Pangea is the youngest supercontinent in Earth's history and its main body formed by assembly of Gondwana and Laurasia about 300–250 Ma ago. As supported by voluminous evidence from reliable ...geological, paleomagnetic and paleontological data, configurations of major continental blocks in Pangea have been widely accepted. However, controversy has long surrounded the reconstructions of East Asian blocks in Pangea. To determine whether or not the East Asian blocks were assembled to join Pangea before its breakup, we carried out geological and paleomagnetic investigations on East Asian blocks and associated orogenic belts, supported by a NSFC Major Program entitle “Reconstructions of East Asian blocks in Pangea”. Our results indicate that the breakup of Rodinia around 750 Ma ago led to the opening of the Proto-Tethys and Paleo-Asian oceans in East Asia, with the former separating the South China, North China, Alex Qaidam and Tarim blocks from other East Asian blocks at the margins of Australia and India, whereas the Paleo-Asian Ocean existed between the East Asian blocks and Siberia-Eastern Europe. The Proto-Tethys Ocean closed in the early Paleozoic (500–420 Ma), leading to the collision of South China, North China, Alex, Qaidam and Tarim with other East Asian blocks at the northern margin of Gondwana. The subduction of the Paleo-Asian Ocean formed the Central Asian Orogenic Belt, the largest accretionary orogen in Earth's history, and its closure was diachronous, with its western, central and eastern segments closing at 310–280 Ma, 280–265 Ma and 260–245 Ma, respectively, leading the Tarim, Alex and North China blocks to join Eastern Europe-Siberia as part of Pangea. During the early Devonian (420–380 ma), the East Paleo-Tethys Ocean opened with two branches, of which the north branch is called the Mianlue Ocean that separated the Tarim-Qaidam-Central Qilian-Alex and North China blocks in the north from North Qiangtang-Indochina-South China in the south, and the south branch is the stricto sensu East Paleo-Tethys Ocean that separated North Qiangtang-Indochina-South China from the Sibumasu and South Qiangtang-Lhasa blocks at the northern margin of Gondwana. In the Triassic, the East Paleo-Tethys Ocean (stricto sensu) closed along the Longmu Co – Shuanghu – Changning – Menglian – Inthanon belt, leading to the collision of North Qiangtang-Indochina-South China with Sibumasu and South Qiangtang-Lhasa, forming a single southern continent, which then collided with the Tarim-Qaidam-Central Qilian-Alex and North China blocks to form a coherent East Asian continent that had become part of Pangea by 220 Ma, when the Mianlue Ocean closed, leading to the formation of the E-W-trending Central China Orogenic System.
We utilize the social intuitionist approach to moral judgment and moral disengagement theory to understand why and when employees sabotage customers. We contend that when customers mistreat employees ...(i.e., customer mistreatment), employees experience intuitive emotional reactions in the form of hostility, which automatically activates devaluation of targets, a specific facet of moral disengagement. In turn, employees become unencumbered by moral self-regulation and sabotage customers who mistreat them (i.e., customer-directed sabotage). We further argue that our serially mediated model is moderated by employees' perceptions of the organization's ethical climate. When ethical climates are perceived as being low, employees' hostile reactions toward misbehaving customers produce a positive relationship with devaluation of targets, and devaluation of targets results in a positive relationship with customer-directed sabotage. These positive relationships do not hold when ethical climate is perceived as being high. We test our theoretical model using a field sample of customer service employees and an experimental study to establish causality. Our results provide general support for our hypotheses. We discuss theoretical and practical implications and opportunities for future research.
Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) can be used to manufacture any complex geometry and internal structures, and it has been widely applied in many industries, such as the biomedical, manufacturing, ...aerospace, automobile, industrial, and building industries. The purpose of this research is to characterize the polylactic acid (PLA) and polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) materials of FDM under four loading conditions (tension, compression, bending, and thermal deformation), in order to obtain data regarding different printing temperatures and speeds. The results indicated that PLA and PETG materials exhibit an obvious tensile and compression asymmetry. It was observed that the mechanical properties (tension, compression, and bending) of PLA and PETG are increased at higher printing temperatures, and that the effect of speed on PLA and PETG shows different results. In addition, the mechanical properties of PLA are greater than those of PETG, but the thermal deformation is the opposite. The above results will be a great help for researchers who are working with polymers and FDM technology to achieve sustainability.
In this study, the electrical performance and bending stress endurance of flexible low-temperature polycrystalline silicon thin film transistors (LTPS TFTs) are enhanced by increasing the helium ...concentration (1500 sccm) during gate insulator (GI) manufacture to create a high-quality GI device. Experimental results confirm that the subthreshold swing (S.S.) and mobility of these new "high-flow" devices are better than those with a lower helium concentration, which we term "low-flow" devices. The flow of helium gas is increased to achieve a better-quality oxide layer. The energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) line data show a clear enhancement in oxygen content in the devices under this helium gas process. After mechanical compression and tensile bending stresses of 100000 iterations in the channel width-axis direction, perpendicular to the channel, with bending at <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{R} = {2} </tex-math></inline-formula> mm, the modified GI devices with their more Si-O bond content exhibit less stress damage in the GI layer than do low-flow devices. As a result, this new manufacturing condition can effectively reduce the electrical degradation after negative-bias temperature stress (NBTS), and improve the overall electrical performance.
Although the axial and dominant geocentric character of the Earth's magnetic field means that paleolongitude is indeterminate, paleomagnetism is otherwise the only truly quantitative method available ...to the Earth scientist for constraining paleogeography and reconstructing the kinematic evolution of continental blocks. During the past half-century numerous paleomagnetic results have provided substantial quantitative constraints on the origin and tectonic evolution of the major tectonic divisions now comprising Eastern Asian. In this paper we first assess the available Early Paleozoic to Early Cretaceous paleomagnetic results from the South China, North China, and Tarim blocks using internationally-recognized reliability criteria. We then construct a running mean through a 20 Ma window by weighting the poles according to their Q-factors and fit a spherical spline with smoothing factor of 300 to derive apparent polar wander (APW) paths for these three major blocks during this Early Paleozoic to Late Mesozoic time interval. Together with Late Paleozoic to Early Mesozoic paleomagnetic poles from the Qaidam, Qiangtang, Lhasa, Sibumasu, Indochina, and some other smaller blocks/terranes of East Asia, we produce a series of paleogeographic reconstructions for these major blocks and lesser terranes of East Asia between mid-Ordovician and late Jurassic times (~460–160 Ma) which, although based primarily upon paleomagnetic evidence, aim to embrace the geological constraints. Finally, we discuss the current evidence for closure times of the Paleo-Asian, Mianlue, and East Paleo-Tethyan oceans which incorporate fundamental issues concerning the formation of the East Asian continental collage and collision with the northern main body of the Pangean supercontinent. We use the collective evidence to argue that these major paleo-oceans had closed by the Late Triassic, and that the East Asian sector of the supercontinent had united to become an integral part of Pangea by that time (~220 Ma).
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how and when used by employees influences witnessing customers’ willingness to spread positive word of mouth (WOM).
Design/methodology/approach
...This research used a qualitative method to develop a typology of necessary evil using two pilot studies and an experimental study to test the theoretical model.
Findings
The results show that the necessary evil used by employees to manage dysfunctional customers positively influences witnessing customers’ perceptions of distributive, procedural and interactional justice and their subsequent deontic justice perceptions, resulting in their willingness to spread positive WOM. Moreover, the positive influence of necessary evil on witnessing customers’ responses is strengthened when dysfunctional customer behavior (DCB) targets another customer as opposed to an employee.
Practical implications
This research offers service providers a better understanding of how to manage DCBs.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the existing literature by introducing necessary evil to the service literature, proposing a new typology of employee response strategies to DCB based on necessary evil and examining how necessary evil drives positive customer responses. Additionally, it is among the first to examine the relationship between deontic justice and traditional justice mechanisms.
Background： Nontraumatic osteonecrosis of the femoral head （NONFH） is a debilitating disease that represents a significant financial burden for both individuals and healthcare systems. Despite its ...significance, however, its prevalence in the Chinese general population remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of NONFH and its associated risk factors in the Chinese population. Methods： A nationally representative survey of 30,030 respondents was undertaken from June 2012 to August 2013. All participants underwent a questionnaire investigation, physical examination of hip, and bilateral hip joint X-ray and/or magnetic resonance imaging exalnination. Blood samples were taken after overnight fasting to test serum total cholesterol, triglyceride, and high-density lipoprotein （HDL） and low-density lipoprotein （LDL） levels. We then used multivariate logistic regression analysis to investigate the associations between various metabolic, demographic, and lifestyle-related variables and NONFH. Results： NONFH was diagnosed in 218 subjects （0.725%） and the estimated NONFH cases were 8.12 million among Chinesepeople aged 15 years and over. The prevalence of NONFH was significantly higher in males than in females （1.02% vs. 0.51%, x^2 = 24.997, P 〈 0.001 ）. Among NONFH patients, North residents were subjected to higher prevalence of NONFH than that of South residents （0.85% vs. 0.61%,x^2= 5.847, P = 0.016）. Our multivariate regression analysis showed that high blood levels oftriglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and non-H DL-cholesterol, male, urban residence, family history of osteonecrosis of the femoral head. heavy smoking, alcohol abuse and glucocorticoid intake, overweight, and obesity were all significantly associated with an increased risk of NONFH. Conclusions： Our findings highlight that NONFH is a significantpublic health challenge in China and underscore the need for policy measures on the national level. Furthermore, NONFH shares a number of risk factors with atherosclerosis.
Incivility among employees in frontline encounters is prevalent, but little is known about its impact on customers’ ethics-related perceptions and behaviors. Drawing upon the ...stimulus–organism–response paradigm, this study examines how witnessing incivility among employees can serve as a social atmospheric cue to influence customers’ perceived ethicality of an organization and their subsequent behaviors. According to our results, in response to employee-to-employee incivility witnessed during frontline encounters, customers perceive the uncivil employees’ organization to have a lower level of ethicality. In turn, customers engage more in unethical behavior (i.e., opportunistic behavior) and less in customer citizenship behavior (i.e., customer tolerance of employee-induced errors). We further demonstrate that the negative effect of uncivil employee-to-employee interactions on customers’ perception of the ethicality of an organization is amplified when customers have an a priori perception that the organization is competent. The findings hold theoretical and practical implications for the management of employee-to-employee incivility and unethical customer behavior during frontline encounters.
Artificial intelligence technology is changing the way services are delivered and introducing opportunities for new sources of service failure. The purpose of this paper is to examine how customers ...might respond (emotion- or problem-focused coping) to service failure of a chatbot when there is an option to interact with a human employee. Using data from 145 participants, we found that in a chatbot service failure context, telling a customer late in the service interaction that a human employee is available to help leads customers to engage in emotion-focused coping, resulting in customer aggression. The positive relationship between late disclosure and emotion-focused coping occurs with those who perceive low customer participation whereby they do not believe they are overly involved in co-producing and co-delivering the service. This research demonstrates how chatbot service failure in a service encounter can produce different effects on customers’ intention to engage in aggression.
Health organizations have relied heavily on social distancing to limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this research is to examine what factors can influence customers' ...evaluations of social distancing as well as how and when these evaluations drive their usage of chatbot services. Using structural equation modeling to analyze the experimental data from 200 U.S. consumers, we found that when the service situation is utilitarian (hedonic) in nature, customers' contamination fear influences their chatbot usage during service encounters through their social distancing attitudes (subjective norms) and then perceived usefulness of chatbots. Our findings provide meaningful theoretical contributions and practical implications.
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