1,136 research outputs found
Measuring Servitization Progress and Outcome:The Case of ‘Advanced Services’
The purpose of this paper is to establish a framework for assessing the progress and outcome of a manufacturer’s transformation towards becoming a provider of ‘advanced services’ – a complex bundling of products and services, whereby manufacturers offer capabilities and outcomes instead of products alone. ‘Advanced services’ represent the most complex offering in the current servitization trend among manufacturers. However, current performance measures lack the breadth and focus to assess progress or outcomes, and so support research and practice of organisational transformation efforts required. To address this gap the paper investigates how a manufacturer’s efforts to become an ‘advanced services’ provider can be comprehensively measured, and develops a framework for assessing the transformation journey towards becoming an ‘advanced services’ provider. The research method is based on (1) a systematic literature review process to create a comprehensive set of service-related performance measures that are available to assess a manufacturer’s servitization efforts, followed by (2) an engagement with an expert panel to synthesise the identified measures and create a set of ‘advanced services’ performance measures. The proposed framework is presented as a scorecard that can be used in practice to assess the progress and outcome of a manufacturer’s transformation towards becoming a provider of ‘advanced services’
VAST: An ASKAP Survey for Variables and Slow Transients
The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) will give us an
unprecedented opportunity to investigate the transient sky at radio
wavelengths. In this paper we present VAST, an ASKAP survey for Variables and
Slow Transients. VAST will exploit the wide-field survey capabilities of ASKAP
to enable the discovery and investigation of variable and transient phenomena
from the local to the cosmological, including flare stars, intermittent
pulsars, X-ray binaries, magnetars, extreme scattering events, interstellar
scintillation, radio supernovae and orphan afterglows of gamma ray bursts. In
addition, it will allow us to probe unexplored regions of parameter space where
new classes of transient sources may be detected. In this paper we review the
known radio transient and variable populations and the current results from
blind radio surveys. We outline a comprehensive program based on a multi-tiered
survey strategy to characterise the radio transient sky through detection and
monitoring of transient and variable sources on the ASKAP imaging timescales of
five seconds and greater. We also present an analysis of the expected source
populations that we will be able to detect with VAST.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figures. Submitted for publication in Pub. Astron. Soc.
Australi
Discontinuation of Pneumocystis jirovecii Pneumonia Prophylaxis with CD4 Count <200 Cells/µL and Virologic Suppression: A Systematic Review
HIV viral load (VL) is currently not part of the criteria for Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP) prophylaxis discontinuation, but suppression of plasma viremia with antiretroviral therapy may allow for discontinuation of PCP prophylaxis even with CD4 count <200 cells/µL.A systematic review was performed to determine the incidence of PCP in HIV-infected individuals with CD4 count <200 cells/µL and fully suppressed VL on antiretroviral therapy but not receiving PCP prophylaxis.Four articles examined individuals who discontinued PCP prophylaxis with CD4 count <200 cells/µL in the context of fully suppressed VL on antiretroviral therapy. The overall incidence of PCP was 0.48 cases per 100 person-years (PY) (95% confidence interval (CI) (0.06-0.89). This was lower than the incidence of PCP in untreated HIV infection (5.30 cases/100 PY, 95% CI 4.1-6.8) and lower than the incidence in persons with CD4 count <200 cells/µL, before the availability of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), who continued prophylaxis (4.85/100 PY, 95% CI 0.92-8.78). In one study in which individuals were stratified according to CD4 count <200 cells/µL, there was a greater risk of PCP with CD4 count ≤100 cells/µL compared to 101-200 cells/µL.Primary PCP prophylaxis may be safely discontinued in HIV-infected individuals with CD4 count between 101-200 cells/µL provided the VL is fully suppressed on antiretroviral therapy. However, there are inadequate data available to make this recommendation when the CD4 count is ≤100 cells/µL. A revision of guidelines on primary PCP prophylaxis to include consideration of the VL is merited
Low-Frequency Spectral Energy Distributions of Radio Pulsars Detected with the Murchison Widefield Array
We present low-frequency spectral energy distributions of 60 known radio pulsars observed with the Murchison Widefield Array telescope. We searched the GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky Murchison Widefield Array survey images for 200-MHz continuum radio emission at the position of all pulsars in the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) pulsar catalogue. For the 60 confirmed detections, we have measured flux densities in 20 × 8 MHz bands between 72 and 231 MHz. We compare our results to existing measurements and show that the Murchison Widefield Array flux densities are in good agreement
Large-Scale simulations of plastic neural networks on neuromorphic hardware
SpiNNaker is a digital, neuromorphic architecture designed for simulating large-scale spiking neural networks at speeds close to biological real-time. Rather than using bespoke analog or digital hardware, the basic computational unit of a SpiNNaker system is a general-purpose ARM processor, allowing it to be programmed to simulate a wide variety of neuron and synapse models. This flexibility is particularly valuable in the study of biological plasticity phenomena. A recently proposed learning rule based on the Bayesian Confidence Propagation Neural Network (BCPNN) paradigm offers a generic framework for modeling the interaction of different plasticity mechanisms using spiking neurons. However, it can be computationally expensive to simulate large networks with BCPNN learning since it requires multiple state variables for each synapse, each of which needs to be updated every simulation time-step. We discuss the trade-offs in efficiency and accuracy involved in developing an event-based BCPNN implementation for SpiNNaker based on an analytical solution to the BCPNN equations, and detail the steps taken to fit this within the limited computational and memory resources of the SpiNNaker architecture. We demonstrate this learning rule by learning temporal sequences of neural activity within a recurrent attractor network which we simulate at scales of up to 2.0 × 104 neurons and 5.1 × 107 plastic synapses: the largest plastic neural network ever to be simulated on neuromorphic hardware. We also run a comparable simulation on a Cray XC-30 supercomputer system and find that, if it is to match the run-time of our SpiNNaker simulation, the super computer system uses approximately 45× more power. This suggests that cheaper, more power efficient neuromorphic systems are becoming useful discovery tools in the study of plasticity in large-scale brain models
Properties of an Eclipsing Double White Dwarf Binary NLTT 11748
We present high-quality ULTRACAM photometry of the eclipsing detached double white dwarf binary NLTT 11748. This system consists of a carbon/oxygen white dwarf and an extremely low mass (1.5 yr, we constrain the masses and radii of both objects in the NLTT 11748 system to a statistical uncertainty of a few percent. However, we find that overall uncertainty in the thickness of the envelope of the secondary carbon/oxygen white dwarf leads to a larger (≈13%) systematic uncertainty in the primary He WD's mass. Over the full range of possible envelope thicknesses, we find that our primary mass (0.136-0.162 M_☉) and surface gravity (log (g) = 6.32-6.38; radii are 0.0423-0.0433 R_☉) constraints do not agree with previous spectroscopic determinations. We use precise eclipse timing to detect the Rømer delay at 7σ significance, providing an additional weak constraint on the masses and limiting the eccentricity to ecos ω = (– 4 ± 5) × 10^(–5). Finally, we use multicolor data to constrain the secondary's effective temperature (7600 ± 120 K) and cooling age (1.6-1.7 Gyr)
Stellar Spectroscopy in the Near-infrared with a Laser Frequency Comb
The discovery and characterization of exoplanets around nearby stars is
driven by profound scientific questions about the uniqueness of Earth and our
Solar System, and the conditions under which life could exist elsewhere in our
Galaxy. Doppler spectroscopy, or the radial velocity (RV) technique, has been
used extensively to identify hundreds of exoplanets, but with notable
challenges in detecting terrestrial mass planets orbiting within habitable
zones. We describe infrared RV spectroscopy at the 10 m Hobby-Eberly telescope
that leverages a 30 GHz electro-optic laser frequency comb with nanophotonic
supercontinuum to calibrate the Habitable Zone Planet Finder spectrograph.
Demonstrated instrument precision <10 cm/s and stellar RVs approaching 1 m/s
open the path to discovery and confirmation of habitable zone planets around
M-dwarfs, the most ubiquitous type of stars in our Galaxy
A Search for Extragalactic Fast Blue Optical Transients in ZTF and the Rate of AT2018cow-like Transients
We present a search for extragalactic fast blue optical transients (FBOTs)
during Phase I of the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). We identify 38
candidates with durations above half-maximum light 1 d < t1/2 < 12 d, of which
28 have blue (g-r<-0.2 mag) colors at peak light. Of the 38 transients (28
FBOTs), 19 (13) can be spectroscopically classified as core-collapse supernovae
(SNe): 11 (8) H- or He-rich (Type II/IIb/Ib) SNe, 6 (4) interacting (Type
IIn/Ibn) SNe, and 2 (1) H&He-poor (Type Ic/Ic-BL) SNe. Two FBOTs (published
previously) had high-S/N predominantly featureless spectra and luminous radio
emission: AT2018lug and AT2020xnd. Seven (five) did not have a definitive
classification: AT 2020bdh showed tentative broad H in emission, and AT
2020bot showed unidentified broad features and was 10 kpc offset from the
center of an early-type galaxy. Ten (six) have no spectroscopic observations or
redshift measurements. We present multiwavelength (radio, millimeter, and/or
X-ray) observations for five FBOTs (three Type Ibn, one Type IIn/Ibn, one Type
IIb). Additionally, we search radio-survey (VLA and ASKAP) data to set limits
on the presence of radio emission for 22 of the transients. All X-ray and radio
observations resulted in non-detections; we rule out AT2018cow-like X-ray and
radio behavior for five FBOTs and more luminous emission (such as that seen in
the Camel) for four additional FBOTs. We conclude that exotic transients
similar to AT2018cow, the Koala, and the Camel represent a rare subset of
FBOTs, and use ZTF's SN classification experiments to measure the rate to be at
most 0.1% of the local core-collapse SN rate.Comment: Replaced following peer-review process. 46 pages, 20 figures.
Accepted for publication in Ap
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