Purpose
The extant literature highlights the notable lack of a consensus among operations and supply chain management scholars regarding the theoretical underpinnings and associated empirical ...evidence for the performance impact of supply chain quality management (SCQM) practices on quality. The purpose of this paper is to redress this imbalance in the literature through empirical examination of the relationship between SCQM practices and quality performance outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
In accordance with the research aim, a quantitative approach was adopted, and a multi-item scale Web-based survey was designed to collect primary data. A total number of 325 questionnaires were collected from a sample of UK-based manufacturing companies. Factor analysis, internal consistency and multivariate regressions were used to validate the multi-item scale and test the hypotheses.
Findings
The findings confirm the proposed hypotheses and reveal statistically significant results for the performance impact of SCQM practices on quality at an aggregate level. However, the results of the individual level analysis of SCQM practices appear to vary from practice to practice. Of various SCQM practices, customer focus with the highest beta value (i.e. ß = 0.303; t-value = 6.120; p = 0.000) was found to have the greatest impact on quality performance.
Practical implications
The findings encourage managers to place high priority on both inter-firm and intra-firm relationships as prerequisites for achieving superior quality performance. The propositions and the results of the study provide managers with some guidelines about effective management of upstream, midstream and downstream supply chain networks and awareness of the potential synergies arising from the combined effects of SCQM practices that could bring about desired quality performance outcomes across the entire supply chain network.
Originality/value
Real and sustainable quality performance often requires an equal focus on both intra- and inter-firm relationships among supply chain partners. Therefore, effective management of quality across the entire supply chain is deemed essential if a firm is to smoothly supply high-quality products and services to customers. But little research has been devoted to understanding conceptual underpinnings of SCQM as well as empirical support and validation for the conceptualisation and measurement of SCQM practices. Based on the insights gained from social network theory, this paper makes an attempt to address this gap and examine the impact of SCQM practices on quality performance.
This paper provides an in-depth analysis of timbre-speech spectrograms in instrumental music, designs a model analysis of rehabilitation occupational therapy techniques based on the analysis of ...timbre-speech spectrograms in instrumental music, and tests the models for comparison. Starting from the mechanism of human articulation, this paper models the process of human expression as a time-varying linear system consisting of excitation, vocal tract, and radiation models. The system’s overall architecture is designed according to the characteristics of Chinese speech and everyday speech rehabilitation theory (HSL theory). The dual judgment of temporal threshold and short-time average energy realized the phonetic length training. Tone and clear tone training were achieved by linear predictive coding technique (LPC) and autocorrelation function. Using the DTW technique, isolated word speech recognition was achieved by extracting Mel-scale Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) parameters of speech signals. The system designs corresponding training scenes for each training module according to the extracted speech parameters, combines the multimedia speech spectrogram motion situation with the speech parameters, and finally presents the training content as a speech spectrogram, and evaluates the training results through human-machine interaction to stimulate the interest of rehabilitation therapy and realize the speech rehabilitation training of patients. After analyzing the pre- and post-test data, it was found that the p-values of all three groups were <0.05, which was judged to be significantly different. Also, all subjects changed their behavioral data during the treatment. Therefore, it was concluded that the music therapy technique could improve the patients’ active gaze communication ability, verbal command ability, and active question-answering ability after summarizing the data, i.e., the hypothesis of this experiment is valid. Therefore, it is believed that the technique of timbre-speech spectrogram analysis in instrumental music can achieve the effect of rehabilitation therapy to a certain extent.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
This study is a response to calls for a more comprehensive treatment of service operations management amid concerns over the prevalence of poor service quality. Building upon the ideas of total ...quality management as an ethos of continual learning and quality improvement, this study aims to elucidate different managerial mindsets towards service quality and the resulting impact on the organisational learning environment. Using a qualitative case study methodology of a sample of UK-based service organisations, the findings point to a trichotomy of managerial mindsets towards service quality each connected to different types of organisational learning. These include (i) outcome mindset with a focus on short-term learning, (ii) process mindset with a focus on intermittent learning, and (iii) process-outcome mindset with a focus on continuous learning. We suggest several propositions for further empirical testing and highlight practical implications of the findings.
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BFBNIB, GIS, IJS, KISLJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM, UPUK
We demonstrate room-temperature ferroelectric field-effect transistors (Fe-FETs) with MoS2 and CuInP2S6 two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals heterostructure. The ferroelectric CuInP2S6 is a 2D ...ferroelectric insulator, integrated on top of MoS2 channel providing a 2D/2D semiconductor/insulator interface without dangling bonds. The MoS2- and CuInP2S6-based 2D van der Waals heterostructure Fe-FETs exhibit a clear counterclockwise hysteresis loop in transfer characteristics, demonstrating their ferroelectric properties. This stable nonvolatile memory property can also be modulated by the back-gate bias of the MoS2 transistors because of the tuning of capacitance matching between the MoS2 channel and the ferroelectric CuInP2S6, leading to the enhancement of the on/off current ratio. Meanwhile, the CuInP2S6 thin film also shows resistive switching characteristics with more than four orders of on/off ratio between low- and high-resistance states, which is also promising for resistive random-access memory applications.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to provide insights into the way in which understanding and implementation of disruptive technology, specifically big data analytics and the Internet of Things ...(IoT), have changed over time. The study also examines the ways in which research in supply chain and related fields differ when responding to and managing disruptive change.
Design/methodology/approach
This study follows a four-step systematic review process, consisting of literature collection, descriptive analysis, category selection and material evaluation. For the last stage of evaluating relevant issues and trends in the literature, the latent semantic analysis method was adopted using Leximancer, which allows more rapid, reliable and consistent content analysis.
Findings
The empirical analysis identified key research trends in big data analytics and IoT divided over two time-periods, in which research demonstrated steady growth by 2015 and the rapid growth was shown afterwards. The key finding of this review is that the main interest in recent big data is toward overlapping customer service, support and supply chain network, systems and performance. Major research themes in IoT moved from general supply chain and business information management to more specific context including supply chain design, model and performance.
Originality/value
In addition to providing more awareness of this research approach, the authors seek to identify important trends in disruptive technologies research over time.
Digital light processing 3D printing has been rapidly evolving conventional manufacturing industry with the most meticulous resolution and strongest layer‐to‐layer adhesion among all additive ...manufacturing techniques. In this study, to improve poor polymer thermal stability and dielectric properties from prevailing methyl methacrylate‐based resin, tri‐functional trimethylolpropane tri‐acrylate (TMPTA) is introduced to form a stable polymer network. Meanwhile, monomers carrying non‐polar, bulky adamantane are added to eradicate poly‐TMPTA's notorious high cracking and warping tendency. Test results showed both high 1‐adamantyl methacrylate and 1, 3‐adamantyl di‐acrylate (ADDA) additions can print crack‐free samples. However, only ADDA addition keeps low CTE (82.86 ppm/oC, 200 ~ 260°C) and cuts down Df (0.02, 10 GHz). TMPTA polymer network modifications of both additions are explored. By contrast, poly‐MMA exhibits much higher CTE (323.44 ppm/oC) and Df (0.035). A 3D‐printed curvilinear circuit board from above resin formulation with electroplated copper circuits successfully passes lead‐free level reflow without deformation.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Mutations that inactivate negative translation regulators cause autism spectrum disorders (ASD), which predominantly affect males and exhibit social interaction and communication deficits and ...repetitive behaviors. However, the cells that cause ASD through elevated protein synthesis resulting from these mutations remain unknown. Here we employ conditional overexpression of translation initiation factor eIF4E to increase protein synthesis in specific brain cells. We show that exaggerated translation in microglia, but not neurons or astrocytes, leads to autism-like behaviors in male mice. Although microglial eIF4E overexpression elevates translation in both sexes, it only increases microglial density and size in males, accompanied by microglial shift from homeostatic to a functional state with enhanced phagocytic capacity but reduced motility and synapse engulfment. Consequently, cortical neurons in the mice have higher synapse density, neuroligins, and excitation-to-inhibition ratio compared to control mice. We propose that functional perturbation of male microglia is an important cause for sex-biased ASD.
Digital inequality is one of the most critical issues in the “information age”, few studies have examined the social inequality in information resources and digital use patterns. In the rural areas, ...such information communication technology (ICT) facilities could not guarantee that users can easily access information technology and overcome the so-called “digital divide.” This research aims to discover the psychological factors that influence information and communication technology (ICT) adoption behavior, as well as confirm whether “information literacy” and “digital skills” have moderator effects in the research model. Using a survey of 875 participants and a structural equation modeling approach, we find that task characteristics and social interaction improve media richness, media experience, and media technostress, which in turn enhance ICT adoption behavior. The proposed theoretical model shows that the impact of ICT adoption behavior is moderated by information literacy and digital skills. The findings of this research can offer guidelines for policy makers and educators who evaluate a community's ICT adoption behavior so as to provide proper access to ICT and promote its visibility by incorporating ICT in educational activities.
•Model to predict individual's ICT adoption behavior in the rural areas.•Task characteristics, media richness, media experience and social interaction exhibit strong to weak effects.•Individual's communication and interaction need fit reduce the user media technostress to adoption behaviors.•Valuable in understanding information literacy and digital skill that moderate community's ICT adoption behavior.•Offers important implications for educators and e-Taiwan policy managers.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
The purpose of this study is to integrate the theoretical base of green purchasing by using the signaling theory approach to green marketing. Since previous studies do not combine relevant factors ...from the perspective of Signaling Theory and Attitude-Behavior-Context (ABC) Theory for green purchase, this study attempts to examine the effects of green customer value and attitude towards green products on green purchase intention. Moreover, it aims to identify the moderating effects of green marketing and green psychological benefits on the relationships between customer value, attitude, and green purchase intention. This study involved a survey that comprised 319 customers with at least a year’s experience in buying green products in Cambodia. The findings empirically revealed a significant and positive influence of green customer value on attitude towards green products. Furthermore, both green customer value and attitudes towards green products have a positive effect on green purchase intention. Green marketing (environmental advertising, and green word-of-mouth) and green psychological benefits (warm glow, self-expressive benefits, and nature experience) moderate the relationships between customer value, attitude towards the green product, and green purchase intention. The results may be beneficial for managers and marketers to develop appropriate green marketing strategies. They may also be helpful for academicians to conduct further validations regarding the theoretical framework of green purchasing.
A material with reversible temperature change capability under an external electric field, known as the electrocaloric effect (ECE), has long been considered as a promising solid-state cooling ...solution. However, electrocaloric (EC) performance of EC materials generally is not sufficiently high for real cooling applications. As a result, exploring EC materials with high performance is of great interest and importance. Here, we report on the ECE of ferroelectric materials with van der Waals layered structure (CuInP2S6 or CIPS in this work in particular). Over 60% polarization charge change is observed within a temperature change of only 10 K at Curie temperature. Large adiabatic temperature change (|ΔT|) of 3.3 K and isothermal entropy change (|ΔS|) of 5.8 J kg–1 K–1 at |ΔE| = 142.0 kV cm–1 and at 315 K (above and near room temperature) are achieved, with a large EC strength (|ΔT|/|ΔE|) of 29.5 mK cm kV–1. The ECE of CIPS is also investigated theoretically by numerical simulation, and a further EC performance projection is provided.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
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