Development of a design probe to reveal customer touch points in the sale of mass customised products

As mass customisation (MC) increases in both popularity and accessibility, it raises questions as to the nature and notion of the customer co-design experience; what is a ‘co-design experience’, and how can this be best designed for? This paper posits that by its very nature, a co-design experience consists of activities that relate to the co-design of the product via the product configurator (physical store, online store etc), but also that a co-design experience is broader than that, comprising both tangible and intangible elements, and encompassing the entire purchasing experience from the beginning of co-design activity through to the receipt of the customised product and beyond. Traditional research methods will often fail to capture the entirety of this experience. This paper highlights the need for empathic research methods which go beyond current research within the field of MC, and discusses the development of a design probe used to gain insight into co-design experiences

X-ray specs, stickers and colouring in: seeing beyond the configurator using design probes

The broad spectrum of research within the field of MC to date has done much to further knowledge relating to the practical implementation of designing and manufacturing custom, co-designed products. However, research into the customer experience remains limited. There is a need to understand both the nature of the codesign experience in MC, and how to design for it? The selection of research methods used to explore this area appears imperative in uncovering useful and relevant data and insights. This paper discusses the application of design probes as a research method for a means of exploring what the literature refers to as the 'multifaceted phenomenon' of customer experience, and introduces a research project using these tools for the construction of conceptual models

First Scarab Host for \u3ci\u3eStrongygaster Triangulifer\u3c/i\u3e (Diptera: Tachinidae): the Dung Beetle, \u3ci\u3eAphodius Fimetarius\u3c/i\u3e (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

We report Strongygaster (=Hyalomyodes ) triangulifer as a solitary primary parasite of the adult introduced dung beetle, Aphodius fimetarius. This is the first record of this tachinid fly parastizing scarab

How Do You Build a "Culture of Health"? A Critical Analysis of Challenges and Opportunities from Medical Anthropology.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Culture of Health Action Framework aims to "make health a shared value" and improve population health equity through widespread culture change. The authors draw upon their expertise as anthropologists to identify 3 challenges that they believe must be addressed in order to effectively achieve the health equity and population health improvement goals of the Culture of Health initiative: clarifying and demystifying the concept of "culture," contextualizing "community" within networks of power and inequality, and confronting the crises of trust and solidarity in the contemporary United States. The authors suggest that those who seek to build a "Culture of Health" refine their understanding of how "culture" is experienced, advocate for policies and practices that break down unhealthy consolidations of power, and innovate solutions to building consensus in a divided nation

Absolute Frequency Measurement of the lLevel of Neutral Using Two-Photon Spectroscopy

We report absolute frequency measurements on the level of neutral using sub-Doppler two-photon spectroscopy. The absolute center-of-gravity energy for the level is determined to be , a factor of 170 times improvement over the previous measurement from 1964 of . This measurement also corrects a discrepancy with the previously measured value. The hyperfine coefficients were found to be and , which are consistent with previous results

Speech and language therapy versus placebo or no intervention for speech problems in Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease patients commonly suffer from speech and vocal problems including dysarthric speech, reduced loudness and loss of articulation. These symptoms increase in frequency and intensity with progression of the disease). Speech and language therapy (SLT) aims to improve the intelligibility of speech with behavioural treatment techniques or instrumental aids

Baseline and greenhouse-gas emissions in extensive livestock enterprises, with a case study of feeding lipid to beef cattle

For accurate calculation of reductions in greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, methodologies under the Australian Government's Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) depend on a valid assessment of the baseline and project emissions. Life-cycle assessments (LCAs) clearly show that enteric methane emitted from the rumen of cattle and sheep is the major source of GHG emissions from livestock enterprises. Where a historic baseline for a CFI methodology for livestock is required, the use of simulated data for cow-calf enterprises at six sites in southern Australia demonstrated that a 5-year rolling emission average will provide an acceptable trade off in terms of accuracy and stability, but this is a much shorter time period than typically used for LCA. For many CFI livestock methodologies, comparative or pair-wise baselines are potentially more appropriate than historic baselines. A case study of lipid supplementation of beef cows over winter is presented. The case study of a control herd of 250 cows used a comparative baseline derived from simple data on livestock numbers and class of livestock to quantify the emission abatement. Compared with the control herd, lipid supplementation to cows over winter increased livestock productivity, total livestock production and enterprise GHG emissions from 990 t CO2-e to 1022 t CO2-e. Energy embodied in the supplement and extra diesel used in transporting the supplement diminished the enteric-methane abatement benefit of lipid supplementation. Reducing the cow herd to 238 cows maintained the level of livestock production of the control herd and reduced enterprise emissions to 938 t CO2-e, but was not cost effective under the assumptions of this case study

Baseline and greenhouse-gas emissions in extensive livestock enterprises, with a case study of feeding lipid to beef cattle

For accurate calculation of reductions in greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, methodologies under the Australian Government's Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) depend on a valid assessment of the baseline and project emissions. Life-cycle assessments (LCAs) clearly show that enteric methane emitted from the rumen of cattle and sheep is the major source of GHG emissions from livestock enterprises. Where a historic baseline for a CFI methodology for livestock is required, the use of simulated data for cow-calf enterprises at six sites in southern Australia demonstrated that a 5-year rolling emission average will provide an acceptable trade off in terms of accuracy and stability, but this is a much shorter time period than typically used for LCA. For many CFI livestock methodologies, comparative or pair-wise baselines are potentially more appropriate than historic baselines. A case study of lipid supplementation of beef cows over winter is presented. The case study of a control herd of 250 cows used a comparative baseline derived from simple data on livestock numbers and class of livestock to quantify the emission abatement. Compared with the control herd, lipid supplementation to cows over winter increased livestock productivity, total livestock production and enterprise GHG emissions from 990 t CO2-e to 1022 t CO2-e. Energy embodied in the supplement and extra diesel used in transporting the supplement diminished the enteric-methane abatement benefit of lipid supplementation. Reducing the cow herd to 238 cows maintained the level of livestock production of the control herd and reduced enterprise emissions to 938 t CO2-e, but was not cost effective under the assumptions of this case study

Magnetite-bubble aggregates at mixing interfaces in andesite magma bodies

Magnetite is a particularly favourable site for heterogeneous bubble nucleation in magma and yet only very rarely is evidence for this preserved due to the myriad of processes that act to overprint such an association. The possibility of bubble-magnetite aggregates in magmas carries with it interesting implications for the fluid mechanics of magma bodies and for the magma mixing process responsible for the formation of andesites. We use image analysis and statistical methods to illustrate a spatial association between magnetite and bubbles in mafic enclaves. There is a large range in magnetite contents in the enclaves (up to 7.5%) which is related to the porosity of the enclaves, indicating a mechanism of enrichment of the mafic magma in magnetite. In the andesite there is no spatial association between bubbles and magnetite and the magnetite content of the andesite is small. We suggest a mechanism for enclave formation whereby in vapour-saturated magma, bubbles nucleate on magnetite. Upon intrusion into the base of an andesite magma body, these bubble-magnetite aggregates rise and ‘sweep up’ other magnetites, resulting in the accumulation of aggregates at the magma interface. Instabilities lead to the flotation of enclaves, characterized by enrichment in magnetite and bubbles