A review of information flow diagrammatic models for product-service systems

A product-service system (PSS) is a combination of products and services to create value for both customers and manufacturers. Modelling a PSS based on function orientation offers a useful way to distinguish system inputs and outputs with regards to how data are consumed and information is used, i.e. information flow. This article presents a review of diagrammatic information flow tools, which are designed to describe a system through its functions. The origin, concept and applications of these tools are investigated, followed by an analysis of information flow modelling with regards to key PSS properties. A case study of selection laser melting technology implemented as PSS will then be used to show the application of information flow modelling for PSS design. A discussion based on the usefulness of the tools in modelling the key elements of PSS and possible future research directions are also presented

The Impact of Mentorship on Nurses’ Level of Self-Efficacy and Motivation to Pursue Board Leadership Positions

Background: Nurses comprise the largest component of the healthcare workforce and possess a unique understanding of healthcare operations and patient care. On average, the proportion of nurses serving on hospital boards range from 2 to 6%, with the proportion of physicians averaging 20%. Over the last decade, much attention has been placed on emphasizing the importance of a nurse’s presence on boards. Despite these initiatives, nurses continue to display an overall hesitancy towards board service. Objectives: The aim of this project was to implement an evidence-based mentorship program to address barriers to board leadership and increase overall self-efficacy and motivation to pursue these positions. Methods: Eleven nurse leader mentees and eleven mentors participated in a voluntary mentorship program that addressed barriers to board leadership and gave guidance to seeking out board positions. Mentees completed the Sundean Healthcare Index for Preparedness in Board Competency (SHIP-BC) survey pre and post participation to measure changes in self-efficacy. Mentors and mentees also completed additional surveys to measure overall satisfaction with the program. Results: There were increases in the mentees average score on the SHIP-BC survey after program completion with a statistically significant difference in personal – interpersonal skills, as exhibited by a two-sided exact p-value of 0.027. Both groups expressed satisfaction in the program, expressing the value of formal mentorship and increased comfort level surrounding pursuing board leadership positions. Conclusions: Nurses possess a unique understanding of the healthcare sphere that make them valuable resources for board positions. Through these roles, nurses would have increased opportunities to advocate for patients and influence healthcare transformation. Utilization of an evidence-based mentorship model can assist in increasing nurses’ understanding of the importance of board leadership and overall feelings of self-efficacy

Increasing boys' and girls' intention to avoid teenage pregnancy: a cluster randomised control feasibility trial of an interactive video drama based intervention in post-primary schools in Northern Ireland

Background: Adolescent men have a vital yet neglected role in reducing unintended teenage pregnancy (UTP). There is a need for gender-sensitive educational interventions. Objectives: To determine the value and feasibility of conducting an effectiveness trial of the If I Were Jack Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) intervention in a convenience quota sample of post-primary schools in Northern Ireland. Secondary objectives were to assess acceptability to schools, pupils (male/female, aged 14–15 years) and parents/guardians; to identify optimal delivery structures and systems; to establish participation rates and reach, including equality of engagement of different socioeconomic and religious types; to assess trial recruitment and retention rates; to assess variation in normal RSE practice; to refine survey instruments; to assess differences in outcomes for male and female pupils; to identify potential effect sizes that might be detected in an effectiveness trial and estimate appropriate sample size for that trial; and to identify costs of delivery and pilot methods for assessing cost-effectiveness. Design: Cluster randomised Phase II feasibility trial with an embedded process and economic evaluation. Intervention: A teacher-delivered classroom-based RSE resource – an interactive video drama (IVD) with classroom materials, teacher training and an information session for parents – to immerse young people in a hypothetical scenario of Jack, a teenager whose girlfriend is unintentionally pregnant. It addresses gender inequalities in RSE by focusing on young men and is designed to increase intentions to avoid UTP by encouraging young people to delay sexual intercourse and to use contraception consistently in sexual relationships. Main outcome measures: Abstinence from sexual intercourse (delaying initiation of sex or returning to abstinence) or avoidance of unprotected sexual intercourse (consistent correct use of contraception). Secondary outcomes included Knowledge, Attitudes, Skills and Intentions. Results: The intervention proved acceptable to schools, pupils and parents, as evidenced through positive process evaluation. One minor refinement to the parental component was required, namely the replacement of the teacher-led face-to-face information session for parents by online videos designed to deliver the intervention to parents/guardians into their home. School recruitment was successful (target 25%, achieved 38%). No school dropped out. Pupil retention was successful (target 85%, achieved 93%). The between-group difference in incidence of unprotected sex of 1.3% (95% confidence interval 0.55% to 2.2%) by 9 months demonstrated an effect size consistent with those reported to have had meaningful impact on UTP rates (resulting in an achievable sample size of 66 schools at Phase III). Survey instruments showed high acceptability and reliability of measures (Cronbach’s alpha: 0.5–0.7). Economic evaluation at Phase III is feasible because it was possible to (1) identify costs of delivering If I Were Jack (mean cost per pupil, including training of teachers, was calculated as £13.66); and (2) develop a framework for assessing cost-effectiveness. Conclusion: Trial methods were appropriate, and recruitment and retention of schools and pupils was satisfactory, successfully demonstrating all criteria for progression to a main trial. The perceived value of culture- and gender-sensitive public health interventions has been highlighted. Future work: Progression to a Phase III effectiveness trial. Trial registration: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN99459996. Funding: This project was funded by the NIHR Public Health Research programme and will be published in full in Public Health Research; Vol. 5, No. 1. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information

Search For Heavy Pointlike Dirac Monopoles

We have searched for central production of a pair of photons with high transverse energies in $p\bar p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 1.8$ TeV using $70 pb^{-1}$ of data collected with the D\O detector at the Fermilab Tevatron in 1994--1996. If they exist, virtual heavy pointlike Dirac monopoles could rescatter pairs of nearly real photons into this final state via a box diagram. We observe no excess of events above background, and set lower 95% C.L. limits of $610, 870, or 1580 GeV/c^2$ on the mass of a spin 0, 1/2, or 1 Dirac monopole.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Wildlife Reservoirs of Canine Distemper Virus Resulted in a Major Outbreak in Danish Farmed Mink (<em>Neovison vison</em>)

A major outbreak of canine distemper virus (CDV) in Danish farmed mink (Neovison vison) started in the late summer period of 2012. At the same time, a high number of diseased and dead wildlife species such as foxes, raccoon dogs, and ferrets were observed. To track the origin of the outbreak virus full-length sequencing of the receptor binding surface protein hemagglutinin (H) was performed on 26 CDV's collected from mink and 10 CDV's collected from wildlife species. Subsequent phylogenetic analyses showed that the virus circulating in the mink farms and wildlife were highly identical with an identity at the nucleotide level of 99.45% to 100%. The sequences could be grouped by single nucleotide polymorphisms according to geographical distribution of mink farms and wildlife. The signaling lymphocytic activation molecule (SLAM) receptor binding region in most viruses from both mink and wildlife contained G at position 530 and Y at position 549; however, three mink viruses had an Y549H substitution. The outbreak viruses clustered phylogenetically in the European lineage and were highly identical to wildlife viruses from Germany and Hungary (99.29% – 99.62%). The study furthermore revealed that fleas (Ceratophyllus sciurorum) contained CDV and that vertical transmission of CDV occurred in a wild ferret. The study provides evidence that wildlife species, such as foxes, play an important role in the transmission of CDV to farmed mink and that the virus may be maintained in the wild animal reservoir between outbreaks

Search for High Mass Photon Pairs in p-pbar --> gamma-gamma-jet-jet Events at sqrt(s)=1.8 TeV

A search has been carried out for events in the channel p-barp --> gamma gamma jet jet. Such a signature can characterize the production of a non-standard Higgs boson together with a W or Z boson. We refer to this non-standard Higgs, having standard model couplings to vector bosons but no coupling to fermions, as a "bosonic Higgs." With the requirement of two high transverse energy photons and two jets, the diphoton mass (m(gamma gamma)) distribution is consistent with expected background. A 90(95)% C.L. upper limit on the cross section as a function of mass is calculated, ranging from 0.60(0.80) pb for m(gamma gamma) = 65 GeV/c^2 to 0.26(0.34) pb for m(gamma gamma) = 150 GeV/c^2, corresponding to a 95% C.L. lower limit on the mass of a bosonic Higgs of 78.5 GeV/c^2.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. Replacement has new H->gamma gamma branching ratios and corresponding new mass limit

Search for Gravitational Waves from Primordial Black Hole Binary Coalescences in the Galactic Halo

We use data from the second science run of the LIGO gravitational-wave detectors to search for the gravitational waves from primordial black hole (PBH) binary coalescence with component masses in the range 0.2--$1.0 M_\odot$. The analysis requires a signal to be found in the data from both LIGO observatories, according to a set of coincidence criteria. No inspiral signals were found. Assuming a spherical halo with core radius 5 kpc extending to 50 kpc containing non-spinning black holes with masses in the range 0.2--$1.0 M_\odot$, we place an observational upper limit on the rate of PBH coalescence of 63 per year per Milky Way halo (MWH) with 90% confidence.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev.

Search for squarks and gluinos with the ATLAS detector in final states with jets and missing transverse momentum using √s=8 TeV proton-proton collision data

A search for squarks and gluinos in final states containing high-p T jets, missing transverse momentum and no electrons or muons is presented. The data were recorded in 2012 by the ATLAS experiment in s√=8 TeV proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider, with a total integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb−1. Results are interpreted in a variety of simplified and specific supersymmetry-breaking models assuming that R-parity is conserved and that the lightest neutralino is the lightest supersymmetric particle. An exclusion limit at the 95% confidence level on the mass of the gluino is set at 1330 GeV for a simplified model incorporating only a gluino and the lightest neutralino. For a simplified model involving the strong production of first- and second-generation squarks, squark masses below 850 GeV (440 GeV) are excluded for a massless lightest neutralino, assuming mass degenerate (single light-flavour) squarks. In mSUGRA/CMSSM models with tan β = 30, A 0 = −2m 0 and μ > 0, squarks and gluinos of equal mass are excluded for masses below 1700 GeV. Additional limits are set for non-universal Higgs mass models with gaugino mediation and for simplified models involving the pair production of gluinos, each decaying to a top squark and a top quark, with the top squark decaying to a charm quark and a neutralino. These limits extend the region of supersymmetric parameter space excluded by previous searches with the ATLAS detector

Measurement of the inclusive and dijet cross-sections of b-jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive and dijet production cross-sections have been measured for jets containing b-hadrons (b-jets) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements use data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The b-jets are identified using either a lifetime-based method, where secondary decay vertices of b-hadrons in jets are reconstructed using information from the tracking detectors, or a muon-based method where the presence of a muon is used to identify semileptonic decays of b-hadrons inside jets. The inclusive b-jet cross-section is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range 20 < pT < 400 GeV and rapidity in the range |y| < 2.1. The bbbar-dijet cross-section is measured as a function of the dijet invariant mass in the range 110 < m_jj < 760 GeV, the azimuthal angle difference between the two jets and the angular variable chi in two dijet mass regions. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. Good agreement is observed between the measured cross-sections and the predictions obtained using POWHEG + Pythia. MC@NLO + Herwig shows good agreement with the measured bbbar-dijet cross-section. However, it does not reproduce the measured inclusive cross-section well, particularly for central b-jets with large transverse momenta.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (21 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version published in European Physical Journal

Reusable Components of Semantic Specifications

Semantic specifications of programming languages typically have poor modularity. This hinders reuse of parts of the semantics of one language when specifying a different language – even when the two languages have many constructs in common – and evolution of a language may require major reformulation of its semantics. Such drawbacks have discouraged language developers from using formal semantics to document their designs. In the PLanCompS project, we have developed a component-based approach to semantics. Here, we explain its modularity aspects, and present an illustrative case study: a component-based semantics for Caml Light. We have tested the correctness of the semantics by running programs on an interpreter generated from the semantics, comparing the output with that produced on the standard implementation of the language. Our approach provides good modularity, facilitates reuse, and should support co-evolution of languages and their formal semantics. It could be particularly useful in connection with domain-specific languages and language-driven software development