Custom Platform Research Articles

Expanding the Capability of a Legacy Combustion Flame Tube to Test High-Temperature Engine Materials in Relevant Environments

Abstract New materials and component designs are needed to advance gas turbine engine technology and provide the performance and efficiency needs for future applications. In order to advance these materials, testing in combustion environments is a critical step prior to engine testing. In this work, we detail the design and the fabrication of a materials test sector in a flame tube combustor facility. The facility simulates a combustion environment similar to that experienced by components in gas turbine engines. The flow regime is characterized by a combination of high-temperature, high-heat flux, and high-velocity that components experience in gas turbine engines. Exposure of components in this facility allows for the study of combined environmental effects and the impact on both coating and substrate durability. The test facility may operate across a wide range of pressures from 275 to 400 psig (1896–2758 kPa) and an air flowrate of 5 lb/s (2.27 kg/s). While combustion gas temperature is expected in excess of 3000 °F (1649 °C), 900 °F (482 °C) cooling air may be supplied to the backside of components or test articles. The flame tube combustor was previously used to evaluate fuel injectors and combustion products, and the new test configuration will also allow for materials exposure to complex, engine-like conditions. The interior of the test section was additively manufactured from GRCop-84 and cryogenically fit and brazed to a stainless-steel 304 housing. The use of a copper liner minimizes welds and, with active cooling, is expected to provide better durability over traditional hardware using stainless-steel or Inconel with a ceramic liner. The test section has two opposing 9.5 in × 3.125 in (241 mm × 80 mm) removable windows that can accommodate articles up to 3.5 in (89 mm) tall. This modular design allows for custom platforms to hold coupons, panels, or airfoil shapes to be tested with minimal re-engineering or fabrication. The bolted joint and sealing remains consistent, so any new testing only needs to work within the existing design footprint. This paper will provide an overview of the facility capabilities, design considerations, as well as thermal and structural analysis of the hardware. Future testing of ceramic matrix composite (CMC) airfoils and advanced environmental barrier coatings (EBCs) will also be discussed.

The role of customer engagement in relationship quality with a resale platform

Online communities are often used to establish customer engagement. This study focuses on the antecedents (i.e. involvement, anonymity) and consequences (i.e. brand relationship quality) of engagement in an online resale community. Data are obtained through a survey of 298 resale platform customers in the United States. Partial least squares–structural equation modeling is applied for data analysis. The findings of this study reveal that customer involvement and perceived anonymity within the community positively affect the three dimensions of engagement: creation, contribution, and consumption. The results also show that engagement affects both the cognitive and affective qualities of brand relationship quality, producing a significantly positive effect on behavioral intention. This study contributes to existing marketing studies by developing an integrated framework for community engagement and brand relationship quality in the online resale context.

Interactive Checklists to Increase Access to Urban Biodiversity Information in Guatemala

The Guatemala Biodiversity Portal (GBP) is a customized platform developed with Symbiota (Gries et al. 2014) for the digitization of local natural history collections and research projects (Orellana et al. 2023). Currently, the portal includes 42 virtual profiles for the live management of biodiversity data and already hosts more than 50,000 specimen and observation records. Additionally, over 400,000 records of Guatemalan specimens in international collections have been imported from other Symbiota portals and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), increasing accessibility to data from the country. A bilingual interface (English-Spanish), and integrated tools to generate interactive checklists (Pearson and Walker 2021) have also encouraged use of the portal to develop online resources to explore and share knowledge of Guatemalan biological diversity. In particular, urban green spaces in Guatemala City have been a recent focus of attention due to their significance in biodiversity conservation (Castillo-Cabrera et al. 2021). Efforts to study and preserve these natural spaces include biological surveys to compile an updated inventory of species and assess their conservation status. To increase access to the information obtained, observations and specimens (e.g., fauna, flora) are being digitized and managed in the GBP, granting instant availability of the records and images derived from the surveys. At the same time, data from protected or threatened species remains redacted from the general public. Complementary to the surveys in Guatemala City, a more extensive inventory of species is being generated with selected specimens and observations available in the GBP and GBIF. A series of interactive checklists in the GBP (Fig. 1) facilitate the management of the scientific names, digital vouchers, and annotations about known conservation status (CONAP 2022, IUCN 2024), establishment means, and references in the literature. Information gathered for each species is later added to the taxon pages in the GBP, to expand its accessibility. The integration of urban biodiversity data in the GBP allowed the generation of digital records that follow international standards (e.g., Darwin Core, Wieczorek et al. 2012) and FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) principles (Wilkinson et al. 2016), facilitating their mobilization to global aggregators (GBIF.org 2024). Data cleaning tools (e.g., geographic and taxonomic cleaning, Pearson 2021) in the GBP also improved the information management, increasing the accuracy of each observation and specimen record digitized. Furthermore, the resulting interactive checklists provide a way to synthesize and review the data for the different taxa, having the opportunity to remain constantly updated as sources of information become available. Therefore, curated species checklists for Guatemala City will become an important contribution and reference for related studies across the country. Similar to other regions (Yánez-Ayabaca et al. 2023), accessibility to edit online biodiversity resources has opened the door for collaboration among Guatemalan biologists, engaging a broad community of researchers and students from national institutions. The presentation will address more about the functionality and effectiveness of interactive checklists, and the impact of online biodiversity resources in Guatemala.

Research on classified prediction algorithm of platform customer value based on "tree" concept

The concept of "trees," representing decision trees, random forests, and XGBoost algorithms, has gained increasing attention in the field of classification prediction in recent years. These tree-based machine learning algorithms have been widely applied in the e-commerce sector. This paper discusses the decision tree, random forest, and XGBoost algorithms individually, and extracts useful classification rules from large volumes of online customer data to provide intelligent decision support for computer network customer management. The study finds that algorithms related to the "tree" concept can integrate a customers current value (such as purchasing behavior) with potential value (such as customer interest inferred from online reviews) through detailed classification criteria, thereby constructing a customer value measurement model. The evolution from decision trees to random forest and XGBoost algorithms has effectively promoted research on customer value hierarchy prediction, improving the efficiency of data mining in computer networks.

Effects of perceived benefit on online rental service customer behavior

Due to increasing competition among rental service providers, creating and enhancing perceived value is a critical element for sustainable growth. Given the growing interest in sustainable consumption practices, this paper examines the role of perceived benefit in the online rental industry, particularly the relative impacts of economic, social, and environmental benefits on customer patronage behaviors toward service providers. The proposed model is tested using data from 404 online rental platform customers in the United States. The results of partial least squares structural equation modeling show a positive impact of perceived benefits on both consumer attitude and personal norms. In addition, the impacts of attitude and norms on behavioral intention are confirmed. Finally, differences in customer behaviors between low- and high-frequency rental platform users are identified. The economic benefit on subjective norm is only significant among high-frequency customers.

Digital Revolution in Food Entrepreneurship: Perspectives from Select Small and Micro Food Enterprises

This study is entitled Digital Technologies and Its Integration In The Operations Of Micro And Small Food Enterprises: Basis For Strategic Plan which intended to describe the profile of the companies namely, Henan Little Jade Foods, The Garden of Clear Fragrance Foods, Tianjin Joint Venture Foods, and Tianjin the EatSmart Way Technology Development Company. These four food enterprises located in Henan and Tianjin, China integrate digital technologies in their business operations. This research aims to provide a description of digital technologies integrated in the operations of micro and small food enterprises as basis for strategic plan. The description of the profile of the four companies dealt with the nature of business, products and services offered, number of years in the business, existing market, platform of distribution, and business or asset size as of 2022. In addition, this study delves into the use of digital technologies in the business areas of management and decision making, marketing, production/operations and finance. Regarding the integration of digital technologies in small microfood businesses, all respondents strongly agreed on the use of digital technologies in the four main areas of management and decision making, marketing, production/operations and finance. In the area of management and decision making, 98% of the respondents strongly agreed with the following item statements:In the marketing area, 96% of respondents strongly agreed that digital technology "helps to broaden the customer base, pricing, customer trends and future demand forecasting, helps to develop a customer-centered marketing strategy, and helps to build a competitive brand." In the production/operations area, 92% of respondents strongly agreed with the statement that the following items: "facilitates the implementation of more effective risk assessment and risk mitigation, brings innovation to the company, facilitates an effective transition from traditional to modernized production models, improves the efficiency of customer relationship management, and better connects the company to the community." In the area of finance, 93% of respondents felt strongly that digital technology has caused "confusion and struggle due to lack of preparedness on issues such as the digital economy, cyberthreats and attacks, financial management software, and digital investments." In marketing, respondents agreed that digital technology has created "confusion due to loss of control over customer interactions, poorly trained staff, and mistrust among customers." They also agreed that on the production/operations side, digital technology has brought about internal conflicts and difficulties in complying with regulatory policies due to different perspectives on understanding digital". Based on these findings, we propose a strategic plan for food companies to study and adapt. The researcher recommends further research into the potential for micro and small food businesses to participate in a centralized data management system. However, this will require more training for employees to ensure that everyone is up-to-date with the industry's digitalization and in sync with customer platforms. The challenges that food companies face in integrating digital technologies must be examined by top management and employees alike to determine what issues the company must strategically address to ensure sustainability and productivity, which are the ingredients for survival in the world market. Keywords: digital technologies, integration, micro and small food enterprises, management and decision-making, marketing, production/operations, finance

Unishyper: A Rust-based unikernel enhancing reliability and efficiency of embedded systems

Unikernels are simple, customizable, efficient, and small in code size, which makes them highly applicable to embedded scenarios. However, most existing unikernels are developed and optimized for cloud computing, and they do not fully meet the requirements of high reliability and platform customization in embedded environments. We propose Unishyper, a reliable and high-performance embedded unikernel in Rust. To support memory isolation between user applications, user code, and kernel code, Unishyper designs the Zone mechanism on top of Intel MPK. Unishyper further proposes a thread-level unwind strategy for safe fault handling while avoiding memory leakage. Finally, Unishyper supports fine-grained customization, seamlessly integrates with the Rust ecosystem, and uses Unilib for function offloading to further reduce image size. Our evaluation results show that Unishyper achieves better performance than peer unikernels on major micro-benchmarks, can effectively stop illegal memory accesses across application boundaries, and has a minimal memory footprint of less than 100 KB.

Exploring the adoption of e-commerce platform for container shipping bookings

ABSTRACT Digitalisation has become one of the strategies for enterprises to stay competitive today, the maritime shipping servicing industry is no exception. The electronic-commerce (e-commerce) platform is one of the digitalisation attempts. Leading shipping lines provide e-commerce platforms for customers to book containers. However, it is unclear about whether these platforms disrupt the current container-booking process, the exact benefits such platforms would bring and the preferences towards the platform from users. This study aims to understand the traditional container-booking process and compare the process with and without an e-commerce platform in order to address above issues. Focus on the container-booking process and the inter-organisational communication during the process, this study unveiled the complexity of maritime shipping service and how e-commerce platforms contribute to efficiency, information sharing and transparency. This study provides managerial insights to freight forwarder managers to adopt and diffuse the e-commerce platform for digitalising the container-booking process.

To Study Significance and Impact of Social Media Marketing in CRM

Abstract: Social media is now a crucial component of contemporary communication, and the way peoplecommunicate with one another has changed dramatically. Being a platform for communicatingwith customers and creating relationships, social media has also become an important component of customer relationship management (CRM) for organisations. As a result, social media marketing has changed as a critical tactic for firms seeking to reach out to customers and build long-term relationships. One of the primary benefits of CRM social media marketing is that it enables organisations to communicate with their customers in a more personal and interactive manner. Customers can use social media platforms to ask questions, provide comments, and share their experiences with a brand, allowing businesses to reply in a quick and effective manner. This type of two- way communication fosters customer and business trust, resulting in enhanced customer satisfactionand retention. Social media is now a crucial component of contemporary communication, and the way people interact with their customers, offering unparalleled opportunities for engagement and relationship building.

Functionalized nanoparticles to deliver nucleic acids to the brain for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease

Brain-targeted gene delivery across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a significant challenge in the 21st century for the healthcare sector, particularly in developing an effective treatment strategy against Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The Internal architecture of the brain capillary endothelium restricts bio-actives entry into the brain. Additionally, therapy with nucleic acids faces challenges like vulnerability to degradation by nucleases and potential immune responses. Functionalized nanocarrier-based gene delivery approaches have resulted in safe and effective platforms. These nanoparticles (NPs) have demonstrated efficacy in protecting nucleic acids from degradation, enhancing transport across the BBB, increasing bioavailability, prolonging circulation time, and regulating gene expression of key proteins involved in AD pathology. We provided a detailed review of several nanocarriers and targeting ligands such as cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs), endogenous proteins, and antibodies. The utilization of functionalized NPs extends beyond a singular system, serving as a versatile platform for customization in related neurodegenerative diseases. Only a few numbers of bioactive regimens can go through the BBB. Thus, exploring functionalized NPs for brain-targeted gene delivery is of utmost necessity. Currently, genes are considered high therapeutic potential molecules for altering any disease-causing gene. Through surface modification, nanoparticulate systems can be tailored to address various diseases by replacing the target-specific molecule on their surface. This review article presents several nanoparticulate delivery systems, such as lipid NPs, polymeric micelles, exosomes, and polymeric NPs, for nucleic acids delivery to the brain and the functionalization strategies explored in AD research.

Peran Social Brand Engagement Dan Product Quality Terhadap Peningkatan Brand Awareness, Brand Association, dan Purchase Intention

Social brand engagement is important in the context of the current digital era because interactions between brands and consumers not only occur conventionally, but also involve social media which is the center of public attention. Social media is an interactive platform for customers to interact and engage with other people and brands during various stages of the process. This research aims to examine the influence of Social Brand Engagement and Product Quality on Brand Awareness, Brand Association and Purchase Intention. The research used quantitative methods, primary data was obtained from 116 respondents who are members of the Basketball Lovers Community on Twitter (aged 18–40 years) using Partial Least Square (PLS) as a data analysis technique. The results of this research indicate that Brand Association and Brand Awareness do not have a significant influence on Purchase Intention. On the other hand, it was found that Product Quality has a significant influence on Purchase Intention. Apart from that, the research results also show that Product Quality has a significant positive influence on Social Brand Engagement. Apart from that, Social Brand Engagement also plays an important role by significantly influencing Brand Association and Brand Awareness. This research provides an in-depth understanding of the factors that influence Purchase Intention, emphasizing the important role of Product Quality in shaping consumer preferences, as well as the positive contribution of social interactions in building associations and Brand Awareness.

Arduino Robot Arm – Controlled by Human Gestures

Abstract: This paper presents the development and implementation of a Arduino Robot Arm controlled by human gestures. The project, named , explores the integration of hand gestures to control a six-axis robotic arm. The system utilizes flex sensors and accelerometers in a robotic glove to capture human gestures, enabling intuitive control of the robotic arm. The paper discusses the hardware components, assembly process, and the software implementation for gesture-based control. The presented solution offers a cost-effective alternative to commercial robotic arms, providing a platform for experimentation and customization.

Two-sided platform customer classification system based on network DEA: an application to an on-demand freight platform

Two-sided platforms include two parts of users, customers and suppliers, which are the key strategic resources in two-sided platforms. Through Customer Intelligence Classification (CIC) management provided in this study, a platform can distinguish different values of customers to allocate resources efficiently and maximise customer resource value and enterprise investment returns. Meanwhile platform can also distinguish collusive drivers through CIC. Network Data Envelopment Analysis (NDEA) is applied in this research to open the black box of a two-sided platform operation system by dividing it into two sub-processes: Marketing and Service (MS) sub-process and Value-Creating (VC) sub-process. Four categories of customers are classified through performance evaluated by NDEA from data of an on-demand freight platform Z from March to August in 2018. In addition, six influencing factors are discovered through Panel Regression Model. The main conclusions are: (1) Customer with high marketing service valuation and low value-creating valuation, needs proper operation methods to promote their order quality. (2) Customer with low marketing service valuation and high value-creating valuation, needs to take attention to collusion between customers and driver. (3) Shipping fee, client number, driver number and coupons per order should become customers’ Key Performance Indicators to evaluate their potential.

Analysis of The Influence of Digital Payment Process, Quality of Application, and Online Service on Repurchase Intention of Online Shopping Platform Customers

In order to understand how customer satisfaction is affected by convenience, transaction process, system quality, content reliability, and customer service, as well as how this affects customer complaints and repurchase intentions, these factors will be examined in this study. We employed the descriptive research method in conjunction with conclusive research in this study. For this study, a cross-sectional design was employed. A questionnaire was used in this study's data collection process. Those who have utilized the mobile application and filed complaints with customer support make up the demographic under investigation. With a sample size of 100 participants, judgmental sampling was used in this study. The structural equation model method will be used to examine the data in this study. The data analysis's findings highlight a number of significant conclusions. Firstly, there is no evidence that convenience significantly affects customer happiness. Second, client happiness is greatly enhanced by the transaction procedure. Third, customer satisfaction is positively impacted by system quality as well. Fourth, customer happiness is positively impacted by content reliability as well. Fifth, customer satisfaction is positively impacted by customer service. Sixth, complaints from customers are negatively impacted by consumer satisfaction. Seventh, the propensity to repurchase is positively impacted by customer satisfaction. Eighthly, however, there is a negative correlation between consumer satisfaction and propensity to repurchase. These results, notwithstanding certain discrepancies, imply that factors other than customers' degree of satisfaction might also affect their intention to make another purchase.

Brand Trolling Engagement Behavior (BTEB) of Customers: A Challenge for Customer-Brand Relationship

The extensive use of social media has resulted in higher customer engagement, and firms use these platforms to communicate with customers, share information about brands and improve brand popularity. Social media provides the same platform for customers to share their views about firms and brands. Online communities or groups on social media facilitate interactions and information sharing among members. When the group members start using these social media platforms to post negative views, it is termed trolling. Customer comments on social media are crucial in shaping a firm’s reputation; therefore, when a brand falls short of customer expectations, they might feel cheated and betrayed and indulge in brand trolling activities termed Brand Trolling Engagement Behavior (BTEB). Customer comments on social media are crucial in shaping a firm’s reputation and significantly impact the brand. Trolling is an emerging research topic, and empirical studies on brand trolling are relatively scarce. This paper attempts to develop and validate a scale to measure customers’ BTEB and, subsequently, the impact of trolling on a brand. The data for the study was gathered from respondents in stages. Two factors, agitation and dissatisfaction, were obtained in the results, which explain the reasons why customers troll a brand on social media. Significant results were obtained where customers feel that brand trolling is a challenge for the firms and it affects the popularity and image of the brand. The research provides insights about the BTEB of customers on social media and would help the firms to manage customer-brand relationships.

Plasma‐Activated Coated Glass: A Novel Platform for Optimal Optical Performance and Cell Culture Substrate Customization

Borosilicate glass surpasses polystyrene in optical quality; however, it is less frequently used for cell culture due to poor protein and cell adhesion. To overcome this impasse, the surface of glass coverslips requires functionalization to enable facile covalent attachment of proteins to promote cell attachment and differentiation. Herein, a novel approach is presented to covalently attach proteins to glass by depositing a thin layer of radical‐rich carbon film using a plasma polymerization process. The surface chemistry of these plasma‐activated coatings can be controlled by varying the gas composition used during the deposition. Mass spectrometry reveals different protein profiles attached to functionalized glass coverslips when they are exposed to cell culture media. Mouse embryonic stem cell adhesion and subsequent differentiation into neural lineage on plasma‐treated coverslips are significantly enhanced compared to bare coverslips. Importantly, the coatings are in the nanometer range, preserve the optical properties of the glass coverslips for imaging, and remain stable for at least 4 weeks in simulated body fluid. These results demonstrate the utility of covalently attaching proteins to glass for enhanced cell attachment and stem cell differentiation and provide a promising technique to achieve better outcomes in cell culture in a range of biomedical applications.

Value co-destruction in Airbnb: Antecedents and outcomes

Using cognitive appraisal theory, service-dominant logic, and conservation of resources theory, this study tests a proposed model of the antecedents and outcomes of value co-destruction in Airbnb. First, the effects of host's bad behaviour and poor customer service are evaluated as antecedents of distrust in host. Second, the effects of both cognitive (distrust in the host) and affective (negative emotions) factors as determinants of value co-destruction and the subsequent consequences on guests’ hedonic wellbeing, dissatisfaction and negative electronic word-of-mouth were evaluated. A web-based survey was conducted through Amazon Mechanical Turk, and data were gathered from 427 tourists who had negative experiences with Airbnb hosts and platform customer service agents. Both host's bad behaviour and poor customer service contributed to distrust in host. Results showed that both cognitive and affective factors contributed to value co-destruction. Results have both theoretical and managerial implications.

Potential effects of customer-brand identification and self-representation on Aliexpress advocacy: a comparative study

Purpose Drawing on social identity theory (SIT), the current research highlights the sequential mediation effects of customer interaction, functional value and hedonic value in linking customer-brand identification and self-representation with online brand advocacy (OBA). Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered from 483 Egyptian and 595 non-Egyptian Aliexpress shopping platform customers, then analyzed using SmartPLS 4. Findings The multigroup analysis findings revealed that customer interaction and functional/hedonic values sequentially mediated the linkages of customer-brand identification and self-presentation with OBA for Egyptian and non-Egyptian user groups. Originality/value The novelty of this study is that it tested and validated customer interaction with the Aliexpress service scale, allowing for reflection on the interactive nature of this platform between Egyptian and non-Egyptian customers. SIT also lends credence to the idea that self-presentation mediates the effect of customer-brand identification on Aliexpress’s OBA, potentially shedding new light on this understudied dimension using a theoretical framework.

Guest Editorial: Unleasing the Power of Customer Advisory Boards Combined With a Customer Value-Based Strategy

_ In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, innovation has become the key to success. Companies that can adapt, innovate, and stay ahead of the curve not only survive, but thrive. To achieve this, a fresh approach to innovation is required: one that harnesses the collective wisdom of customer advisory boards and prioritizes a strategy based on customer value. In this article, we delve into the value of co-creating innovation through these two critical elements. The Power of Customer Advisory Boards Customer advisory boards are invaluable assets for any forward-thinking, innovative organization. They are not just a forum for feedback, but a mechanism for co-creating value and fostering innovation. They serve as a strategic tool for an organization to gain valuable insight, enhance customer relationships, and drive innovation. The facilitated collaboration leads to improved products, market-driven innovation, stronger customer relationships, and market success. The diverse backgrounds and expertise of the customers who make up an advisory board provide a holistic perspective that internal teams might lack. Here’s how advisory boards contribute to innovation. Unbiased Insights and Feedback. Customer advisory board members bring fresh eyes to a company’s products and challenges and provide a structured platform for customers to voice their opinions, share experiences, and offer feedback on products and services as well as the overall customer journey. They offer impartial insights and constructive criticism, allowing for a more accurate assessment of innovation efforts. Market Validation. These boards typically comprise individuals with deep industry knowledge. Their expertise helps identify emerging trends and opportunities, ensuring that innovation efforts are aligned with industry advancements and customer expectations; thus, avoiding costly misinnovation from misalignment with the market. This ensures that when a product is developed, there is market demand for the product. Enhanced Customer Relationships. Customer advisory boards can open doors to new partnerships, collaborations, and resources. They connect organizations to a broader ecosystem, fostering innovation through collaboration. Co-Creation of Solutions. Customer advisory boards enable collaborative problem solving and solutions. Customers, as experts in their fields, actively participate in ideation and development of new products and features to solve their challenges and address future business requirements. This co-creation ensures solutions meet specific customer needs driven by current challenges. A collective voice of the board ensures solutions and products are not too customized for a specific customer but fit the needs of the broader market experiencing the same challenges.

Research on evaluation method of e-commerce platform customer relationship based on decision tree algorithm

Research on evaluation method of e-commerce platform customer relationship based on decision tree algorithm