Статті в журналах з теми "Cutting machines Design and construction Data processing"

Introduction. Hole details are quite widely used in structures of construction and road machines. The specialists apply boring for draft, semi-fair, and in some cases for fair processing of such surfaces. This type of processing is often followed by the negative nature of oscillatory processes that leads to decrease in accuracy and in the surface quality. The paper studies the possibility of the calculation method’s usage in oscillatory processes, which allows assigning the cutting modes by providing required output parameters.Materials and methods. The authors used the double-support beam as a design model of a boring cutter. The solution of the fluctuations’ modeling came down to definition of point movements, which corresponded to cutter top (points of application equally effective cutting forces). The authors made the definition of movements with use of Mor integrals. Therefore, the paper considered the impact of chip formation and separation due to perturbing forces.Results. The authors carried out the calculation of forces’ values in cutting with use of the degree dependences. Moreover, the authors accepted the formation’s frequency as the frequency of the perturbing influenced structure. The frequency of the chip formation was defined on the basis of estimated dependences, which connected parameters of the tool, the cut-off layer and modes of cutting. As a result, the author received the implementations of oscillatory processes and studied the influence of different factors on vibration amplitude.Discussion and conclusions. The authors make assessment of the received results’ adequacy by comparison with experimental data. The error doesn’t exceed 20%. The developed model considers geometrical parameters of the tool (a departure, plate corners, etc.), the modes of cutting both mechanical properties of the processed material and parameters of the chip formation. The model can be used both at design of boring operations and by optimization of the cutting modes for the purpose of productivity increase.

The technology and organization of construction production using high-performance machines equipped with a diamond tool for machining concrete, concrete and stone surfaces is considered. Various installations, machines and mechanisms with a diamond tool for milling, grinding, drilling and cutting surfaces are presented. The design decisions of the grinding machine MSh-300, installations for machining the surfaces of facing slabs, a high-performance drilling machine and a concrete surface milling cutter are considered. An analysis of domestic and foreign installations has been carried out, which showed that the specific consumption of diamonds in domestic installations is lower with higher productivity. Having studied the sales statistics of manufacturers of individual machines and plants, as well as the positive feedback from implementing construction organizations, it is recommended to use, for the further prospect, high-performance machines and installations with a diamond tool in connection with an increase in the volume of reconstruction of industrial and civil facilities and the construction of transport highways.

Background and Purpose: The article is devoted to the reduction of energy consumption necessary for delimbing. Materials and Methods: Branch delimbing method includes feeding the tree trunk through the ring formed by the delimbing knives and simultaneous reciprocator movement of the delimbing knives along the axis of the processed trunk. The distinctive feature of the construction is the presence of the beater unit comprising a pusher and a piston mounted inside a sealed housing. Results: As a result of the suggested construction the force of the beater impact of the delimbing knife is increased. Using this method, the branches are removed not only due to the force generated when the knives come in contact with branches pushed by feed rolls moving the trunk, but also due to extra beater stress affecting the delimbing knife. The use of the aforesaid method and the construction of the mechanism allows to reduce energy consumption necessary for the delimbing process. Conclusions: The design of harvesting and processing head proposed in this article can be used in the design and manufacture of logging machines and mechanisms. The technical solution may be an interesting advance of the delimbing process when processing trees, especially when cutting big branches or when cutting forces are temporarily higher than average force values.

ObjectivesThe aim of the study is to revise design and calculation methods for metal cutting tools due to an increase in their quality requirements. The design of metal cutting tools necessitatesfinding a solutionto a number of issues related to their calculation, construction, manufacture and operation. However, the methods for solving these issues have always been dependent on the means that the toolmaker had at his disposal.MethodsContemporary electronic computers and digital equipment offersignificant opportunities for improving the process of machine tool design. To solve this problem, it is necessary to generate calculation methods that aresufficiently analytical to becapable of rigorously formalising the entire designing process. They have to support clearly defined optimisation criteria and be of sufficient generalityto enable all problems associated with tool designto be solved in a complex manner. That is, these calculation approaches have to support methodologies for solving the problems of the surface shaping by tools, calculating the cutting schemes, as well as the strength and manufacturability of the cutting part.ResultsA flowchart of a calculation algorithm for designing and calculating the combined countersink-tap toolhas been developed, allowing the process of calculating its basic parameters to be automated according to a predefined programme. ConclusionThe developed flowchart of the calculation algorithm with the preset programme allows the process of calculating the basic parameters of the combined countersink-tap tools, used for threading in the parts of ship machines, mechanisms and ship fittings from hard-to-process materials, to be automated. The flowchart can similarly be used to automate the process of calculating the parameters of any cutting tools used to process any materials.

The operating experience of metal-cutting machines made it possible to develop reasonable recommendations for the permissible limit values of temperature for the main subsystems of the machine, which determine the accuracy of processing. However, the decrease in the seriality of the manufactured metal-cutting equipment and the constant improvement of its designs require the development of models that are the basis of engineering techniques that allow at the design stage to predict the thermal picture of the main machine units that affect the processing accuracy. In connection with a significant number of factors influencing the formation of contact thermal resistance, and the difference in the weight of their action, it is proposed to use a pseudolayer (pseudo-medium), consisting of areas of actual contact and cavities filled with air or oil, for their comprehensive consideration in the thermal model of joining parts. To determine the significant factors that dominate the contact thermal resistance, a number of one-factor experiments were carried out. To develop a regression model of temperature change in the contact zone, a PFE of type 24 was performed. The results obtained were verified by the Cochran, Student and Fisher criteria.

As the machine tool industry moves towards high speed and high precision, we must have detection technology for the mechanical properties of fasteners, in order to overcome technical bottlenecks. This article is especially aimed at machine tools and special-purpose machines that commonly use clasp locking precision locknuts. In this research, the anti-loosening characteristics of precision nuts are investigated under different conditions, such as the clearances, end processing methods, nut cutting speeds, lubricants, and tightening speeds. The results can provide the precision nut manufacturers a data base for product design. The experimental results show that with the end surface machining method using concentric grinding, nut cutting speed 800rpm, 2rpm speed of tightening, and the use of lubricant 2TML, the nut has better anti-loosening characteristics.

In the process of continuous urbanization construction, the construction scale of urban landscaping projects is getting larger. At the same time, the design and the maintenance of the management is becoming more important. Recently, the rocketing development of the ternary world of many people, machines, and things has triggered the generation of multisource fusion data and the development of artificial intelligence technology, and the world has entered the era of multisource big data intelligence. Multisource data refer to the fusion of multiple types of data with effective characteristic information, which has richer, more comprehensive, more detailed, and more effective information than a single data source, and can provide high-quality data sources for various complex problems. Therefore, more effective data can be provided for the definition of urban fringe areas. From the moment Google’s AlphaGo defeated Go world champion Li Shishi, the chess game has been occupied by AI, setting off an upsurge in the study, research, and application of AI technology. Colleges and universities around the world have followed suit and set up AI-related majors. Deep learning is one of the cutting-edge technologies in the field of artificial intelligence. It is a method to solve complex real-life problems by extracting effective information from the data and mining key features on the basis of a large amount of learning and computing data.

Purpose. The purpose of these studies is to develop a method designing rotor heads for finishing cylindrical parts with evenly spaced elements on the periphery and approbation a technique at development a design a rotor head for realization magnetic-abrasive processing cylindrical gear wheels over a ring bath. Methodology.The design technique is based on the synthesis of structural-kinematic schemes and structural formulas of rotary machine composing.In the synthesis process are analyzed the possible general coordinate transformations matrices of the forming system of the rotor heads.The general matrix coordinate transformations is selected by the results of a comprehensive assessment the criteria of the intensity of magnetic abrasive treatment and the shape of the edge. Findings.The design technique is rep- resented by an algorithm that includes the stages of synthesis structural-kinematic schemes and structural formulas of the composing rotary machines and the stage for determining their basic design parameters and dimensions. Originality.The algorithm of development structural-kinematic schemes and structural formulas arrangement rotary machines for magnetic-abrasive processing blanks in the stage of definition and choice of rational modes is im- proved.This allows you to get theparticular level of quality of processing that is best for the whole set of machined sur- faces and edges of the work pieces. Practicalvalue.The design technique has been tested in the design and construction of the rotor head for magnetic-abrasive processing gears over the ring bath. The design of the magnetic system with a double-circuit magnetic circuit is developed, which allows to increase the width of the working zone up to 150 mm, and the outer diameter of the processed gears up to 400 mm. Conclusions. As a result of the carried out researches the tech- nique and recommendations on designing of rotor heads for finishing of cylindrical details with equally located ele- ments on periphery(gears, end and axial cutting tools, etc.) are developed.To increase the efficiency of the technique, it is necessary to conduct additional studies of tribotechnical properties of magnetic-abrasive tools with a wider coverage of fractions of particles and processed materials and especially experimental studies of resistance forces during the movement of bodies in the working environment.

According to the Ministry of Environment (KLH), Indonesia's average population produces 189 thousand tons of garbage per day. Of this amount, 15% is plastic waste or 28.4 thousand tons of plastic waste per day. The famous handling of plastic waste is 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle). Reduce is reducing the purchase or use of goods made from plastic, especially disposable items. Reuse is the repeated use of plastic-based items. Recycle is recycling goods made of plastic. The method used in this design study is to use SolidWorks software by combining the literature study VDI221 to obtain a variant of the design results that will be used. The study results do a plastic bench machine that is integrated to produce plastic seeds, which are PET-shaped, which are extruded in a device that has been brewed. From the results of the design in the data processing and design specifications of the PET plastic waste-processing machine with the extruder method, the construction consists of several units, namely, Shredder unit, Extruder unit, Cutter unit, and Machine frame. The shredder unit serves to destroy plastic waste that is still intact in pieces before being processed in the extruder unit. The extruder unit functions to melt PET waste to be extruded using a screw. The cutter unit operates to cut processed extrusion waste into pellet granules. The engine frame is used to support the entire engine unit. The results of the Plastic Waste Extruder Machine design process with an Autodesk inventor are summarized in the following specifications: machine dimensions are 1625 mm long, 300mm wide, and 1325mm high; screw extruder uses a metering screw type with a diameter of 50.8mm (2 inches) with a length: diameter ratio of 20: 1, so the screw length is 1016mm, estimated throughput rate = 84 lb/h (42kg / h), the motor used is 5.5 PK (4 KW) with a rotation speed of 1450.

Based on the research carried out within the Research Institute for Construction Equipment and Technology—ICECON S.A. Bucharest, consisting of the design and development of vibrating-action machines and of the technical analysis of optimization of the technological processes with vibrating equipment for highway construction works in Romania. Moreover, the physical and mathematical modeling of this mechanical system used the data obtained in the activity of the certification of the technical level of capability of the processing equipment in industry and construction, taking into account the provisions of procedures and regulations legally enforced by normative documents. These are based on a parametric analysis of the dynamics of the technological processing vibratory equipment and machines. Thus, both the evaluation method and the parametric optimization procedure were established. In this context, this paper presents a numerical analytical approach with discrete and continuous parametric variations, from where favorable areas of operation can be established. In this way, the optimization criteria in stabilized harmonic vibration regimes are approached based on the assessment of the vibration amplitude, of the force transmitted to the processed material and of the energy dissipated in the system. The presented dynamic model as well as the specific parameters were used in the design and/or numerical and experimental assessment for vibrating rammers with the amplitude of the perturbing force from 2 kN up to 100 kN, vibrating compactors with the amplitude of the perturbing force from 100 kN up to 200 kN and vibrating sieves for mineral aggregates with surface sieves of 6, 12 and 18 sqm. The symmetry/asymmetry properties are specific to the dynamic response in steady-state technological regime. Thus, the amplitude of vibrations in resonance presents asymmetry through a functional level necessary for the technological regime. The maximum force transmitted in the technological process is asymmetric in relation to the variation of the excitation pulsation; also, the dissipated energy has asymmetries in the postresonance. Hysteresis loops are symmetrical to the main axis. The originality of the research results comes from the establishment of dynamic parameters for the amplitude of technological vibration, the force transmitted to the working part, the energy dissipated on the cycle, hysteresis loops in a steady-state regime with digital display to identify the dynamic regime and the damping in the system. The calculation relations are specific to machines with a vibrating action and, on their basis, the vibrating equipment from Romania were designed, manufactured and tested, as mentioned in this paper.

Рассмотрена характерная для современного машиностроения тенденция по увеличению концентрации технологических операций на многоцелевых станках и интенсификации режимов резания. Приведен анализ станочных парков различных металлообрабатывающих предприятий, который показал преобладание станков фрезерно-расточной группы. Проанализированы причины широкой номенклатуры инструментальной системы станков фрезерно-расточной группы и рассмотрено влияние многообразия инструментальной системы на динамические характеристики многоцелевых станков. Рассмотрен пример характерной для станков фрезерно-расточной группы среднего типоразмера инструментальной системы, которая включает в себя цанговый патрон, цангу и фрезу. Приведены расчеты точности и жесткости для различных вариантов инструментальной системы. С целью подтверждения полученных теоретических расчетов были проведены экспериментальные исследования в условиях реального производства при обработке серийно изготавливаемой детали типа «Корпус» на фрезерном многоцелевом станке модели VMC-600. Результаты обработки экспериментальных данных показали, что точность инструментальной системы значительно влияет на геометрическую точность обработанной детали, виброустойчивость инструментальной системы и ее жесткость. Низкая точность инструментальной системы приводит к значительному отжиму режущего инструмента на рекомендуемых режимах резания, который может превысить величину допуска на обработку, что должно быть учтено на этапе проектирования технологического процесса путем занижения режимов резания The article discusses the characteristic tendency of modern mechanical engineering to increase the concentration of technological operations on multi-purpose machine tools and intensify cutting modes. We give the analysis of machine parks of various metalworking enterprises, which showed the prevalence of milling and boring machines. This article analyzes the reasons for a wide range of tool systems for milling-boring machines and considers the influence of the diversity of the tool system on the dynamic characteristics of multi-purpose machines. We considered an example of a medium-sized tool system typical for milling and boring machines, which includes a collet chuck, a collet and a milling cutter. We give calculations of accuracy and stiffness for various versions of the instrumental system. In order to confirm the obtained theoretical calculations, we carried out experimental studies in real production conditions when processing a serially manufactured part on a VMC-600 multi-purpose milling machine. The results of experimental data processing showed that the accuracy of the tool system significantly affects the geometric accuracy of the machined part, vibration resistance of the tool system and its rigidity. The low accuracy of the tool system leads to a significant squeezing out of the cutting tool at the recommended cutting conditions, which can exceed the machining tolerance, which should be taken into account at the design stage of the technological process by understating the cutting conditions

With the passage of time and the development of technology, more applications are found in CNC controls with CO2 laser equipment. Laser machines with a CO2 source are increasingly distributed in woodworking and synthetic materials processing. Laser equipment makes it possible to produce high-quality and geometrically accurate products. The quality of the surface to be processed is directly related to the air flow intensity, which prevents sublimated particles burn to processed surface. The aim of the study is to increase air flow intensity by upgrading the internal design of the head nozzle. Simulations are created for modernized head nozzle that help to analyze the resulting data. Cutting and engraving is performed for wood material in working range for the head nozzle tests.

The Grade-H high strength steel is used in the manufacturing of many civilian and military products. The procedures of manufacturing these parts have several turning operations. The key factors for the manufacturing of these parts are the accuracy, surface roughness (Ra), and material removal rate (MRR). The production line of these parts contains many CNC turning machines to get good accuracy and repeatability. The manufacturing engineer should fulfill the required surface roughness value according to the design drawing from first trail (otherwise these parts will be rejected) as well as keeping his eye on maximum metal removal rate. The rejection of these parts at any processing stage will represent huge problems to any factory because the processing and raw material of these parts are very expensive. In this paper the artificial neural network was used for predicting the surface roughness for different cutting parameters in CNC turning operations. These parameters were investigated to get the minimum surface roughness. In addition, a mathematical model for surface roughness was obtained from the experimental data using a regression analysis method. The experimental data are then compared with both the regression analysis results and ANFIS (Adaptive Network-based Fuzzy Inference System) estimations.

Abstract Pose estimation of construction machines describes their motions and orientations in 3D space, which provides basic information for remote control, safety monitoring, and productivity analysis. Among the commonly used construction machines, the excavator is an important one whose pose information has significant value in the development of automatic driving systems and operation safety monitoring. Regarding vision-based pose estimation of excavators, previous studies mainly rely on image data from digital cameras installed on sites. However, their robustness may drop due to occlusions by surrounding clutters. To address these problems fundamentally, this study proposes a method on partial pose estimation of excavators, with an onboard depth camera installed on the cabin of the targeted excavator. This solution is inspired by the visual effect produced by the operator’s eyes, according to the Bionics principles. First, by processing the depth camera data, the spatial coordinates of several pre-defined keypoints of an excavator are obtained. Afterward, by combining the keypoint coordinates with prior knowledge of the geometric relationship of excavators, a pose triangle is computed which describes the pose of the excavator. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed algorithm is preliminarily verified by experimental data from real construction sites. This study contributes not only to solve the problem of occlusion when using visual sensors on sites, but also to provide a theoretical basis for the design of onboard control systems for excavators.

This paper describes experimental research on cutting the outer layer of onions in the machine peeling process. The authors’ own globally innovative modular machine construction was used for this purpose. The onion peeling machine was constructed on a real scale. The effectiveness of the machine’s functioning Se was defined as the ratio of the mass of material correctly removed by the scale blower mp to the mass of all material leaving the machine on the test bench mc. In order to carry out the experimental research, a test stand was constructed, a research plan and programme were adopted, and the research methodology was developed. The results obtained during the experimental research and the data obtained from the regression function equations for the developed design of the onion peeling machine were used to build systems of independent variables, for which the dependent variable Se reached extreme values. The effectiveness of the machine’s operation Se of modular construction increased with the increase in the depth of the external incisions of the shells dn, the number of scale-blowing nozzles, and the pressure of the air supply to the scale-blowing unit p. Increasing the material feed rate vp and the distance of the air nozzles from the material to be processed hd reduced the machine’s efficiency Se. The tests carried out showed a high level of efficiency on the level of Se=0.645−0.780, which is not found in mass-produced machines.

AbstractMaterial fatigue is one of the elementary causes of damage in steel construction besides corrosion and abrasion. Design recommendations require that weld seams are placed in less stressed areas due to the crack-sensitive nature of the welded areas. As a result, unwelded areas of the components such as free cut plate edges gain technical and economic relevance as locations for potential fatigue cracks. In the metal processing industry, different thermal cutting processes are frequently used. During the process, unwanted boundary conditions can lead to undesired cuts in the component geometry during the cutting process. These process dysfunctions lead to incorrect components and to rejects. This article presents results of fatigue test data of oxy-fuel thermal cut edges of defect-free and faulty repair-welded samples to investigate the influence of competing notches on the cut edge. Specimens are made from construction steels S355N and S690Q of a 20-mm-thick plate. The presented data shows that the fatigue strength of the damaged cut edges can be recovered by the repair procedure and does not show any reduction of the fatigue strength due to the determined pores or other metallurgical notches of the repaired section.

Germany, 1935: the engineer Konrad Zuse (1910–1995), in the living room of his Berlin house, devotes himself to the design and construction of a binary, programmable machine, the Z1, capable of processing data in a fast and efficient way. While building his machines, he also started to devise a conceptual and notational system for writing ‘programs’ to execute applications much more complex than the basic arithmetic calculations. He delved deep into the study of formal logic in order to work out his “computation plan”, the Plankalkül. Although the Plan Calculus didn't exercise much impact on German post-World War hardships, it displays all the traits currently recognized as standard features of modern programming languages. The aim of the present study is to highlight the general purpose and technical specifics of this language, its historical and scientific background, and the philosophical inspiration leading Konrad Zuse to employ the predicate logic in the formalization of the “computation projects” for his machines.

The article presents the analysis results of the design of dump trucks used in road construction field. The authors point out the tendency of expanding the use of dump trucks with articulated frames in the world practice. The necessity of evaluating the possibilities of domestic manufacturers to produce the machines of this type is justified. Comparative evaluation of samples was carried out by comparing generalized indicators of the vehicle quality determined by their technical level coefficients, as well as by directly comparing a number of specific indicators of their performance properties. Information search, statistical processing of information materials, expert research and mathematical modeling were used as scientific methods for obtaining the initial data for evaluation. The comparative qualimetric assessment of the operational capabilities of dump trucks of various designs gives grounds to recognize that the use of a machine with an articulated frame for direct filling of the road embankment will be preferable to machines of frame construction. This is due to the fact that the articulated dump truck has a higher cross-country ability and maneuverability, while having a certain reserve for increasing the load capacity and the similar cargo capacity of the body with the frame truck. The evaluation results confirm the feasibility of producing a domestic dump truck with an articulated frame.

We propose strategies to achieve a high-throughput FPGA architecture for quasi-cyclic low-density parity-check codes based on circulant-1 identity matrix construction. By splitting the node processing operation in the min-sum approximation algorithm, we achieve pipelining in the layered decoding schedule without utilizing additional hardware resources. High-level synthesis compilation is used to design and develop the architecture on the FPGA hardware platform. To validate this architecture, an IEEE 802.11n compliant 608 Mb/s decoder is implemented on the Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA using the LabVIEW FPGA Compiler in the LabVIEW Communication System Design Suite. Architecture scalability was leveraged to accomplish a 2.48 Gb/s decoder on a single Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA. Further, we present rapidly prototyped experimentation of an IEEE 802.16 compliant hybrid automatic repeat request system based on the efficient decoder architecture developed. In spite of the mixed nature of data processing—digital signal processing and finite-state machines—LabVIEW FPGA Compiler significantly reduced time to explore the system parameter space and to optimize in terms of error performance and resource utilization. A 4x improvement in the system throughput, relative to a CPU-based implementation, was achieved to measure the error-rate performance of the system over large, realistic data sets using accelerated, in-hardware simulation.

Purpose The developing academic field of machine ethics seeks to make artificial agents safer as they become more pervasive throughout society. In contrast to computer ethics, machine ethics is concerned with the behavior of machines toward human users and other machines. This study aims to use an action-based ethical theory founded on the combinational aspects of deontological and teleological theories of ethics in the construction of an artificial moral agent (AMA). Design/methodology/approach The decision results derived by the AMA are acquired via fuzzy logic interpretation of the relative values of the steady-state simulations of the corresponding rule-based fuzzy cognitive map (RBFCM). Findings Through the use of RBFCMs, the following paper illustrates the possibility of incorporating ethical components into machines, where latent semantic analysis (LSA) and RBFCMs can be used to model dynamic and complex situations, and to provide abilities in acquiring causal knowledge. Research limitations/implications This approach is especially appropriate for data-poor and uncertain situations common in ethics. Nonetheless, to ensure that a machine with an ethical component can function autonomously in the world, research in artificial intelligence will need to further investigate the representation and determination of ethical principles, the incorporation of these ethical principles into a system’s decision procedure, ethical decision-making with incomplete and uncertain knowledge, the explanation for decisions made using ethical principles and the evaluation of systems that act based upon ethical principles. Practical implications To date, the conducted research has contributed to a theoretical foundation for machine ethics through exploration of the rationale and the feasibility of adding an ethical dimension to machines. Further, the constructed AMA illustrates the possibility of utilizing an action-based ethical theory that provides guidance in ethical decision-making according to the precepts of its respective duties. The use of LSA illustrates their powerful capabilities in understanding text and their potential application as information retrieval systems in AMAs. The use of cognitive maps provides an approach and a decision procedure for resolving conflicts between different duties. Originality/value This paper suggests that cognitive maps could be used in AMAs as tools for meta-analysis, where comparisons regarding multiple ethical principles and duties can be examined and considered. With cognitive mapping, complex and abstract variables that cannot easily be measured but are important to decision-making can be modeled. This approach is especially appropriate for data-poor and uncertain situations common in ethics.

Abstract. CV. X is a company engaged in the leather industry that manufactures wallets, bags and key chains. The company experienced a decrease in sales volume due to a decrease in product quality from defective products in the company. Leather bags have an average percentage of disability of 2.39% in 2017-2018 from the company's disability limit of 2%. The existence of these defective products requires companies to improve product quality to reduce the occurrence of defects. The method used to solve the problems that are being faced by the company is the Seven Tools Quality Control method to identify the causes of product defects, while the Rezhenija Izobretatelskih Zadach (TRIZ) method is used to design a product quality improvement plan. The result of data processing which becomes the main priority is defect cutting. The causes of cutting defects include decreased work concentration, inadequate workers, poor physical condition, no machine maintenance, blunt cutting machines, high cutting machine use intensity, work environment, hot room temperature, lack of work space lighting. All causes of product defects are designed to improve the quality of leather bag products by creating visual controls, forms for worker health, cutting knife replacement machines, installing air conditioners, and adding lights to the sewing machine. Abstrak. CV. X merupakan perusahaan yang bergerak di bidang industri kulit yang memproduksi dompet, tas, dan gantungan kunci. Perusahaan mengalami penurunan volume penjualan yang disebabkan karena adanya penurunan kualitas produk dari produk cacat di perusahaan. Tas kulit memiliki rata-rata persentase kecacatan sebesar 2,39% pada tahun 2017-2018 dari batas kecatatan yang ditetapkan perusahaan sebesar 2%. Adanya produk cacat tersebut mengharuskan perusahaan melakukan perbaikan kualitas produk untuk mengurangi terjadinya kecacatan. Metode yang digunakan untuk menyelesaikan permasalahan yang sedang dihadapi oleh perusahaan yaitu metode Seven Tools Quality Control untuk mengidentifikasi penyebab terjadinya kecacatan produk, sedangkan metode Teorija Rezhenija Izobretatelskih Zadach (TRIZ) digunakan untuk membuat rancangan perbaikan kualitas produk. Hasil pengolahan data yang menjadi prioritas utama yaitu cacat potong. Penyebab cacat potong diantaranya yaitu konsentrasi kerja menurun, pekerja kurang hati-hati kondisi fisik kurang baik, tidak ada perawatan mesin, mesin potong tumpul, intesitas penggunaan mesin potong tinggi, lingkungan kerja, suhu ruangan panas, pencahayaan ruang kerja kurang. Semua penyebab cacat produk dibuat rancangan perbaikan untuk meningkatkan kembali kualitas produk tas kulit dengan membuat visual control, form untuk kesehatan pekerja, mesin penggantian pisau potong, pemasangan AC, serta penambahan lampu pada meisn jahit.

In the digital network era, people have higher requirements for physical fitness. In the future, physical fitness requires not only good fitness equipment and fitness environment but also more convenient and intelligent health management, service guidance, social entertainment, and other refined fitness services. The innovation of sports and fitness equipment for the digital network era will definitely depend on the development of information technology and network technology. Based on the cutting-edge Internet of Things technology, this thesis focuses on the development and application of a new generation of digital fitness equipment adapted to future development, advocating the new concept of seamless integration of fitness exercise and information services through human-oriented systematic design thinking and providing implementable solutions to realize the science, convenience, and life of public fitness. This thesis uses modern science and technology, especially the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, to fully meet the diversified fitness needs of the fitness crowd as the guide; IoT digital fitness equipment design and application research was newly generated, using a variety of research methods to explore the functional design and application of IoT fitness equipment; the goal is to create a more intelligent and three-dimensional IoT fitness service model in the future. Through the application research of intelligent devices in IoT fitness equipment, the realization of the functions of identity identification, environment perception, and data transmission of IoT fitness equipment is made faster. Intelligent devices can become the interaction channel between fitness service personnel, fitness equipment, and fitness users and also reduce the development cost of IoT fitness equipment. The construction of an IoT fitness cloud service platform and data management system integrates the application of IoT, cloud computing, mobile communication, and other technologies to make IoT fitness service supply remote, real-time, and diversified. While providing convenient and value-added fitness services for fitness people, it also brings sustainable development space for the health service industry.

There are a number of problems in mechanical engineering technology. One of them is related to the installation on the machine and the previous processing of thin-walled rings, which are widely used in mechanical engineering. Due to the low bending stiffness of thin-walled rings after processing there are a large magnitude of rigidity of the form (deviation from roundness). As production experience has shown, in the conditions of mass production, it is advisable to use fungal mandrels and adjustments to reduce shape errors. They allow for a small radial gap between the holes of the ring and the fungal cam to have extended contact rings with cams along the angular coordinate. However, there are no methods for calculating the parameters of contact interaction with cams, considering a number of factors, primarily the radial clearance. Hence, it is impossible to calculate more accurately the error of the form after processing. In this paper (it is supposed to be continued), based on methods for calculating flat rings of construction mechanics of machines, a method for determining the stress-strain state of a thin-walled state is proposed, considering the contact pressure. In this case, the semiangle of contact of the ring with the fungal cam and the shape of the contact pressure plot are determined. This allows you to calculate the stress state of the thin-walled ring and the shape error when processing more accurately in a fungal mandrel, as well as reasonably assign the dimensions of the mandrel parts. Due to the exceptionally large number of calculations in the calculations according to the proposed method, it can only be implemented using a computer program, which creates great difficulties in analyzing different source data. Therefore, it is planned to rework the completed developments into an engineering calculation method with graphs in dimensionless form.

Abstract The purpose of this work is to select a rational concept of the transmission of the tractor being created on the basis of an objective quantitative comprehensive assessment of the considered possible design options. The object of research is the transmission of wheeled tractors of 4 and 6-8 traction classes and forest machines based on their chassis. Making a decision on the principles of building a transmission is an important stage that requires a proper analysis of known theoretical developments, production experience, competitors’ achievements, market conditions and other factors. The decision is based on the ranking of the options available for implementation of the object. It is advisable to support such a ranking with the results of an objective quantitative comprehensive assessment of the compared options. The key points in this case are the formation of a nomenclature of objective private performance indicators and the choice of a data processing method. The paper considers the issue of applying the method of expert assessments when choosing the concept of constructing a transmission and the type of transforming mechanism of a tractor. The algorithm of the method, initial data, and evaluation results are presented. The main solutions for the construction of the transmission of tractors of 4 and 6-8 traction classes have been formulated.

The traditional method only pays attention to hardware construction and ignores the data processing steps, which leads to high redundant resource occupancy rate, untimely resource sharing, and low platform data safety factor. In order to solve this problem, this paper establishes an educational information platform based on cloud computing. The platform gives the overall structure of the education information platform, including the business layer and the support layer. Then the external interface is designed. Based on the MySQL database interface, users are allowed to use custom data formats and storage management modes to ensure flexibility in using data resources and improve the compatibility between smart terminals and virtual machines through the remote desktop terminal architecture. Through the educational data compression and educational resource sharing model, the generation of redundant messages is reduced, thereby realizing the design of the educational information platform. Experimental results show that this method can effectively reduce the occupancy rate of redundant resources, save network bandwidth, and improve the data safety factor of the platform. The resource sharing time is always less than 2.0 s, which verifies the effectiveness of the method

New approaches to the formulation and solution of problems of parametric synthesis of electric machines of new designs with a concentrated electric and distributed magnetic system are shown. The methods of designing and synthesizing traditional electric machines were mainly focused on machines containing distributed electric stator windings with a concentrated magnetic system. A distinctive feature of generators of the axial-radial configuration is the concentrated electric windings with a distributed magnetic system. As a result, the development of methods for parametric synthesis of machines of new designs refers to the solution of urgent problems. As a result of the analysis of the design stages of new generators, a complex method of parametric synthesis has been developed. At the first stage, a mathematical model of the generator is used, on the basis of which an automated program for its calculation is developed. It implements synthesis based on an incomplete data set, in the direction from electromagnetic loads to the size of the machine. At the second stage, numerical experiments are performed using a mathematical model of the generator, with the determination of the optimization parameter. The calculation is performed according to the matrix of a full-factor experiment, compiled on the basis of the theory of planning experiments. As a result, the range of variation of electromagnetic loads is found, which is close to optimal. At the third stage, statistical processing of the results of numerical experiments, determination of significant factors, and regression analysis with the construction of an optimization model are carried out. The fourth stage is implemented using an optimization procedure based on the Box - Wilson gradient method. It allows you to find an even narrower zone of variation of significant factors, under which the optimization parameter satisfies the specified conditions. The use of complex parametric synthesis makes it possible to significantly reduce the mass of the designed electric machines of new designs in comparison with drum-type inductor machines of the same power. The presented procedure for the complex synthesis and optimization of generators with a concentrated electric and distributed magnetic system will be useful for researchers and designers who do not have sufficient experience in developing machines of such structures.

With the fast growth and rapid development of the construction industry, building design is not satisfied with only safety, accessibility, and habitability. People are requiring more multifunctional layouts and beautifully designed buildings. Thus, special and unique-shaped buildings with various curved curtain walls have emerged more than ever in recent years. As for these curtain walls, it is difficult to perform the size measurement for panel design and calibration, as well as the on-site material cutting and assembly accurately and efficiently. The occurrence and continuous progress of 3D laser scanning technology combined with building information modeling (BIM) technology have been paid attention to and applied for curtain wall engineering to overcome this problem, particularly the construction-related progress, such as developed design and on-site installation. The 3D laser scanning technology can achieve fast and high-precision measurement by creating a “point cloud” dataset of the target building and its components, based on which an accurate as-built 3D BIM model of the scanned items can be established. By comparing and calibrating with the as-planned curtain wall design, engineers can update the real-time information (locations, shape, dimensions, etc.) for the following developed design and assembly production of the curtain wall. Compared to the conventional approach using manual locating and measurement, the progress of the curtain wall design and installation can be achieved in a more accurate and efficient manner by employing 3D laser scanning technology. Based on these considerations, in this present study, the basic concept, workflow, a case study with practical strategies of the application of 3D laser scanning technology in the curtain wall design and installation field, including the scanning operation, point cloud data acquisition and processing, 3D BIM model reconstruction, and relevant BIM model practice have been elaborated and discussed. Also, the 3D model that represents the actual construction condition established based on the point cloud data was used to compare with the originally designed BIM model. It was found discrepancies existed in the dimensions and positions between the as-built and as-designed BIM models, which can thus be used to revise the manufacture design and improve the installation plan of curtain walls. Furthermore, the difference, benefits, great significance of replacing conventional methods with 3D laser scanning technology, and instructions, limitations, recommendations for practical application, along with challenges and future directions open to research in the curtain wall construction field, were also presented in this work. Therefore, this work provides technical support to the application of 3D laser scanning technology and its combination with the BIM platform in the curtain wall construction.

Waste marble dust is a solid waste generated during the cutting and polishing of marble pieces in construction sites and also in marble processing industries. This paper reports on the utilization of this waste as a filler material in particulate-filled polymer composite. Polyester-based composites are prepared with different weight proportions of waste marble dust and the dry sliding wear behavior of these composites is studied. Wear trials are conducted using a pin-on-disc test apparatus based on the Taguchi’s L25 orthogonal array as per ASTM G 99-05. The effects of different parameters on the specific wear rate of the composites are studied and an optimum combination of parameters is obtained for the least wear rate. Based on the experimental data, a prediction model using the artificial neural network is used to predict the specific wear rate of the composites at a wider range of operating parameters, within and beyond the test region. The morphologies of the worn surfaces are studied by a scanning electron microscope to ascertain the wear mechanism of the composites at different conditions. This work thus opens up a new avenue for the value added utilization of a waste like marble dust in tribological applications.

Digitalization and digitization are topics for researchers and manufacturers. Integrating new technologies facilitates the collection of data from a company in real-time and processing them afterwards. In this context, the design and implementation of Maintenance 4.0 have become popular in the literature. Its objective is to minimize downtime, optimize energy consumption, and increase availability, utilization rate, and useful life of machines while ensuring environmental preservation and safety of personnel. Our contribution consists of setting up a specific digitalization methodology for companies wishing to switch to Maintenance 4.0 in order to contribute to sustainable development. The information obtained will be processed to carry out effective interventions to increase the reliability and availability of equipment. A case study of an industrial company was carried out where we implemented this methodology. As a result, we were able to increase the reliability of the machines, which has an impact on the environment by reducing energy consumption and the quantity of plastic waste. On the economic level, this led to an improvement in the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and a reduction in product prices. Thanks to these technologies of digitizing maintenance documents (procedures, machine history, risk prevention) and the quick localization of machine failures, the hard work and risks are reduced.

The abrasive processing of metal products is accompanied by harmful dust emissions into the work area. Exceeding the MPC of dust particles in the work area has a negative impact on the health of working personnel-it leads to occupational diseases of dust etiology. To localize harmful dust emissions when working on grinding machines, there are various dust collectors and their modifications, which allow to deal with harmful dust emissions with different efficiency. The design of the dust collector shrouds may involve connecting to an aspiration system that creates a low-pressure zone in the housing of the shroud, and thereby helps to remove harmful particles released during work. To correctly calculate the costs of air removed by local suction systems, it is necessary to analyze the dust situation and determine the properties of dust aerosols at a specific enterprise. In this work, the analysis of samples of dust particles selected at the grinding site of the plant for the manufacture of metal-cutting and metal tools, as well as technological equipment of LLC Production Company "Russian tool". Obtaining correct and up-to-date data on the size and chemical analysis of dust particles is necessary for the development of an energy-efficient aspiration system, as well as a mathematical model of the movement of dust particles.

The purpose is to solve the problems of cumbersome calculation, low accuracy, poor timeliness, rigid data acquisition, high cost, large volume, and insufficient signal processing capacity of traditional vision sensor (VS) in Ningxia companies. Firstly, this paper designs an embedded smart VS based on advanced RISC machines (ARM) processor. Secondly, it proposes a cost estimation algorithm for power transmission and transformation project (PTTP) based on particle swarm optimization-least squares support vector regression (PSO–LSSVR). Afterward, a cost estimation model of PTTP based on building information modeling (BIM) is proposed. Thirdly, historical cost data of PTTP of a Ningxia company within five years are selected as data samples to verify the accuracy of the PSO-LSSVR estimation algorithm and BIM model. The results show the following: (I) The measurement error of the designed smart VS is less than 4%, with high accuracy, which is suitable for large-scale measurement in the construction site. (II) The error of the PSO-LSSVR algorithm in engineering cost prediction is less than 20%, and the accuracy is higher than that of traditional support vector machine (SVM) and LSSVR algorithms. The optimization effect is remarkable and can be used for the feasibility analysis of PTTPs. (III) The proposed BIM-based PTTP cost estimation model error in the project cost estimation is controlled within 10%. With high accuracy, it can be applied to the PTTP management of Ningxia company. The purpose is to provide important technical support for the upgradation of traditional VS technology and the realization of visual management and rapid cost estimation of PTTP of Ningxia companies.

Introduction. The article deals with the development of a device for evaluating technical condition on of volumetric hydraulic drives made in Russia and abroad at repair and service centres. Materials and Methods. The study uses the statements of theoretical mechanics and hydrodynamics, the basic principles of mechanisms and machines production. For technical condition evaluating of volumetric hydraulic drives, the method of hydraulic loading of hydraulic motor was applied. Reliability of results was confirmed during experimental settings of the hydraulic loading device stand. Results. A stand design with the hydraulic loading device was developed and put into practice for new technical condition evaluating of volumetric hydraulic drives, made in Russia and abroad, at repair and service centres. A property of the stand is the use of the hydraulic loading method when the torque (braking) moment on the shaft of the tested hydraulic rotor is created using a hydraulic machine. The stand consists of data processing and measurement units. The data processing unit is based on a multifunctional data acquisition board connected with a personal computer. The structure of the data measurement unit includes a frequency converter connected to an electric motor, a drive shaft for connecting the shaft of the tested hydraulic pump; hydraulic system having a hydraulic tank; suction, control, drain, and discharge lines and reversible flow chokes installed in discharge lines and connected with the hydraulic pump and hydraulic rotor; loading device with the reversible hydraulic pump, drive shaft joined with the shaft of the tested hydraulic motor. Additionally, reversible throttle flow meters are connected via special ports and electric lines to the data acquisition board. The developed stand allows evaluating the technical condition of most widespread models of volumetric hydraulic drives used in modern agricultural and road construction equipment. The stand is characterized by good energy efficiency, simplicity of design, low costs, good technical characteristics that make it competitive. Discussion and Conclusion. The new stand design with the hydraulic loading device allows implementating of the dynamic testing methodology and guarantees high accuracy of evaluating the technical condition of the most widespread Russian and foreign volumetric hydraulic drives at repair and service centres. Further improvement of the evaluating the technical condition of volumetric hydraulic drives is related to the development of specialized software for processing and analysing test results in real-time.

Currently, there are practically no mechanization tools on the market that combine grass removal (mowing) and the levelling loosening of the upper soil layer, while cutting the root systems contained in the soil in one pass. The purpose of the study was to provide a theoretical rationale of the modifi ed design of the working tool of the combined rotary mower, as well as to conduct its laboratory and fi eld studies. Complex theoretical, laboratory and fi eld studies were carried out using the equipment of the Department of Technological and Transport Machines and Complexes, the Department of Technology of Processing and Storage of Agricultural Products of Tver State Agricultural Academy and recognized methods of experimental research. In the course of theoretical studies, the main parameters of the new working tool were determined, which enabled two technological processes to be carried out in one pass: grass mowing and cutting with loosening of the top soil layer (0…10 cm). On the basis of the obtained data, a workable model of the working tool was designed. When tested in laboratory conditions, regardless of the operating modes and the initial state of the cultivated soil, improved agrophysical properties were observed in terms of absolute humidity and saturation with root residues. It was found that the most optimal level of absolute humidity for the impact of the working tool on soils of light-loamy granulometric composition was 20%, while the best structural and density indicators were observed at all values of soil saturation with root residues; thgey averaged 2.24 units and 1.26 g/cm3. It has been established that at low operating speeds, it is advisable to use a higher rotation speed of the working tool (at 150 rpm), at the same time, with an increase in speed, the speed of rotation should be reduced (to 110 rpm). As a result of fi eld experiments, convincing data were obtained on the feasibility of using a new working tool that provides eff ective mowing of grassland vegetation (the purity of the stem cut is 95.6%) and loosening of the surface layer of the soil (0…10 cm), increasing the structural coeffi cient by 26.8% while optimizing the density and grinding of root systems. The next stages of the study include developing and manufacturing a workable design of a combined rotary mower prototype that ensures the optimal energy intensity of performance and the required quality of technological processes.

A key challenge for neural modeling is to explain how a continuous stream of multimodal input from a rapidly changing environment can be processed by stereotypical recurrent circuits of integrate-and-fire neurons in real time. We propose a new computational model for real-time computing on time-varying input that provides an alternative to paradigms based on Turing machines or attractor neural networks. It does not require a task-dependent construction of neural circuits. Instead, it is based on principles of high-dimensional dynamical systems in combination with statistical learning theory and can be implemented on generic evolved or found recurrent circuitry. It is shown that the inherent transient dynamics of the high-dimensional dynamical system formed by a sufficiently large and heterogeneous neural circuit may serve as universal analog fading memory. Readout neurons can learn to extract in real time from the current state of such recurrent neural circuit information about current and past inputs that may be needed for diverse tasks. Stable internal states are not required for giving a stable output, since transient internal states can be transformed by readout neurons into stable target outputs due to the high dimensionality of the dynamical system. Our approach is based on a rigorous computational model, the liquid state machine, that, unlike Turing machines, does not require sequential transitions between well-defined discrete internal states. It is supported, as the Turing machine is, by rigorous mathematical results that predict universal computational power under idealized conditions, but for the biologically more realistic scenario of real-time processing of time-varying inputs. Our approach provides new perspectives for the interpretation of neural coding, the design of experiments and data analysis in neurophysiology, and the solution of problems in robotics and neurotechnology.

The accurate measurement and modeling of ferromagnetic material losses are vital issues during the design and analysis of electrical machines. Higher loss values can describe the manufactured rotor and stator machine plates better than the catalog data obtained by standardized measurements using the Epstein frame. In this paper, different temperature-dependent models based on the loss-separation principle are introduced and compared with the measurements. The model parameters are computed from customized laboratory and standardized measurements. The customized measurements based on the stator part of an induction machine in the range of the automotive industry standard, i.e., in [−40 °C, ⋯, 180 °C]. The proposed model and measurement process can be used in the post-processing stage of numerical field analysis to obtain electromagnetic losses according to the agreement between measured and simulated results. During a numerically expensive optimization process, this model can be used to consider the temperature dependence of the losses more accurately. The study shows that more than 50% of loss increase can be measured, compared with the catalog data, if we use the manufactured, stator-based, customized measurements based on the estimation of the iron loss parameters.

The advantages of autogenerator displacement transducers in track control systems of metal – cutting machines, industrial robots, robotic complexes and flexible automated productions, such as high speed and durability of control systems, as well as their disadvantages-the lack of sufficiently complete accuracy characteristics, which affects the efficiency of equipment with track control systems, are considered. Formulated the research problem and described a special experimental setup, which studied the sensitivity of the self displacement transducers three types based on their mutual arrangement and screens of various metals (iron, steel 45, steel St3, 12KH18N10T steel, brass, dural and copper), as well as the conditions of their operation depending on the positioning of screens. The results of experimental data processing are presented, and any dependence of sensitivity on the screen material is not established. The assumption about the randomness and insignificance of the revealed differences is put forward and verified, and it is shown by the Cochran criterion that they are rightfully considered insignificant with a reliability of at least 95 %. The influence of power supply voltage fluctuations in the network on the accuracy characteristics of auto-generator displacement converters is studied and the results of the research are presented. A statistical test was carried out using the student’s criterion, which showed the absence of this influence on the accuracy characteristics. It is noted that hysteresis occurs during the operation of autogenerator displacement transducers and it is experimentally established that in most cases it increases with the transition from a diamagnetic screen to a ferromagnetic one. It is proposed to use the results of the research of precision characteristics in the design and efficient operation of the system limit control on the basis of self converters of displacements of the considered types, addressing issues about the need to use the voltage regulator when selecting screen material, etc.

PurposeThis research aims to introduce a new methodology for integration between urban design strategies and supervised machine learning (SML) method – by applying both energy engineering modeling (evaluating phase) for the existing green sidewalks and statistical energy modeling (predicting phase) for the new ones – to offer algorithms that help to catch the optimum morphology of green sidewalks, in case of high quality of the outdoor thermal comfort and less errors in results.Design/methodology/approachThe tools of the study are the way of processing by SML, predicting the future based on the past. Machine learning is benefited from Python advantages. The structure of the study consisted of two main parts, as the majority of the similar studies follow: engineering energy modeling and statistical energy modeling. According to the concept of the study, at first, from 2268 models, some are randomly selected, simulated and sensitively analyzed by ENVI-met. Furthermore, the Envi-met output as the quantity of thermal comfort – predicted mean vote (PMV) and weather items are inputs of Python. Then, the formed data set is processed by SML, to reach the final reliable predicted output.FindingsThe process of SML leads the study to find thermal comfort of current models and other similar sidewalks. The results are evaluated by both PMV mathematical model and SML error evaluation functions. The results confirm that the average of the occurred error is about 1%. Then the method of study is reliable to apply in the variety of similar fields. Finding of this study can be helpful in perspective of the sustainable architecture strategies in the buildings and urban scales, to determine, monitor and control energy-based behaviors (thermal comfort, heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation) in operational phase of the systems (existed elements in buildings, and constructions) and the planning and designing phase of the future built cases – all over their life spans.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations of the study are related to the study variables and alternatives that are notable impact on the findings. Furthermore, the most trustable input data will result in the more accuracy in output. Then modeling and simulation processes are most significant part of the research to reach the exact results in the final step.Practical implicationsFinding of the study can be helpful in urban design strategies. By finding outdoor thermal comfort that resulted from machine learning method, urban and landscape designers, policymakers and architects are able to estimate the features of their designs in air quality and urban health and can be sure in catching design goals in case of thermal comfort in urban atmosphere.Social implicationsBy 2030, cities are delved as living spaces for about three out of five people. As green infrastructures influence in moderating the cities’ climate, the relationship between green spaces and habitants’ thermal comfort is deduced. Although the strategies to outside thermal comfort improvement, by design methods and applicants, are not new subject to discuss, applying machines that may be common in predicting results can be called as a new insight in applying more effective design strategies and in urban environment’s comfort preparation. Then study’s footprint in social implications stems in learning from the previous projects and developing more efficient strategies to prepare cities as the more comfortable and healthy places to live, with the more efficient models and consuming money and time.Originality/valueThe study achievements are expected to be applied not only in Tehran but also in other climate zones as the pattern in more eco-city design strategies. Although some similar studies are done in different majors, the concept of study is new vision in urban studies.

Purpose In academic work, it is important to identify a specific domain of research. Many researchers may look to conference issues to determine interesting or new topics. Furthermore, conference issues can help researchers identify current research trends in their field and learn about cutting-edge developments in their area of specialization. However, so much conference information is published online that it can be difficult to navigate and analyze in a meaningful or productive way. Hence, the use of knowledge management (KM) could be a way to resolve these issues. In KM, ontology is widely adopted, but most ontology construction methods do not consider social information between target users. Therefore, this study aims to propose a novel method of constructing research topic maps using an open directory project (ODP) and social information. Design/methodology/approach The approach is to incorporate conference information (i.e. title, keywords and abstract) as sources and to consider the ways in which social information automatically produces research topic maps. The methodology can be divided into four modules: data collection, element extraction, social information analysis and visualization. The data collection module collects the required conference data from the internet and performs pre-processing. Then, the element extraction module extracts topics, associations and other basic elements of topic maps while considering social information. Finally, the results will be shown in the visualization module for researchers to browse and search. Findings The results of this study propose three main findings. First, creating topic maps with the ODP category information can help capture a richer set of classification associations. Second, social information should be considered when constructing topic maps. This study includes the relationship among different authors and topics to support information in social networks. By considering social information, such as co-authorship/collaborator, this method helps researchers find research topics that are unfamiliar but interesting or potential cooperative opportunities in the future. Third, this study presents topic maps that show a clear and simple pathway in interested domain knowledge. Research limitations implications First, this study analyzes and collects conference information, including the titles, keywords and abstracts of conference papers, so the data set must include all of the abovementioned information. Second, social information only analyzes co-authorship associations (collabship associations); other social information could be extracted in the future study. Third, this study only analyzes the associations between topics. The intensity of associations is not discussed in the study. Originality/value The study will have a great impact on learned societies because it bridges the gap between theory and practice. The study is useful for researchers who want to know which conferences are related to their research. Moreover, social networks can help researchers expand and diversify their research.

Abrasive reinforced wheels in combination with the use of manual and stationary grinding machines are widely used in construction and installation work and are among the most common types of hand tools. Domestic and foreign manufacturers of abrasive tools offer products for cutting, cleaning and grinding operations with different design and physical and mechanical properties for processing various materials. The optimal choice of technological and technical parameters of machines, combined with the correct selection of the required abrasive working tool, allows to reduce labor intensity and increase productivity and quality of work with the desired effect [1 ... 4]. It should be noted that the work of such machines is often carried out in an awkward position, at the cost of large additional and unreasonable efforts at high speeds of operations. The process of working with manual grinding machines (including those with abrasive reinforced wheels) has a number of features, they include: instability of the supply in size and direction; continuous change within the allowable power of the drive intensity of the work process; limiting the forces arising at the point of contact of the working tool (abrasive reinforced circle) with the working environment, both the power of the drive and the individual physiological data of the operator. The task of improving working conditions, improving the efficiency of the use of machines for construction and installation work and ensuring the safe operation of the operator requires a comprehensive assessment of the production environment of operators, taking into account the principles of ergonomics. With a clear shortage of manpower during construction and installation and repair work, such a factor in increasing labor productivity as maximum use of labor resources through the creation of comfortable working conditions and the involvement of ergonomically sound tools and its mode of operation can no longer be ignored. -ся. The analysis carried out by the authors [5, 6] of interaction in the system "operator - machine - working environment" when working with angle grinders equipped with cutting and cleaning abrasive reinforced working bodies shows a close relationship between the load on the working body and effort which are perceived by the machine operator, due to the significant influence of the operating parameters. Determining the load on the working body, based on technological conditions is an urgent task, as in the process of abrasive reinforced wheels torque on the spindle and rotation of the working body is created by the drive of the machine, and all other functions - longitudinal and transverse feed, maintenance of the car and general management - are carried out by the operator. When working with hand grinders, the operator can hold it in any position and ensure a sufficiently precise feed direction of the wheel.

The tasks of production preparing along the route of operations are solved in the structure of the working machines systems, which is determined by the synthesis method on the basis of its information display in the initial blanks structure. Be subjected to conversion various functionally uniform elements of the corresponding parts or assembly units, provided with technological parameters of design quality, are sequentially redistribute in the structure of the initial blanks along the route of operations. For the synthesis of the structure of the initial blanks, the methods of system technology are used, and for the decomposition — the methods of cutting. Three technological schemes are included in the structure of systems of working machines as elements: for basing initial blanks and blanks in working machines; for basing the shape elements be subjected to conversion into working machines and their geometric formation on working machines; for basing parts and assembly units into construction products. In the structure of the working machines systems a closed technological circuit is defined, which is necessary for calculating the design accuracy of the closing links. This contour is defined on the basis of updated concepts connected in a strict hierarchical system, functionally different methods, corresponding means, operations and algorithms for transforming knowledge of the subject area. Everything that is used to define this contour is included in the composition of the technological element base. Finally, the technological preparation of production ensures products of a given design quality via control of the initial blanks parameters for parts or assemble units. Keywords technological preparation of production; cutting processing; system analysis; information technology; solutions modeling; systems technology

This paper proposes the design and construction of a didactic vending machine, students pretend to be immersed in a work with delivery date as many companies that work for projects do. The project of vending machine to be developed will have as parameters that dispatch four different products, with a control panel, a 16 x 2 LCD screen which shows the cost of the chosen product or product, will have to give change and its data processing is via Arduino, a 3D simulation is carried out to ensure the compatibility of all components, an innovation presented by the prototype to be developed is that it sends a text message when a product is about to run out, with the product description, the number of machine and its location, this provides the supplier with better control over their large-scale machines. A comprehensive financial investment analysis is performed to ensure the viability of the project.

Background: The lengthy and expensive process of developing a novel medicine often takes many years and entails a significant financial burden due to its poor success rate. Furthermore, the processing and analysis of quickly expanding massive data necessitate the use of cutting-edge methodologies. As a result, Artificial Intelligence-driven methods that have been shown to improve the efficiency and accuracy of drug discovery have grown in favor. Objective: The goal of this thorough analysis is to provide an overview of the drug discovery and development timeline, various approaches of drug design, and the use of Artificial Intelligence in many aspects of drug discovery. Methods: Traditional drug development approaches and their disadvantages are explored, followed by an introduction to AI-based technology. Also, advanced methods used in Machine Learning and Deep Learning are examined in detail. A few examples of big data research that has transformed the field of medication discovery have also been presented. Also covered are the many databases, toolkits, and software available for constructing Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning models, as well as some standard model evaluation parameters. Finally, recent advances and uses of Machine Learning and Deep Learning in drug discovery are thoroughly examined, along with their limitations and future potential. Conclusion: Artificial Intelligence-based technologies enhance decision-making by utilizing the abundantly available high-quality data, and thereby, reduce the time and cost involved in the process. We anticipate that this review would be useful to researchers interested in Artificial Intelligence-based drug development.

The multifunctional CREDO complex of is aimed to provide automated data processing in geodetic works, engineering surveys, data preparation for GIS, creation of digital terrain models, automated design of roads. In the article, you can find main features and functionality of common CREDO software products for the construction projects design. CREDO software for road construction projects allow implementing an effective technological chain of work: from the preparation of initial data for design to the transfer of design solutions to the construction site, including 3D-systems for automatic control of road construction machines. CREDO ROADS software can be supplemented with modules – RAMPS, TRAFFIC ORGANIZATION, SETTLEMENT, ROADS ASSESSMENT of. Solution of additional and special tasks is provided by applications: CREDO RADON, CREDO TRAFFIC, CREDO SIGN, GRIS, MORFOSTVOR and SLOPE. The article highlights the possibility of high quality, fast and accurate calculation of the volume of work to perform the project of road repair and reconstruction. This feature of the software is the most relevant for Ukraine in terms of the huge scale of the planned works on the restoration of the transport network of the country. In the article, the authors consider the main directions of each of the systems, their functional features and advantages for the design of transport infrastructure. For the convenience of working with the software package and design in a single regulatory space, CREDO systems are fully adapted to the regulatory standards of Ukraine Keywords: road, computer-aided design, tracing, longitudinal profile, traffic management, engineering surveys, repair project, ramps, digital model of the project, road pavement, 3D-systems.

Commissioning of products made of new composite materials significantly reduces the weight of the structure, which is an important indicator in the transport construction and manufacture of special equipment used in agriculture. For example, reducing the weight of the car by 1 kg saves up to 100 liters of fuel per year. Nevertheless, there are problems associated with the measuring of cutting forces associated with the absence of experimental values of a number of coefficients used in calculations. (Research purpose) The research purpose is developing a device for measuring cutting forces and an automated control system for measuring, transmission and storage of data. (Materials and methods) The solution to this problem was constructed on the basis of the method of reengineering the existing dynamometer design with the introduction of undocumented capabilities of the dynamometer base to determine the cutting forces at all three coordinates Px, Py, Pz and the torque that occurs during cutting. (Results and discussion) The article presents the polymer material and the additive technology used to manufacture the dynamometer. The method of selection of deformation control sensors was substantiated and a methodology for setting up and calibrating the data collection and control system was described. The article presents an automated control system for measuring cutting forces, processing, transmitting and storing information. (Conclusions) The experimental and industrial studies of dynamometer designs made it possible to develop a cheap device for measuring cutting forces with an automated control system for monitoring, transmission and storage, which makes it possible to optimize production, and save equipment and tool resources.

Разработана методика, позволяющая устанавливать эффективность работы комплекса машин для сбора и транспортировки лесосечных отходов. Такая методика является универсальной при определении производительности комплекса машин, связанная с ее адаптацией к различным технологиям, технологическим и конструктивным особенностям базового шасси и оборудования. В результате проведения оценки эффективности применения таких машин получены данные, на основании которых даны рекомендации по дальнейшему совершенствованию конструкции и рациональном использовании такого вида техники в различных природно-производственных условиях. Основными технологическими параметрами, влияющими на существенное изменение производительности машин для сбора и транспортировки лесосечных отходов, являются технологии заготовки древесины и ликвидный запас. Осуществляя заготовку лесосечных отходов после разработки лесосеки бензиномоторными пилами, можно достигнуть наибольшей производительности работы комплекса машин. Из технических особенностей значительно влияющих на эффективность работы комплекса машин являются ширина захвата технологического оборудования для формирования куч или вала и степень уплотнения лесосечных отходов в полуприцепе машины для транспортировки отходов. A methodology has been developed to ensure the efficient operation of a set of machines for collecting and transporting logging waste. This technique is universal in relation to various technologies, as well as to the technological and design features of basic equipment and equipment. As a result of the evaluation of the effectiveness of the use of such machines, data were obtained based on recommendations for the further improvement of the design and the rational use of this type of equipment in various environmental and production conditions. The main technological parameters affecting a significant change in the productivity of machines for collecting and transporting logging waste are wood harvesting technologies and liquid stock. By harvesting logging waste after developing the cutting area with gasoline-powered saws, one can achieve the greatest productivity of the machine complex. Of the technical features significantly affecting the efficiency of the complex of machines are the width of the processing equipment for the formation of heaps or the shaft and the degree of compaction of logging waste in the semi-trailer machine for transporting waste.

В сравнении с другими технологическими операциями оцилиндровка бревен самая ответственная, трудоемкая и энергоемкая технологическая операция, определяющая внешний вид готового изделия и его качество. В настоящее время в ведущих в этой области странах постоянно совершенствуются процессы оцилиндровки бревен, режимы обработки и режущие инструменты. В связи с этим исследование влияния параметров режущего инструмента и режима резания на мощностные и качественные показатели оцилиндровки бревен, следует считать актуальными. В задачи экспериментальных исследований входило изучение влияния параметров резцов и режима резания на мощностные и качественные показатели оцилиндровки бревен резанием; установление связи характера стружкообразования. В настоящей статье приведены результаты экспериментальных опытов и методика их выполнения, описана конструкция опытного узла резания, установленного на суппорте экспериментальной установки, приведены графические схемы и технические характеристики. Данная конструкция обеспечивает четыре степени свободы для резца, что позволяет ориентировать лезвие в пространстве и получать углы, необходимые для проведения экспериментов. Державка имеет два поворотных плоских шарнира с лимбами, а также устройство для поворота режущей кромки на требуемые углы скоса и положения резца. При проведении опытов в соответствии с методической сеткой определялась зависимость мощности на резание от основных режимных и инструментальных факторов при оцилиндровке сосновых и еловых бревен с влажностью 30%. Опыты выполнялись на основе методики однофакторного эксперимента. Результаты подвергались статистической обработке, в последующем обработка полученных данных производилась графическим методом с выявлением степенных зависимостей. На основе зависимостей мощности резания от основных факторов авторами были получены частные и общие зависимости мощности резания. В режущей охватывающей головке позиционного оцилиндровочного станка должны быть две группы ножей: ножи для черновой обработки и ножи для чистовой обработки. Основными доминирующими факторами, влияющими на мощность резания при оцилиндровке бревен черновыми резцами, являются подача на резец, главный угол в плане, угол скоса резца. Для чистовых резцов при равных прочих условиях доминирующим фактором является угол наклона режущей кромки резца. С увеличением подачи на резец в пределах от 0,2 до 0,6 мм/об, мощность резания при оцилиндровке черновыми резцами возрастает. С увеличением главного в плане чернового резца мощность резания уменьшается. С увеличением угла скоса чернового резца мощность резания возрастает. Для обеспечения нормальных условий оцилиндровки бревен многорезцовым инструментом в виде охватывающей роторной головки, в практике на позиционных станках рекомендуются следующие значения для черновых резцов: Sz = S0 = 0,4÷0,6 мм/об; φ = 50÷60°; ε = 15÷20°, резцы острые (ρ = 10–15 мкм), материал резцов – быстрорежущая сталь P9, P18. Резцы: цельные или оснащенные пластинками из быстрорежущей стали. Для обеспечения нормальных условий резания и требуемого качества поверхности обработки угол наклона чистовых острых резцов рекомендуется в пределах 20–30°. In comparison with other technological operations roundup of logs the most responsible, heavy and power-intensive technological work defining appearance of finished product and its quality. Now in the countries conducting in this area processes of roundup of logs, processing conditions and cutting instruments constantly are improved. In this regard a research of influence of parameters of a cutting instrument and cutting mode on power and quality indicators of roundup of logs, it is necessary to consider urgent. Entered problems of the pilot studies: studying of influence of parameters of cutters and a cutting mode on power and quality indicators of roundup of logs cutting; establishment of communication of character of a cutting. Results of the experimental experiences and technique of their realization are given in this article, the design of experienced knot of the cutting established on a support of the pilot unit is described graphic schemes and principal specifications are provided. This design provides four degree of freedoms for a cutter that allows to focus an edge in space and to receive corners necessary for carrying out experiments. The chuck has two rotary flat hinges with limbuses, and also the device for turn of a trimming blade on the required rake angles and provisions of a cutter. When carrying out experiences according to a methodical grid dependence of power was defined on cutting from the major regime and instrumental factors at roundup of pine and fir-tree logs with humidity of 30%. Experiences were carried out on the basis of a technique of a one-factorial experiment. Results were exposed to statistical processing, in subsequent processing of the obtained data was made by a graphic method with identification of exponential laws. On the basis of dependences of power of cutting on major factors we received private and common dependences of power of cutting. In the cutting covering head of the positional machine, there have to be two groups of knives: knives for roughing and knives for smoothing. The major dominating factors influencing cutting power at roundup of logs draft cutters are: giving on a cutter, the main corner in the plan, a cutter rake angle. For fair cutters under equal other conditions the dominating factor is the slope angle of a trimming blade of a cutter. With increase in giving at a cutter ranging from 0,2 to 0,6 mm/cycle, cutting power at roundup by draft cutters increases. With increase in the main thing in respect of a draft cutter the power of cutting decreases. With increase in a rake angle of a draft cutter the power of cutting increases. For providing standard conditions of roundup of logs with the many knifes tool in the form of the covering rotor head, in practice on positional machines the following values for draft cutters are recommended: Sz = S0 = 0,4÷0,6 mm/cycle; φ = 50÷60 °; ε = 15÷20°, cutters sharp (ρ = 10–15 microns), material of cutters – quick cutting steel (R9, R18). Cutters: integral or equipped with plates from quick cutting steel. For providing standard conditions of cutting and the required quality of a surface of processing, the slope angle of fair sharp cutters is recommended within 20÷30°.

We study stochastic optimization problems with objective function given by the expectation of the maximum of two linear functions defined on the component random variables of a multivariate Gaussian distribution. We consider random variables that are arbitrarily correlated, and we show that the problem is NP-hard even if the space of feasible solutions is unconstrained. We exploit a closed-form expression for the objective function from the literature to construct a cutting-plane algorithm for a highly nonlinear function, which includes the evaluation of the cumulative distribution function and probability density function of a standard normal random variable with decision variables as part of the arguments. To exhibit the model’s applicability, we consider two featured applications. The first is daily fantasy sports, where the algorithm identifies entries with positive returns during the 2018–2019 National Football League season. The second is a special case of makespan minimization for two parallel machines and jobs with uncertain processing times; for the special case where the jobs are uncorrelated, we prove the equivalence between its deterministic and stochastic versions and show that our algorithm can deliver a constant-factor approximation guarantee for the problem. The results of our computational evaluation involving synthetic and real-world data suggest that our discretization and upper bounding techniques lead to significant computational improvements and that the proposed algorithm outperforms suboptimal solutions approaches. History: Andrea Lodi, Area Editor for Design & Analysis of Algorithms-Discrete. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/ijoc.2022.1259 .

Purpose The purpose of the research work is to focus on the deployment of wearable sensors in addressing symptom Analysis in the Internet of Things (IoT) environment to reduce human interaction in this epidemic circumstances. Design/methodology/approach COVID-19 pandemic has distracted the world into an unaccustomed situation in the recent past. The pandemic has pulled us toward data harnessing and focused on the digital framework to monitor the COVID-19 cases seriously, as there is an urge to detect the disease, wearable sensors aided in predicting the incidence of COVID-19. This COVID-19 has initiated many technologies like cloud computing, edge computing, IoT devices, artificial intelligence. The deployment of sensor devices has tremendously increased. Similarly, IoT applications have witnessed many innovations in addressing the COVID-19 crisis. State-of-the-art focuses on IoT factors and symptom features deploying wearable sensors for predicting the COVID-19 cases. The working model incorporates wearable devices, clinical therapy, monitoring the symptom, testing suspected cases and elements of IoT. The present research sermonizes on symptom analysis and risk factors that influence the coronavirus by acknowledging the respiration rate and oxygen saturation (SpO2). Experiments were proposed to carry out with chi-Square distribution with independent measures t-Test. Findings IoT devices today play a vital role in analyzing COVID-19 cases effectively. The research work incorporates wearable sensors, human interpretation and Web server, statistical analysis with IoT factors, data management and clinical therapy. The research is initiated with data collection from wearable sensors, data retrieval from the cloud server, pre-processing and categorizing based on age and gender information. IoT devices contribute to tracking and monitoring the patients for prerequisites. The suspected cases are tested based on symptom factors such as temperature, oxygen level (SPO2), respiratory rate variation and continuous investigation, and these demographic factors are taken for analyzed based on the gender and age factors of the collected data with the IoT factors thus presenting a cutting edge construction design in clinical trials. Originality/value The contemporary study comprehends 238 data through wearable sensors and transmitted through an IoT gateway to the cloud server. Few data are considered as outliers and discarded for analysis. Only 208 data are contemplated for statistical examination. These filtered data are proclaimed using chi-square distribution with t-test measure correlating the IoT factors. The research also interprets the demographic features that induce IoT factors using alpha and beta parameters showing the equal variance with the degree of freedom (df = 206).

There is no diagram that does not also include, besides the points it connects up, certain relatively free or unbounded points, points of creativity, change and resistance, and it is perhaps with these that we ought to begin in order to understand the whole picture. (Deleuze, “Foucault” 37) Monty Cantsin: Why do we use a pervert software robot to exploit our collective consensual mind? Letitia: Because we want the thief to be a digital entity. Monty Cantsin: But isn’t this really blasphemic? Letitia: Yes, but god – in our case a meta-cocktail of authorship and copyright – can not be trusted anymore. (Amazon Noir, “Dialogue”) In 2006, some 3,000 digital copies of books were silently “stolen” from online retailer Amazon.com by targeting vulnerabilities in the “Search inside the Book” feature from the company’s website. Over several weeks, between July and October, a specially designed software program bombarded the Search Inside!™ interface with multiple requests, assembling full versions of texts and distributing them across peer-to-peer networks (P2P). Rather than a purely malicious and anonymous hack, however, the “heist” was publicised as a tactical media performance, Amazon Noir, produced by self-proclaimed super-villains Paolo Cirio, Alessandro Ludovico, and Ubermorgen.com. While controversially directed at highlighting the infrastructures that materially enforce property rights and access to knowledge online, the exploit additionally interrogated its own interventionist status as theoretically and politically ambiguous. That the “thief” was represented as a digital entity or machinic process (operating on the very terrain where exchange is differentiated) and the emergent act of “piracy” was fictionalised through the genre of noir conveys something of the indeterminacy or immensurability of the event. In this short article, I discuss some political aspects of intellectual property in relation to the complexities of Amazon Noir, particularly in the context of control, technological action, and discourses of freedom. Software, Piracy As a force of distribution, the Internet is continually subject to controversies concerning flows and permutations of agency. While often directed by discourses cast in terms of either radical autonomy or control, the technical constitution of these digital systems is more regularly a case of establishing structures of operation, codified rules, or conditions of possibility; that is, of guiding social processes and relations (McKenzie, “Cutting Code” 1-19). Software, as a medium through which such communication unfolds and becomes organised, is difficult to conceptualise as a result of being so event-orientated. There lies a complicated logic of contingency and calculation at its centre, a dimension exacerbated by the global scale of informational networks, where the inability to comprehend an environment that exceeds the limits of individual experience is frequently expressed through desires, anxieties, paranoia. Unsurprisingly, cautionary accounts and moral panics on identity theft, email fraud, pornography, surveillance, hackers, and computer viruses are as commonplace as those narratives advocating user interactivity. When analysing digital systems, cultural theory often struggles to describe forces that dictate movement and relations between disparate entities composed by code, an aspect heightened by the intensive movement of informational networks where differences are worked out through the constant exposure to unpredictability and chance (Terranova, “Communication beyond Meaning”). Such volatility partially explains the recent turn to distribution in media theory, as once durable networks for constructing economic difference – organising information in space and time (“at a distance”), accelerating or delaying its delivery – appear contingent, unstable, or consistently irregular (Cubitt 194). Attributing actions to users, programmers, or the software itself is a difficult task when faced with these states of co-emergence, especially in the context of sharing knowledge and distributing media content. Exchanges between corporate entities, mainstream media, popular cultural producers, and legal institutions over P2P networks represent an ongoing controversy in this respect, with numerous stakeholders competing between investments in property, innovation, piracy, and publics. Beginning to understand this problematic landscape is an urgent task, especially in relation to the technological dynamics that organised and propel such antagonisms. In the influential fragment, “Postscript on the Societies of Control,” Gilles Deleuze describes the historical passage from modern forms of organised enclosure (the prison, clinic, factory) to the contemporary arrangement of relational apparatuses and open systems as being materially provoked by – but not limited to – the mass deployment of networked digital technologies. In his analysis, the disciplinary mode most famously described by Foucault is spatially extended to informational systems based on code and flexibility. According to Deleuze, these cybernetic machines are connected into apparatuses that aim for intrusive monitoring: “in a control-based system nothing’s left alone for long” (“Control and Becoming” 175). Such a constant networking of behaviour is described as a shift from “molds” to “modulation,” where controls become “a self-transmuting molding changing from one moment to the next, or like a sieve whose mesh varies from one point to another” (“Postscript” 179). Accordingly, the crisis underpinning civil institutions is consistent with the generalisation of disciplinary logics across social space, forming an intensive modulation of everyday life, but one ambiguously associated with socio-technical ensembles. The precise dynamics of this epistemic shift are significant in terms of political agency: while control implies an arrangement capable of absorbing massive contingency, a series of complex instabilities actually mark its operation. Noise, viral contamination, and piracy are identified as key points of discontinuity; they appear as divisions or “errors” that force change by promoting indeterminacies in a system that would otherwise appear infinitely calculable, programmable, and predictable. The rendering of piracy as a tactic of resistance, a technique capable of levelling out the uneven economic field of global capitalism, has become a predictable catch-cry for political activists. In their analysis of multitude, for instance, Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt describe the contradictions of post-Fordist production as conjuring forth a tendency for labour to “become common.” That is, as productivity depends on flexibility, communication, and cognitive skills, directed by the cultivation of an ideal entrepreneurial or flexible subject, the greater the possibilities for self-organised forms of living that significantly challenge its operation. In this case, intellectual property exemplifies such a spiralling paradoxical logic, since “the infinite reproducibility central to these immaterial forms of property directly undermines any such construction of scarcity” (Hardt and Negri 180). The implications of the filesharing program Napster, accordingly, are read as not merely directed toward theft, but in relation to the private character of the property itself; a kind of social piracy is perpetuated that is viewed as radically recomposing social resources and relations. Ravi Sundaram, a co-founder of the Sarai new media initiative in Delhi, has meanwhile drawn attention to the existence of “pirate modernities” capable of being actualised when individuals or local groups gain illegitimate access to distributive media technologies; these are worlds of “innovation and non-legality,” of electronic survival strategies that partake in cultures of dispersal and escape simple classification (94). Meanwhile, pirate entrepreneurs Magnus Eriksson and Rasmus Fleische – associated with the notorious Piratbyrn – have promoted the bleeding away of Hollywood profits through fully deployed P2P networks, with the intention of pushing filesharing dynamics to an extreme in order to radicalise the potential for social change (“Copies and Context”). From an aesthetic perspective, such activist theories are complemented by the affective register of appropriation art, a movement broadly conceived in terms of antagonistically liberating knowledge from the confines of intellectual property: “those who pirate and hijack owned material, attempting to free information, art, film, and music – the rhetoric of our cultural life – from what they see as the prison of private ownership” (Harold 114). These “unruly” escape attempts are pursued through various modes of engagement, from experimental performances with legislative infrastructures (i.e. Kembrew McLeod’s patenting of the phrase “freedom of expression”) to musical remix projects, such as the work of Negativland, John Oswald, RTMark, Detritus, Illegal Art, and the Evolution Control Committee. Amazon Noir, while similarly engaging with questions of ownership, is distinguished by specifically targeting information communication systems and finding “niches” or gaps between overlapping networks of control and economic governance. Hans Bernhard and Lizvlx from Ubermorgen.com (meaning ‘Day after Tomorrow,’ or ‘Super-Tomorrow’) actually describe their work as “research-based”: “we not are opportunistic, money-driven or success-driven, our central motivation is to gain as much information as possible as fast as possible as chaotic as possible and to redistribute this information via digital channels” (“Interview with Ubermorgen”). This has led to experiments like Google Will Eat Itself (2005) and the construction of the automated software thief against Amazon.com, as process-based explorations of technological action. Agency, Distribution Deleuze’s “postscript” on control has proven massively influential for new media art by introducing a series of key questions on power (or desire) and digital networks. As a social diagram, however, control should be understood as a partial rather than totalising map of relations, referring to the augmentation of disciplinary power in specific technological settings. While control is a conceptual regime that refers to open-ended terrains beyond the architectural locales of enclosure, implying a move toward informational networks, data solicitation, and cybernetic feedback, there remains a peculiar contingent dimension to its limits. For example, software code is typically designed to remain cycling until user input is provided. There is a specifically immanent and localised quality to its actions that might be taken as exemplary of control as a continuously modulating affective materialism. The outcome is a heightened sense of bounded emergencies that are either flattened out or absorbed through reconstitution; however, these are never linear gestures of containment. As Tiziana Terranova observes, control operates through multilayered mechanisms of order and organisation: “messy local assemblages and compositions, subjective and machinic, characterised by different types of psychic investments, that cannot be the subject of normative, pre-made political judgments, but which need to be thought anew again and again, each time, in specific dynamic compositions” (“Of Sense and Sensibility” 34). This event-orientated vitality accounts for the political ambitions of tactical media as opening out communication channels through selective “transversal” targeting. Amazon Noir, for that reason, is pitched specifically against the material processes of communication. The system used to harvest the content from “Search inside the Book” is described as “robot-perversion-technology,” based on a network of four servers around the globe, each with a specific function: one located in the United States that retrieved (or “sucked”) the books from the site, one in Russia that injected the assembled documents onto P2P networks and two in Europe that coordinated the action via intelligent automated programs (see “The Diagram”). According to the “villains,” the main goal was to steal all 150,000 books from Search Inside!™ then use the same technology to steal books from the “Google Print Service” (the exploit was limited only by the amount of technological resources financially available, but there are apparent plans to improve the technique by reinvesting the money received through the settlement with Amazon.com not to publicise the hack). In terms of informational culture, this system resembles a machinic process directed at redistributing copyright content; “The Diagram” visualises key processes that define digital piracy as an emergent phenomenon within an open-ended and responsive milieu. That is, the static image foregrounds something of the activity of copying being a technological action that complicates any analysis focusing purely on copyright as content. In this respect, intellectual property rights are revealed as being entangled within information architectures as communication management and cultural recombination – dissipated and enforced by a measured interplay between openness and obstruction, resonance and emergence (Terranova, “Communication beyond Meaning” 52). To understand data distribution requires an acknowledgement of these underlying nonhuman relations that allow for such informational exchanges. It requires an understanding of the permutations of agency carried along by digital entities. According to Lawrence Lessig’s influential argument, code is not merely an object of governance, but has an overt legislative function itself. Within the informational environments of software, “a law is defined, not through a statue, but through the code that governs the space” (20). These points of symmetry are understood as concretised social values: they are material standards that regulate flow. Similarly, Alexander Galloway describes computer protocols as non-institutional “etiquette for autonomous agents,” or “conventional rules that govern the set of possible behavior patterns within a heterogeneous system” (7). In his analysis, these agreed-upon standardised actions operate as a style of management fostered by contradiction: progressive though reactionary, encouraging diversity by striving for the universal, synonymous with possibility but completely predetermined, and so on (243-244). Needless to say, political uncertainties arise from a paradigm that generates internal material obscurities through a constant twinning of freedom and control. For Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, these Cold War systems subvert the possibilities for any actual experience of autonomy by generalising paranoia through constant intrusion and reducing social problems to questions of technological optimisation (1-30). In confrontation with these seemingly ubiquitous regulatory structures, cultural theory requires a critical vocabulary differentiated from computer engineering to account for the sociality that permeates through and concatenates technological realities. In his recent work on “mundane” devices, software and code, Adrian McKenzie introduces a relevant analytic approach in the concept of technological action as something that both abstracts and concretises relations in a diffusion of collective-individual forces. Drawing on the thought of French philosopher Gilbert Simondon, he uses the term “transduction” to identify a key characteristic of technology in the relational process of becoming, or ontogenesis. This is described as bringing together disparate things into composites of relations that evolve and propagate a structure throughout a domain, or “overflow existing modalities of perception and movement on many scales” (“Impersonal and Personal Forces in Technological Action” 201). Most importantly, these innovative diffusions or contagions occur by bridging states of difference or incompatibilities. Technological action, therefore, arises from a particular type of disjunctive relation between an entity and something external to itself: “in making this relation, technical action changes not only the ensemble, but also the form of life of its agent. Abstraction comes into being and begins to subsume or reconfigure existing relations between the inside and outside” (203). Here, reciprocal interactions between two states or dimensions actualise disparate potentials through metastability: an equilibrium that proliferates, unfolds, and drives individuation. While drawing on cybernetics and dealing with specific technological platforms, McKenzie’s work can be extended to describe the significance of informational devices throughout control societies as a whole, particularly as a predictive and future-orientated force that thrives on staged conflicts. Moreover, being a non-deterministic technical theory, it additionally speaks to new tendencies in regimes of production that harness cognition and cooperation through specially designed infrastructures to enact persistent innovation without any end-point, final goal or natural target (Thrift 283-295). Here, the interface between intellectual property and reproduction can be seen as a site of variation that weaves together disparate objects and entities by imbrication in social life itself. These are specific acts of interference that propel relations toward unforeseen conclusions by drawing on memories, attention spans, material-technical traits, and so on. The focus lies on performance, context, and design “as a continual process of tuning arrived at by distributed aspiration” (Thrift 295). This later point is demonstrated in recent scholarly treatments of filesharing networks as media ecologies. Kate Crawford, for instance, describes the movement of P2P as processual or adaptive, comparable to technological action, marked by key transitions from partially decentralised architectures such as Napster, to the fully distributed systems of Gnutella and seeded swarm-based networks like BitTorrent (30-39). Each of these technologies can be understood as a response to various legal incursions, producing radically dissimilar socio-technological dynamics and emergent trends for how agency is modulated by informational exchanges. Indeed, even these aberrant formations are characterised by modes of commodification that continually spillover and feedback on themselves, repositioning markets and commodities in doing so, from MP3s to iPods, P2P to broadband subscription rates. However, one key limitation of this ontological approach is apparent when dealing with the sheer scale of activity involved, where mass participation elicits certain degrees of obscurity and relative safety in numbers. This represents an obvious problem for analysis, as dynamics can easily be identified in the broadest conceptual sense, without any understanding of the specific contexts of usage, political impacts, and economic effects for participants in their everyday consumptive habits. Large-scale distributed ensembles are “problematic” in their technological constitution, as a result. They are sites of expansive overflow that provoke an equivalent individuation of thought, as the Recording Industry Association of America observes on their educational website: “because of the nature of the theft, the damage is not always easy to calculate but not hard to envision” (“Piracy”). The politics of the filesharing debate, in this sense, depends on the command of imaginaries; that is, being able to conceptualise an overarching structural consistency to a persistent and adaptive ecology. As a mode of tactical intervention, Amazon Noir dramatises these ambiguities by framing technological action through the fictional sensibilities of narrative genre. Ambiguity, Control The extensive use of imagery and iconography from “noir” can be understood as an explicit reference to the increasing criminalisation of copyright violation through digital technologies. However, the term also refers to the indistinct or uncertain effects produced by this tactical intervention: who are the “bad guys” or the “good guys”? Are positions like ‘good’ and ‘evil’ (something like freedom or tyranny) so easily identified and distinguished? As Paolo Cirio explains, this political disposition is deliberately kept obscure in the project: “it’s a representation of the actual ambiguity about copyright issues, where every case seems to lack a moral or ethical basis” (“Amazon Noir Interview”). While user communications made available on the site clearly identify culprits (describing the project as jeopardising arts funding, as both irresponsible and arrogant), the self-description of the artists as political “failures” highlights the uncertainty regarding the project’s qualities as a force of long-term social renewal: Lizvlx from Ubermorgen.com had daily shootouts with the global mass-media, Cirio continuously pushed the boundaries of copyright (books are just pixels on a screen or just ink on paper), Ludovico and Bernhard resisted kickback-bribes from powerful Amazon.com until they finally gave in and sold the technology for an undisclosed sum to Amazon. Betrayal, blasphemy and pessimism finally split the gang of bad guys. (“Press Release”) Here, the adaptive and flexible qualities of informatic commodities and computational systems of distribution are knowingly posited as critical limits; in a certain sense, the project fails technologically in order to succeed conceptually. From a cynical perspective, this might be interpreted as guaranteeing authenticity by insisting on the useless or non-instrumental quality of art. However, through this process, Amazon Noir illustrates how forces confined as exterior to control (virality, piracy, noncommunication) regularly operate as points of distinction to generate change and innovation. Just as hackers are legitimately employed to challenge the durability of network exchanges, malfunctions are relied upon as potential sources of future information. Indeed, the notion of demonstrating ‘autonomy’ by illustrating the shortcomings of software is entirely consistent with the logic of control as a modulating organisational diagram. These so-called “circuit breakers” are positioned as points of bifurcation that open up new systems and encompass a more general “abstract machine” or tendency governing contemporary capitalism (Parikka 300). As a consequence, the ambiguities of Amazon Noir emerge not just from the contrary articulation of intellectual property and digital technology, but additionally through the concept of thinking “resistance” simultaneously with regimes of control. This tension is apparent in Galloway’s analysis of the cybernetic machines that are synonymous with the operation of Deleuzian control societies – i.e. “computerised information management” – where tactical media are posited as potential modes of contestation against the tyranny of code, “able to exploit flaws in protocological and proprietary command and control, not to destroy technology, but to sculpt protocol and make it better suited to people’s real desires” (176). While pushing a system into a state of hypertrophy to reform digital architectures might represent a possible technique that produces a space through which to imagine something like “our” freedom, it still leaves unexamined the desire for reformation itself as nurtured by and produced through the coupling of cybernetics, information theory, and distributed networking. This draws into focus the significance of McKenzie’s Simondon-inspired cybernetic perspective on socio-technological ensembles as being always-already predetermined by and driven through asymmetries or difference. As Chun observes, consequently, there is no paradox between resistance and capture since “control and freedom are not opposites, but different sides of the same coin: just as discipline served as a grid on which liberty was established, control is the matrix that enables freedom as openness” (71). Why “openness” should be so readily equated with a state of being free represents a major unexamined presumption of digital culture, and leads to the associated predicament of attempting to think of how this freedom has become something one cannot not desire. If Amazon Noir has political currency in this context, however, it emerges from a capacity to recognise how informational networks channel desire, memories, and imaginative visions rather than just cultivated antagonisms and counterintuitive economics. As a final point, it is worth observing that the project was initiated without publicity until the settlement with Amazon.com. There is, as a consequence, nothing to suggest that this subversive “event” might have actually occurred, a feeling heightened by the abstractions of software entities. To the extent that we believe in “the big book heist,” that such an act is even possible, is a gauge through which the paranoia of control societies is illuminated as a longing or desire for autonomy. As Hakim Bey observes in his conceptualisation of “pirate utopias,” such fleeting encounters with the imaginaries of freedom flow back into the experience of the everyday as political instantiations of utopian hope. Amazon Noir, with all its underlying ethical ambiguities, presents us with a challenge to rethink these affective investments by considering our profound weaknesses to master the complexities and constant intrusions of control. It provides an opportunity to conceive of a future that begins with limits and limitations as immanently central, even foundational, to our deep interconnection with socio-technological ensembles. References “Amazon Noir – The Big Book Crime.” http://www.amazon-noir.com/>. Bey, Hakim. T.A.Z.: The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism. New York: Autonomedia, 1991. Chun, Wendy Hui Kyong. Control and Freedom: Power and Paranoia in the Age of Fibre Optics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006. Crawford, Kate. “Adaptation: Tracking the Ecologies of Music and Peer-to-Peer Networks.” Media International Australia 114 (2005): 30-39. Cubitt, Sean. “Distribution and Media Flows.” Cultural Politics 1.2 (2005): 193-214. Deleuze, Gilles. Foucault. Trans. Seán Hand. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1986. ———. “Control and Becoming.” Negotiations 1972-1990. Trans. Martin Joughin. New York: Columbia UP, 1995. 169-176. ———. “Postscript on the Societies of Control.” Negotiations 1972-1990. Trans. Martin Joughin. New York: Columbia UP, 1995. 177-182. Eriksson, Magnus, and Rasmus Fleische. “Copies and Context in the Age of Cultural Abundance.” Online posting. 5 June 2007. Nettime 25 Aug 2007. Galloway, Alexander. Protocol: How Control Exists after Decentralization. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004. Hardt, Michael, and Antonio Negri. Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire. New York: Penguin Press, 2004. Harold, Christine. OurSpace: Resisting the Corporate Control of Culture. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 2007. Lessig, Lawrence. Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace. New York: Basic Books, 1999. McKenzie, Adrian. Cutting Code: Software and Sociality. New York: Peter Lang, 2006. ———. “The Strange Meshing of Impersonal and Personal Forces in Technological Action.” Culture, Theory and Critique 47.2 (2006): 197-212. Parikka, Jussi. “Contagion and Repetition: On the Viral Logic of Network Culture.” Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organization 7.2 (2007): 287-308. “Piracy Online.” Recording Industry Association of America. 28 Aug 2007. http://www.riaa.com/physicalpiracy.php>. Sundaram, Ravi. “Recycling Modernity: Pirate Electronic Cultures in India.” Sarai Reader 2001: The Public Domain. Delhi, Sarai Media Lab, 2001. 93-99. http://www.sarai.net>. Terranova, Tiziana. “Communication beyond Meaning: On the Cultural Politics of Information.” Social Text 22.3 (2004): 51-73. ———. “Of Sense and Sensibility: Immaterial Labour in Open Systems.” DATA Browser 03 – Curating Immateriality: The Work of the Curator in the Age of Network Systems. Ed. Joasia Krysa. New York: Autonomedia, 2006. 27-38. Thrift, Nigel. “Re-inventing Invention: New Tendencies in Capitalist Commodification.” Economy and Society 35.2 (2006): 279-306. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Dieter, Michael. "Amazon Noir: Piracy, Distribution, Control." M/C Journal 10.5 (2007). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0710/07-dieter.php>. APA Style Dieter, M. (Oct. 2007) "Amazon Noir: Piracy, Distribution, Control," M/C Journal, 10(5). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0710/07-dieter.php>.

A common criticism of the rhythm video games genre — including series like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, is that playing musical simulation games is a waste of time when you could be playing an actual guitar and learning a real skill. A more serious criticism of games cultures draws attention to the degree of e-waste they produce. E-waste or electronic waste includes mobiles phones, computers, televisions and other electronic devices, containing toxic chemicals and metals whose landfill, recycling and salvaging all produce distinct environmental and social problems. The e-waste produced by games like Guitar Hero is obvious in the regular flow of merchandise transforming computer and video games stores into simulation music stores, filled with replica guitars, drum kits, microphones and other products whose half-lives are short and whose obsolescence is anticipated in the annual cycles of consumption and disposal. This paper explores the connection between e-waste and obsolescence in the games industry, and argues for the further consideration of consumers as part of the solution to the problem of e-waste. It uses a case study of the PC digital distribution software platform, Steam, to suggest that the digital distribution of games may offer an alternative model to market driven software and hardware obsolescence, and more generally, that such software platforms might be a place to support cultures of consumption that delay rather than promote hardware obsolescence and its inevitability as e-waste. The question is whether there exists a potential for digital distribution to be a means of not only eliminating the need to physically transport commodities (its current 'green' benefit), but also for supporting consumer practices that further reduce e-waste. The games industry relies on a rapid production and innovation cycle, one that actively enforces hardware obsolescence. Current video game consoles, including the PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, are the seventh generation of home gaming consoles to appear within forty years, and each generation is accompanied by an immense international transportation of games hardware, software (in various storage formats) and peripherals. Obsolescence also occurs at the software or content level and is significant because the games industry as a creative industry is dependent on the extensive management of multiple intellectual properties. The computing and video games software industry operates a close partnership with the hardware industry, and as such, software obsolescence directly contributes to hardware obsolescence. The obsolescence of content and the redundancy of the methods of policing its scarcity in the marketplace has been accelerated and altered by the processes of disintermediation with a range of outcomes (Flew). The music industry is perhaps the most advanced in terms of disintermediation with digital distribution at the center of the conflict between the legitimate and unauthorised access to intellectual property. This points to one issue with the hypothesis that digital distribution can lead to a reduction in hardware obsolescence, as the marketplace leader and key online distributor of music, Apple, is also the major producer of new media technologies and devices that are the paragon of stylistic obsolescence. Stylistic obsolescence, in which fashion changes products across seasons of consumption, has long been observed as the dominant form of scaled industrial innovation (Slade). Stylistic obsolescence is differentiated from mechanical or technological obsolescence as the deliberate supersedence of products by more advanced designs, better production techniques and other minor innovations. The line between the stylistic and technological obsolescence is not always clear, especially as reduced durability has become a powerful market strategy (Fitzpatrick). This occurs where the design of technologies is subsumed within the discourses of manufacturing, consumption and the logic of planned obsolescence in which the product or parts are intended to fail, degrade or under perform over time. It is especially the case with signature new media technologies such as laptop computers, mobile phones and portable games devices. Gamers are as guilty as other consumer groups in contributing to e-waste as participants in the industry's cycles of planned obsolescence, but some of them complicate discussions over the future of obsolescence and e-waste. Many gamers actively work to forestall the obsolescence of their games: they invest time in the play of older games (“retrogaming”) they donate labor and creative energy to the production of user-generated content as a means of sustaining involvement in gaming communities; and they produce entirely new game experiences for other users, based on existing software and hardware modifications known as 'mods'. With Guitar Hero and other 'rhythm' games it would be easy to argue that the hardware components of this genre have only one future: as waste. Alternatively, we could consider the actual lifespan of these objects (including their impact as e-waste) and the roles they play in the performances and practices of communities of gamers. For example, the Elmo Guitar Hero controller mod, the Tesla coil Guitar Hero controller interface, the Rock Band Speak n' Spellbinder mashup, the multiple and almost sacrilegious Fender guitar hero mods, the Guitar Hero Portable Turntable Mod and MAKE magazine's Trumpet Hero all indicate a significant diversity of user innovation, community formation and individual investment in the post-retail life of computer and video game hardware. Obsolescence is not just a problem for the games industry but for the computing and electronics industries more broadly as direct contributors to the social and environmental cost of electrical waste and obsolete electrical equipment. Planned obsolescence has long been the experience of gamers and computer users, as the basis of a utopian mythology of upgrades (Dovey and Kennedy). For PC users the upgrade pathway is traversed by the consumption of further hardware and software post initial purchase in a cycle of endless consumption, acquisition and waste (as older parts are replaced and eventually discarded). The accumulation and disposal of these cultural artefacts does not devalue or accrue in space or time at the same rate (Straw) and many users will persist for years, gradually upgrading and delaying obsolescence and even perpetuate the circulation of older cultural commodities. Flea markets and secondhand fairs are popular sites for the purchase of new, recent, old, and recycled computer hardware, and peripherals. Such practices and parallel markets support the strategies of 'making do' described by De Certeau, but they also continue the cycle of upgrade and obsolescence, and they are still consumed as part of the promise of the 'new', and the desire of a purchase that will finally 'fix' the users' computer in a state of completion (29). The planned obsolescence of new media technologies is common, but its success is mixed; for example, support for Microsoft's operating system Windows XP was officially withdrawn in April 2009 (Robinson), but due to the popularity in low cost PC 'netbooks' outfitted with an optimised XP operating system and a less than enthusiastic response to the 'next generation' Windows Vista, XP continues to be popular. Digital Distribution: A Solution? Gamers may be able to reduce the accumulation of e-waste by supporting the disintermediation of the games retail sector by means of online distribution. Disintermediation is the establishment of a direct relationship between the creators of content and their consumers through products and services offered by content producers (Flew 201). The move to digital distribution has already begun to reduce the need to physically handle commodities, but this currently signals only further support of planned, stylistic and technological obsolescence, increasing the rate at which the commodities for recording, storing, distributing and exhibiting digital content become e-waste. Digital distribution is sometimes overlooked as a potential means for promoting communities of user practice dedicated to e-waste reduction, at the same time it is actively employed to reduce the potential for the unregulated appropriation of content and restrict post-purchase sales through Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies. Distributors like Amazon.com continue to pursue commercial opportunities in linking the user to digital distribution of content via exclusive hardware and software technologies. The Amazon e-book reader, the Kindle, operates via a proprietary mobile network using a commercially run version of the wireless 3G protocols. The e-book reader is heavily encrypted with Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies and exclusive digital book formats designed to enforce current copyright restrictions and eliminate second-hand sales, lending, and further post-purchase distribution. The success of this mode of distribution is connected to Amazon's ability to tap both the mainstream market and the consumer demand for the less-than-popular; those books, movies, music and television series that may not have been 'hits' at the time of release. The desire to revisit forgotten niches, such as B-sides, comics, books, and older video games, suggests Chris Anderson, linked with so-called “long tail” economics. Recently Webb has queried the economic impact of the Long Tail as a business strategy, but does not deny the underlying dynamics, which suggest that content does not obsolesce in any straightforward way. Niche markets for older content are nourished by participatory cultures and Web 2.0 style online services. A good example of the Long Tail phenomenon is the recent case of the 1971 book A Lion Called Christian, by Anthony Burke and John Rendall, republished after the author's film of a visit to a resettled Christian in Africa was popularised on YouTube in 2008. Anderson's Long Tail theory suggests that over time a large number of items, each with unique rather than mass histories, will be subsumed as part of a larger community of consumers, including fans, collectors and everyday users with a long term interest in their use and preservation. If digital distribution platforms can reduce e-waste, they can perhaps be fostered by to ensuring digital consumers have access to morally and ethically aware consumer decisions, but also that they enjoy traditional consumer freedoms, such as the right to sell on and change or modify their property. For it is not only the fixation on the 'next generation' that contributes to obsolescence, but also technologies like DRM systems that discourage second hand sales and restrict modification. The legislative upgrades, patches and amendments to copyright law that have attempted to maintain the law's effectiveness in competing with peer-to-peer networks have supported DRM and other intellectual property enforcement technologies, despite the difficulties that owners of intellectual property have encountered with the effectiveness of DRM systems (Moore, Creative). The games industry continues to experiment with DRM, however, this industry also stands out as one of the few to have significantly incorporated the user within the official modes of production (Moore, Commonising). Is the games industry capable (or willing) of supporting a digital delivery system that attempts to minimise or even reverse software and hardware obsolescence? We can try to answer this question by looking in detail at the biggest digital distributor of PC games, Steam. Steam Figure 1: The Steam Application user interface retail section Steam is a digital distribution system designed for the Microsoft Windows operating system and operated by American video game development company and publisher, Valve Corporation. Steam combines online games retail, DRM technologies and internet-based distribution services with social networking and multiplayer features (in-game voice and text chat, user profiles, etc) and direct support for major games publishers, independent producers, and communities of user-contributors (modders). Steam, like the iTunes games store, Xbox Live and other digital distributors, provides consumers with direct digital downloads of new, recent and classic titles that can be accessed remotely by the user from any (internet equipped) location. Steam was first packaged with the physical distribution of Half Life 2 in 2004, and the platform's eventual popularity is tied to the success of that game franchise. Steam was not an optional component of the game's installation and many gamers protested in various online forums, while the platform was treated with suspicion by the global PC games press. It did not help that Steam was at launch everything that gamers take objection to: a persistent and initially 'buggy' piece of software that sits in the PC's operating system and occupies limited memory resources at the cost of hardware performance. Regular updates to the Steam software platform introduced social network features just as mainstream sites like MySpace and Facebook were emerging, and its popularity has undergone rapid subsequent growth. Steam now eclipses competitors with more than 20 million user accounts (Leahy) and Valve Corporation makes it publicly known that Steam collects large amounts of data about its users. This information is available via the public player profile in the community section of the Steam application. It includes the average number of hours the user plays per week, and can even indicate the difficulty the user has in navigating game obstacles. Valve reports on the number of users on Steam every two hours via its web site, with a population on average between one and two million simultaneous users (Valve, Steam). We know these users’ hardware profiles because Valve Corporation makes the results of its surveillance public knowledge via the Steam Hardware Survey. Valve’s hardware survey itself conceptualises obsolescence in two ways. First, it uses the results to define the 'cutting edge' of PC technologies and publishing the standards of its own high end production hardware on the companies blog. Second, the effect of the Survey is to subsequently define obsolescent hardware: for example, in the Survey results for April 2009, we can see that the slight majority of users maintain computers with two central processing units while a significant proportion (almost one third) of users still maintained much older PCs with a single CPU. Both effects of the Survey appear to be well understood by Valve: the Steam Hardware Survey automatically collects information about the community's computer hardware configurations and presents an aggregate picture of the stats on our web site. The survey helps us make better engineering and gameplay decisions, because it makes sure we're targeting machines our customers actually use, rather than measuring only against the hardware we've got in the office. We often get asked about the configuration of the machines we build around the office to do both game and Steam development. We also tend to turn over machines in the office pretty rapidly, at roughly every 18 months. (Valve, Team Fortress) Valve’s support of older hardware might counter perceptions that older PCs have no use and begins to reverse decades of opinion regarding planned and stylistic obsolescence in the PC hardware and software industries. Equally significant to the extension of the lives of older PCs is Steam's support for mods and its promotion of user generated content. By providing software for mod creation and distribution, Steam maximises what Postigo calls the development potential of fan-programmers. One of the 'payoffs' in the information/access exchange for the user with Steam is the degree to which Valve's End-User Licence Agreement (EULA) permits individuals and communities of 'modders' to appropriate its proprietary game content for use in the creation of new games and games materials for redistribution via Steam. These mods extend the play of the older games, by requiring their purchase via Steam in order for the individual user to participate in the modded experience. If Steam is able to encourage this kind of appropriation and community support for older content, then the potential exists for it to support cultures of consumption and practice of use that collaboratively maintain, extend, and prolong the life and use of games. Further, Steam incorporates the insights of “long tail” economics in a purely digital distribution model, in which the obsolescence of 'non-hit' game titles can be dramatically overturned. Published in November 2007, Unreal Tournament 3 (UT3) by Epic Games, was unappreciated in a market saturated with games in the first-person shooter genre. Epic republished UT3 on Steam 18 months later, making the game available to play for free for one weekend, followed by discounted access to new content. The 2000 per cent increase in players over the game's 'free' trial weekend, has translated into enough sales of the game for Epic to no longer consider the release a commercial failure: It’s an incredible precedent to set: making a game a success almost 18 months after a poor launch. It’s something that could only have happened now, and with a system like Steam...Something that silently updates a purchase with patches and extra content automatically, so you don’t have to make the decision to seek out some exciting new feature: it’s just there anyway. Something that, if you don’t already own it, advertises that game to you at an agreeably reduced price whenever it loads. Something that enjoys a vast community who are in turn plugged into a sea of smaller relevant communities. It’s incredibly sinister. It’s also incredibly exciting... (Meer) Clearly concerns exist about Steam's user privacy policy, but this also invites us to the think about the economic relationship between gamers and games companies as it is reconfigured through the private contractual relationship established by the EULA which accompanies the digital distribution model. The games industry has established contractual and licensing arrangements with its consumer base in order to support and reincorporate emerging trends in user generated cultures and other cultural formations within its official modes of production (Moore, "Commonising"). When we consider that Valve gets to tax sales of its virtual goods and can further sell the information farmed from its users to hardware manufacturers, it is reasonable to consider the relationship between the corporation and its gamers as exploitative. Gabe Newell, the Valve co-founder and managing director, conversely believes that people are willing to give up personal information if they feel it is being used to get better services (Leahy). If that sentiment is correct then consumers may be willing to further trade for services that can reduce obsolescence and begin to address the problems of e-waste from the ground up. Conclusion Clearly, there is a potential for digital distribution to be a means of not only eliminating the need to physically transport commodities but also supporting consumer practices that further reduce e-waste. For an industry where only a small proportion of the games made break even, the successful relaunch of older games content indicates Steam's capacity to ameliorate software obsolescence. Digital distribution extends the use of commercially released games by providing disintermediated access to older and user-generated content. For Valve, this occurs within a network of exchange as access to user-generated content, social networking services, and support for the organisation and coordination of communities of gamers is traded for user-information and repeat business. Evidence for whether this will actively translate to an equivalent decrease in the obsolescence of game hardware might be observed with indicators like the Steam Hardware Survey in the future. The degree of potential offered by digital distribution is disrupted by a range of technical, commercial and legal hurdles, primary of which is the deployment of DRM, as part of a range of techniques designed to limit consumer behaviour post purchase. While intervention in the form of legislation and radical change to the insidious nature of electronics production is crucial in order to achieve long term reduction in e-waste, the user is currently considered only in terms of 'ethical' consumption and ultimately divested of responsibility through participation in corporate, state and civil recycling and e-waste management operations. The message is either 'careful what you purchase' or 'careful how you throw it away' and, like DRM, ignores the connections between product, producer and user and the consumer support for environmentally, ethically and socially positive production, distribrution, disposal and recycling. This article, has adopted a different strategy, one that sees digital distribution platforms like Steam, as capable, if not currently active, in supporting community practices that should be seriously considered in conjunction with a range of approaches to the challenge of obsolescence and e-waste. 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