Multi-factor service design: identification and consideration of multiple factors of the service in its design process

Service design is a multidisciplinary area that helps innovate services by bringing new ideas to customers through a design-thinking approach. Services are affected by multiple factors, which should be considered in designing services. In this paper, we propose the multi-factor service design (MFSD) method, which helps consider the multi-factor nature of service in the service design process. The MFSD method has been developed through and used in five service design studies with industry and government. The method addresses the multi-factor nature of service for systematic service design by providing the following guidelines: (1) identify key factors that affect the customer value creation of the service in question (in short, value creation factors), (2) define the design space of the service based on the value creation factors, and (3) design services and represent them based on the factors. We provide real stories and examples from the five service design studies to illustrate the MFSD method and demonstrate its utility. This study will contribute to the design of modern complex services that are affected by varied factors

Heart rate changes during partial seizures: A study amongst Singaporean patients

INTRODUCTION: Studies in Europe and America showed that tachycardia, less often bradycardia, frequently accompanied partial seizures in Caucasian patients. We determine frequency, magnitude and type of ictal heart rate changes during partial seizures in non-Caucasian patients in Singapore. METHODS: Partial seizures recorded during routine EEGs performed in a tertiary hospital between 1995 and 1999 were retrospectively reviewed. All routine EEGs had simultaneous ECG recording. Heart rate before and during seizures was determined and correlated with epileptogenic focus. Differences in heart rate before and during seizures were grouped into 4 types: (1) >10% decrease; (2) -10 to +20% change; (3) 20–50% increase; (3) >50% increase. RESULTS: Of the total of 37 partial seizures, 18 were left hemisphere (LH), 13 were right hemisphere (RH) and 6 were bilateral (BL) in onset. 51% of all seizures showed no significant change in heart rate (type 2), 22% had moderate sinus tachycardia (type 3), 11% showed severe sinus tachycardia (type 4), while 16% had sinus bradycardia (type 1). Asystole was recorded in one seizure. Apart from having more tachycardia in bilateral onset seizures, there was no correlation between side of ictal discharge and heart rate response. Compared to Caucasian patients, sinus tachycardia was considerably less frequent. Frequency of bradycardia was similar to those recorded in the literature. CONCLUSIONS: Significant heart rate changes during partial seizures were seen in half of Singaporean patients. Although sinus tachycardia was the most common heart rate change, the frequency was considerably lower compared to Caucasian patients. This might be due to methodological and ethnic differences. Rates of bradycardia are similar to those recorded in the literature

Induction of fibroblast senescence generates a non-fibrogenic myofibroblast phenotype that differentially impacts on cancer prognosis

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF) remain a poorly characterized, heterogeneous cell population. Here we characterized two previously described tumor-promoting CAF sub-types, smooth muscle actin (SMA)-positive myofibroblasts and senescent fibroblasts, identifying a novel link between the two

Towards quantum computing with single atoms and optical cavities on atom chips

We report on recent developments in the integration of optical microresonators into atom chips and describe some fabrication and implementation challenges. We also review theoretical proposals for quantum computing with single atoms based on the observation of photons leaking through the cavity mirrors. The use of measurements to generate entanglement can result in simpler, more robust and scalable quantum computing architectures. Indeed, we show that quantum computing with atom-cavity systems is feasible even in the presence of relatively large spontaneous decay rates and finite photon detector efficiencies.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure

Biofilter aquaponic system for nutrients removal from fresh market wastewater

Aquaponics is a significant wastewater treatment system which refers to the combination of conventional aquaculture (raising aquatic organism) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment. This system has a high ability in removing nutrients compared to conventional methods because it is a natural and environmentally friendly system (aquaponics). The current chapter aimed to review the possible application of aquaponics system to treat fresh market wastewater with the intention to highlight the mechanism of phytoremediation occurs in aquaponic system. The literature revealed that aquaponic system was able to remove nutrients in terms of nitrogen and phosphorus

Therapeutic hypothermia in adult patients receiving extracorporeal life support: early results of a randomized controlled study

Cardiac arrest with cerebral ischaemia frequently leads to severe neurological impairment. Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) has emerged as a valuable adjunct in resuscitation of cardiac arrest. Despite ECLS, the incidence of permanent neurological injury remains high. We hypothesize that patients receiving ECLS for cardiac arrest treated with therapeutic hypothermia at 34 °C have lower neurological complication rates compared to standard ECLS therapy at normothermia. Early results of this randomized study suggest that therapeutic hypothermia is safe in adult patients receiving ECLS, with similar complication rates as ECLS without hypothermia. Further studies are warranted to measure the efficacy of this therapy

Breaking the encryption scheme of the Moscow Internet voting system

This work is a merger of arXiv:1908.09170 and arXiv:1908.05127.International audienceIn September 2019, voters for the election at the Parliament of the city of Moscow were allowed to use an Internet voting system. The source code of it had been made available for public testing. In this paper we show two successful attacks on the encryption scheme implemented in the voting system. Both attacks were sent to the developers of the system, and both issues had been fixed after that.The encryption used in this system is a variant of ElGamal over finite fields. In the first attack we show that the used key sizes are too small. We explain how to retrieve the private keys from the public keys in a matter of minutes with easily available resources.When this issue had been fixed and the new system had become available for testing, we discovered that the new implementation was not semantically secure. We demonstrate how this newly found security vulnerability can be used for counting the number of votes cast for a candidate

The potential of neurofilaments analysis using dry-blood and plasma spots

The lack of biomarkers for an early diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders (NDs) has hampered the development of therapeutics whose effect would be enhanced by a timely intervention. Neurofilaments light chain (Nf-L), an integral part of the axonal structure, has emerged as a robust fluid biomarker for fatal neurodegenerative disorders like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). To facilitate large-scale studies into early-stage neurodegeneration, reduce costs of samples collection/processing and cold-chain storage, we describe the measurement of Nf-L in blood fractions obtained from dry blood spots (DBS) and dry plasma spots (DPS), two filter paper-based remote blood collection tools. To test the feasibility of using this approach, Nf-L analysis in DBS/DPS is compared to that in plasma obtained from the same blood sample, looking at Nf-L discriminatory power in the clinical stratification of ALS compared to healthy controls. With the best pre-analytical treatment for total protein recovery and using highly sensitive immunoassays, we report the detection of different Nf-L levels in DBS elute compared to reference plasma and DPS from the same blood samples. However, Nf-L measurement in DBS elutes provides a very good discrimination of ALS from healthy controls which is comparable to that obtained using plasma Nf-L assays. With the available immunodetection methods, we show that Nf-L measurement based on DPS microsampling is similar to that in plasma. The filter-paper biophysical characteristics and the interference of high haemoglobin concentration released by erythrocyte lysis is likely to perturb Nf-L detection in DBS elute. Further studies into DBS-based Nf-L detection and its analytical optimization are needed to make this method suitable for routine Nf-L blood analyses in neurodegeneration

Trial of Optimal Personalised Care After Treatment for Gynaecological cancer (TOPCAT-G): a study protocol for a randomised feasibility trial

Background: Gynaecological cancers are diagnosed in over 1000 women in Wales every year. We estimate that this is costing the National Health Service (NHS) in excess of £1 million per annum for routine follow-up appointments alone. Follow-up care is not evidence-based, and there are no definitive guidelines from The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for the type of follow-up that should be delivered. Standard care is to provide a regular medical review of the patient in a hospital-based outpatient clinic for a minimum of 5 years. This study is to evaluate the feasibility of a proposed alternative where the patients are delivered a specialist nurse-led telephone intervention known as Optimal Personalised Care After Treatment for Gynaecological cancer (OPCAT-G), which comprised of a protocol-based patient education, patient empowerment and structured needs assessment. Methods: The study will recruit female patients who have completed treatment for cervical, endometrial, epithelial ovarian or vulval cancer within the previous 3 months in Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) in North Wales. Following recruitment, participants will be randomised to one of two arms in the trial (standard care or OPCAT-G intervention). The primary outcomes for the trial are patient recruitment and attrition rates, and the secondary outcomes are quality of life, health status and capability, using the EORTC QLQ-C30, EQ- 5D-3L and ICECAP-A measures. Additionally, a client service receipt inventory (CSRI) will be collected in order to pilot an economic evaluation. Discussion: The results from this feasibility study will be used to inform a fully powered randomised controlled trial to evaluate the difference between standard care and the OPCAT-G intervention. Trial registration: ISRCTN45565436

Complex Fluids and Hydraulic Fracturing

Nearly 70 years old, hydraulic fracturing is a core technique for stimulating hydrocarbon production in a majority of oil and gas reservoirs. Complex fluids are implemented in nearly every step of the fracturing process, most significantly to generate and sustain fractures and transport and distribute proppant particles during and following fluid injection. An extremely wide range of complex fluids are used: naturally occurring polysaccharide and synthetic polymer solutions, aqueous physical and chemical gels, organic gels, micellar surfactant solutions, emulsions, and foams. These fluids are loaded over a wide range of concentrations with particles of varying sizes and aspect ratios and are subjected to extreme mechanical and environmental conditions. We describe the settings of hydraulic fracturing (framed by geology), fracturing mechanics and physics, and the critical role that non-Newtonian fluid dynamics and complex fluids play in the hydraulic fracturing process