Knowledge & innovation in Africa: scenarios for the future

This book is the product of three years of literature reviews, expert interviews and scenario-building exercises by the Open African Innovation Research and Training (Open A.I.R.) network, which has members in 14 African countries. The authors trace the contours of knowledge and innovation in Africa from the founding civilisations to today’s current realities, and then set out the drivers of change that can be expected to shape innovation systems on the continent between now and the year 2035. The volume then offers three plausible scenarios – elements of which are likely to emerge in various settings on the continent in the short- to medium-term. Each scenario raises different issues for control of, and access to, knowledge in Africa. The key insight for policymakers, business leaders, scholars and civil society is that the question is not whether intellectual property (IP) rights will be relevant in the future, but rather which rights will be most important in different scenarios

On speckle patterns : integrating spheres, metrology, and beyond

Speckle patterns are grainy intensity patterns resulting from the random interference of light. They often arise from the interaction of light with systems that have a complex structure at the scale of the wavelength. As most ordinary objects have this property, speckle patterns are a somewhat universal phenomenon, although not easily observable under ordinary circumstances due to the lack of coherence of natural light. Since the invention of lasers however, the production of speckle patterns has become extremely simple, and a whole field of optics has emerged from it. Speckle patterns are an excellent tool for metrology. Where intuition says that precise control over all aspects of a setup is required, it is found that introducing some disorder can lead to very powerful techniques, with considerably simpler implementations. In this thesis, we explore new theoretical aspects of speckle patterns and develop new metrology techniques. We pay particular attention to the case of speckle patterns produced by an integrating sphere, which has only recently been used in this field of study. In this geometry, we develop a general model that predicts the amount of change in the resulting speckle, as a result of an arbitrary transformation. This model gives explicit results for various physical effects that can be solved from first principles, such as a variation in wavelength, refractive index, temperature, and position. We use this model in the context of metrology, and improve the state of the art by several orders of magnitude in the case of refractive index variations and displacement. We also explore the relationship between speckle and polarisation, and describe new mathematical techniques for the design of speckle patterns with custom properties (i.e. with maximal and minimal sensitivity to a measurand of interest) using light shaping

The 2nd International Electronic Conference on Applied Sciences

This book is focused on the works presented at the 2nd International Electronic Conference on Applied Sciences, organized by Applied Sciences from 15 to 31 October 2021 on the MDPI Sciforum platform. Two decades have passed since the start of the 21st century. The development of sciences and technologies is growing ever faster today than in the previous century. The field of science is expanding, and the structure of science is becoming ever richer. Because of this expansion and fine structure growth, researchers may lose themselves in the deep forest of the ever-increasing frontiers and sub-fields being created. This international conference on the Applied Sciences was started to help scientists conduct their own research into the growth of these frontiers by breaking down barriers and connecting the many sub-fields to cut through this vast forest. These functions will allow researchers to see these frontiers and their surrounding (or quite distant) fields and sub-fields, and give them the opportunity to incubate and develop their knowledge even further with the aid of this multi-dimensional network

INTER-ENG 2020

These proceedings contain research papers that were accepted for presentation at the 14th International Conference Inter-Eng 2020 ,Interdisciplinarity in Engineering, which was held on 8–9 October 2020, in Târgu Mureș, Romania. It is a leading international professional and scientific forum for engineers and scientists to present research works, contributions, and recent developments, as well as current practices in engineering, which is falling into a tradition of important scientific events occurring at Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology in the George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy Science, and Technology of Târgu Mures, Romania. The Inter-Eng conference started from the observation that in the 21st century, the era of high technology, without new approaches in research, we cannot speak of a harmonious society. The theme of the conference, proposing a new approach related to Industry 4.0, was the development of a new generation of smart factories based on the manufacturing and assembly process digitalization, related to advanced manufacturing technology, lean manufacturing, sustainable manufacturing, additive manufacturing, and manufacturing tools and equipment. The conference slogan was “Europe’s future is digital: a broad vision of the Industry 4.0 concept beyond direct manufacturing in the company”