Industrial maintenance service quality evaluation and improvement strategies: A case study of a corporation

Improving industrial maintenance service quality is not only essential for service providers to acquire and retain customers, but also plays a critical role in the shift from “Made in China” to “Intelligent Manufacturing in China”. The study focuses on the case of Company A to explore how to boost industrial maintenance service quality. Firstly, factor analysis is used to construct an industrial maintenance service quality scale, which is adopted to evaluate the service quality through analytic hierarchy process. Secondly, taking repurchase intention and recommendation intention as the measurement dimensions of customer behavioural intentions, structural equation model is used to explore the effect of industrial maintenance service quality on customer behavioural intentions. Last but not the least, the study explores the key factors that affect the quality of industrial maintenance service, and offers suggestions on how to improve industrial maintenance service quality. The study develops the industrial maintenance service quality scale with four dimensions, namely service professionalism, service reliability, service customization, and service digitization, all of which have direct, significant and positive effects on repurchase intention and recommendation intention. It is also found that industrial maintenance service quality can be improved through successful customer relationship maintenance, brand-building management, and information technology upgrading. Such improvement will contribute to the development of industrial maintenance service providers and promote their transformation and upgrading.A melhoria da qualidade do serviço de manutenção industrial é não só importante para as empresas fornecedoras destes serviços como também desempenha um papel crítico na mudança da política “Produzido na China” para a política “Manufatura Inteligente na China”. Esta tese tem como objeto de estudo a empresa A e analisa o modo de impulsionar a qualidade de serviço de manutenção. Primeiramente, a análise fatorial é utilizada para construir uma escala de qualidade de serviço de manutenção industrial, que será adoptada para avaliar a qualidade do serviço segundo o processo analítico hierárquico. Seguidamente, tomando a intenção de recompra e intenção de recomendação como dimensões de medida das intenções comportamentais dos clientes, utilizamos o modelo de equações estruturais para estudar o efeito da qualidade do serviço de manutenção industrial nas intenções comportamentais dos clientes. Por último, mas não menos importante, este estudo explora os fatores chave que afetam a qualidade do serviço de manutenção industrial e propõe sugestões para melhoria da qualidade do serviço de manutenção industrial. Esta tese desenvolve a escala de qualidade de serviço de manutenção industrial com quatro dimensões, nomeadamente profissionalismo do serviço, confiabilidade do serviço, serviço personalizado e digitalização do serviço, todas estas dimensões têm efeitos positivos diretos e significantes nas intenções de recompra e recomendação. Esta tese concluiu também que a qualidade do serviço de manutenção industrial pode ser melhorada através da manutenção de relacionamento com o cliente, a gestão de construção da marca e atualização da tecnologia de informação. Estas melhorias irão contribuir para o desenvolvimento das empresas de serviços de manutenção industrial e promoverão a sua transformação e atualização

A Faster Quantum Algorithm for Semidefinite Programming via Robust IPM Framework

This paper studies a fundamental problem in convex optimization, which is to solve semidefinite programming (SDP) with high accuracy. This paper follows from existing robust SDP-based interior point method analysis due to [Huang, Jiang, Song, Tao and Zhang, FOCS 2022]. While, the previous work only provides an efficient implementation in the classical setting. This work provides a novel quantum implementation. We give a quantum second-order algorithm with high-accuracy in both the optimality and the feasibility of its output, and its running time depending on $\log(1/\epsilon)$ on well-conditioned instances. Due to the limitation of quantum itself or first-order method, all the existing quantum SDP solvers either have polynomial error dependence or low-accuracy in the feasibility

Preparation, characterization and targeting of micronized 10-hydroxycamptothecin-loaded folate-conjugated human serum albumin nanoparticles to cancer cells

Qingyong Li, Chen Liu, Xiuhua Zhao, Yuangang Zu, Ying Wang, Baoyou Zhang, Dongmei Zhao, Qi Zhao, Lin Su, Yang Gao, Baihe SunKey Laboratory of Forest Plant Ecology, Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, People's Republic of ChinaBackground: The purpose of this study was to develop a method for targeted delivery of 10-hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT)-loaded nanoparticles (NPs) to cancer cells.Methods: We first used a supercritical antisolvent process to prepare micronized HCPT (nHCPT), and then folate-conjugated human serum albumin (HSA) nHCPT-loaded NPs (FA-HSA-nHCPT-NPs) were prepared using a NP-coated method combined with a desolvation technique. The amount of folate conjugation was 16 µg · mg-1 HSA.Results: The particle size of the spherical nHCPT microparticles obtained was 118.5 ± 6.6 nm. The particle size and zeta potential of the FA-HSA-nHCPT-NPs were 233.9 ± 1.2 nm and -25.23 ± 2.98 mV, respectively. The FA-HSA-nHCPT-NPs exhibited a smooth surface and a distinct spherical shape, and the results of differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction indicated that the FA-HSA-nHCPT-NPs presented in a nanostructured amorphous state. The FA-HSA-nHCPT-NPs showed sustained-release characteristics for 120 hours in vitro, with a drug-loading content of 7.3% and an encapsulating efficiency of 79.1%.Conclusion: The FA-NPs were effective delivery systems for uptake by SGC7901 cells compared with folate-free NPs. These results suggest that a NP-coated method combined with a desolvation technique is effective for preparing NPs with drugs having poor solubility in water and most organic solvents, using albumin as the wall material. FA-HSA-NPs are a stable delivery system and have the potential for targeted delivery of anticancer drugs.Keywords: nanoparticle-coated, desolvation technique, 10-hydroxycamptothecin, human serum albumin, folate, targeted delivery&nbsp

Increased p38-MAPK is responsible for chemotherapy resistance in human gastric cancer cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Chemoresistance is one of the main obstacles to successful cancer therapy and is frequently associated with Multidrug resistance (MDR). Many different mechanisms have been suggested to explain the development of an MDR phenotype in cancer cells. One of the most studied mechanisms is the overexpression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp), which is a product of the <it>MDR1 </it>gene. Tumor cells often acquire the drug-resistance phenotype due to upregulation of the <it>MDR1 </it>gene. Overexpression of <it>MDR1 </it>gene has often been reported in primary gastric adenocarcinoma.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This study investigated the role of p38-MAPK signal pathway in vincristine-resistant SGC7901/VCR cells. P-gp and MDR1 RNA were detected by Western blot analysis and RT-PCR amplification. Mitgen-activated protein kinases and function of P-gp were demonstrated by Western blot and FACS Aria cytometer analysis. Ap-1 activity and cell apoptosis were detected by Dual-Luciferase Reporter Assay and annexin V-PI dual staining.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The vincristine-resistant SGC7901/VCR cells with increased expression of the multidrug-resistance 1 (<it>MDR1</it>) gene were resistant to P-gp-related drug and P-gp-unrelated drugs. Constitutive increases of phosphorylated p38-MAPK and AP-1 activities were also found in the drug-resistant cells. Inhibition of p38-MAPK by SB202190 reduced activator protein-1 (AP-1) activity and <it>MDR1 </it>expression levels and increased the sensitivity of SGC7901/VCR cells to chemotherapy.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Activation of the p38-MAPK pathway might be responsible for the modulation of P-glycoprotein-mediated and P-glycoprotein-unmediated multidrug resistance in the SGC7901/VCR cell line.</p

A Role Theory Perspective on How and When Goal-Focused Leadership Influences Employee Voice Behavior

Despite an increasing number of studies that identify leaders’ role in promoting employees’ voice behavior, little is known about the role that supervisors’ goal-focused leadership plays in this. The current study aims to address this research gap by using the role theory to explain how supervisors’ goal-focused leadership influences employees’ voice behavior and the conditions under which supervisors’ have maximum impact on employee voice. A field study of 197 employees and their immediate supervisors offered support for our model. The results indicated a positive association between goal-focused leadership and employees’ voice behavior that was mediated by leaders’ omission of reward and punishments. We also found that perceived helping and support from coworkers positively moderated the relationship between leaders’ reward and punishment omission and employees’ voice behavior such that the relationship was weaker when coworker helping and support was higher. The findings provide more comprehensive picture of the process by which goal-focused leadership influences employee voice and highlight how coworkers can buffer the negative effect of ineffective managerial reward and punishment omission. The practical implications of this research, its limitations and directions for future research are also discussed

Association of Plant-Based Diet Indices and Abdominal Obesity with Mental Disorders among Older Chinese Adults

We aimed to explore the correlation between plant-based diet indices and abdominal obesity with depression and anxiety among older Chinese adults. This study used a cross-sectional design using data from the 2018 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS). We used a simplified food frequency questionnaire to evaluate the overall plant-based diet index (PDI), the healthful plant-based diet index (hPDI), and the unhealthful plant-based diet index (uPDI) separately, based on the potential health effects of the foods. Waist circumference (WC) was used to define abdominal obesity. The 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10) and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) were applied to estimate depression symptoms and anxiety symptoms, respectively. Multi-adjusted binary logistic regression models were conducted to explore the effects of the three plant-based diet indices, abdominal obesity status, and their interaction on depression and anxiety. We enrolled a total of 11,623 participants aged 83.21 ± 10.98 years, of which 3140 (27.0%) participants had depression and 1361 (11.7%) had anxiety. The trend in the prevalence of depression/anxiety across increasing quartiles of the plant-based diet indices was statistically significant after controlling for potential confounders (p-trend < 0.05). Abdominal obesity was related to a lower prevalence of depression (OR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.77−0.95) and anxiety (OR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.69−0.90) compared with non-abdominal obesity. The protective effects of the PDI and hPDI against depression (OR = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.41−0.64; OR = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.48−0.73, respectively) and anxiety (OR = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.57−1.00; OR = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.39−0.70, respectively) were more pronounced in non-abdominally obese participants. The harmful effects of the uPDI against depression (OR = 1.78, 95% CI: 1.42−2.23) and anxiety (OR = 1.56, 95% CI: 1.16−2.10) were more pronounced in non-abdominally obese participants. In addition, a significant interaction between the plant-based diet indices and abdominal obesity was observed in terms of causing the prevalence of depression and anxiety. Consuming more of a healthful plant-based diet and less of an animal-based diet is related to a lower prevalence of depression and anxiety. A healthful plant-based diet plays a vital role in non-abdominally obese individuals

Assessing CO2 Emissions from Passenger Transport with the Mixed-Use Development Model in Shenzhen International Low-Carbon City

Assessing transport CO2 emissions is important in the development of low-carbon strategies, but studies based on mixed land use are rare. This study assessed CO2 emissions from passenger transport in traffic analysis zones (TAZs) at the community level, based on a combination of the mixed-use development model and the vehicle emission calculation model. Based on mixed land use and transport accessibility, the mixed-use development model was adopted to estimate travel demand, including travel modes and distances. As a leading low-carbon city project of international cooperation in China, Shenzhen International Low-Carbon City Core Area was chosen as a case study. The results clearly illustrate travel demand and CO2 emissions of different travel modes between communities and show that car trips account for the vast majority of emissions in all types of travel modes in each community. Spatial emission differences are prominently associated with inadequately mixed land use layouts and unbalanced transport accessibility. The findings demonstrate the significance of the mixed land use and associated job-housing balance in reducing passenger CO2 emissions from passenger transport, especially in per capita emissions. Policy implications are given based on the results to facilitate sophisticated transport emission control at a finer spatial scale. This new framework can be used for assessing the impacts of urban planning on transport emissions to promote sustainable urbanization in developing countries

Assessing CO₂ Emissions from Passenger Transport with the Mixed-Use Development Model in Shenzhen International Low-Carbon City

Assessing transport CO2 emissions is important in the development of low-carbon strategies, but studies based on mixed land use are rare. This study assessed CO2 emissions from passenger transport in traffic analysis zones (TAZs) at the community level, based on a combination of the mixed-use development model and the vehicle emission calculation model. Based on mixed land use and transport accessibility, the mixed-use development model was adopted to estimate travel demand, including travel modes and distances. As a leading low-carbon city project of international cooperation in China, Shenzhen International Low-Carbon City Core Area was chosen as a case study. The results clearly illustrate travel demand and CO2 emissions of different travel modes between communities and show that car trips account for the vast majority of emissions in all types of travel modes in each community. Spatial emission differences are prominently associated with inadequately mixed land use layouts and unbalanced transport accessibility. The findings demonstrate the significance of the mixed land use and associated job-housing balance in reducing passenger CO2 emissions from passenger transport, especially in per capita emissions. Policy implications are given based on the results to facilitate sophisticated transport emission control at a finer spatial scale. This new framework can be used for assessing the impacts of urban planning on transport emissions to promote sustainable urbanization in developing countries