Effects of computer self efficacy and positive mood in business -to -business service encounters

Attempts to improve the level of customer service delivered have resulted in an increased use of technology in the customer service environment. Customer-contact employees are expected to use computers to help them in providing better service encounters for customers. This research study done in a business-to-business environment explored the effects of customer-contact employees' computer self efficacy and positive mood on in-role customer service, extra-role customer service and organization citizenship. It also examined the relationship of customer service to customer satisfaction and customer delight. ^ Research questions were analyzed using descriptive statistics, frequency distributions, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. Results indicated that computer self efficacy had a greater impact on extra-role customer service than it did on in-role customer service. Positive mood had a positive moderating influence on extra-role customer service but not on in-role customer service. ^ There was a significant relationship between in-role customer service and customer satisfaction but not between extra-role customer service and customer satisfaction. There was no significant relationship between in-role customer service and customer delight nor between extra-role customer service and customer delight. There was a statistically greater positive relationship between joy experienced by clients and customer delight than between pleasant surprise and customer delight. ^ This study demonstrated the importance of facilitating customer-contact employee positive mood on the job in order to improve the level of extra-role customer service delivered. It also showed that increasing the level of customer service does not necessarily lead to higher levels of customer satisfaction. ^

An Exergy Based Engineering and Economic Analysis of Sustainable Building

To achieve the goal of sustainable development, the building energy system was evaluated from both the first and second law of thermodynamics point of view. The relationship between exergy destruction and sustainable development were discussed at first, followed by the description of the resource abundance model, the life cycle analysis model and the economic investment effectiveness model. By combining the forgoing models, a new sustainable index was proposed. Several green building case studies in U.S. and China were presented. The influences of building function, geographic location, climate pattern, the regional energy structure, and the technology improvement potential of renewable energy in the future were discussed. The building’s envelope, HVAC system, on-site renewable energy system life cycle analysis from energy, exergy, environmental and economic perspective were compared. It was found that climate pattern had a dramatic influence on the life cycle investment effectiveness of the building envelope. The building HVAC system energy performance was much better than its exergy performance. To further increase the exergy efficiency, renewable energy rather than fossil fuel should be used as the primary energy. A building life cycle cost and exergy consumption regression model was set up. The optimal building insulation level could be affected by either cost minimization or exergy consumption minimization approach. The exergy approach would cause better insulation than cost approach. The influence of energy price on the system selection strategy was discussed. Two photovoltaics (PV) systems – stand alone and grid tied system were compared by the life cycle assessment method. The superiority of the latter one was quite obvious. The analysis also showed that during its life span PV technology was less attractive economically because the electricity price in U.S. and China did not fully reflect the environmental burden associated with it. However if future energy price surges and PV system cost reductions were considered, the technology could be very promising for sustainable buildings in the future.

Analysis and design of tall concrete buildings : an investigation regarding the use of cracked versus un-cracked moment of inertia

A debate is currently prevalent among the structural engineers regarding the use of cracked versus un-cracked moment of inertia of the structural elements in analyzing and designing tall concrete buildings. (The basic definition of a tall building, according to the Journal of Structural Design of Tall Buildings Vol. 13. No. 5, 2004 is a structure that is equal to or greater than 160 feet in height, or 6 stories or greater.) The controversy is the result of differing interpretations of certain ACI (American Concrete Institute) code provisions. The issue is whether designers should use cracked moment of inertia in order to estimate lateral deflection and whether the computed lateral deflection should be used to carry out subsequent second-order analysis (analysis considering the effect of first order lateral deflections on bending moment and shear stresses). On one hand, bending moments and shear forces estimated based on un-cracked moment of inertia of the sections may result in conservative designs by overestimating moments and shears. On the other hand, lateral deflections may be underestimated due to the same analyses resulting in unsafe designs.

A probabilistic approach to assess hydrate formation and design preventive measures

Formation of hydrates is one of the major flow assurance problems faced by the oil and gas industry. Hydrates tend to form in natural gas pipelines with the presence of water and favorable temperature and pressure conditions, generally low temperatures and corresponding high pressures. Agglomeration of hydrates can result in blockage of flowlines and equipment, which can be time consuming to remove in subsea equipment and cause safety issues. Natural gas pipelines are more susceptible to burst and explosion owing to hydrate plugging. Therefore, a rigorous risk-assessment related to hydrate formation is required, which assists in preventing hydrate blockage and ensuring equipment integrity. This thesis presents a novel methodology to assess the probability of hydrate formation and presents a risk-based approach to determine the parameters of winterization schemes to avoid hydrate formation in natural gas pipelines operating in Arctic conditions. It also presents a lab-scale multiphase flow loop to study the effects of geometric and hydrodynamic parameters on hydrate formation and discusses the effects of geometric and hydrodynamic parameters on multiphase development length of a pipeline. Therefore, this study substantially contributes to the assessment of probability of hydrate formation and the decision making process of winterization strategies to prevent hydrate formation in Arctic conditions.

Computer assisted synthesis and in-vitro cytotoxic evaluation of new pyrazole-fused isoquinolinoquinones derivatives as PI3K receptor antagonist with promising antitumoral activity

The importance of pyrazole and isoquinoline-5,8-dione scaffolds in medical chemistry is underlined by the high number of drugs currently on trading that contains these active ingredients. Due to their cytotoxic capability, the interest of medicinal chemists in these heterocyclic rings has grown exponentially especially, for cancer therapy. In this project, the first synthesis of pyrazole-fused isoquinoline-5,8-diones has been developed. 1,3-Dipolar cycloaddition followed by oxidative aromatization, established by our research group, has been employed. Screening of reaction conditions and characterization studies about the regioselectivity have been successfully performed. A remote control of regioselectivity, to achieve the two possible regioisomers has been accomplished. Through Molecular Docking studies, Structure-Activity relationship of differently substituted scaffolds containing our central core proved that a family of PI3K inhibitors have been discovered. Finally, in order to verify the promising antitumor activity, a first test of cell viability in vitro on T98G cell line of a solid brain tumor, the Glioblastoma Multiforme, showed cytotoxic inhibition comparable to currently trade anticancer drugs.

Personal Storytelling : Using Natural Language Generation for Children with Complex Communication Needs, in the Wild...

Acknowledgements The authors thank the children, their parents and school staff, who participated in this research, and who so willingly gave us their time, help and support. They also thank Steven Knox and Alan Clelland for their work on programming the mobile phone application. Additional thanks to DynaVox Inc. for supplying the Vmax communication devices to run our system on and Sensory Software Ltd for supplying us with their AAC software. This research was supported by the Research Council UKs Digittal Economy Programme and EPSRC (Grant numbers EP/F067151/1, EP/F066880/1, EP/E011764/1, EP/H022376/1, and EP/H022570 /1).

The effect of personality on the design team:lessons from industry for design education

This study examines the effect of individual character types in design teams through case studies at ARUP associates and five United Kingdom university design degree programmes. By observing an individual's approach and contribution within a team, patterns of design behaviour are highlighted and compared within the industrial and academic examples. Initial findings have identified discreet differences in design approach and ways of working. By identifying these initial character clusters, design behaviour can be predicted to help teams and individuals to strengthen their design process. This research brings together: 1. The design process and how engineering and design teams work to solve problems. 2. The natural characteristics of individuals and how they approach problems. This difference of approach can be viewed in relation to the design process where engineers and designers will recognise their preference for certain stages of the design process. This study suggests that these individual preferences are suited to different stages of the design process, and that industry uses teams to ensure a broad range of views, an approach design education would do well to apply by establishing collaborative input in the design process.

Of Marx and Makers: an Historical Perspective on Generative Justice

In Marxist frameworks “distributive justice” depends on extracting value through a centralized state. Many new social movements—peer to peer economy, maker activism, community agriculture, queer ecology, etc.—take the opposite approach, keeping value in its unalienated form and allowing it to freely circulate from the bottom up. Unlike Marxism, there is no general theory for bottom-up, unalienated value circulation. This paper examines the concept of “generative justice” through an historical contrast between Marx’s writings and the indigenous cultures that he drew upon. Marx erroneously concluded that while indigenous cultures had unalienated forms of production, only centralized value extraction could allow the productivity needed for a high quality of life. To the contrary, indigenous cultures now provide a robust model for the “gift economy” that underpins open source technological production, agroecology, and restorative approaches to civil rights. Expanding Marx’s concept of unalienated labor value to include unalienated ecological (nonhuman) value, as well as the domain of freedom in speech, sexual orientation, spirituality and other forms of “expressive” value, we arrive at an historically informed perspective for generative justice. 

A Combined Molecular Cloning and Mass Spectrometric Method to Identify, Characterize, and Design Frenatin Peptides from the Skin Secretion of Litoria infrafrenata

Amphibian skin secretions are unique sources of bioactive molecules, particularly bioactive peptides. In this study, the skin secretion of the white-lipped tree frog (Litoria infrafrenata) was obtained to identify peptides with putative therapeutic potential. By utilizing skin secretion-derived mRNA, a cDNA library was constructed, a frenatin gene was cloned and its encoded peptides were deduced and confirmed using RP-HPLC, MALDI-TOF and MS/MS. The deduced peptides were identified as frenatin 4.1 (GFLEKLKTGAKDFASAFVNSIKGT) and a post-translationally modified peptide, frenatin 4.2 (GFLEKLKTGAKDFASAFVNSIK.NH2). Antimicrobial activity of the peptides was assessed by determining their minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) using standard model microorganisms. Through studying structure–activity relationships, analogues of the two peptides were designed, resulting in synthesis of frenatin 4.1a (GFLEKLKKGAKDFASALVNSIKGT) and frenatin 4.2a (GFLLKLKLGAKLFASAFVNSIK.NH2). Both analogues exhibited improved antimicrobial activities, especially frenatin 4.2a, which displayed significant enhancement of broad spectrum antimicrobial efficiency. The peptide modifications applied in this study, may provide new ideas for the generation of leads for the design of antimicrobial peptides with therapeutic applications.

Dietary exposure assessments for children in Europe (the EXPOCHI project): rationale, methods and design

[EN]The number of dietary exposure assessment studies focussing on children is very limited. Children are however a vulnerable group due to their higher food consumption level per kg body weight. Therefore, the EXPOCHI project aims [1] to create a relational network of individual food consumption databases in children, covering different geographical areas within Europe, and [2] to use these data to assess the usual intake of lead, chromium, selenium and food colours.

Exploring Ideas from Hospitality, Health Management, and Design for Senior Housing and Care: Insights from 2016 CIHF Senior Living Roundtable

The first Cornell Institute for Healthy Futures (CIHF) roundtable, held in April 2016, brought together senior-level executives, educators, and leaders in senior housing and care to share experiences and exchange ideas. CIHF roundtables are purposely limited to approximately 25 to 30 participants “at the table” to foster discussion on a more intimate basis than traditional conferences. In addition to the formal participants, students, faculty, and guests observed and interacted during the event and attended a separate panel discussion, and reception the evening before. Students, faculty, and industry leaders also met together at a working luncheon session to brainstorm ideas for recruiting and training young talent for careers in the senior housing and care industry.

Policy and Design Guidelines for Trees in a Growing Seattle

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Milestones in Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering History: A Comparative Review

We present a review of the historical evolution of software engineering, intertwining it with the history of knowledge engineering because “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This retrospective represents a further step forward to understanding the current state of both types of engineerings; history has also positive experiences; some of them we would like to remember and to repeat. Two types of engineerings had parallel and divergent evolutions but following a similar pattern. We also define a set of milestones that represent a convergence or divergence of the software development methodologies. These milestones do not appear at the same time in software engineering and knowledge engineering, so lessons learned in one discipline can help in the evolution of the other one.

A matlab-based toolbox for the simulation and design of L1 adaptive controllers

This thesis introduces the L1 Adaptive Control Toolbox, a set of tools implemented in Matlab that aid in the design process of an L1 adaptive controller and enable the user to construct simulations of the closed-loop system to verify its performance. Following a brief review of the existing theory on L1 adaptive controllers, the interface of the toolbox is presented, including a description of the functions accessible to the user. Two novel algorithms for determining the required sampling period of a piecewise constant adaptive law are presented and their implementation in the toolbox is discussed. The detailed description of the structure of the toolbox is provided as well as a discussion of the implementation of the creation of simulations. Finally, the graphical user interface is presented and described in detail, including the graphical design tools provided for the development of the filter C(s). The thesis closes with suggestions for further improvement of the toolbox.