Kainan University

This study explores the factors that influence the cohesion of military groups and develops a scale for measuring the current state of group cohesion in the military. The importance of military unity has always been a significant factor in victory in war, and group cohesion plays a pivotal role in the success or failure of military operations. The research is divided into two phases: the first phase includes a literature review, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions to gather information about the connotations of military group cohesion. The interviews revealed that the elements of military group cohesion encompass five dimensions: cooperation, communication, leadership, commitment, and the external environment. In the second phase, based on data obtained from the interviews, a military group cohesion questionnaire was developed, and 214 personnel from grassroots units were tested to assess the reliability and validity of the scale. The results indicate that better performance correlates with higher group cohesion. The findings of this study can serve as a reference for relevant units when formulating policies.

Not applicable.

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how bricolage and improvisation increase the opportunities for supply chain integration of contract manufacturers. Connecting bricolage/improvisation with resource dependence theory offers an appropriate theoretical lens with which to understand the increasing focus on the view that bricolage and improvisation are feasible ways to create desired resources for contract manufacturers. Such resources can then enhance the autonomy of contract manufacturers in supply chain by building contract manufacturer–supply chain partner relationship interdependencies.Design/methodology/approachGiven that the primary focus of the study was whether and how contract manufacturers respond to resource constraints, namely, bricolage and improvisation and environmental uncertainty as a moderating effect of fastener contract manufacturers' supplier/buyer integration, only firms that had contractual agreements involving manufacturing services for original equipment manufacturer and/or original design manufacture data were included in this population. This study selected a population from a list of 674 fastener firms provided by the Taiwan Industrial Fastener Institute in 2020 using a mailed survey to test the hypotheses. By the beginning of 2022, 165 completed questionnaires were returned, and the total useable sample was 158.FindingsHypotheses are tested using 158 contract manufacturers of the Taiwanese fastener industry. Results show that bricolage can lead contract manufacturers to initiate supplier and buyer integration. The moderating effect of environmental uncertainty further strengthens the above positive relationships. Without the moderating effect of the environmental uncertainty, improvisation leads contract manufacturers to initiate only supplier but not buyer integration. However, when the moderating effect of environmental uncertainty is included, improvisation leads contract manufacturers to initiate only buyer integration.Originality/valueThis finding highlights the importance of the environmental uncertainty when contract manufacturers adopt bricolage/improvisation to initiate supply chain integration.

The system for collecting wasted energy and converted into electrical energy is called an energy harvesting system. This paper focuses on the application of a boost converter to harvest leg muscle energy using a permanent magnet generator. A permanent magnet generator is a medium to convert the energy wasted from the leg muscles due to leg movements into electrical energy. The voltage result reaches 1.7Vac with a total 100 steps in 3 minutes. The output voltage generated by the permanent magnet generator is low-voltage with AC current. Therefore, there are stages of designing a rectifier and boost converter circuit in the self-power generation system. The output voltage generated from the rectifier and boost converter circuit is 5 Vdc. The 5Vdc output voltage will be supplied to the supercapacitor for storage. The supercapacitor charging takes ± 1 hour 25 minutes to full. The distance required to fully charging the supercapacitor reaches 5,500 steps on an average of 4.18 Km. Electrical energy stored in supercapacitors can be used by electronic devices such as sensors, IoT, and others.

With the openness of Taiwan’s government's financial policy, the banks here are becoming more liberalized and internationalized. Taiwan is becoming a competitive financial market since more new commercial banks have been set up in Taiwan. So, it is important for a bank to dispatch good executives to overseas branches. In this paper, we analyze what kinds of characteristics and traits a bank's manager in an overseas branch should have by using the fuzzy Delphi method (FDM). The purposes of the research are: Firstly, to analyze what kinds of characteristics and traits a bank's manager in an overseas branch should have. Secondly, to compare the differences between managers in overseas branches in Japan and Hong Kong by using the Wilcoxon rank sum test. Thirdly, establish the dispatch criteria with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and FDM methods. Through the examination of FDM, a fuzzy referent model framework for the bank’s dispatch in the overseas branch is built. It is anticipated that the fuzzy framework will provide a more objective means for the dispatch of appropriate personnel for overseas branches.