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PurposeGamification design is considered an effective way of changing users' health behavior and improving their health management performance. Even though numerous studies have investigated the positive effect of gamification competition on users, little research has considered gamification's ineffectiveness and negative effects. In particular, how gamification competition affects users' technological exhaustion remains unclear.Design/methodology/approachAccording to flow theory and related research on gamification, this study discusses the nonlinear relationship between gamification competition and users' technological exhaustion. Furthermore, the authors analyze the moderating effect of user type (socializers and achievers) and users' health condition on this nonlinear relationship. Based on flow theory, the authors propose a series of research hypotheses. To test all research hypotheses, the authors collected information from 407 users via a questionnaire as the data for this study.FindingsThe empirical results found a U-shaped relationship between gamification competition and technological exhaustion. Technological exhaustion gradually decreases as competition increases until reaching the lowest point; after that, technological exhaustion gradually increases as competition increases. Further, being a socializer and health condition play a moderating role in the U-shaped relationship between competition and technological exhaustion.Originality/valueThis study's findings not only enrich the related research in flow theory and gamification, but also contribute to the effective design of gamification in health management platforms.

Using each part of the image's spatial information to generate better local details of the image is a key problem that super-resolution reconstruction has been facing. At present, mainstream super-resolution reconstruction networks are all built based on convolutional neural networks (CNN). Some of these methods based on Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) have good performance in high-frequency details and visual effects. However, because CNN lacks the necessary attention to local spatial information, the reconstruction method is prone to problems such as excessive image brightness and unnatural pixel regions in the image. Therefore, using the capsule network's excellent perception of hierarchical spatial information and local feature relationships, the author proposes a super-resolution reconstruction based on capsule network CSRGAN. The experiment's final result shows that compared with the pure convolution method RDN, the PSNR value of CSRGAN is increased by 0.14, which is closer to the original image.

In this study, SiC whiskers (SCWS) reinforced geopolymer composites (SCWS/KGP) and their ceramic products (SCWS/leucite) were prepared, and effects of SiC whiskers contents on the microstructure and flexural strength of the SCWS/KGP and SCWS/leucite composites were investigated. The results show that the whisker addition has little influence on both phase composition and thermal shrinkage of the KGP composites, but a suitable content of whisker will result in the improved flexural strength, and when the SCWS content is 2 wt%, flexural strength of the SCWS/KGP composite is enhanced by 95% compared with the neat geopolymer. The flexural strength of the composites can be further enhanced significantly after the composites being treated at 1100 °C and 1200 °C and flexural strength of the composite with SCWS content of 2 wt% was 107% and 125% higher than the untreated counterpart, respectively. The increase in flexural strength of the composites should be attributed to the strong leucite formation, whisker debonding and pulling out from matrix during the fracturing process based on the good interfacial bonding state between whisker and leucite matrix.

The high-temperature service performance of nearly fully dense 20 wt% BNW/SiO2 ceramic was systematically investigated. The oxidation damage and strength degradation of the whiskers combined with the surface microstructures of the samples predominantly influence the flexural strength from RT to 1000 °C. In previous work, the temperature dependence of the material properties is invariably ignored when evaluating thermal stress crack initiation and propagation behaviour. In this work, modified thermal shock models that include temperature-dependent material properties were established based on thermal-shock fracture (TSF) theory and thermal-shock damage (TSD) theory. Then, the thermal shock resistance (TSR) of the BNW/SiO2 ceramic was evaluated by preforming a water quenching test. The modified models could better explain the TSR behaviour of the ceramic, indicating that considering the temperature-dependent material properties will reveal the thermal shock damage mechanism more precisely.

Geopolymers (GPs) have emerged as promising adsorbents for wastewater treatment due to their superior adsorption stability, tunable porosity, high adsorption capacity, and low-energy production. Despite their great promise, developing GPs with well-controlled hierarchical structures and high porosity remains challenging, and the mechanism underlying the ion adsorption process remains elusive. Here we report a cost-effective and universal approach to fabricate Na or K GPs with sophisticated architectures, high porosity, and arbitrary cation species exchange by means of additive manufacturing and a surfactant. The introduction of sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) enhanced the porosity of the GP adsorbents, yielding NaGP-lattice-10%SLS adsorbent with a high total porosity of 80.8 vol%. Combining static and dynamic adsorption tests, the effects of morphology, surfactant content, and cation species on Cs

PurposeDespite the prevalent use of professional status and service feedback in online healthcare markets, the potential interaction relationship between two types of information is still unknown. This study used the signaling theory to examine the substitute relationship between professional status and service feedback in patients' doctor choice, as well as the moderating effect of illness severity.Design/methodology/approachTo test the paper's hypotheses, we constructed a panel data model using 418 doctors' data collected over a period of six months from an online healthcare market in China. Then, according to the results of the Hausman test, we estimated a fixed-effects model of patients' choice in online healthcare markets.FindingsThe empirical results showed that the effect of a doctor's professional status and service feedback on a patient's doctor choice was substitutable. Moreover, patients' illness severity played a moderating role, in that the influence of professional status on a patient with high-severity illness was higher than that on a patient with low-severity illness, whereas the influence of service feedback on a patient with low-severity illness was higher than that of a patient with high-severity illness. In addition, we found that illness severity negatively moderated the substitute relationship between professional status and service feedback on a patient's choice.Originality/valueThese findings not only contribute to signaling theory and research on online healthcare markets, but also help us understand the importance of professional status and service feedback on a patient's choice when seeking a doctor online.

With the development of e-health, the number of doctors providing consultation services in online healthcare communities (OHCs) is growing. Their aim is to help patients obtain healthcare i...

In recent decades, various manufacturing floors have followed lean initiatives. The focus of lean-initiative approaches is to improve efficiency by eliminating non-value-added activities. Value str...

Introduction: In the past decades, the average weight of residents has increased significantly. Weight management has become an important issue in our society. With the developments of mob...

Improving the sustainable development of new ventures and helping them survive and develop in the entrepreneurial environment are important research issues. Business model innovation is considered as a potential way for new ventures to enhance their sustainable development capability and performance. Although previous studies have pointed out that there is a positive linear relationship between business model innovation and sustainable development, little research has found the nonlinear relationship between them, as well as the moderating effects of competitive strategy innovation and strategy flexibility. In this study, an empirical model was established to test our hypotheses and answer our research questions. Analysis of data collected from 326 questionnaires shows that an inverted-U relationship exists between business model innovation and sustainable development such that new ventures with low or high business model innovation have worse sustainable development than new ventures with appropriate business model innovation. Moreover, this paper finds that competitive strategy innovation and strategic flexibility positively moderate the inverted-U relationship between business model innovation and sustainable development of new ventures. From a theoretical perspective, this study offers a model with which to understand the impacts of business model innovation, and contributes significantly to the research on new ven- tures. From a practical perspective, this paper provides new insights into the management of new ventures and recommends several practical strategies for managers and practitioners.

In this paper, value stream mapping (VSM) is integrated with fuzzy set theory to incorporate variability and uncertainty in the lean production system. VSM is one of the primary analytical tools for identifying waste and optimizing a production line. However, the standard VSM fails to consider the variability in manufacturing environments, which is, in fact, one of the root causes of waste. Therefore, this article proposes fuzzy VSM to overcome this weakness. Two alternative forms of fuzzy numbers, triangular fuzzy numbers (TFNs) and normal fuzzy numbers (NFNs), are applied, respectively, to depict time intervals, inventories, and other operating variables in VSM. An industrial case for assessing the validity of the proposed approaches is presented. Both approaches make it possible to incorporate and analyze variability in VSM and can be easily applied to industrial cases, as they only require basic algebraic operations. The obtained results are compared and the choice between TFNs and NFNs is discussed accordingly. A triangular fuzzy VSM tends to overestimate the variability of the process in complex production environment with complicated operational processes. However, it permits a more accurate description of variation in the environment where the optimistic and pessimistic values have very different variations from the core.

The chief aim of the present work was to achieve drag reduction in stator blades with liquid using boundary layer control. A stator blade of hydraulic torque converter with bionic grooves in suction side and hydrophobic surface in pressure side was designed. The hydrophobic surface was created using anodic oxidation method and irregular Al2O3 thin films were found on the surface. They formed hierarchical structure consisting of mini porous structures and microscopic pore spaces, resulting in the hydrophobicity. The bionic groove was designed by Computational Fluids Dynamics (CFD) method. Multi-Island Genetic Algorithm (MIGA) was adopted for groove multi-objective optimization. Through optimization, the maximum drag reduction was close to 12% in oil. In addition, the drag reduction calculation was verified by closed channel experiment and “Tire Vortex” was proposed to explain the drag reduction mechanism. The bionic Janus blade could maintain its initial profile without any additional device, which had lower risk and less cost. The results are encouraging and show great potential to apply in other flow machineries.

Developing advanced lightweight structures with both high strength and high toughness remains challenging. Herein, we provide a combined experimental and simulation method to fabricate 3D-printed geopolymer complex structures with lightweight, high strength and superior toughness for the first time. In this research, short carbon fiber reinforced geopolymer (CsfGP) composites were printed using 3D printing technology, and the rheological properties of CsfGP inks and the mechanical properties of hardened geopolymer composite structures were systematically studied. The CsfGP inks exhibited obvious shear-thinning behavior, which facilitated ink-extrusion from a micro-nozzle, conserving the filamentary shape and supporting the subsequent printed layers. In CsfGP composites, the consistent orientation distribution of short carbon fibers primarily enhanced their mechanical properties. When fiber content was 3 wt %, flexural strength and compressive strength of the CsfGP composite were 309.2% and 375.8% higher than those of nonreinforced geopolymer, respectively. Subsequently, CsfGP composites of the Bouligand architectures were successfully 3D-printed, and they showed superior load-bearing capacity and non-brittle failure mode due to their hierarchically ordered architectures and sophisticated interfaces. 3D printing together with Bouligand-structure designing provide a novel approach for the CsfGP composites of lightweight, high strength and superior toughness, which would lead to a resurgence of interest in new lightweight structure design and manufacturing strategies.

Despite the prevalent use of gamification in the health management context, its “dark side” for users remains unknown. To fill this research gap, we used the person–environment fit (P-E fit) model to build a theoretical model to explore the influences of gamification characteristics on stressors (privacy invasion and social overload) and strain (gamification exhaustion) for individuals. A survey was conducted to test our research model and all hypotheses. This paper gathered survey data through the Wenjuanxing website, a popular online survey platform in China. A total of 407 questionnaires were collected. The empirical results indicated that the competitive element and interactivity of gamification are positively associated with privacy invasion and social overload, which can cause gamification exhaustion. Further, we found that users’ health condition negatively moderates the relationship between gamification characteristics and stressors. Our research contributes to understanding of the dark side of gamification in the health management context. Our findings also contribute to the P-E fit model and literature on gamification, and provide new insights and implications for users and designers of health management platforms.

How to improve users' health management performance is an important challenge for practitioners of digital health platforms. Gamification is considered a potential method to encourage individuals to engage in health management and improve the level of their health management performance. To better understand the role of gamification in the health management context, this study investigates the influence of the achievement mechanism on the health management performance, as well as the moderating effects of social network and health condition. This study collected 1554 users’ data (54.4% female and 45.6% male, age: 18–35) from an online health community in China and built a regression model combined with the U test estimation algorithm to examine the research hypotheses. The results of the empirical model show an inverted-U relationship exists between level of achievement and the level of health management performance. Moreover, our research shows that the size of the social network and the health condition negatively moderate the inverted-U relationship. These findings facilitate an understanding of the role of gamification in the health management context. Further, the study contributes to goal setting theory and provides new insights and suggestions for users and designers of health management platforms and online health communities.

Motivating users to change their health management behaviors and improve their behavioral performance is a challenge for designers of health management platforms. Gamification has the potential to motivate individuals to manage their health. To better understand the role of gamification in health management, this study investigates the role of goal difficulty and achievement incentives in health management performance as well as the moderating effects of social network exposure and active interaction. We collected data from an online weight management platform in China to test our research hypotheses. The results show that a U-shaped relationship exists between goal difficulty and weight management performance. Moreover, achievement incentives have a positive effect on performance and partially moderate the effect of goal difficulty. In addition, social network exposure strengthens the U-shaped relationship between goal difficulty and performance, while active interaction in social networks positively moderates the relationship between achievement incentives and performance. These findings facilitate the understanding of the role of social networks in health management gamification and contribute to goal-setting theory by providing new insights and suggestions for users and designers of health management platforms.

In this paper, the issue of vehicle routing with time window changes is addressed. Considering the uncertainty of customers’ time windows in distribution activities, this paper used the theory of disturbance management. The objective is to minimize the negative impacts of the perturbation attributed to time window changes. The identification of time window change that would cause a perturbation to the current distribution plan was analyzed. In order to measure the negative impact, three metrics of disturbance were analyzed in this paper, including path deviation, service time deviation and cost deviation. Based on vehicles’ positions at the disturbance time, a disturbance recovery model regarding to time window changes of customers is established. A dispatching method that is based on tabu search was proposed to obtain a timely and optimal solution. Finally, the computational experiments indicate that the proposed method is feasible for solving this real-word problem and is more effective than other incident-handling methods.