1,979 research outputs found
Service delivery process improvement using decision support systems in two manufacturing companies
Abstract The Product-Service Systems (PSS) offering is spreading on the market. Companies are becoming aware that selling bundles of products and services can create additional value for them and for the customers. Despite this, the provision of additional services not natively designed to improve products usage is not trivial. In fact, not only services must be correctly customized on the customers' necessities but also the way they are provided must be redesigned. An effective service delivery process is fundamental if companies want to create additional value from their service portfolio. The way they manage the phases leading to the service provision influences the way and the time required to deliver them. This work compares the service delivery process of two manufacturing companies headquartered in different parts of the world and selling products for the B2B market. The analyses performed on the service delivery processes highlighted how, despite the technological complexity the products, the management of the service delivery process is not automated, but it is still managed by humans without any Decision Support System (DSS) by the companies' service departments. For this reason, authors proposed improvements for the two service delivery processes through the introduction of DSS able to handle part of the process and, in turn, smooth them, shortening the time required to deliver services to customers and, so, increasing their satisfaction
On the natural stabilization of convection dominated problems using high order Bubnov–Galerkin finite elements
In the case of dominating convection, standard Bubnov–Galerkin finite elements are known to deliver oscillating discrete solutions for the convection–diffusion equation. This paper demonstrates that increasing the polynomial degree (p-extension) limits these artificial numerical oscillations. This is contrary to a widespread notion that an increase of the polynomial degree destabilizes the discrete solution. This treatise also provides explicit expressions as to which polynomial degree is sufficiently high to obtain stable solutions for a given Péclet number at the nodes of a mesh
Culture of skeletal myoblasts from human donors aged over 40 years: dynamics of cell growth and expression of differentiation markers
BACKGROUND: Local myogenesis, neoangiogenesis and homing of progenitor cells from the bone marrow appear to contribute to repair of the infarcted myocardium. Implantation into heart tissues of autologous skeletal myoblasts has been associated with improved contractile function in animal models and in humans with acute myocardial ischemia. Since heart infarction is most prevalent in individuals of over 40 years of age, we tested whether culture methods available in our laboratory were adequate to obtain sufficient numbers of differentiated skeletal myoblasts from muscle biopsy specimens obtained from patients aged 41 to 91. METHODS AND RESULTS: No matter of donor age, differentiated skeletal muscle cells could be produced in vitro in amounts adequate for cellular therapy (≥300 millions). Using desmin as a cytoplasmic marker, about 50% cultured cells were differentiated along myogenic lineages and expressed proteins proper of skeletal muscle (myosin type I and II, actin, actinin, spectrin and dystrophin). Cytogenetic alterations were not detected in cultured muscle cells that had undergone at least 10 population doublings. Molecular methods employed for the screening of persistent viral infections evidenced that HCV failed to replicate in muscle cells cultured from one patient with chronic HCV infection. CONCLUSION: The proposed culture methods appear to hold promise for aged patients not only in the field of cardiovascular medicine, but also in the urologic and orthopedic fields
Quasiparticle energies for large molecules: a tight-binding GW approach
We present a tight-binding based GW approach for the calculation of
quasiparticle energy levels in confined systems such as molecules. Key
quantities in the GW formalism like the microscopic dielectric function or the
screened Coulomb interaction are expressed in a minimal basis of spherically
averaged atomic orbitals. All necessary integrals are either precalculated or
approximated without resorting to empirical data. The method is validated
against first principles results for benzene and anthracene, where good
agreement is found for levels close to the frontier orbitals. Further, the size
dependence of the quasiparticle gap is studied for conformers of the polyacenes
() up to n = 30.Comment: 10 pages, 5 eps figures submitted to Phys. Rev.
Spin-orbit coupling in a half-filled shell: the case of KReCl
The half-filled shell of the configuration usually, in LS
coupling, hosts a S = 3/2 ground state with quenched orbital moment. This state
is not Jahn-Teller active. Sufficiently large spin-orbit coupling has
been predicted to change this picture by mixing in orbital moment, giving rise
to a sizable Jahn-Teller distortion. In KReCl we study the
electronic excitations using resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) and
optical spectroscopy. We observe on-site intra- excitations below 2 eV
and corresponding overtones with two intra- excitations on adjacent
sites, the Mott gap at 2.7 eV, -to- excitations above 3 eV, and
charge-transfer excitations at still higher energy. The intra-
excitation energies are a sensitive measure of and Hund's coupling
. The sizable value of 0.29 eV places KReCl into
the intermediate coupling regime, but is not
sufficiently large to drive a pronounced Jahn-Teller effect. We discuss the
ground state wavefunction in a Kanamori picture and find that the S = 3/2
multiplet still carries about 97 % of the weight. However, the finite admixture
of orbital moment allows for subtle effects. We discuss small
temperature-induced changes of the optical data and find evidence for a
lowering of the ground state by about 3 meV below the structural phase
transitions.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figure
Electronic excitations in J=0 Os halides studied by RIXS and optical spectroscopy
We demonstrate that the cubic antifluorite-type halides KOsCl,
KOsBr, and RbOsBr are excellent realizations of non-magnetic
J=0 compounds. The magnetic susceptibility shows the corresponding Van-Vleck
type behavior and no sign of defects. We investigate the electronic excitations
with two complementary techniques, resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS)
and optical spectroscopy. This powerful combination allows us to thoroughly
study, e.g., on-site intra- excitations and -to-
excitations as well as inter-site excitations across the Mott gap and an
exciton below the gap. In this way, we determine the electronic parameters with
high accuracy, altogether yielding a comprehensive picture. In KOsCl,
we find the spin-orbit coupling constant =0.34 eV, Hund's coupling
=0.43 eV, the onset of excitations across the Mott gap at =2.2 eV,
the cubic crystal-field splitting 10Dq=3.3 eV, and the charge-transfer energy
=4.6 eV. With =1.3, KOsCl is in the
intermediate-coupling regime. In a -only Kanamori picture, the above
values correspond to =0.41 eV and =0.28 eV, which is
very close to results reported for related iridates. In the tetragonal
phase at 5 K, the non-cubic crystal field causes a peak splitting of the J=1
state as small as 4 meV. Compared to KOsCl, the bromides KOsBr
and RbOsBr show about 12-14 % smaller values of 10Dq and ,
while the spin-orbit-entangled intra- excitations below 2 eV and hence
and are reduced by less than 4 %. Furthermore, the Mott gap in
KOsBr is reduced to about 1.8 eV.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figure
How can ski resorts get smart? Transdisciplinary approaches to sustainable winter tourism in the European Alps
Climate change and the call for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the efficient use of
(renewable) energy, and more resilient winter tourism regions, forces ski resorts across the European Alps to look for \u201csmart\u201d approaches to transition towards a sustainable, low-carbon economy. Drawing on the smart-city concept and considering the different historical developments of Alpine resorts, the Smart Altitude Decision-Making Toolkit was developed using a combination of an energy audit tool, a WebGIS, and collaborative and innovative living labs installed in Les Orres (France), Madonna di Campiglio (Italy), Krvavec (Slovenia), and Verbier (Switzerland). This step-by-step Decision-Making Toolkit enables ski resorts to get feedback on their energy demand, an overview of the locally available sources of renewable energy, and insights regarding their potential for improving their energy efficiency by low-carbon interventions. The Decision-Making Toolkit is suitable for knowledge transfer between stakeholders within living labs and moreover provides the flexibility for tailor-made low-carbon strategies adapting to the unique assets and situatedness of ski resorts
NUTRITIONAL ACCUMULATION FOR SALAD AND ITALIAN TOMATOES GROWN IN A PROTECTED ENVIRONMENT
ABSTRACT Tomato cultivation in a protected environment is an important tool for increasing yield, quality, and regularity of production. However, nutrient imbalance in this production system can lead to short-and long-term losses. This study aimed to characterize plant growth and nutrient accumulation and export of two tomato hybrids of the Salad (‘Stella TY’) and Italian (‘HS 1188’) groups in a protected environment and determine the accumulated thermal sum. The treatments consisted of evaluation times. Dry mass and nutrient accumulation could be determined by a sigmoidal non-linear model for both hybrids grown in the protected environment. The cumulative nutrient order was K > Ca > N > S > Mg > P > Mn > Zn > Fe > Cu > B for ‘Stella TY’ and K > N > Ca > S > P > Mg > Mn > Fe > Zn > Cu > B for ‘HS1188’, with yields of 105.7 and 103.4 t ha−1, respectively. The accumulated thermal sum was 1851.7 degree days at 126 days after transplanting (DAT)
Physics at a 100 TeV pp collider: Higgs and EW symmetry breaking studies
This report summarises the physics opportunities for the study of Higgs
bosons and the dynamics of electroweak symmetry breaking at the 100 TeV pp
collider.Comment: 187 pages, 94 figures. Chapter 2 of the "Physics at the FCC-hh"
Repor
- …