New business and economic models in the connected digital economy

This paper discusses business models as a systemic phenomenon as opposed to traditional reductionistic approaches of business disciplines. It presents the ways connectivity change economic models due to the availability of consumption data as an economic resource, markets forming at consumption spaces, and how industries could disrupt one another when connected through consumption technologies. The paper further suggests that the challenges posed by connectivity results in the redrawing of traditional firm and market boundaries. It proposes for more research into modularity, transaction costs, the future role of the firm, and the necessary transformation of businesses to stay agile in a connected digital economy

Experiments on the dynamic behavior of cavitating pumps

This paper describes experiments performed to measure the dynamic transfer matrices for cavitating (and noncavitating) pumps. These transfer matrices describe the relationship between small linear oscillatory perturbations in the pressures and mass flow rates at inlet and discharge from the hydraulic machine. The matrices were deduced from direct measurements of these fluctuating quantities for different modes of excitation of the machine. Results for a cavitating inducer are presented as functions of frequency and mean operating state. Though some of the trends in the data are consistent with existing theoretical models of inducer dynamics, others are not, indicating a need for further theoretical investigation of the dynamic characteristics of such flows. The results exhibit increasingly complex dynamics with increasing cavitation; it appears that the hydraulic machine deviates from an essentially passive response without cavitation to an increasingly active response as the cavitation number is reduced

Homo Datumicus : correcting the market for identity data

Effective digital identity systems offer great economic and civic potential. However, unlocking this potential requires dealing with social, behavioural, and structural challenges to efficient market formation. We propose that a marketplace for identity data can be more efficiently formed with an infrastructure that provides a more adequate representation of individuals online. This paper therefore introduces the ontological concept of Homo Datumicus: individuals as data subjects transformed by HAT Microservers, with the axiomatic computational capabilities to transact with their own data at scale. Adoption of this paradigm would lower the social risks of identity orientation, enable privacy preserving transactions by default and mitigate the risks of power imbalances in digital identity systems and markets

Reestimation of the production spectra of cosmic ray secondary positrons and electrons in the ISM

A detailed calculation of the production spectra of charged hadrons produced by interactions of cosmic rays in the interstellar medium is presented along with a thorough treatment of pion and muon decays. Newly parameterized inclusive cross sections of hadrons were used and exact kinematic limitations were taken into account. Single parametrized expressions for the production spectra of both secondary positrons and electrons in the energy range .1 to 100 GeV are presented. The results are compared with other authors' predictions. Equilibrium spectra using various models are also presented

Servitization and operations management : a service-dominant logic approach

Managing organisational performance in sectors such as equipment provision has become increasingly complex as competition has heightened and firms have felt pressure to add value through the provision of services (Baines et al, 2007; Howard and Caldwell, 2011; Neely et al., 2011). This provision is commonly referred to as the servitization of manufacturing (Vandermerwe & Rada, 1988). By extending the traditional offering of equipment to include service activities however, underlying operational delivery systems and processes have become more complex to manage and co-ordinate. No longer are firms simply making and shipping products; they are now engaged in a more complex world of design and delivery (Neely et al., 2011). This study aims to explore servitization from a value perspective through the lens of Service-Dominant (S-D) logic, and to propose its implications for operations management

Gravitational energy as dark energy: Concordance of cosmological tests

We provide preliminary quantitative evidence that a new solution to averaging the observed inhomogeneous structure of matter in the universe [gr-qc/0702082, arxiv:0709.0732], may lead to an observationally viable cosmology without exotic dark energy. We find parameters which simultaneously satisfy three independent tests: the match to the angular scale of the sound horizon detected in the cosmic microwave background anisotropy spectrum; the effective comoving baryon acoustic oscillation scale detected in galaxy clustering statistics; and type Ia supernova luminosity distances. Independently of the supernova data, concordance is obtained for a value of the Hubble constant which agrees with the measurement of the Hubble Key team of Sandage et al [astro-ph/0603647]. Best-fit parameters include a global average Hubble constant H_0 = 61.7 (+1.2/-1.1) km/s/Mpc, a present epoch void volume fraction of f_{v0} = 0.76 (+0.12/-0.09), and an age of the universe of 14.7 (+0.7/-0.5) billion years as measured by observers in galaxies. The mass ratio of non-baryonic dark matter to baryonic matter is 3.1 (+2.5/-2.4), computed with a baryon-to-photon ratio that concords with primordial lithium abundances.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; v2 improved statistics, references added, to appear in ApJ Letter

On the nonlinear stability of a high-speed, axisymmetric boundary layer

The stability of a high-speed, axisymmetric boundary layer is investigated using secondary instability theory and direct numerical simulation. Parametric studies based on the temporal secondary instability theory identify subharmonic secondary instability as a likely path to transition on a cylinder at Mach 4.5. The theoretical predictions are validated by direct numerical simulation at temporally-evolving primary and secondary disturbances in an axisymmetric boundary-layer flow. At small amplitudes of the secondary disturbance, predicted growth rates agree to several significant digits with values obtained from the spectrally-accurate solution of the compressible Navier-Stokes equations. Qualitative agreement persists to large amplitudes of the secondary disturbance. Moderate transverse curvature is shown to significantly affect the growth rate of axisymmetric second mode disturbances, the likely candidates of primary instability. The influence of curvature on secondary instability is largely indirect but most probably significant, through modulation of the primary disturbance amplitude. Subharmonic secondary instability is shown to be predominantly inviscid in nature, and to account for spikes in the Reynolds stress components at or near the critical layer

Sense-making of consumer wellbeing in information technology-enabled services from a relational ontology position

Information technology (IT) built into products and services have become the key drivers for service innovation. How information technology-enabled services (ITESs) affect consumer wellbeing has increasingly become a concern to service scholars. In response to this, transformative service research (TSR) has emerged as a new stream in service research. This paper investigates consumer wellbeing derived from the consumption of ITESs in consumers’ daily lives. A mixed-method approach was employed in our study, including self-reflective reports, in-depth interviews and visual artistic methods. We demonstrated that a relational ontology, drawing on the ‘focal things’ concept (Borgmann, 1984) and sociomateriality (Orlikowski, 2009), could be used as a lens for us to understand consumer wellbeing in ITESs. We used four vignettes to demonstrate how relational ontology can enhance our understanding of consumer wellbeing in ITESs. Theoretically, this paper contributes to TSR by proposing and demonstrating the need to shift or at least extend the extant predominant technology ontology in marketing literature to make sense of consumer experiences and wellbeing in ITESs. In practice, this research encourages ITESs designers to emphasise the relational entanglement of technology with consumer routine practices in their service innovations for the purposes of consumer wellbeing