Scrum for product innovation : a longitudinal embedded case study

This article describes the innovation processes used in a partnership between Add Latent Ltd., an asset integrity and maintenance management consulting services provider in the energy sector and University of Salford. The challenge faced by the company is to make their in-house expertise more readily available to a worldwide audience. A longitudinal embedded case study has been used to investigate how installable desktop software applications have been redesigned to create a new set of cloud hosted software services. The innovation team adapted an agile scrum process to include exploratory prototyping and manage the geographical distribution of the team members. A minimum viable product was developed that integrated functional elements of previous software tools into an end-to-end data collection, analysis and visualisation product called AimHi which uses a cloud-hosted web services approach. Field trials were conducted using the software at the Uniper, Isle of Grain power station in Kent, UK. Enhancements were made to the AimHi product which was adopted for use at the Uniper site. The product emerged from a Knwledge Transfer Partnership whci was evaluated on cmplettion by InnovateUK and awarded the highest possible “outstanding” grade. The article illustrates how the scrum software development method was tailored for a product innovation context. Extended periods of evaluation and reflection, prototyping and requirement refinement were combined with periods of incremental feature development using sprints. The AimHi product emerged from a technology transfer and innovation project that has successfully reconciled conflicting demands from customers, universities, partner companies and project staff members

Year in review in Intensive Care Medicine 2012. II: Pneumonia and infection, sepsis, coagulation, hemodynamics, cardiovascular and microcirculation, critical care organization, imaging, ethics and legal issues.

Journal ArticleSCOPUS: re.jSCOPUS: re.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

2-(3-Cyano-4-{7-[1-(2-hy­droxy­eth­yl)-3,3-dimethyl­indolin-2-yl­idene]hepta-1,3,5-trien­yl}-5,5-dimethyl-2,5-dihydro­furan-2-yl­idene)malononitrile

The title compound, C29H28N4O2, excluding the hydroxyethyl and methyl groups, is slightly twisted from planarity so that the terminating indol-2-yl­idene and furan-2-yl­idene moiety planes subtend a dihedral angle of 6.27 (8)°. A small inwards fold in the polymethine atom chain is consistent with centrosymmetric dimer formation via O—H⋯N(cyano) hydrogen bonds. In the crystal, the mol­ecules pack in layers approximately parallel to the (10) plane via pairs of O—H⋯N and C—H⋯N(cyano) inter­actions

Long-term effectiveness of a digital therapeutic intervention for smoking cessation: a randomized controlled trial

Introduction: The present study evaluated the long-term effectiveness of Quit Genius (QG), an extended digital smoking cessation intervention. Methods: Participants were adult smokers (N=556) recruited between January and November of 2019 via social media and referrals from primary care practices who were given nicotine replacement therapy and randomly assigned to Quit Genius (QG) (n=277), a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) based digital intervention or Very Brief Advice (VBA) (n=279), a face-to-face control intervention. Primary analyses (N=530), by intention-to-treat, compared QG and VBA on biochemically verified continuous 7-day abstinence at 4, 26, and 52 weeks post-quit date. Secondary outcomes included sustained abstinence, quit attempts, self-efficacy and mental well-being. Results: Seven-day point prevalence abstinence from weeks 4 through 52 ranged from 27% to nearly 45% among those who received QG, and from 13% to 29% for those in VBA. Continuous 7-day abstinence at 26 and 52 weeks occurred in 27.2% and 22.6% of QG participants, respectively, relative to 16.6% and 13.2% of VBA participants; QG participants were more likely to remain abstinent than those in VBA (Relative Risk [RR]= 1.71, 95% CI 1.17-2.50; p=0.005). Conclusions: This study provides evidence for the long-term effectiveness of an extended digital therapeutic intervention. Implications The long-term effectiveness of digital smoking cessation interventions has not been well-studied. This study established the long-term effectiveness of an extended CBT-based intervention; results may inform implementation of scalable, cost-effective approaches to smoking cessation in the health system

Efficiency of Nitrogen Use in Dairy Cows Grazing Ryegrass with Different Water Soluble Carbohydrate Concentrations

This experiment is one of a series designed to investigate the efficiency of nitrogen (N) use in Holstein-Friesian dairy cows grazing perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) which has been bred to express high water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) concentrations. Animals grazed either a High Sugar (HS) grass or a Control (C) variety chosen on the basis of heading date compatibility. Dry matter (DM) intakes were estimated using herbage mass. Milk yields, milk constituent concentrations and plasma concentrations of b-hydroxybutyrate, glucose, total protein, albumin and urea were also measured. Forage DM intakes were similar for the two grasses. However, because of differences in the nitrogen content of the varieties (128 vs 176 g crude protein (CP) kg-1 DM; s.e.d. 10.5; P \u3c 0.01) the animals consuming the C diet received ca. 35% more dietary N. Despite this, milk yields and outputs of milk fat, lactose and total protein were similar between treatments. These data indicate that the partition of dietary N for milk protein biosynthesis was much higher (P \u3c 0.01) in animals consuming the HS grass, which is reflected by the lower plasma urea concentrations in these animals. It is proposed that by providing grass varieties with a better match of readily available energy and protein, significant improvements in N use efficiency can be achieved

Bis[4-(dimethyl­amino)phen­yl]diazene oxide

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C16H20N4O, contains six independent approximately planar mol­ecules and is best described as a commensurate modulation of a P21/c parent. Two sets of disordered mol­ecules share almost the same locations (related by an in-plane translation), ensuring that the c-glide plane condition is not attained. C—H⋯O inter­actions provide structural cohesion. The site occupancy factors of the disordered molecules are ca 0.72/0.28 and 0.67/0.33

Impact of age norms and stereotypes on managers' hiring decisions of retirees

Purpose -Our study investigates the role of managers in the re-employment of early retirees and asks what the effect is of managers’ age norms and stereotypes on managers’ employment decisions. Design/methodology/approach- A combination of a factorial study and a survey was conducted. First, information on the age norms and stereotypes was collected. Secondly, profiles of hypothetical retired job applicants were presented to the employers, who were asked to make a specific hiring decision. The information collected during both studies was combined in the analysis and multilevel models were estimated. Findings -The results indicate that higher age norms result in a higher propensity to hire an early retiree. Stereotypes, by contrast, do not influence managers’ decisions. Early retirees’ chances for re-employment are also related to their own circumstances (physical appearance and relevant experience) and organisational forces, as they are hired when organisations face labour force shortages. Research limitation / implications – with the use of vignettes study we deal with hypothetical hiring situation. Originality value- Although the effect of age norms and age stereotypes has been often suggested, not much empirical evidence was presented to support this notion. Our study estimates the effect of age norms and stereotypes on hiring decision. key words: bridge employment; early retirees; age norms; age stereotypes; multilevel models.

C—H⋯π packing inter­actions in 2-[5,5-bis­(4-benzyl­oxyphen­yl)-3-cyano-4-methyl-2,5-dihydro­furan-2-yl­idene]malononitrile

The title mol­ecule, C35H25N3O3, packs utilizing C—H⋯π attractive inter­actions causing the identical 4-benzyl­oxyphenyl groups to pack with different conformational angles. This difference is consistent with the variable inter­planar dihedral angles found in closely related structures

2-(4-{3-[1-(3-Bromo­prop­yl)-3,3-dimethyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-indol-2-yl­idene]prop-1-en­yl}-3-cyano-5,5-dimethyl-2,5-dihydro­furan-2-yl­idene)malononitrile

The backbone of the title mol­ecule, C26H25BrN4O, is approximately planar: the dihedral angle between the planes of the indoline ring system and the furan ring is 7.68 (14)°. In the crystal, layers lying parallel to (10) occur, with the mol­ecules inter­acting via weak C—H⋯N(cyano) and C—H⋯Br bonds and short N(cyano)⋯Br contacts [3.345 (4) Å]