Operations in banking: the service quality and effects on satisfaction and loyalty

This paper studies the service quality provided by the banks. The objectives are (i) to identify which aspects of the transactions carried out by the banks are important for the service quality perceived by the customers, taking into account some aspects that are sometimes ignored (online channels) and (ii) to observe how service quality influences customer satisfaction and how customer satisfaction affects the loyalty towards the bank. Using a factor analysis, the research identifies the operative, physical, new technologies and human factors. Next, using structural equations models with AMOS, the results show an influence of the operative aspects and the new technologies on service quality, as well as the confirmation of quality as a precedent to customer satisfaction, and how such satisfaction influences on customer's loyalty towards the bank.     

Modeling population dynamics and economic growth as competing species: An application to CO2 global emissions

Since the beginning of the last century the world is experiencing an important demographic transition, which will probably impact on economic growth. Many demographers and social scientists are trying to understand the key drivers of such transition as well as its profound implications. A correct understanding will help to predict other important trends of the world primary energy demand and the carbon emission to the atmosphere, which may be leading to an important climate change. This paper proposes a set of coupled differential equations to describe the changes of population, gross domestic product, primary energy consumption and carbon emissions, modeled as competing species as in Lotka-Volterra prey-predator relations. The predator-prey model is well known in the biological, ecological and environmental literature and has also been applied successfully in other fields. This model proposes a new and simple conceptual explanation of the interactions and feedbacks among the principal driving forces leading to the present transition. The estimated results for the temporal evolution of world population, gross domestic product, primary energy consumption and carbon emissions are calculated from year 1850 to year 2150. The calculated scenarios are in good agreement with common world data and projections for the next 100 years.     

直线法线式方程在建筑施工放样中的应用

建筑物轴线的放样主要是计算出各轴线的交点的坐标,然后通过全站仪极坐标放样的方法定出轴线交点的位置。由于建筑物坐标系和测量坐标系不同,应先通过坐标转换将建筑物轴线交点转换为测量指标,本文提出无需进行坐标转换,而是通过建立建筑方格网主轴线法线式直线方程,并以此推求出建筑物轴线的法线式直线方程,进而通过解方程组求得交点坐标。     

Enhancing effects of manufacturing flexibility through operational absorptive capacity and operational ambidexterity

A large body of research investigates how manufacturing flexibility in uncertain environments leads to firm performance, with mixed results. The mixed findings could be due to differences across firms in terms of the capabilities to acquire, assimilate, and transform knowledge and to simultaneously pursue both the exploitation of existing operational capabilities and the exploration for new operational capabilities. Building on the literature that suggests that manufacturing flexibility mediates the relationship between environmental uncertainty and firm performance, we explore the applicability of two organizational learning contingencies to the operations environment: operational absorptive capability and operational ambidexterity. Absorptive capacity enables the recognition and assimilation of new knowledge. Ambidexterity determines whether this knowledge will be applied for both exploration and exploitation. Using a sample of 852 manufacturing firms, we find that environmental uncertainty affects firm performance directly and indirectly through manufacturing flexibility. Furthermore, both operational absorptive capacity and operational ambidexterity moderate the relationship between environmental uncertainty and manufacturing flexibility and the relationship between manufacturing flexibility and firm performance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

A CHARACTERISTIC-BASED FINITE VOLUME SCHEME FOR SHALLOW WATER EQUATIONS

We propose a new characteristic-based finite volume scheme combined with the method of Central Weighted Essentially Non-Oscillatory (CWENO) reconstruction and characteristics, to solve shallow water equations. We apply the scheme to simulate dam-break problems. A number of challenging test cases are considered, such as large depth differences even wet/dry bed. The numerical solutions well agree with the analytical solutions. The results demonstrate the desired accuracy, high-resolution and robustness of the presented scheme.     

适用于可压缩和不可压缩流动的NS方程预处理数值解法

该文在多块耦合隐式求解方法的基础上,在不可压缩流动NS方程求解器中引入了双层一时间迭代的预处理计算方法,使离散方程组的各个特征值之间互相平衡, 降低了可压缩流动NS求解器中低速流动时的刚性,提高了数值方法对低速流动的适应能力,通过Re=20,40 时圆柱绕流的计算结果与试验数据验证,得到了数值结果误差小于5%的工程允许范围.     

Macroeconomic Policy Interaction under EMU: A Dynamic Game Approach

In this article, we study macroeconomic stabilization in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) using a dynamic game approach. With the aid of a stylized macroeconomic model, this article analyzes the transmission and interaction of national fiscal policies and monetary policy of the European Central Bank (ECB) in the EMU. A special focus is on the effects of labor market institutions in the participating countries and of the introduction of fiscal stringency criteria like those imposed in the Stability and Growth Pact.     

Numerical Simulation of Two-Dimensional Dam-Break Flows in Curved Channels

Two-dimensional transient dam-break flows in a river with bends were theoretically studied. The river was modeled as a curved channel with a constant width and a flat bottom. The water was assumed to be an incompressible and homogeneous fluid. A channel-fitted orthogonal curvilinear coordinate system was established and the corresponding two-dimensional shallow-water equations were derived for this system. The governing equations with well-posed initial and boundary conditions were numerically solved in a rectangular domain by use of the Godunov-type finite-difference scheme, which can capture the hydraulic jump of dam-break flows. The comparison between the obtained numerical results and the experimental data of Miller and Chaudry in a semicircle channel shows the validity of the present numerical scheme. The mathematical model and the numerical method were applied to the dam-break flows in channels with various curvatures. Based on the numerical results, the influence of river curvatures on the dam-break flows was analyzed in details.     

A TVD SCHEME FOR INCOMPRESSIBLE FLOW COUPLED WITH DIFFERENT TURBULENCE MODLES ON A GROUND- MOUNTED SQUARE-RIB FLOW

A finite-difference Total Variation Diminishing (TVD) numerical simulation model for coupling the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations, pressure-relative continuity equation and various k-εturbulence models was developed to solve the incompressible flow based on the pseudo-compressibility method. The hyperbolicity of all these equations was studied and the discretization of the fully coupling equations with all the primal variables and source terms were made in this article. Numerical simulation for modeling the flow around a ground-mounted square rib was implemented and validated by comparing with the published wind tunnel experimental data. It is shown that such a numerical simulation method with a proper turbulence model has a very good accuracy to simulate the flow around a surface-mounted rib. It is concluded that the Renormalization Group (RNG) and Chen-Kim k-εturbulence models have much better ability to predict the characteristics of the vortex structure and flow separation than the standard k-εmodel.