Dynamics of value co-creation in complex IT service engagements

The hallmark of service—value co-creation—is not easy to achieve in B2B IT service engagements. Typically, client and provider are both complicated organizational entities with multiple agendas and diverse stakeholders, and engagements often extend over years. We analyzed a number of IT service engagements to better understand their complex dynamics, with the ultimate goal of improving their outcomes. This paper reports on our study of how value co-creation unfolds over time, and identifies basic dynamics central to the modeling of service systems—actualization of service and realization of value—that are reflected in the proposed framework.     

Whey beverages decrease blood pressure in prehypertensive and hypertensive young men and women

Whey protein beverages reduced blood pressure in young men and women in a six week controlled intervention. There were no differences in systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), or mean arterial pressure (MAP) observed between groups consuming 28 g per day of either hydrolyzed or non-hydrolyzed whey protein in a beverage. However, in young adults with elevated DBP and SBP, whey beverage consumption significantly decreased SBP, DBP, and MAP by 8.0, 8.6, and 6.4 mm Hg, respectively (P ≤ 0.001 for all comparisons). In subjects with elevated SBP only, SBP significantly decreased by 3.8 mm Hg (P ≤ 0.04) after the whey beverage intervention. Subjects with normal blood pressure had no change in SBP, DBP, and MAP. Whey beverages also significantly decreased total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations (P ≤ 0.001 and 0.05, respectively). Whey protein beverages may be useful for the dietary treatment of prehypertension and/or stage 1 hypertension.     

Effect of Gapping on the Transient and Sustained Uplift Capacity of a Shallow Skirted Foundation in Clay

Shallow skirted foundations are an attractive solution for supporting offshore platforms that are subject to uplift due to overturning or buoyancy loading. In practice, gapping may occur along the skirt-soil interface leading to a detrimental effect on uplift capacity. This paper presents results from beam centrifuge tests that investigated the effect of gapping on the transient and sustained uplift capacity of shallow skirted foundations. The results indicate that the transient uplift capacity following the formation of a gap was around 60% of that for intact soil contact along the skirt-soil interface. Under sustained uplift, the time to accumulate a displacement of 1% of the foundation diameter was reduced by an order of magnitude due to the presence of a gap.     

Ordinal knowledge: Number names and number concepts in Chinese and English.

Assessed the impact of linguistic differences in ordinal number names on children's acquisition and use of ordinal numbers and their understanding of ordinal concepts. Elementary school children (aged 5.4–10.6 yrs) in China and the US performed a series of tasks assessing understanding of ordinal numbers and concepts. The results show differences in the acquisition and use of ordinal numbers corresponding to linguistic differences in ordinal names in their native languages. On tasks assessing children's conceptual knowledge of ordinal relations, a more complicated picture emerged. These results suggest that (1) children induce their language's set of ordinal number names by generalization based on rules sanctioned by early examples, and (2) the relation between ordinal names and ordinal concepts is a complex one, with language only one source of difficulty in understanding ordinal relations. Implications for studies of the relation between linguistic structure and cognitive development are discussed, in particular the possibility that effects of linguistic differences may vary for different levels of development and for different aspects of cognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Synthesis, Phase Characterization, and Properties of Chemical Solution-Deposited Nickel Manganite Thermistor Thin Films

Nickel manganite spinel thin films prepared by chemical solution deposition exhibit negative temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) values between −3.3 and −4.5%/K. In contrast to bulk thermistors, dense films could be prepared completely within the spinel phase field. Thus, decomposition into the NiO phase and a Mn-rich spinel, which is problematic in bulk ceramics, is minimized in thin films. For films prepared outside of the single-phase field, phase separation cannot always be detected using X-ray diffraction. In such cases, transmission electron microscopy is useful in identifying decomposition. It is found that the lattice parameters for films with compositions ranging between Mn/(Mn+Ni)=0.14 and 0.77 are smaller than the values reported for nickel manganite spinels, suggesting cation deficiency. Single-phase spinel films are compared with single-phase bixbyite films synthesized between 630° and 930°C. The bixbyite phase exhibits lower TCR and lower resistivity (TCR=−3.1 to −3.3%/K and resistivity values=400–1600 Ω·cm) compared with spinel (TCR=−3.6 to −4.1%/K and resistivity values=3500–21 000 Ω·cm). Composite films (achieved by controlling the pyrolysis to create a low local p O₂ during annealing) show intermediate values (TCR=−3.0 to −3.8%/K and resistivity values=470–6600 Ω·cm).     

Individual differences in trajectories of emotion regulation processes: The effects of maternal depressive symptomatology and children's physiological regulation.

Trajectories of emotion regulation processes were examined in a community sample of 269 children across the ages of 4 to 7 using hierarchical linear modeling. Maternal depressive symptomatology (Symptom Checklist-90) and children's physiological reactivity (respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) and vagal regulation (ΔRSA) were explored as predictors of individual differences in trajectories of emotion regulation and negativity (mother-reported Emotion Regulation Checklist; A. M. Shields & D. Cicchetti, 1997). In addition, the authors explored whether children's physiological regulation would moderate the effect of maternal depressive symptomatology on children's emotion regulation trajectories. Results indicated that over time, emotion regulation increased whereas negativity decreased, though considerable individual variability in the pattern of change was observed. Greater maternal depressive symptomatology was associated with less steep emotion regulation trajectories. There was a significant Maternal Depressive Symptomatology × Baseline RSA × Age interaction predicting emotion regulation trajectories. Overall, it appears that the development of emotion regulation over time is compromised when mothers report greater depressive symptomatology. There is also evidence that children's capacity for physiological regulation can buffer some of the adverse consequences associated with maternal depressive symptomatology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A self-agency bias in preschoolers' causal inferences.

Preschoolers' causal learning from intentional actions—causal interventions—is subject to a self-agency bias. The authors propose that this bias is evidence-based, in other words, that it is responsive to causal uncertainty. In the current studies, two causes (one child controlled, one experimenter controlled) were associated with one or two effects, first independently, then simultaneously. When initial independent effects were probabilistic, and thus subsequent simultaneous actions were causally ambiguous, children showed a self-agency bias. Children showed no bias when initial effects were deterministic. Further controls established that children's self-agency bias is not a wholesale preference but rather is influenced by uncertainty in causal evidence. These results demonstrate that children's own experience of action influences their causal learning, and the findings suggest possible benefits in uncertain and ambiguous everyday learning contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concurrent Engineering Approach to Reducing Design Delivery Time

A common method used to reduce project delivery time is to overlap sequential activities. Evolution and sensitivity characterizations of design activities provide a practical tool for identifying overlapping opportunities. The faster the evolution of information in an activity, the less risky it is to begin a downstream activity before the upstream activity is finalized. Also, the lower the sensitivity to changes in upstream information, the less risky it is to overlap activities. A methodology for determining the evolution and sensitivity of design activities has been developed through a series of expert interviews. The evolution of an activity can be determined by evaluating the levels of design optimization, constraint satisfaction, external information exchange, and standardization. The sensitivity of an activity can be determined by evaluating activity constraints, input variables, and the level of design integration. This framework for characterizing design activities in terms of evolution and sensitivity will lead to significant reductions in project delivery times.     

Variation of indoxyl and cresol sulphates in milk protein commodities

Indoxyl and cresol sulphates were determined in retail milk products and milk protein commodities. Indoxyl sulphate (IXS) and p-cresol sulphate/m-cresol sulphate (PCS/MCS) varied widely among the milk proteins (IXS: <0.10–3.74 mg kg^?1 protein; PCS/MCS: <2–44.1 mg kg^?1 protein), but were strongly correlated (r² > 0.93), with PCS/MCS, on average, 11.3 ± 3.3 (n = 15) times IXS. IXS and PCS/MCS decreased with protein enrichment (from 57 to 83% protein) in a milk protein concentrate, indicating removal by the ultrafiltration process. In addition, the lowest IXS and PCS/MCS levels were found in the ultrafiltered commodities: milk protein concentrates, milk protein isolates, and whey protein concentrates. These data were consistent with the reduction of IXS and PCS/MCS in fat free milk by bench scale ultrafiltration. The distribution of cresol sulphates was approximated as 70% para-, 30% meta-, and <5% ortho-cresol sulphates.