Digital Servitization and Firm Performance: Technology Intensity Approach

Digital servitization provides radical changes in the offer of products from manufacturing firms. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of digital servitization on manufacturing firm performance and demonstrate the role of technology intensity, product-related services, and digital solutions in different industry sectors. This research collected data from 240 manufacturing firms from the Republic of Serbia under the European manufacturing survey from 2018. Multivariate regression analysis was used to test the impact of product-related services and digital solutions on manufacturing firm performance according to technology intensity. The findings show that the impact of digital servitization is more significant with the higher technology intensity level of the industry sector. Furthermore, the results show that Data-based services based on Big Data Analysis have the highest impact on manufacturing firm performance in all categories of technology intensity. Moreover, results from the fixed panel regression show production managers which combination of product-related services along with digital solutions make the highest financial performance according to the technology intensity of the firm

Innovating for improved healthcare: Sociotechnical and innovation systems perspectives and lessons from the NHS

Healthcare systems with limited resources face rising demand pressures. Healthcare decision-makers increasingly recognise the potential of innovation to help respond to this challenge and to support high-quality care. However, comprehensive and actionable evidence on how to realise this potential is lacking. We adopt sociotechnical systems and innovation systems theoretical perspectives to examine conditions that can support and sustain innovating healthcare systems. We use primary data focussing on England (with 670 contributions over time) and triangulate findings against globally-relevant literature. We discuss the complexity of factors influencing an innovating healthcare system’s ability to support the development and uptake of innovations and share practical learning about changes in policy, culture, and behaviour that could support system improvement. Three themes are examined in detail: skills, capabilities, and leadership; motivations and accountabilities; and collaboration and coordination. We also contribute to advancing applications of sociotechnical systems thinking to major societal transformation challenges

Temporal evolution of carbon stocks, fluxes and carbon balance in pedunculate oak chronosequence under close-to-nature forest management

Under current environmental changes, forest management is challenged to foster contrasting benefits from forests, such as continuous wood supply while preserving biomass production, biodiversity conservation, and contribution to climate change mitigation through atmospheric carbon sequestration. Although being found as globally important, estimates of long-term forest C balance are still highly uncertain. In this context, the chronosequence experiments (space-for-time substitution) might fill this gap in even-aged forests, as they represent an approach that enables the assessment of forest net C balance in the long term. In this research, we explored the dynamics of C stocks and fluxes in different forest pools throughout the rotation period (140 years) of a Pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) forest in Croatia. For this purpose, we selected a chronosequence that was made up of seven forest stands with different age (5, 13, 38, 53, 68, 108, and 138 years). To address the issues of uncertainty in C balance estimates, we compared net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB) estimated while using two different approaches, which we name pool-change (from C stocks) approach and component-flux (from C fluxes) approach. Overall, the pool-change approach showed higher NECB estimate, with the greatest difference being observed in younger stands (<50 years). Component-flux approach showed significantly higher uncertainty. Throughout the rotation period, managed pedunculate oak stands become a C sink early in their development phase, between the age of 13 and 35 years according to pool-change and component-flux approach, respectively. During the 140 years, oak forest provided 187.2 Mg C ha−1 (604 m3 ha−1) through thinnings and 147.9 Mg C ha−1 (477 m3 ha−1) in the final cut, while preserving, on average, 88.9 Mg C ha−1 in mineral soil down to 40 cm, 18.2 Mg C ha−1 in dead wood, and 6.0 Mg C ha−1 in the forest floor. Soil C stocks in our chronosequence did not show any age-related trend, indicating that current management practice has no negative effect on soil C stocks. Finally, under current close-to-nature forest management, Pedunculate oak forest showed to be sustainable in providing both economic and ecological ecosystem services

Stacked magma lenses beneath mid-ocean ridges: insights from new seismic observations and synthesis with prior geophysical and geologic findings

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2021. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 126(4), (2021): e2020JB021434, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JB021434.Recent multi-channel seismic studies of fast spreading and hot-spot influenced mid-ocean ridges reveal magma bodies located beneath the mid-crustal Axial Magma Lens (AML), embedded within the underlying crustal mush zone. We here present new seismic images from the Juan de Fuca Ridge that show reflections interpreted to be from vertically stacked magma lenses in a number of locations beneath this intermediate-spreading ridge. The brightest reflections are beneath Northern Symmetric segment, from ∼46°42′-52′N and Split Seamount, where a small magma body at local Moho depths is also detected, inferred to be a source reservoir for the stacked magma lenses in the crust above. The imaged magma bodies are sub-horizontal, extend continuously for along-axis lengths of ∼1–8 km, with the shallowest located at depths of ∼100–1,200 m below the AML, and are similar to sub-AML bodies found at the East Pacific Rise. At both ridges, stacked sill-like lenses are detected beneath only a small fraction of the ridge length examined and are inferred to mark local sites of higher melt flux and active replenishment from depth. The imaged magma lenses are focused in the upper part of the lower crust, which coincides with the most melt rich part of the crystal mush zone detected in other geophysical studies and where sub-vertical fabrics are observed in geologic exposures of oceanic crust. We infer that the multi-level magma accumulations are ephemeral and may result from porous flow and mush compaction, and that they can be tapped and drained during dike intrusion and eruption events.This research was supported by NSF OCE 0002488 and 0648303 (LDEO), 0002551 (WHOI), 1658199 and 1357076 (UTIG). S. M. Carbotte was partially supported by Columbia University and J. P. Canales by the Independent Research & Development Program at WHOI

A multi-sill magma plumbing system beneath the axis of the East Pacific Rise

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2014. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Nature Publishing Group for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Nature Geoscience 7 (2014): 825-829, doi:10.1038/ngeo2272.The mid-crust axial magma lens detected at fast and intermediate spreading mid-ocean ridges is believed to be the primary magma reservoir for formation of upper oceanic crust. However, the mechanism behind formation of the lower crust is a subject of ongoing debate. The sheeted sill model proposed from observations of ophiloites requires the presence of multiple lenses/sills throughout lower crust but only a single lens is imaged directly beneath the innermost axial zone in prior seismic studies . Here, high-fidelity seismic data from the East Pacific Rise reveal series of reflections below the axial magma lens that we interpret as mid-lower crustal lenses. These deeper lenses are present between 9°20-57′N at variable two-way-travel-times, up to 4.6 s (~1.5 km beneath the axial magma lens), providing direct support for the sheeted sill model. From local changes in the amplitude and geometry of the events beneath a zone of recent volcanic eruption, we infer that melt drained from a lower lens contributed to the replenishment of the axial magma lens above and, perhaps, the eruption. The new data indicate that a multi-level sill complex is present beneath the East Pacific Rise that likely contributes to the formation of both the upper and lower crust.This research was supported by NSF awards OCE0327872 to J. C. M., S. M. C., OCE- 0327885 to J. P. C., and OCE0624401 to M. R. N.2015-04-1

Overlapping communication and computation by using a hybrid MPI/SMPSs approach

A previous version of this document was submitted for publication by october 2008.Communication overhead is one of the dominant factors that affect performance in high-performance computing systems. To reduce the negative impact of communication, programmers overlap communication and computation by using asynchronous communication primitives. This increases code complexity, requiring more effort to write parallel code and making less readable code. This paper presents the hybrid use of MPI and SMPSs (SMP superscalar), a task-based shared-memory programming model, enhanced with a restart mechanism allowing the programmer to introduce the asynchronism that is necessary to enable the effective communication/computation overlap in a productive way. We demonstrate the hybrid use of MPI/SMPSs with the high-performance LINPACK benchmark, which uses the lookahead technique to overlap communication and computation. MPI/SMPSs improves the performance of a pure MPI with look-ahead by 7,6% on a 1024 processors machine. In addition to better performance, hybrid MPI/SMPSs substantially reduces code complexity, it is less sensitive to network bandwidth and operating system noise, and improves the use of main memory.Postprint (published version

Challenges and improvement needs in the care of patients with central diabetes insipidus

Central diabetes insipidus (CDI) is a rare condition, with significant impact on patient health and well-being. It is a chronic condition which usually requires meticulous long-term care. It can affect both children and adults. There is limited literature considering the needs and challenges inherent in providing high quality care to patients with CDI, across the care pathway. This paper seeks to address this gap by providing a unique and well-rounded understanding of clinical and healthcare systems-related challenges. It draws on insights from the literature, from direct clinical experience contributed by five clinicians as co-authors (providing insights from France, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom), and from patient perspectives provided through interviews with patient representatives from three patient organisations. We identify clinical challenges related to the diagnosis of CDI, including differentiating between other similar conditions and determining the underlying aetiology. Treatment is challenging, given the need to tailor medication to each patient’s needs and ongoing management is required to ensure that patients continue to respond adequately to treatment. Ongoing support is required when patients switch between formulations. We also identify healthcare systems challenges related to limited awareness of CDI amongst primary care physicians and general paediatricians, and the need for highly skilled specialist care and appropriate workforce capacity. There is also a significant need for raising awareness and for the education of both healthcare professionals and patients about different aspects of CDI, with the aim of supporting improved care and effective patient engagement with healthcare professionals. We reflect on this information and highlight improvement opportunities. These relate to developing guidance to support patients, carers, primary care physicians and general paediatricians to identify clinical features earlier, and to consider CDI as a possible diagnosis when a patient presents with suggestive symptom

Distribution of melt along the East Pacific Rise from 9°30′ to 10°N from an amplitude variation with angle of incidence (AVA) technique

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2015. This article is posted here by permission of The Royal Astronomical Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Journal International 203 (2015): 1-21, doi:10.1093/gji/ggv251.We examine along-axis variations in melt content of the axial magma lens (AML) beneath the fast-spreading East Pacific Rise (EPR) using an amplitude variation with angle of incidence (AVA) crossplotting method applied to multichannel seismic data acquired in 2008. The AVA crossplotting method, which has been developed for and, so far, applied for hydrocarbon prospection in sediments, is for the first time applied to a hardrock environment. We focus our analysis on 2-D data collected along the EPR axis from 9°29.8′N to 9°58.4′N, a region which encompasses the sites of two well-documented submarine volcanic eruptions (1991–1992 and 2005–2006). AVA crossplotting is performed for a ∼53 km length of the EPR spanning nine individual AML segments (ranging in length from ∼3.2 to 8.5 km) previously identified from the geometry of the AML and disruptions in continuity. Our detailed analyses conducted at 62.5 m interval show that within most of the analysed segments melt content varies at spatial scales much smaller (a few hundred of metres) than the length of the fine-scale AML segments, suggesting high heterogeneity in melt concentration. At the time of our survey, about 2 yr after the eruption, our results indicate that the three AML segments that directly underlie the 2005–2006 lava flow are on average mostly molten. However, detailed analysis at finer-scale intervals for these three segments reveals AML pockets (from >62.5 to 812.5 m long) with a low melt fraction. The longest such mushy section is centred beneath the main eruption site at ∼9°50.4′N, possibly reflecting a region of primary melt drainage during the 2005–2006 event. The complex geometry of fluid flow pathways within the crust above the AML and the different response times of fluid flow and venting to eruption and magma reservoir replenishment may contribute to the poor spatial correlation between incidence of hydrothermal vents and presence of highly molten AML. The presented results are an important step forward in our ability to resolve small-scale characteristics of the AML and recommend the AVA crossplotting as a tool for examining mid-ocean ridge magma-systems elsewhere.This research was supported by NSF awards OCE0327872 to J.C.M. and S.M.C., OCE-0327885 to J.P.C., and OCE0624401 to M.R.N

Constraints on melt content of off-axis magma lenses at the East Pacific Rise from analysis of 3-D seismic amplitude variation with angle of incidence

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2017. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 122 (2017): 4123–4142, doi:10.1002/2016JB013785.We use 3-D multichannel seismic data to form partial angle P wave stacks and apply amplitude variation with angle (AVA) crossplotting to assess melt content and melt distribution within two large midcrustal off-axis magma lenses (OAMLs) found along the East Pacific Rise from 9°37.5′N to 9°57′N. The signal envelope of the partial angle stacks suggests that both OAMLs are partially molten with higher average melt content and more uniform melt distribution in the southern OAML than in the northern OAML. For AVA crossplotting, the OAMLs are subdivided into seven ~1 km2 analysis windows. The AVA crossplotting results indicate that the OAMLs contain a smaller amount of melt than the axial magma lens (AML). For both OAMLs, a higher melt fraction is detected within analysis windows located close to the ridge axis than within the most distant windows. The highest average melt concentration is interpreted for the central sections of the OAMLs. The overall low OAML melt content could be indicative of melt lost due to recent off-axis eruptions, drainage to the AML, or limited mantle melt supply. Based on the results of this and earlier bathymetric, morphological, geochemical, and geophysical investigations, we propose that the melt-poor OAML state is largely the result of limited melt supply from the underlying mantle source reservoir with smaller contribution attributed to melt leakage to the AML. We hypothesize that the investigated OAMLs have a longer period of melt replenishment, lower eruption recurrence rates, and lower eruption volumes than the AML, though some could be single intrusion events.National Science Foundation; CFI; CRC2017-12-2