Search results

The purpose of this paper is to provide quantitative evidence of natural disasters’ (NDs) effect on corporate performance and studies the mechanisms through which the supply chain moderates and mediates the link.

Using two major NDs as quasi-experiment, namely the 2011 Japanese earthquake-tsunami (JET) and Thai flood (TF), and data over the period 2010Q1-2013Q4, effect of these events on end assemblers’ performance is studied, with a focus on the personal computer (PC) supply chain. The moderating influence of delivery and sourcing – as supply chain flexibility and agility – are examined through end assemblers’ and suppliers’ inventory. The suppliers’ mediating role is captured as disruption in obtaining PC components through their sales.

Only JET had any negative effect, further quantified as short-term and long-term. The TF instead portrays an insignificant but positive aftermath, which is construed as showing learning from experience and adaptability following JET. Inventory matters, but differently for the two events, and suppliers only exhibit a moderating influence on the assemblers’ disaster-performance link.

NDs, as catastrophic vulnerabilities, are distinct from other vulnerabilities in that they are hard to predict and have significant impact. Since little is known about the impact of NDs on firm performance and how supply chain mechanisms moderate or mediate their impact, they should be distinctly modelled and empirically studied from other vulnerabilities. This paper sheds light on supply chain resilience to such events with the role of dynamic capabilities.

This study aims to provide a systematic review about the Internet of Things (IoT) and its impacts on happiness. It intends to serve as a platform for further research as it is sparse in in-depth analysis.

This systematic review initially observed 2,501 literary articles through the ScienceDirect and WorldCat search engines before narrowing it down to 72 articles based on subject matter relevance in the abstract and keywords. Accounting for duplicates between search engines, the count was reduced to 66 articles. To finally narrow down all the literature used in this systematic review, 66 articles were given a critical readthrough. The count was finally reduced to 53 total articles used in this systematic review.

This paper necessitates the claim that IoT will likely impact many aspects of our everyday lives. Through the literature observed, it was found that IoT will have some significant and positive impacts on people's welfare and lives. The unprecedented nature of IoTs impacts on society should warrant further research moving forward.

While the literature presented in this systematic review shows that IoT can positively impact the perceived or explicit happiness of people, the amount of literature found to supplement this argument is still on the lower end. They also necessitate the need for both greater depth and variety in this field of research.

Since technology is already a pervasive element of most people’s contemporary lives, it stands to reason that the most important factors to consider will be in how we might benefit from IoT or, more notably, how IoT can enhance our levels of happiness. A significant implication is its ability to reduce the gap in happiness levels between urban and rural areas.

Currently, the literature directly tackling the quantification of IoTs perceived influence on happiness has yet to be truly discussed broadly. This systematic review serves as a starting point for further discussion in the subject matter. In addition, this paper may lead to a better understanding of the IoT technology and how we can best advance and adapt it to the benefits of the society.

Selective electron beam melting (SEBM) is one of the popular powder-bed additive manufacturing (AM) technologies. The purpose of this paper is to develop a simulation strategy for SEBM process to get data which are vital for realistic failure prediction and process parameters control for real complex components.

Focusing on the SEBM process of tantalum, this paper presents a three-dimensional thermo-mechanical modeling strategy based on ABAQUS and its subroutines. The simulation strategy used in this paper is developed for SEBM process of pure tantalum but could be extended to other AM fabrication technologies and other metals without difficulties.

The simulation of multi-track multi-layer SEBM process of tantalum was carried out to predict the temperature field, the molten pool evolution and the residual stress distribution. The key information such as inter-track molten pool overlapping ratio and inter-layer refusion state can be extracted from the obtained molten pool morphologies, which are vital for realistic failure prediction and process parameters control for real components. The authors finally demonstrate the capability of the strategy used by simulating a 2 mm × 2 mm × 10 mm lattice structure with total 200 layers.

The simulation of multi-track multi-layer SEBM process of tantalum was carried out. The key information such as inter-track molten pool overlapping ratio and inter-layer refusion state can be extracted. The authors finally demonstrate the capability of the strategy used by simulating a lattice structure. Not only temperature distribution but also stress evolution are captured. Our simulation strategy is developed for the SEBM process of pure tantalum, but it could be extended to other AM fabrication technologies and other metals without difficulties.

The wafer level package (WLP) is a cost‐effective solution for electronic packaging and has been increasingly applied in recent years. The purpose of this paper is to propose a newly developed packaging technology, based on the concepts of the WLP, the panel base package (PBP) technology, in order to further obtain the capability of signal fan‐out for fine‐pitched integrated circuits (ICc).

In the PBP, the filler material is selected to fill the trench around the chip and provide a smooth surface for the redistribution lines. Therefore, the solder bumps could be located on both the filler and the chip surface and the pitch of the chip side is fanned‐out. The design concept and the manufacturing process of the PBP would first be described in this study. The three‐dimensional finite element model is established based on the real testing sample and the thermo‐mechanical behavior of the PBP is simulated.

It is found that the solder joint reliability of the PBP can be highly improved because of the applied stress buffer layer. However, the accumulated stress/strain from the coefficient of thermal expansion mismatch may transfer to the metal lines in package. In order to enhance the robustness of the redistribution lines, the bypassed type interconnect is suggested. Moreover, the trace/pad connecting junction and the conductive via which have smooth outline are preferred to avoid stress concentration effects.

In this paper, a low‐cost and short time‐to‐market packaging technology is proposed which is especially suitable for high density IC devices. The PBP technology has the ability to meet the requirements of major reliability testing conditions and it will have a high potential for application in the near future.

This paper presents the outcomes of a study of the choice of location for distribution centres in logistics operations. A conceptual frame work of location selection for distribution centre is worked out through three main stages. At the first stage, a general geographical area for distribution centre is identified based on the Centre of Gravity principle, taking into consideration socio‐economic factors. The second stage of the selection process involves the identification of alternative locations for the distribution centre and the airports and seaports to be used for in bound and out bound cargo flows within the defined general geographical area. The third stage focuses on specific site selection among the identified alternative locations for the distribution centre based on the quantitative approach. This involves a mathematical model which aims to optimise either the total distribution cost or the integration of total distance transport with given relevant volumes of cargo. In order to illustrate the conceptual frame work, a case study of a logistics service provider will be provided. Data from the case study proved that the conceptual framework for selection is valid and can be of value to logistics companies in their operations and management.

The article deals with factors that act as an incentive to internationalisation of the hotels in the small‐to‐medium‐sized enterprises (SME) category in the traditional tourism countries, and also discusses the obstacles to internationalisation. The “OLI” approach according to Dunning (ownership advantages, location‐specific advantages, advantages of internalisation) is tested against the results of a survey of hotelkeepers in the Alpine countries, particularly Austria. It is not just the size of the enterprise that acts as a limit on the extent of internationalisation of SMEs. Other factors that determine the attitude taken towards internationalisation include market intelligence, financing problems, the degree of entrepreneurial spirit, and the specific nature of tourism services.

Predicting surface settlement at mountain tunnel entrances during construction is increasingly crucial for risk analysis, as the accuracy of these predictions directly impacts collapse risk assessments and personnel safety.

This study introduces a novel approach using a particle swarm optimization (PSO)-optimized long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network for surface settlement prediction. The PSO algorithm optimizes key hyperparameters of the LSTM model, including the number of hidden layer neurons, the learning rate and L2 regularization, while the Adam optimizer refines LSTM iterations. Dropout is used in combination with adaptive L2 regularization parameters to avoid overfitting situations, and sensitivity analysis of the remaining variables ensures the identification of the optimal solution.

The model, based on monitoring data from the Aketepu No. 1 Tunnel’s left tunnel, establishes evaluation criteria incorporating error margins and root mean square error (RMSE). By examining the range of maximum (minimum) settlement rates for the cumulative settlement values, the study determined that the section is exposed to an average risk of collapse with slow deformation, which is consistent with actual observations.

This suggests that construction can proceed normally, with appropriate monitoring to mitigate the risk of collapse. The PSO-LSTM forecast model presents a promising approach for predicting collapse risks at mountain tunnel entrances.

This paper examines how and why online daters, differentiated by gender, strategically self-present in online dating profiles when pursuing two competing goals: attracting potential daters and avoiding detection as a liar.

A survey and a content analysis were employed to test four hypotheses.

The results revealed that seeking to project an attractive image in online dating was significantly associated with acquisitive self-presentation. The online daters adopted falsification more than any other strategies, and women were more likely than men to embellish their self-presentation, especially their physical appearance.

The findings clarify people's mate selection processes in light of the interpersonal deception theory (IDT) and the information manipulation theory (IMT) as well as take an evolutionary psychological perspective on computer-mediated communication. For practitioners, they provide a more nuanced picture of deceptive communication in online dating and, for online daters, can guide the adaptation of their online behaviors.

Due to the inability to directly apply an intra-oral image with esthetic restoration to restore tooth shape in the computer-aided design system, this paper aims to propose a method that can use two-dimensional contours obtained from the image for the three-dimensional dental mesh model restoration.

First, intra-oral image and smiling image are taken from the patient, then teeth shapes of the images are designed based on esthetic restoration concepts and the pixel coordinates of the teeth’s contours are converted into the vertex coordinates in the three-dimensional space. Second, the dental mesh model is divided into three parts – active part, passive part and fixed part – based on the teeth’s contours of the mesh model. Third, the vertices from the teeth’s contours of the dental model are matched with ones from the intra-oral image and with the help of matching operation, the target coordinates of each vertex in the active part can be calculated. Finally, the Laplacian-based deformation algorithm and mesh smoothing algorithm are performed.

Benefitting from the proposed method, the dental mesh model with esthetic restoration can be quickly obtained based on the intra-oral image that is the result of doctor-patient communication. Experimental results show that the quality of restoration meets clinical needs, and the typical time cost of the method is approximately one second. So the method is both time-saving and user-friendly.

The method provides the possibility to design personalized dental esthetic restoration solutions rapidly.