"Going green" has become an important environmental issue in contemporary business practice worldwide. This study examined the influence of a number of factors on green innovation and the consequences in terms of performance. The stakeholder theory was adopted to observe the effects of each stakeholder on the green innovation practices of companies and to determine how green innovation practices influence environmental and business performance. A research model with eight hypotheses was proposed to determine the associations between the variables of interest. An empirical survey was conducted of 202 Taiwanese service and manufacturing companies. The survey found that pressure from competitors and the government, along with employee conduct, all had significant and positive effects on green innovation practices. Additionally, a moderating effect of innovation orientation existed only in the relationship between green product innovation practices and employee conduct. This study not only provides a systematic way to analyze the effects of green innovation practices but also suggests the best means for companies to adopt green innovation practices.

SUMMARYThis paper first presents the force-deformation relationship of a post-tensioned (PT) steel beam-to-column connection constructed with bolted web friction devices (FDs). This paper then describes the test program conducted in the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering, Taiwan, on four bolted FDs and four full-scale PT beam-to-column moment connection subassemblies using the FDs. Tests confirm that (1) the hysteretic behavior of four bolted FDs is very stable, (2) the friction coefficient between the steel plate and the brass shim is about 0.34, (3) the proposed force-deformation relationships reasonably predict the experimental responses of the PT connections under cyclically increasing deformations up to a beam peak rotation of 0.05 rad, and (4) the decompression moments do not degrade as beam cyclic deformations increase.

This paper is the second part of a two-part paper presenting the cyclic tests of four two-story narrow steel plate shear walls (SPSWs). The first paper introduces the analytical studies and the specimen designs. This paper describes the test results. Some design implications including the capacity design for the first story column and the width-to-thickness ratio check for the beam web are discussed based on key observations from the tests. Test results confirm that the simplified strip model can accurately predict the inelastic responses of the specimens. Test results also confirm that the proposed capacity design method is effective in ensuring the plastic hinge formation at the bottom end of the first story column for SPSW with or without restrainers. Test results also show that the horizontal restrainers are effective in reducing the member forces in the boundary beam and column elements. Comparing the test results of the typical SPSW with those of the restrained SPSW (R-SPSW) specimens, it is found that the R-SPSW possesses an improved cyclic performance and reduced material weight. Analytical results predict the compressed column moments at the onset of the column plastic hinge formation well. The analytical hysteretic energy distribution in the first story column agrees very well with the observed inelastic actions developed in the four specimens. The detailed frame response analyses and the test results confirm that the assumptions made in developing the proposed column capacity design method are reasonable.KEY WORDS: steel plate shear wall (SPSW); restrained steel plate shear wall (R-SPSW); capacity design; narrow steel plate shear wall Figure 1. Details of the specimens.beam-to-column joint for both the middle and the top beams. Thus, the unbraced length of the columns was equal to the story height. A reference column was erected to measure the lateral displacement of the specimens at various elevations ( Figure 2). Positive values of force or displacement indicated pushing or movement toward the east direction. The cyclic displacements were imposed according to the loading history shown in Figure 3, starting from small roof drift and increasing up to 5% radian. The north actuator was displacement controlled while the south one was force-slaved.

SUMMARY Coupled steel plate shear wall (C‐SPSW) consists of two or more steel plate shear walls interconnected by coupling beams at the floor levels. In this study, a six‐story C‐SPSW prototype building was designed. A 40% scale C‐SPSW specimen, which is representative of the bottom two‐and‐half‐story substructure of the prototype, was cyclically tested using Multi‐Axial Testing System at the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering in 2009. In addition to a constant vertical force representing the gravity load effects, cyclic increasing displacements and the corresponding overturning moments transmitted from the upper stories were computed online and simultaneously applied on the substructural specimen. This paper firstly introduces the designs of the prototype C‐SPSW and the test specimen. Then, the test results and the numerical simulation are discussed in detail. Test results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed column capacity design method, which aims at limiting the plastic hinge formation within the bottom quarter height of the bottom column. Test and analytical results suggest that the coupling beam rotational demands can be estimated as the design story drifts when the formation of desirable plastic mechanism of the C‐SPSW is expected. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

No abstract