Influence of market orientation on performance: the moderating roles of customer participation breadth and depth in new product development

ABSTRACT

With a greater number of B2B firms integrating customers into the new product development (NPD) process, how to utilize customer involvement in NPD is an important decision because it may be a double-edged sword carrying both bright and dark sides. Utilizing a sample of 193 B2B firms across various industries, we validate previous research that suggests market orientation positively influences NPD performance and subsequently examine how this relationship may either be enhanced or diminished contingent upon how customers are utilized in the NPD process. The results show that the market orientation–NPD performance relationship is enhanced by having customers participate in a greater number of activities throughout NPD (customer participation breadth) and diminished when customers are involved at deeper levels (customer participation depth). This research suggests that the exact involvement of customers is a critical decision and has clear implications for the dialogues about customer involvement and management of customer relationships.     

On Surface Losses in Direct Metal Laser Sintering Printed Millimeter and Submillimeter Waveguides

Different lengths of WR3 (220–330 GHz) and WR10 (75–110 GHz) waveguides are fabricated through direct metal laser sintering (DMLS). The losses in these waveguides are measured and modelled using the Huray surface roughness model. The losses in WR3 are around 0.3 dB/mm and in WR10 0.05 dB/mm. The Huray equation model is accounting relatively good for the attenuation in the WR10 waveguide but deviates more in the WR3 waveguide. The model is compared to finite element simulations of the losses assuming an approximate surface structure similar to the resulting one from the DMLS process.     

Muscle decomposition and recruitment criteria influence muscle force estimates

It has recently been pointed out that muscle decomposition influence muscle force estimates in musculoskeletal simulations. We show analytically and with numerical simulations that this influence depends on the recruitment criteria. Moreover, we also show that the proper choices of force normalization factors may overcome the issue. Such factors for the minmax and the polynomial criteria are presented.     

Processing of Soot by Controlled Sulphuric Acid and Water Condensation—Mass and Mobility Relationship

The effects of atmospheric processing on soot particle morphology were studied in the laboratory using the Differential Mobility Analyzer-Aerosol Particle Mass Analyzer (DMA-APM) and the DMA-DMA (Tandem DMA) techniques. To simulate atmospheric processing, combustion soot agglomerates were altered by sulphuric acid vapor condensation, relative humidity (RH) cycling, and evaporation of the sulphuric acid and water by heating. Primary investigated properties were particle mobility size and mass. Secondary properties, derived from these, include effective density, fractal dimension, dynamic shape factor, and the mass fraction of condensed material. A transformation of the soot particles to more compact forms occurs as sulphuric acid and water condense onto fresh soot. The particle mass increases and initially the mobility diameter decreases, indicating restructuring of the soot core, likely due to surface tension forces. For a given soot source and condensing liquid, the degree of compaction depends strongly on the mass (or volume) fraction of condensed material. For water and sulphuric acid condensing on combustion soot, a mass increase of 2–3 times is needed for a transformation to spherical particles. In the limit of spherical particles without voids, the effective density then approaches the inherent material density, the fractal dimension approaches 3 and the dynamic shape factor approaches 1. Our results indicate that under typical atmospheric conditions, soot particles will be fully transformed to spherical droplets on a time scale of several hours. It is expected that the morphology changes and addition of soluble material to soot strongly affect the optical and hygroscopic properties of soot.     

Phase-Field Modeling of Sigma-Phase Precipitation in 25Cr7Ni4Mo Duplex Stainless Steel

Phase-field modeling is used to simulate the formation of sigma phase in a model alloy mimicking a commercial super duplex stainless steel (SDSS) alloy, in order to study precipitation and growth of sigma phase under linear continuous cooling. The so-called Warren–Boettinger–McFadden (WBM) model is used to build the basis of the multiphase and multicomponent phase-field model. The thermodynamic inconsistency at the multiple junctions associated with the multiphase formulation of the WBM model is resolved by means of a numerical Cut-off algorithm. To make realistic simulations, all the kinetic and the thermodynamic quantities are derived from the CALPHAD databases at each numerical time step, using Thermo-Calc and TQ-Interface. The credibility of the phase-field model is verified by comparing the results from the phase-field simulations with the corresponding DICTRA simulations and also with the empirical data. 2D phase-field simulations are performed for three different cooling rates in two different initial microstructures. A simple model for the nucleation of sigma phase is also implemented in the first case. Simulation results show that the precipitation of sigma phase is characterized by the accumulation of Cr and Mo at the austenite-ferrite and the ferrite-ferrite boundaries. Moreover, it is observed that a slow cooling rate promotes the growth of sigma phase, while a higher cooling rate restricts it, eventually preserving the duplex structure in the SDSS alloy. Results from the phase-field simulations are also compared quantitatively with the experiments, performed on a commercial 2507 SDSS alloy. It is found that overall, the predicted morphological features of the transformation and the composition profiles show good conformity with the empirical data.

     

Application of interrupted cooling experiments to study the mechanism of bainitic ferrite formation in steels

New interrupted cooling experiments have been designed to study the kinetics of bainitic ferrite formation starting from a mixture of austenite and bainitic ferrite. It is found that the kinetics of bainitic ferrite formation during the cooling stage is determined by the isothermal holding time. The formation rate of bainitic ferrite at the beginning of the cooling decreases with increasing prior isothermal holding time. An unexpected stagnant stage during the cooling stage appears when the isothermal holding time increases to a critical point. There are two reasons for the occurrence of the stagnant stage: (i) a solute spike in front of the interface; and (ii) kinetic transition. A so-called Gibbs energy balance approach, in which the dissipation of Gibbs energy due to diffusion inside the interface and interface friction is assumed to be equal to the available chemical driving force, is applied to theoretically explain the stagnant stage. A kinetics transition from a fast growth mode without diffusion of Mn and Si inside the austenite–bainitic ferrite interfaces to a slow growth mode with diffusion inside the interface is predicted. The stagnant stage is caused by the transition to a slow growth mode. The Gibbs energy balance approach describes the experimental observations very well.     

On the three-dimensional structure of WC grains in cemented carbides

In the present work, the size distribution and shape of WC grains in cemented carbides (WC–Co), with different Co contents, have been investigated in three dimensions. Direct three-dimensional (3-D) measurements, using focused ion beam serial sectioning and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD), were performed and a 3-D microstructure was reconstructed. These measurements were supplemented by two-dimensional (2-D) EBSD and scanning electron microscopy on extracted WC grains. The data from 2-D EBSD collected on planar sections were transformed to three dimensions using a recently developed statistical method based on an iterative inverse Saltykov procedure. This stereological analysis revealed that the assumed spherical shape of WC grains during the Saltykov method is reasonable and the estimated 3-D size distribution is qualitatively in good agreement with the actual distribution measured from 3-D EBSD. Although the spherical assumption is generally fair, the WC grains have both faceted and rounded surfaces. This is a consequence of the relatively low amount of liquid phase during sintering, which makes impingements significant. Furthermore, the observed terraced surface structure of some WC grains suggests that 2-D nucleation is the chief coarsening mechanism to consider.     

Nuclear microscopy in biomedical analysis with special emphasis on clinical metal biology

Nuclear microscopy based upon developments in high energy ion beam techniques is by now an accepted technique in many fields of research. The advancements into the biomedical field have, however, been slower than expected. A major factor explaining this tendency is the availability of nuclear microscopy. This paper reviews briefly the biomedical work using nuclear microscopy that has been carried out since the 4^th International Conference on Nuclear Microprobe Technology and Applications held in Shanghai. Nuclear microscopy of isolated individual blood cells from patients adversely affected by metal exposure from dental amalgam has been performed both before and after removal of the metallic fillings. The elemental profile of blood cells was more or less normalised after treatment. Some of these results will be presented to illustrate a medical application. Results from bulk analysis by ICP-MS of erythrocytes and plasma before and after treatment will also be presented to illustrate the difference in information content between these two approaches as well as the need for complementary information in solving biomedical problems. As part of a larger study of acute porphyria, nuclear microscopy of blood cells was included among the 78 laboratory tests. The approach in this study was unbiased in the sense that no hypothesis was formulated as to which laboratory parameters would be the most explanatory for health or disease. Multivariate discriminant analysis was applied to the large amounts of data acquired. This approach led to the hypothesis that oxidative stress increased the synthesis of manganese-dependent superoxide dismutase in the mitochondria of polymorphonuclear leukocytes, explaining the increase of manganese in these cells. Antioxidant therapy was therefore applied to a couple of patients with porphyria, however, without clinical success.