Profiling Digital Printing Technology Adoption in the Fashion Industry: A New Approach to Exploring Innovation Diffusion

Digital printing technology (DPT) represents a core innovation that is currently revolutionizing the global decorated apparel market by automating the printing process, facilitating customization, and reducing energy costs and production lead time. However, the fundamental understanding of the emerging DPT market remains unexplored due to its novelty. This study aims to identify DPT diffusion patterns over the past decade in the U.S. market and establish a predictive user profile employing social media-based analytics along with data mining and traditional statistical modeling. A proxy variable is used to measure likely adoption which reflects an S-shaped diffusion curve consistent with Diffusion of Innovations Theory. Additionally, the outcome profile suggests that likely DPT adopters reside in locations that reflect higher levels of education (bachelor’s degrees or higher), relatively young populations (i.e. between 19–34 years of age), proportionately higher incomes generated from art and design occupations, but with lower household annual incomes.

A Typology of Attitudes towards the E-Bike against the Background of the Traditional Bicycle and the Car

Although it is generally accepted that innovators and early adopters have a particular influence on the uptake of electric bikes, other groups, whose reactions to innovation have not been studied, are perhaps wrongly marginalised. Such individuals, often relying on stereotypes, also need to be included in researchers’ scope of interest. Therefore, the aim of the CAWI survey was to determine the attitudes of respondents, both users and non-users of electric bikes, and on this basis to classify by k-means analysis the attitudes towards the e-bike compared to the traditional bicycle and the car. The results obtained show a large variation between the designated classes. What most of them have in common is a strong attachment to the private car, which is typical for the cycling culture of this part of Europe, but the psycho-physical characteristics of the surveyed remain the strongest differentiating factor. Therefore, in the light of the opinions collected, it seems that the group Gadget lovers 1 and 2, whose share was about one-quarter of the total number surveyed, may be the most inclined to change their transport behaviour. This means that the e-bike, as an innovation, can overcome a critical discontinuity stage on the innovation diffusion curve in the Innovation Adaptation Lifecycle (IAL).

Flammability and physical stability of sugar palm crystalline nanocellulose reinforced thermoplastic sugar palm starch/poly(lactic acid) blend bionanocomposites

In this study, sugar palm crystalline nanocellulose (SPCNC)-reinforced thermoplastic sugar palm starch (TPS) was blended with poly(lactic acid) (PLA) in order to prioritize the biodegradation feature while offsetting individual polymer limitation. Prior to melt blending process, SPCNC was dispersed through sonication in advance of starch gelatinization which was later casted into petri dishes. PLA and TPS were melt blended into five different ratios using Brabender mixer followed by compression molding. Soil degradation (4 months) and water uptake (4 weeks) tests were conducted to evaluate the physical stability of PLA/TPS blend bionanocomposites. Based on Fickian law, the diffusion curve and coefficient of diffusion for seawater, river water, and sewer water were calculated. The flammability and limiting oxygen index (LOI) tests were conducted in accordance with ASTM D635 and ASTM D2863, respectively. For PLA60TPS40 (40% TPS), significant reduction (46–69%) was recorded in maximum water uptake in all mediums, while soil degradation rate experienced insignificant increment (7.92%) for PLA70TPS30 (30% TPS) owing to the reinforcement of SPCNC through the well-dispersed TPS within PLA. Meanwhile, the flammability rates and LOI values for PLA40TPS60 and PLA60TPS40 indicated flammable material properties.

Study on the Calculation Method of the Diffusion Range of Grouting Slurry for a High-speed Railway Ballastless Track Subgrade

Grouting engineering is the most convenient and quick way to deal with postconstruction settlement. Based on the investigation of the Beijing Shenyang high-speed railway in the early stage, the microdestructive force of grout on the soil mass in the process of grouting with the method of fluid solid coupling theory was analyzed. The numerical simulation results show that, in the grouting process, the greater the grouting pressure, the wider the diffusion range of the slurry and the greater the damage to the microscopic contact force of the slurry to the soil; in addition, when the grouting pressure is below 0.15 MPa, the diffusion form of the slurry in the soil is osmotic grouting; when the pressure is about 0.3 MPa, the diffusion form of the slurry in the soil is compacted grouting; on the basis of the simulation results, a deeper research is carried out, and the calculation formula of the slurry diffusion curve is obtained. It fills in the blank of the theoretical study of the slurry diffusion curve. In this paper, the diffusion formula of grouting slurry can be used in the theoretical study of clay grouting, and it can be used as a reference for practical engineering.

Poorly known aspects of flattening the curve of COVID-19

This work concerns the too-often mentioned flattening of the curve of COVID-19. The diffusion of the virus is analyzed with logistic-curve fits on the 25 countries most affected at the time of the writing and in which the diffusion curve was more than 95% completed. A negative correlation observed between the final number of infections and the slope of the logistic curve corroborates a result obtained long time ago via an extensive simulation study. There is both theoretical arguments and experimental evidence for the existence of such correlations. The flattening of the curve results in a retardation of the curve’s midpoint, which entails an increase in the final number of infections. It is possible that more lives are lost at the end by this process. Our analysis also permits evaluation of the various governments’ interventions in terms of rapidity of response, efficiency of the actions taken (the amount of flattening achieved), and the number of days by which the curve was delayed. Not surprisingly, early decisive response proves to be the optimum strategy among the countries studied.

Development of Experimental Chamber for Testing High-Temperature Hydrogen Permeation through Metal Foils

This paper describes the methodology for conducting experiments to study hydrogen diffusion through metal membranes using a specially designed diffusion chamber of an automated gas reaction controller complex. This complex allows experiments to study hydrogen diffusion with the following parameters: the inlet hydrogen pressure is up to 50 atmospheres, and the temperature in the chamber is from 30 °C to 1000 °C. The size of the samples is limited to a diameter of 10 mm and a thickness of 100 μm. The method for calculating the diffusion coefficient based on the Fick equation is also described. When studying hydrogen diffusion through a sample of Zr–1Nb alloy with nickel film deposited at the temperature of 550 °C, it was noted that phase transformations can be observed on the diffusion curve.

Theoretical notes regarding the practical application of Stafford Beer’s viable system model

Purpose This paper aims to capture current difficulties with the practical application of the viable system model (VSM). On this basis, a set of suggestions toward a more effective application of the model is made. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on observations from practical applications of the VSM, systematically collected by the author. Findings The paper suggests that the VSM is currently stuck in the typical chasm of a bell-shaped diffusion curve. The paper makes six propositions to smoother pass from the early adopters to the early majority. Research limitations/implications The six findings imply various research efforts. Practical implications In contrast to frequent claims that VSM should be made accessible easily to a larger number of people, the paper suggests that a smaller number of better trained VSM experts support a larger number of managers with a more generic know how. Social implications A more focused but broader application of the VSM may lead to better societal organizations and therefore to a more efficient effective solution of societal problems. Originality/value The paper suggests to tighten the focus of the VSM to the very abstract topic of judging variety balances and at the same time to better connect the model with the suite of established methods and tools in management. This is a contrast to other attempts, which either simplify the VSM or extend it into a comprehensive methodology.

Networks, Homophily, and the Spread of Innovations

The question of how and why innovations spread through populations has been the focus of extensive research in various scientific disciplines over recent decades. Generally, innovation diffusion is defined as the process whereby a few members of a social system initially adopt an innovation, then over time more individuals adopt until all (or most) members have adopted the new idea (e.g. Rogers 2003; Ryan and Gross 1943; Valente 1993). Anthropologists and archaeologists have argued that this process is one of the most important processes in cultural evolution (Richerson et al. 1996) and much work has been devoted to describing and analysing the temporal and spatial patterns of the spread of novel techniques and ideas from a particular source to their present distributions. Classic case studies include the spread of agricultural inventions such as hybrid corn (e.g. Griliches 1957; Ryan and Gross 1943), the spread of historic gravestone motifs in New England (Dethlefsen and Deetz 1966; Scholnick 2012), and the spread of bow and arrow technology (Bettinger and Eerkins 1999). (For a more comprehensive list see Rogers and Shoemaker (1971) who reviewed 1,500 studies of innovation diffusion.) Interestingly, the temporal diffusion dynamic in almost all case studies is characterized by an S-shaped diffusion curve describing the fraction of the population which has adopted the innovation at a certain point in time. Similarly, the spatial dynamics tend to resemble travelling wave-like patterns (see Steele 2009 for examples). The basic puzzle posed by innovation diffusion is the observed lag between an innovation’s first appearance and its general acceptance within a population (Young 2009). In other words, what are the individual-level mechanisms that give rise to the observed population-level pattern? Again, scientific fields as diverse as economics/marketing science (e.g. Bass 1969; Van den Bulte and Stremersch 2004; Young 2009), geography (e.g. Hägerstrand 1967), or social science (e.g. Henrich 2001; Steele 2009; Valente 1996; Watts 2002) offer interesting insights into this question without reaching a consensus about the general nature of individual adoption decisions. In archaeological and anthropological applications, population-level patterns inferred from the archaeological record, such as adoption curves, are often the only direct evidence about past cultural traditions (Shennan 2011).