bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effect of meta-structure on mechanical properties of polyvinylidene fluoride composite-based 3D printed intramedullary pins
Authors: Husain Minhaz , Singh Rupinder , Pabla Bahadur Singh
Published: February 2024

Some studies have outlined the use of 3D-printed polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) composite-based solid intramedullary (IM) pins with tunable mechanical (tensile, compressive, flexural, and torsional) properties for orthopedic applications. But hitherto little has been reported on the effect of meta-structure induced in 3D-printed IM pins for canines from the mechanical properties’ viewpoint. This study highlights the design, fabrication, and testing to mimic actual loading conditions in the canine femur bone on novel IM pin with meta-structure employed in different length zones (30%, 40%, and 50% of total gauge length) prepared by fused filament fabrication (FFF) of PVDF composite. The IM pin (of length 150 mm) has square threads (pitch 2 mm) at the distal end (ɸ7 mm, up to 60 mm in length), and V threads (pitch 1.5 mm) at the proximal end (ɸ6 mm, up to 30 mm in length). The IM pin was fabricated at the best setting (of the FFF process) suggested by the multifactor optimization (at nozzle temperature (Nt) 235°C, printing speed (Ps) 60 mm/s, and raster angle (RA) 45°). The result suggests that for the solid IM pins prepared at the optimized settings the observed elongation, peak load (PL), and break load (BL) during tensile and compressive loading were 4.83 mm, 968.40 N, 958.20 N, and 14.19 mm, 412.80 N, 371.52 N respectively. Whereas for 50% meta-structure the observed elongation, PL, and BL during tensile and compressive loading were 14.49 mm, 405.49 N, 90.20 N, and 13.23 mm, 243.20 N, 218.88 N respectively. For both tensile and compression loading (in this case study), better elongation was noticed for the FFF-based IM pin with 50% meta-structure and hence recommended for implantation in the canine femur bone. The results are also supported by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) based surface characteristics of the fracture sites.
Tell Me an Instagram Story: Ephemeral Communication and the 2018 Gubernatorial Elections
Authors: Towner Terri L. , Muñoz Caroline L.
Published: February 2024

Political campaigns are embracing the visual social media platform Instagram. One digital feature, the Story, has taken over feed sharing across social media. A Story is a sequence of images or videos uploaded to a profile that disappear after 24 hours. The Story is a novel feature relatively unexamined in political communications and marketing research. Specifically, it is unclear how Gubernatorial candidates employ the Instagram Story feature in campaigning. To address this gap, we content analyze 730 Instagram Stories drawn from 20 Gubernatorial candidate accounts one week before and after Election Day 2018. Results reveal that over half of the candidates employed the Story feature over the two-week period. The Story content primarily included indoor rallies and speeches rather than outdoor canvassing. Campaigns featured more static images than video in Stories and rarely used interactive features, such as animation, location tags, and emojis. Stories were also geared toward mobilization messages rather than voter support, behind-the-scenes looks, and attack ads. Last, some gender and political party differences were evident, as women and Democratic candidates utilized Instagram more.
Healthcare Quality Received by Insured Patients in Two Indonesian Regional Public Hospitals
Authors: Rachmawaty Rini , Wahyudin Elly , Bukhari Agussalim , Sinrang Andi Wardihan , Satar Gavrila Lenny , Juhran Arfiani
Published: February 2024

Background: Hospitals are required to improve the quality of health services provided to patients. Purpose: Evaluating and comparing the healthcare quality received by insured patients hospitalized in two Indonesian regional public hospitals. Methods: Secondary data analysis used the 2019 and 2020 Indonesian National Health Insurance e-claim databases of Hospital A and Hospital B. Descriptive and crosstabs analyses were used to determine INA-CBGs diagnoses that were categorized as high volume, high risk, and high cost. Results: The admissions that caused financial loss at the Hospital A were 21.1% in 2019 and 19.8% in 2020, while 30.3% in 2019 and 27.5% at the Hospital B. More than 60% of these admissions were placed in the 3rd class of inpatient wards of the two hospitals. Of these admissions, < 5% at the Hospital A and >5% at the Hospital B were readmitted within 30 days, although more than 90% were previously discharged based on physicians’ approval. Conclusions: Inadequate healthcare quality received by insured patients. Hence, an integrated clinical pathways based professional nursing practice model is highly recommended to increase patient outcomes and decrease 30 days hospital readmission rates.
Fluid-structure interaction for aerodynamic performance evaluation of flapping wing with passive pitching motion
Authors: Hussain Syed Baleegh , Shahzad Aamer , Qadri Muhammad Nafees Mumtaz , Shams Taimur Ali , Shah Imran , Salamat Shuaib
Published: February 2024

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of locust-like wing flexibility which is modelled with Mylar and carbon fibre pultruded rods on aerodynamic performance. An in-house 3D Navier Stokes solver coupled with a structure solver has been used to evaluate passive pitching motion and aerodynamic performance. The study has focused on two effects which are variations in the diameter of root and spar distribution. All wings have been analysed for a prescribed flapping motion in a horizontal plane, with a peak-to-peak stroke amplitude of 120°, flapping frequency of 25 Hz, and Reynolds number of 13,500. The flow has been assumed to be laminar, viscous, and incompressible. The diameter of the wing root segment attached to the leading edge has been varied to control the extent of the passive pitching motion. The effect of spar distribution on the aerodynamic performance of the flexible flapping wing has also been investigated. The results revealed that careful selection of wing root parameters and spars distribution can achieve a passive pitch angle with an amplitude of 45° and the highest power economy of 1.26. Moreover, a comparison of the flexible wing with its rigid counterpart suggested that flexible wings modelled with a simple passive pitching mechanism can be an efficient solution for bio-inspired flapping-wing micro aerial vehicles.
Exo skeleton pertinence and control techniques: A state-of-the-art review
Authors: Rangan R Prashanna , Babu S Ramesh
Published: February 2024

Exo-Skeleton is a wearable robotic device which was emerged in later 1960s that has a multitude of applications ranging from weightlifting to wearer’s stability improvement. This paper makes a novel approach in reviewing the various exo-skeleton models that are available at the present. The idea of this paper is to study and compare the models in terms of medical applicability like gait rehabilitation, physiotherapy, human strength augmentation, various control strategies of exo-skeleton, ergonomic study, and need for exo-skeleton system for enhancing the life of humans. Since exo-skeletons are wearable devices, it requires precise controlling of the actuators and repeatability, and accuracy plays a vital role. The paper elucidated with a detailed analysis, reviewed and summarized the core essence of 300 research papers and patents in the field of exo-skeleton with the aforesaid aspects of application and drive system with their control methodologies from 2007 to 2022 and shown a trend with year-wise data from which it is clear that the future of industrial work will become a collaborative activity involving the exo-skeleton system with human labours. Human – robot interaction is vital and must for enabling an integration which can be achieved with the amelioration in the control and actuation techniques for precise control. With the furtherance in the technology the exo-skeletons can be purpose built that can be of rigid or flexible structures with active, passive, or quasi-passive controls based on the user needs. Joint handed operation of Exo-skeleton with the alternative treatment methodologies will yield a plethora of benefits in the near future in comparison with the present conventional treatment modes that could result in reduction of surgeries.
A cooperative interaction strategy for vehicle platoons to obtain merging gaps in connected environments
Authors: Hu Hongyu , Cheng Ming , Li Zhengyi , Wang Zixuan , Jin Sheng , Gao Zhenhai , Shen Chuanliang
Published: February 2024

Vehicle platoons can significantly improve traffic throughput and reduce fuel consumption and emissions. In the formation of platoons, it is crucial to generate safe merging gaps. This process requires appropriate cooperative management and control strategies. This study proposes a cooperative interaction strategy for vehicle platoons, including a communication management system and vehicle control strategies. These strategies can reduce velocity fluctuation in the process of gap generation and improve traffic performance. First, a communication management system within a platoon was developed, according to the standard communication protocol (SAE J2735), ensuring that external vehicles can join the platoon efficiently and orderly. Next, a cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC) system was designed, which adopts feedforward and feedback control. Furthermore, the influence of increasing gaps on the stability of the platoon was considered. A cooperative control strategy for a virtual guiding vehicle (VGV) was introduced to switch the following target and linearly change the distance input of the controller. In this way, the downstream vehicles were guided to smoothly generate a safe merging gap, which can reduce speed fluctuation, and ensure the stability and safety of the platoon. Finally, the entire process of interaction in a vehicle platoon was tested in a simulation environment. The results showed that, compared with the parameter adaptive control strategy, the maximum velocity overshoot of the platoon vehicles was reduced by 56%, recovery stabilization time was reduced by 47%, and vehicle jitter was reduced by 43%. The driving security and platoon stability were both within the control boundaries set for evaluation.
Morphological and mechanical behavior of novel Al7075 (T6) + 3.5% SiC + 0.3% CR + 5.5% MoS2-based green hybrid composite: An experimental analysis and optimization via TOPSIS
Authors: Singh Nikhilesh , Deepika
Published: February 2024

In the current scenario, high-performance, economical, and eco-friendly materials are the main objectives for many researchers in the field of material science. Therefore, this article demonstrates the novel green HMMCs comprise Al7075-T6 as a base alloy matrix with three distinct reinforced particles (such as silicon carbide (SiC), crumb rubber (CR), and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2)) is effectively doped via stir casting technique for the lightweight applications in an automotive and avionics industries. Besides, the different range of process variables such as SiC, CR, and MoS2 along with stirring speed, stirring time, and pouring temperature are elected for the synthesis of green composites via Taguchi L18 mixed-level orthogonal array. The parametric analysis of synthesized green HMMCs in terms of impact strength (in J) and compressive strength (in MPa) is examined with the help of the Taguchi design of experimentation and pooled analysis of variance. Moreover, metallographic inspection is also done via optical microscope and SEM-EDS techniques. The proposed green hybrid sample (S3) capitulates a superior enhancement in its microstructure, impact strength (up to 62.66%), and compressive strength (up to 22.78%) as compared with base alloy composite (S0). Furthermore, Taguchi's experimental outcomes are compared and validated via the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution algorithm for better validation of the impact strength and compressive strength of the Al-based green hybrid metal matrix composite (S3).
Characterisation of track buckling resistance
Authors: Kabo Elena , Ekberg Anders
Published: February 2024

This study sets out with a network-wide analysis of the risk for track buckling that concludes that track buckling relates to a few “weak points” along the track. To identify these, a numerical model to predict track buckling resistance is developed. The influences of key track parameters are evaluated and quantified using the innovative concept of an equivalent temperature. This allows to quantify the large influence of for example, curves and hanging sleepers in terms of an equivalent increase in temperature. Influence of less well-defined track parameters such as nearby fixed points or recent track work is estimated through statistical assessment of track buckling reports. Predicted influence generally agrees with empirical knowledge with some exceptions that are discussed in the report. Developed models and produced results should be valuable in identifying track sections at risk of track buckling and in assessing effectiveness of mitigating actions.
Investigation of frictional rolling contact behavior in a switch panel considering traction load
Authors: Gao Yuan , Wang Shuguo , Xu Jingmang
Published: February 2024

The dynamic effects involved in wheel-rail interactions can be increased by the traction force potentially causing rapid degradation of turnout rails. A precise stress/strain analysis is essential for wheel-rail frictional rolling contact and the related degradation. Therefore, an explicit finite element method is established considering dynamic effects related to the contact. Furthermore, the frictional rolling contact solutions and related degradation with different traction coefficient in turnout are investigated. The results indicate that the effect of asymmetric excitation caused by traction force and geometric irregularities will lead to yaw motion of wheelset. The width of running band on the switch rail is increased as the top surface width of the switch rail increases. In addition, the contact patch on the switch rail will gradually shift forward compared to that on the stock rail, leading to excessive shear stress and increase of microslip. Meanwhile, the adhesion-slip distribution, uneven wear and severe plastic deformation during transition are recognized.
Disturbance rejection design for repetitive control system with state delay based on equivalent input disturbance compensation
Authors: Ji Wenchengyu , Wang Shenquan , Liu Zan , Yang Wen
Published: February 2024

A modified equivalent-input-disturbance compensation method is investigated for repetitive control systems with state time delays, which achieve effective rejection of unknown disturbance and effective tracking control of periodic reference input. By incorporating the sliding mode observer into the equivalent-input-disturbance theory, the equivalent-input-disturbance estimator structure is determined. The structure presented in this work can effectively estimate the unknown disturbance without making use of the inverse model of the system. Moreover, an asymptotic stability condition is devised to ensure that the repetitive control systems are stable, as well as the corresponding controller gains are designed with the aim to guarantee the performance of the system to suppress unknown disturbances. Numerical example simulations demonstrate the effectiveness and advantages of the devise scheme.
Systemic lupus erythematosus following COVID-19 vaccination. A systematic review of case reports and case series
Authors: Cahuapaza-Gutierrez Nelson Luis
Published: February 2024

Objective

Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 reduced morbidity and mortality rates due to COVID-19 worldwide. However, several adverse effects have been documented and of great interest such as Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). The aim of the present study was to perform a systematic review of case reports and case series describing the development of SLE following COVID-19 against vaccination.

Methods

Case report and case series studies were included. Systematic reviews, narratives, letters to the editor, correspondence, etc. were excluded. A selective bibliographic search was performed in the PubMed, Scopus, and EMBASE databases. In addition, the Web of Science platform was consulted. The Joanna Brigs Institute (JBI) tool was used to assess the risk of bias and quality of the studies. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 23.0 was used for the formal analysis of the descriptive data.

Results

12 studies met the eligibility criteria and reported a total of 16 patients. The mean age was 42.4 ± 18.69 years. A slight predominance of post-vaccination SLE was observed in females (females ( n = 9) and males ( n = 7). A higher association was found with Pfizer-BioNTech-162b2 vaccine (75%), followed by Sinopharm (12.5%), Moderna (6.25%). and AstraZeneca (6.25%) vaccines. Most cases were associated with the first dose (56.25%), followed by the second dose (37.5%) and only one case associated with the third dose. The number of days elapsed from vaccine administration to the appearance of the first clinical manifestations was between 1 and 30 days. Mainly there was involvement of the musculoskeletal and cutaneous system. All patients responded well to treatment with good evolution and there was no case of death.

Conclusion

Cases of SLE associated with COVID-19 vaccination against are infrequent. However, clinical monitoring is recommended for persons receiving the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, mainly those receiving the first dose and the Pfizer-BioNTech-162b2 vaccine.
Moral sensitivity and academic ethical awareness of nursing and medical students: A cross-sectional survey
Authors: Ko Yuet Kiu , Cho Cordelia , Sun Sihan , Ngan Olivia MY , Chan Helen YL
Published: February 2024

Background

Moral sensitivity and academic integrity discernment hold paramount importance for healthcare professionals. Owing to distinct undergraduate educational backgrounds, nurses and physicians may exhibit divergent moral perspectives, academic integrity cognisance, and moral sensitivity within clinical environments. A limited number of studies have investigated the disparities and congruencies pertaining to moral sensitivity and academic ethical awareness among nursing and medical students.

Objective

The study compares moral sensitivity and academic ethical awareness of undergraduate nursing and medical students with and without clinical exposure.

Research design

A self-administered cross-sectional survey conducted from January to February 2022 was used to collect data from a medical school in Hong Kong.

Participants and research context

A total of 545 respondents, including 137 nursing students and 408 medical students, completed the questionnaire.

Ethical consideration

Ethics approval of the study was obtained. Written consent was waived to maintain anonymity because completing the questionnaire was considered implied consent.

Findings

Both groups of undergraduates demonstrated a high level of bioethics knowledge. In terms of academic integrity, medical students were found to have a less concerned attitude towards punctuality, attendance, and skipping classes. Regarding moral sensitivity, senior medical students with clinical experience put less emphasis on decision-making involving patient participation, while senior nursing students were more hesitant in withholding treatment for incompetent patients who refused treatment. Both nursing and medical students showed decreased moral sensitivity in the ‘conflicts’ domain with increased clinical exposure.

Conclusion

Study findings contribute to the discussion comparing the ethical attitudes of nursing and medical students. More effort should be made in nursing and medical education to promote practices in line with high academic integrity and to develop the ability to be morally sensitive in professional settings.
Quality Initiative Program to Improve the Percentage of Very Preterm Neonates Receiving Expressed Breast Milk Within 24 Hours of Birth in a Tertiary Care (Level III-B) NICU
Authors: Minj Grace Mary , Narayanaswamy Vindhya , Nagesh Karthik
Published: February 2024

Background

There is often a delay in the initiation of feeding in preterm babies and more dependence on PDHM milk due to the non-availability of the mother’s own milk. This study aimed to increase the percentage of very preterm neonates receiving expressed breast milk (EBM) within 24 hours of birth.

Methods

A quality improvement (QI) initiative study was conducted from May 2022 to August 2022 in a tertiary care (Level III-B) NICU. A QI support team was formed. The reasons for the delay in the initiation of expression of breastmilk were evaluated. We included preterm neonates (<32 weeks gestation) born within the study period. Antenatal and postnatal counseling regarding the expression of breast milk, using leaflets and video, frequent visits, telephonic reminders, and emphasizing Kangaroo Mother Care through various Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles were done.

Results

A total of 17 very preterm babies were studied over a period of 3 months. The percentage of preterm receiving EBM within 24 hours of birth, increased from 20% (observation phase) to 83.3% (initiation phase) and maintained to 90% in the continuation phase. The time of receiving the first EBM reduced from a median of 32.5 hours (1.35 days) in the retrospective phase to 17 hours (0.7 days) during the initiation phase and it was sustained later on. Mothers were able to express as early as within 4.5 hours.

Conclusion

A simple QI intervention showed early expression and sustenance of breast milk in mothers of preterm neonates.
Perspective. The mirage of Europeanising industrial relations. What possibilities for East-West trade union cooperation?
Authors: Adamczyk Sławomir , Surdykowska Barbara
Published: February 2024

This article outlines possibilities for deepening relationships between trade unions from the so-called old EU Member States and those from Central and Eastern Europe. We set out the possibilities for what we describe as enhanced multi-union transnational cooperation. By this we mean multilateral rather than bilateral cooperation that is deep enough to include the joint definition of goals and strategies, and willingness to build a transnational dimension to industrial relations, including, ultimately, conducting collective bargaining on some topics. A critical analysis of the so-called Europeanisation of industrial relations is the background to our discussion. We find the participation of trade unions in this process to be limited to responses to external impulses which results in the degree of enhanced multi-union transnational cooperation in areas of core trade union activity being low. We present the thesis that in-depth cooperation may be possible in relation to new challenges for the world of work, where the transnational dimension is of key importance and where trade unions are less bound by their own national traditions and industrial relations practices.
“A Hunt to Find Anything”: The Complexities of Finding and Sharing Disability-Related Information Among State Agency Staff
Authors: Lanchak Emily R. , Carter Erik W. , McMillan Elise D.
Published: February 2024

State agencies are charged with addressing the service and support needs of residents with and without disabilities. Undertaking this task effectively requires having familiarity with the array of available disability-related resources and programs—both within and beyond one’s own agency. We asked 212 staff from 13 state agencies about their awareness of local disability-related information and resources that could support their stakeholders. We were interested in understanding (a) their familiarity with available community resources impacting multiple areas of people’s lives, (b) their experiences accessing needed information or resources, and (c) the sources of information they find most helpful in their work. State agency staff reported moderate, but mixed, familiarity with resources for supporting an array of valued experiences and key service needs. Years of experience was modestly correlated with degree of familiarity in some areas. In addition, state agency staff considered fellow professionals and internet sources to be useful avenues for addressing disability-related information needs. We offer implications for policy and practice aimed at creating more seamless pathways for information and resource sharing within a state and across the country.
A bio-inspired shape memory alloy-based smart fin system for adaptive thermal management
Authors: Pandey Shree Ram , Bhattacharya Bishakh
Published: February 2024

Thermal management systems utilizing fixed-area extended surfaces for thermal enhancement have been extensively investigated. Unlike these systems, in nature, few creatures display the ability to control heat dissipation in adaptation to changes in environmental conditions by controlling their exposed surface area of the body. Motivated by this, the primary objective of this research is the design, development, numerical and experimental evaluation of an adaptive variable area smart fin system for intelligent thermal management using a high-strain SMA spring actuator. Unlike most thermal management devices and techniques that involve a fixed surface area, a smart fin controlled by Pennate structure-based SMA (PeSMA) actuator is proposed for large actuation and compact arrangement. The capabilities of the smart fin to adaptively enhance heat transfer are experimentally demonstrated and numerically modeled. The proposed fin design can deliver improved thermal performance in terms of reduced operating temperature and pressure drop, which is an indicator of operational cost when the application involves variable and uncertain thermal load conditions. We envisage one of the future applications of this technology in the battery thermal management of Electric Vehicles (EVs) where deployable compact heat transfer system is highly desirable.
Competitive Demand Learning: A Noncooperative Pricing Algorithm with Coordinated Price Experimentation
Authors: Yang Yongge , Lee Yu-Ching , Chen Po-An
Published: February 2024

We consider a periodical equilibrium pricing problem for multiple firms over a planning horizon of [Formula: see text] periods. At each period, firms set their selling prices and receive stochastic demand from consumers. Firms do not know their underlying demand curve, but they wish to determine the selling prices to maximize total revenue under competition. Hence, they have to do some price experiments such that the observed demand data are informative to make price decisions. However, uncoordinated price updating can render the demand information gathered by price experimentation less informative or inaccurate. We design a nonparametric learning algorithm to facilitate coordinated dynamic pricing, in which competitive firms estimate their demand functions based on observations and adjust their pricing strategies in a prescribed manner. We show that the pricing decisions, determined by estimated demand functions, converge to underlying equilibrium as time progresses. We obtain a bound of the revenue difference that has an order of [Formula: see text] and a regret bound that has an order of [Formula: see text] with respect to the number of the competitive firms [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. We also develop a modified algorithm to handle the situation where some firms may have the knowledge of the demand curve.
Exclusion or Subsidization? A Competitive Analysis of Quality Regulation Strategy for Two-Sided Platforms
Authors: Lyu Gaoyan , Tian Lin , Wang Wei
Published: February 2024

With two-sided platforms becoming an increasingly ubiquitous business model, quality is a vital factor for the success of high-technology platforms that face fierce competition. To maintain competency, high-technology platforms commonly use two quality regulation strategies: the exclusion strategy (E strategy), in which the platform denies access to low-quality complementors, and the subsidization strategy (S strategy), in which the platform provides a fixed subsidy to high-quality complementors. This paper investigates the optimal quality regulation strategy for platforms in a duopoly setting. We examine and compare three scenarios: (i) both platforms adopt the exclusion strategy, i.e. mode EE, (ii) both platforms adopt the subsidization strategy, i.e. mode SS, and (ii) one platform adopts the subsidization strategy while the other adopts the exclusion strategy, i.e. mode SE. First, we find that although the developer network size is larger and the platforms charge developers higher access fees under SS, the average quality and the consumer access fees are lower under SS than under EE, leading to lower profits for platforms. Second, under SE, in comparison with the platform that adopts the exclusion strategy, the platform that uses the subsidization strategy achieves lower average quality and larger network sizes on both sides but may set higher or lower access fees on both sides. Moreover, the platform under the subsidization strategy profits more (less) when the operation cost on the developer side is high (low). Third, asymmetric mode SE does not necessarily induce moderate outcomes for market participants compared to modes EE and SS. We also examine the equilibrium mode by considering platforms’ optimal strategies for quality regulation. Our analyses reveal that as the operation cost on the developer side increases, the equilibrium mode evolves from EE to SE/ES and then to SS. These results and insights are robust to several alternative assumptions.
The Ties That Link Us: Uncovering the Socio-Technic Connections of Labor Trafficking Networks
Authors: Bhimani Shawn , de Vries Ieke , Sneesby Aubrey , Farrell Amy , Maass Kayse Lee
Published: February 2024

Recent attention to labor trafficking as an underaddressed part of human trafficking has added urgency to the need to improve corporate supply chain actions and policies. Through a cross-case analysis of data from the agricultural sector in the United States, this paper seeks to understand labor trafficking operations through a socio-technic systems theory lens and contributes to prior literature on labor trafficking in three important ways. First, we utilize a cross-case approach to explore labor trafficking operations through a network lens and derive insights into the interconnectivity and key players in each labor trafficking operation. Second, we outline the socio-technic practices of those labor trafficking networks that maintained ties to corporate supply chains. Hence, the scope of operations management socio-technic theory is widened to also include exploitative and harmful practices. Third, we elucidate the connections between corporate and labor trafficking systems to demonstrate that corporate responsibility does not exist in a vacuum and that the interplay between legal and illicit organizations is of critical importance in combating human trafficking. Altogether, this article provides an interdisciplinary perspective using insights from operations management theory, criminology, and network design. In doing so, the assessment of socio-technic dynamics between actors broadens the operations and supply chain frame of reference beyond corporate socio-technic systems to include the illicit systems they are connected to.
Cloud-Kitchens: Value Creation Through Co-Location
Authors: Rout Arun , Dawande Milind , Janakiraman Ganesh
Published: February 2024

“Cloud Kitchens” are delivery-only facilities that house multiple restaurants. Food-delivery platforms operate such kitchens to exploit two advantages: (a) Location advantage, arising due to a cloud-kitchen’s central location—this enables lower delivery times to customers. (b) Consolidation advantage, which accrues when multiple restaurants choose to co-locate at the cloud kitchen—this enables the platform to use a common pool of delivery drivers, thereby reducing costs. However, a cloud-kitchen’s eventual impacts on both the restaurants and the platform are intricately connected through their respective decisions—namely, the restaurants’ location decisions and the platform’s delivery capacity and delivery time. We examine conditions under which a cloud kitchen simultaneously benefits the primary stakeholders: delivery platform, restaurants, and customers. Our game-theoretic analysis considers two restaurants and a delivery platform. The restaurants simultaneously decide whether to stay at their initial (extreme) locations or relocate to a centrally located cloud kitchen. The platform decides the driver headcount and the delivery times for customers. In line with industry trends, we show that as population density increases beyond a threshold, the restaurants co-locating at the cloud kitchen is first a Pareto-dominant equilibrium and then the unique equilibrium. The platform and customers also prefer this equilibrium, leading to a win-win-win for the stakeholders. A cloud-kitchen’s benefit to the platform further increases as the drivers’ operational environment becomes more constrained, i.e. drivers’ carry-limit and speed decrease, and driver cost increases.
Service Networks With Open Routing and Procedurally Rational Customers
Authors: Frazelle Andrew E. , Huang Tingliang , Wei Yehua
Published: February 2024

Self-interested customers’ form of reasoning and its consequences for system performance affect the planning decisions of service providers. We study procedurally rational customers—customers who make decisions based on a sample containing anecdotes of the system times experienced by other customers. Specifically, we consider procedurally rational customers in two-station service networks with open routing, that is, customers can choose the order in which to visit the stations. Because some actions may be less represented in the population, a given customer may not succeed in obtaining anecdotes about all possible actions. We introduce a novel sampling framework that extends the procedurally rational framework to incorporate the possibility that a customer may not receive any anecdotes for one of the actions; in this case, the customer uses a prior point estimate in lieu of the missing anecdotes. Under this framework, we study the procedurally rational equilibrium in open routing. We show first that as the sample size grows large, customers’ estimates become more accurate, and the procedurally rational equilibrium converges to the fully rational equilibrium (which is also socially optimal). We then uncover two main findings. First, we obtain bounds on the distance between the procedurally rational and fully rational equilibrium, aiding operational planning and showing the rate of convergence to the fully rational outcome as the sample size of anecdotes of each individual customer grows. Second, if customers obtain anecdotes of both actions with high probability, then the equilibrium will approximate the fully rational outcome, despite the sampling error inherent to procedural rationality.
Paying Living Wages in Supply Chains: The Effects of Uncertainties, Coordination, and Competition
Authors: Shen Bin , Cao Yifan , Minner Stefan
Published: February 2024

The living wage (LW) movement is part of the fight against forced labor: It aims to ensure that workers receive an income that can cover their daily subsistence needs. Our study expands the current understanding of LW pay by shifting from the traditional labor-capital view to an operations and supply chain management perspective. We use a game theoretical approach to explore the different responses of two competing supply chains to LW accreditation. We find that a moderate LW standard allows for Pareto optimality where key stakeholders (i.e., manufacturers, retailers, consumers, and workers) have a collective interest in promoting the LW movement. From a multistakeholder lens, the LW movement is only sustainable if the LW standard is neither too aggressive nor too conservative. We further demonstrate the following points. (1) Not all types of uncertainties are harmful to supply chains with LW pay. Yield uncertainty slows down the progress of the LW movement, whereas demand uncertainty encourages the voluntary adoption of LW pay among all stakeholders. (2) Supply chain coordination may slow the adoption of voluntary LW pay, which implies that the classic coordination paradigm is not a panacea in alleviating the plight of underpaid workers. (3) From the perspective of competition intensity, greater monopsony power hinders the progress of the LW movement, and we provide evidence for the positive effects of a competitive environment on incentivizing voluntary LW pay.
Tariff Hedging with a New Supplier? An Analysis of Sourcing Strategies Under Competition
Authors: Wu Lezhen , Wu Xiaole , Yi Shuyue
Published: February 2024

Due to the U.S.-China trade war, multinational firms may develop new contract manufacturers outside China to hedge against high tariffs on Chinese exports to the U.S. market. However, tariffs exhibit high uncertainty in recent years and developing a contract manufacturer incurs costs; hence, it is challenging to decide whether to develop a new contract manufacturer. We study two competing firms’ contract manufacturer development decisions in a sequential game. First, we find that multinational firms prefer to develop new contract manufacturers when tariffs are expected to rise moderately rather than sharply. This is because the value of developing a new contract manufacturer for a multinational firm is the largest when the new contract manufacturer and the existing one compete most intensely, which happens for similar tariff-inclusive costs. This implies, when taking into account competition, an overly high tariff on Chinese exports to the United States does not necessarily serve the purpose of switching suppliers from China to other regions. Furthermore, higher tariff uncertainty can decrease development value and hence the incentive to develop a contract manufacturer. When there is an upward tariff shock that induces the equilibrium where both multinational firms develop a contract manufacturer, both firms must be worse off; only when it induces the asymmetric development equilibrium is it possible for the multinational firm developing a contract manufacturer to be better off, even with tariff increase and development cost. Second, the impact of development cost on multinational firms’ incentives to develop new contract manufacturers is nonmonotone. As the development cost increases, the equilibrium can switch from both not developing new contract manufacturers to one developing a new contract manufacturer. Third, when the future tariff is expected to be high, multinational firms should diversify their development strategies in environments with fierce competition. Furthermore, increasing competition is not necessarily harmful for multinational firms. We also extend the analysis to consider asymmetric development costs and unobservable wholesale prices, and find the major insights are robust.
Service Activity and Patented Innovation in Manufacturing Firms
Authors: Golara Sina , Dooley Kevin J
Published: February 2024

Noting the significant shift in the manufacturing sector towards services in recent decades, this study examines the potential of service operations as a source of customer insight. We study whether regular customer exposure during service operations can drive commercially significant and patentable innovation. Furthermore, we highlight the underexplored heterogeneity in the knowledge-generating potential of service activities. Using the media richness theory, we argue that more contact-intensive, knowledge-intensive, or focused services can provide richer customer information. By analyzing data from 8,087 unique manufacturing firms and 1,546,216 patents over a 30-year timeframe, we find that a higher level of service activity results in a higher level of patented innovation, which is stronger for contact-intensive and knowledge-intensive services. Post hoc analyses reveal that such innovations tend to be more radical in nature and depart from the firm's historical innovation patterns. Our study offers a critical managerial insight that, to maximize their innovation potential, manufacturers should expand into high-contact, knowledge-intensive services and treat their service operations as strategic market intelligence media.
Gaining From Losing a Competition in Product Variety
Authors: Wan Xiang , Li H Alice
Published: February 2024

This article studies the impact of a competing firm's substantial expansion in product variety, achieved through modularity and delayed differentiation, on the sales and inventory of the focal firm in the market. Intuitively, the firm's sales are expected to decrease when a competitor increases its product variety, as existing consumers are drawn to the greater range of competing products, resulting in a substitution effect. However, we also emphasize a simultaneous spillover effect, where the dramatic increase in a competitor's product variety can expand the overall market for all firms (including the focal firm) by attracting new consumers to the market. The net impact thus depends on the tradeoff between the substitution effect and spillover effect, forming an empirical question. To explore this tradeoff and quantify the net impact of a competitor's substantial increase in product variety on the focal firm's sales and inventory, we exploit the launch of Coca-Cola's Freestyle dispenser that offers over 120 beverage products via modularity and delayed differentiation. Our analysis focuses on the treatment effects of the launch of Freestyle on changes in the focal firm's sales quantity, sales dispersion, and inventory levels. Contrary to common intuition, we find that the focal firm's total sales remain unchanged following the launch of Freestyle dispensers, but its sales dispersion increases by 2.2%, which in turn leads to a 1.0% increase in inventory levels at distribution centers. The unchanged total sales and increased sales dispersion imply a redistribution of sales among the focal firm's stock keeping units (SKUs). By analyzing data at the SKU level and the business customer level, we uncover the mechanism behind this sales re-allocation: a 1.9% increase in the sales of the focal firm's long-tail products at the expense of its star product sales. Meanwhile, we identify a 0.9% increase in sales to retailers and entertainment locations, while sales to restaurants decline. These empirical results help disentangle the substitution and spillover effects on the focal firm's sales resulting from its competitor's substantially increased product variety. Managerial implications derived from these findings are discussed.
Model-Free Approximate Bayesian Learning for Large-Scale Conversion Funnel Optimization
Authors: Iyengar Garud , Singal Raghav
Published: February 2024

The flexibility of choosing the ad action as a function of the consumer state is critical for modern-day marketing campaigns. We study the problem of identifying the optimal sequential personalized interventions that maximize the adoption probability for a new product. We model consumer behavior by a conversion funnel that captures the state of each consumer (e.g., interaction history with the firm) and allows the consumer behavior to vary as a function of both her state and firm’s sequential interventions. We show our model captures consumer behavior with very high accuracy (out-of-sample area under the curve of over 0.95) in a real-world email marketing dataset. However, it results in a very large-scale learning problem, where the firm must learn the state-specific effects of various interventions from consumer interactions. We propose a novel attribution-based decision-making algorithm for this problem that we call model-free approximate Bayesian learning. Our algorithm inherits the interpretability and scalability of Thompson sampling for bandits and maintains an approximate belief over the value of each state-specific intervention. The belief is updated as the algorithm interacts with the consumers. Despite being an approximation to the Bayes update, we prove the asymptotic optimality of our algorithm and analyze its convergence rate. We show that our algorithm significantly outperforms traditional approaches on extensive simulations calibrated to a real-world email marketing dataset.
The Risk of Cryptocurrency Payment Adoption and the Role of Social Media: Evidence From Online Travel Agencies
Authors: Gao Chaoyue , Gu Bin , Leung Alvin Chung Man , Liu Xianwei , Ye Qiang
Published: February 2024

The swift advancement of social technologies has created unprecedented opportunities for companies to embrace new business models or bolster their existing ones. However, the adoption of controversial technologies with social characteristics can also expose firms to risks, as these technologies may not be entirely under their operational control. In this study, our objective is to analyze the impact of the adoption of a controversial technology (i.e., cryptocurrency payment) on users’ perception of a firm and firm performance and examine how social media influences this impact. We leverage a unique research context where an online travel agency cooperates with Travala.com for cryptocurrency payment. Using conventional and synthetic difference-in-differences and randomized experiments, we compare the general perceptions of customers towards the online travel agency before and after the cooperation and gain three main findings. First, the adoption of cryptocurrency payment generally leads to a significant decrease in revenue because of the negative associations concerning cryptocurrency. Second, the popularity of cryptocurrency payment on social media mitigates this negative effect. Third, when cryptocurrency prices rise and public opinions on cryptocurrency turn positive, the mitigation effect is more salient. Further analysis reveals that our results are robust after controlling for the seasonality effect and the nature of the collaboration and using different lags for the outcome variable. This study is among the first to empirically examine how cryptocurrency payment adoption affects firm performance, and provide important theoretical and practical implications regarding the adoption of controversial technologies and the externalities of social media.
A Case of Myxoid Pleomorphic Liposarcoma with Rhabdoid Cells: A Diagnostic Pitfall
Authors: Arai Takuma , Kato Ikuma , Kawabata Yusuke , Tsujimoto Shinichi , Ishikawa Yoshihiro , Kato Shingo , Takeyama Masanobu , Yamanaka Shoji , Kohashi Kenichi , Oda Yoshinao , Fujii Satoshi
Published: February 2024

Myxoid pleomorphic liposarcoma (MPLS) is an extremely rare tumor listed in the fifth edition of the WHO classification (2020). Histologically, it mainly comprises a mixture of myxoid and pleomorphic liposarcoma-like components. Genetically, it lacks FUS/EWSR1::DDIT3 fusion and MDM2 amplification. Herein, we describe an example of MPLS with rhabdoid cells in a 10-year-old girl who presented with a growing mass in the right inguinal region. The specimen from the wide excision measured 68 mm × 55 mm × 43 mm, and a circumscribed and lobulated mass was observed in the subcutaneous tissue. Histologically, oval-to-short, spindle-shaped, proliferating tumor cells with moderate nuclear atypia and mesh-like capillaries against a myxoid background were noted. Adipocytes were observed focally, while rhabdoid cells were observed multifocally. Immunohistochemically, the tumor showed inconsistent reactivity for desmin but was negative for MYOD1, myogenin, MDM2, and CDK4. Fluorescence in situ hybridization revealed no DDIT3 rearrangement. Despite adjuvant chemotherapy, the tumor metastasized to the thoracic cavity 24 months after excision. The metastatic lesions contained abundant lipoblasts rather than rhabdoid cells, and we concluded this tumor was a MPLS. The presence of rhabdoid cells could be a diagnostic pitfall, and recognizing such a variation in histology would help improve diagnostic accuracy.