This paper presents a climbing robot (CR) designed for the purpose of pipeline maintenance, with capability to avoid the risks inherent in manual operations. In the design process, a three degree of freedom (DOF) parallel mechanism coupled with a remote center of motion (RCM) mechanism linkage mechanism were designed to serve as the CR’s climbing mechanism, which met the specific demands for climbing movements. The modified Kutzbach–Grübler formula and the screw theory were applied to calculate the DOFs of the CR. Then, the inverse and forward position analysis for the CR was derived. Furthermore, velocity and acceleration analysis of parallel mechanism were conducted and derived the Jacobian matrix, through which the singularity of parallel mechanism was analyzed. In order to evaluate kinematic performance of parallel mechanism, the motion/force transmission index (LTI) of workspace was calculated, which directed the followed dimensional optimization process. According to the optimization result, a prototype was constructed and a series of motion experiments were carried out to validate its climbing capability.

This paper investigates the relationship between growth and quality of pension funds. It measures growth in terms of changes in the number of participants and cash flow transfers and appreciates the quality of the funds through the set of information on past results and costs published in the official prospectuses. The results show that growth rewards the best performing funds in the long term, while annual performance and costs have no relevance. Nevertheless, other factors, such as market power and commercial pressure, appear to be more powerful. The existence of conditions of market power capable of attracting investors beyond the actual quality of pension products is undesirable as it harms future pensioners. These results have implications for the Authority, as mandatory information should be suitable to induce investors to identify the best products and direct individual choices toward the public objective of a more efficient market.

This paper examines the career mobility and performance evaluation of the leaders of China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) at the central, provincial and prefectural levels. Using data on executive turnover within publicly listed SOEs, we find that central and local SOE leaders have a similar career flow pattern. Specifically, vertical mobility within the same business group is common and more than 60 per cent of SOE leaders leave their office within three years. Only a minority of SOE leaders achieve political promotion. We also find that performance evaluation criteria are different across central and local SOEs. The leaders who provide better economic outcomes for central SOEs obtain a higher evaluation score, while close political connections boost the promotion prospects of local SOE leaders. Overall, our findings provide granular evidence on the personnel management of China's SOEs from a comparative perspective.

This paper presents a numerical and experimental validation of ExoFing, a two-degrees-of-freedom finger mechanism exoskeleton. The main functionalities of this device are investigated by focusing on its kinematic model and by computing its main operation characteristics via numerical simulations. Experimental tests are designed and carried out for validating both the engineering feasibility and effectiveness of the ExoFing system aiming at achieving a human index finger motion assistance with cost-oriented and user-friendly features.

Commentators now regularly declare that the International Criminal court (ICC) – and international criminal law as a whole – is in crisis. It is certainly the case that the ICC faces a number of operational challenges, and that these challenges worry its defenders. However, one unexamined rationalist assumption is that the Court’s inability to deliver consistent outputs will mean waning influence. This article explores an alternative constructivist theory that the ICC produces diffuse social impacts that are not necessarily tied to its operating effectively. This theory is tested statistically using Google Trends data. Specifically, the article examines whether ICC intervention in a country is associated with more internet search for ‘human rights’. Taking this to be a measure of changing discourse in countries, the article finds that some types of ICC involvement are associated with a far higher interest in human rights, and that this interest only increases as ICC involvement extends in time. In short, despite its disappointments, evidence suggests that the ICC still serves a socio-pedagogical function. Though it does not fit well within a rational evaluation framework, this kind of information should be considered in ICC performance reviews.

This paper deals with the multi-objective optimal design of a novel 6-degree of freedom (DOF) hybrid spray-painting robot. Its kinematic model is obtained by dividing it into serial and parallel parts. The dynamic equation is formulated by virtual work principle. A performance index for evaluating the compactness of robot is presented. Taking compactness, motion/force transmissibility, and energy consumption as performance indices, the optimal geometric parameters of the robot are selected in the Pareto-optimal set by constructing a comprehensive performance index. This paper is very useful for the development of the spray-painting robot.

Turbo-electric propulsive fuselage aircraft featuring Boundary-Layer Ingestion (BLI) are considered promising candidates to achieve the emissions reduction targets set for aviation. This paper presents an analytical method capable of estimating the BLI benefit at aircraft level, enabling a quick exploration of the propulsive fuselage design space. The design space exploration showed that the assumptions regarding the underwing turbofans and BLI fan mass estimation can have an important impact on the final fuel burn estimation. The same applies to the total efficiency assumed for the electric transmission, the range of the aircraft mission, and the propulsive efficiency of the engines used as benchmark. The regional jet and short- to medium-range aircraft classes seem to be the most promising as the ingested drag and power saving are among the largest, with long-range aircraft being just behind. The future introduction of advanced technologies, which target the reduction of vortex and wave dissipation at aircraft level, could increase the potential benefit of propulsive fuselage BLI. On the other hand, the potential benefit would be decreased if more efficient and lighter ultra high bypass ratio engines were used as benchmark.

We examine the investment performance of Chilean pension funds during their multi-fund period (2003–17). Using tradable asset class benchmarks, we extend Sharpe's (1992) return-based style analysis by explicitly considering regulatory restrictions and currency hedging. We find that despite the significant differences between pension fund manager returns, they are statistically similar to our style benchmarks for all fund types. Furthermore, accounting for currency hedging improves the accuracy of the replicating portfolios and the selection return estimates. Our results have policy implications for investment regulation of pension systems with similar characteristics to the Chilean one.

The persistent coverage control problem is formulated based on cell discretisation of two-dimensional mission space and time-increasing cell ages. A new performance function is defined to represent the coverage level of the mission space, and time behaviour is evaluated by the probabilistic method based on the detection model of agents. For comparison, persistent coverage controllers are designed by a target-based approach and a reactive approach. Both controllers are designed in a distributed manner using Voronoi tessellation and Delaunay graph-based local information sharing. Numerical simulation is performed to analyse the evaluated mean age of cells and evaluated coverage level over time for the designed persistent coverage controllers. The differences between the evaluation model and simulation situation are discussed.

Introduction: Canadian undergraduate medical Emergency Medicine (EM) rotations are often completed at either tertiary care centres or regional community hospitals. While the latter offer students exposure to different practice settings and population needs, many students perceive that teaching at tertiary care EM departments is superior to that in community hospitals. At our institution, third year undergraduate medical students complete three-week EM rotation at either a tertiary centre or a community hospital. We compared academic and clinical performance between students trained in tertiary care centres and students trained in community hospitals. Methods: Academic and clinical performance in EM was evaluated based on the results of an EM-specific multiple choice examination (MCQE) and an annual Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) assessing competency in a broad range of clinical scenarios commonly addressed in EM. The 40-question MCQE is administered quarterly and a mix of old and new questions are used to ensure consistency. The OSCE is administered annually and relies on the same principal to remain consistent. OSCE scores are binary: pass or fail. We reviewed MCQE and OSCE scores from three consecutive cohorts of students. Students were pooled into two groups, tertiary and community, based on the site of their EM rotation. Mean MCQE and OSCE performance were compared between the two groups of students using two-tailed unpaired T tests. Chi squared tests were used to identify significant differences in scores between cohorts. Results: MCQE and OSCE scores from 312 students over three consecutive cohorts were analyzed. Cohorts included 104, 100, and 108 students with 61% trained in tertiary centres (N = 191). Students trained in tertiary centres had a mean MCQE score of 77%. Students from community centres had a mean score of 78%. There was no significant difference in MCQE scores between tertiary- and community-trained students (p = 0.6099). The OSCE pass rate was 97% for students trained in tertiary centres and 98% for students trained in community centres. OSCE pass rates were not significantly different between the two groups (p = 0.8145). Conclusion: Despite student perceptions that training in tertiary care EM centres was superior, objective analysis showed that academic and clinical performance were similar regardless of training site.

Community of Practice (CoP) efficiency evaluation is a great deal in research. Indeed, having the possibility to know if a given CoP is successful or not is essential to better manage it over time. The existing approaches for efficiency evaluation are difficult and time-consuming to put into action on real CoPs. They require either to evaluate subjective constructs making the analysis unreliable, either to work out a knowledge interaction matrix that is difficult to set up. However, these approaches build their evaluation on the fact that a CoP is successful if knowledge is exchanged between the members. It is the case if there are some interactions between the actors involved in the CoP. Therefore, we propose to analyze these interactions through the exchanges of emails thanks to Natural Language Processing. Our approach is systematic and semi-automated. It requires the e-mails exchanged and the definition of the speech-acts that will be retrieved. We apply it on a real project-based CoP: the SEPOLBE research project that involves different expertise fields. It allows us to identify the CoP core group and to emphasize learning processes between members with different backgrounds (Microbiology, Electrochemistry and Civil engineering).

Although the internet is severely censored in China, negative reporting and critical deliberations of political institutions and policy issues, especially low-profile ones, have been abundant in cyberspace. Given such a mixed pattern of online information, this study explores the complexity of the effect of the internet on regime support by parsing it into direct effect and indirect effect. It argues that the internet indirectly erodes its viewers’ overall support for the authoritarian regime by decreasing their evaluation of government performance. The findings from a mediation analysis of a Beijing sample support this argument. The result of one analysis also indicates that the direct effect of internet use on regime support can be positive. Such findings about the effect of the internet in China help advance our understanding of both political and theoretical implications of the spread of the internet in authoritarian countries.