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Implementation of product-service systems (PSS) requires structural changes in the way that business in manufacturing industries is traditionally conducted. Literature frequently mentions the importance of human resource management (HRM), since people are involved in the entire process of PSS development and employees are the primary link to customers. However, to this day, no study has provided empirical evidence whether and in what way HRM of firms that implement PSS differs from HRM of firms that solely run a traditional manufacturing based business model. The aim of this study is to contribute to closing this gap by investigating the particular HR components of manufacturing firms that implement PSS and compare it with the HRM of firms that do not. The context of this study is the fashion industry, which is an ideal setting since it is a mature and highly competitive industry that is well-documented for causing significant environmental impact. PSS present a promising opportunity for fashion firms to differentiate and mitigate the industry’s ecological footprint. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to analyze data of 102 international fashion firms. Findings reveal a significant higher focus on nearly the entire spectrum of HRM components of firms that implement PSS compared with firms that do not. Empirical findings and their interpretation are utilized to propose a general framework of the role of HRM for PSS implementation. This serves as a departure point for both scholars and practitioners for further research, and fosters the understanding of the role of HRM for managing PSS implementation.
Product-Service Systems (PSS) in the fashion industry : an analysis of intra-organizational factors
(2018)
The fashion industry is a vast industry that has grown tremendously over the last decades. This growth causes significant environmental impact since the production of clothes involves high input of energy, water, chemicals and generates great volumes of waste. Even though fashion firms have started to address this challenge by adopting environmental standards, it has turned out that the sole use of eco-friendly material and new manufacturing techniques is insufficient. Instead, sustainable business models are increasingly gaining attention to solve the environmental problems. Offers to rent, swap, repair or redesign clothes are among the most prominent and promising examples. For analytical purposes, these concepts can be assigned to the growing research stream of Product-Service Systems (PSS) that shift the focus from the pure sale of a product toward complementary or substitutional service offers. This decouples customer satisfaction from material consumption, prolongs the garments' lifetime and thus diminishes both material input and appertaining waste. Besides environmental sustainability, PSS imply potential economic benefits for organizations. Particularly in highly competitive industries like the fashion industry, PSS allow firms to differentiate, better compete with cost pressure and mitigate the risk of being imitated by rivels since service is more difficult to replicate. However, fashion PSS are still mainly operated in a niche market by small firms and have yet to be anchored in the mainstream fashion industry.
In recent years the share economy has gained widespread success across different industries. Since small firms and new ventures obtain fewer resources, an increased focus on service allows them to differentiate and compete with cost pressure in traditionally manufacturing based industries. There still is a lack of understanding how these firms manage to successfully shift towards service-oriented business models. This paper adopts a dynamic capabilities approach to examine the particular microfoundations that underlie sensing, seizing and reconfiguring dynamic capabilities of early-stage service firms within a traditional retail market. The context of this study is the fashion industry. It is an ideal setting since it is characterized by severe competition, short life cycles, strong cost pressure and high volatility. There are few but increasing examples of entrepreneurial initiatives that try to compete by providing offers to resell, rent or swap clothes. Qualitative data of five early stage fashion ventures is analyzed. Findings reveal that the ability to develop and maintain long-term relationships is essential. It has also been found crucial to acquire knowledge from external network partners, delegate tasks and share information. Furthermore, skills for interacting with customers and adopting consumer feedback are critical. This study provides empirical evidence of dynamic capabilities of early-stage firms and contributes to knowledge on the factors that facilitate servitization in traditionally manufacturing based industries. For practitioners, the presented microfoundations provide a framework of critical tasks that allow them to develop and maintain a service oriented business model.
Die Digitalisierung vrändert die Arbeitsweisen in Unternehmen und damit auch bei der Planung von Fabriken. Am Markt verfügbar sind vielfältige Soft- und Hardwaresysteme für die Digitale Fabrik, die die Fabrikplanung unterstützen und teilweise revolutionieren können. Um dieses Potential zu nutzen, muss aber bekannt sein, was diese Systeme können und wie sie sinnvoll genutzt werden können. Bisherige Fabrikplanungssystematiken haben hierzu keine Unterstützung angeboten, da sie nur das generelle Vorgehen der Fabrikplanung beschreiben, ohne den Zusammenhang zu den sich rasch entwickelnden Soft- und Hardwaresystemen herzustellen. Im Folgenden wird die Entwicklung und Umsetzung eines Planungsvorgehens für die Digitale Fabrikplanung dargestellt, das die Potentiale der Soft- und Hardwaresysteme für die Digitale Fabrik aufgreift und in ein passendes Planungsvorgehensmodell integriert.
An die Produktionslogistik werden komplexe
Anforderungen gestellt, so dass eine systematische Vorgehensweise zu deren Planung erforderlich ist. Aufgrund der Abhängigkeiten in der Supply Chain muss die Produtkionslogistik immer vom Lieferanten beginnend geplant werden. Trotz der Vielfalt an Planungssystematiken bieten diese alle nur sehr wenig Unterstützung bei der Gestaltung der einzelnen Planungsobjekte in der Logistikkette an, sodass die Planung und Lösungsfindung häufig intuitiv erfolgt und sehr stark vom individuellen Erfahrungswissen des Logistikplaners abhängt. Im Folgenden wird eine Planungssystematik, die auf Morphologien basiert, vorgestellt, die eine durchgängige Planung von Produktionslogistiksystemen ermöglicht und den Planer umgfangreich mit Informationen zu Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten und praktischen Umsetzungen unterstützt.
Die Einführung CSR- und wertebasierter Unternehmensziele und Managementmethoden wird von Führungskräften und Mitarbeitern häufig als Überforderung empfunden und löst Bedenken und teilweise Ängste aus. Diesem Phänomen kann alleine durch eine gelungene Schulung in den Theorien und Methoden entgegengetreten werden. Das hier vorgeschlagene Sechs-Schritte-Programm zur Schulung dieser Theorien und Methoden weckt das Bewusstsein für die Notwendigkeit eines Paradigmenwechsels und vermittelt den betroffenen Individuen die erforderlichen Kenntnisse und Werkzeuge, sich dieser Herausforderung zu stellen. In sechs Arbeitsschritten wird von der Phänomenologie der derzeitigen Unternehmenswelt über die theoretische Analyse der Situation bis hin zur Vorstellung geeigneter Tools und der möglichen Risiken ein Weg zur erfolgreichen Schulung gezeigt.
The unprecedented acceleration in the dynamics of economic development and its dependence on global interactions makes predicting the future especially difficult. Nevertheless, an examination of long-term trends provides an opportunity to begin a discussion about what reality could await us tomorrow and how we want to deal with it. With this food-for-thought paper, the member institutes of the Fraunhofer Group for Innovation Research wish to present a selection of the trends that are destined to have a significant impact on innovation systems in the period leading up to 2030. Based on these trends, the paper derives theses for innovation in the year 2030 and describes the resulting tasks for business, politics, science and society.
Die Dynamik der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung und deren Abhängigkeit von globalen Wechselwirkungen wachsen heute schneller denn je. Das macht Zukunftsprognosen besonders schwierig. Dennoch bietet der Blick auf langfristig prägende Trends die Chance, eine Diskussion darüber zu eröffnen, welche Realität uns morgen erwarten könnte und wie wir damit umgehen wollen.
Dieses Impulspapier stellt aus Sicht der Mitgliedsinstitute des Fraunhofer Verbunds Innovationsforschung eine Auswahl derjenigen Trends dar, die Innovationssysteme im Zeitraum bis 2030 wesentlich beeinflussen werden. Auf dieser Grundlage werden Thesen für Innovation im Jahr 2030 abgeleitet und beschrieben, welche Aufgaben sich daraus für Wirtschaft, Politik, Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft ergeben.
The basic idea behind a wearable robotic grasp assistancesystem is to support people that suffer from severe motor impairments in daily activities. Such a system needs to act mostly autonomously and according to the user’s intent. Vision-based hand pose estimation could be an integral part of a larger control and assistance framework. In this paper we evaluate the performance of egocentric monocular hand pose estimation for a robot-controlled hand exoskeleton in a simulation. For hand pose estimation we adopt a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). We train and evaluate this network with computer graphics, created by our own data generator. In order to guide further design decisions we focus in our experiments on two egocentric camera viewpoints tested on synthetic data with the help of a 3D-scanned hand model, with and without an exoskeleton attached to it.We observe that hand pose estimation with a wrist-mounted camera performs more accurate than with a head-mounted camera in the context of our simulation. Further, a grasp assistance system attached to the hand alters visual appearance and can improve hand pose estimation. Our experiment provides useful insights for the integration of sensors into a context sensitive analysis framework for intelligent assistance.
The blockchain technology enables a common data basis between the participants. Entries are logged and the authenticity of the participants is guaranteed. In the case of a relationship between customers and producers, this would lead to verifiable cooperation, which would be a major step as companies enter into service contracts based on the flow of many small transactions through communication. This paper proposes an architecture that enables the creation and processing of orders between the customer and producers via a blockchain based production network. The handling of larger files which are traceable via the blockchain is also shown and the use of a public or permissioned blockchain for an application case is also considered.
The use of additive manufacturing technologies for industrial production is constantly growing. This technology differs from the known production proecdures. The areas for scheduling, detailed and sequence planning are particularly important for additive production due to the long print times and flexible use of the production area. Therefore, production-relevant variables are considered and used for the production planning and control (PPC) of additive manufacturing machines. For this purpose, an optimization model is presented which shows a time-oriented build space utilization. In the implementation, a nesting algorithm is used to check the combinability of different models for each individual print job.
Pre-clinical evaluation of advanced nerve guide conduits using a novel 3D in vitro testing model
(2018)
Autografts are the current gold standard for large peripheral nerve defects in clinics despite the frequently occurring side effects like donor site morbidity. Hollow nerve guidance conduits (NGC) are proposed alternatives to autografts, but failed to bridge gaps exceeding 3 cm in humans. Internal NGC guidance cues like microfibres are believed to enhance hollow NGCs by giving additional physical support for directed regeneration of Schwann cells and axons. In this study, we report a new 3D in vitro model that allows the evaluation of different intraluminal fibre scaffolds inside a complete NGC. The performance of electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL) microfibres inside 5 mm long polyethylene glycol (PEG) conduits were investigated in neuronal cell and dorsal root ganglion (DRG) cultures in vitro. Z-stack confocal microscopy revealed the aligned orientation of neuronal cells along the fibres throughout the whole NGC length and depth. The number of living cells in the centre of the scaffold was not significantly different to the tissue culture plastic (TCP) control. For ex vivo analysis, DRGs were placed on top of fibre-filled NGCs to simulate the proximal nerve stump. In 21 days of culture, Schwann cells and axons infiltrated the conduits along the microfibres with 2.2 ± 0.37 mm and 2.1 ± 0.33 mm, respectively. We conclude that this in vitro model can help define internal NGC scaffolds in the future by comparing different fibre materials, composites and dimensions in one setup prior to animal testing.
This work is a report on practical experiences with the issue of interoperability in German practice management systems (PMSs) from an ongoing clinical trial on teledermatology, the TeleDerm project. A proprietary and established web-platform for store-and-forward telemedicine is integrated with the IT in the GPs’ offices for automatic exchange of basic patient data. Most of the 19 different PMSs included in the study sample lack support of modern health data exchange standards, therefore the relatively old but widely available German health data exchange interface “Gerätedatentransfer” (GDT) is used. Due to the lack of enforcement and regulation of the GDT standard, several obstacles to interoperability are encountered. As a partial, but reusable working solution to cope with these issues, we present a custom middleware which is used in conjunction with GDT. We describe the design, technical implementation and observed hindrances with the existing infrastructure. A discussion on health care interfacing standards and the current state of interoperability in German PMS software is given.
Electromigration (EM) is becoming a progressively severe reliability challenge due to increased interconnect current densities. A shift from traditional (post-layout) EM verification to robust (pro-active) EM aware design - where the circuit layout is designed with individual EM-robust solutions - is urgently needed. This tutorial will give an overview of EM and its effects on the reliability of present and future integrated circuits (ICs). We introduce the physical EM process and present its specific characteristics that can be affected during physical design. Examples of EM countermeasures which are applied in today’s commercial design flows are presented. We show how to improve the EM-robustness of metallization patterns and we also consider mission proiles to obtain application-oriented current density limits. The increasing interaction of EM with thermal migration is investigated as well. We conclude with a discussion of application examples to shift from the current post layout EM verification towards an EM aware physical design process. Its methodologies, such as EM-aware routing, increase the EM-robustness of the layout with the overall goal of reducing the negative impact of EM on the circuit’s reliability.
While there are several theoretical comparisons of Object Orientation (OO) and Service Orientation (SO), little empirical research on the maintainability of the two paradigms exists. To provide support for a generalizable comparison, we conducted a study with four related parts. Two functionally equivalent systems (one OO and one SO version) were analyzed with coupling and cohesion metrics as well as via a controlled experiment, where participants had to extend the systems. We also conducted a survey with 32 software professionals and interviewed 8 industry experts on the topic. Results indicate that the SO version of our system possesses a higher degree of cohesion, a lower degree of coupling, and could be extended faster. Survey and interview results suggest that industry sees systems built with SO as more loosely coupled, modifiable, and reusable. OO systems, however, were described as less complex and easier to test.
Maintainability assurance techniques are used to control this quality attribute and limit the accumulation of potentially unknown technical debt. Since the industry state of practice and especially the handling of service- and microservice-based systems in this regard are not well covered in scientific literature, we created a survey to gather evidence for a) used processes, tools, and metrics in the industry, b) maintainability-related treatment of systems based on service orientation, and c) influences on developer satisfaction w.r.t. maintainability. 60 software professionals responded to our online questionnaire. The results indicate that using explicit and systematic techniques has benefits for maintainability. The more sophisticated the applied methods the more satisfied participants were with the maintainability of their software while no link to a hindrance in productivity could be established. Other important findings were the absence of architecture-level evolvability control mechanisms as well as a significant neglect of service-oriented particularities for quality assurance. The results suggest that industry has to improve its quality control in these regards to avoid problems with long living service-based software systems.
To bring a pattern-based perspective to the SOA vs. microservices discussion, we qualitatively analyzed a total of 118 SOA patterns from 2 popular catalogs for their (partial) applicability to microservices. Patterns had to hold up to 5 derived microservices principles to be applicable. 74 patterns (63%) were categorized as fully applicable, 30 (25%) as partially applicable, and 14 (12%) as not applicable. Most frequently violated microservices characteristics werde Decentralization and Single System. The findings suggest that microservices and SOA share a large set of architectural principles and solutions in the general space of service-based systems while only having a small set of differences in specific areas.
Der spartenübergreifende BDI-Arbeitskreis Internet der Energie hat voraussichtliche Veränderungen durch Künstliche Intelligenz (KI) auf die Bereiche Energie und Klima analysiert und den möglichen Beitrag von KI zur Lösung anstehender Herausforderungen in diesen Bereichen erörtert. KI kann einen wesentlichen Beitrag zum Gelingen der Energiewende in Deutschland leisten. Der Energiesektor ist ein zentraler Bestandteil der deutschen Wirtschaft und daher auch in diesem Kontext äußerst relevant.
The high system flexibility necessary for the full automation of complex and unstructured tasks leads to increased complexity, thus higher costs. On the other hand, the effectiveness and performance of such systems decrease, explaining the unfulfilled potential of robotcs in sectors such as intralogistics, where the benefits of a robotic solution rarely justify its costs. Taking the distance from the false idea that a task should be either fully automated, or fully manual, this aper presents a method for design of a lean human-robot interaction (HRI) withe the objective of the "right level of automation", where functions are divided among human and automated agends, so that the overall process gains in performances and/or costs. ... The 10 progressive steps of the method are presented and discussed with reference to their graphical tool: the House of Quality Interaction.
The high system flexibility necessary for the full automation of complex and unstructured tasks leads to increased technological complexity, thus to higher costs and lower performance. In this paper, after an introduction to the different dimensions of flexibility, a method for flexible modular configuration and evaluation of systems of systems is introduced. The method starts from process requirements and, considering factors such as feasibility, development costs, market potential and effective impact on the current processes, enables the evaluation of a flexible systems of systems equipped with the needed functionalities before its actual development. This allows setting the focus on those aspects of flexibility that add market value to the system, thus promoting the efficient development of systems addressed to interested customers in intralogistics. An example of application of the method is given and discussed.
The hotspot detection has received much attention in the recent years due to a substantial mismatch between lithography wavelength and semiconductor technology feature size. This mismatch causes diffraction when transferring the layout from design onto a silicon wafer. As a result, open or short circuits (i.e. lithography hotspots) are more likely to be produced. Additionally, increasing numbers of semiconductors devices on a wafer required more time for the lithography hotspot detection analysis. In this work, we propose a fast and accurate solution based on novel artificial neural network (ANN) architecture for precise lithography hotspot detection using a convolution neural network (CNN) adopting a state of-the-art technique. The experimental results showed that the proposed model gained accuracy improvement over current state-of-theart approaches. The final code has been made publicly available.
Lithographical hotspot (LH) detection using deep learning (DL) has received much attention in the recent years. It happens mainly due to the facts the DL approach leads to a better accuracy over the traditional, state-of-the-art programming approaches. The purpose of ths study is to compare existing data augmentation (DA) techniques for the integrated circuit (IC) mask data using DL methods. DA is a method which refers to the process of creating new samples similar to the training set, thereby helping to reduce the gap between classes as well as improving the performance of the DL system. Experimental results suggest that the DA methods increase overall DL models performance for the hotspot detection tasks.
Consistent supply chain management across all levels of value creation is a common approach in the industrial sector. The implementation in agricultural processes requires rethinking in the supply chain concept. The reasons are the heuristic characterized processes, the stochastic environmental conditions, the mobility of the production facilities and the low division of work.
In this paper we deal with how concepts of innovative supply chain management of Industrie 4.0 could not only deliver a way to overcome said problems but also provide the foundation for the development of new forms of work and business models for Farming 4.0.
In order to decouple economic growth from global material consumption it is necessary to implement material efficiency strategies at the level of single enterprises and their supply chains, and to implement circular economy aspects. Manufacturing firms face multiple implementation challenges like cost limitations, competition, innovation and stakeholder pressure, and supplier and customer relationships, among others. Taking as an example a case of a medium-sized manufacturing company, opportunities to realise material efficiency improvements within the company borders - on the supply chain and by using circular economy measures - are assessed. Deterministic calculations and simulations, performed for the supply chain of this company, show that measures to increase material efficiency in the supply chain are important. However, they need to be complemented by efforts to return waste and used products to the economic cycle, which requires rethinking the traditional linear economic system.
In order to decouple economic growth from global material consumption it is necessary to implement material efficiency strategies at the level of single enterprises and their supply chains, and to implement circular economy aspects. Manufacturing firms face multiple implementation challenges like cost limitations, competition, innovation and stakeholder pressure, and supplier and customer relationships, among others
. An extended evaluation of triggers and barriers to improve material efficiency in manufacturing companies, along the supply chain and concerning circular economy considerations is provided. This paper delivers an extended literature review, a critical discussion of the current situation and resulting challenges concerning material efficiency approaches in manufacturing supply chains. Finally, a conclusion and outlook on further research direction is given.
Mature economies which are driven mainly by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly becoming dependent on material imports. Global material consumption is ever increasing, mainly driven by population increases. Decoupling of material consumption from economic growth is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. Within this paper available methods for the assessment of material efficiency on different economic scales are investigated and those detected that are particulary suitable for the use in SMEs. Recommendations for further improvements of the selected tools and an outlook concerning planned research activities in the field of material efficiency in enterprises, supply chains and circular economy aspects are given.
Die vierte industrielle Revolution stellt neue Anforderungen an Unternehmen und insbesondere an KMU. Das verfügbare Know-how bei der Implementierung von Industrie 4.0-Ansätzen stellt für viele KMU eine Herausforderung dar. Derzeit existieren in der Literatur verschiedene Wege zur Erstellung einer auf das Unternehmen angepassten Industrie 4.0 Roadmap. Eine Ausrichtung auf die Belange von KMU fehlt jedoch gänzlich. Mit dieser Arbeit werden verschiedene Ansätze zur Erstellung einer Industrie 4.0-Roadmap zusammengefasst und anschließend untersucht, worauf KMU mit ihren spezifischen Eigenschaften besonders ihren Fokus legen sollten.
A case study with four German fashion retail brands was conducted in order to measure the performance of their Omnichannel services. In detail, their Click & Collect service was analyzed. Click & Collect is one of the first introduced Omnichannel services in fashion retailing. Omnichannel services integrate different sales and communication channels providing a seamless customer journey experience. Offline, online, and mobile app customer experiences should provide a seamless customer experience. Omnichannel performance of the four retailers Decathlon, Hunkemöller, Massimo Dutti and Galeria Kaufhof was measured via mystery shopping. A seamless customer journey experience is not yet a standard in German fashion retailing. The four companies differ in many process details. The biggest market potential and the recommendation for further research emerges in deficits of the offline store Omnichannel customer experience. Here, all four case companies have room to improve. Best overall results regarding the integration of offline, online and mobile shops were found with Hunkemöller, followed by Decathlon, Massimo Dutti, and Galeria Kaufhof.
Lots of movies are produced every year, too many to watch all of them and in particular, to get an overview about the evolution of typical movie genres and actors playing in them. Moreover, it is a challenging problem to detect correlations among the movies and the actors in those movies, in particular, if we are interested in time-varying data patterns like trends, countertrends, or anomalies and outliers. Those correlations are specifically interesting if they can be inspected on different levels of granularity, e.g., temporal, but also hierarchical in form of country- or continent-based correlations. In this paper we describe the IMDb Explorer, a webbased visualization tool that consists of two major views denoted by the movie cosmos and the career lines. Both views are linked and interactively manipulable while a list of user-defined metrics are explorable. We illustrate the usefulness of the visualization tool by applying it to the entire movie database provided by IMDb.
An apparatus and method for analyzing a flow of material having an inlet region, a measurement range and an outlet region, and having a first diverter and a second diverter, and a deflection area, wherein in a first state of operation, the two diverters form a continuous first material flow space from the inlet region via the first diverter through the measurement range, via the second diverter to the outlet region, and in a second state of operation, form a continuous second material flow space from the inlet region via the first diverter through the deflection area, via the second diverter to the outlet region.
Die Erfindung betrifft eine Vorrichtung und Verfahren zur Analyse eines Materialstroms S mit einem Einlassbereich E, einem Messbereich M und einen Auslassbereich A sowie mit einer ersten Weiche W1 und einer zweiten Weiche W2 und einem Umlenkbereich U, wobei die beiden Weichen W1, W2 in einem ersten Schaltzustand Z1 einen durchgängigen ersten Materialdurchströmungsraum vom Einlassbereich E über die erste Weiche W1 durch den Messbereich M über die zweite Weiche W2 bis zum Auslassbereich A ausbilden und in einem zweiten Schaltzustand einen durchgängigen zweiten Materialdurchströmungsraum vom Einlassbereich E über die erste Weiche W1 durch den Umkenkbereich U über die zweite Weiche W2 bis zum Auslassbereich A ausbilden.
Die Erfindung betrifft eine Vorrichtung und Verfahren zur Analyse eines Materialstroms (S) mit einem Einlassbereich (E), einem Messbereich (M) und einen Auslassbereich (A) sowie mit einer ersten Weiche (W1) und einer zweiten Weiche (W2) und einem Umlenkbereich (U), wobei die beiden Weichen (W1, W2) in einem ersten Schaltzustand (Z1) einen durchgängigen ersten Materialdurchströmungsraum vom Einlassbereich (E) über die erste Weiche (W1) durch den Messbereich (M) über die zweite Weiche (W2) bis zum Auslassbereich (A) ausbilden und in einem zweiten Schaltzustand einen durchgängigen zweiten Materialdurchströmungsraum vom Einlassbereich (E) über die erste Weiche (W1) durch den Umlenkbereich (U) über die zweite Weiche (W2) bis zum Auslassbereich (A) ausbilden.
Die kontinuierliche Erfassung von Qualitätsparametern ist eine zunehmende Anforderung in der Polymerextrusion. Die optische Spektroskopie kann diese Anforderung erfüllen, da sie neben der Farbe weitere Parameter wie beispielsweise chemische Eigenschaften, Trübungsgrad oder Partikelgröße erfasst. Dabei werden für Inline-Messungen im Extruder optische Sonden eingesetzt. Im laufenden Betrieb bilden sich Ablagerungen auf den Sondenfenstern. Dieser Beitrag präsentiert ein neues Cleaning in Place Konzept, mit dessen Hilfe die Fenster auch während der Produktion ohne Unterbrechung gereinigt werden können. Auch die Kalibrierung der Messtechnik ist dabei möglich. Das verhindert Rüstzeiten und sichert eine kontinuierliche Inline-Messung.
This publication is a Technical report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s science and knowledge service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the European policymaking process.
This report provides an bird’s-eye view on the concept and implications of digital identities. After an introduction situating the concept of identity, the report clarifies its contemporary meaning and proposes a definition of reference. Subsequently, the authors examine the consequences of the translation of the concept of identity into the digital, internet connected world. They then analyse the particularities and consequences of this translation, which allows them to situate and define the concept of digital identities.
Finally, they conclude with the challenges that digital identity poses to the digital citizen in the attempt to manage and protect its attributes with the advent of Internet of Things and blockchain technology.
Perceptual integration of kinematic components in the recognition of emotional facial expressions
(2018)
According to a long-standing hypothesis in motor control, complex body motion is organized in terms of movement primitives, reducing massively the dimensionality of the underlying control problems. For body movements, this low dimensional organization has been convincingly demonstrated by the learning of low-dimensional representations from kinematic and EMG data. In contrast, the effective dimensionality of dynamic facial expressions is unknown, and dominant analysis approaches have been based on heuristically defined facial ‘‘action units,’’ which reflect contributions of individual face muscles. We determined the effective dimensionality of dynamic facial expressions by learning of a low dimensional model from 11 facial expressions. We found an amazingly low dimensionality with only two movement primitives being sufficient to simulate these dynamic expressions with high accuracy. This low dimensionality is confirmed statistically, by Bayesian model comparison of models with different numbers of primitives, and by a psychophysical experiment that demonstrates that expressions, simulated with only two primitives, are indistinguishable from natural ones.
In addition, we find statistically optimal integration of the emotion information specified by these primitives in visual perception. Taken together, our results indicate that facial expressions might be controlled by a very small number of independent control units, permitting very low dimensional parametrization of the associated facial expression.
Die Bedeutung und Stellung der Informationstechnologie erlebte in den letzten 60 Jahren einen fortlaufenden Wandel. Der anfänglich rein unterstützende Charakter entwickelte sich immer mehr zu einem wichtigen Bestandteil der Aufbau- und Ablauforganisation im Unternehmen. Ein definiertes IT-Servicemanagement im Unternehmen sieht sich mittlerweile gleichgeordnet mit den restlichen Fachabteilungen, tritt mit seinen Leistungen als Dienstleister auf und betrachtet die Fachabteilungen als „Kunde“. Neue Technologien und Innovationen und die daraus resultierenden Neudefinitionen bestehender Anforderungen sollen im Rahmen der Digitalisierung in Unternehmen positive Effekte zeigen. IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) wird als Framework für IT-Servicemanagement in der Industrie und im öffentlichen Dienst genutzt. Der Ansatz von ITIL unterstützte den Kulturwandel und sensibilisierte das Management und die Mitarbeiter darin, serviceorientiert zu denken. Da dieser Ansatz einen vordefinierten, zyklischen Ablauf hat, könnten schnell eintreffende Kundenanforderungen nicht fristgerecht umgesetzt werden, weshalb agile Methoden wie der DevOps-Ansatz in den Vordergrund rücken. Die Herausforderung besteht darin, den Kulturwandel bei der Einführung von DevOps in bestehenden ITIL-Strukturen in Unternehmen zu fördern.
Ein praktisches Problem im Auslandsgeschäft besteht oft darin, zu bestimmen, binnen welcher Fristen Käufer ihre Rechte bei Sachmängeln geltend machen müssen. Verjährungs- und Rügefristen können die Rechte des Käufers ganz oder zum Teil ausschließen oder ihnen ihre Durchsetzbarkeit nehmen. Die nationalen Regelungen unterscheiden sich hier sehr: zum einen gibt es für die Gewährleistung Verjährungsfristen zwischen sechs Monaten und sechs Jahren, zum anderen verlangen einige Rechtsordnungen vom Käufer, mangelhafte Ware sofort zu rügen oder zurückzuweisen, während wiederum andere darauf verzichten. Das UN-Kaufrecht löst diese praktischen Probleme nur zum Teil, wie der nachfolgende Beitrag aufzeigt.
Customer relationship management (CRM) is one of the most frequently adopted management tools and has received much attention in the literature. From a company-wide perspective, CRM is viewed as a complex process requiring interventions in different company areas. Previous research has already highlighted the pitfalls and failures related to a partial and incomplete view of CRM. This study advances research on CRM by investigating the impact of the relative implementation time according to which interventions are implemented in different areas (customer management, CRM technology, organizational alignment, and CRM strategy) on CRM performance. The results of the empirical study reveal that compared to other critical CRM activities, a later implementation of organizational alignment activities has a negative impact on performance. Further, our results show that CRM implementations do not equally address the areas of customer acquisition, growth, and loyalty, since this clearly depends on company objectives and also on geographical differences.
Das vorliegende Buch möchte Studierenden und Praktikern die Türe öffnen zu einer neu entstehenden, verhaltenswissenschaftlichen Sicht auf die Finanzmärkte in der ein realitätsnäherer Homo Oeconomicus Humanus an den Märkten agiert. Er setzt bei der Entscheidungsfindung begrenzt rationale Heuristiken ein und lässt sich von emotionalen Einflüssen lenken.
Die Autoren schlagen zunächst den Bogen von der neoklassischen Sicht der Finanzmärkte zur Behavioral Finance. Anschließend werden spekulative Blasen als Anzeichen für begrenzte Rationalität vorgestellt. Danach stehen die Heuristiken bei Anlageentscheidungen im Vordergrund. Abschließend werden Beispiele für die Anwendung der Behavioral-Finance-Erkenntnisse im Wealth Management und Corporate Governance diskutiert und es wird ein Blick auf Neuro-Finance und Emotional Finance geworfen.
In this article we would like to link certain developments of the Cryptocurrency price movement to the five characteristic phases speculative bubbles undergo according to US economists Charles Kindleberger and Hyman Minsky, who developed the respective framework in "Manias, panics and crashes" (1978). Although every speculative bubble is somewhat different, they tend to follow five phases.In addition, we would like to answer the question how speculative bubbles develop and why they suddenly collapse.
In a corporation’s financial life “going public” by means of an IPO is probably the single most important decision. It turns a private company into a public one. Our book will provide an inside view of the IPO process. On the one hand, it draws on the insights of an experienced investment banker, who has gone through numerous IPO transactions. On the other hand, it relates the story of an actual IPO through the eyes of a Chief Executive Officer who has taken two of his companies public. This unique double perspective is our book’s defining feature. We do not discuss initial public offerings in a textbook style fashion. What we would like to bring out is a more comprehensive portrayal of a “once-in-a-lifetime” event for most companies and their management, alike.
Motor-based theories of facial expression recognition propose that the visual perception of facial expression is aided by sensorimotor processes that are also used for the production of the same expression. Accordingly, sensorimotor and visual processes should provide congruent emotional information about a facial expression. Here, we report evidence that challenges this view. Specifically, the repeated execution of facial expressions has the opposite effect on the recognition of a subsequent facial expression than the repeated viewing of facial expressions. Moreover, the findings of the motor condition, but not of the visual condition, were correlated with a nonsensory condition in which participants imagined an emotional situation. These results can be well accounted for by the idea that facial expression recognition is not always mediated by motor processes but can also be recognized on visual information alone.
Free-floating e-scooter sharing is an upcoming trend in mobility, which has been spreading since 2015 in various German cities. Unlike the more scientifically explorend car sharing, the usage patterns and behaviors of e-scooter sharing customers are yet to be analyzed. This presumably discovers better ways to attract customers as well as adaptions of the business model in order to increase scooter utilization and therefore the profit of the e-scooter providers. As most of the customer's journey, from registration to scooter reservation and the ride itself, is digitally traceable, large datasets are available allowing for understanding of customers' needs and motivations. Based on these datasets of an e-scooter provider operating in a big German city we propose a customer clustering that identifies four different customer segments, which enables multiple conclusions to be drawn for business development and improving the problem-solution fit of the e-scooter sharing model.
Zur Entwicklung einer Sofortpreiskalkulation für CNC-Drehteile werden Machine-Learning-Ansätze sowie ein deterministischer Algorithmus untersucht. Der deterministische Algorithmus funktioniert ausschließlich für Drehteile mit geringer Komplexität. Die Machine Learning Modelle hingegen sind zukunftsfähiger, da die ersten Ergebnisse bereits sehr geringe Abweichungswerte zu den festgelegten Referenzpreisen erreichen können. Mit steigendem Datenaufkommen können beide Machine-Learning-Modelle mit geringem Aufwand weiter verbessert werden.
Bisher sind die Auswirkungen der Digitalisierung auf das Qualitätsmanagement kaum diskutiert worden. Nun wurden im Rahmen einer Expertenbefragung die wichtigsten Chancen und Risiken identifiziert. Eine zentrale Anforderung dabei ist ein konsequentes „Right First Time“, für dessen Umsetzung das präventive Qualitätsmanagement eine
entscheidende Rolle spielt.
Es wird erwartet, dass die neuen Technologien rund um die Digitalisierung von Gesellschaft und Geschäftswelt zu revolutionären Veränderungen führen werden. Im Zusammenhang mit produzierenden Unternehmen ist hier von einer möglichen vierten Revolution unter dem Stichwort "Industrie 4.0" die Rede. Eine Frage, die damit aber unmittelbar einhergeht, ist, ob sich infolge dieser Revolution auch Organisations- und Produktionsstrukturen von Unternehmen nicht ebenfalls revolutionär ändern müssen.
Dieser Beitrag geht dieser Frage nach, indem er den momentanen Stand der wissenschaftlichen Diskussion zusammenfasst und anschließend bewertet.
Software engineering education is supposed to provide students with industry-relevant knowledge and skills. Educators must address issues beyond exercises and theories that can be directly rehearsed in small settings. A way to experience such effects and to increase the relevance of software engineering education is to apply empirical studies in teaching. In our article, we show how different types of empirical studies can be used for educational purposes in software engineering. We give examples illustrating how to utilize empirical studies, discuss challenges, and derive an initial guideline that supports teachers to include empirical studies in software engineering courses.
Empirical software engineering experts on the use of students and professionals in experiments
(2018)
Using students as participants remains a valid simplification of reality needed in laboratory contexts. It is an effective way to advance software engineering theories and technologies but, like any other aspect of study settings, should be carefully considered during the design, execution, interpretation, and reporting of an experiment. The key is to understand which developer population portion is being represented by the participants in an experiment. Thus, a proposal for describing experimental participants is put forward.
Gesellschaftliche und industrielle Trends im Zuge der Digitaliserung induzieren Veränderungsprozesse in der Industrie. Eine hohe Flexibilität und schnelle Entscheidungsfindungsprozesse stellen entscheidende Wettbewerbsvorteile für Unternehmen dar, um zukünftig erfolgreich am Markt agieren zu können. Um dies zu ermöglichen, müssen aggregierte Echtzeitdaten und Prognosen unmittelbar sowohl am Ort der Wertschöpfung als auch dezentral zur Verfügung stehen. Die Entscheidungsunterstützung mit Hilfe geeigneter Visualisierungen ist ein maßgeblicher Bestandteil von Shopfloor Management Systemen. Aufgrund der steigenden Anforderungen wurde das konventionelle und analoge Shopfloor Management in den letzten Jahren verstärkt durch digitale Lösungen ersetzt. Ein ganzheitlicher Shopfloor Management Ansatz, der die Trends und die daraus resultierenden Herausforderungen für die Industrie abdeckt, ist aktuell nicht vorhanden. Zukünftige Shopfloor Management Lösungen sollen diese Lücke schließen. Hierfür wurde ein ganzheitliches System entwickelt, welches Produktionsinformationen in Echtzeit unmittelbar am Shopfloor visualisiert, eine integrierte flexible Planung und Steuerung der Produktion beinhaltet sowie die Mitarbeiterbedürfnisse berücksichtigt. Eine flexible und individuelle Schichtplanung durch die Mitarbeiter und eine umfassende automatische Beanspruchungsbeurteilung sind dazu integriert worden. Zudem ermöglicht das System die Prognose und Visualisierung von Produktionsinformationen und unterstützt die Anwender bei der Durchführung strukturierter Shopfloor-Meetings. Dadurch werden Entscheidungen direkt auf den Ort der Wertschöpfung verlagert.
The relative pros and cons of using students or practitioners in experiments in empirical software engineering have been discussed for a long time and continue to be an important topic. Following the recent publication of “Empirical software engineering experts on the use of students and professionals in experiments” by Falessi, Juristo, Wohlin, Turhan, Münch, Jedlitschka, and Oivo (EMSE, February 2018) we received a commentary by Sjøberg and Bergersen. Given that the topic is of great methodological interest to the community and requires nuanced treatment, we invited two editorial board members, Martin Shepperd and Per Runeson, respectively, to provide additional views.
This paper investigates the evaluation of dense 3D face reconstruction from a single 2D image in the wild. To this end, we organise a competition that provides a new benchmark dataset that contains 2000 2D facial images of 135 subjects as well as their 3D ground truth face scans. In contrast to previous competitions or challenges, the aim of this new benchmark dataset is to evaluate the accuracy of a 3D dense face reconstruction algorithm using real, accurate and high-resolution 3D ground truth face scans. In addition to the dataset, we provide a standard protocol as well as a Python script for the evaluation. Last, we report the results obtained by three state-of-the-art 3D face reconstruction systems on the new benchmark dataset. The competition is organised along with the 2018 13th IEEE Conference on Automatic Face & Gesture Recognition.
Micro grids often consist of energy generators, storages and consumers with controllers which are not prepared for their integration into communication networks for energy systems. In this paper it will be presented, how standards from the field of energy automation can be applied in such controllers. The data for communication interfaces can be structured according to the IEC 61850- or the VHPREADY standard. It is investigated which requirements must be supported to implement such data models within the controllers. For the transmission of the data we propose the OPC UA protocol, which supports extensive security measures and which is today available for nearly all modern types of controllers and computers.
Surface topographies are often discussed as an important parameter influencing basic cell behavior. Whereas most in vitro studies deal with microstructures with sharp edges, smooth, curved microscale topographies might be more relevant concerning in-vivo situations. Addressing the lack of highly defined surfaces with varying curvature, we present a topography chip system with 3D curved features of varying spacing, curvature radii as well as varying overall dimensions of curved surfaces. The CurvChip is produced by low-cost photolithography with thermal reflow, subsequent (repetitive) PDMS molding and hot embossing. The platform facilitates the systematic in-vitro investigation of the impact of substrate curvature on cell types like epithelial, endothelial, smooth muscle cells, or stem cells. Such investigations will not only help to further understand the mechanism of curvature sensation but may also contribute to optimize cell-material interactions in the field of regenerative medicine.
Marketing ist allgegenwärtig! Es begegnet Ihnen im Supermarkt, in Onlineshops und in sozialen Medien. Doch was steckt konkret hinter dem Marketing und wie gestalten Unternehmen es erfolgreich? Auf diese und weitere Fragen geht das Buch im Detail ein. Zu Beginn vermittelt es Grundlagen zum Konsumentenverhalten, zum Kaufprozess und zur persönlichen Kaufentscheidung. Vor diesem Hintergrund erläutert es Ziele und Maßnahmen der strategischen Marketingplanung. Darauf aufbauend präsentiert es Aspekte einer operativen Marketingplanung und diskutiert die Marken-, Produkt-, Distributions-, Kommunikations- sowie Preispolitik ausführlich. Marketingprofis geben Einblicke in die Praxis. Ein Best Practice-Beispiel macht das Gelernte schnell (be)greifbar.
A shift in attitudes to purchasing departments can be perceived. No longer is the chief goal solely to reduce costs; the procurement function is assuming strategic relevance in the business model, leveraging the supplier as a foundation for innovation. The knowledge accumulated by suppliers is accessed over the journey of long-term partnerships to streamline business practice. Businesses are finding themselves in increasingly competitive environments, and thus need to address inefficiencies in supplier management. “Procurement 4.0” is a concept used in discussing digitalisation in business processes, referring to the process of supplier relationship management and optimisation. This model and its application to supplier relationship management will be the focus of this article. Realising the efficiencies to be obtained in buyer-supplier relationships through “Procurement 4.0” will be explored, primarily through an emphasis on digitalisation of the relationship between the procurement department and supplier.
Die Überlebensfähigkeit von Unternehmen am Markt wird vorrangig durch den Input ihrer Lieferanten getrieben, da dem Einkauf bis zu 50% des prognostizierten Innovationspotenzials zugesprochen wird. Dabei gilt vor allem die digitale Transformation als wesentliche Voraussetzung, um die eigene Wettbewerbsfähigkeit langfristig zu sichern. Der vorliegende Beitrag setzt sich daher mit dem Digitalisierungspotenzial strategischer Lieferantenbeziehungen auseinander. Aufbauend auf einem konzeptionellen Modell des Einkaufs 4.0 werden dessen Erfolgstreiber analysiert. Neben der Optimierung von Einkaufsprozessen durch eProcurementlösungen sollte der Fokus auf der Beziehungspflege zu Lieferanten liegen, um das Potenzial von Einkauf 4.0 vollständig ausschöpfen zu können. Denn nur durch den Aufbau strategischer Wertschöpfungspartnerschaften lässt sich das Erfolgspotenzial des Einkaufs langfristig heben.
Polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) are thin polymeric films produced by alternating adsorption of positively and negatively charged polyelectrolytes (PE) on a substrate. These films are considered drug delivery agents as well as coating material for implants, due to their antibiofouling and biologically benign properties. For these reasons the film mechanical properties as well as response to mechanical stress are important measurement parameters. Especially intriguing is the correlation of the mechanical properties of PEM on macroscopic level with the structure of PEM on molecular level, which is addressed here for the first time. This study investigates PEM from PDADMA/PSS produced by spraying technique with neutron and X-ray reflectometry. Reflectometry technique provides precise information on thickness and density (i.e., electron density or scattering length density, respectively), and, this way, allows to conclude on changes in film composition. Thus, neutron and X-ray reflectometry technique is suitable to investigate the overall and the internal transformations, which PEM films might undergo upon exposure to mechanical load. During uniaxial elongation two regimes of PEM deformation can be observed: An elastic regime at small elongations (below ca. 0.2%), which is characterized by a reversible change of film thickness, and a plastic regime with a permanent change above this limit. Both regimes have in common, that the mechanical load induces an increase of the film thickness, which is accompanied by an uptake of water from the surrounding atmosphere. The strain causes a molecular rearrangement within the PEM-structure of stratified layers, which, even in elastic regime, is permanent, although the thickness change remains reversible.
A wide-bandwidth galvanically isolated current sensing circuit with an integrated Rogowski coil in 180nm CMOS is presented. Exploiting the high-frequency properties of an optimized on-chip Rogowski coil, currents can be measured up to a bandwidth of 75 MHz. The analog sensor front-end comprises a two-stage integrator, which allows a chopper frequency below signal bandwidth, resulting in 2.2 mVrms output noise. An additional integrated Hall sensor extends the measurement range towards DC.
While academia and industry see large potential for human-robot collaboration (HRC), only a small number of realized HRC application is currently found in industry. To gather more data about current hindrances to wider implementation of collaborative robots, a study among 15 robot manufactureres and 14 system integrators of collaborative robot technology has been conducted through a predesigned questionnaire procedure. Additionally, five industrial users of human-robot collaboration have been interviewed on the main challenges they experienced during the initial implementation process. The quantitative data has been analyzed using the Wilcoxon-Signed-Rank-Test. Accoring to the study participants, the main challenges within the implementation currently are the identification of HRC-suitable processes, the application of relevant safety norms (such as ISO 10218, ISO/TS 15066) and the application-individual risk assessment.
Sleep study can be used for detection of sleep quality and in general bed behaviors. These results can helpful for regulating sleep and recognizing different sleeping disorders of human. In comparison to the leading standard measuring system, which is Polysomnography (PSG), the system proposed in this work is a non-invasive sleep monitoring device. For continuous analysis or home use, the PSG or wearable Actigraphy devices tends to be uncomfortable. Besides, these methods not only decrease practicality due to the process of having to put them on, but they are also very expensive. The system proposed in this paper classifies respiration and body movement with only one type of sensor and also in a noninvasive way. The sensor used is a pressure sensor. This sensor is low cost and can be used for commercial proposes. The system was tested by carrying out an experiment that recorded the sleep process of a subject. These recordings showed excellent results in the classification of breathing rate and body movements.
Von harten Hunden und hyperaktiven Affen : der richtige Umgang mit Menschen im Beruf und Alltag
(2018)
Jeder Mensch ist einzigartig! Das ist fraglos richtig. Dessen ungeachtet finden Sie bei Ihren Mitmenschen wiederkehrende Charaktereigenschaften, mit denen Sie im Beruf und im Alltag umgehen müssen. Denken Sie nur an den harten Hund aus der Chefetage, den cleveren Fuchs aus dem Controlling oder den zappeligen, aber vor Ideen sprühenden, Affen aus der Marketingabteilung.
Der Kommunikations- und Verhandlungsexperte Nello Gaspardo skizziert neun solcher Typen anhand von Tierbildern. Er zeigt deren Stärken und Schwächen auf und verrät Ihnen pointiert, was Sie im Umgang mit diesen Menschen unbedingt wissen sollten und wie Sie mit diesen Typen richtig kommunizieren.
Das Buch ist ein unverzichtbarer Ratgeber für alle, die im Beruf und im Alltag gemeinsam mit anderen Menschen schnell und harmonisch Ziele erreichen möchten.
This book investigates and highlights the most critical challenges the pharmaceutical industry faces in an increasingly competitive environment of inflationary R&D investments and tightening cost control pressures. The authors present three sources of pharmaceutical innovation: new management methods in the drug development pipeline; new technologies as enablers for cutting-edge R&D; and new forms of cooperation and internationalization, such as open innovation in the early phases of R&D. New models and methods are illustrated with cases from Europe, the US, and Asia. This third fully revised edition was expanded to reflect the latest updates in open and collaborative innovation, the greater strategic importance of venture capital and early stage investments, and the new range of emerging technologies now being put to use in pharmaceutical innovation.
Nowadays robust, energy-efficient multisensor microsystems often come with heavily restricted power budgets and the characteristic of remaining in certain states for a longer period of time. During this time frame there is no continuous clock signal required which gives the opportunity to suspend the clock until a new transition is requested. In this paper, we present a new topology for on-demand locally clocked finite state machines. The architecture combines a local adaptive clocking approach with synchronous and asynchronous components forming a quasi synchronous system. Using adaptive and local clocking comes with the advantages of reducing the power consumption while saving design effort when no global clock tree is needed. Combining synchronous and asynchronous components is beneficial compared to previous fully asynchronous approaches concerning the design restrictions. The developed topology is verified by the implementation and simulation of a temperature-ADC sensor system realized in a 180 nm process.
Die Welt dreht sich immer schneller. Etablierte Firmen, die sinnbildlich für innovative Produkte stehen, werden in kurzer Zeit vom Markt gedrängt und durch disruptive Ansätze aus ihrem Geschäft verdrängt. Inkrementelle Ansätze zur Verbesserung der Produktqualität, zur Reduktion von Herstellkosten und der Fokus auf die Produktionsoptimierung nach dem Individualisierungsprinzip (Losgröße 1) sind keine auf die Zukunft ausgerichtete Zielzustände für Automobilhersteller mehr. Neue Wettbewerber, seien es Softwaregiganten oder agile Startups, treten in den Markt ein. Die traditionelle Massenproduktion des Automotivbereichs kann den sich stetig verändernden Kundenanforderungen nicht mehr länger gerecht werden. Dazu bedarf es Geschäftsmodell-Innovationen, wie beispielsweise digitale Preismodelle oder On-Demand Funktionalitäten.
Mit der vorliegenden Broschüre möchten wir allen studentischen und wissenschaftlichen Hilfskräften sowie Studierenden, die eine solche Tätigkeit in Betracht ziehen, helfen, ihre Rechte kennenzulernen und durchzusetzen. Und wir möchten sie ermuntern, sich in der Bildungsgewerkschaft GEW gemeinsam mit Kolleginnen und Kollegen für die Verbesserung ihrer Rechte zu engagieren.
Reduction of power consumption of digital systems is a major concern especially in modern smart sensor systems. These systems are often only activated on request and their power consumption is therefore dominated by the idle-mode. Power reduction mechanisms such as clock or power gating reduce the activity or leakage in the purely digital circuits. We propose a novel adaptive clocking scheme that optimizes the energy demand using a fine-grained oscillator control on cycle-level. To evaluate our new approach, we analytically analyze the power consumption of the regarded system in comparison with available methods. The power of our new adaptive clocking is shown in an integrated smart sensor for capacitive measurements working in a passive wireless sensor node. Using our methods, we show that the energy demand of the example system is reduced even in the case of continuous measurements that demand for a high activity in the digital circuitry.
Relocation of production to countries with low labour costs has induced increased labour market flexibility, which has been praised as a silver bullet for economic growth and low unemployment. Within a unionised oligopoly framework, in which a multinational firm has the option to relocate its production to a foreign country, we analyse the welfare implications of both centralised and flexible wage-setting regimes. For very low foreign wages, wage flexibility leads to higher welfare than a rigid centralised regime. In contrast, for ‘intermediate’ wage levels in the foreign country, an industry-wide uniform wage leads to higher social welfare than flexible wages.
What does the factory of tomorrow have to offer for companies? This question and its aspects are the focus of many actual articles and publications. According to Gartner digital twins, one of 2017 strategic technology trends will play a big role for the future of manufacturing. At the moment digital twins are gaining more importance for the industrial application. If companies want to be competitive in the future they have to implement the digital twin in the factories of today. Therefore this paper provides a basic overview of the concept of the smart factory and its requirements. In addition, digital twins are identified as a necessary concept for the evolution of the factory of today.
Eines der gängigsten bildgebenden Verfahren in der Medizin ist die Sonografie. Jedoch ist die Reproduzierbarkeit der Ultraschalldiagnostik bis heute noch immer ein Problem, wodurch Fehldiagnosen gestellt werden. Durch das in diesem Papier vorgestellte prototypische System zur Unterstützung für Medizinstudenten in Ultraschallseminaren sollen Anforderungen zur Reproduzierbarkeit einer Ultraschalluntersuchung definiert werden. Durch Experteninterviews wurden Einblicke in die klinischen Abläufe und den Krankenhaus-Alltag gewonnen, welche Inhalte relevant sind, um die Reproduzierbarkeit von Ultraschalluntersuchungen zu ermöglichen.
We present an approach for segmenting individual cells and lamellipodia in epithelial cell clusters using fully convolutional neural networks. The method will set the basis for measuring cell cluster dynamics and expansion to improve the investigation of collective cell migration phenomena. The fully learning-based front-end avoids classical feature engineering, yet the network architecture needs to be designed carefully. Our network predicts how likely each pixel belongs to one of the classes and, thus, is able to segment the image. Besides characterizing segmentation performance, we discuss how the network will be further employed.
Der Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über die Zusammenhänge zwischen Industrie 4.0 und Recht. Ausgangspunkt sind die vertragsrechtlichen Grundlagen mit den Fragen, ob und wie zwischen Maschinen überhaupt Verträge zustande kommen können, wie Industrie 4.0-Verträge vertragstypologisch einzuordnen sind und welche Grenzen bei der Verwendung Allgemeiner Geschäftsbedingungen bestehen können. Anschließend werden die Themen dargestellt, die derzeit die Diskussion um das Haftungsrecht der Industrie 4.0 beherrschen. Im Rahmen des Datenrechts wird geklärt, wem Daten zustehen und wie der Datenschutz geregelt ist. Zudem wird aufgezeigt, welche rechtlichen Vorgaben zur Gewährleistung von IT-Sicherheit im Unternehmen bestehen. Schließlich werden auch arbeitsrechtliche Herausforderungen von Industrie 4.0 angesprochen, wie die zunehmende "Entbetrieblichung", das Aufkommen neuer Beschäftigungsformen, die Forderung nach mehr Flexibilisierung der Arbeitswelt sowie Fragen des Mitbestimmungsrechts.
As production workspaces become more mobile and dynamic it becomes increasingly important to reliably monitor the overall state of the environment. Therein manipulators or other robotic systems likely have to be able to act autonomously together with humans and other systems within a joint workspace. Such interactions require that all components in non-stationary environments are able to perceive the state relative to each other. As vision-sensors provide a rich source of information to accomplish this, we present RoPose, a convolutional neural network (CNN) based approach, to estimate the two dimensional joint configuration of a simulated industrial manipulator from a camera image. This pose information can further be used by a novel targetless calibration setup to estimate the pose of the camera relative to the manipulator’s space. We present a pipeline to automatically generate synthetic training data and conclude with a discussion of the potential usage of the same pipeline to acquire real image datasets of physically existent robots.
Creating new business models, products or services is challenging in fast changing unpredictable environments. Often, product teams need to make many assumptions (e.g., assumptions about future demands) that might not be true. These assumptions impose risks to the success and these risks need to be mitigated early. One of the principles of the Lean Startup approach is to identify and prioritize the riskiest assumptions in order to validate them as early as possible. This helps to avoid wasting effort and time. In the literature there are several different methods for identifying and prioritizing the riskiest assumptions reported. However, only little research exists about the practical application of these methods in practice and how to teach them. In this paper, we present and empirically analyze a workshop format that we have developed for teaching the prioritization of Lean Startup assumptions. We aim at raising the awareness for assumption thinking among the participants and teach them through group work how to prioritize assumptions. The results of the analysis of a multitude of conducted workshops show that the applied method did lead to reasonable results and accompanying learning effects. In addition, the participants got aware of assumption thinking and liked learning in a practical way.
Early reduction of risks in a startup or an innovation project is highly important. Appropriate means for risk reduction, such as testing business models with different kinds of experiments exist. However, deciding what to test and how to select the right test, is challenging for many startups and innovation projects. This article presents the so-called Business Experiments Navigator (BEN), a toolkit to assist startup and innovation processes. It compliments other tools such as the Business Model Canvas or the Lean Startup process. The main contribution of BEN is to bridge the gap between the riskiest assumptions of a business model and the multitude of available testing techniques by providing assumption templates. The Business Experiments Navigator has been validated in several workshops. Results show that it creates awareness among the workshop participants that a business model is based on assumptions which impose risks and need to be validated. Further, users of BEN were able to identify relevant assumptions and map different kinds of assumptions to appropriate testing techniques. The process applied in the workshops, as well as the assumption templates, helped the participants understand the main concepts and transfer their learnings, to their own business ideas.
Many GaN power transistors contain a PN junction between gate and the channel region close to the source. In order to maintain the on-state, current must continuously be supplied to the junction. Therefore, the commonly recommended approach uses a gate bias voltage of 12V to compensate the Miller current through a boost circuit. For the same purpose, a novel gate driving method based on an inductive feed forward has been presented. With this, stable turn-on can be achieved even for a bias voltage of only 5V. The effectiveness of this concept is demonstrated by double pulse measurements, switching currents up to 27A and a voltage of 400V. For both approaches a compact design with low source inductance is characterized. In addition to the significant reduction of the gate bias voltage and peak gate current, the new approach reduces the switching losses for load currents >23 A.
A novel gate driving approach to balance the transient current of parallel-connected GaN-HEMTs
(2018)
To enable higher current handling capability of GaN-based DC/DC converters, devices have to be used in parallel. However, their switching times differ, especially if their threshold voltages are not identical, which causes unbalanced device current. This paper focuses on the homogeneous distribution of turn-on switching losses of GaN-HEMTs connected in parallel. By applying a new gate driver concept, the transient current is distributed evenly. The effectiveness of this concept is demonstrated by double pulse measurements, for switching currents up to 45A and a voltage of 400V. A uniform current distribution is achieved, including a reduction of the turn-on losses by 50% compared to a conventional setup.
Rational strain engineering requires solid testing of phenotypes including productivity and ideally contributes thereby directly to our understanding of the genotype-phenotype relationship. Actually, the test step of the strain engineering cycle becomes the limiting step, as ever advancing tools for generating genetic diversity exist. Here, we briefly define the challenge one faces in quantifiying phenotypes and summarize existing analytical techniques that partially overcome this challenge. We argue that the evolution of volatile metabolites can be used as proxy for cellular metabolism. In the simplest case, the product of interest is a volatile (e.g., from bulk alcohols to special fragrances) that is directly quantified over time. But also nonvolatile products (e.g., from bulk long-chain fatty acids to natural products) require major flux rerouting that result potentially in altered volatile production. While alternative techniques for volatile determination exist, rather few can be envisaged for medium to high-throughput analysis required for phenotype testing. Here, we contribute a detailed protocol for an ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) analysis that allows volatile metabolite quantification down to the ppb range. The sensivity can be exploited for small-scale fermentation monitoring. The insights shared might contribute to a more frequent use of IMS in biotechnology, while the experimented aspects are of general use for researchers interested in volatile monitoring.
Due to the lack of sophisticated component libraries for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), highly optimized MEMS sensors are currently designed using a polygon driven design flow. The advantage of this design flow is its accurate mechanical simulation, but it lacks a method for analyzing the dynamic parasitic electrostatic effects arising from the electric coupling between (stationary) wiring and structures in motion. In order to close this gap, we present a method that enables the parasitics arising from in-plane, sensor-structure motion to be extracted quasi-dynamically. With the method's structural-recognition feature we can analyze and optimize dynamic parasitic electrostatic effects.
Die Segmentierung und das Tracking von minimal-invasiven robotergeführten Instrumenten ist ein wesentlicher Bestandteil für verschiedene computer assistierte Eingriffe. Allerdings treten in der minimal-invasiven Chirurgie, die das Anwendungsfeld für den hier beschriebenen Ansatz darstellt, häufig Schwierigkeiten durch Reflexionen, Schatten oder visuelle Verdeckungen durch Rauch und Organe auf und erschweren die Segmentierung und das Tracking der Instrumente.
Dieser Beitrag stellt einen Deep Learning Ansatz für ein markerloses Tracking von minimal-invasiven Instrumenten vor und wird sowohl auf simulierten als auch realen Daten getestet. Es wird ein simulierter als auch realer Datensatz mit Ground Truth Kennzeichnung für die binäre Segmentierung von Instrument und Hintergrund erstellt. Für den simulierten Datensatz werden Bilder aus einem simulierten Instrument und realem Hintergrund zusammengesetzt. Im Falle des realen Datensatzes spricht man von der Zusammensetzung der Bilder aus einem realen Instrument und Hintergrund. Insgesamt wird auf den simulierten Daten eine Pixelgenauigkeit von 94.70 Prozent und auf den realen Daten eine Pixelgenauigkeit von 87.30 Prozent erreicht.
This paper investigates if food ^ retailing mobile applications from Germany, Austria, USA and the United Kingdom are meant to stay a marginal topic in grocery shopping, or if they have the potential to significantly shape the future of grocery retailing by serving as competitive advantages that can fulfil customer requirements and satisfaction. It has filtered out success factors in form of functions of grocery apps and it has extracted key competencies that can be used to create customer value. The Kano model can help selecting the right app functions. But, there are other prerequisites, like customers’ general attitude towards technology and their acceptance towards any kind of apps, that play an important role looking at the big picture of apps in grocery retailing. However, this paper has contributed one vital part of giving more importance to apps in grocery retailing in form of app functions that clearly deliver customer value. In short, apps that fit customers’ needs and that provide usability and convenience clearly have the potential to shape the future of grocery retailing - if key barriers towards app use are eliminated and if incentives are given that overcome scepticism.
The increasing share of renewable energy with volatile production results in higher variability of prices for electrical energy. Optimized operating schedules, e.g., for industrial units, can yield a considerable reduction of energy costs by shifting processes with high power consumption to times with low energy prices. We present a distributed control architecture for virtual power plants (VPPs) where VPP participants benefit from flexible adaptation of schedules to price forecasts while maintaining control of their operating schedule. An aggregator trades at the energy market on behalf of the participants and benefits from more detailed and reliable load profiles within the VPP.
This paper introduces a highly scalable heteromodular origami art technique for constructing 3D framework structures using elementary struts and connectors folded from uncut sheets of standard A4 office paper. The presented technique, named ZEBRA, allows the design of meter-scale architectural objects, such as truss bridges and towers, which are capable of bearing substantial mechanical loads. Moving parts, ranging from simple levers to complete multi-bar linkages, can be integrated into static frameworks using a set of kinematic extensions. An overview is given of how the ZEBRA system can be used to teach university students various theoretical and practical aspects of the engineering sciences in an entertaining and hands-on way.
The paper studies the reform package proposed by the European Commission on 6 December 2017. First, institutional and economic implications of the reform proposal are analysed. The paper finds that some proposals are beyond the present treaty provisions. For instance, the proposal of a fiscal capacity does not tackle the economic root causes without a supranational transfer mechanism. In fact, the proposed budget neutrality over the medium-term is unfeasible due to cross country heterogeneity in the Eurozone. At the end, the paper develops policy conclusions.
This article investigates the fundamental value of digital platforms, such as Facebook and Google. Despite the transformative nature of digital technologies, it is challenging to value digital services, given that the usage is free of charge. Applying the methodology of discrete choice experiments, we estimated the value of digital free goods. For the first time in the literature, we obtained data for the willingness-to-pay and willingness-to-accept, together with socio-economic variables. The customer´s valuation of free digital services is on average, for Google, 121 € per week and Facebook, 28 €.
This paper studies whether a monetary union needs a fical union in particular in the Eurozone. On 1 January 1999, despite controversial debates, the rule-based Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) started without a fiscal union. I show that there is weak economic convergence in the EMU since 18 years. In addition, I argue that a fiscal union does not solve the past disintegration failures.
I demonstrate that the major flaws are domestic policy failures and not institutional failures in the euro area. Consequently, establishing a monetary union without having a political union is a risky strategy. Indeed, the rule-based architecture of Maastricht is not guilty for the crisis alone. The root causes are the political flaws aligned with the rather weak enforcement of the rules. I propose a genuine redesign of the rule-based paradigm without a fiscal union. Yet a monetary union without a fiscal union works effectively if the rule enforcement is more automatic and independent of domestic and European policy-making.
Die hohen Schulden in einigen Staaten der Europäischen Wirtschafts- und Währungsunion lassen nach wie vor staatliche Insolvenzen befürchten. Um die bereits entstandenen Probleme zu bewältigen, aber auch damit eine solche Situation künftig gar nicht erst eintritt, ist eine staatliche Insolvenzordnung erforderlich.
§ 303 Schuldenkonsolidierung
(2018)
The need for creating digitally enhanced products, services, and experiences as well as the emergence of new or modified business models has a significant impact on the automotive domain. Innovative solutions and new topics such as Smart Mobility or Connectivity require current automotive development processes to undergo major changes. They need to be redesigned in a way that it is possible to learn and adapt continuously at a fast pace. Agile methods are promising approaches to address these new challenges. However, agile methods are not tailored to the specific characteristics of the automotive domain such as software product line (SPLs) development. Although, there have been efforts to apply agile methods in the automotive domain, widespread adoptions have not yet taken place.
Back to the future: origins and directions of the “Agile Manifesto” – views of the originators
(2018)
In 2001, seventeen professionals set up the manifesto for agile software development. They wanted to define values and basic principles for better software development. On top of brought into focus, the manifesto has been widely adopted by developers, in software-developing organizations and outside the world of IT. Agile principles and their implementation in practice have paved the way for radical new and innovative ways of software and product development. In parallel, the understanding of the manifesto’s underlying principles evolved over time. This, in turn, may affect current and future applications of agile principles. This article presents results from a survey and an interview study in collaboration with the original contributors of the manifesto for agile software development. Furthermore, it comprises the results from a workshop with one of the original authors. This publication focuses on the origins of the manifesto, the contributors’ views from today’s perspective, and their outlook on future directions. We evaluated 11 responses from the survey and 14 interviews to understand the viewpoint of the contributors. They emphasize that agile methods need to be carefully selected and agile should not be seen as a silver bullet. They underline the importance of considering the variety of different practices and methods that had an influence on the manifesto. Furthermore, they mention that people should question their current understanding of "agile" and recommend reconsidering the core ideas of the manifesto.
An assessment model to foster the adoption of agile software product lines in the automotive domain
(2018)
A software product line is commonly used for the software development in large automotive organizations. A strategic reuse of software is needed to handle the increasing complexity of the development and to maintain the quality of numerous software variants. However, the development process needs to be continuously adapted at a fast pace to satisfy the changing market demands. Introducing agile software development methods promise the flexibility to react on customers’ change requests and market demands to deliver high quality software. Despite this need, it is still challenging to combine agile software development and product lines. The maturity of an agile adoption is often hard to determine. Assessing the current situation regarding the combination is a first step towards a successful inclusion of agile methods into automotive software product lines. Based on an interview study with 16 participants and a literature review, we build the so-called ASPLA Model allowing self-assessments within the team to determine the current state of agile software development in combination with software product lines. The model comprises seven areas of improvement and recommends a possibility to improve the current status.
Combining agile development and software product lines in automotive: challenges and recommendations
(2018)
Software product lines (SPLs) are used throughout the automotive industry. SPLs help to manage the large number of variants and to improve quality by reuse. In order to develop high quality software faster, agile software development (ASD) practices are introduced. From both the research and the management point of view it is still not clear how these two approaches can be combined. We derive recommendations to combine ASD and SPLs based on challenges identified for an automotive specific model. This study combines the outcome of a literature review and a qualitative interview study with 16 practitioners from the automotive domain. We evaluate the results and analyze the relationship between ASD and SPLs in the automotive domain. Furthermore, we derive recommendations to combine ASD and SPLs based on challenges identified in the automotive domain. This study identifies 86 individual challenges. Important challenges address supplier collaboration and faster software release cycles without loss of quality. The identified challenges and the derived recommendations show that the combination of ASD and SPL in the automotive industry is promising but not trivial. There is a need for an automotive-specific approach that combines ASD and SPL.
Context: Software product lines are widely used in automotive embedded software development. This software paradigm improves the quality of software variants by reuse. The combination of agile software development practices with software product lines promises a faster delivery of high quality software. However, the set up of an agile software product line is still challenging, especially in the automotive domain. Goal: This publication aims to evaluate to what extend agility fits to automotive product line engineering. Method: Based on previous work and two workshops, agility is mapped to software product line concerns. Results: This publication presents important principles of software product lines, and examines how agile approaches fit to those principles. Additionally, the principles are related to one of the four major concerns of software product line engineering: Business, Architecture, Process, and Organization. Conclusion: Agile software product line engineering is promising and can add value to existing development approaches. The identified commonalities and hindering factors need to be considered when defining a combined agile product line engineering approach.
Der ultraschnelle Mechanismus der Alken-Hydrosylilierung lässt sich von den Flüssigsiliconen (LSRs) auf VNB-EPDM-Mischungen übertragen. In der Verarbeitung würde diese für VNB-EPDM die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit hinsichtlich realisierbarer kürzester Zykluszeiten und neue Marktsegmente alternativ zu den LSR-Materialien eröffnen, u.a. in speziellen Dichtungsanwendungen. Peroxidisch vernetzte EPDM-Mischungen können in wässrig-sauren und wässrig-alkalischen Medien eine bessere chemische Beständigkeit als LSR-Materialien bieten. Sie sind duch die radikalische Vernetzung in der Kinetik aber im Vergleich zu additionsvernetzbaren Elastomeren als deutlich träger einzustufen. Ein weiterer Aspekt ist die Permeationsbeständigkeit gegenüber Gasen und Lösemitteldämpfen, die in dieser Arbeit näher untersucht worden ist. In dieser Eigenschaft unterscheiden sich VNB-EPDM und LSR deutlich voneinander. Mit der Bestimmung von zeit- und temperaturabhängigen Permeationsraten von n-Hexan-Lösemitteldämpfen erfolgt ein Vergleich beider Elastomerklassen. Auf die Theorie der Gaspermeation und der sogenannten Pervaporation wird grundlegend eingegangen und zusätzlich der weitere Einfluss von Rezepturbestandteilen beleuchtet. Des Weiteren werden stationäre Permeationskoeffizienten für die Lösemittel-Dampf-Evaporation berechnet, indem die Ausprägung des Quelldrucks im Inneren der Elastomerwerkstoffe durch signifikante Volumenquellungen als eigentliche Triebkraft herangeszogen wird.
Perivascular stromal cells, including mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs), secrete paracrine factor in response to exercise training that can facilitate improvements in muscle remodeling. This study was designed to test the capacity for muscle-resident MSCs (mMSCs) isolated from young mice to release regenerative proteins in response to mechanical strain in vitro, and subsequently determine the extent to which strain-stimulated mMSCs can enhance skeletal muscle and cognitive performance in a mouse model of uncomplicated aging. Protein arrays confirmed a robust increase in protein release at 24 h following an acute bout of mechanical strain in vitro (10%, 1 Hz, 5 h) compared to non-strain controls. Aged (24 month old), C57BL/6 mice were provided bilateral intramuscular injection of saline, non strain control mMSCs, or mMSCs subjected to a single bout of mechanical strain in vitro (4 ×104). No significant changes were observed in muscle weight, myofiber size, maximal force, or satellite cell quantity at 1 or 4 wks between groups. Peripheral perfusion was significantly increased in muscle at 4 wks post-mMSC injection (p < 0.05), yet no difference was noted between control and preconditioned mMSCs. Intramuscular injection of preconditioned mMSCs increased the number of new neurons and astrocytes in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus compared to both control groups (p < 0.05), with a trend toward an increase in water maze performance noted (p=0.07). Results from this study demonstrate that acute injection of exogenously stimulated muscle-resident stromal cells do not robustly impact aged muscle structure and function, yet increase the survival of new neurons in the hippocampus.
Im Forschungsprojekt "Innovative Methoden für die teilnehmerorientierte Schulungsentwicklung in der beruflichen Weiterbildung" wurden die Prinzipien des Design Thinkings und der nutzerzentrierten Produktentwicklung auf die Konzeption von Veranstaltungen der beruflichen Weiterbildung transferiert. In zwei Vergleichsgruppen mit Schulungsteilnehmenden eines Industriepartners und eines öffentlich-rechtlichen Anbieters konnte aufgezeigt werden, dass es möglich ist, Weiterbildungsveranstaltungen mit Methoden des Design Thinkings zu erforschen und weiterzuentwickeln und damit die User Experience - das Nutzererleben der Teilnehmenden - positiv zu beeinflussen.
In this exploratory research eight suppliers in the automotive industry are interviewed to measure the application of supply chain finance instruments in their supply chain in the Netherlands and the region of South-West Germany. Current adoption levels and reasons for non adoption are discussed. Based on these indicative results, a set of hypotheses is suggested for further research. The theoretical base of this study is a conceptual model of Supply Chain Finance based on literature research and empirical research in the Netherlands.
For autonomously driving cars and intelligent vehicles it is crucial to understand the scene context including objects in the surrounding. A fundamental technique accomplishing this is scene labeling. That is, assigning a semantic class to each pixel in a scene image. This task is commonly tackled quite well by fully convolutional neural networks (FCN). Crucial factors are a small model size and a low execution time. This work presents the first method that exploits depth cues together with confidence estimates in a CNN. To this end, novel experimentally grounded network architecture is proposed to perform robust scene labeling that does not require costly preprocessing like CRFs or LSTMs as commonly used in related work. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated in an extensive evaluation on a challenging real-world dataset. The new architecture is highly optimized for high accuracy and low execution time.