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This paper investigates the effects of advising strength of a recommendation agent on users' trust and distrust beliefs and how the effects are moderated by perceived brand familiarity.

A research model is evaluated using a laboratory experiment with 149 participants.

Results reveal that a strong advising tone leads to higher trust in terms of users' credibility and benevolence beliefs and lower distrust in terms of their discredibility beliefs (the trustor's concerns regarding the trustee's dishonesty and competence in engaging in harmful behavior) when perceived brand familiarity is high. By contrast, when brand familiarity is low, strong advising tone results in low trust in terms of users' credibility belief and high distrust in terms of their beliefs in discredibility and malevolence (concerns regarding the trustee's conduct in terms of a malicious intention that can hurt the trustor's welfare).

This paper contributes to the trust and distrust literature by studying how each of the dimensions of trust and distrust can be affected by an RA's design feature. It extends the attribution theory to the RA context by studying the moderating role of brand familiarity in determining the effects of the advising strength of an RA. It provides actionable guidelines for practitioners regarding the adoption of an RA's appropriate advising strength to promote different types of products.

The purpose of this paper is to build a phase-type risk model with stochastic return on investment and random observation periods to characterize the ruin quantities under which the insurance company may take effective investment strategies to avoid bankruptcy.

By the Markov property and Ito’s formula, this paper derives the integro-differential equations in which the interclaim times follow a phase-type distribution. Using the sinc method, this paper obtains the approximate solutions of the expected discounted penalty function. The numerical examples are given to verify the robustness of the proposed sinc method.

This paper discloses the relationship between the investment strategy and initial surplus level. The insurance company with a high initial surplus level prefers high risk portfolios to earn more profit. Contrarily, the insurance company would invest low risk portfolios to avoid bankruptcy. In addition, this paper shows that a short observation period would bring higher ruin probability.

The risk model is distinct in that a phase-type risk model is constructed with stochastic return on investment and random observation periods. These considerations in the risk model are in sharp contrast to the setting in which the stochastic return on investment is observed continuously. In practice, the insurance company only can periodically observe the surplus level to check the balance of the book. This setting, therefore, is difficult to adopt. This paper develops a sinc method to solve the approximate solutions of the expected discounted penalty function.

The potential implications of the three-dimensional printing (3DP) technology are growing enormously in the various health-care sectors, including surgical planning, manufacturing of patient-specific implants and developing anatomical models. Although a wide range of thermoplastic polymers are available as 3DP feedstock, yet obtaining biocompatible and structurally integrated biomedical devices is still challenging owing to various technical issues.

Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) is an organic and biocompatible compound material that is recently being used to fabricate complex design geometries and patient-specific implants through 3DP. However, the thermal and rheological features of PEEK make it difficult to process through the 3DP technologies, for instance, fused filament fabrication. The present review paper presents a state-of-the-art literature review of the 3DP of PEEK for potential biomedical applications. In particular, a special emphasis has been given on the existing technical hurdles and possible technological and processing solutions for improving the printability of PEEK.

The reviewed literature highlighted that there exist numerous scientific and technical means which can be adopted for improving the quality features of the 3D-printed PEEK-based biomedical structures. The discussed technological innovations will help the 3DP system to enhance the layer adhesion strength, structural stability, as well as enable the printing of high-performance thermoplastics.

The content of the present manuscript will motivate young scholars and senior scientists to work in exploring high-performance thermoplastics for 3DP applications.

Material extrusion (MEX) is a class of additive manufacturing (AM) process based on MEX principle. In the viewpoint of Industry 4.0 and sustainable manufacturing, AM technologies are gaining importance than conventional manufacturing route (subtractive manufacturing). Because of the ease of use and lesser operation skills, MEX had wide popularity in industry for product and prototype development. This study aims to analyze energy consumption of MEX-based AM process and its influencing factors.

A group of factors were identified pertaining to MEX-based AM process. In this viewpoint, this study presents the configuration of a structural model using interpretive structural modeling (ISM) to depict dominant factors in MEX-based AM process. A total of 18 influencing factors are identified and ranked using ISM methodology for MEX process. The Impact Matrix Cross-reference Multiplication Applied to a Classification analysis was done to categorize influencing factors into four groups for MEX-based AM process.

The derivation of structural model would enable AM practitioners to systematically analyze the factors and to derive key factors which enable comprehensive energy modeling and energy assessment studies. Also, it facilitates the development of energy efficient AM system.

The development of structural model for analysis of factors influencing energy consumption of MEX-based AM is the original contribution of the authors.

This paper aims to provide an overview of the recent findings of the mechanical properties of parts manufactured by fused deposition modeling (FDM). FDM has become a widely used technique for the manufacturing of thermoplastic parts. The mechanical performance of these parts under service conditions is difficult to predict due to the large number of process parameters involved. The review summarizes the current knowledge about the process-property relationships for FDM-based three-dimensional printing.

The review first discusses the effect of material selection, including pure thermoplastics and polymer-matrix composites. Second, process parameters such as nozzle temperature, raster orientation and infill ratio are discussed. Mechanisms that these parameters affect the specimen morphology are explained, and the effect of each parameter on the strength of printed parts are systematically presented.

Mechanical properties of FDM-produced parts strongly depend on process parameters and are usually lower than injection-molded counterparts. There is a need to understand the effect of each parameter and any synergistic effects involved better.

Through the optimization of process parameters, FDM has the potential to produce parts with strength values matching those produced by conventional methods. Further work in the field will make the FDM process more suitable for the manufacturing of load-bearing components.

This paper presents a critical assessment of the current knowledge about the mechanical properties of FDM-produced parts and suggests future research directions.

Tour guides play a significant role in sustainable tourism development as leaders, mediators, resource managers and promoters of economic prosperity. This paper aims to show how local Tibetan tour guides practice sustainable tourism in their encounters with Western tourists.

The data consists primarily of 15 in-depth interviews with native Tibetan guides,Content analysis of the data were undertaken.

It was found that the guides adopt sustainable tourism practices based on their local religious wisdom and experiences as they try to establish harmonious host–guest relationships. Western clients also encourage guides to adopt more proenvironmental behaviors. The “hosts” live by Buddhist concepts such as samsara that are in line with concepts such as altruism and benevolence. Most “guests” are well-behaved and try to build sincere mutual relationships with local people. Host and guest cocreate value for local sustainable tourism practice.

Tour guides can practice sustainable tourism in a leadership role or as mediators, resource managers or promoters of economic prosperity. They also maintain a sincere and kind relationship with their guests that goes beyond the instrumental host–guest relationship and might help to cocreate value for local sustainable tourism practices.

Tour guides’ sustainable practices have been examined in the past based on their roles as leader, mediator, resource manager and promoter of economic prosperity. But researchers have seldom examined circumstances in which the tourists and tour guides were from different cultures. This paper addresses this gap.

导游作为领导者、中介者、资源管理者和经济繁荣的促进者, 在旅游可持续发展中发挥着重要的作用。本文展示了藏族导游在与西方游客的接触中如何实践可持续旅游。

深度访谈15个对当地藏族导游, 对收集的数据进行内容分析。

导游基于本土的宗教智慧和经验, 尝试与建立更加和谐的主客关系时, 从而实现可持续旅游实践。西方客户也鼓励导游采取更环保的行为。“主人” 的生活遵循佛教轮回等观念, 提倡“利他”、“仁爱”。大多数“客人” 都行为得体, 试图与当地人建立真诚的相互关系。主客共同为当地可持续旅游实践创造价值。

导游可以作为领导角色或中介、资源管理者或经济繁荣的促进者实践可持续旅游。他们还与客人保持真诚和友好的关系, 这超越了工具性的主客关系, 可能有助于共同为当地可持续旅游实践创造价值。

在过去的研究中, 导游的可持续实践基于他们作为领导者、中间人、资源管理者和经济繁荣的促进者。但研究人员对游客和导游来自不同文化的情境缺少关注, 我们的研究试图解答这一问题。

Los guías turísticos desempeñan un papel importante en el desarrollo del turismo sostenible como líderes, mediadores, administradores de recursos y promotores de la prosperidad económica. Este documento muestra, cómo los guías turísticos tibetanos locales practican el turismo sostenible en sus encuentros con turistas occidentales.

Los datos consisten principalmente en 15 entrevistas en profundidad con guías tibetanos nativos. Los datos fueron analizados mediante el método de análisis de contenido.

Se encontró que, los guías adoptan prácticas de turismo sostenible basadas en su sabiduría y experiencias religiosas locales, mientras intentan establecer relaciones armoniosas entre el anfitrión y el huésped. Los clientes occidentales, también alientan a los guías a adoptar comportamientos más proambientales. Los “anfitriones”, viven según conceptos budistas, como el samsara, que están en línea con conceptos como el altruismo y la benevolencia. La mayoría de los “visitantes” se comportan bien y tratan de construir relaciones mutuas sinceras con la gente local. El anfitrión y el huesped, co-crean valor para la práctica local de turismo sostenible.

Los guías turísticos pueden practicar el turismo sostenible en un papel de liderazgo o como mediadores, administradores de recursos o promotores de la prosperidad económica. También mantienen una relación sincera y amable con sus huéspedes que va más allá de la relación instrumental anfitrión-huésped y podría ayudar a co-crear valor para las prácticas locales de turismo sostenible.

Las prácticas sostenibles de nuestra guía han sido examinadas en el pasado en función de sus roles como líder, mediador, gestor de recursos y promotor de la prosperidad económica. Pero los investigadores, rara vez han examinado las circunstancias en las que los turistas y los guías turísticos eran de diferentes culturas. Abordamos esta brecha.