The application of product service systems for hydraulic excavators

The concept of Product Service Systems (PSS) was introduced as an alternative business model for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), who are motivated to shift their traditional manufacturing focus towards the after-sale service, to meet the market demand and gain additional profit and market share. A PSS is a system that integrates product and service as one package at the point of sale. It is increasingly popular because customers are demanding more supplier involvement to prolong and maintain the life of products they purchase and keep them functioning at maximum performance levels. Furthermore, it is also widely accepted within the community that the PSS concepts enhance competitiveness and promote the shift towards sustainable practices and society simultaneously. The flexibility of different PSS models allows OEMs to open new opportunities to improve relationships between customers and suppliers, or better understand the strengths and weaknesses of their own business strategy and products. [Continues.

Differential Geometry of Ice Flow

Flowlines on ice sheets and glaciers form complex patterns. To explore their role in ice routing and extend the language for studying such patterns, we develop a theory of flow convergence and curvature in plan view. These geometric quantities respectively equal the negative divergence of the vector field of ice-flow direction and the curl of this field. From the first of these two fundamental results, we show that flow in individual catchments of an ice sheet can converge (despite its overall spreading) because ice divides are loci of strong divergence, and that a sign bifurcation in convergence occurs during ice-sheet “symmetry breaking” (the transition from near-radial spreading to spreading with substantial azimuthal velocities) and during the formation of ice-stream tributary networks. We also uncover the topological control behind balance-flux distributions across ice masses. Notably, convergence participates in mass conservation along flowlines to amplify ice flux via a positive feedback; thus the convergence field governs the form of ice-stream networks simulated by balance-velocity models. The theory provides a roadmap for understanding the tower-shaped plot of flow speed versus convergence for the Antarctic Ice Sheet

End-user perspectives on the Adoption of Wireless Applications: Price of Convenience and a Model for Contextual Analysis

Information services delivered via wireless, portable communication devices continue to pervade our work and leisure spaces. While people are continuously bombarded with promises of newer and better ways to maintain contact with others and to have constant access to information, however, there remain a number of open issues that inhibit the potential for an open information society. The bidirectional influence between such wireless technologies and applications and their potential end-users, contributes to the development of both the technologies and applications and the social setting in which they are embedded. In this paper, we extend current studies of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) uptake by integrating interpretations of “ubiquitous computing” and its pervasion of everyday life. We draw upon findings from a range of IS research to structure our future studies of adoption issues in relation to a variety of wireless application cases. We show that, while some “traditional” IS/IT dimensions of uptake still hold, there are now a variety of other “non- utilitarian (hedonic)” factors that developers and designers need to take into account. We conclude by proposing a research model – expanded from model of user acceptability and product uptake, a descriptive framework based on the “Price of Convenience”(Ng-Kruelle, Swatman, Rebne and Hampe 2002)

A novel approach to risk exposure and epigenetics—the use of multidimensional context to gain insights into the early origins of cardiometabolic and neurocognitive health

Background: Each mother–child dyad represents a unique combination of genetic and environmental factors. This constellation of variables impacts the expression of countless genes. Numerous studies have uncovered changes in DNA methylation (DNAm), a form of epigenetic regulation, in offspring related to maternal risk factors. How these changes work together to link maternal-child risks to childhood cardiometabolic and neurocognitive traits remains unknown. This question is a key research priority as such traits predispose to future non-communicable diseases (NCDs). We propose viewing risk and the genome through a multidimensional lens to identify common DNAm patterns shared among diverse risk profiles. Methods: We identified multifactorial Maternal Risk Profiles (MRPs) generated from population-based data (n = 15,454, Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)). Using cord blood HumanMethylation450 BeadChip data, we identified genome-wide patterns of DNAm that co-vary with these MRPs. We tested the prospective relation of these DNAm patterns (n = 914) to future outcomes using decision tree analysis. We then tested the reproducibility of these patterns in (1) DNAm data at age 7 and 17 years within the same cohort (n = 973 and 974, respectively) and (2) cord DNAm in an independent cohort, the Generation R Study (n = 686).Results:We identified twenty MRP-related DNAm patterns at birth in ALSPAC. Four were prospectively related to cardiometabolic and/or neurocognitive childhood outcomes. These patterns were replicated in DNAm data from blood collected at later ages. Three of these patterns were externally validated in cord DNAm data in Generation R. Compared to previous literature, DNAm patterns exhibited novel spatial distribution across the genome that intersects with chromatin functional and tissue-specific signatures. Conclusions: To our knowledge, we are the first to leverage multifactorial population-wide data to detect patterns of variability in DNAm. This context-based approach decreases biases stemming from overreliance on specific samples or variables. We discovered molecular patterns demonstrating prospective and replicable relations to complex traits. Moreover, results suggest that patterns harbour a genome-wide organisation specific to chromatin regulation and target tissues. These preliminary findings warrant further investigation to better reflect the reality of human context in molecular studies of NCDs. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].</p

Improving hydraulic excavator performance through in line hydraulic oil contamination monitoring

It is common for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of high value products to provide maintenance or service packages to customers to ensure their products are maintained at peak efficiency throughout their life. To quickly and efficiently plan for maintenance requirements, OEMs require accurate information about the use and wear of their products. In recent decades, the aerospace industry in particular has become expert in using real time data for the purpose of product monitoring and maintenance scheduling. Significant quantities of real time usage data from product monitoring are commonly generated and transmitted back to the OEMs, where diagnostic and prognostic analysis will be carried out. More recently, other industries such as construction and automotive, are also starting to develop capabilities in these areas and condition based maintenance (CBM) is increasing in popularity as a means of satisfying customers’ demands. CBM requires constant monitoring of real time product data by the OEMs, however the biggest challenge for these industries, in particular construction, is the lack of accurate and real time understanding of how their products are being used possibly because of the complex supply chains which exist in construction projects. This research focuses on current dynamic data acquisition techniques for mobile hydraulic systems, in this case the use of a mobile inline particle contamination sensor; the aim was to assess suitability to achieve both diagnostic and prognostic requirements of Condition Based Maintenance. It concludes that hydraulic oil contamination analysis, namely detection of metallic particulates, offers a reliable way to measure real time wear of hydraulic components

Creating HiRISE digital elevation models for Mars using the open-source Ames Stereo Pipeline

The present availability of sub-decametre digital elevation models on Mars – crucial for the study of surface processes – is scarce. In contrast to low-resolution global datasets, such models enable the study of landforms 3000 stereo pairs at 0.25 m pixel−1 resolution, enabling the creation of high-resolution digital elevation models (1–2 m pixel−1). Hitherto, only ∼500 of these pairs have been processed and made publicly available. Existing pipelines for the production of digital elevation models from stereo pairs, however, are built upon commercial software, rely upon sparsely available intermediate data, or are reliant on proprietary algorithms. In this paper, we present and test the output of a new pipeline for producing digital elevation models from HiRISE stereo pairs that is built entirely upon the open-source NASA Ames Stereo Pipeline photogrammetric software, making use of freely available data for cartographic rectification. This pipeline is designed for simple application by researchers interested in the use of high-resolution digital elevation models. Implemented here on a research computing cluster, this pipeline can also be used on consumer-grade UNIX computers. We produce and evaluate four digital elevation models using the pipeline presented here. Each are globally well registered, with accuracy similar to those of digital elevation models produced elsewhere

Modelling the coupling of flood discharge with glacier flow during jökulhlaups

We explore a mathematical model that couples together a thermomechanically evolving subglacial channel, distributed cavity drainage, and basal sliding along a subglacial flood path fed by a jökulhlaup lake. It allows water transfer between channel and cavities and a migrating subglacial water divide or 'seal' to form between floods. Notably, it accounts for full coupling between the lake and subglacial drainage in terms of both discharge and pressure, unlike models that neglect the pressure coupling by imposing a known history of lake discharge at the channel inlet. This means that flood hydrographic evolution and its impact on glacier motion are consistently determined by our model. Numerical simulations for a model alpine lake yield stable limit cycles simulating repeating jökulhlaups, with the channel drawing water from the cavities at a varying rate that modulates basal sliding during each flood. A wave of fast sliding propagates down-glacier at flood initiation, followed by deceleration as the growing channel sucks water from the cavities. These behaviours cannot be correctly simulated without the full coupling. We show that the flood's peak discharge, its initiation threshold and the magnitude of the 'fast sliding' wave decrease with the background water supply to the cavities

Molecular cloning, genomic characterization and over-expression of a novel gene, XRRA1, identified from human colorectal cancer cell HCT116(Clone2_XRR )and macaque testis

BACKGROUND: As part of our investigation into the genetic basis of tumor cell radioresponse, we have isolated several clones with a wide range of responses to X-radiation (XR) from an unirradiated human colorectal tumor cell line, HCT116. Using human cDNA microarrays, we recently identified a novel gene that was down-regulated by two-fold in an XR-resistant cell clone, HCT116(Clone2_XRR). We have named this gene as X-ray radiation resistance associated 1 (XRRA1) (GenBank BK000541). Here, we present the first report on the molecular cloning, genomic characterization and over-expression of the XRRA1 gene. RESULTS: We found that XRRA1 was expressed predominantly in testis of both human and macaque. cDNA microarray analysis showed three-fold higher expression of XRRA1 in macaque testis relative to other tissues. We further cloned the macaque XRRA1 cDNA (GenBank AB072776) and a human XRRA1 splice variant from HCT116(Clone2_XRR )(GenBank AY163836). In silico analysis revealed the full-length human XRRA1, mouse, rat and bovine Xrra1 cDNAs. The XRRA1 gene comprises 11 exons and spans 64 kb on chromosome 11q13.3. Human and macaque cDNAs share 96% homology. Human XRRA1 cDNA is 1987 nt long and encodes a protein of 559 aa. XRRA1 protein is highly conserved in human, macaque, mouse, rat, pig, and bovine. GFP-XRRA1 fusion protein was detected in both the nucleus and cytoplasm of HCT116 clones and COS-7 cells. Interestingly, we found evidence that COS-7 cells which over-expressed XRRA1 lacked Ku86 (Ku80, XRCC5), a non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) DNA repair molecule, in the nucleus. RT-PCR analysis showed differential expression of XRRA1 after XR in HCT116 clones manifesting significantly different XR responses. Further, we found that XRRA1 was expressed in most tumor cell types. Surprisingly, mouse Xrra1 was detected in mouse embryonic stem cells R1. CONCLUSIONS: Both XRRA1 cDNA and protein are highly conserved among mammals, suggesting that XRRA1 may have similar functions. Our results also suggest that the genetic modulation of XRRA1 may affect the XR responses of HCT116 clones and that XRRA1 may have a role in the response of human tumor and normal cells to XR. XRRA1 might be correlated with cancer development and might also be an early expressed gene