Expectations vs. Reality – Benefits of Smart Services in the Field of Tension between Industry and Science

The term “Smart Service” gains increased interest in science and practice since it promises to significantly improve a company’s value offering. However, its publicity might lead to overdrawn expectations, especially between practitioners and scientists working in this field. Therefore, we conduct a mixed-method study comparing the expected benefits of Smart Services in science and industry to help identify and close occurring gaps. The study consists of a literature review for the scientific point of view and a survey among practitioners to capture the benefits of Smart Services in both groups. The results predominantly reveal the same vision of both groups for Smart Services, but indicate slight but fundamental differences

Linking local experiments to global standards: how project networks promote global institution-building

Global regulations, such as social and environmental standards, often result from project-based multi-stakeholder initiatives. Many initiatives fail because key stakeholders cannot be mobilized, or partners are incapable of establishing common ground. We show that local development projects aimed at testing and implementing new practices at the local level and strategically coordinated project networks linking local projects and project partners together across national boundaries can facilitate global institution-building. Based on a longitudinal case study of the emergence of the Common Code for the Coffee Community, we develop a process model of global standard development and discuss in particular the importance of global project networks as intermediary organizational forms. We inform research on global standard development and institution-building, and project-based learning and coordination across national boundaries

Discovering Blockchain for Sustainable Product-Service Systems to enhance the Circular Economy

An increasing amount of use cases is discovered for blockchain technology, since it promises tamper-proof recording of product-related data. It has the potential to improve the reliability of information management for whole supply chains and thus enables new ecologically and economically service offerings. Integrating products and services into one marketable bundle is no new concept and is referred to as product-service systems (PSS). Therefore, the methodical integration of knowledge on sustainable businesses, PSS and blockchain is a promising approach to overcome current barriers to achieve an applicable circular economy. Our study contributes a structured literature review on ongoing research in the field of sustainability-focused blockchain applications. From this, we elaborate a holistic perspective by the integration of key concepts from two additional literature reviews for blockchain and PSS. Asa result, we point out potential benefits and present the effect of blockchain on sustainable PSS with a product-life cycle model

Integrating Data and Service Lifecycle for Smart Service Systems Engineering: Compilation of a Lifecycle Model for the Data Ecosystem of Smart Living

In smart service systems engineering, where actors rely on the mutual exchange of data to create complex and holistic solutions, integration is crucial. Nevertheless, the management of data as a driving resource still lacks organizational structure. There is no holistic lifecycle approach that integrates data and service lifecycle and adopts a cross-actor perspective. Especially in data ecosystems, where sovereign actors depend on the mutual exchange of data to create complex, but transparent service systems, an integration is of crucial importance. This particularly applies to the smart living domain, where different industries, products and services interact in a complex environment. In this paper we address this shortcoming by proposing an integrated model that covers the different relevant lifecycles based on a systematic literature review and supplement it by concrete domain requirements from the smart living ecosystem obtained through semi-structured expert interviews

Symmetries of Discontinuous Flows and the Dual Rankine-Hugoniot Conditions in Fluid Dynamics

It has recently been shown that the maximal kinematical invariance group of polytropic fluids, for smooth subsonic flows, is the semidirect product of SL(2,R) and the static Galilei group G. This result purports to offer a theoretical explanation for an intriguing similarity, that was recently observed, between a supernova explosion and a plasma implosion. In this paper we extend this result to discuss the symmetries of discontinuous flows, which further validates the explanation by taking into account shock waves, which are the driving force behind both the explosion and implosion. This is accomplished by constructing a new set of Rankine-Hugoniot conditions, which follow from Noether's conservation laws. The new set is dual to the standard Rankine-Hugoniot conditions and is related to them through the SL(2,R) transformations. The entropy condition, that the shock needs to satisfy for physical reasons, is also seen to remain invariant under the transformations.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figur

Mikrobiologische Sicherheit und Sensorik von zwei Rindfleisch-Reifesystemen unter handwerklichen Produktionsbedingungen

Microbial status, and organoleptic properties of matured beef are relevant quality parameters. Alternative maturation methods with low microbial risk over a longer ageing period are of interest. For this work, three Highland Cattles from organic husbandry were slaughtered in an external slaughterhouse. Cooled cattle halves were transported to a butcher in another location. Boned beef was packed in two different maturation systems: (i) vacuum maturation in sealed plastic bags („bag“), and (ii) maturation in a maturation box („box“). Samples were taken after 15, 21, 28 and 34 days. Microbial test results were assessed according to DGHM guidelines. Recommend level for total germ counts were exceeded in six samples from the maturation in „bag“, and in four from the „box“. Regarding Enterobacteriaceae, critical level was achieved in six samples („bag“), resp. four („box“). Staphylococcae were found in both systems, no Salmonellae were found. In addition, samples were analysed by use of spectroscopy, to obtain data for the development of rapid detection methods. Organoleptic tests were conducted on samples but non-processed beef (except short-roasing for testing the taste) according to a DLG scheme. The average overall scores show little differences: bag 4,47, and box 4,29. As well, no clear trend for any criterion in function of time was found. The results suggest the microbial and organoleptic suitability of both maturation systems in decentralised small-scale beef production systems, if hygienic practice is observed. It is intended to exceed these maturation tests for a period of about 60 days

Introducing a methodological approach to determine value shares in Digital Ecosystems

Motivated by the critical yet unsolved task of fair value distribution in digital ecosystems (DEs), this study presents a methodological approach that allows us to determine ecosystem components\u27 value share to the total co-created value. Our method takes a holistic perspective on DEs. It suggests that when viewing DEs as complex networks, the value share of a component to the total co-created value stems from the network size and the interaction between the network participants. We demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method in a simulation of a Smart Living service ecosystem. Our simulation shows that our method is suitable for unraveling hitherto hidden interconnectedness between value-co-creating ecosystem components. Components that offer a low structural contribution to the total value can still play a crucial role in the network and have the most significant value share to the whole network

Who Should Do NOTES? Initial Endoscopic Performance of Laparoscopic Surgeons Compared to Gastroenterologists and Untrained Individuals

Introduction: Natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) is a multidisciplinary surgical technique. If conventional endoscopic instrumentation can be easily mastered, surgeons with laparoscopic experience could head NOTES interventions. Materials and Methods: Thirty individuals were tested for endoscopic dexterity. Group 1 included seven gastroenterologists, group 2 included 12 laparoscopically experienced surgeons lacking endoscopic experience, and group 3 included 11 interns who had no hands-on endoscopic or surgical experience. Each individual repeated an easy (T1), medium (T2), and difficult (T3) task ten times with endoscopic equipment on a NOTES skills-box. Results: Group 3 had significantly poorer performances for all three tasks compared to the other groups. No significant differences were seen between groups 1 and 2 for T1 and T2. The initial T3 performance of group 1 was better than that of group 2, but their performance after repetition was not statistically different. Groups 2 and 3 improved significantly with repetition, and group 2 eventually performed as well as group 1. Conclusions: The data indicate that laparoscopic surgeons quickly learned to handle the endoscopic equipment. This suggests that a lack of endoscopic experience does not handicap laparoscopic surgeons when performing endoscopic tasks. Based on their knowledge of anatomy and the complication management acquired during surgical education, surgeons are well equipped to take the lead in interdisciplinary NOTES collaboration