Journal articles on the topic 'Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009'

Abstrak Persediaan berperan penting mendukung lancarnya kegiatan produksi, pada gudang SMT PT. SDI terdapat permasalahan yang dapat mengganggu kelancaran produksi yaitu terdapat selisih stock aktual bahan baku dengan stock pada sistem ERP Microsoft Dynamics AX yang dapat menyebabkan kekosongan stock material (material shortage) namun terdapat permintaan material untuk produksi, sehingga dapat menyebabkan terhentinya proses produksi, perubahan schedule produksi, dan bahkan sampai tidak terpenuhinya keinginan pelanggan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisa penyebab dan melakukan perbaikan terhadap selisih stock gudang SMT, metode Fishbone Diagram digunakan untuk menganalisa penyebab selisih stock agar dapat diketahui secara luas sampai ke akarnya, sehingga dapat dilakukan perbaikan-perbaikan yang tepat. Hasil penelitiannya adalah penyebab dan perbaikan selisih stock gudang SMT, penyebab dari faktor manusia yaitu rendahnya kemampuan tenaga kerja perbaikannya dengan memberikan edukasi dan training, admin produksi salah picking perbaikannya dengan membuatkan check sheet pengecekan picking list, dan pengiriman material yang tidak sesuai perbaikannya dengan double check hasil persiapan dan membuatkan list big part. Penyebab dari faktor metode meliputi proses pembuatan picking list yang salah dikarenakan diedit, perbaikannya dengan membuatkan master data picking list dan membuatkan bon permintaan pada material yang tidak dapat dikembalikan, sistem administrasi yang buruk perbaikannya dengan membuatkan rule format permintaan barang, double check bon, input bon H+1, dan memperbaiki selisih stock opname. Metode stock opname tidak beraturan perbaikannya dengan menentukan invoice utuh, membuatkan rule penyimpanan material, dan merapihkan transit stock. Perbaikan faktor machine saat sistem ERP tidak dapat digunakan dengan mengecek kesesuaian persiapan material dengan bon. Kata Kunci : Manajemen Persediaan, Administrasi Gudang, Perbaikan Selisih Stock, Stock Opname, Sistem ERPMicrosoft Dynamics AX

Статья посвящена современному состоянию развития информационных систем планирования ресурсов и управления предприятием. Рассказывается о развитии методологий управления предприятием с помощью программно-инструментальных средств. Затрагивается тема эволюции методологий, с помощью которых автоматизируется деятельность предприятия, а именно: «Планирование потребностей в материалах», «Планирование производственных мощностей», «Планирование производственных ресурсов», «Планирование ресурсов предприятия, синхронизированное с запросами потребителя». Рассматриваются самые распространенные на российском рынке информационные системы планирования ресурсов и управления крупным предприятием, такие как «1C:Предприятие», Microsoft Dynamics AX, SAP ERP, Oracle E-Business Suite, Sage ERP. Кроме того, автором рассмотрены системы более подходящие для автоматизации деятельности предприятий малого и среднего бизнеса, такие как Microsoft Dynamics NAV, «Галактика ERP», «Парус-Предприятие», Epicor iScala, КАС «Бизнес-Люкс». При рассмотрении каждой из перечисленных систем упоминаются отрасли, в которых данные системы используются, стоимости лицензий, функциональность, используемые системы управлении базами данных. а также самые известные на российском рынке предприятия, на которых внедрены и используются рассматриваемые в статье системы планирования ресурсов и управления предприятием.

SUMMARYThe distribution of dry matter among the fractions of cotton boll (the bur, the fibre and the seed) may have significant impact on fibre biomass per boll, and consequently on lint yield. Little is known on how cotton boll allocates available photosynthetic assimilates to its components. A two-year field study was conducted to ascertain the difference in boll dry matter production and partitioning among three cotton genotypes differing in boll size and lint percentage. The dynamics of dry matter production in all fractions of cotton boll against boll age followed a logistic pattern. The final dry weights of all components were largely due to the duration of dry matter exponential accumulation, and less correlated with the maximal rate of exponential accumulation. Partitioning biomass to the bur differed significantly among these genotypes at 10 days post-anthesis (DPA). The genotypic difference in partitioning biomass to the fibre was originally observed at 24 DPA in 2009, while in 2010, this was observed at 17 DPA. The genotypic difference emerged rather late for the seed ratio compared with the fibre ratio and the bur ratio, which was first observed at 45 DPA in 2009 and at 31 DPA in 2010. These results indicate that management practices may need to be applied to cotton plants prior to 31 DPA to ensure optimal boll size and partitioning. Large boll genotype MM-2 consistently maintained higher seed ratio and lower fibre ratio than two other genotypes (2870 and AX) due to more developing ovules in its boll. These differences contributed to significant difference in lint percentage and less difference in fibre mass per boll between MM-2 and 2870 and AX.

The aim of the study is to analyze the dynamics of the main epidemiological indicators that characterize the epidemiological situation of tuberculosis in the Omsk Region from 2001 to 2015. Material and methods. For the analysis were used for reporting forms: № 8 («Information on active tuberculosis», № 33 («Information on tuberculosis patients»), № 61 («Information on contingents of patients with HIV infection»). The statistical processing was carried out with the help of the Microsoft Excel software package, applied the method of analyzing the dynamic series with the calculation of the rates of growth/decrease in epidemiological indicators and the determination of the average geometric index for aligned series, regression analysis. Results. It has been established that in 2009 in the Omsk Region, the main indicators that characterize the epidemiological situation of tuberculosis have decreased: morbidity (by 25.4%), prevalence (by 55.5%), mortality (by 53.1%). At the same time, there was an increase in the incidence of multidrug-resistant disease, an increase in the incidence of HIV infection and HIV-associated tuberculosis. Conclusions. The obtained results allow to assume the possibility of developing a new period of worsening of the epidemiological situation of tuberculosis, characterized by high mortality and a further growth of the reservoir of infection in the region.

Background. In the Russian Federation (RF), the problem of iodine deficiency(ID) remains in. Major ongoing events are regional program. In our opinion it is necessary to evaluate their effectiveness and suggestions for improvements of preventive measures if necessary. Aims — to analyze the dynamics of the main epidemiological indicators of iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) in children, adolescents and adults population of the RF, sing the figures in the statistical form № 63 «Information on diseases related to micronutrient deficiency» and the statistical form №12 «Data on number of diseases registered at patients, living in area of medical service of medical institutions» (retrospective study), to evaluate the effectiveness of preventive measures for elimination of ID and formulate possible solutions. Material and methods. It have been analyzed the main epidemiological indicators of IDD among children (0—14 years), adolescents (15—17 years) and adult (18 and older) population of the RF for the period 2009—2015. For the assessment of the key epidemiological indicators was constructed a linear regression model, calculated the slope of the trend line (k-factor; a quantitative expression of the dynamics of prevalence/incidence), using Student’s t-test assessed the significance of k: were considered reliable (presence of speakers) at the level of p value p<0.05. Data processing was performed using Microsoft Excel 2010, R (version 3.2.3). Results. Latest analytical data on the prevalence and incidence of IDD has shown that despite preventive actions, the problem IDD is still remaining, as evidenced by the increase in the prevalence and incidence of IDD. The downward trend in the prevalence and incidence of some IDD is likely to be associated with the implementation of regional programs for the prevention of IDD. Also challenges and successes in managing ID in RF highlighted, given some normative-legal acts related to salt iodization. Conclusions. Formulate practical proposals to improve preventive measures to prevent the development of IDD.

Background. In the Russian Federation (RF), the problem of iodine deficiency(ID) remains in. Major ongoing events are regional program. In our opinion it is necessary to evaluate their effectiveness and suggestions for improvements of preventive measures if necessary. Aims — to analyze the dynamics of the main epidemiological indicators of iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) in children, adolescents and adults population of the RF, sing the figures in the statistical form № 63 «Information on diseases related to micronutrient deficiency» and the statistical form №12 «Data on number of diseases registered at patients, living in area of medical service of medical institutions» (retrospective study), to evaluate the effectiveness of preventive measures for elimination of ID and formulate possible solutions. Material and methods. It have been analyzed the main epidemiological indicators of IDD among children (0—14 years), adolescents (15—17 years) and adult (18 and older) population of the RF for the period 2009—2015. For the assessment of the key epidemiological indicators was constructed a linear regression model, calculated the slope of the trend line (k-factor; a quantitative expression of the dynamics of prevalence/incidence), using Student’s t-test assessed the significance of k: were considered reliable (presence of speakers) at the level of p value p<0.05. Data processing was performed using Microsoft Excel 2010, R (version 3.2.3). Results. Latest analytical data on the prevalence and incidence of IDD has shown that despite preventive actions, the problem IDD is still remaining, as evidenced by the increase in the prevalence and incidence of IDD. The downward trend in the prevalence and incidence of some IDD is likely to be associated with the implementation of regional programs for the prevention of IDD. Also challenges and successes in managing ID in RF highlighted, given some normative-legal acts related to salt iodization. Conclusions. Formulate practical proposals to improve preventive measures to prevent the development of IDD.

Summary The study is a statistical analysis of the dynamics and structure of forensic autopsies performed on dead bodies and body remains at University Hospital “Dr. Georgi Stranski” in Pleven. The study was based on forensic autopsy records database and forensic autopsy reports for the period 2009-2013. A total of 976 cases, including forensic autopsies, exhumations, examination of bone remains and inspection of dead bodies at the site of death (without following forensic autopsy), were analyzed. The studied data was coded and processed with Microsoft Excel software. A detailed data analysis of the number of autopsies, frequency of death by cause, distribution of death by gender, age, residence, place of death and its forensic category is presented. According to our results, the deaths due to diseases comprised 35% of all forensic autopsies. The most common cause of violent death was damage by mechanical factors (53%), followed by asphyxia (24.7%). The most common mechanical factor was vehicle crash trauma, followed by falling (22.5%). Accidents were the most common cause of death 62%, followed by suicides (31 %) and homicides 7%. Fifty-nine percent of the suicides were by hanging. The preliminary analyses of the studied data lead to several conclusions. The number of forensic autopsies was found to be progressively decreasing, but the road traffic death rate remained unchanged. Most of the forensic autopsies were performed in July. The highest death rates by age was observed in the age group between 51 and 60 years, with predominance of males over females (3.3 males: 1 females).

Introduction. It is already known and accepted that cerebrovascular disease onset has a temporal variation pattern, the best documented being the circadian variation pattern, with a frequency peak in the morning and a second lower peak during afternoon. The impact of this circadian variation on post-stroke cognitive status has been little studied. Materials and method. The study included a cohort of 63 patients with ischemic stroke, admitted to the Neurology Departments I and II of the Rehabilitation Hospital in Cluj-Napoca between 1 June 2008 and 1 June 2009, who were evaluated for their cognitive status over 2 years, during 5 successive visits. The onset time of ischemic stroke was assigned to one of the six-hour intervals: 00.01-06.00 (night), 06.01-12.00 (morning), 12.01-18.00 (afternoon), and 18.01-24.00 (evening). Statistical analysis was performed using Excel Microsoft, descriptive and ANOVA test. Results and conclusions. The circadian variation pattern of stroke onset is confirming in our study the known incidence pattern of ischemic stroke, with the morning peak. There are differences in the evolution during dynamics of the MMSE score depending on the time of the day when stroke occurs. Patients with stroke onset during the night have seems to have a less favorable cognitive evolution in the second year after ischemic stroke compared to patients with stroke onset during the other intervals of the day.

Purpose of the study. To estimate the incidence of newborn's healthcare associated infections (HAI) and intrauterine infections in the Russian Federation, Moscow and three maternity hospitals in Moscow. Materials and methods. The retrospective epidemiological analysis of neonates HAIs and intrauterine infections during 2008–2017 was performed in the Russian Federation and Moscow and during 2009–2017 in three maternity hospitals (MH) in Moscow. In this study the maternity hospitals would be known as MH № X01, № X02 and № X03. Also, in this study, the calculation and analysis of the proportion of cases of newborn's HAIs and intrauterine infections with laboratory confirmation were performed in Moscow's maternity hospitals. The data was selected from Form № 2 for the Russian Federation and Moscow. Also, the data of the maternity hospitals was drawn from the base of the Hygiene and Epidemiology Center in Moscow. The morbidity rate of HAIs and intrauterine infections of newborns was counted on 1,000 newborns. Microsoft Office Excel 2010 software packages were used for this purpose. The calculation of the increase / decrease rate was made by the method of least squares. Results. The incidence of intrauterine infections and HAIs of newborns in the Russian Federation, Moscow, and maternity hospitals is characterized by the next mutual trends – a significant dominance cases of intrauterine infections' over the cases of HAI, extremely irregular registration and distribution of the nosologies' proportion. Concerning to the dynamics of morbidity during 2009–2017 in maternity hospitals in Moscow, the HAIs newborn's incidence has tendency of decline, and intrauterine infections has considerable increase of the incidence. This consistent pattern is observed in all described maternity hospitals. The structure of the incidence in maternity hospitals is similar to each other. The leading diagnoses among intrauterine infections are intrauterine infection without a lesion and intrauterine pneumonia. The interest of other infections is about 1%. The proportion of cases with laboratory confirmation of the newborn's HAIs and intrauterine infections is extremely small. Besides that, there were identified some indirect signs of poor-quality registration of nosocomial infections. Conclusion. Significant difference in the number of cases of newborn's HAIs and intrauterine infections and their multidirectional incidence trends, once again point to the concealment of a part of nosocomial infections, under such diagnoses, as intrauterine infection without a lesion and intrauterine pneumonia. Laboratory confirmation of cases of HAIs and intrauterine infections in the maternity hospitals is carried out only by a small proportion of patients. Thereby, the incidence rates of HAIs of newborns and intrauterine infections in maternity hospitals in Moscow raise doubts about their reliability.

Introduction. Extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) still has many features: there is a different approach to its definition in different countries, there is no screening, diagnosis is extremely difficult and requires financial costs, and bacteriological verification does not exceed 46%, complex restorative and reconstructive operations are used in treatment. the proportion of patients with isolated extrapulmonary localizations among tuberculosis patients is low.Purpose of the study. To study the structure of tuberculosis (TB) in children with the accentuation of EPTB in the current conditions to determine the development areas of preventive and diagnostic measures.Materials and methods. A retrospective two-stage study was carried out in the period from 1989 to 2018 among in-patient children aged 0 - 14 yrs. At the first stage, the structure of clinical forms of TB was assessed in 2306 children. Three comparison groups were formed following ten-year periods. At the second stage, 4 groups were identified according to age: early age, preschool age, primary school age, prepubertal age. The data obtained in the course of the study were statistically processed using the Microsoft Office 2007 (Microsoft Corp., USA) and Biostat 2009 (AnalystSoft Inc., USA) software package. The differences between the groups were determined using the χ2 test, and significant differences were considered when the value of the p < 0.05 criterion.Results. It was found that throughout the entire observation period in the region, the predominant localization of the specific process was respiratory TB. The proportion of isolated extrapulmonary lesions in children decreased from 11.1% in the period from 1999 to 2008 to 3.4% in the period from 2009 to 2018 (p = 0.000). At the same time, the most frequent localization (60.4 - 77.8% of cases) among EPTB remains urinary TB. In the dynamics from 1989 to 2018, the number of cases of the disease with combined forms of tuberculosis increased (from 3.1% to 7.2%; p = 0.000), mainly due to the establishment of several localizations of the lesion. The frequency of bacteriological confirmation of the diagnosis was significantly different at various localizations of the specific process. In children of the compared periods of childhood, the predominant localization of the specific process was isolated respiratory TB. The isolated extrapulmonary process localizations were more common in the age groups 7 - 11 and 12 - 14 yo, where it accounted for 10.8 - 12.4% of TB cases (p = 0.000). The localization of the EPTB also depended on the children's age. So, young children often developed damage to the osteoarticular system, in preschool children - the genitourinary and lymphatic (peripheral lymphadenopathy) systems, in younger schoolchildren and preschoolers - the genitourinary system. The frequency of bacteriological confirmation of the EPTB increased with the age. The combined forms of a specific process were more often observed in the age group of 7 - 11 yo, in the other groups their share was 77.4%, 87.1%, and 95.0% of cases. Respiratory TB and TB of other organs was confirmed bacteriologically more often in the age group 7 - 11 yo (19.4%), and in the group 12 - 14 yo in 12.9%, 4 - 6 yo in 10.0%, early age in 9.7%, which is much more frequent than confirmation of isolated respiratory TB.Conclusions. EPTB in children has not lost its position and due to the widespread introduction of the recombinant TB allergen and CT into clinical practice. It has become more often detected in combination with respiratory TB. Among the EPTB, genitourinary tuberculosis prevailed, which can be verified in contrast to damage to other organs. Raising the level of awareness of paediatricians and phthisiatrician-paediatricians about the frequency of EPTB occurrence makes it possible to form alertness in terms of the possibility of their development and to timely detect the disease at an early stage.

After a conference call with a team of his business consultants, Damon Auer, Vice President of Health and Life Sciences at Tribridge, pondered on the challenges facing his team as they tried to expand sales of Tribridge’s new Microsoft cloud based software platform–Health360. Damon, an expert in transformational Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Resource Management (CRM) programs, specialized in helping organizations achieve business performance improvements. He had already grown a $30 million company that was acquired by Tribridge in 2009 and he was instrumental in the development of Tribridge Health360. Damon had worked at Tribridge, an award-winning provider of cloud services specifically designed for Microsoft ERP solutions, for over 8 years. Tribridge provided consulting, implementation and systems integration services for all four lines of Microsoft Dynamics ERP applications. Microsoft partnered with Tribridge to offer Health360 in the MS AppSource marketplace and Tribridge offered the platform through sales teams in six countries and many other parts of the world showed interest in the technology. Damon and his team had conceived of the idea for Tribridge Health360, a patient-centric, population health management solution built on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform, in 2011. It was inspired by the transformational impact of the changing economic model (from volume to value) initiated by the U.S. Affordable Care Act (ACA) and their experience helping a major metropolitan healthcare provider enable the largest commercial Accountable Care Organization (ACO) in the US. It had its first customer in 2013 and was a solution that responded to the trend of moving away from the traditional claims payments and a provider-centric (physician) care model to one that was patient-centric and focused on quality of care. The potential advantage of this approach using the Tribridge platform was that it permitted the healthcare system to proactively and personally coordinate care for individuals. Auer looked out his office window and pondered the full platform commercialization effort building upon eight sales “pods” of four people each in the US and five other countries. Further engagement with Microsoft was an opportunity for his teams to increase their international presence, generate revenue, and develop more collaborations. But there were many players and potential partners in the healthcare space. As Auer thought about the decision, he realized he had a lot of questions. Should Tribridge invest in increasing sales in the international markets and to what extent? How would the technology need to change, and would changes like developing different versions of the software in different languages even be possible? Should Tribridge partner with other organizations abroad?

In the paper by Liu et al. (2009, “A Novel Three-Dimensional Autonomous Chaos System,” Chaos Solitons Fractals, 39(4), pp. 1950–1958), the three-dimensional (3D) chaotic system x·=-ax-ey2,y·=by-kxz,z·=-cz+mxy is investigated, and some of its dynamics according to theoretical and numerical analyses only for the parameters (a, e, b, k, c, m) = (1, 1, 2.5, 4, 5, 4) are discussed. In 2013, the same chaotic system x·1=-ax1- fx2x3,x·2=cx2-dx1x3,x·3=-bx3+ex22 by Li et al. (2013, “Analysis of a Novel Three-Dimensional Chaotic System,” Optik, 124(13), pp. 1516–1522) was mainly discussed by numerical simulation. In this article, by some deeper investigations, combining some numerical simulations, we formulate some new results of the system. First, after some problems in the first paper are pointed out, we display that its parameters e, k, and m may be kicked out by some homothetic transformations. Second, some of its rich nonlinear dynamics hiding and not found previously, such as the stability and Hopf bifurcation of its isolated equilibria, the behavior of its nonisolated equilibria, the existence of singular orbits (including singularly degenerate heteroclinic cycle, homoclinic and heteroclinic orbits, etc.), and its dynamics at infinity, etc., are clearly formulated. What's more interesting, we find, this system has two different kinds of nonisolated equilibria Ex and Ez, and new chaotic attractors can be bifurcated out with the disappearance of Ex, but this system has no such properties at Ez. In the meantime, several problems about the existence of singular orbits deserving further investigations are presented. Our results better complement and improve the known ones.

Summary. Introduction: As of today, acute viral upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) remain the most common diseases in the world and the Russian Federation and one of the most important problems of national health care. The objective of our work was to study the dynamics and intensity of the epidemic process of influenza and other URTIs in the Russian Federation and Rostov Region over a thirty-year period and to establish the main features of the disease incidence in the Rostov Region. Materials and methods: We analyzed data of annual State Reports on Sanitary and Epidemiological Wellbeing of the Population in the Russian Federation and Statistical Form No. 2 on information about infectious and parasitic diseases for the period 1990–2019 and data on the size of population using StatSoft STATISTICA 6.1.478 Russian, Microsoft Excel, and NextGIS QGIS software. Results: We found that in 1990–1999, 2000–2009, and 2010–2019, regional URTI rates tended to decrease in each subsequent decade compared to the previous one. The long-term incidence rate of URTIs in the Rostov Region was 16,099.2 ± (2.045 × 384.2) ‰оо, lower than the Russian average rate of 19,710.3 ± (2.045 × 326.4) (p = 0.05). The amplitude of fluctuations in the incidence was 8,015.4 ‰оо and 7,619.6 ‰оо in the Rostov Region and the Russian Federation, respectively. Until 1997, regional incidence rates were comparable to the national averages but demonstrated an upward trend since the year 2000. We revealed unevenness of the course of the epidemic process related to cyclicity, with an increase in the duration of cycles since 1998. It was determined that the regional incidence of influenza was significantly lower than the national average and had a tendency to decrease. The long-term influenza rate in the Rostov Region was 412.4 ± (2.045 × 131.3) (p = 0.05) or almost three times lower than that in the country 1,553.0 ± (2.045 × 301.2) (p = 0.05). The dynamics of influenza incidence in the Rostov Region also had a cyclical course with a smaller amplitude of fluctuations (3,215.1 ‰оо) than in the Russian Federation (5,164.8 ‰оо). The duration of epidemic cycles in 1990–1998 and 2002–2012 was two years but we noted a three-year cycle in 1999–2001. We established a correlation between influenza and URTI rates and population density in regional cities and various age groups: the highest URTI rates (74.9 %) were registered in children between two to 17 years of age while 52.5 % of influenza cases were adults (aged 18+). Conclusion: The established characteristics of the development of the epidemic process of influenza and URTIs in the Rostov Region prove the necessity of a differentiated approach to organizing and implementing comprehensive preventive measures within optimization of epidemiological surveillance of these diseases, and can also serve as basic criteria for disease prediction.

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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