Work holding assessment of an UV adhesive and fixture design method

Adhesive work holding can be used to minimize clamping distortion and provide greater access to a work piece during machining. This paper proposes shear and tensile strength criteria to evaluate the work holding strength of adhesive grippers and definition of a strength safety coefficient of adhesive grippers. It also demonstrates a case study of work holding design with an UV adhesive for a grinding process based on a strength criteria explained in the paper. A test rig has been designed and manufactured to assess the capability of an adhesive work holding material. Tests include measurement of strength and repeatability of adhesion under different film thicknesses, curing times and pre-cleaning methods. The test shows the strength repeatability is less than ± 20%, which is good enough for many work holding applications. A shear-tensile combined strength can be evaluated by the strength sphere in a fixture design of a specific part geometry for production by the combined safety coefficient. Following the test rig assessment, a fixture has been designed with 3 grippers to demonstrate the adhesive for a grinding process with a simple part geometry. The method has a high potential for application in industry, and is not limited to the given part geometry and machining method. The grinding test shows that the adhesive work holding is strong enough for the application and that similar results can be expected for milling and turning with a good gripper arrangement

Branding in the digital age : a '2020' vision for brand management

The proliferation of digital media, together with increasingly mobile internet connectivity, has arguably been the most significant influence on brands and brand management in the first two decades of this millennium. An important development in academic research on branding and marketing in this time has been the widening spectrum of research methods, as well as topics – ranging from qualitative and experiential to highly technical and (big)data-based approaches. In many ways, this development reflects that modern-day branding is a multidisciplinary scientific artform. Successful branding needs more than marketers; it needs ethnographers, designers, and data-scientists alike to overcome challenges and firmly grasp the opportunities that the digital age brings. What guidance can we provide to them for successful branding in the digital age? Combining the findings from the five papers included in this Internet Research special section and insights from leading practitioners, we present brands with a clearer ('20/20') vision for successful branding from the year 2020 onwards. We do so in this editorial essay by identifying and elaborating on four crucial foci for branding that are intrinsically associated with a brand’s identity: transparency, responsibility, connectivity, and creativity

Caretaker Government and the Evolution of Caretaker Conventions in New Zealand

Since the financial crisis immediately following the 1984 general election, various efforts have been made to clarify the role and responsibilities of caretaker governments in New Zealand. The need to do so was given added urgency as a result of the referendum in 1993 in favour of proportional representation. This article examines the recent evolution of New Zealand's caretaker conventions and assesses their application following the first MMP election in late 1996. The article begins with a brief description of caretaker conventions in other parliamentary democracies. It then considers the operation of the caretaker conventions in New Zealand under the previous first-past-the-post electoral system, and discusses the measures taken in the early-to-mid 1990s to clarify these conventions in preparation for MMP. Having evaluated the conduct of government during the lengthy interregnum in late 1996, the article concludes with an analysis of some of the continuing policy issues generated by caretaker governments and outlines possible ways of reducing the frequency and duration of caretaker periods

Why do travelers trust TripAdvisor? Antecedents of trust towards consumer-generated media and its influence on recommendation adoption and word of mouth

The proliferation of fake and paid online reviews means that building and maintaining consumer trust is a challenging task for websites hosting consumer-generated content. This study tests a model of antecedents and consequences of trust for consumer-generated media (CGM). Five factors are proposed for building consumer trust towards CGM: source credibility, information quality, website quality, customer satisfaction, user experience with CGM. Trust is expected to predict recommendation adoption and word of mouth. Data from 366 users of CGM were analyzed through structural equation modeling and the findings show that all the aforementioned factors with the exception of source credibility and user experience influence consumer trust towards CGM. Trust towards a CGM website influences travel consumers' intentions to follow other users' recommendations and fosters positive word of mouth. Findings also show that information quality predicts source credibility, customer satisfaction, and website quality

Machining distortion in asymmetrical residual stress profiles

This paper presents the results from a set of experimental and computational studies of the effect of asymmetrical residual stress on machining distortion of Al-7050 alloy. Aluminum coupons were physically bolted together for heat treatment to generate the asymmetrical residual stress profiles; which were measured using neutron diffraction method in the bulk of the samples after the heat treatment stage, and after the first machining stage to investigate the residual stress redistribution. A machining distortion model was successfully implemented to investigate comprehensibly the impact of the layer material removal in terms of depths of cut on the redistribution of the residual stress profile into the part, and how this redistribution influences the distortions in the coupon. This investigation allowed determining a robust machining approach capable of predicting the final desired distortion tolerance after clamping, irrespective of the highly asymmetric residual stress condition of the coupon. On machine inspection and CMM measurements were also done to validate the outcomes of the machining distortion model

The influence of contrasting values on consumer receptiveness to ethical information and ethical choices

Ethical consumption is more likely when consumers are receptive to ethical product information and consider such information when making purchasing decisions. Building on communication theory, we develop and test a framework illustrating how different consumer values induce contrasting effects on consumers' willingness to choose ethical products through affecting consumer receptiveness to ethical product information. We present an online survey with 590 US consumers, which was analyzed with covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM). Results show that altruistic and biospheric consumer values increase consumers' willingness to choose ethical products via trust in ethical advertising and ethical purchase decision involvement. In contrast, egoistic consumer values reduce ethical purchase decision involvement, and ultimately consumers' willingness to choose ethical products. Thus, we illustrate the mechanisms through which contrasting values take effect. Results are discussed in light of theoretical and managerial implications and reemphasize the need for better adaptation of ethical marketing to individual consumer characteristics

Service robots in long-term care: a consumer-centric view

Service robots with advanced intelligence capabilities can potentially transform servicescapes. However, limited attention has been given to how consumers experiencing vulnerabilities, particularly those with disabilities, envisage the characteristics of robots’ prospective integration into emotionally-intense servicescapes, such as long-term care (LTC). We take an interdisciplinary approach conducting three exploratory studies with consumers with disabilities involving Community Philosophy, LEGO® Serious Play® and Design Thinking methods. Addressing a lack of consumer-centric research, we offer a three-fold contribution by: 1) developing a conceptualization of consumer-conceived value of robots in LTC, which are envisaged as a supporting resource offering consumers opportunities to realize value; 2) empirically evidencing pathogenic vulnerabilities as a potential value-destruction factor to underscore the importance of integrating service robots research with a service inclusion paradigm; and 3) providing a theoretical extension and clarification of prior characterizations of robots’ empathetic and emotion-related AI capabilities. Consumers with disabilities conceive robots able to stimulate and regulate emotions by mimicking cognitive and behavioral empathy, but unable to express affective and moral empathy, which is central to care experience. While providing support for care practices, for the foreseeable future service robots will not, in themselves, actualize the experience of ‘being cared for.

Tool wear inspection of polycrystalline cubic boron nitride inserts

In industry, highly frequent inspection of tooling used to machine safety critical components is common place. Worn or damaged tools produce undesirable surface finishes leading often to early failure of the part due to fatigue crack growth. In the development stages of polycrystalline boron nitride tools, the tool wear inspection technique is an off-line run-to-failure method. This approach interrupts the cutting process intermittently, to measure the tool wear using optical and scanning microscopy. This method is time consuming and expensive, causing bottlenecks in production. The overall aim in industry is to develop an on-line, automated system capable of informing the operator of the tool’s imminent failure. This paper focuses on treating this process as a preventative maintenance problem by studying whether acoustic emission can be used as an indirect measurement of tool wear at any given time. Acoustic emission measurements taken from the machining process of face turning are investigated here. Basic analysis in the frequency domain using principle component analysis reveals a number of interesting insights into the process. Relationships between the sharpness of the tool and the magnitude of the frequencies suggests promising link between acoustic emission and tool wear