An Intelligent Auxiliary Vacuum Brake System

The purpose of this paper focuses on designing an intelligent, compact, reliable, and robust auxiliary vacuum brake system (VBS) with Kalman filter and self-diagnosis scheme. All of the circuit elements in the designed system are integrated into one programmable system-on-chip (PSoC) with entire computational algorithms implemented by software. In this system, three main goals are achieved: (a) Kalman filter and hysteresis controller algorithms are employed within PSoC chip by software to surpass the noises and disturbances from hostile surrounding in a vehicle. (b) Self-diagnosis scheme is employed to identify any breakdown element of the auxiliary vacuum brake system. (c) Power MOSFET is utilized to implement PWM pump control and compared with relay control. More accurate vacuum pressure control has been accomplished as well as power energy saving. In the end, a prototype has been built and tested to confirm all of the performances claimed above

THE EFFECT OF PRICE PRESENTATION, SALES RESTRICTIONS, AND SOCIAL NETWORKS ON CONSUMER EWOM ACTIVITIES: TWO-PHASE VALIDATION

Word-of-mouth (WOM) is recognized as an effective communication channel among consumers. The Internet provides consumers with richer sales information and more online associates than do brick-and-mortar stores but makes complex the assessment of the shaping of electronic WOM (eWOM) intention and return on eWOM. Thus, we will conduct two experiments to examine the shaping of eWOM intention and return on eWOM. The first experiment explore the eWOM broadcasting from the perspective of eWOM senders in a laboratory setting, and the second experiment will validate the eWOM model from the perspective of both message senders and receivers. The first experiment will allow us to control for variables that are difficult to control in the field and examine the mechanisms behind eWOM intention. The preliminary validation of the research model will increase its explanatory power in the field and allow us examine the value of eWOM associated with eWOM intention

MOTIVATION FOR USING THE SOCIAL COMMERCE WEBSITE IN THE SHARING ECONOMY: A TWO-FACTOR THEORY PERSPECTIVE

The influence and power of the sharing economy are beginning to change our lifestyles and consumption patterns. Among the sharing firms operating in the sharing economy, Airbnb is not only a well-known example of a successful O2O (online to offline) giant but also positions itself as a social commerce website. This study intends to remove the mask of Airbnb from the perspectives of website decomposing because it is important to understand how social commerce is incorporated into the websites of e-commerce retailers to support their online business models. Drawing on the two-factor theory, we focus on the following two research questions: (1) Which website features are hygiene factors and which are motivation factors? (2) How are the hygiene and motivation factors that affect a consumer’s motivation for using the Airbnb website distributed across the stages of the consumer decision-making process? To answer these questions, this study will be conducted by a survey methodology to collect the data

Reduce Uncertainty of Online Potential Mates: Employing Signalling Theory

The online dating environment is full of uncertainties, and thus online daters use various searchable and experiential cues to determine whether online potential partners are in line with their expectations. Uncertainties caused by information asymmetry between dating parties are likely to influence their predicted outcome value judgment. To reduce the uncertainty of online mating, we propose a research model based on signalling theory to examine how two evaluative approach (the trait-evaluation and live-interaction approach) influence the level of online mate uncertainty and the predicted outcome value judgment of online daters. In addition, we also examine the moderating effect of perceived physical attractiveness on the relationship between online mates’ levels of uncertainty and the perceived outcome value judgment. The contributions of two evaluative approach on online dating are also discussed in this study

Improving gelation efficiency and cytocompatibility of visible light polymerized thiol-norbornene hydrogels via addition of soluble tyrosine

Hydrogels immobilized with biomimetic peptides have been used widely for tissue engineering and drug delivery applications. Photopolymerization has been among the most commonly used techniques to fabricate peptide-immobilized hydrogels as it offers rapid and robust peptide immobilization within a crosslinked hydrogel network. Both chain-growth and step-growth photopolymerizations can be used to immobilize peptides within covalently crosslinked hydrogels. A previously developed visible light mediated step-growth thiol-norbornene gelation scheme has demonstrated efficient crosslinking of hydrogels composed of an inert poly(ethylene glycol)-norbornene (PEGNB) macromer and a small molecular weight bis-thiol linker, such as dithiothreitol (DTT). Compared with conventional visible light mediated chain-polymerizations where multiple initiator components are required, step-growth photopolymerized thiol-norbornene hydrogels are more cytocompatible for the in situ encapsulation of radical sensitive cells (e.g., pancreatic β-cells). This contribution explored visible light based crosslinking of various bis-cysteine containing peptides with macromer 8-arm PEGNB to form biomimetic hydrogels suitable for in situ cell encapsulation. It was found that the addition of soluble tyrosine during polymerization not only significantly accelerated gelation, but also improved the crosslinking efficiency of PEG-peptide hydrogels as evidenced by a decreased gel point and enhanced gel modulus. In addition, soluble tyrosine drastically enhanced the cytocompatibility of the resulting PEG-peptide hydrogels, as demonstrated by in situ encapsulation and culture of pancreatic MIN6 β-cells. This visible light based thiol-norbornene crosslinking mechanism provides an attractive gelation method for preparing cytocompatible PEG-peptide hydrogels for tissue engineering applications

MOTIVATING KNOWLEDGE SHARING BEHAVIOR FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE CONVERTIBILITY OF ECONOMIC BENEFITS

Past research has extensively studied individuals knowledge-sharing behavior. Identifying the effective mechanisms that motivate individuals to share their valuable knowledge has become an important issue and a major challenge for researchers and practitioners. Past studies fail to consider the readiness of conversion of motivational mechanism to economic benefits of knowledge sharing on knowledge sharing behavior. This study develops a theoretical model of the convertibility of economic benefits that integrates the calculative-based mechanism (CBM) modified from organizational reward systems and the relational-based mechanism (RBM) founded on social interaction to explain knowledge sharing behavior. The research will be conducted by a field study in collaboration with a district hospital to secure the survey data. The objective of this study is to help answer the following research questions. 1. How does the CBM, which incorporates the construct of organizational reward systems, facilitate knowledge sharing behavior 2. How does the RBM, which incorporates the construct of deposits, withdrawals, and relationship account balance, facilitate knowledge sharing behavior 3. Against the benchmark of the CBM, does the addition of the RBM give a better explanation of individual knowledge sharing behavior Keywords: Knowledge sharing behavior, Calculative-based mechanism, Relational-based mechanism, Convertibility of economic benefits