Legacy Products Research Articles

COSMOGLOBE DR1 results

We present the first model of full-sky polarized synchrotron emission that is derived from all WMAP and Planck LFI frequency maps. The basis of this analysis is the set of end-to-end reprocessed COSMOGLOBE Data Release 1 (DR1) sky maps presented in a companion paper, which have significantly lower instrumental systematics than the legacy products from each experiment. We find that the resulting polarized synchrotron amplitude map has an average noise rms per 2° full width at half maximum (FWHM) beam of 3.2 μK at 30 GHz. This is 30% lower than the recently released BEYONDPLANCK model that included only LFI+WMAP Ka–V data, and 29% lower than the WMAP K-band map alone. The mean B-to-E power spectrum ratio is 0.39 ± 0.02, with amplitudes consistent with those measured previously by Planck and QUIJOTE. Assuming a power law model for the synchrotron spectral energy distribution and using the T–T plot method, we find a full-sky inverse noise-variance-weighted mean of the synchrotron polarized spectral index of βs = −3.07 ± 0.07 from the COSMOGLOBE DR1 K band and 30 GHz, in good agreement with previous estimates. In summary, the novel COSMOGLOBE DR1 synchrotron model is both more sensitive and systematically cleaner than similar previous models, and it has a more complete error description that is defined by a set of Monte Carlo posterior samples. We believe that these products are preferable over previous Planck and WMAP products for all synchrotron-related scientific applications, including simulations, forecasting, and component separation.

TagTaste: From transformation to disruption

Evolving consumer preferences challenge dominant business logic across industries in this digital era. The dominant logic in the Food and Beverage (F&B) industry, which exploits legacy products with minor continuous improvements, is being challenged. Incumbents must pursue frequent F&B product innovation to satisfy evolving consumer preferences. However, their business models constrain the capability and agility for frequent innovation. This case study documents TagTaste’s journey in transforming the F&B industry by addressing the constraints. It developed a platform ecosystem, data-centric assets, and frameworks to undertake frequent F&B product innovation. Its novel sensory data assets and frameworks translate an F&B product into data points for assessing consumers’ product perception. Through the integration of data-centric assets and frameworks into its platform ecosystem, it has developed a novel Food and Beverage Knowledge as a Service (FBKaaS) model to foster frequent F&B product innovation. After successfully transforming F&B product innovation through FBKaaS, it aims to disrupt the F&B industry by scaling up through two key initiatives. Firstly, it aims to democratize F&B product recognition, and secondly, it aims to enhance operational efficiency through algorithmic management. This case provides insight into digital transformation, data analytics, platform ecosystem, disruption, and F&B innovation.

Unraveling US Newspapers’ Digital and Print Subscriptions in the Context of Price, 2016–2022

Despite industry-wide efforts in digitally transforming news organizations, research showed that most newspapers’ legacy products still outperformed the same newspaper’s digital offerings in terms of engagement, circulation, readership, pricing, advertising, and subscription revenue—all by a wide margin. But Covid-19 created an unprecedented scenario where the need for instant, local news updates, the fear of contacting anything tangible, and financial stress may have changed consumer behavior. To assess the state of the newspaper industry, this study analyzes short-term and long-term trends in US newspapers’ digital and print circulation before and during the pandemic. The analysis considered price, an important factor often neglected in discussions about newspaper demand. Utilizing rich industry data, this study analyzed 18 US metro daily newspapers’ circulation trends during 2016–2022. The results revealed that digital circulation increased rapidly after the onset of Covid-19 but subsequently decreased after reaching the peak in Q3 2021. Print circulation continued its rapid decline since 2016, accompanied by continuous, substantial price hikes for print subscriptions—a typical print subscription now costs over $1,000 a year. Despite circulation declines, the print edition remains the core product, with more subscribers paying far more than digital subscribers. Because of the immense price gap (6 to 1), the seemingly promising increase in digital subscriptions during Covid-19 could not generate nearly as much revenue to cover the loss on the print side, resulting in a substantial loss in total subscription revenue. The state of the US newspaper industry needs immediate attention.

How Moral Code Influences General Behaviors in a Community

Moral code is perceived as ethics which leads individuals or groups to make choices and behave. A written, formal and consistent set of rules prescribing righteous behaviors, accepted and followed by a person or groups of people as defined. General behaviors mean how a community usually behaves and responds to a specific thing (e.g., involving morality). A community is a group of people living together like a tribe, neighbourhood or society. The formation of a moral code is intriguing and thought-provoking. For instance, the objectiveness and subjectiveness of a moral code are constantly debated, as the exactitude of measurement throughout periods (e.g., is the established moral code still moral after a hundred years?). How could we prevent the moral code from becoming the tool of guilt tripping; why would crowds follow the same moral code in one distinct? To figure out these problems, we propose some hypotheses (1) The moral code in a distinct could lower the crime rate and reduce deviance. (2) The moral code could form general behaviors shared between people in a distinct and the general behaviors could be a legacy product. (3) The moral code formed by groups of people is inherent as the intrinsic ethical traits. (4) The basis of general behaviors influenced by the moral code is due to conformity. (5) In some distinct, the moral code could lead to inappropriate or even abnormally stubborn behaviors. In the following essay, we will further elaborate on how moral code influences general community behaviours.

Lifecycle extension of single-use medical device sensors: Case study of an engineering sustainability transition program

Medical devices and consumables are contributors to the known, highly negative ecological impacts of healthcare provision. Medical device manufacturing organizations are increasingly met with pressures to convert thousands of their existing, post-market products to be more sustainable, yet there is limited knowledge of how these transition projects are achieved. This case study examines the execution of a large medical device manufacturer's sustainability transition program of a post-market single-use sensor. We provide both a detailed synthesis of the design verification steps and a review of the key challenges which were identified during a customer-driven lifecycle extension program of a single-use medical device sensor; the case study sensor was released with a doubled shelf life, thus increasing the time of safe and effective use plus decreased scrapping needs. This paper contributes to the knowledge for the practical development of the required design verification efforts of released, highly regulated single-use medical device sensor products during sustainability transition programs. This paper increases knowledge related to the complexities and challenges technology ecosystem sustainability programs face in the post-market medical device consumable space during reverification of legacy products to meet sustainability challenges. Additionally, the paper identifies six phases of waste during a single-use medical device sensor's lifecycle.

Exoskeletons: A challenge for development.

The development of exoskeletons is currently a lengthy process full of challenges. We are proposing a framework to accelerate the process and make the resulting exoskeletons more user-centered. The needed accomplishments in science are described in an effort to lay the foundation for future research projects. Since the early 2000s, exoskeletons have been discussed as an emerging technology in industrial, medical, or military applications. Those systems are designed to support people during manual tasks. At first, those systems lacked broad acceptance. Many models found their niches in ongoing developments and more diverse systems entering the market. There are still applications that are in dire need of such assistance. Due to the lack of experience with body-worn robotics, the development of such systems has been shaped by trial and error. The lack of legacy products results in longer development times. In this paper, a process to generate a framework is presented to display the required research to enable future exoskeleton designers. Owing to their proximity to the user's body, exoskeletons are highly complex systems that need sophisticated subsystems, such as kinematic, control, interaction design, or actuators, to be accepted by users. Due to the wide variety of fields and high user demands, a synchronized multidisciplinary effort is necessary. To achieve this, a process to develop a modular framework for exoskeleton design is proposed. It focuses on user- and use-case-centered solutions for matching kinematics, actuation, and control. To ensure the usefulness of the framework, an evaluation of the incorporated solutions is required.

Redesign Driven by Manufacturing Data for Next-Generation Modernization of Legacy Products

Abstract As the life cycles of many products advance, obsolescence of original components can pose challenges for a product’s maintainability and serviceability. Information about the original design intent of the product system may not be available. For example, it may not be obvious how to identify old components by reverse engineering or to select and configure the optimal components for best system performance. Thus, time spent to redesign an older legacy product with high-fidelity simulations may be difficult to justify. Increasingly more performance measurements are available in digital twins of product systems generated during manufacturing and testing. This paper introduces a redesign from manufacturing data mapping (RfMDM) method that can infer optimal new components to modernize legacy product systems. This RfMDM method does not rely upon time-consuming redesign efforts. The inputs come from a basic understanding of the subsystem of concern and qualitative scoring estimates of the influence of design rules on design criteria and simulation fidelity. RfMDM transforms manufacturing data to determine the significance and required quality of each design variable of each obsolete component. This enables estimation of optimal new component specifications for selection and a first article redesign and test to enable product line improvements over time more efficiently. Recognizing that radiofrequency interference effects in printed circuit boards present a complex and quintessential example of legacy subsystems with potentially obsolete components, this paper demonstrates the RfMDM method with a theoretical example subsystem of an active low-pass filter on a printed circuit board.

The GTLT cryocooler, a low temperature variant of CryoTel® GT

The CryoTel® GT is an integral Stirling cryocooler with 16 W of lift capacity at 77 K with a nominal input power of 240 W. The GT has been a Sunpower legacy product since it was brought to commercialization in 2005. The contact-free operation of the moving components by using Sunpower’s gas bearings technology results in a long lifetime of the cooler, achieving an MTTF of over 200,000 hrs. Typical no-load temperature of GT is around 36 K. Sunpower used an advanced regenerator to improve the performance and was able to provide cooling lift below 35 K. Although the advanced regenerator effectively improved the cooler performance, overall cryocooler cost went up substantially due to the costly special processes and materials for the regenerator. Looking for a cost-effective alternative, Sunpower applied optimization techniques and developed a regenerator design improving its performance at lower temperature. To reduce the conduction loss of the cold finger, an alternative material for stainless steel was selected. Its material cost is a little higher than stainless and the thermal conductivity is between titanium and stainless. It is weldable into the transition using the same methods and geometry as the current stainless cold finger which is a huge benefit. Sunpower built 6 units and achieved an average no-load temperature of 26.5 K, about 9 K colder no-load temperature than standard GT, at the same input power. This low temperature variant of GT is named as GTLT and we are moving to add the GTLT as a commercial product.

The MeerKAT Galaxy Cluster Legacy Survey

MeerKAT’s large number (64) of 13.5 m diameter antennas, spanning 8 km with a densely packed 1 km core, create a powerful instrument for wide-area surveys, with high sensitivity over a wide range of angular scales. The MeerKAT Galaxy Cluster Legacy Survey (MGCLS) is a programme of long-track MeerKAT L-band (900−1670 MHz) observations of 115 galaxy clusters, observed for ∼6−10 h each in full polarisation. The first legacy product data release (DR1), made available with this paper, includes the MeerKAT visibilities, basic image cubes at ∼8″ resolution, and enhanced spectral and polarisation image cubes at ∼8″ and 15″ resolutions. Typical sensitivities for the full-resolution MGCLS image products range from ∼3−5 μJy beam−1. The basic cubes are full-field and span 2° × 2°. The enhanced products consist of the inner 1.2° × 1.2° field of view, corrected for the primary beam. The survey is fully sensitive to structures up to ∼10′ scales, and the wide bandwidth allows spectral and Faraday rotation mapping. Relatively narrow frequency channels (209 kHz) are also used to provide H I mapping in windows of 0 < z < 0.09 and 0.19 < z < 0.48. In this paper, we provide an overview of the survey and the DR1 products, including caveats for usage. We present some initial results from the survey, both for their intrinsic scientific value and to highlight the capabilities for further exploration with these data. These include a primary-beam-corrected compact source catalogue of ∼626 000 sources for the full survey and an optical and infrared cross-matched catalogue for compact sources in the primary-beam-corrected areas of Abell 209 and Abell S295. We examine dust unbiased star-formation rates as a function of cluster-centric radius in Abell 209, extending out to 3.5 R 200. We find no dependence of the star-formation rate on distance from the cluster centre, and we observe a small excess of the radio-to-100 μm flux ratio towards the centre of Abell 209 that may reflect a ram pressure enhancement in the denser environment. We detect diffuse cluster radio emission in 62 of the surveyed systems and present a catalogue of the 99 diffuse cluster emission structures, of which 56 are new. These include mini-halos, halos, relics, and other diffuse structures for which no suitable characterisation currently exists. We highlight some of the radio galaxies that challenge current paradigms, such as trident-shaped structures, jets that remain well collimated far beyond their bending radius, and filamentary features linked to radio galaxies that likely illuminate magnetic flux tubes in the intracluster medium. We also present early results from the H I analysis of four clusters, which show a wide variety of H I mass distributions that reflect both sensitivity and intrinsic cluster effects, and the serendipitous discovery of a group in the foreground of Abell 3365.

WALLABY Pilot Survey: Public release of HI kinematic models for more than 100 galaxies from phase 1 of ASKAP pilot observations

Abstract We present the Widefield ASKAP L-band Legacy All-sky Blind surveY (WALLABY) Pilot Phase I Hi kinematic models. This first data release consists of Hi observations of three fields in the direction of the Hydra and Norma clusters, and the NGC 4636 galaxy group. In this paper, we describe how we generate and publicly release flat-disk tilted-ring kinematic models for 109/592 unique Hi detections in these fields. The modelling method adopted here—which we call the WALLABY Kinematic Analysis Proto-Pipeline (WKAPP) and for which the corresponding scripts are also publicly available—consists of combining results from the homogeneous application of the FAT and 3DBarolo algorithms to the subset of 209 detections with sufficient resolution and $S/N$ in order to generate optimised model parameters and uncertainties. The 109 models presented here tend to be gas rich detections resolved by at least 3–4 synthesised beams across their major axes, but there is no obvious environmental bias in the modelling. The data release described here is the first step towards the derivation of similar products for thousands of spatially resolved WALLABY detections via a dedicated kinematic pipeline. Such a large publicly available and homogeneously analysed dataset will be a powerful legacy product that that will enable a wide range of scientific studies.

Technology rewind: The emergence of the analog entrepreneurial ecosystem

Research has focused on the ecosystems of forces that influence how organizations pursue opportunities in new industries, nascent markets, and novel technologies. However, there is an emerging, but unstudied, ecosystem supporting entrepreneurial activities in legacy industries, mature markets, and based on (seemingly) obsolete technologies—the analog entrepreneurial ecosystem (AEE). To develop a framework to explain this phenomenon and guide entrepreneurs and managers operating in this ecosystem, a theory of the AEE is proposed. The theory explains the ecosystem’s main components and delineates the forces driving its emergence. The model contributes to research on ecosystems, technology reemergence, and management in mature markets and has implications for organizations pursuing opportunities outside the digital ecosystem and based on legacy products.

Small Firm Survival and Growth Strategies in a Disrupted Declining Industry

Schumpeter’s theory of creative destruction argues that technological innovation facilitates the growth of innovative new firms and causes the demise of old-technology firms. But not all disrupted firms wither and die – rather, some survive and grow by utilizing strategic entrepreneurship. Whereas the strategic entrepreneurship of disrupter firms has received considerable research interest, the strategies that disrupted firms use to avoid elimination in a disrupted declining industry have been afforded relatively little attention. This paper reports on a qualitative grounded research study of firms in the disrupted printing industry and reveals three main strategies used by survivors: namely, reconfiguration of external networks; exploitation of the untapped potential of intangible assets; and the rebalancing of legacy product exploitation and new product exploration. Propositions are developed regarding entrepreneurial strategies that disrupted incumbents may utilize to survive in disrupted industries.

New UHV angle encoder for high resolution monochromators, a modern spare part for the Heidenhain UHV RON 905

There are a large number of soft X-ray grating monochromators for high-resolution synchrotron radiation experiments in operation worldwide. At BESSY II eighteen of the monochromators currently in use are equipped with Heidenhain UHV RON905 angle encoders. Those angle encoders have successfully been in operation for decades. Today, this type of encoder has become a legacy product and repairs are getting expensive. Therefore, we have developed a new angle encoder, a mechanically compatible drop-in replacement of the RON905. A mechanically fitting prototype, based on RENISHAW absolute encoders, was tested on a high precision angle drive test bench. Fourier analysis of the encoder data allowed us to determine the precision for different angle ranges and indicates a better precision for the new angle encoder. Furthermore, we will introduce an on-line, in-situ method using electron/absorption spectroscopy to improve system accuracy with plane grating monochromators in collimated light using the newly developed encoder.

Implementation of Ready-Made Hydrostatic Delay Products for Timely GPS Precipitable Water Vapor Retrieval Over Complex Topography: A Case Study in the Tibetan Plateau

For the timely retrieval of global positioning system based precipitable water vapor (GPS-PWV) over complex topography when there is no in situ pressure-derived zenith hydrostatic delays (ZHDs), this article evaluates three types of ready-made ZHD products, including two newly released products from the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien, TUW-VMF3) and GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ-VMF1) and a legacy product TUW-VMF1. We implement them for the first time for GPS-PWV retrieval in regions with highly variable topography, such as the Tibetan plateau (TP). First, we present a refined method [model-assisted ZHD height adjustment, model-assisted ZHD height adjustment (MAZHA)] for implementing the above VMF1/VMF3-like ZHD products. The results reveal that the MAZHA method improves the implementation accuracy over the TP by 70% compared to the conventional method. Then, the above multisource VMF1/VMF3-like ZHD products are evaluated using the in situ pressure-derived ZHDs across the TP. The results show that the GFZ-VMF1 outperforms the TUW-VMF1 mainly because a more advanced underlying numerical weather model (ERA5) are adopted. TUW-VMF3 achieves the best performance mainly because it is provided with improved horizontal resolution. Finally, we find that implementing the state-of-the-art TUW-VMF3 ZHD product for GPS-PWV retrieval yields no statistically significant errors, even under extreme weather conditions, and the retrieved GPS-PWVs can well characterize the PWV diurnal variations in all seasons except winter. Additionally, considering the fact that the operational and forecasted TUW-VMF3 ZHDs present almost equivalent performance, this article is also beneficial to real-time GPS-PWV retrieval using forecasted TUW-VMF3 ZHDs, thus allowing for the ease of real-time GPS-PWV retrieval.

Robust freeze-drying process re-design of a legacy product based on risk analysis and design of experiments

In this study, a QbD freeze-drying process re-design applied to a lyophilized injectable drug product is presented. The main objective was to assess the freeze-drying process robustness using risk analysis and a proper experimental design. First, the product’s thermal fingerprint was characterized by thermal analysis and freeze-drying microscopy. Then, according to the output of the risk analysis, primary drying temperature and pressure were studied by a Doehlert DoE design with four responses; primary drying time, appearance, residual moisture content, and reconstitution time. Statistically significant MLR models were obtained for residual moisture content and primary drying time. In the latter, the temperature factor was the predominant factor to predict the duration of the primary drying stage. Two additional lab-scale batches were run to confirm the mathematical model predictions. Finally, optimal primary drying conditions (30 °C, 0.400 mbar) were selected to minimize the duration of the primary drying stage, while preserving the quality of the product. It was possible to set high temperature and pressure values because no collapse temperature was found during the thermal characterization of the product. Secondary drying temperature and time were defined based on the residual moisture content results. It was shown that secondary drying is robust between 30 °C and 50 °C and from 3 to 16 h. In conclusion, we were able to define a robust freeze-drying process which was further validated at an industrial scale with satisfactory results and approved by the health authorities in different countries around Europe.

The evolution of consumer electronic waste in the United States

Technological innovation has transformed the role of electronics in education, work, and society. However, rapid adoption and obsolescence of consumer electronics has also led to new concerns about resource consumption and waste management. Past research to address these sustainability challenges has been constrained by data that do not reflect nascent trends in product evolution and consumer adoption, thereby limiting the ability to create and assess proactive solutions. This study presents a dynamic analysis of electronic waste (e‐waste) in the United States using material flow analysis and highly resolved electronic product sales and material composition data. Findings contradict expectations that e‐waste is growing with mobile device proliferation, instead showing that the total mass of the e‐waste stream is actually declining (10% decrease since the estimated peak in 2015) with phase‐out of large, legacy products like cathode ray tube TVs. The evolving material profile of consumer electronics being purchased and disposed sees reduced risks of e‐waste toxicity from hazards like lead and mercury, but greater risks from reliance on scarce metals and product designs that limit recycling. This study highlights concerns that extended producer responsibility regulations currently implemented in many U.S. states for e‐waste management may become less effective if they continue to rely only on mass‐based collection targets. This article met the requirements for a gold‐gold JIE data openness badge described at http://jie.click/badges.

What's the Problem? Issue Investigation and Engineering Change on Legacy Products

AbstractSystems Engineering best practice has changed greatly over the past 10 to 20 years. Aero‐engines are normally in service for over 30 years (an example is included in this paper of a recent modification to a WWII engine) and so many still in service were not designed using current systems engineering best practice. When changes need to be introduced into these products the pre‐work required to get the product information dataset to the point that current best practice can be employed is often not worth the benefit (Bahill & Briggs 2001). The challenge is to decide what level of systems engineering rigor is of value to apply when making changes to these legacy products. This paper describes the authors’ work tackling this issue focusing on understanding the change needed. It proposes a generic approach for tailoring systems engineering to understand the change needed on a legacy product.

Robot-assisted painting system for bolt-nut pairs

Bolt-nut pairs painting of aerostructures, in particular legacy products, relies heavily on the skill or rather craftsmanship of the human operator. This process is time-consuming while automated operations with industrial robots can be a more efficient solution. This paper describes the development of such an automated bolt-nut pair painting system for a small parts assembly line. In this paper, a low-cost and flexible solution for automated bolt-nut pair painting using a painting dabber and machine vision system is proposed. A Sense 2 camera is used to capture the 3D model of the parts, and an ABB industrial robot YuMi is programmed to implement the painting automatically. A specific nozzle for the dabber is designed to apply paint on bolt-nut pairs. The results shows that the location of every bolt-nut pair is found successfully, and the accuracy of the normal vectors is enough for robot-assisted painting work.

Solution Validation and Customer Needs Understanding in the Early Phases of Product Platform Development; a Case Study in Digital Manufacturing Machines

AbstractWe have observed in our company that the high‐level specification of new products is difficult. The company works with legacy product platforms. Even with extensive knowledge about legacy products and applications, it can be difficult for engineers to understand if their proposed solutions for new products or features that will satisfy customers.The goal of this study was to investigate why the company is having problems with specifying new products that eventually will constitute a new product platform. We show that relying on proxies and agile development is not sufficient to close the validation loop, how validation of solution concepts fails due to insufficient specifications of needs and that engineers must rely on indirect customer feedback, which they often receive late in the development process. We trace the problem to a suboptimal definition of customer segments, causing a lack of validated needs and leading to challenges in calculating business cases

The SPASE Data Model: A Metadata Standard for Registering, Finding, Accessing, and Using Heliophysics Data Obtained From Observations and Modeling

AbstractThe Space Physics Archive Search and Extract Consortium has developed and implemented the SPASE Data Model that provides a common language for registering a wide range of Heliophysics data and other products. The Data Model enables discovery and access tools such that any researcher can obtain data easily, thereby facilitating research, including on space weather. The Data Model includes descriptions of Simulation Models and Numerical Output, pioneered by the Integrated Medium for Planetary Exploration (IMPEx) group in Europe, and subsequently adopted by the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC). The SPASE group intends to register all relevant Heliophysics data resources, including space‐, ground‐, and model‐based. Substantial progress has been made, especially for space‐based observational data and associated observatories, instruments, and display data. Legacy product registrations and access go back more than 50 years. Real‐time data will be included. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) portion of the SPASE group has funding that assures continuity in the upkeep of the Data Model and aids with adding new products. Tools are being developed for making and editing data descriptions. Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) for Data Products can now be included in the descriptions. The data access that SPASE facilitates is becoming more uniform, and work is progressing on Web Service access via a standard Application Programming Interface. The SPASE Data Model is stable; changes over the past 9 years were additions of terms and capabilities that are backward compatible. This paper provides a summary of the history, structure, use, and future of the SPASE Data Model.