Role of traditional Chinese philosophies and new product development under circular economy in private manufacturing enterprise performance

The New product development (NPD) process-performance link has been sufficiently studied in academic research. However, the more recent NPD trend is significantly different from the conventional NPD with the inclusion of sustainability considerations, which is evidenced by the growing body of research on sustainable NPD and green NPD. In the context of Circular Economy (CE), it is no longer viable for companies to stick to conventional NPD process which targets only at profit. Instead, their NPD process must have some CE elements either due to self-interest or stakeholder requirements. In theory, NPD with CE considerations (hereafter CE-NPD), compared with conventional NPD, is associated with higher costs and longer development times due to the fulfilment of CE requirements along with product functions. This study empirically examines the effect of CE-NPD process on both Time-to-market (TTM) and profit performance in the context of Chinese private enterprises. In addition, the role of traditional Chinese philosophies of Confucianism and Taoism in influencing the CE-NPD process-performance link is also investigated. We find that firms’ CE-NPD projects reduce TTM and increase profit. Moreover, Confucianism positively moderates the relationship between CE-NPD process and TTM performance. However, it negatively moderates the CE-NPD - profit link. On the other hand, the moderating effect of Taoism is negative on both the CE-NPD - TTM and CE-NPD - profit links. An interesting finding of this study is that the coexistence of Confucian and Taoist values in NPD workers has the strongest positive impact on the relationship between CE-NPD process and performance. Our study provides insights on the way in which companies should plan to apply Chinese philosophies during the CE-NPD process to maximize the benefits

Haptics-Enabled Forceps with Multi-Modal Force Sensing: Towards Task-Autonomous Surgery

Many robotic surgical systems have been developed with micro-sized biopsy forceps for tissue manipulation. However, these systems often lack force sensing at the tool side. This paper presents a vision-based force sensing method for micro-sized biopsy forceps. A miniature sensing module adaptive to common biopsy forceps is proposed, consisting of a flexure, a camera, and a customised target. The deformation of the flexure is obtained by the camera estimating the pose variation of the top-mounted target. Then, the external force applied to the sensing module is calculated using the flexure's displacement and stiffness matrix. Integrating the sensing module into the biopsy forceps, in conjunction with a single-axial force sensor at the proximal end, we equip the forceps with haptic sensing capabilities. Mathematical equations are derived to estimate the multi-modal force sensing of the haptics-enabled forceps, including pushing/pulling forces (Mode-I) and grasping forces (Mode-II). A series of experiments on phantoms and ex vivo tissues are conducted to verify the feasibility of the proposed design and method. Results indicate that the haptics-enabled forceps can achieve multi-modal force estimation effectively and potentially realize autonomous robotic tissue grasping procedures with controlled forces.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, submitted to T-MEC

Case report: Urothelial injury in a female with breast cancer: a rare adverse event after the combination of paclitaxel and trastuzumab

Several breast cancer (BC) patients showed urinary tract infection after adjuvant trastuzumab plus paclitaxel, but no case of urothelial injury has been reported. In this case, we report a 47-year-old female patient with stage I invasive ductal carcinoma in the left breast presenting with urothelial injury after the combination of trastuzumab and paclitaxel. Initially, the patient was highly suspected of having urinary tract infection as she showed abdominal and low back pain, as well as urinary irritation symptoms and hematuria. Unfortunately, the conditions were not attenuated after anti-infection therapy. Contrast-enhanced CT showed extensive exudation and edema in the bilateral renal pelvis, ureter, and bladder, together with dilatation and effusion in the renal pelvis and ureter. Cystoscopy showed extensive congestion, edema, and erosion in the bladder epithelium. Pathological analysis demonstrated slight thinning or even loss in the uroepithelial cell layer and interstitial congestion. In addition, there was growth arrest in the epithelial cells. Immunohistochemistry indicated HER2 expression in the urothelial cells. Finally, the patient was diagnosed with urothelial injury after combination of paclitaxel and trastuzumab. The symptoms were spontaneously cured with no administration of any antibiotics in the 3-month follow-up

CEO international experience and foreign IPOs

International audienceThis paper examines listing location as a managerial decision by using a sample of IPOs of Chinese entrepreneurial firms in mainland China, the United States and Hong Kong. We find that Chinese entrepreneurial firms managed by CEOs with international experience are more likely to undertake foreign IPOs, especially those returned from countries with more advanced legal institutions and those operating in high-tech industries. The credibility crisis for Chinese firms in 2010 switched the focus of foreign IPOs from the US to Hong Kong. These results are consistent across returnee CFOs and other senior executives with international experience

A facile synthetic route to flower-like NiO and its catalytic properties

51-56NiO with flower-like morphology has been synthesized via the simple homogeneous precipitation method by using nickel nitrate and urea at 115 °C for 1.5 h. The physicochemical properties of as-obtained NiO are characterized by X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, N2 sorption, and H2 temperature-programmed reduction. The results show that the flower-like NiO exhibits a larger surface area, higher reducibility and better catalytic activity for oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene, compared to conventional particulate NiO

Oxidative degradation of chitosan to the low molecular water-soluble chitosan over peroxotungstate as chemical scissors.

Low molecular water-soluble chitosan was prepared by the depolymerization of chitosan in the presence of a series of catalysts with active W(O2) sites. Both the peroxo species [W2O3(O2)4]2- and {PO4[WO(O2)2]4}3- showed high efficiency in the degradation of chitosan, indicating that the degradation mechanism did not follow the radical mechanism. That means •OH is not the active species, which has been proven by the fluorescence spectra. H2O2 acted as an oxidant to regenerate the active W(O2) sites in the depolymerization of chitosan. The developed catalyst (TBA)3{PO4[WO(O2)2]4} is recoverable

Partial oxidation of methane to hydrogen and carbon monoxide over a Ni/TiO2 catalyst

Partial oxidation of methane to hydrogen and carbon monoxide (POM) over a Ni/TiO2 catalyst has been investigated using a fixed-bed reactor. Ni/TiO2 catalyst has high initial activity but undergoes deactivation during POM. Activation of methane on NiTiO2 was studied by employing a pulse reaction technique in the absence of gas phase oxygen. Methane pulse reactions demonstrate that the methane oxidation mechanism changes as the nickel oxidation state changes over NiTiO2. CH4 is efficiently oxidized into CO and H-2 via a direct oxidation mechanism when NiTiO2 is reduced; while CH4 may be converted by a non-selective oxidation process over oxidized Ni/TiO2. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

LOW-TEMPERATURE CATALYTIC PERFORMANCE OF NANOSTRUCTURED Ti–Ni–O PREPARED BY MODIFIED SOL-GEL METHOD

Nanosized Ti–Ni–O catalysts prepared by a modified sol–gel method had been investigated in the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane and propane to the corresponding alkene. The best yield is obtained over the 9.1 wt% Ti–Ni–O catalyst. The results of catalyst characterization indicated that there is strong interaction between TiO2 and NiO. It is observed that a decline in temperature for low-temperature oxygen desorption and an augmentation in reduction difficulty of the catalysts would result in poor activity and enhanced alkene selectivity, respectively, over the Ti–Ni–O catalysts in the oxidative dehydrogenation reactions.Nanostructured, Ti–Ni–O, catalyst, interaction

Hydrolysis of chitosan under microwave irradiation in ionic liquids promoted by sulfonic acid-functionalized ionic liquids

Natural Science Foundation of China [20673102]; Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China [Y404305]; Science and Technology Ministry of Zhejiang Province in China [2009C31084]; Chinese Zhaolong Bao & Yugang Bao scholarshipHydrolysis of chitosan in ionic liquids was carried out under microwave irradiation (MW) using sulfonic acid-functionalized ionic liquids (SFILs) as catalysts. The effect of microwave power, irradiation time, dosage of SFILs and DMSO was investigated by orthogonal tests. Under the optimal reaction conditions, the yield of total reducing sugars (TRS) reached over 90% within 2 min. The viscosity-average molecular weight of degraded chitosan was determined by viscosity method. The structures of the original and degraded chitosan were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared (FUR) spectra, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) analysis and carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (C-13 NMR). The influence of microwave power and irradiation time on the TRS and M-v was further studied. This method can dramatically reduce reaction time. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved