Different strokes for different folks: Comparative analysis of 3D printing in large, medium and small firms

Industry 4.0 technologies such as 3D printing have radically transformed innovative outcomes for firms in terms of product design and offerings in the recent past. Acknowledging the impact, existing scholarship has delved into different dimensions of this technology and outcomes of its adoption, yet when compared with the scale of industrial activity globally and the varied possibilities associated with the adoption of this relatively new technology, the literature is woefully lean. Discussions and conversations on facilitators and inhibitors of adoption and continued usage are still nascent, particularly when one ponders upon specific insights related to sectors and firm size. The present study seeks to address this paucity by using the lens of firm size. Specifically, the study examines how firm size impacts various positive and negative outcomes of industry 4.0 innovation adoption and usage using 3D printing as an exemplar. Toward this end, we conducted a qualitative study to collect responses from 46 managers, 23 each from large-size and small-size enterprises operating in the United Kingdom. Thematic coding of responses revealed five aggregate dimensions representing facilitators and four aggregate dimensions representing inhibitors. Analysis of the findings revealed differences in outcomes with firm size, indicating that the adoption and optimal use of innovations such as 3D printing were indeed incumbent on firm size in the case of disruptive, technology-driven innovations that are generically presumed to have positive outcomes. Overall, the findings of this study provide new insights into various facilitators and inhibitors of the adoption of 3D printing technology, which can help firms to make better strategic decisions on the effective usage of this technology

Stability of hard-core pinch with anisotropic plasma pressure

Stability of hard-core pinch device with anisotropic plasma pressur

Psychological and behavioral outcomes of social media-induced fear of missing out at the workplace

The intense proliferation of social media platforms into every facet of human lives has engaged researchers' attention towards understanding their adverse influences, referred to as the dark side of social media (DoSM) in the evolving literature. A relatively unexplored context in this regard is employees' personal use of social media during work hours and its impact on work-related outcomes. Since using social media during work hours can have implications for work performance and productivity, the lack of research in the area needs to be addressed by scholars sooner rather than later. Specifically, it is important to understand the drivers and outcomes of such behaviour. We have thus conceptualized a theoretical model based on the associations among individual tendencies (exhibitionism and voyeurism), fear of missing out (FoMO), and individual-level psychological (compulsive use of social media) and behavioral (work performance decrement and procrastination) outcomes of social media use during work hours. Grounded in the stressor-strain-outcomes (SSO) framework, the hypothesized associations were tested by a path analysis of 312 responses collected from individuals working in the United States. The results confirmed significant relationships between individual tendencies and FoMO, as well as psychological and behavioural outcomes. The findings contribute to the evolving literature around DoSM in the workplace and offer useful and practical insights

Balancing food waste and sustainability goals in online food delivery: Towards a comprehensive conceptual framework

Increasing food waste is a major threat to sustainability and food security. Recognizing the issue, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 mandates reducing global food waste by 50 percent by 2030. This situation has also given impetus to academic research on consumer food waste in both household and out-of-home settings. However, food delivery apps (FDAs) remain under-researched from this perspective. This is a serious gap because operating under a business model that inherently facilitates food over-ordering, FDAs can be a major source of food waste. Understanding the demand-side factors that drive consumers to order more food than required to satiate their hunger can be useful in mitigating such wasteful indulgences. Noting this, we extend the seminal theory of planned behavior (TPB) to propose direct and intervening mechanisms that can better explicate why consumers indulge in a ‘shopping routine’ of ordering more food than required. We analyzed data from 487 FDA users to test the proposed hypotheses. Our results reveal the positive associations of (a) attitude and subjective norms with usage intentions and (b) trust, intentions, and leftover reuse routine with shopping routine. In addition, both proposed moderators—i.e., willingness to pay for eco-friendly packaging and number of years of FDA usage—do, in fact, moderate the associations of leftover reuse routine with both usage intentions and shopping routine. These findings can help marketers and policymakers devise appropriate strategies to promote pro-environmental green behaviors among FDA users without harming the commercial interests of the sector

Truthful Multi-unit Procurements with Budgets

We study procurement games where each seller supplies multiple units of his item, with a cost per unit known only to him. The buyer can purchase any number of units from each seller, values different combinations of the items differently, and has a budget for his total payment. For a special class of procurement games, the {\em bounded knapsack} problem, we show that no universally truthful budget-feasible mechanism can approximate the optimal value of the buyer within $\ln n$, where $n$ is the total number of units of all items available. We then construct a polynomial-time mechanism that gives a $4(1+\ln n)$-approximation for procurement games with {\em concave additive valuations}, which include bounded knapsack as a special case. Our mechanism is thus optimal up to a constant factor. Moreover, for the bounded knapsack problem, given the well-known FPTAS, our results imply there is a provable gap between the optimization domain and the mechanism design domain. Finally, for procurement games with {\em sub-additive valuations}, we construct a universally truthful budget-feasible mechanism that gives an $O(\frac{\log^2 n}{\log \log n})$-approximation in polynomial time with a demand oracle.Comment: To appear at WINE 201

The thermal conductivity reduction in HgTe/CdTe superlattices

The techniques used previously to calculate the three-fold thermal conductivity reduction due to phonon dispersion in GaAs/AlAs superlattices (SLs) are applied to HgTe/CdTe SLs. The reduction factor is approximately the same, indicating that this SL may be applicable both as a photodetector and a thermoelectric cooler.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures; to be published in Journal of Applied Physic

The effect of the valence of forgiveness to service recovery strategies and service outcomes in food delivery apps

The literature offers valuable insights into various aspects of service recovery and service outcomes. However, the available findings are limited relative to the size of the ever-expanding service economy. In particular, past studies have left more granular nuances of the association between service recovery strategies and service outcomes, such as the mediating role of forgiveness or the valence of forgiveness, under-explored. Recognising that an improved understanding of recovery from failures is crucial for sustaining positive customer–brand relationships in the service economy, the present study investigates the mediating effect of the valence of forgiveness (both exoneration and resentment) on the association between various service recovery strategies (apology, compensation and voice) and service outcomes (brand trust and negative word of mouth [NWOM]) in the context of food delivery apps (FDAs). We tested the proposed model by analysing data from 294 FDA users who had experienced FDA service failures and recovery efforts in the recent past. The findings suggest that recovery strategies are associated with exoneration, resentment and brand trust but not with NWOM. While exoneration mediates the association of these strategies with both brand trust and NWOM, resentment mediates only the association of these strategies with NWOM. Finally, the severity of previously experienced service failures and the speed of the service provider’s response moderates the association of the valence of forgiveness with brand trust and NWOM. By uncovering the key role of the valence of forgiveness in service recovery, our study offers significant theoretical and practical implications for stakeholders

The Eye in the Neck: Removal of a Sewing Needle from the Posterior Pharyngeal Wall

Foreign body ingestion is a frequent presenting complaint to most emergency departments but the finding of a sewing needle in the posterior pharynx particularly is a rare finding. We report a case of a male patient with a sewing needle lodged in the posterior pharynx despite a history suggestive of chicken bone ingestion, absent clinical features, and negative flexible endoscopic examination. The needle was only identified through cervical spine radiographs. Even subsequent pharyngoscopy, laryngoscopy, and upper oesophagoscopy all proved to be unremarkable with the patient eventually requiring a left neck exploration to remove the needle. The case outlines the importance of simple radiography in suspected foreign body ingestion, even though clinical and endoscopic findings may be unremarkable

His230 of serine hydroxymethyltransferase facilitates the proton abstraction step in catalysis

The three-dimensional structures of rabbit and human liver cytosolic serine hydroxymethyltransferase revealed that H231 interacts with the O3′ of pyridoxal-5′-phosphate and other residues at the active site such as S203, K257, H357 and R402 (numbering as per the human enzyme). This and the conserved nature of H231 in all serine hydroxymethyltransferases highlights its importance in catalysis and/or maintenance of oligomeric structure of the enzyme. In an attempt to decipher the role of H230 (H231 of the human enzyme) in the catalytic mechanism and/or maintenance of oligomeric structure of sheep liver serine hydroxymethyltransferase, the residue was mutated to arginine, phenylalanine, alanine, asparagine or tyrosine. Our results suggest that the nature of the amino acid substitution has a marked effect on the catalytic activity of the enzyme. H230R and H230F mutant proteins were completely inactive, dimeric and did not bind pyridoxal-5′-phosphate. On the other hand, mutation to alanine and asparagine retained the oligomeric structure and ability to bind pyridoxal-5′-phosphate. These mutants had only 2-3% catalytic activity. The side reactions like transamination and 5,6,7,8-tetrahydrofolate independent aldol cleavage were much more severely affected. They were able to form the external aldimine with glycine and serine but the quinonoid intermediate was not observed upon the addition of 5,6,7,8-tetrahydrofolate. Mutation to tyrosine did not affect the oligomeric structure and pyridoxal-50-phosphate binding. The H230Y enzyme was 10% active and showed a correspondingly lower amount of quinonoid intermediate. The kcat/Km values for L-serine and L-allothreonine were 10-fold and 174-fold less for this mutant enzyme compared to the wild-type protein. These results suggest that H230 is involved in the step prior to the formation of the quinonoid intermediate, possibly in orienting the pyridine ring of the cofactor, in order to facilitate effective proton abstraction