Servitization strategies from customers’ perspective: the moderating role of co-creation

© 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the moderating role of co-creation in the implementation of servitization strategies in the pharmaceutical industry in a business-to-business (B-to-B) context. More specifically, this investigation explores the impact of different levels of services (base, intermediate and advanced) on servitization and on performance by using co-creation as a moderating factor. Design/methodology/approach: A research framework was developed and empirically tested in the pharmaceutical sector. Data collection was conducted through the online distribution of questionnaires. The final sample included 219 pharmacy stores, and the data were analysed using structural equation modelling. Findings: Main findings suggest that when the level of co-creation of the design of services is high, there are significant effects of servitization on firm performance. The moderating effect of co-creation is illustrated in regard to intermediate and advanced services, but results referring to the impact of intermediate services on servitization appear non-significant with a low degree of co-creation. No significant effects could be found for the impact of base services on performance and servitization for both high and low degrees of co-creation. Findings show an impact of advanced services on performance through the mediating effect of servitization when the degree of co-creation is high. Originality/value: Most research concerning servitization has been done from the perspective of manufacturers and service providers. This study adds value to the literature because it was designed from a customer’s perspective. Moreover, it contributes towards the conceptualization of the servitization research strategy and business models in a B2B context. This is accomplished through the investigation of the moderating effect of co-creation on the impact of the different levels of services on servitization and on performance

Development of New-Concept Clean Technologies to Extract Metals from Primary and Secondary Sources

Development of new-concept hydrometallurical technologies promoted by Tecnicas Reunidas is providing efficient and clean means for metals extraction from diverse primary & secondary sources, such as conventional or low-grade concentrates and ores, lead-acid batteries, domestic batteries, effluents from electronic industry, etc. Rele-vant characteristics of the recently developed processes regarding extraction of zinc, lead, silver, nickel and copper metals are the following: environmentally friendly, value added products and by-products, flexibility to a great variety of feed materials, adapted to local market requirements, easy to be combined with existing plants available for small and large capacities and on-site installation close to the metal sources

Experiência no curso de estudantes de 1º ano – um estudo no âmbito das tutorias de acompanhamento na Universidade de Évora

O presente estudo pretende conhecer a experiência no curso de estudantes de 1º ano que ingressaram na Universidade de Évora no final do 1º semestre. Estudos realizados sobre a percepção dos estudantes relativa ao contexto de aprendizagem no ensino superior indicam forte relação com as abordagens à aprendizagem e apresentam forte relevância para a compreensão da forma como os estudantes acedem ao conhecimento e para a definição de processos de aprendizagem de elevada qualidade (Entwistle, 2009; Chaleta & Entwistle, 2011). Os dados foram obtidos através da aplicação do CEQP (Ramsden, 2005; 2006; Chaleta et al, 2012) com 565 estudantes de diferentes cursos e áreas científicas. Os resultados indicaram que a experiência no curso é positiva para o conjunto dos estudantes havendo necessidade de observar com mais atenção as questões relacionadas com a avaliação. A grande maioria dos estudantes revela também satisfação com o curso que frequenta. Palavras-Chave: Experiência no Curso; Tutorias de Acompanhamento; CEQP; Ensino Superior. Abstract This study examine the experience in the course of the 1st year students who entered at the University of Évora. Studies on the perception of students on the learning environment in higher education indicate a strong relationship with the approaches to learning and have strong relevance to the understanding how students access the knowledge and the definition of high quality learning processes (Entwistle, 2009; Chaleta & Entwistle, 2011). The data were obtained by applying the CEQP (Ramsden, 2005, 2006; Chaleta et al, 2012) with 565 students from different courses and scientific areas. The results indicated that the course experience is positive for all the students but we need to look more closely at the issues related to assessment. The vast majority of students also reveals satisfaction with the course who attends Keywords: Course Experience; Mentor Monitoring; CEQP; Higher Education

Chitosan membranes for spatially controlled cell adhesion and specific cell recruitment

We propose a concept of biomaterials that are able to fix specific cell types onto their surface when in contact with a mix population of cells. Adipose tissue has shown to be an interesting source of stem cells with therapeutic potential. However only a small amount of the heteroge- neous mixture of the cells extracted from lipoaspirates are stem cells, and within stem cells there are different populations with different capabilities to differentiate through a lineage. We studied the ability of immobilized antibodies on chitosan surfaces to capture specific types of cells with a spatial micrometer resolution.Antibodies were covalently immobilized onto chitosan membranes using bis[sulfosuccinimidyl] su- berate (BS3). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to chemically characterize the surface and quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) to calculate the amount of adsorbed and/or immobilized anti- body. Data shown greater immobilization when BS3 was used com- pared to simple adsorption. Specific antibodies covalently immobilized in a surface, kept their bioactivity and controlled the type of cell that attached on the chitosan surface. Microcontact printing permitted to covalently immobilize antibodies in patterns allowing a spatial control in cell attachment. Cell sorting experiments performed using a mixture of adipose stem cells and osteoblast like cells shown that chitosan sur- faces were able to capture a specific phenotype depending on the immobilized antibody

Stochastics theory of log-periodic patterns

We introduce an analytical model based on birth-death clustering processes to help understanding the empirical log-periodic corrections to power-law scaling and the finite-time singularity as reported in several domains including rupture, earthquakes, world population and financial systems. In our stochastics theory log-periodicities are a consequence of transient clusters induced by an entropy-like term that may reflect the amount of cooperative information carried by the state of a large system of different species. The clustering completion rates for the system are assumed to be given by a simple linear death process. The singularity at t_{o} is derived in terms of birth-death clustering coefficients.Comment: LaTeX, 1 ps figure - To appear J. Phys. A: Math & Ge

Selective cell recruitment and spatially controlled cell attachment on instructive chitosan surfaces functionalized with antibodies

Bioactive constructs to guide cellular mobilization and function have been proposed as an approach for a new generation of biomaterials in functional tissue engineering. Adult mesenchymal stem cells have been widely used as a source for cell based therapeutic strategies, namely tissue engineering. This is a heterogeneous cell population containing many subpopulations with distinct regenerative capacity. Thus, one of the issues for the effective clinical use of stem cells in tissue engineering is the isolation of a highly purified, expandable specific subpopulation of stem cells. Antibody functionalized biomaterials could be promising candidates to isolate and recruit specific cell types. Here we propose a new concept of instructive biomaterials that are able to recruit and purify specific cell types from a mixed cell population. This biomimetic concept uses a target-specific chitosan substrate to capture specific adipose derived stem cells. Specific antibodies were covalently immobilized onto chitosan membranes using bis[sulfosuccinimidyl] suberate (BS3). Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) was used to monitor antibody immobilization/adsorption onto the chitosan films. Specific antibodies covalently immobilized kept their bioactivity and captured specific cell types from a mixed cell population. Microcontact printing allowed to covalently immobilize antibodies in patterns and simultaneously a spatial control in cell attachmentThe authors acknowledge the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for the fellowships SFRH/BD/61390/2009 (C.A.C) and SFRH/BPD/45206/2008 (A.M.F), and also to the International Max-Planck-Research School (C.A.C) for the financial support. We are grateful to Hospital da Prelada for the donations. This work was carried out under the scope of the EU 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. NMP4-SL-2009-229292 (Find&Bind)

Using LDGM Codes and Sparse Syndromes to Achieve Digital Signatures

In this paper, we address the problem of achieving efficient code-based digital signatures with small public keys. The solution we propose exploits sparse syndromes and randomly designed low-density generator matrix codes. Based on our evaluations, the proposed scheme is able to outperform existing solutions, permitting to achieve considerable security levels with very small public keys.Comment: 16 pages. The final publication is available at springerlink.co

A Imagem Corporal e a autoestima como determinantes na aceitação das mudanças físicas na gravidez: uma revisão Narrativa

Durante a gravidez é colocada à prova a imagem corporal que a mulher tem sobre si mesma, assim como a sua autoestima, que pode ser perturbada ou fortalecida durante este período. A Gravidez é um período em que ocorrem mudanças fisiológicas importantes, pois a mulher vê o seu corpo sofrer marcadas alterações, existindo necessidade de ajuste a essa nova realidade. O objetivo deste artigo é demonstrar de que forma a imagem corporal e a autoestima da grávida determinam a aceitação das mudanças fisiológicas da gravidez. O método utilizado foi uma revisão bibliográfica de estudos publicados nas plataformas eletrónicas Scientific Eletronic Library Online (SciELO), Nacional Library of Medicine (PubMed), Web of Science Core Collection – Clarivate, Google Académico, nos meses entre outubro e dezembro de 2021. Os artigos selecionados encontram-se entre 2008 e 2020 nos idiomas português e inglês. Os resultados dos artigos analisados demonstram que a satisfação corporal e a autoestima da grávida diminuem consoante a evolução da gravidez, notando que grávidas com atitudes negativas em relação às alterações corporais têm maior propensão ao desenvolvimento de depressão e distúrbios alimentares. Concluímos que a imagem corporal está diretamente relacionada com a autoestima e que ambas são determinantes na aceitação, pela grávida, das mudanças inerentes à gravidez