Qiong Jia, Ying Zhu, Rui Xu, Yubin Zhang and Yihua Zhao
Abundant studies of outpatient visits apply traditional recurrent neural network (RNN) approaches; more recent methods, such as the deep long short-term memory (DLSTM) model, have…
Abstract
Purpose
Abundant studies of outpatient visits apply traditional recurrent neural network (RNN) approaches; more recent methods, such as the deep long short-term memory (DLSTM) model, have yet to be implemented in efforts to forecast key hospital data. Therefore, the current study aims to reports on an application of the DLSTM model to forecast multiple streams of healthcare data.
Design/methodology/approach
As the most advanced machine learning (ML) method, static and dynamic DLSTM models aim to forecast time-series data, such as daily patient visits. With a comparative analysis conducted in a high-level, urban Chinese hospital, this study tests the proposed DLSTM model against several widely used time-series analyses as reference models.
Findings
The empirical results show that the static DLSTM approach outperforms seasonal autoregressive integrated moving averages (SARIMA), single and multiple RNN, deep gated recurrent units (DGRU), traditional long short-term memory (LSTM) and dynamic DLSTM, with smaller mean absolute, root mean square, mean absolute percentage and root mean square percentage errors (RMSPE). In particular, static DLSTM outperforms all other models for predicting daily patient visits, the number of daily medical examinations and prescriptions.
Practical implications
With these results, hospitals can achieve more precise predictions of outpatient visits, medical examinations and prescriptions, which can inform hospitals' construction plans and increase the efficiency with which the hospitals manage relevant information.
Originality/value
To address a persistent gap in smart hospital and ML literature, this study offers evidence of the best forecasting models with a comparative analysis. The study extends predictive methods for forecasting patient visits, medical examinations and prescriptions and advances insights into smart hospitals by testing a state-of-the-art, deep learning neural network method.
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Qiong Jia, Yang Lei, Yue Guo and Xiaotong Li
This study explores the factors influencing the value of enterprise social media (ESM) from the perspective of compatibility. Establishing a theoretical model based on…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the factors influencing the value of enterprise social media (ESM) from the perspective of compatibility. Establishing a theoretical model based on compatibility theory, the authors examine the effects of two dimensions of compatibility and the mediating effects of employees' intrinsic motivations. ESM is an important tool that helps companies to enhance knowledge sharing and cross-department collaboration. Thus, it is important to understand factors that can facilitate the role of ESM in improving enterprise operating performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a survey among 353 users of a leading ESM platform and empirically investigated how compatibility influences ESM value through employees' intrinsic motivations. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to study the relationship among compatibility, employees' intrinsic motivations and ESM value.
Findings
The empirical research results indicate that compatibility of self-interest with group interest influences the value of ESM, and intrinsic motivations toward collaboration and toward knowledge management partially mediate the effects of the two dimensions of compatibility on ESM value.
Research limitations/implications
First, the empirical analysis relies on data from surveying employees of Chinese companies. Therefore, one direction for future research is to reexamine the model using data from other countries. Second, the effects of compatibility identified in the study may vary among different ESM platforms. In addition, the findings may change for organizations having different sizes.
Practical implications
This finding suggests that managers should pay close attention to potential conflicts of interest when implementing ESM to enhance group communication and collaboration. This study also highlights the importance of compatibility of new working processes with experience in practice. In addition, intrinsic motivations towards both cooperation and knowledge management in ESM are important factors influencing the value creation of ESM. Therefore, to cultivate employees' intrinsic motivation, managers and organizations need to facilitate the formation of a collaborative atmosphere and habits of cooperative adoption.
Originality/value
Although previous studies show that compatibility is a strong belief salient to technology acceptance and continuance usage behavior, the operational definition of compatibility developed by prior studies has generally been limited to the technology perspective and the individual level. However, the primary benefit of ESM is enabling online team collaboration and knowledge sharing across various departments. Thus, the level of compatibility between employees' self-interests and group interests may influence their intrinsic motivations toward ESM usage. From this perspective of individual–group interest conflicts, the authors propose a conceptual research model based on the theory of compatibility in innovation diffusion.
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Qiong Wu, Qiwei Zhou and Kathryn Cormican
Shared leadership is an effective mechanism for managing project teams. Its performance-enhancing benefits have been demonstrated in many studies. Nonetheless, there is an obvious…
Abstract
Purpose
Shared leadership is an effective mechanism for managing project teams. Its performance-enhancing benefits have been demonstrated in many studies. Nonetheless, there is an obvious silence about how to promote shared leadership in Lean Six Sigma (LSS) project teams. To address this deficit, the purposes of this study are to investigate the influence of shared leadership on LSS project success and to explore how team psychological safety, project task complexity and project task interdependence influence shared leadership.
Design/methodology/approach
A multi-source, time-lagged survey design with a four-month interval was conducted. To do this, the authors collected data from 71 project teams (comprising 71 project managers and 352 project members) using LSS approaches in the manufacturing and service industries.
Findings
The findings show that shared leadership positively influences LSS project success. The authors also found that team psychological safety fosters the development of shared leadership and, more importantly, these effects are stronger when the tasks are more complex and more interdependent.
Practical implications
These findings advance our understanding of the factors that enable shared leadership and equip LSS project managers with practical techniques to improve shared leadership for the success of their projects.
Originality/value
This study extends the theory of shared leadership to the context of LSS project management and is among the first, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to theoretically propose and empirically validate how to promote shared leadership in LSS project teams.
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Yu Hua Dong, Ya Nan Liu and Qiong Zhou
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate effects of different contents of composite ferrotitanium pigment on corrosion protection performance of epoxy resin coatings.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate effects of different contents of composite ferrotitanium pigment on corrosion protection performance of epoxy resin coatings.
Design/methodology/approach
Different contents of composite ferrotitanium pigment were added to the epoxy resin coatings and the corrosion performance of the coatings were investigated by electrochemical test (in 5 wt.% KCl solutions at 60°C), salt spray test and simulated test. The morphology of the coating before and after corrosion was characterised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS).
Findings
The composite ferrotitanium improved anti‐corrosion properties of the coating due to complex reaction of ferrous ions and phosphates as well as introduction of nano powder to the composite ferrotitanium. The coating with 10 wt.% composite ferrotitanium pigment had better anti‐corrosion properties than that of 5 wt.%. Simulated experiment in an autoclave indicated that the composite ferrotitanium pigment had the best protective performance among the three green pigments such as zinc phosphate, aluminium tri‐phosphate, and composite ferrotitanium.
Research limitations/implications
The pigments were added into the coating by high energy ball milling. Some of them dispersed in the coating heterogeneously and affected property of the coatings.
Practical implications
Composite ferrotitanium can be used to replace red lead and chromate pigments to meet environmental requirements.
Originality/value
The paper shows how the anti‐corrosion mechanism of the composite ferrotitanium pigment was investigated and several green pigments were selected to compare their protective performance in the autoclave.
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Jing Jian Xiao, Chengyang Yan, Piotr Bialowolski and Nilton Porto
The relationship between debt and happiness is an emerging research topic with significant implications for both theory and practice in economics and business. In China, where the…
Abstract
Purpose
The relationship between debt and happiness is an emerging research topic with significant implications for both theory and practice in economics and business. In China, where the consumer credit market is at an early stage of development, the topic remains under-investigated and the evidence on the debt–well-being link is scarce. The purpose of this study is to examine the association between debt holding and happiness and the moderating role of income in it.
Design/methodology/approach
Data used in the study were from three waves (2013, 2015 and 2017) of the China Household Finance Survey. Fixed-effect regressions on panel data were used for data analyses.
Findings
The results show that any type of debt holding is negatively associated with happiness. Among seven specific types of debts, four types show negative associations with happiness, which in the order from higher to lower associations, are medical, education, other and housing debt. In addition, negative associations between debt holding and happiness vary among income groups. The results suggest that any debt holding potentially decreases happiness for low- and middle-income consumers only. In addition, holdings of three specific types of debts (medical, education and housing debt) may decrease happiness for both low- and middle-income consumers, and holding two types of debts (business and other debt) may decrease happiness for middle-income consumers only.
Research limitations/implications
Data used in this study originate from one country only. It limits the generalizability of findings to other countries with different institutional backgrounds and different socio-economic characteristics of populations. The results have implications for researchers who study consumer debt behavior and business practitioners who do businesses with Chinese companies and consumers.
Practical implications
China is an emerging economy that is at the early stage of credit market development. The results of this study provide helpful information and insights for business practitioners to explore credit markets and serve credit product clients with various income levels in China.
Social implications
The results of this study are informative for public policies. When introducing credit market-related policies, policymakers should pay attention to people's happiness and to differential welfare effects of holdings of different types of debts and among consumers with various levels of incomes.
Originality/value
Unique contributions of this study include using data from the most recently available waves of the China Household Finance Survey (2013, 2015 and 2017) to study the associations between debt holding and happiness. In addition, the findings of this study enrich the literature of debt and happiness by adding evidence from China, the largest emerging economy in the world, which is helpful for future theory building and business practice on the relationship between debt holding and happiness.
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The relationship between government and market is the key to the economic development performance of market economy countries. Due to the limits such as the state/market…
Abstract
Purpose
The relationship between government and market is the key to the economic development performance of market economy countries. Due to the limits such as the state/market dichotomy, the focus on static allocation efficiency and the ignorance of the diversity of the market economy and the relationship between government and market, economic liberalism and state interventionism can hardly position and explain the role and evolution of government and market in the real world accurately.
Design/methodology/approach
China’s economic transition has always adhered to the reform direction of the socialist market economy and the development goal of a modern socialist country as well as the symbiosis and positive and progressive evolution of government and market, blazing a “third way” in handling the relationship between government and market.
Findings
The “China’s experience” shows that the key for emerging market economies to achieve good economic development performance lies in whether they can build a new relationship of the mutual integration between and common prosperity of government and market regarding target selection, production organisation, technological innovation, institutional change and regulatory adjustment.
Originality/value
The second part of this paper analyses the inherent defects of economic liberalism and state interventionism as well as the reasons why they can hardly be adopted as the theoretical guidance for emerging market economies to handle the relationship between government and market. The third part analyses how China has transcended the inherent thinking of liberalism and interventionism and shaped the new relationship between government and market through goal-oriented, active and progressive, two-way interactive exploration and practice to ensure the success of China's economic transition.
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Shi Xu, Hongyu Gao, Fukang Yang, Ziyue Zhang, Shuolei Wang, Xiaojian Jiang and Yubing Dong
The purpose of this study is to improve the mechanical properties, thermal insulation properties and flame retardant properties of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the organic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to improve the mechanical properties, thermal insulation properties and flame retardant properties of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the organic montmorillonite (OMMT)/SiO2 aerogel/PET composites and fibers were prepared, and the effects of the OMMT/SiO2 aerogel on the structure, thermal conductivity and flame retardance of the OMMT/SiO2 aerogel/PET composites and their fibers were systematically investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
The OMMT/SiO2 aerogel/PET composites and fibers were prepared by in-situ polymerization and melt spinning using SiO2 aerogel as thermal insulation filler and OMMT (DK2) as comodified filler.
Findings
The experimental results showed that OMMT improved the crystallization properties of PET. Compared with the crystallinity of SiO2 aerogel/PET composites (34.8%), SiO2 aerogel/PET composites and their fibers reached 45.1% and 49.2%, respectively. The breaking strength of the OMMT/SiO2 aerogel/PET composite fibers were gradually increased with the OMMT content. When the content of OMMT was 0.8 wt.%, the fracture strength of the composite fibers reached 4.40 cN/dtex, which was 54% higher than that of the SiO2 aerogel/PET fiber. In addition, the thermal insulation properties of the composites and their fibers were improved by addition of fillers, and at the same time reached the flame retardant level. The thermal conductivity of the 0.8 wt.% OMMT/SiO2 aerogel/PET composites was 101.78 mW/(m·K), which was 49.3% and 58.8% lower than that of the SiO2 aerogel/PET composites and the pure PET, respectively. The thermal conductivity of the fiber fabrics woven from the 0.8 wt.% OMMT/SiO2 aerogel/PET composites was 28.18 mW/(m·K), which was 29.0% and 44.6% lower than that of the SiO2 aerogel/PET composite fiber fabrics and PET fiber fabrics. The flame retardancy of the composites was improved, with an limiting oxygen index value of 29.2% for the 0.8 wt.% OMMT/SiO2 aerogel/PET composites, which was 4.1% higher compared to the SiO2 aerogel/PET composites, and achieved the flame retardant level.
Research limitations/implications
The SiO2 aerogel/PET composites and their fibers have good mechanical properties, flame retardant properties and thermal insulation properties, exhibited good potential for application in the field of thermal insulation, such as warm clothing. Nowadays, as the energy crisis is becoming more and more serious, it is very important to improve the thermal insulation properties of PET to reduce energy losses and mitigate the energy crisis.
Originality/value
In this study, PET based composites and their fibers with excellent mechanical properties, thermal insulation properties and flame retardant property were obtained by using three-dimensional network porous silica aerogel with low density and low thermal conductivity as the thermal insulation functional filler and two-dimensional layered OMMT as the synergetic modified filler.
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Marwa H. El-Azma, Nadia M. El-Beih, Karima A. El-Shamy, Khaled M.M. Koriem, Mahitab I. Elkassaby and Wael M. El-Sayed
This study aims to investigate the potential of pumpkin seed oil (PSO) and zinc to attenuate oxidative stress and neuroinflammation caused by chronic mild stress (CMS) in the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the potential of pumpkin seed oil (PSO) and zinc to attenuate oxidative stress and neuroinflammation caused by chronic mild stress (CMS) in the cerebral cortex of male rats.
Design/methodology/approach
The rats were submitted to stress for six weeks and then the behavior of the rats was tested by forced swimming test (FST) and novel cage test. The treated groups were given venlafaxine (20 mg/kg), pumpkin seed oil (40 mg/kg) and zinc (4 mg/kg). The cortex homogenate was used for the detection of the oxidative stress parameters, the concentration of neurotransmitters, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin 1β (IL-1β), Na+/K+-ATPase activity, and the expression of histamine N-methyltransferase (Hnmt) and tyrosine hydroxylase (Th).
Findings
CMS causes a significant increase in immobility time in the FST and a significant decrease in the number of rearing in the novel cage test. CMS group showed a significant increase in alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity, levels of cortisol, TNF-α, IL-1β, nitric oxide and malondialdehyde. CMS caused a significant decrease in the concentrations of serotonin, GABA, norepinephrine, and the activities of glutathione peroxidase, catalase, superoxide dismutase and Na+/K+-ATPase. CMS caused a marked reduction in the expression of Hnmt and Th in the cortex. PSO and zinc attenuated the Na+/K+-ATPase activity, oxidative parameters and neuroinflammation induced by the CMS, and this was reflected by the elevation of the concentration of neurotransmitters and reduction of cortisol and ALT, in addition to the behavior normalization. PSO and zinc attenuated the CMS by improving the antioxidant milieu and anti-inflammatory status of the cerebral cortex.
Originality/value
There are no studies on the effect of pumpkin seed oil on depression
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Abdul Hameed Pitafi and Minglun Ren
This study aims to investigate the impact of enterprise social media (ESM) usage on employee agility through communication quality and visibility. Theory of communication…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the impact of enterprise social media (ESM) usage on employee agility through communication quality and visibility. Theory of communication visibility is used to explore the moderating role of ESM-related strain in the relationship among communication quality, visibility and employee agility.
Design/methodology/approach
The research model is analyzed using data from 240 Chinese employees of different companies. The proposed hypotheses are tested using structural equation modeling, hierarchical regression and mediation analysis.
Findings
Findings suggest that ESM usage is positively related to communication quality and visibility. Communication visibility mediates the relationship between ESM usage and employee agility. ESM-related strain reduces the relationship between communication visibility and employee agility. However, ESM-related strain has an insignificant moderating effect on the relationship between communication quality and employee agility.
Originality/value
The present study examines how employee agility is associated with ESM usage in the workplace. The mediating effects of communication quality and visibility are explored using a theoretical foundation. This study provides empirical evidence on how the impact of ESM on employee agility is transmitted through communication visibility. Lastly, the current study quantifies the advantages of ESM for organizations and may motivate managers to confidently deploy ESM in the workplace.