Robots are the next wave in service technology; however, this advanced technology is not perfect. This research examines how social perceptions regarding the warmth and competence of service robots ...influence consumer reactions to service failures and recovery efforts by robots. We argue that humanoid (vs. nonhumanoid) service robots are more strongly associated with warmth (whereas competence does not differ). This tendency to expect greater warmth from humanoid robots has important consequences for service firms: (i) consumers are more dissatisfied due to lack of warmth following a process failure caused by a humanoid (vs. nonhumanoid; Study 1); (ii) humanoids (but not nonhumanoids) can recover a service failure by themselves via sincere apology, restoring perceptions of warmth (Study 2A); (iii) humanoids (but not nonhumanoids) can also effectively provide explanations as a recovery tactic (Study 2B); and, importantly, (iv) human intervention can be used to mitigate dissatisfaction following inadequate recovery by a nonhumanoid robot (Study 3), supporting the notion of human-robot collaboration. Taken together, this research offers theoretical implications for robot anthropomorphism and practical implications for firms employing service robots.
This article reports on a study applying foresight methods to explore and anticipate innovation system failures in relation to a particular case sector, that of broadcasting in South Korea. Although ...previous studies of system failures have contributed to an in-depth understanding of innovation system as an analytical concept and provided the base of policy intervention, they have failed to capture different degrees of system failures and their changes in the process of sectoral transformation. Through the application of a sectoral innovation system foresight approach to the broadcasting sector in South Korea’s encounters with artificial intelligence (AI), a series of current and future priorities among nine system failures are identified. The shift of nine system failure priorities between current and five-year time points is captured: the highest priority of system failures moves from directionality failures to market structure failures. By applying a sectoral innovation system foresight approach, we advance theory on system failures and innovation systems. We show that the use of sectoral innovation system foresight approaches can productively be applied to the understanding of current and potential system failures.
•A sectoral innovation system foresight approach is applied to the analysis of innovation system failures.•Different current priorities among nine system failures are identified in AI-driven sectoral transformation.•Changes in priority amongst the nine system failures in AI-driven sectoral transformation are noted at a future time.•The most significant type of system failure identified in the study shifted from directionality failures to market structure failures.
Climate change is increasing the occurrence of the so-called heatwaves with a trend that is expected to worsen in the next years due to global warming. The growing intensity and duration of these ...extreme weather events are leading to a significant number of power system failures, especially in urban areas. This is drastically affecting the reliability and normal operation of power distribution grids around the world, with high financial costs and huge negative impacts on people's life. Typically, the response to these failure events is approached by post-event analysis, aimed at identifying the grid areas that require resources to increase the resilience of the system and prevent future outages. Nevertheless, understanding the nature of heatwaves and forecasting their impact on power distribution systems can be useful to anticipate them and accelerate a reaction, possibly avoiding negative impacts on power systems and customers. In this study, a structured method to predict distribution grid disruptions caused by heatwaves is defined. The proposed method relies on machine learning to analyze previous failure data and forecast power grid outages using operational and meteorological information. The method is evaluated using real failure data from a large power distribution network located in southern Italy.
This paper proposes a methodology for managing complex sewerage networks based on the concomitant use of two performance evaluation methods, namely, the failure modes, effects, and criticality ...analysis (FMECA) and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The FMECA is used to determine the risks of structural failures making it possible to establish a methodology for managing these failures. The AHP is used to check the relationship consistency between the performance indicators allowing the determination of the overall performance (OP). This proposed methodology was utilized for the urban sewerage network of Oued-Kniss in the city of Algiers, Algeria, as part of the efforts engaged in for sustainable and efficient management.
The occurrence of rockburst is closely related to initial high stress state and excavation unloading effects. To investigate the effects of three-dimensional (3D) stress state and unloading rate on ...the rockburst mechanism, triaxial unloading compression tests were performed on cubic fine-grained granite specimens (50 mm × 50 mm × 50 mm). Two unloading rates (0.08 and 40 MPa/s) were employed in the tests with seven initial 3D confining pressures (5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 MPa). For comparison, triaxial and biaxial compression tests were conducted at the same initial confining pressures. The results show that, under the same confining pressures, the variations in peak strength of granite specimens are in the following order: triaxial compression test > biaxial compression test > triaxial unloading compression test under low unloading rate > triaxial unloading compression test under high unloading rate, which indicating that unloading induces an obvious strength-weakening effect on fine-grained granite. In the triaxial unloading compression test with the same unloading rate, a higher confining pressure results in a greater rock bearing strength and stress drop. More energy will be stored in the rock, and the rockburst intensity will be more serious when the rock is destroyed. When the confining pressure is constant, the lower unloading rate is beneficial for improving the rock bearing strength, and more elastic energy will be accumulated and stored in the rock. Once rockburst occurs, the energy released by rock is larger and the degree of rockburst is stronger. The failure mode of fine-grained granite specimens in triaxial unloading compression tests transforms from shear-tension failure to tension failure with increasing confining pressure, which is the main reason for the weakening of rock strength. Establishing a strength criterion for 3D rock considering the unloading effect is a key for understanding the mechanism of rockburst.
Coastal bridge piers exposed to marine environments always suffer from non-uniform corrosion along the elevation. Severe degradation in the splash and tidal zone would significantly affect the ...seismic performance of the structure with a specific phenomenon of the plastic hinge transferring from the column end to the splash and tidal zone. In a companion paper of the authors 1, a theoretical method to identify the time-dependent failure mode and equivalent plastic hinge length of the aging bridge piers under seismic excitation in the whole life cycle was conducted. In this study, cyclic loading tests of six reinforced concrete circular bridge piers with different levels of corrosion are carried out to investigate the seismic performance of such types of structures and validate the proposed method. The test specimens and the experimental setup are first introduced. Based on the measured hysteretic curves, the experimental results of the curvature distributions, hysteretic characteristics, loading-resistance capacity, ductility, energy dissipation, equivalent viscous damping ratio and equivalent plastic hinge length are analyzed and discussed. The test results demonstrate the accuracy of the analysis results for the seismic failure modes presented in the companion paper. It is also indicated that the seismic performance of the non-uniformly corroded columns exhibited a small variation before the transfer of the plastic hinge location, while an obvious reduction was observed for moderately and severely corroded structures.
•A cyclic experiment for coastal bridge piers with non-uniform corrosion is conducted.•Different seismic failure mode of corroded pier is investigated.•The strength, ductility and energy dissipation capacity are analyzed.•Previously proposed theoretical method is validated by the experimental results.
An introduction to the current state of failure frequency research for battery energy storage systems (BESS) is provided. The article discusses the many failure modes of BESS and how the reliability ...data are scarce and the design changes are fast‐paced. Current public resources available for overcycle datasets and battery datasets are summarized. Efforts are under way to better communicate failure rate research among stake holders. This is the second article in a six‐part series.
Collapses of braced or tied-back excavations have occurred frequently. However, the influence of the failure of some retaining structure members on the overall safety performance of a retaining ...system has not been studied. Model tests of failures of retaining piles, struts or anchors were conducted in this study and the load-transfer mechanisms underlying these conditions were analysed. When failures or large deformations occurred in certain piles, the increasing ratios of the bending moments in adjacent piles were much larger in the braced retaining system than in the cantilever system and more easily triggered progressive failure. When the strut elevation was lower or the excavation depth was greater, the degree of influence and range of pile failures became larger. When certain struts or anchors failed, their loads transferred to a few adjacent struts or anchors, possibly leading to further strut or anchor failure. The influence mechanisms of strut or anchor failure on piles were different from those of pile failure. As the number of failed struts or anchors increases, the bending moments of the piles in the failure zone first decrease and then increase to very high values. Therefore, the progressive failure path extends from struts or anchors to piles and will lead to large-scale collapse.
This article proposes a methodology for incorporating electrical component failure data into the human error assessment and reduction technique (HEART) for estimating human error probabilities ...(HEPs). The existing HEART method contains factors known as error‐producing conditions (EPCs) that adjust a generic HEP to a more specific situation being assessed. The selection and proportioning of these EPCs are at the discretion of an assessor, and are therefore subject to the assessor's experience and potential bias. This dependence on expert opinion is prevalent in similar HEP assessment techniques used in numerous industrial areas. The proposed method incorporates factors based on observed trends in electrical component failures to produce a revised HEP that can trigger risk mitigation actions more effectively based on the presence of component categories or other hazardous conditions that have a history of failure due to human error. The data used for the additional factors are a result of an analysis of failures of electronic components experienced during system integration and testing at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The analysis includes the determination of root failure mechanisms and trend analysis. The major causes of these defects were attributed to electrostatic damage, electrical overstress, mechanical overstress, or thermal overstress. These factors representing user‐induced defects are quantified and incorporated into specific hardware factors based on the system's electrical parts list. This proposed methodology is demonstrated with an example comparing the original HEART method and the proposed modified technique.
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