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Building and deploying a minimum viable product (MVP) is often considered a necessary step in the venture development process. Although MVPs are ubiquitous in practice, foundational scholarly work on MVPs is virtually nonexistent. We leverage and build upon the lean start-up literature and the scientific approach to entrepreneurship to develop theory related to the dimensionality, forms, risks, and trade-offs of MVPs. We first define and identify the conceptual boundaries of MVPs and explain the relationship between MVP dimensionality and MVP development decisions. We then specify how MVP risks emerge and how these risks relate to the trade-off decisions that entrepreneurs must grapple with when building and deploying MVPs. We conclude by presenting future research opportunities on this important but previously overlooked phenomenological artifact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, there is increasing interest in building theories that offer actionable guidance to the practice of entrepreneurship. Here I present a general theoretical framework, called CAVE, for understanding, assessing, and enhancing existing tools that offer such guidance. The framework encompasses a two-dimensional space with prediction and control as its axes. The CAVE framework accommodates a wide variety of extant practical tools as well as relevant concepts from psychology and economics. Specifically, I compare and contrast effectuation with lean startup within this framework. Whereas lean startup centers around hypothesis testing, effectuation focuses on cocreative commitments from self-selecting stakeholders. In other words, the former takes markets as exogenous, while the latter explicates how they can be made endogenous and why that matters. More generally, I show how these differences connect with and delineate the scientific method from the entrepreneurial method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-growth literature has recently started to engage with transport and mobilities in more depth. However, despite its radical societal critique, it has done so largely in ways that either reproduce recommendations of the sustainable mobilities paradigm or apply context-independent post-growth frameworks without sustained empirical analysis. The literature has thereby largely “closed down” more open-ended explorations of what kind of transport and mobility futures are desirable and possible from a post-growth perspective. This article seeks to remedy this by highlighting the role of innovative practices in bottom-up initiatives that have been invisibilised, in expanding our imaginaries of possible post-growth transport and mobility futures. It builds on Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of the minor, an orientation towards difference-in-itself emerging immanently, to explore such innovative and experimental practices that may be of interest for post-growth transformations. We illustrate the minor’s usefulness by studying two bottom-up initiatives, a French railway cooperative and a German “rolling supermarket”, which we examine with a view towards “difference” that allows for open-endedness and the generation of questions. This article contributes to post-growth transport and mobility scholarship by advocating for a shift in three analytical focal points, building on the minor’s generativity: moving from a-contextual recommendations to examinations of socio-spatially specific transformation (1), from a concern for the “right” modes of transport to minorities (2), and from a near-exclusive focus on the public sector to a more diverse range of economic actors and practices (3). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research project explores the use of 'happy accidents' as agents for facilitating more meaningful and critical exploration in secondary school art. Owing to a preoccupation with standardisation and quantifiable results, the more nebulous and invisible qualities of art have become deprioritised within many curricula. This paradigm creates 'safe' pedagogies that place emphasis on verisimilitude and technical acme as the yardstick for 'successful' artwork, preserving the identity of teachers within the epistemological frameworks that dictate education. Equally, as competitive individualism and reward demarcate education, young people are spending more time partaking in activities for their instrumental value. This 'teaching‐to‐test' model translates to formalist, linear modes of making as the most expedient means of achieving grades. The following research aimed to trouble this status quo and offers a pedagogy that allows for more responsive, playful and personal approaches to experimental artmaking. The mechanism used as a springboard into inquiry was the 'happy accident', facilitated by the use of unpredictable media such as Photoshop and photocopying. Adopting a middle ground between Atkinson's 'unknown' and the inferentialist model described by Walton, students had the latitude to combine known and unknown knowledge to push their artmaking into more meaningful territory, whilst preserving evidence of the 'mark scheme'. To bolster my attempts at disrupting canonised imagery of 'good' school art, students also troubled the common practice of creating overly embellished, illustrative sketchbooks, with the creation of self‐made, A2, portfolio style books. The knowledge produced in this project was interrogated within a multimodal, arts‐based research methodology: through interview analysis and the analysis of the artwork, or artefacts, produced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reconstructing the transformation of plants based on use-wear is challenging due to the variety of technological choices available, the diverse range of plant species that could have been used, and the limited knowledge of how plant wear forms. The frequent appearance of ambiguous plant wear on stone tools from early and middle Holocene wetland contexts in Northwestern Europe provides an ideal case study to explore the complexity of plant wear formation. In this context, we present the outcomes of an exploratory experimental study which aimed to improve our understanding of plant wear formation resulting from processing activities of wetland plants. The program included the creation of a reference collection of plants available in. Particular attention was devoted to the effect of mineral plant elements, such as silica Northwestern European wetland ecosystems and a set of actualistic plant processing experiments minerals or calcium oxalates, on the development of plant polish. The elemental characterisation of wetland plants with scanning electron microscopy and the experimentally reproduced plant wear allowed us to draw comparisons between the plant composition and plant wear formation, and thus grasp the complexity of plant wear formation which depends on a large set of variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Condensation of zeotropic mixtures in horizontal tube were experimentally studied. • The processes of temperature glide and composition shift were demonstrated quantitatively. • The heat and mass transfer resistances were discussed. • Effects of vapor quality, mass flux and saturation temperature on heat transfer were presented. Zeotropic refrigerant blends have attracted wide interest due to their promises to reduce global warming potential as well as their potential ability to improve the performance of heat pumps and air conditioners. The complex phenomenon of non-isothermal phase change complicates condensation of zeotropic refrigerant mixtures and merits extensive investigation to better understand their performance profiles. The present work experimentally studied condensation heat transfer of R407C and R448A – two R134a-based zeotropic refrigerant mixtures – in a horizontal smooth tube, condensed by counter-current water cooling. Measurements for mass flux were in the range of 120 to 320 kg m −2 s −1 and saturation temperature in the range of 42 to 64 °C. Variation in refrigerant temperature and composition shift during condensation were quantitatively presented. The experimental data showed the effects of mass flux and saturation temperature on the heat transfer coefficients of R407C and R448A in different vapor quality regions. The analysis of heat and mass transfer resistances related to the flow regimes and refrigerant thermophysical properties provides a deep understanding of the condensation heat transfer of zeotropic refrigerant mixtures. The experimental data presented in this work are of value for the design of condensers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This tutorial is designed for speech scientists familiar with the R programming language who wish to construct experiment interfaces in R. We begin by discussing some of the benefits of building experiment interfaces in R—including R's existing tools for speech data analysis, platform independence, suitability for web-based testing, and the fact that R is open source. We explain basic concepts of reactive programming in R, and we apply these principles by detailing the development of two sample experiments. The first of these experiments comprises a speech production task in which participants are asked to read words with different emotions. The second sample experiment involves a speech perception task, in which participants listen to recorded speech and identify the emotion the talker expressed with forced-choice questions and confidence ratings. Throughout this tutorial, we introduce the new R package speechcollectr, which provides functions uniquely suited to web-based speech data collection. The package streamlines the code required for speech experiments by providing functions for common tasks like documenting participant consent, collecting participant demographic information, recording audio, checking the adequacy of a participant's microphone or headphones, and presenting audio stimuli. Finally, we describe some of the difficulties of remote speech data collection, along with the solutions we have incorporated into speechcollectr to meet these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the functionality and performance of a prototype microjet engine, we constructed a versatile test stand tailored to the specifications of a 400 N prototype. This test stand facilitated a comprehensive study by enabling real-time recording of 45 essential parameters for analysis, encompassing temperatures, pressures, speed, fuel flow, thrust, vibration, and various other monitored metrics. All parameters and control elements were seamlessly integrated via a data acquisition and control system, utilizing a compactDAQ (Data Acquisition) system from National Instruments and a custom Virtual Instrument programmed with graphical language. The test stand offers both manual and automated operation modes, with the flexibility for hybrid operation. For instance, following the idle regime, manual control using a potentiometer can seamlessly transition from automated control via a proportional control (P control) mechanism. Before the experimental campaign, rigorous verification and validation tests were conducted to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the setup. The experimental campaign comprised a series of manual tests focusing on the fuel system and automated tests covering starting, idle, working, and stopping regimes. This structured approach allowed for a comprehensive evaluation across different operational scenarios, providing insights into the engine's behavior and performance under varying conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from a prominent online platform for launching new digital products, we document that "sampling bias"—defined as the difference between a startup's target customer base and the actual sample on which early "beta tests" are conducted—has a systematic and persistent impact on the venture's success. Specifically, we show that products with a female-focused target market launching on a typical day, when nine in 10 users on this platform are men, experience 45% less growth a year after launch than those for whom the target market is more male-focused. By isolating exogenous variation in the composition of beta testers unrelated to the characteristics of launched products on that day, we find that on days when there are unexpectedly more women beta testers on the platform—reducing the amount of sampling bias for female-focused products—the gender performance gap shrinks toward zero. Our results highlight how sampling bias can lead to fewer successfully commercialized innovations for consumers who are underrepresented among early users. This paper was accepted by Alfonso Gambardella, business strategy. Funding: This work was supported by the Harvard Business School, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation [Grant 201708-2801]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.01740. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This experiment (N = 1,019) examined how a state of processing fluency, induced through either an easy or difficult task (reading a simple vs. complex message or recalling few vs. many examples) impacted participants' ability to subsequently detect misinformation. The results revealed that, as intended, easier tasks led to higher reports of processing fluency. In turn, increased processing fluency was positively associated with internal efficacy. Finally, internal efficacy was positively related to misinformation detection using a signal detection task. This work suggests that feelings of ease while processing information can promote confidence and a more discerning style of information processing. Given the proliferation of misinformation online, an understanding of how metacognitions - like processing fluency - can disrupt the tacit acceptance of information carries important democratic and normative implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governance of societal transformations toward sustainability is needed to address the fundamental system failures responsible for environmental problems. Possible transformation pathways range from radical shifts to more incremental change. Experimentation is seen as a form of incremental change, but its actual transformative potential is debated. The transformative potential of experimentation is especially questionable for environmental problems characterizing a "creeping crisis" because this problem type is not particularly a lever for social change. Our empirical research contributes to this debate by systemically evaluating the significance (degree of change) and sufficiency (reach of change) of experiments relating to an environmental problem characterizing a creeping crisis that appears to be predominantly governed through experimentation: land subsidence in Dutch peatlands. We found that experiments have indeed proved to be significant for local regime actors because most have tested technical innovations that kept the overall land use system intact. However, experimentation was less significant in terms of reflecting the complexity of environmental problems; that would require a more diverse set of technical, social, legal, and planning experiments from which the strategy most suitable for specific landscape contexts could be determined. We also found signs of accumulation of outcomes, but whether this eventually initiates transformative change or creates a technological lock‐in can only be determined with longitudinal research. To enhance the transformative potential of experimentation, particularly as a governance approach for creeping crises, attention must be paid to actor and institutional features since they shape experiments. Hence, we conclude with design principles for transformative experimentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experimentation is key in wicked situations; it provides small wins while keeping several options open for the future. The literature is, however, scarce on how experimentation is framed, a crucial aspect to the understanding of how actors identify and pursue experiments in situations that are constantly changing and lack a clear resolution. We address this gap by drawing on the concept of 'action frames' and deploying a comparative case study of nine cases in diverse contexts in which activists experimented with wicked problems. We find that activists pragmatically shy away from pursuing a permanent solution to focus instead on achieving small wins, diagnosing 'symptoms' rather than 'root causes' of problems, and 'working around' institutional constraints instead of directly 'confronting' them. This pragmatic action frame prompts them to initiate pilot experiments that involve trial-and-error and collective learning, and that sometimes scaffold into cumulative small wins. Reflecting on our findings, we build a model of how pragmatic action frames fuel distributed possibilities to experiment in wicked situations. Our model contributes to the literature on wicked problems by revealing how activists 'welcome' complexity instead of 'taming' it. We contribute to the literature on action frames by demonstrating how multiple viable pragmatic action frames are constructed iteratively without threatening an alternative, dominant frame. Lastly, we contribute to the literature on robust action by demonstrating how pragmatic action frames pave the way for distributed experimentation and by unpacking the core attributes that make 'robust actors' accepting of open-ended wayfinding journeys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work proposes a novel deformable self-clinching fastener for producing hidden lap joints suitable for both structural and electric power distribution applications. The fastener, characterized by an axisymmetric concave shape, is employed to fabricate hybrid busbar joints between electrically conductive strips of different materials and thicknesses. The self-clinching process with the new deformable fastener involves machining dovetail holes in both conductors and applying a squeezing force to the fastener to create a form-closed mechanical joint. The work encompasses both experimental investigations and numerical modeling using finite element analysis and is carried out on unit cells made from aluminum and copper conductors, which are representative of the joining process. The investigation evaluates force requirements, conducts destructive testing, and performs thermo-electric characterization of the new joints to conclude on the suitability of the new deformable self-clinching fastener for electric power distribution applications. Results indicate that while copper fasteners necessitate greater squeezing forces, they offer superior mechanical and thermo-electrical performance compared to aluminum fasteners in hybrid busbar joints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research study investigates the impact of various parameters such as L/D ratio, cold mass proportion, inlet pressure, and nozzle count on the performance and thermal energy separation process of a counter flow Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube (VT). Experimental and numerical methods were employed to assess the cold and hot exit temperatures, as well as the thermal energy separation. Four different orifice plates with two, three, five, and six nozzles were used in the experimentation, while air inlet pressure and cold mass fractions were varied between 200–1000 kPa and 0.5–0.7, respectively. The numerical model developed in ANSYS utilized the standard k-ε turbulence model to evaluate velocity and temperature patterns for optimal performance parameters. The results demonstrated that inlet pressure had the greatest influence on VT performance, and higher angular velocity differences were induced between the center and circumferential area of the VT. The study concludes by highlighting the minimum cold exit temperature of − 12 °C and the maximum hot exit temperature of 64.5 °C, as well as providing a useful framework for researchers to assess the thermal energy separation process across different Ranque-Hilsch VTs with varying orifice plates and nozzles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early detection of weak external signals is increasingly critical for strategic agility. While many organizations scan for weak signals, most dismiss them as anomalies, principally due to poor amplification strategies. Several challenges hinder the necessary amplification and sensemaking of weak signals for organizational awareness. This article analyzes 139 proof-of-concept projects with startups and 15 interviews with executives involved in the projects at a leading German mobility corporation, and it reveals four actions to amplify weak external signals, thereby enhancing organizational hyper-awareness. It illustrates the actions with examples and presents the implications for both weak signals and strategic agility management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managed retreat is becoming a prominent issue both nationally and internationally. This is due both to the threat of rising sea levels and the growing incidence of extreme weather events, but also reflects the increasing propensity for placing human assets in harm's way. We analyse how this observation plays out in Aotearoa, and offer a simple model, informed by our intergenerational perspective and mātauranga Māori. This model has three features: retreat, relocation, and re-imagining. It enables us to explore the capacity for positive outcomes to further lower long-term environmental and social risks. We apply the model to the Ōtākaro Avon river corridor in Ōtautahi Christchurch, formerly known as the residential red zone, created during the Canterbury earthquake sequence of 2010-13. We discuss what can be learned from the decade-long history of adaptation in the corridor as an exemplar for emerging areas of managed retreat elsewhere. By means of a thought experiment, we explore the potential of the area for provision of affordable, climate-resilient housing.

The development of taphonomy has improved our knowledge of site formation and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. It has also stimulated many neotaphonomic analyses that bring clues to some of the alterations and modifications processes of fossilisation and accumulations. This article aims to show that such neotaphonomic analyses and experiments, by generating a lot of valuable material and associate data, need to be integrated into official collections for future preservation. We will focus here upon two examples of neotaphonomic collections: 1 owl pellet microvertebrate collections and 2 collections resulting from experimental work (simulation and monitoring). We detail some problems for incorporating such new type of materials in Museums and some requirements for their curation. In the era of open science, there is a need to improve the management and curation of such unconventional collections to incorporate them into future classical comparative research, training and education as well as exhibitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to gain better understanding of the Neanderthals' subsistence exploitation of marine crustaceans, this work presents evidence on the consumption of brown crabs using experimentation following-up from the archaeological evidence recovered from the 2010-2013 excavation of Gruta da Figueira Brava (Portugal). Amongst the aquatic fauna from occupation phase FB4, which dates to MIS-5b, brown crabs (Cancer pagurus) are numerous. The average carapace width estimated from their remains is 16 cm, and skeletal part analysis reveals the introduction of complete animals and their on-site processing. Due to the lack of a referential corpus for the interpretation of archaeological crab taphonomy, we experimented with the processing of two raw, two boiled, and two roasted brown crabs. We found that manual processing of large adult Cancer pagurus is only possible for the disarticulation of the walking legs, and the separation of the claws. Experimental results indicate that archaeological crabs were roasted, which weakened the shell and facilitated breaking it open. Though it is also possible to manually disarticulate the fingers, most times it requires a small hammerstone. Impact scars and longitudinal fractures bear witness to the use of such tools to access the meatier parts of both the propodus and the dactylopodus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many arguments against the possibility of experimenting on the whole universe. This system seems to be too big to be manipulated, it exists in only one exemplar and its evolution is a non-repeatable process. In this paper, I claim that we can nonetheless talk about experimentation in cosmology if we use Woodward's non-anthropocentric notion of intervention. However, Woodward and other interventionists argued that an intervention was necessarily an exogenous causal process and thus that no intervention on a closed system such as the universe was possible. I discuss their argument and I determine the conditions under which a consistent notion of endogenous intervention on the universe can be defined. Then, I show that there is at least one cosmic phenomenon satisfying these conditions: the photon decoupling. Finally, I draw some conclusions from this analysis regarding a realist approach of cosmology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper delves into the formability of material deposited by wire arc additive manufacturing. It presents a novel dieless Nakajima testing procedure that offers a practical solution for obtaining strain loading paths up to failure directly from the deposited material without the need for extracting sheet blanks. The procedure involved machining a region of the deposited material to the desired shape and thickness and using a press to drive and control the movement of a hemispherical punch. The test was designed using finite element modeling, and its effectiveness in obtaining the required strain loading paths directly from the deposited material was verified through experimentation with digital image correlation. Importantly, this novel test eliminates the need for the special-purpose tool setup required in conventional Nakajima sheet formability tests, thereby simplifying the overall testing process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finite-time control theory has been widely used as a mathematical tool to design robust controllers. By manipulating the finite-time convergence proof of this theory, we developed a new control design appropriately tuned for the finite-time control of the chaotic logistics system. In this experimental setup, the logistic equation is programmed into a PIC microcontroller, and a part of the controller was conceived using analog electronics. Because the system to be controlled is in the discrete-time domain, and the finite-time stability proof is stated in the continuous-time representation, our finite-time control approach is a good example for designing control algorithms in both time domain schemes. Hence, our experimental results support our main contribution. Pulse width modulation (PWM) is the format used to translate digital signals into the continuous-time field. Therefore, the main contribution of this article is the theoretical foundations for creating a recent controller that satisfies the convergence criterion in finite time and its construction using an 8-bit microcontroller. All this contributes to the chaotic logistical map. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freshwater is an essential resource due to climate change, population growth, and groundwater contamination. The seas and oceans contain a lot of valuable saltwater. One of the economic ways to convert this expensive product from salt water is to use a stepped solar still. The low efficiency of the majority of solar stills has intrigued researchers to find ways to improve their performance. In this paper, using a neural network based on experimental data, the optimal conditions to reach maximum water production have been identified. The flow rate of desalinated water, the impact of sunlight radiation, the cover tilt angle regarding the horizon, the sodium metasilicate addition to the glass cover, the distance between the glass cover and the water surface, and finally the flow rate of the cooling stream over the glass cover were examined. The results have shown that to achieve more water at higher solar radiation levels, it is necessary to increase the cover tilt angle. Also, in the same conditions, using a low amount of sodium metasilicate compared to not using it increases efficiency by 34% on average. Also, decreasing the distance between the glass cover and the water surface increases the efficiency of this equipment. It was also observed that in low solar radiation, a low cooling flow rate is needed, and in high solar radiation, a high cooling flow rate is needed for more efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 outbreak in 2019 and beyond severely threatened global supply chains and markets. Firms worldwide saw their operations limited by governmental restrictions, compromising the viability of their business models and challenging previously established assumptions. This situation offered an opportunity to investigate new ventures' processes of business model transformation (or pivoting) during a major crisis. Specifically, adopting a multiple case study design, we investigated how four Italian firms operating throughout the Covid-19 emergency pivoted in response to the crisis. We develop a conceptual model of pivots-as-process that comprises three stages: reaction to shock, response, and retrospection, leading to longer-term strategic reorientation. Our findings suggest that pivots play out across the three distinct layers of enactment, reflection, and awareness. Our study contributes to the ongoing debate on strategic responses to crises, borrowing from the entrepreneurship literature to investigate how pivots can support firms when they are faced with a need for swift responses, while coping with the temporariness that characterizes crisis situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concrete columns are the backbone of any major structure, and their strengthening, repair, and retrofit have always drawn special research attention. One of the techniques for strengthening and improving the ductility of concrete columns has been the application of carbon fiber–reinforced polymer (CFRP) materials. A total of 43 columns of different configurations were experimentally investigated to evaluate the uniaxial compressive behavior of composite columns. Experimental and international code–recommended load-carrying capacities, stress–strain relations, axial stiffness, ductility factor, and failure modes were examined in the study. When fully wrapped, the strength of both plain cement concrete and reinforced cement concrete columns improved by 21% each with reference to the unwrapped columns. In addition to providing the advantages of external confinement to the columns, full wrapping contributed to a strength increment of 21%, which compared well with the steel reinforcement contribution to a strength increment of 28% to 39%. The partial wrapping technique was found to be an economical alternative to the full wrapping technique, with strength enhancements of 6% to 12% in the case of both plain cement concrete and reinforced cement concrete partially wrapped columns. Two regression models for the load-carrying capacity for columns with and without wraps were developed with four key performance parameters: percentage steel reinforcement, percentage concrete, percentage carbon fiber–reinforced polymer wrap, and the weight of the specimen. The formulated models were validated and found to be robust and consistent with the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban freight transport is central to urban societies, and yet urban authorities have traditionally left it to private actors to resolve freight challenges. Urban authorities rely on different governance strategies to address freight that result in fragmented freight governance, as many solutions are fixed in time, sector, or place. Drawing on Bulkeley and Kern’s typology of four modes of governance – self-governing, governing through enabling, governing by provision, and governing by authority – this paper asks: in what ways do urban authorities use different modes of governance in the case of urban logistics? Empirically, the paper looks at the modes of freight governance through an explorative workshop, document analysis, and interviews from Norway’s four largest cities – Bergen, Stavanger, Oslo and Trondheim. It finds that these cities are limiting themselves to ‘less confrontational’ modes based on accommodating freight activities, which hinders institutionalisation of knowledge and prevents public governance from serving as a coordinating factor for urban logistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bernard Charlot's theory of the relationship with knowledge examines how the subject appropriates knowledge throughout their lived trajectory. Based on this notion, this study identifiesseven training elements of the relationship with knowledge to explore the conceptions of Chemistry undergraduate in the state Tocantins, Brazil, regarding the role of experimentation in teaching and learning Chemistry. A qualitative research was conducted using the case study method. The balance of knowledge served as a research instrument, and the content analysis was applied to process the data. The results showed the students' conceptions oscillate between investigative and illustrative exprimentation, reflecting the school reality. However, there is a recognized need to intensify discussions about experimentation throughout the academic training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Overview: Innovation has become increasingly urgent for companies to maintain competitive advantage, yet deep uncertainty persists regarding the end results of their innovation efforts. Early-stage experimentation offers a risk management approach that can dramatically accelerate cost-effective innovation. Experimentation relies on the scientific method to craft and test hypotheses. Insufficient guidance exists regarding how to help managers harness experimentation in early-stage innovation projects. Based on our observations of experienced experimenters engaged in early-stage innovation projects in four distinct settings, we developed a process model that offers practitioners a structured and scalable approach to foster early-stage experimentation. Managers in all parts of the organization can apply the process model and operationalize experimentation. The article's contribution is twofold: we articulate specific practices associated with choices around what is being tested, how it is being tested, and what is learned, and we offer a model designed to help build managerial literacy in early-stage experimentation. Conducting fast, simple experiments at the early stages of the innovation process offers a valuable way to better manage innovation costs and risks. Experimentation can be codified into a simplified and scalable process, using a 5-step process model proposed here, that can be practiced across organizational levels and functions. An organizational strategic capability for experimentation, developed in a systematic and scalable way, can enhance a firm's ability to adapt to change and exploit opportunities in an uncertain world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being a key component of the transmission system, the needle bearing's performance and service life affects the overall service life of mechanical equipment. This study takes needle bearings composed of AISI 52100 steel as the research object and studies the effect of carbonitriding surface strengthening treatment on the bearing friction, wear, and fatigue life. The carbon and nitrogen co-infiltration surface-strengthening method was employed to prepare cylindrical and disc samples. The surface hardness, residual austenite content, microscopic morphology and organization composition, coefficient of friction, and wear scar were studied to analyze the effect on the wear performance of the material. The bearing fatigue wear comparison test was conducted on a test bench to compare the actual fatigue life and surface damage of the needle bearing through conventional martensitic quenching heat treatment and carbonitriding treatment. The results demonstrate that the carbonitriding strengthening method enhances the toughness of the material while improving its surface hardness. It also improves the wear resistance of the needle roller bearings, and the fatigue life of the bearings is significantly improved. In conclusion, carbon and nitrogen co-infiltration treatment is a strengthening method that effectively extends the service life of needle roller bearings, indicating its high practical value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid-State Fermentation (SSF) offers a valuable process for converting agri-food by-products (AFBP) into high-value metabolites, with Yarrowia lipolytica 2.2ab (Yl2.2ab) showing significant potential under laboratory-scale controlled conditions; however, its assessment in larger-scale bioreactor scenarios is needed. This work evaluates Yl2.2ab's performance in a bench-scale custom-designed packed-tray bioreactor. Key features of this bioreactor design include a short packing length, a wall-cooling system, and forced aeration, enhancing hydrodynamics and heat and mass transfer within the tray. Preliminary studies under both abiotic and biotic conditions assessed Yl2.2ab's adaptability to extreme temperature variations. The results indicated effective oxygen transport but poor heat transfer within the tray bed, with Yl2.2ab leading to a maximum growth rate of 28.15 mgx gssdb−1 h−1 and maximum production of proteases of 40.10 U gssdb−1 h−1, even when temperatures at the packed-tray outlet were around 49 °C. Hybrid-based modeling, incorporating Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Pseudo-Continuous Simulations (PCSs), elucidated that the forced-aeration system successfully maintained necessary oxygen levels in the bed. However, the low thermal conductivity of AFBP posed challenges for heat transfer. The bioreactor design presents promising avenues for scaling up SSF to valorize AFBP using Yl2.2ab's extremophilic capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural irrigation is a significant contributor to freshwater consumption. However, the current irrigation systems used in the field are not efficient. They rely mainly on soil moisture sensors and the experience of growers but do not account for future soil moisture loss. Predicting soil moisture loss is challenging because it is influenced by numerous factors, including soil texture, weather conditions, and plant characteristics. This article proposes a solution to improve irrigation efficiency, which is called DRLIC (deep reinforcement learning for irrigation control). DRLIC is a sophisticated irrigation system that uses deep reinforcement learning (DRL) to optimize its performance. The system employs a neural network, known as the DRL control agent, which learns an optimal control policy that considers both the current soil moisture measurement and the future soil moisture loss. We introduce an irrigation reward function that enables our control agent to learn from previous experiences. However, there may be instances in which the output of our DRL control agent is unsafe, such as irrigating too much or too little. To avoid damaging the health of the plants, we implement a safety mechanism that employs a soil moisture predictor to estimate the performance of each action. If the predicted outcome is deemed unsafe, we perform a relatively conservative action instead. To demonstrate the real-world application of our approach, we develop an irrigation system that comprises sprinklers, sensing and control nodes, and a wireless network. We evaluate the performance of DRLIC by deploying it in a testbed consisting of six almond trees. During a 15-day in-field experiment, we compare the water consumption of DRLIC with a widely used irrigation scheme. Our results indicate that DRLIC outperforms the traditional irrigation method by achieving water savings of up to 9.52%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A subcooler reduces the total mass flow rate for a given operation conditions. • Reduced evaporator superheat improves the evaporator heat transfer. • The coefficient of performance increases using a subcooling system. • Flash gas mass flow rate used to reduce the superheat at the compressor inlet. A new position of an internal heat exchanger within the thermodynamic cycle is proposed to improve the performance of CO 2 refrigeration systems in warm climates, specifically in supermarket applications. The proposed configuration uses the saturated vapor from the liquid receiver to recover the heat that is rejected by a subcooler positioned after the gas cooler. This system results in a reduced evaporator superheat. This configuration is compared with a reference system. The experimental study is conducted on a CO 2 laboratory cooling system reproducing a commercial plant. The cooling capacity of the system is 30 kW. The water inlet temperature in the gas cooler (hot source) varies from 15 °C to 35 °C, while the mono-ethylene glycol outlet temperature of the evaporator (cold source) is fixed at -8 °C. The setup is validated through an energy balance. Using a subcooler in this new position improves the coefficient of performance by 10.2 % under transcritical conditions and 6.3 % under subcritical conditions when compared with the reference system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological discontinuities and dominant design models are among the most heavily researched topics in the strategy and innovation literature. In this paper, we attempt to illuminate the process of technological progress in the automotive industry, one of the most important contemporary industries. Drawing from a unique and archival database, we offer a comprehensive historical analysis of Ford from 1896 to 1906. Specifically, our study shows that an important catalyst for the emergence of internal combustion engine (ICE) technology as the dominant design in the early automobile industry was Ford's technological experimentation. Accordingly, we provide theoretical contributions to the dominant design literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A component analysis is a process that includes the addition or subtraction of individual intervention components while continuing to measure behavior change. Component analysis single case research experimentation is used in many of the social science fields including Applied Behavior Analysis. Yet, this design is used less than other single case research designs such as the multiple baseline design. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to map the scientific literature base pertaining to the component analysis single case research design. The present comprehensive review examined the use of component analyses in the scientific and gray literature. The authors identified 177 studies that met inclusion and were evaluated. Results indicate that most studies using component analysis experimental designs are published in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and focused on non-punishment-based procedures. Additionally, the review demonstrates that outside of the field of Applied Behavior Analysis, component analyses are not widely used as an experimental method. The authors recommend expanding the use of component analyses outside of behavior analysis and examining the quality of studies in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The level of senses involvement plays an important role in the level of environmental learning. This point of view has led environmental education (EE) theorists to propose a model of EE entitled sensory environmental education (SEE) which emphasizes involving the five senses of learners as much as possible in the teaching- learning processes of environmental issues. The aim of the present study was to present the conceptual schema of “SEE” in order to give coherence to the facts, descriptions, analyses, interpretations, criticisms and lived experiences of teachers and student teachers in this field. The approach to research was qualitative, and its method was phenomenology. The criterion sampling method and the stopping point of the research were to achieve “the theoretical saturation limit” and “maximum diversity” which led to semi- structured interviews with 12 teachers and 13 student teachers. After transcribing the interviews, 570 basic themes, 31 organizing themes and 9 Global Themes were counted. The results indicate that the organizing themes were “epistemology and philosophical thinking”, “ethical foundations”, “network of internal relations affecting the EE”, “network of external relations affecting the EE”, skills to communicate with nature”, “organization”, “planning”, “rules and regulations in the process”, “evaluation of the teacher in the process”, “the role of the teacher”, “the role of the facilitator”, “the role of the experimenter”, “knowledge- information supports of the teacher/ facilitator”, “Teacher/ facilitator research supports”, “Educational objectives”, “Educational content”, “Media and equipment”, and etc. The findings were supported by direct quotations to clearly and fully reflect the views of the interviewees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrochemistry is an essential context for understanding current energetic technological processes, especially those that use batteries. On the other hand, it is one of the most neglected subjects in the classroom for reasons of associated complexity. Because of this, we have sought new methodological strategies to overcome the difficulties encountered in teaching practice. Thus, this research aims to investigate the possible contributions of a didactic sequence on the disposal of batteries from the teaching by research for the learning of electrochemistry. A qualitative methodology, a case study, applied in a high school class was adopted. The sequence consisted of six methodological steps: implementation of the problem situation; developed hypotheses; a class on electrochemistry; investigative experiment on the decomposition of batteries in aqueous solutions; systematization and communication of results. The results showed that before the application of the didactic sequence, most of the students did not know the dangers that improper disposal of batteries causes to the environment and did not understand how galvanic cells generate electrical energy from a redox reaction. After the sequence was developed, most students were able to identify and conceptualize the main electrochemical terms studied from a critical thought about this problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outreach science labs aim to promote students' interest. Previous research has often suggested that performing experiments in such labs has a positive effect on their interest. However, these studies often lack a comparison to the effects of performing them at school. This research gap was addressed in the present study. The sample consisted of 402 upper-secondary level students (age: M = 16.53 years, SD = 0.80 years) who performed three experiments on the topic of enzymology either in an outreach science lab (n = 203) or at school (n = 199). Contrary to the assumption, experimentation at the outreach science lab did not outperform experimentation at school in terms of students' psychological state of interest in the comparison to the school setting. Surprisingly, differences in the value-related component of the psychological state of interest were even found in favor of the school treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the management of the Covid 19 crisis, digital technologies were used in a major way. This article defends the hypothesis that these technologies took the form of a "tacit social experimentation". This article justifies this concept in three levels. The first part uses this concept to qualify the form of biopolitics that was implemented to manage the crisis. Digital technologies were used to discipline the population and, literally speaking, as instruments of knowledge of the population. Uncertainty forced experts to make preliminary observations and act to produce knowledge. Second, this article shows that the use of digital technologies during the crisis was experimental in a second sense. By promoting telemedicine within a more flexible legal framework, the authorities authorised an experimental use of telemedicine without knowledge or control of its side effects. Finally, the article defends the use of the concept of "tacit social experimentation" for ethical and political purposes. For indeed, understanding the experiments carried out during the crisis begs the question of the involvement of the participants and their democratic steering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an innovative ‘strain acceleration method’ for determining the onset of diffuse necking in sheet forming tests using data obtained from digital image correlation (DIC). The method identifies the onset time of diffuse necking and provides the corresponding in-plane principal strain values by detecting a local extreme in the second derivative of the minor principal in-plane strain with respect to time at the edges of the sheet surface region where diffuse necking occurs. Results obtained from applying the method to tensile testing on two different materials and comparisons with available methods based on force-time or principal strain rate evolutions confirm its accuracy and validity. The new method was implemented in a computer software to be used for research and education that also enables determination of localized necking and fracture and plotting the strain loading paths in principal strain space.

The ATTRACT NEXT project examined the potential of experimentation – particularly the use of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) – to enhance university–industry collaboration, a policy field in which such methods have been underutilized to date. This project has led to the development of a Handbook on Experiments in University–Industry Collaboration, which identifies critical challenges in university–industry collaborations and proposes testable experimental ideas for interventions. A learning and support programme, the University–Industry Impact Accelerator, then facilitated the design and piloting of three experimental interventions addressing motivation, capacity-building, and relationship development between researchers and businesses. The results indicate that structured experimentation can yield actionable insights, improve engagement strategies, and optimize programme effectiveness. The NEXT initiative has demonstrated the feasibility and value of embedding experimentation within university–industry collaborations, aiming to foster more robust, evidence-based policy-making and programme implementation in the policy space.

This experiment (N = 1,019) examined how a state of processing fluency, induced through either an easy or difficult task (reading a simple vs. complex message or recalling few vs. many examples) impacted participants’ ability to subsequently detect misinformation. The results revealed that, as intended, easier tasks led to higher reports of processing fluency. In turn, increased processing fluency was positively associated with internal efficacy. Finally, internal efficacy was positively related to misinformation detection using a signal detection task. This work suggests that feelings of ease while processing information can promote confidence and a more discerning style of information processing. Given the proliferation of misinformation online, an understanding of how metacognitions – like processing fluency – can disrupt the tacit acceptance of information carries important democratic and normative implications.