bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Fracture performance of macro synthetic steel fiber concrete exposed to a sulfate environment
Authors: You Shuang , Ji Hongguang , Liu Juanhong , Song Chenglin , Tang Wendi 
Published: May 2016

Purpose
Macro synthetic steel fibers were incorporated into the concrete material as a toughening agent to improve the corrosion and cracking resistances of concrete in a sulfate-containing service environment.

Design/methodology/approach
To study the basic mechanical properties of this system, an accelerated concrete degradation test was designed to evaluate the influence of the sulfate ions on the concrete. A three-point bending test was carried out in the laboratory to evaluate the fracture toughness. The thickness of the damaged concrete layer and changes of microstructure of the degraded concrete were monitored by using ultrasound, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction detection methods.

Findings
The results showed that compared to the performance of ordinary concrete, in an exposure environment containing sulfate ions, the structure compactness of macro synthetic steel fiber concrete was improved, degradation resistance to the sulfate solution was enhanced and the fracture resistance performance was improved significantly.

Originality/value
The thickness of the degradation layer on the macro synthetic steel fiber concrete was less than a half of that of ordinary concrete in the sulfate environment, and was generally unchanged with increase in the sulfate concentration. Through micro-structural analysis, it was confirmed that macro synthetic steel fiber improved the compactness of the concrete structure, inhibiting access of sulfate ions to the interior of the concrete and thereby reducing the degree of sulfate degradation to the concrete.
Integrating Chinese cultural philosophies on the effects of employee friendliness, helpfulness and respectfulness on customer satisfaction
Authors: Liu Matthew Tingchi , Yan Li , Phau Ian , Perez Andrea , Teah Min 
Published: May 2016

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the main and interactive effects of three employee attributes, namely, employee friendliness, helpfulness and respectfulness, on customer satisfaction in Mainland China.Design/methodology/approachA 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design enabled an eight-scenario study depicting a service experience manipulated by employee friendliness (high/low), helpfulness (high/low) and respectfulness (high/low).FindingsIt is found that the effect of respectfulness has the strongest impact on customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction generated by helpfulness is higher when respectfulness is high rather than low, while the interaction between helpfulness and friendliness is not found, even though helpfulness exerts a stronger effect than friendliness on customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is also maximized when all three positive interpersonal attributes all jointly presented. Interestingly, the absence of respectfulness tends to trigger a negative effect, while the display of friendliness results in a positive effect.Research limitations/implicationsBeyond the joint positive effects on service outcomes, different interaction patterns reveal that the display of friendliness is desirable and beneficial to enhance interpersonal outcome. However, the communication of respect is crucial, and, as such, managers and employees need to strive for a good balance on how to demonstrate these behaviours in critical moments such as service recovery. The findings from relative and interactive effects of three employee attributes are new in the literature and provide significant theoretical and managerial contributions for both researchers and managers.Originality/valueThis study takes the first step in decoding the cultural meaning of employee attributes through integrating Chinese traditional philosophy, Li (i.e. politeness), into a specific service setting by examining its comparative effects with other attributes.
The simple rules of a complex world: William Rand and Roland Rust
Authors: Rand William , Rust Roland T. 
Published: May 2016

Purpose
The purpose of this commentary is to explain that it is not useful to unnecessarily complicate a model. Striving for realism for its own sake does not advance understanding; however, making sure that a model provides valid insights is a useful goal.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors advocate that a standard should exist based on whether experts in a field think that a particular mechanism is necessary for the model to achieve the goals of validity and sufficiency.

Findings
The authors find that critiques that do not offer a more valid alternative model do not necessarily advance the production of science.

Practical implications
Decision makers need to understand the assumptions and limitations of the models that they are using, but they should also be educated on the basic concepts of modeling literacy, and develop an understanding that all models are necessarily incomplete, as to make a model a perfect reflection of the real world would not provide insightful generalizations.

Originality/value
Although the original paper provides some additional cases that should be explored in understanding the diffusion of information, the authors extend this paper by providing a standard that explains when it is necessary to examine additional extensions and when the original (less complex) model is sufficient.
Working smart to win back lost customers the role of coping choices and justice mechanisms
Authors: Liu Annie H. , Chugh Richa , Noel Gould Albert 
Published: May 2016

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how the cognitive appraisals, coping choices and behavioral responses by business-to-business (B2B) sales professionals confronting the acutely stressful experience of losing a customer, and their pursuit of justice in the win-back process, influences reacquisition outcomes. The paper further examines the role of sales experience as a moderator between coping choices and successful win back.Design/methodology/approachIn all, 98 critical incidents were reported by sales professionals from B2B firms across various industries. NVivo 9, content analysis and logistic regression were used to analyze the data.FindingsThe results show that problem-focused coping (PFC) and pro-active responses positively affect win-back outcome. By contrast, emotion-focused coping (EFC) and re-active responses have a negative association with customer reacquisition. The findings also show that sales experience moderates the relationship between levels of EFC and win-back outcomes. Specifically, for sales professionals with low levels of EFC, sales experience helps improve chances of winning back lost customers. But for sales professionals using higher levels of EFC, more sales experience decreases win-back probability. Additionally, the findings show that procedural, interactional and distributive justice all contribute to successful customer reacquisition.Research limitations/implicationsThe few published studies of how B2B sales professionals deal with customer defections reveal a mixture of bereavement and drivenness in striving for new accounts. The authors’ focus and findings on the use of PFC and EFC strategies, justice mechanisms and the uneven role of experience in responding to this stressful context suggests that there is much to be gained from additional research. Specifically, probes into how sales professionals may be inadvertently skewed to EFC behaviors by either overly simplistic training systems, learning- versus performance-based incentives or their experience with prior customer defections.Practical implicationsThe findings highlight the importance of PFC strategies and the delivery of procedural, interactional and distributive justice strategies to productively adapt to customer defections, activate switch back behavior and win back lost customers. Sales force training systems need to address the increased churning in B2B markets and integrate win-back procedures in sales training programs so that sales professionals do not default to EFC and/or strive for new accounts when facing the stress of customer defection.Originality/valueThe findings contribute to customer defection management and sales literature by integrating coping and justice theories in exploring sales professionals’ cognitive appraisals and coping responses to the acute stress of losing a current customer.
Six Sigma in construction: a review of critical success factors
Authors: Siddiqui Siddra Qayyum , Ullah Fahim , Thaheem Muhammad Jamaluddin , Gabriel Hamza Farooq 
Published: May 2016

Purpose
This paper aims at collecting and reviewing the published literature on the Six Sigma in construction along with its critical success factors (CSFs).

Design/methodology/approach
The research is based on literature review. Based on the keyword and semantic search techniques, papers published on the topic of Six Sigma during 2000-2015 are retrieved. Frequency analysis is performed to find out significance of identified CSFs, and zoning is performed based on the product of frequency of appearance and parties affected by the CSFs.

Findings
A total of 69 CSFs are identified as published in the literature. Based on an inclusion criterion of minimum 15 appearances, 22 CSFs are shortlisted for further analysis. Of these CSFs, around 32 per cent fall into red zone (most critical), 50 per cent into yellow and 18 per cent into green zone (least critical).

Research limitations/implications
This work is limited by partial identification of CSFs. Though based on an extensive search, the retrieved CSFs may not be all the published ones. However, more thorough search techniques can be applied to improve upon this work.

Practical implications
The findings can be used to facilitate the decision-making in the context of project success.

Originality/value
This work is an original attempt at gathering Six Sigma CSFs applicable to construction projects. It may be used for further research and development to help ensure project quality and success.
From e-Gov Web SPL to e-Gov Mobile SPL
Authors: Carromeu Camilo , Barroso Paiva Debora , Cagnin Maria Istela 
Published: May 2016

Purpose
This paper aims to discuss the motivation and present the evolution from a Software Product Line (SPL) in the e-Gov Web (e-Gov Web SPL) domain to a SPL in the mobile domain (e-Gov Mobile SPL).

Design/methodology/approach
The evolution was supported by the Product Line UML-Based Software Engineering approach and the feature model.

Findings
The authors were able to observe that it is feasible to evolve from a SPL for the Web platform to a SPL for the mobile platform, with the intent to port existing Web applications to mobile platforms such that users can have access to the main information and are able to interact with the most important functionalities of Web applications in a mobile device.

Research limitations/implications
As for the main limitations, the authors can point out the small number of instantiations performed until the moment with the support of the e-Gov Mobile SPL, what prevented the conduction of an empirical study.

Practical implications
Using e-Gov Mobile SPL, it is possible to reduce development time and cost.

Originality/value
The existing SPLs do not worry about supporting the development of mobile applications corresponding to existing Web applications, as it is desirable to have access to the information and main features of these applications in mobile devices. We obtained some e-Gov Mobile SPL instantiations corresponding to e-Gov Web SPL instantiations to attend the demands of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation Unit situated at Campo Grande, MS, Brazil.
An appropriate risk addendum for risky projects
Authors: Bhaumik Pradip K. 
Published: May 2016

Purpose
– Despite many troublesome aspects in its use, the risk-adjusted discount rate has survived and continues to be extensively used by practitioners. While the appropriate discount rate for projects as risky as the current business operations of the firm can be estimated relatively easily as the firm’s cost of capital, no clear guideline is available for projects with a higher risk profile. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate an appropriate risk addendum for such risky projects.

Design/methodology/approach
– Extending the framework developed by Davies et al. (2012), the perceived risk in a project is captured by focussing on a downside case scenario and estimating its probability and severity. An expression is then developed for the risk addendum (as an addendum to the firm’s cost of capital) that can be used to find the value of a risky project.

Findings
– The risk addendum is found to depend only on the product of the probability (p) and the severity (d) of the downside case scenario and not on either of them individually It was also found that the risk addendum rises fast for projects with shorter lives and so is the highest for risky projects with short lives.

Practical implications
– Managers can use the expression derived to evaluate an appropriate risk addendum for risky projects.

Originality/value
– The paper suggests a simple framework to quantify the risk involved in a project and to evaluate an appropriate risk addendum.
Motion Grammars for Character Animation
Authors: Hyun Kyunglyul , Lee Kyungho , Lee Jehee 
Published: May 2016

AbstractThe behavioral structure of human movements is imposed by multiple sources, such as rules, regulations, choreography, habits, and emotion. Our goal is to identify the behavioral structure in a specific application domain and create a novel sequence of movements that abide by structure‐building rules. To do so, we exploit the ideas from formal language, such as rewriting rules and grammar parsing, and adapted those ideas to synthesize the three‐dimensional animation of multiple characters. The structured motion synthesis using motion grammars is formulated in two layers. The upper layer is a symbolic description that relates the semantics of each individual's movements and the interaction among them. The lower layer provides spatial and temporal contexts to the animation. Our multi‐level MCMC (Markov Chain Monte Carlo) algorithm deals with the syntax, semantics, and spatiotemporal context of human motion to produce highly‐structured, animated scenes. The power and effectiveness of motion grammars are demonstrated in animating basketball games from drawings on a tactic board. Our system allows the user to position players and draw out tactical plans, which are animated automatically in virtual environments with three‐dimensional, full‐body characters.
Geometry and Attribute Compression for Voxel Scenes
Authors: Dado Bas , Kol Timothy R. , Bauszat Pablo , Thiery Jean‐Marc , Eisemann Elmar 
Published: May 2016

AbstractVoxel‐based approaches are today's standard to encode volume data. Recently, directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) were successfully used for compressing sparse voxel scenes as well, but they are restricted to a single bit of (geometry) information per voxel. We present a method to compress arbitrary data, such as colors, normals, or reflectance information. By decoupling geometry and voxel data via a novel mapping scheme, we are able to apply the DAG principle to encode the topology, while using a palette‐based compression for the voxel attributes, leading to a drastic memory reduction. Our method outperforms existing state‐of‐the‐art techniques and is well‐suited for GPU architectures. We achieve real‐time performance on commodity hardware for colored scenes with up to 17 hierarchical levels (a 128K3voxel resolution), which are stored fully in core.
Clinical effectiveness of transdiagnostic health management interventions for older people with multimorbidity: a quantitative systematic review
Authors: Crowe Marie , Jordan Jennifer , Burrell Beverley , Jones Virginia , Gillon Deborah , Harris Shirley , Wilkinson Amanda 
Published: May 2016

AbstractAimThe aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical effectiveness (improvement in health status and/or functioning and use of health services) of transdiagnostic health management interventions for people aged 65 years and older.BackgroundThe care of older people with multimorbidity is of increasing concern for nurses. A transdiagnostic approach to health management interventions (promote self‐management or lifestyle) may be apposite for providing older people with the skills to manage symptoms that may or may not be disease‐specific.DesignQuantitative systematic review.Review methodsCochrane methods using Cochrane's Effective Practice and Organization of Care Methods (EPOC) for assessing risk of bias and the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) for assessing the weight of evidence.Data sourcesMedline, CINAHL, PubMed and PsycINFO 1999–2014.ResultsTwelve studies were included in the review (n = 10,393). All 12 studies provided results for health outcomes (health status and functioning) and six provided results for health outcomes and health service utilization. Ten studies reported statistically significant improvements in health outcomes but of these studies only two were of low risk of bias. Three studies identified some statistically significant reductions in health service utilization. The weight of evidence for the health management interventions included in the review, were low/moderate for improvements in health status and low for improvements in health service utilization.ConclusionWhile there is some very preliminary evidence suggesting that structured transdiagnostic health management interventions may be clinically effective for older people with multimorbidity the effect sizes are small and the quality of this evidence is generally low.
Occupational commitment and job satisfaction mediate effort–reward imbalance and the intention to continue nursing
Authors: Satoh Miho , Watanabe Ikue , Asakura Kyoko 
Published: May 2016

AimOccupational commitment and job satisfaction are major predictors of the intention to continue nursing. This study's purpose was to verify the mediating effects of job satisfaction and three components of occupational commitment on the relationship between effort–reward imbalance and the intention to continue nursing.MethodsA self‐report questionnaire was distributed to 3977 nurses by the nursing department of 12 hospitals in the Tohoku and Kanto districts of Japan in 2013. Of these, 1531 (response rate: 38.5%) nurses returned the questionnaire by mail and the complete data that were provided by 1241 nurses (valid response rate: 31.2%) were analyzed.ResultsStructural equation modeling showed that the effort–reward ratio had negative effects on job satisfaction and affective and normative occupational commitment. Job satisfaction and affective and normative occupational commitment had positive effects on the intention to continue nursing, whereas the effort–reward ratio had no direct effect on the intention to continue nursing. Continuance occupational commitment was not a mediator, but it positively influenced the intention to continue nursing.ConclusionThe findings suggest that it is important to increase job satisfaction and affective and normative occupational commitment in order to enhance their buffering effects on the relationship between job stress and the intention to continue nursing. Measures to increase continuance occupational commitment also would be an effective method of strengthening the intention to continue nursing. Improvements in these areas should contribute to an increase in nurses’ intention to continue nursing and prevent the loss of this precious human resource from the health sector.
Rapid acquisition of high‐volume microscopic images using predicted focal plane
Authors: YU LINGJIE , WANG RONGWU , ZHOU JINFENG , XU BUGAO 
Published: May 2016

SummaryFor an automated microscopic imaging system, the image acquisition speed is one of the most critical performance features because many applications require to analyse high‐volume images. This paper illustrates a novel approach for rapid acquisition of high‐volume microscopic images used to count blood cells automatically. This approach firstly forms a panoramic image of the sample slide by stitching sequential images captured at a low magnification, selects a few basic points (x, y) indicating the target areas from the panoramic image, and then refocuses the slide at each of the basic points at the regular magnification to record the depth position (z). The focusing coordinates (x, y, z) at these basic points are used to calculate a predicted focal plane that defines the relationship between the focus position (z) and the stage position (x, y). Via the predicted focal plane, the system can directly focus the objective lens at any local view, and can tremendously save image‐acquisition time by avoiding the autofocusing function. The experiments showed how to determine the optimal number of the basic points at a given imaging condition, and proved that there is no significant difference between the images captured using the autofocusing function or the predicted focal plane.
Physiological and microbiological verification of the benefit of hair washing in patients with skin conditions of the scalp
Authors: Kobayashi Miwa , Ito Kei , Sugita Takashi , Murakami Yumi , Yamashita Ryoko , Matsunaka Hiroshi , Nakamura Motonobu 
Published: May 2016

SummaryBackgroundIt is unclear whether hair washing is effective against scalp eruption and pruritus caused by seborrheic dermatitis or psoriasis vulgaris.AimsTo assess whether a proper hair‐washing regimen, including the use of antibacterial shampoo, can ameliorate scalp eruption symptoms and alter the composition of the scalp microflora.MethodsEighteen patients with seborrheic dermatitis or psoriasis vulgaris scalp eruptions were instructed in proper techniques of daily hair washing, rinsing, and shampooing, which they underwent for 12 weeks. They used control shampoo in weeks 1–4 and 9–12, and an antibacterial shampoo during weeks 5–8. At the start of the test period and at weeks 4, 8, and 12, we assessed scalp symptoms (erythema, scaling/desquamation, dryness, itchiness, and scratching scars); microbial DNA levels from lesion and nonlesion areas; and levels of interleukin (IL)‐1α, IL‐1ra, and total protein in the scalp's horny layer.ResultsCompared to baseline values, scaling/desquamation and itchiness improved significantly at weeks 8 and 12. Other observed skin symptoms also improved over time. Malassezia colonization levels in lesion and nonlesion areas decreased gradually; the decrease was significant at week 8 in lesion areas and at weeks 4 and 8 in nonlesion areas. Bacterial colonization levels also decreased gradually, achieving significance in lesion areas at week 4. Gradual decreases in IL‐1ra/IL‐1α level showed statistical significance at weeks 4 and 12, while the protein quantity significantly decreased at week 12.ConclusionProper hair washing improved scalp condition symptoms, and possibly the underlying etiology.