Carving A Wheel or Assembling A Widget? Insights Into the Management Of Advanced Analytics

Medieval guilds and assembly plants are unlikely metaphors in an information-based economy. My experience with advanced analytics suggests that such descriptions are nevertheless apt. This paper explores two distinct situations within a single firm. In one department, predictive models were generated through adopting a craft style approach. In another department, a production type of approach was deployed. The reasons for their adoption are explored, followed by their consequences for job satisfaction, performance, staffing, change-management, and more. Craft and production approaches have implications not just for modeling analysts and their managers but also for senior leaders, business partners, and human resources staff. Finally, I describe the pressure to adopt a production approach, and attempt to unravel the extent to which this reflects broader cultural and technological influences or firmspecific traits. This reflection ends with a call for professionals to share their encounters with advanced analytics

Effect of BaCeO₃ and BaSnO₃ Additives on Microstructural Development and Critical Current Density of Melt Textured YBa₂Cu₃O₇₋ₓ

Improvement of superconducting properties, such as critical current density Jc and trapped magnetic field, of melt textured YBa2Cu3O7-x (Y123) require introducing of effective pinning sites, e.g., nonsuperconducting inclusions, twin boundaries and other defects. It has been shown that addition of small quantities of BaCeO3 (\u3c0.5 wt%) into Y123 results in an increase of the Jc. However, higher cerium concentrations affect the solidification process and inhibit the growth of melt textured Y123 single crystals. In this study, the effect of BaCeO3 additions on the growth and microstructural development of melt textured Y123 single crystals were investigated. The relationship between the solidification kinetics, microstructural development and superconducting properties of Y123 melt textured single crystals with cerium additives is discussed

Neodymium Oxide Doped Melt Textured YBa₂Cu₃O₇₋ₓ Single Crystals

Processing, microstructure and property relationships in neodymium oxide doped high temperature superconducting YBa2Cu3O7-x (Y123) were investigated. It has been observed that a small amount (~ 0.25 - 1 mol%) of Nd2O3 results in the formation of nanosized secondary phases which may have a significant effect on the superconducting properties of melt textured Y123 single crystals. It was further observed that addition of Nd2O3 greater than 1 mol% leads to multiple nucleation during solidification of Y123 and results in polycrystalline samples. Melt textured single crystals of Y123 with \u3c 1 mol% were successfully grown and characterized with respect to microstructural development and superconducting properties

Micromechanical Properties of Injection-Molded Starch–Wood Particle Composites

The micromechanical properties of injection molded starch–wood particle composites were investigated as a function of particle content and humidity conditions. The composite materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction methods. The microhardness of the composites was shown to increase notably with the concentration of the wood particles. In addition,creep behavior under the indenter and temperature dependence were evaluated in terms of the independent contribution of the starch matrix and the wood microparticles to the hardness value. The influence of drying time on the density and weight uptake of the injection-molded composites was highlighted. The results revealed the role of the mechanism of water evaporation, showing that the dependence of water uptake and temperature was greater for the starch–wood composites than for the pure starch sample. Experiments performed during the drying process at 70°C indicated that the wood in the starch composites did not prevent water loss from the samples.Peer reviewe

Evaluation of YBa₂Cu₃O₇₋ₓ Bulk Superconductors for High Field Magnet Applications

Processing of YBCO single crystals was carried out by solidification of semi-liquid YBCO composition using a seeding technique. Microstructural characterization of the pinning centers was investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Characterization of single crystals was carried out, relating grain size and shape to the corresponding flux profiles. Current densities were calculated based on measured trapped fields. Once circulating currents were established, flux pumping and quenching experiments were conducted. These large single crystals will be incorporated into electromagnetic forming devices for use in the military and commercial aircraft manufacturing and service industries

Anticipating how rain-on-snow events will change through the 21st century: lessons from the 1997 new year’s flood event

The California-Nevada 1997 New Year’s flood was an atmospheric river (AR)-driven rain-on-snow (RoS) event and remains the costliest in their history. The joint occurrence of saturated soils, rainfall, and snowmelt generated inundation throughout northern California-Nevada. Although AR RoS events are projected to occur more frequently with climate change, the warming sensitivity of their flood drivers across scales remains understudied. We leverage the regionally refined mesh capabilities of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (RRM-E3SM) to recreate the 1997 New Year’s flood with horizontal grid spacings of 3.5 km across California, with forecast lead times of up to 4 days, and across six warming levels ranging from pre-industrial conditions to +3.5∘C. We describe the sensitivity of the flood drivers to warming including AR duration and intensity, precipitation phase, intensity and efficiency, snowpack mass and energy changes, and runoff efficiency. Our findings indicate current levels of climate change negligibly influence the flood drivers. At warming levels ≥1.7∘C, AR hazard potential increases, snowpack nonlinearly decreases, antecedent soil moisture decreases (except where the snowline retreats), and runoff decreases (except in the southern Sierra Nevada where antecedent snowpack persists). Storm total precipitation increases, but at rates below warming-induced increases in saturation-specific humidity. Warming intensifies short-duration, high-intensity rainfall, particularly where snowfall-to-rainfall transitions occur. This study highlights the nonlinear tradeoffs in 21st-century RoS flood hazards with warming and provides water management and infrastructure investment adaptation considerations

Who Bears the Burden of Social Security Contributions in Germany? Evidence from 35 Years of Administrative Data

This paper provides evidence over a long time period on the question of who bears the burden of social security contributions (SSC) in Germany. Following Alvaredo et al. (2016) we exploit kinks in the budget set generated by a drop in the marginal SSC rate at earnings caps. Based on cross-sectional earnings distributions the framework does not rely on policy reforms. Applying the approach to administrative data for West Germany facilitates a comprehensive incidence analysis between 1975 and 2010. We find that neither employers nor employees shift a substantial part of their SSC burden. These results are consistent over the whole time period and in robustness checks corroborating previous findings. A small trend towards a slight increase in the SSC burden falling on employees is not statistically significant

Design, Fabrication, and Test of a 5-kWh/100-kW Flywheel Energy Storage Utilizing a High-Temperature Superconducting Bearing

The summaries of this project are: (1) Program goal is to design, develop, and demonstrate a 100 kW UPS flywheel electricity system; (2) flywheel system spin tested up to 15,000 RPM in a sensorless, closed loop mode; (3) testing identified a manufacturing deficiency in the motor stator--overheats at high speed, limiting maximum power capability; (4) successfully spin tested direct cooled HTS bearing up to 14,500 RPM (limited by Eddy current clutch set-up); (5) Testing confirmed commercial feasibility of this bearing design--Eddy Current losses are within acceptable limits; and (6) Boeing's investment in flywheel test facilities increased the spin-test capabilities to one of the highest in the nation

Should UI Eligibility Be Expanded to Low-Earning Workers? Evidence on Employment, Transfer Receipt, and Income from Administrative Data

Recent efforts to expand unemployment insurance (UI) eligibility are expected to increase low-earning workers’ access to UI. Although the expansion’s aim is to smooth the income and consumption of previously ineligible workers, it is possible that UI benefits simply displace other sources of income. Standard economic models predict that UI delays reemployment, thereby reducing wage income. Additionally, low-earning workers are often eligible for benefits from means-tested programs, which may decrease with UI benefits. In this paper, we estimate the impact of UI eligibility on employment, means-tested program participation, and income after job loss using a unique individual-level administrative data set from the state of Michigan. To identify a causal effect, we implement a fuzzy regression discontinuity design around the minimum earnings threshold for UI eligibility. Our main finding is that while UI eligibility increases jobless durations by up to 25 percent and temporarily lowers receipt of cash assistance (TANF) by 63 percent, the net impact on total income is still positive and large. In the quarter immediately following job loss, UI-eligible workers have 46-61 percent higher incomes than ineligibles