western manufacturers' entry modes in China? This inductive study of 20 Western manufacturers and their Chinese intermediaries led to propositions exploring that question. Findings from the study indicate that online trading intensifies the information exchanges between Western manufacturers and their Chinese end users. Such information exchanges provide Western manufacturers with detailed market-specific knowledge. Moreover, online trading intensifies the competition between Western manufacturers as their customers can keep well-informed of their product qualities, new technologies, and prices. Online trading has great positive impacts on Western manufacturers' shift from low-control and low-risk entry modes to high-control and high-risk entry modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]