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©2021 Emerald Publishing Limited. This manuscript version is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY–NC 4.0) license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

PurposeThis study theoretically articulates and empirically validates a model of relationships between market complexity (competition intensity, heterogeneity and technological change), strategic focus on product and service differentiation, ADS offerings and differentiation advantage.Design/methodology/approachThe authors develop and test hypotheses through structural equation modeling based on data from the Sixth International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS-VI), involving 931 manufacturers from 22 countries.FindingsThe results indicate that (1) market complexity has a positive impact on strategic focus on product and service differentiation; (2) focus on product and service differentiation, but not market complexity, has a positive impact on the extent to which business units offer ADS to their customers; (3) ADS have a positive impact on service differentiation advantage, but no influence on product differentiation advantage.Practical implicationsManagers should incorporate decisions related to ADS provision as part of their manufacturing strategy formulation processes to align markets, strategic focus on product and service differentiation, and ADS provision. ADS seem an appropriate lever for market differentiation, because they appear not only to support service differentiation advantage, but also to be consistent with strategic focus on product differentiation.Originality/valueThe study provides novel insights and large-scale empirical evidence on the influence of the market environment on the offering of ADS, as well as on how relationships between the product and service activity in the manufacturing organization may affect differentiation advantage.

Research has shown that any individual consumer, regardless of membership in any particular class, may experience vulnerability in the marketplace. While studies have identified core determinants of customer vulnerability states and perceptions and outlined their impact on consumers and firms, there is little research on how channel design, as part of service design strategies, can be employed to alleviate or prevent states and perceptions of vulnerability. This study extends the current literature on customer vulnerability by developing a framework that delineates determinants and consequences of vulnerability that manifest in problems of accessing or processing resources. We outline three relevant channel design strategies that service providers might employ to alleviate vulnerability: (1) flexibility through multiple multichannel paths, (2) guidance through constrained channel paths and (3) proactive initiation of interactions. Additionally, we propose a future research agenda and offer recommendations for managerial practice regarding how to identify customer vulnerability and employ countermeasures.

Drawing on recent experimental and commercial developments, this review reappraises potential substitute leach reagents for cyanide in the gold mining sector. In addition to extraction, the application of these reagents in the gold processing, pre-treatment and gold purification stages is explored. The main objective here is to discuss how the gold extraction process can be more sustainable, with a view to developing more greener leaching reagents. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The advantages of the digital methodology are well known. In this paper, we provide a detailed description of the process for the digital transformation of the pathology laboratory at IPATIMUP, the major modifications that operate throughout the processing pipeline, and the advantages of its implementation. The model of digital workflow implementation at IPATIMUP demonstrates that careful planning and adoption of simple measures related to time, space, and sample management can be adopted by any pathology laboratory to achieve higher quality and easy digital transformation.

ResumoOs autores apresentam um caso de um fibroma da bainha de tendão com localização intra-articular no joelho e origem na gordura infrapatelar. Esta localização específica é extremamente rara, sendo este o quarto caso descrito de uma entidade que raramente afeta grandes articulações. Para o seu diagnóstico aspetos clínicos, epidemiológicos e sobretudo achados imagiológicos da ressonância magnética são fundamentais. Neste caso o diagnóstico definitvo foi apenas estabelecido após estudo histológico da massa excisada por mini-artrotomia.

Introduction: Despite the impact needling has had on vascular access survival and patient outcome, there is no universal or standardized method proposed for proper cannulation. Rigorous studies are needed, examining cannulation practices, and challenges to achieving complication-free cannulation. Methods: This randomized, open-label trial was conducted at 18 dialysis units owned by a large private dialysis provider operating in Portugal. Eligible patients were adults on chronic hemodialysis, with a new arteriovenous fistula (AVF); cannulated for at least 4 weeks complication-free. Patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to one of three cannulation techniques (CT): Multiple Single cannulation Technique (MuST), rope-ladder (RLC), and buttonhole (BHC). The primary endpoint was AVF primary patency at 1 year. Findings: One hundred seventy-two patients were enrolled between March 2014 and March 2017. Fifty-nine patients were allocated to MuST, 56 to RLC, and 57 to BHC. MuST and RLC were associated with a better AVF primary patency than BHC. Primary patency at 12 months was 76.3% in MuST, 59.6% in BHC, and 76.8% in RLC group. Mean AVF survival times were 10.5 months (95% CI = 9.6, 11.3) in the MuST group, 10.4 months (95% CI = 9.5, 11.2) in RLC, and 9.5 months (95% CI = 8.6, 10.4) in BHC. BHC was a significant risk predictor for AVF survival with 2.13 times more events than the other two CT (HR 2.13; 95% CI = 1.07, 4.21; p = 0.03). Discussion: MuST was easy to implement without a diagram and there is no need to use blunt needles. This study showed MuST was efficacious and safe in maintaining the longevity of AVF in dialysis patients. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The number of single-child families has been rising steadily in recent years, resulting in a childhood absent of sibling relationships. Being an only child has been shown to have a negative impact on physical fitness, somatic fitness, and motor development. In this study, we aimed to understand how living with and without siblings can impact the motor competence of children. One hundred and sixty-one children (87 boys, 74 girls) from 3.0 to 6.0 years of age (34 only children, 125 siblings) and with no known motor or cognitive disability were assessed using the Motor Competence Assessment (MCA). Their standardized results on the three MCA subscales (stability, locomotor, and manipulative) and total MCA were used to group them into high, average, and low motor competence groups. Motor competence percentile distribution of the sibling and only child group condition was compared using chi-square tests. Results showed a significative and positive association between the sibling condition and the distribution between the three MC groups (chi-square = 6.29, p = 0.043), showing that children in a household with siblings, independent of their age and sex, show a clear tendency for developing better motor competence.

To compete in today's omni-channel business context, it is essential for firms to co-ordinate their activities across channels and across different stages of the customer journey and the product flow. This requires firms to adopt an integrative approach, addressing each omni-channel design decision from a dual demand-side (marketing) and supply-side (operations) perspective. However, both in practice and in academic research, such an integrative approach is still in an immature stage. In this article, a framework is developed with the following key decision areas: (i) assortment & inventory, (ii) distribution & delivery and (iii) returns. These affect both the customer journey and the product flow. As a consequence of the resulting interdependencies between the firm's functions, addressing the issues that arise in the three decision areas requires an integrated marketing and operations perspective. For each of the areas, the key decisions that affect or involve both the customer journey and product flow are identified first. Next, for each decision, the marketing and operational goals and the tensions that arise when these goals are not perfectly aligned are described. The opportunities for relieving these tensions are also discussed and possible directions for future research aimed at addressing these tensions and opportunities are presented.

Basketball is a team sport in which the players undergo rapid reactions, and running efforts are usually carried out in all directions. The main goal of the present study was to evaluate the muscle activity response in different basketball movements, considering two types of athletes with different levels of experience. Using a group of nine volunteers, female athletes from a senior basketball team, a data acquisition protocol was defined to identify the changes that occurred throughout the sports season. In this study, to assess the gastrocnemius muscle activity, intensity peak (%MC) and time to peak (TP) were evaluated for five typical basketball skills and movements involving running and jumping with and without the ball. Seven repetitions were executed for each movement, performed at two different time-points of the sports season: at the beginning of the teams&rsquo, competition, in November (T1), and at the season peak, in March (T2). TP presents greater values for T2 of the season when compared with T1. The results show that the level of experience of the athletes has a significant effect on the results of TP and %MC, particularly when comparing the two seasons.

Fake news is news-like content that has been produced without following journalism principles. Fake news try to mimic the look and feel of real news to intentionally disinform the reader. This phenomenon can have a strong influence on society, thus being potentially a severe problem. To address this phenomenon, systems to detect fake news have been developed, but most of them build upon fact-checking approaches, which are unfit to detect misinformation when a news piece, rather than completely false, is distorted, exaggerated, or even decontextualized. We aim to detect Portuguese fake news by following a forensic linguistics approach. Contrary to previous approaches, we build upon methods of linguistic and stylistic analysis that have been tried and tested in forensic linguists. After collecting corpora from multiple fake news outlets and from a genuine news source, we formulate the task as a text classification problem and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed features when training different classifiers for telling fake from genuine news. Furthermore, we perform an ablation study with subsets of features and find that the proposed feature sets are complementary. The highest results reported are very promising, achieving 97% of accuracy and a macro F1-score of 91%.

Optimizing athlete&rsquo, s performance is one of the most important and challenging aspects of coaching. Physiological and positional data, often acquired using wearable devices, have been useful to identify patterns, thus leading to a better understanding of the game and, consequently, providing the opportunity to improve the athletic performance. Even though there is a panoply of research in pattern recognition, there is a gap when it comes to non-controlled environments, as during sports training and competition. This research paper combines the use of physiological and positional data as sequential features of different artificial intelligence approaches for action recognition in a real match context, adopting futsal as its case study. The traditional artificial neural networks (ANN) is compared with a deep learning method, Long Short-Term Memory Network, and also with the Dynamic Bayesian Mixture Model, which is an ensemble classification method. The methods were used to process all data sequences, which allowed to determine, based on the balance between precision and recall, that Dynamic Bayesian Mixture Model presents a superior performance, with an F1 score of 80.54% against the 33.31% achieved by the Long Short-Term Memory Network and 14.74% achieved by ANN.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) road traffic injuries are a leading cause of death globally, leading to the death of 1.2 million people each year. Data from National Authority for Road Safety (ANSR-Portugal) points to age group between 18 and 24 years old as the most vulnerable facing road dangers. In the last 10 years 15% of fatalities, 18% of serious injuries and minor injuries happened in this age group. It is also in this younger group that most accidents occur during weekend nights compared to the other days of the week. This article aims to present the results of a preliminary study about drug use and drugged-driving, through the application of the DDYP-Scale Questionnaire to 140 young people. For data analysis, descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were applied. Results presented here, although somewhat different from American and European studies, indicate a clear tendency to the recreational use of marijuana and drugged-driving, among younger populations.

Summary Study aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between objectively measured daily physical activity (PA) and body fat mass (BF) and body mass index (BMI). A further aim was to analyse the variance of PA between quartiles of BF and BMI. Material and methods: A cross-sectional, observational study of 126 university students (53 males aged 20.46 ± 2.04 years and 73 female aged 19.69 ± 1.32 years) was conducted. Results: The female participants and PA characteristics explain 57.10% of BF variance and the model was statistically signifi­cant (F(6, 875) = 196.38; p = 0.001). BMI was also included in the model. Standard binary logistic regression was used to test the hypothesis that female sex and PA characteristics can influence overweight. The full model containing all variables was statistically significant (G2(6) = 58.598, p-value = 0.001). Analysis of variance between BF quartiles revealed statistically sig­nificant differences in male participants in light PA (p = 0.001; ES = 0.09), moderate PA (p = 0.001; ES = 0.042) and vigorous PA (p = 0.001; ES = 0.130). Conclusions: The statistical model in the regression analysis suggests that low and vigorous levels of PA explain 57% of BF variance in female participants.

Online shopping is growing significantly among rural consumers interested in overcoming product assortment limitations in their local markets. Retailers are taking notice, and some are looking for first-mover-advantage opportunities in rural areas where they see greater potential for growth when compared to saturated urban markets. However, expanding to these areas presents significant and unresolved challenges related to last mile fulfillment caused by low levels of population density as well as other socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. In this article, we present an integrated set of recommendations for online retailers to differentiate strategies to serve rural markets efficiently. To that end, we partnered with an online grocery retailer to examine differences between rural and urban consumers across online shopping preferences that significantly impact fulfillment costs. We draw on those differences and existing knowledge on last mile fulfillment operations to propose a tailored consumer value proposition and operational model for last mile fulfillment in rural markets.

The concept of servitization is well established in the literature, and yet the processes of organisational change that manufacturers undergo to compete through services have received much less attention. Therefore, this paper develops a model that enables a description of the servitization processes, the principal stages of organisational change, and the forces impacting these processes. It is based on a series of 14 case studies of the process of servitization over time in multinational manufacturers. Evidence and analysis from these cases are used to establish that manufacturers undergo four stages of organisational maturity (Exploration, Engagement, Expansion and Exploitation), through which an organisation progresses according to the pressures of five principal forces (customer pull, technology push, value network positioning, organisational readiness, and organisational commitment). This progression can be characterised as a business growth model with multiple crises or tipping points. This research contributes to our understanding of the process of servitization and proposes a model which can be used to explain progression. It also forms the basis to better prepare manufacturers as to what to expect as they embark on a servitization journey.

Omnichannel grocery retailers can fulfill online orders by allowing consumers to collect their orders at the retailers’ stores (click and collect or “CC” fulfillment) or have their orders delivered...

Objective To assess seizure control and tolerability of eslicarbazepine acetate (ESL) as adjunctive therapy to one baseline antiepileptic drug (AED), in adults with partial-onset seizures (POS) with or without secondary generalization. Methods Multicenter, non-interventional, prospective cohort study conducted between March 2012 and September 2014 at 12 neurology departments in Portugal. Adults with POS not controlled with one AED who had initiated ESL as adjunctive treatment were enrolled. Retention rate was defined at the final visit (Vfinal) 6-9 months of follow-up. Proportion of responders, seizure-free, changes in seizure frequency were evaluated using patients' diaries. Clinical Global Impression of Change (CGI-C) and Clinical Global Impression of Severity (CGI-S) were assessed by the neurologist. Results Fifty-two patients (48.1% male) were included with mean age 41.5±13.3 years. Mean epilepsy duration was 18.5±14.8 years; mean seizure frequency in the four previous weeks to baseline was 7.5±12.7. At Vfinal, retention rate was 73.0%; responder rate and seizure-free rates were 71.1% and 39.5%, respectively. The median relative reduction in seizure frequency between baseline and Vfinal was 82.2%. A reduction in epilepsy severity (CGI-S) was observed in 42.1%. According to CGI-C, 73.6% patients had their epilepsy “much improved” or “very much improved”. Twelve patients (23.1%) had at least one adverse event (AE), two (3.9%) had one serious AE, and five (9.6%) discontinued due to AE. Conclusions Eslicarbazepine acetate showed good retention rates, elicited a significant reduction in seizure frequency, and was well tolerated when used in the clinical practice.

The study of teammates’ interaction on team sports has been growing in the last few years. Nevertheless, no specific software has been developed so far to do this in a user-friendly manner. Therefore, the aim of this study was to introduce a software called the Performance Analysis Tool that allows the user to quickly record the teammates’ interaction and automatically generate the outputs in adjacency matrices that can then be imported by social network analysis software such as SocNetV. Moreover, it was also the aim of this study to process the data in a real-life scenario, thus the seven matches of the German national soccer team in the FIFA World Cup 2014 were used to test the software and then compute the network metrics. A dataset of 3032 passes between teammates in seven soccer matches was generated with the Performance Analysis Tool software, which permitted a study of the network structure. The analysis of variance of centrality metrics between different tactical positions was made. The two-way multivariate analysis of variance revealed that the strategic position ([Formula: see text]; F = 24.394; p = 0.001; [Formula: see text]; large effect size) had significant main effects on the centrality measures. No statistical differences were found in the phase of competition ([Formula: see text]; F = 0.097; p = 0.907; [Formula: see text]; very small effect size). The network approach revealed that the German national soccer team based their attacking process on positional attacks and not in counter-attack, and the midfielders were the prominent players followed by the central defenders. The Performance Analysis Tool software allowed the user to quickly identify the teammates’ interactions and extract the network data for process and analysis.

This study develops a methodology for assisting service providers in the choice of the service channels (e.g. physical facilities, the Internet, phone) to employ to support the delivery to customers of the several stages of a service process (from information search to after-sales). We build on the principles of the service concept, service blueprinting and quality function deployment (QFD) to develop a stepwise procedure for: (i) translating customer requirements into a corresponding service concept across distinct service process stages; and (ii) specify the channels that support customer interaction at each stage. Based on the QFD logic, the multi-channel deployment methodology employs a number of matrices that consider the way channel choices fit with the intended service concept, considering both the customer and the provider perspectives, thus aligning ‘the voice of the customer’ with the ‘voice of the provider’.

This paper describes our submission to the SemEval 2019 Hyperpartisan News Detection task. Our system aims for a linguistics-based document classification from a minimal set of interpretable features, while maintaining good performance. To this goal, we follow a feature-based approach and perform several experiments with different machine learning classifiers. Additionally, we explore feature importances and distributions among the two classes. On the main task, our model achieved an accuracy of 71.7%, which was improved after the task’s end to 72.9%. We also participate on the meta-learning sub-task, for classifying documents with the binary classifications of all submitted systems as input, achieving an accuracy of 89.9%.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between product customization and servitization strategies, specifically the relationship between product customization strategy intensity and degree of servitization (offering of basic and/or advanced services) and the moderating role of product customization strategy alignment on that relationship. Design/methodology/approach The authors develop and test hypotheses through partial least squares path modeling to analyze data from the Sixth International Manufacturing Strategy Survey, involving 931 manufacturers in 22 countries. Findings The results indicate that customization strategy intensity is positively associated with the offering of basic and advanced services; these relationships are not moderated by customization strategy alignment. Practical implications Manufacturers pursuing product customization strategies may be especially well positioned to servitize, even those with misalignment in strategic choices. Paradoxically, while manufacturers of standard products might look at servitization as an attractive strategy to differentiate their value proposition, they appear to be less servitized than manufacturers pursuing product customization. Originality/value This is one of the first studies to examine how manufacturing strategy choices (intensity and alignment) influence the adoption of servitization strategies. The study introduces manufacturing strategy as a contingency factor that influences the adoption of servitization, answering calls for the study of servitization contingencies.

Mineral processing of low-grade ores requires high processing flow rates. Pre-concentration is a clever technological solution for this challenge because the rejection of barren rock, in the early stages of the processing flowsheet, leads to increasing the head grade of the concentration plant and reducing the corresponding input flow rate. As pre-concentration at crushing sizes depends on the ore texture and consequently, it relies on the achieved mineral liberation degree, a straightforward methodology to assess quantitative mineralogical data of the ore macro-texture, based on image analysis, was developed. For the purpose, photos of hand samples collected at the mine site were converted into a digital image representative of the ore macro-texture. Then, a random comminution algorithm simulating a coarse crushing stage, to generate particles in size range 19.3/6.7 mm was applied. The surface grade of each particle was calculated by pixel counting, allowing for the computation of the Grade Histograms (wt%) and then for the construction of ultimate upgrading descriptors, which has been proved to be a useful tool to assess pre-concentration feasibility and the separation efficiency. This methodology was applied to a Li-Mica lepidolite ore from Alvarroes deposit (Portugal) by simulating several separation scenarios. The separation efficiency of an optical sorting separation was also assessed using the proposed methodology. Furthermore, the influence of mineral liberation at different size ranges on the global separation efficiency was predicted. This paper intends to underline the importance of quantitative mineralogical data in the study of the pre-concentration process. Data acquisition must be improved, taking advantage of the more accurate and faster systems, such as the modern multispectral analytical devices and ore sorting technologies.

Liberation assessment is a big challenge in mineral processing and its characterization is crucial to design the separation process. The development of automated image analysis methods allowed for the possibility of obtaining mineralogical data to quantify the liberation of the valuable minerals on a particle basis. The Mineral Distribution by liberation degree acquired by the QEMSCAN® system could be converted into Mass Distribution to obtain the Grade histogram (wt%). This Grade histogram (wt%) allows for the simulation of successive separations at different cut-off grades by accumulating the mass of each grade fraction to obtain the yield and the respective mineral recovery, conducting to the calculation of another upgrading line - the Ultimate Upgrading which could be graphically represented in a Mayer diagram along with the traditional Ideal Upgrading and No Upgrading lines. Ultimate Upgrading defines the technical limit of any separation process in accordance with the ore liberation degree. Subsequently, data of real separation (such as yield and metal recovery) can be graphically compared with the Ultimate Upgrading, assessing the separation performance; it is also possible to evaluate if better results would be obtained by re-adjusting parameters of the separator or if the degree of liberation should be increased. In the scope of the H2020 FAME project, this methodology was applied in two case studies, to evaluate the efficiency of gravity separation. Based on the results, the lack of liberation and the technical inefficiency of the separation were graphically identified on the Mayer diagram.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify similarities and differences between qualitative-based and quantitative-based research, and to present recommendations for designing and conducting the research so that the possibilities of publishing it in leading Operations Management (OM) journals are improved. Design/methodology/approach The paper takes its outset in contributions made at the 2016 European Operations Management Association Young Scholars Workshop. The theme of the workshop was “Designing and developing research projects in Operations Management – from concept to publication.” Taking the perspectives of the case researcher, the survey researcher and the editor/reviewer, the authors present and discuss the views on and experiences with designing research for publication. Findings The authors identify a number of recommendations that researchers should use when designing, conducting, and presenting their research for publication. The recommendations include the need to clearly and concisely establish relevance, account for choice of methodology as well as the operationalization, sampling, analytical, and validation methods used, and demonstrate the contribution of the paper in the discussion section. Furthermore, the authors draw attention to the importance of developing a publication strategy as early as possible. Other important aspects include the title of the paper, keywords selection, and rejection criteria. Finally, the authors stress the importance of “total quality management” in designing and executing OM research. Originality/value Going beyond the standard author guidelines found at journal web sites, the authors present a collection of viewpoints, which are based on the authors’ experiences as reviewers, editors, and evaluators of OM research projects and their designs.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose that the effectiveness of organizational design-manufacturing integration (ODMI) practices is contingent upon the degree of complexity of the manufacturing environment. The paper submits that the level of use of ODMI ought to match the level of complexity of the manufacturing environment. The paper puts forward the hypothesis that when a misfit occurs between ODMI and complexity (high use of ODMI practices in low complexity environments or low use of ODMI practices in high complexity environments) manufacturing operational performance declines. Design/methodology/approach The paper tests the hypothesis based on a survey database of 725 manufacturers from 21 countries. The measurement model was assessed with confirmatory factor analysis and the hypothesis was tested with linear regression. Findings A misfit between the level of ODMI use (job rotation and co-location) and manufacturing complexity (product and process complexity) has a negative effect on manufacturing operational performance dimensions of quality, delivery and flexibility. Post hoc analyses also suggest that firms that operate in different environments in what concerns the rate of change in process technologies suffer differentiated negative impacts of ODMI-complexity misfit. Research limitations/implications Future studies could extend this research to other dimensions of design-manufacturing integration, such as technological practices. Practical implications Manufacturers with high levels of complexity should invest strongly in ODMI practices. However, manufacturers with low levels of complexity should invest in these practices with caution since the expected payoffs may not outweigh the effort. Originality/value The study assesses fit as a simultaneous set of contingency factors, applying profile-deviation analysis to ODMI and operational performance relationships. By focusing on plant-level manufacturing complexity, this study complements existing studies of product development complexity which tend to focus on project-level complexity.

Many firms have recently adopted virtual channels, based most notably on the Internet and the phone, to complement the delivery of services to their customers by their existing physical facilities. The success of such multichannel (MC) strategies relies on the alignment of service design decisions—namely those concerning the allocation of service activities to virtual channels—with customers’ MC behavior. Although prior studies have looked at the intensity with which customers use virtual channels, they have not addressed virtual channel use for different types of service activities. In our study, we investigate whether customers’ use of virtual channels for MC services varies with the type of service activities they engage in, and if so, in what way. In doing so, we address two objectives. First, we investigate the impact of accessibility to the physical channel on the degree of use of virtual channels (Internet and phone, aggregated) for different types of activities. Second, we look at channel preferences (Internet vs. phone) for different types of activities when customers do resort to virtual channels to conduct activities. To address our objectives, we develop and test hypotheses regarding customers’ use of virtual channels based on the match between activity attributes (complexity and volume) and channel attributes (access efficiency, interface efficiency, interface richness). Using data from a MC bank, we find that the impact of accessibility to physical channels (specifically, customer distance) on customers’ use of virtual channels, as well as the relative use of Internet versus phone, depend on the type of activities.

This study proposes a computational method to inspect the tactical position of players during the match and a new metric to analyse the defensive pressure made by a soccer team. These metrics only require Cartesian information about the players’ positions on the field. As a case study, three matches played by the same professional soccer team were considered, including variables computed for the half of the match (first half vs second half) and the final score of the game for an analysis of variance of tactical performance, trying to identify the influence of such variables on the collective organisation. The data were collected at 1 Hz and from this process, 9218 instances of useful time were collected. The results revealed that the different kinds of final scores had significant effects on the tactical performance. The comparison between two halves of the match revealed significant differences with a small effect size on tactical performance. In summary, this study showed that these new tactical metrics can be a computational option to increase a coaches’ knowledge about the defensive organisation of soccer teams, giving them the possibility to augment their own perception with metrics that can provide specific information.

This study analyzed the network characteristics of successful and unsuccessful national teams that participated in FIFA World Cup 2014. The relationship between the variables of overall team perfor...

Problem Definition: Omnichannel retailers can fulfill online orders by allowing consumers to have their orders delivered from the retailers’ stores to the consumers’ homes (home fulfillment) or collect the orders at the stores (in-store fulfillment). Because the latter option does not involve costly last-mile deliveries to consumers’ homes, retailers have sought to make it more attractive by waiving the associated in-store fulfillment fees indiscriminately to consumers. We analyze the economic value of this strategy and compare it with that of a strategy we develop based on the use of targeted incentives to induce individual consumers to switch to in-store fulfillment after initially choosing home fulfillment for their orders. Academic/Practical Relevance: We contribute an analysis of the economic value of price incentives involving home and in-store fulfillment options in omnichannel retailing. In so doing, we isolate determinants of consumer preferences between these options and show how retailers can use such preferences to develop pricing strategies to improve the economic value of their fulfillment services. Methodology: We use field data to evaluate the pricing strategies based on econometric models as well as machine-learning and routing algorithms. Results: While the removal of in-store fulfillment fees increases revenues from additional demand, these gains are much lower than the losses caused by (1) the revenue lost from the fees no longer collected and (2) the additional operating costs at the stores necessary to fulfill a higher volume of orders. Conversely, the costs from using targeted incentives are lower (almost 3 times) than the savings in last-mile delivery costs. Managerial Implications: To promote in-store fulfillment as an alternative to home fulfillment, retailers must go beyond incentive strategies that reward consumers indiscriminately, regardless of the value they attach to these fulfillment services. We show how retailers can develop dynamic pricing solutions to generate value in these services.

Purpose Multichannel (MC) service providers have been adopting a wide diversity of front-office service delivery models, i.e. different ways of employing channels to support the delivery of the service activities that involve customer interaction. Despite this, we are still faced with a paucity of concepts to understand the myriad of possible choices. The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical framework and basic design architectures to provide a structured understanding of the diversity of operational design choices for MC front-office service delivery models, their efficacy implications, and how they fit with the provider’s service strategy. Design/methodology/approach The study employs the analytical conceptual approach. The authors logically develop the architectures based on the operations management theory and provide corresponding empirical illustrations based on secondary sources, direct observation, and case studies. Findings The authors propose two theoretically meaningful dimensions to characterize and distinguish between delivery models (channel redundancy and channel span) and put forward four anchor architectures for such models: generalist, parallel, constricted, and centralized. The authors identify the operational efficacy implications (effectiveness and efficiency) of the different architectures, and develop a set of propositions and design principles for selecting appropriate architectures. Research limitations/implications Future research should develop empirical measures for the dimensions underlying the architectures. Originality/value The study extends existing service process classifications by capturing the MC traits of front-office processes. The authors offer design principles to assist firms in selecting architectures that are aligned with their service strategy. The framework and architectures provide seminal concepts to support a wealth of future empirical studies.

Experimental testing of masonry is a difficult, expensive and time consuming process, involving the use of large facilities and a significant number of samples to achieve representative results. On the contrary, computer simulations are practical tools that avoid most of the previous disadvantages. However, such tools are based on experimental evidences and demand experimental results to be validated. These aspects motivated the development of strategies based on numerical models and experimental tests. However, numerical sensitivity analyses based on this approach to predict the behaviour of masonry are not easily found or developed. The main objective of this work is to perform a sensitivity analysis by using computer simulations of laboratory tests to predict the compressive behaviour of unreinforced concrete masonry made from materials with different mechanical properties and geometrical layouts. A three dimensional micro-modelling with continuous finite elements and an elastic–plastic damage constitutive model were used to simulate the masonry behaviour. This numerical model was previously calibrated and validated through experimental data obtained from a small number of laboratory tests. The results obtained showed accuracy and a good agreement with the known aspects of the compressive behaviour of masonry, demonstrating the ability to perform numerical sensitivity analyses with few laboratory resources.

*e aim of this case study was to apply a set of network metrics inorder to characterize the teammates’ cooperation in a football team. *esemetrics were applied in three levels of analysis: i) micro (individual analysis);ii) meso (players’ contribution for the team); and iii) macro (global interactionof the team). One-single case study match was observed and fromsuch procedure were analysed 131 attacking plays. Results from the macroanalysis showed a moderate heterogeneity between teammates, thus suggestingthe emergence of clusters within the team. *e players with highestconnections with their teammates were the right defender, central defenderfrom the left side, defensive mid+elder, right mid+elder and the forwardplayer. Finally, in the micro analysis was observed that right defender, centraldefender, right mid+elder and the forward can be considered the centroidplayers during attacking plays, thus being the most prominent in theattacking building. In sum, the network metrics allowed to characterize theteammates’ interaction during the attacking plays, providing an importantand di

New tactical metrics have been introduced in the last years to allow an understanding on the collective behaviour behind the results provided by notational analysis. Thus, the aim of this article was to propose a new application developed on MATLAB to understand the territorial domain of teams during the game based on players’ position and using such data analyse sectors with more variability considering the advantage or disadvantage of team players during a single match as proof of concept. As methodological approach, a total of 1508 instants of a 7-a-side soccer game were analysed. The herein proposed MATLAB application allows obtaining the differences between players from Team A and Team B. Moreover, the approximate entropy is used to assess the variability of each of the 12 field sectors. The results show that the sector with higher variability is the central offensive midfield (1.114), closely followed by the central defensive midfield (1.033). A more dynamic rapport of strength within the central sectors may be the explanation for such a higher variability. In conclusion, this study presented a new and effective application to analyse the territorial domain that can be matched with automatic tracking systems to improve their online potential.

The aim of this study was to investigate how a player responds to external constraints (slope and angle) in a golf putting task. The sample consisted of 10 adult male (33.8 ± 11.89 years), right handed and highly skilled golfers (average handicap of 10.82). The participants performed 30 putts at a distance of two meters with 25 degrees to the left of the hole (Angle 1) and 30 putts at a distance of two meters with 25 degrees to the right of the hole (Angle 2), with a constraint imposed by a slope. The data suggests that the performance of the golf putting may be improved if different situations and difficulty degrees are employed and exploited. In that sense, the manipulation of task related constraints forced the appearance of solutions uniquely adjusted to each player. This brings implications to the area of sports coaching and training, considering that the athlete can optimize his performance if he explores different couplings of information-movement, in different levels of complexity.

There is a lack of rigorous empirical studies directly examining the impact of sales and operations planning (S&OP) practices on manufacturing operational performance. This paper aims to fill this gap by analysing a sample of 725 manufacturers from 34 countries. Hypotheses relate internal S&OP, integration with suppliers (IS) and integration with customers with manufacturing operational performance (delivery, quality and flexibility). The constructs were validated with structural equation modelling and the hypotheses were tested using multiple stepwise regression. Our findings showed a positive and moderate-to-large effect of internal S&OP on manufacturing performance, controlling for firm size, country economic development and market dynamics. There was no significant impact of supply chain integration on manufacturing performance. However, we found that IS positively moderated the relationship between internal S&OP and performance, suggesting that firms with mature IS amplify the effect of internal S&OP on performance. The study is among the first to empirically and rigorously establish the impacts of S&OP practices on manufacturing performance, using a large sample of manufacturers spanning different countries, markets and firm sizes. Results show that S&OP practices have a broad impact across several performance dimensions and are a powerful lever for generating manufacturing performance.

The concerns with masonry building envelope performance, particularly thermal efficiency, are causing major changes in masonry solutions, mainly in south European countries, where traditionally the mild winter climate justified the use of high thermal masonry wall performance. The new European Directives regulations require different solutions. This paper describes the development a new masonry system, based on lightweight concrete units, intended for construction of large single leaf external walls without thermal insulation materials. A detailed analysis and optimization has been performed by FEM, under thermal point of view. This work was followed by a set of experimental tests in order to characterize the mechanical behavior of single units and masonry specimens. The concerns with productivity and ergonomics are also considered according their importance to the solution cost.

In spite of the importance that the vertical envelope of buildings has always had, nowadays unquestionably a greater value is given to image and to an attempt to make the most of the potentialities and bold use of technique as well as materials. In recent years this greater emphasis on image and on a set of requirements concerning comfort and durability in particular, has witnessed the need for specialised technical involvement in new areas such as the envelope of buildings.

Image segmentation is an important process that separates objects from the background and also from each other. Applied to cells, the results can be used for cell counting which is very important in medical diagnosis and treatment, and biological research that is often used by scientists and medical practitioners. Segmenting 3D confocal microscopy images containing cells of different shapes and sizes is still challenging as the nuclei are closely packed. The watershed transform provides an efficient tool in segmenting such nuclei provided a reasonable set of markers can be found in the image. In the presence of low-contrast variation or excessive noise in the given image, the watershed transform leads to over-segmentation (a single object is overly split into multiple objects). The traditional watershed uses the local minima of the input image and will characteristically find multiple minima in one object unless they are specified (marker-controlled watershed). An alternative to using the local minima is by a supervised technique called seeded watershed, which supplies single seeds to replace the minima for the objects. Consequently, the accuracy of a seeded watershed algorithm relies on the accuracy of the predefined seeds. In this paper, we present a segmentation approach based on the geometric morphological properties of the 'landscape' using curvatures. The curvatures are computed as the eigenvalues of the Shape matrix, producing accurate seeds that also inherit the original shape of their respective cells. We compare with some popular approaches and show the advantage of the proposed method.

The aim of the present study was to compare weekly physical activity (PA) and obesity-related markers in athlete and non-athlete university students. One hundred and twenty-six university students (53 males, 20.46 ± 2.04 years old, and 73 females, 19.69 ± 1.32 years old) participated in this study. Participants were fitted with a tri-axial accelerometer (ActiGraph wGT3X-BT, Shalimar, FL, USA) to assess the daily PA. Anthropometric measures of height, weight, BMI and %fat mass were determined with a stadiometer and an electronic scale. The comparison indicated that male and female athletes had a significant lower percentage of body fat than did non-athletes (p value = 0.001; ES = 0.043). Athletes spent significantly more time in light PA than did non-athletes (p value = 0.003; ES = 0.024). Female athletes spent significantly less time in sedentary mode than did non-athletes (p value = 0.040; ES = 0.008). On the other hand, female athletes spent significantly more time in light PA (p value = 0.003; ES = 0.017) and vigorous PA (p value = 0.001; ES = 0.086) than did non-athletes. Despite some statistical differences with minimal effect size, the results of this study suggested proximity between PA levels of athletes and non-athletes, mainly in the case of sedentary behaviour. No significant effects were found in the variances of PA tested in this study.

Background Subjects who received eslicarbazepine acetate (ESL) as adjunctive therapy experienced significantly greater seizure frequency reduction (SFR) than placebo in three phase III, randomized, double-blind trials. This analysis compared changes in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) between treatment responders and non-responders across the pooled, per-protocol population ( N = 842) using the validated Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory-31 (QOLIE-31). Methods QOLIE-31 scores were calculated for Total Score (TS) and seven subscales; higher scores indicate better HRQOL. Mean changes from baseline were calculated. Analysis of covariance examined least square mean (LSM) differences in final scores between responders (≥ 50% and ≥ 75% SFR) and non-responders. Clinical significance was based on established minimal clinically important differences (MCIDs). Results Mean changes were greater among responders for TS (5.2 versus 1.4 for ≥ 50% SFR; 7.5 versus 1.9 for ≥ 75% SFR) and all subscales. Additionally, the percentage of subjects with changes meeting or exceeding MCIDs was higher among responders for TS (48.4% versus 33.9% for ≥ 50% SFR; 56.9% versus 35.8% for ≥ 75% SFR) and all subscales. Responders had significantly higher final scores for TS (LSM difference = 4.0 for ≥ 50% SFR; LSM difference = 5.7 for ≥ 75% SFR) and all subscales except emotional well-being at ≥ 50% SFR. LSM differences exceeded MCIDs at ≥ 75% SFR for TS and five of seven subscales, and two subscales at ≥ 50% SFR. In a subgroup analysis with placebo removed, LSM differences were larger overall. Significance In clinical trials of adjunctive ESL, higher levels of SFR were associated with greater improvements in HRQOL.

The growing demands concerning thermal comfort and energy efficiency of buildings has motivated significant changes on the construction of enclosure walls in order to improve their thermal insulation capability. Moreover, masonry walls play an important role on the thermal behaviour of buildings given their ability to retain and release heat during the weather seasons. However, in order to evaluate properly the impact of masonry walls on energy consumption and thermal comfort of buildings, dynamic regime analysis must be performed. In this paper, thermal dynamic analysis were performed through numerical simulations in order to analyse the influence of enclosure masonry walls on the energy consumption of buildings without HVAC systems installed. The simultaneous influence of several factors were taken into account, such as indoor ventilation, glazing orientation, occupancy, local weathers, and thermal resistance of external walls. Since there is a wide range of weather conditions, housing typologies and possible uses for the buildings, a set of conditions established for Portugal were used in the simulations: two different weather conditions and three of the most common housing typologies built with different enclosure masonry wall systems. From the obtained results it was concluded that the housing typology can reduce the energy consumption of buildings. Moreover, the use of masonry walls with improved thermal resistance can reduce more significantly the energy consumption in the heating season. On the other hand, depending on the ratio between glazing and opaque areas, the importance of the wall thermal resistance may not be as relevant given the possible use of glazing elements, especially in the cooling season and when the glazing is south orientated. (c) 2016 Taylor & Francis Group, London.

Masonry is a structural material that presents a quite complex behaviour that depends on the mechanical and geometrical characteristics of the units, the mortar and the link between these two elements. In particular, the characterization of the shear behaviour of masonry elements involves proper experimental campaigns that make these analyses particularly expensive. The main objective of this paper is to present a case study on the characterization of the shear behaviour of masonry through a methodology that merges a small number of laboratory tests with computer simulations. The methodology is applied to a new masonry system that has recently been developed in Portugal, and involves a FEM numerical approach based on micro3D modelling of masonry samples using nonlinear behaviour models that are calibrated through a small number of laboratory tests. As a result, the characterization of the masonry shear behaviour trough this methodology allowed simulating, with reasonably accuracy, a large set of expensive laboratory tests using numerical tools calibrated with small experimental resources.

A large number of e-services are multi-channel (MC), combining the Internet with other channels of service delivery, such as the phone and physical facilities. As a result, online customers frequently engage in MC behaviour. Existing research examining the impact of quality on behavioural intentions in e-services has not adequately recognised their MC nature. In order to address this gap, this study sets out to examine the following two-pronged impacts of e-service quality on customer behaviour in an MC e-service: (i) the impact on e-loyalty behavioural intentions; (ii) the impact on customer channel behaviour. Perceptual and objective data were collected from multiple sources in a major retail MC e-banking service. Two basic groups of online customers in terms of channel behaviour were found - Internet-Focused (IF) and MC - with the latter exhibiting a balanced use of channels and being more loyal, older, less educated and less experienced with the e-service. Data analyses revealed that e-service quality had a strong impact on e-loyalty intentions; but did not have an impact on customer channel behaviour. E-service quality does not seem to be an effective lever for influencing customer channel behaviour; however, it is a key driver of e-loyalty intentions. The results raise the possibility that migration of customer interactions to the Internet channel may reduce e-loyalty intentions.

This year´s CIB Commission meeting of the working group “W023–Wall Structures” took place in Berlin, Germany October 10–11, 2011. The participants were welcomed by the commission coordinator Silvino Pompeu Santos and the host of the meeting Professor Wolfram Jaeger in cooperation with the Bundesvereinigung der Prufingenieure fur Bautechnik e.V. (BVPI). The meeting started with a one-day workshop focused on experiences and applications regarding Eurocode 6. The second day of the meeting was reserved for news and actions within the commission and short summaries of CIB members regarding their several activities in the area of masonry. After that there was an interesting presentation on last tendencies in house construction. Petra Michaely from the office of Professor Werner Sobek spoke about the “Efficiency House Plus with Electric Mobility” which is built in co-operation with the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development. We would like to thank the experts who have presented their experiences in masonry with EC 6 as well as the sponsors and supporters Wienerberger Germany and Austria, IWM Industrieverband Werkmortel, BVPI Berlin and the Checking Engineer Prof. Wolfram Jaeger Radebeul/Dresden. Furthermore, thanks to all commission members from all over the world for coming to Germany and for creating such a successful meeting. Below you will find some abstracts of the presentations to share with you the topics we have spoken about. Proceedings of the meeting will be available electronically later on the website of the commission (www.cibworld.nl).

Although evidence suggests that institutions and technology shape firms’ behavior and organization, few efforts have been put on disentangling the effects of national institutions and product architectures in shaping firms’ organizational decisions for their product development. In this paper, we explore this question empirically, by analyzing how the institutional setting along with product architecture influences firms’ motivations to jointly define and change product design with their suppliers and customers. Using data from an international survey of 931 manufacturers, we find that joint decision on product design is more likely when product architecture is integral rather than modular. In addition, results suggest that joint decision-making on product design is associated with firms’ efforts to compensate for weak national knowledge basis, as well as to compensate for weak rule of law.

Purpose - Despite having been widely studied in traditional (bricks-and-mortar) services, the effect of service failures and recovery (SFR) on customer loyalty has received only limited attention in the context of e-services. This paper sets out to empirically test the following set of hypotheses in an e-service setting: H1, service failures have a negative effect on customer loyalty intentions; H2, failure resolution has a positive effect on customer loyalty intentions; H3, satisfaction with the recovery has a positive effect on customer loyalty intentions; H4, outstanding recovery results in loyalty intentions which are more favorable than they would be had no failure occurred (service recovery paradox). Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on an online survey of actual customers of a commercial e-banking service. Findings - H1-H3 are supported, suggesting that: the detrimental effects of failures are also present online; problem resolution leads to increased loyalty; despite the challenging nature of online failures and the reduced degree of human interaction, it is possible to achieve effective recovery in e-services. H4 is also supported. We observes a recovery paradox effect but it only take place for a small proportion of "delighted" customers, i.e. those who perceived an outstanding recovery. Although unlikely, the impact (size effect) of outstanding recovery on loyalty is substantial. Research limitations/implications - Future research should examine other types of e-services. Practical implications - E-service delivery systems should be designed with a strong failure-prevention mindset and include effective service recovery mechanisms. However, in general, e-service providers should not look at superior recovery as a substitute for error-free service. Despite not being a viable strategy in general, delighting customers in the recovery may make sense for the most profitable customers. Originality/value - The paper provides empirical evidence of the effects of SFR in the context of online service, an area which has received limited attention to date. Unlike other research, this paper draws on data from customers of an actual e-service and therefore benefits from increased external validity.