Networks of innovation: measuring, modelling and enhancing innovation in surgery

The rate of innovation occurring in surgery is beyond our systemic capacity to quantify, with several methodological and practical challenges. The existing paucity of surgical innovation metrics presents a global healthcare problem especially as surgical innovations become increasingly costlier at a time when healthcare provision is experiencing a radical transformation driven by pressures to reduce costs, an ageing population with ever-increasing healthcare needs and patients with growing expectations. This thesis aims to devise a novel, quantitative, network-based framework that will permit modelling and measuring surgical innovation to add the most value to patient care. It involves the systematic, graphical and analytical assessment of surgical innovation in a way that has never been done before. This is based on successful models previously applied in the industry with advanced analytical techniques derived from social science (network analysis). In doing so, it offers an exciting new perspective and opportunity for understanding how the innovation process originates and evolves in surgery and how it can be measured in terms of value and virality, a priority for the NHS, RCS, Imperial and the wider surgical community. The ability to measure value and rank innovations is expected to play a fundamental role in guiding policy, strategically direct surgical research funding, and uncover innovation barriers and catalysts. This will ensure participation in the forefront of novel surgical technology and lay the scientific foundations for the development of improved healthcare models and services to enhance the quality of healthcare delivered.Open Acces

Multi-agent systems for power engineering applications - part 1 : Concepts, approaches and technical challenges

This is the first part of a 2-part paper that has arisen from the work of the IEEE Power Engineering Society's Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) Working Group. Part 1 of the paper examines the potential value of MAS technology to the power industry. In terms of contribution, it describes fundamental concepts and approaches within the field of multi-agent systems that are appropriate to power engineering applications. As well as presenting a comprehensive review of the meaningful power engineering applications for which MAS are being investigated, it also defines the technical issues which must be addressed in order to accelerate and facilitate the uptake of the technology within the power and energy sector. Part 2 of the paper explores the decisions inherent in engineering multi-agent systems for applications in the power and energy sector and offers guidance and recommendations on how MAS can be designed and implemented

The Penetration of Internet of Things in Robotics: Towards a Web of Robotic Things

As the Internet of Things (IoT) penetrates different domains and application areas, it has recently entered also the world of robotics. Robotics constitutes a modern and fast-evolving technology, increasingly being used in industrial, commercial and domestic settings. IoT, together with the Web of Things (WoT) could provide many benefits to robotic systems. Some of the benefits of IoT in robotics have been discussed in related work. This paper moves one step further, studying the actual current use of IoT in robotics, through various real-world examples encountered through a bibliographic research. The paper also examines the potential ofWoT, together with robotic systems, investigating which concepts, characteristics, architectures, hardware, software and communication methods of IoT are used in existing robotic systems, which sensors and actions are incorporated in IoT-based robots, as well as in which application areas. Finally, the current application of WoT in robotics is examined and discussed

An Integrated, Virtualized Joint Edge and Fog Computing System with Multi-RAT Convergence

Notably, developing an innovative architectural network paradigm is essential to address the technical challenging of 5G applications' requirements in a unified platform. Forthcoming applications will provide a wide range ofnetworking, computing and storage capabilities closer to the endusers.In this context, the 5G-PPP Phase two project named "5GCORAL:A 5G Convergent Virtualized Radio Access Network Living at the Edge" aims at identifying and experimentally validating which are the key technology innovations allowing for the development of a convergent 5G multi-RAT access based on a virtualized Edge and Fog architecture being scalable, flexible and interoperable with other domains including transport, core network and distant Clouds. In 5G-CORAL, an architecture is proposed based on ETSI MEC and ETSI NFV frameworks in a unified platform. Then, a set of exemplary use cases benefiting from Edge and Fog networks in near proximity of the end-user are proposed for demonstration on top of connected car, shopping mall and high-speed train platforms.This work has been partially funded by the H2020 collaborative Europe/Taiwan research project 5G-CORAL (grant num. 761586

Emerging Technology in Business and Finance

In the globalized scenario where technologies are developing continuously with time, these novel methods are affecting the business and finance in the significant way. In this chapter we are going to discuss about the major emerging technologies in the field of entrepreneurship, application development, finance, and business. The authors are going to start with the introduction about the business, finance, entrepreneurship and application development, and the effect of the emerging technologies on these fields and the way in which technologies are developing from time to time, about adoption of these technologies by industries. The changes in the technologies with special reference to developed and developing country will also be the part of this chapter. Moving ahead we are discussing about these technologies in prevailing businesses as well as upcoming business. Some of the technologies we are going to discuss are Embedded Business Intelligence, Amplified Visual Presentation, Augmented Analytics, Cloud Management. Beside these technologies, we are going to cover about the growing automation in the finance sector such as Cloud banking, Robotic process automation, Blockchain, Internet of things, etc. This chapter will cover all the technologies while getting the complete knowledge about what, why, where, when and how it is changing in the present finance and business scenario. Just like the two opposite faces of the coin, one side these emerging technologies are boon for the business and finances then on the other side there are certain risks involved in these technologies, which can be a great threat to our business as well as in our routine life. So, we also discuss about the potential risks associated with these technologies. We will end our chapter by giving our conclusion, precautions, and suggestions on these technologies

Automated Trading Systems VS Manual Trading in Forex Exchange Market

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Statistics and Information Management, specialization in Risk Analysis and ManagementIn the recent decades, automated trading has been widely used in Forex and Money Markets, as well as in financial markets. This auto trading provided substantial benefits to transaction efficiency. Many trading robots have been created to substitute humans, capable of simulating trading strategies and continuously making profits. Nevertheless, programs cannot reproduce all human behaviour and most robots are over-sensitive, therefore, it is difficult to have the same results as human traders. The study focuses on evaluating the trading machines sensitivity and effectiveness. The economic markets can benefit from the machine in several ways, through continuous operation, increasing diversification, short/term trading opportunities and by forecasting opportunities e. g. currency price changes. The further investigation indicates that the majority of forex trading robots are profitable, in fact, there is a great tendency for curve-fitting or data-mining. There are some impressive robots out there; of course, these systems maintain an advantage and successfully manage risk. The best ones are more about position sizing and cutting losses quickly and less about high win rates. The greater the sensitivity the greater the trading opportunities, but this decreases the performance. This research will contain interviews with experts that will validate the study

The case for investment in technology to manage the global costs of dementia

Worldwide growth in the number of people living with dementia will continue over the coming decades and is already putting pressure on health and care systems, both formal and informal, and on costs, both public and private. One response could be to make greater use of digital and other technologies to try to improve outcomes and contain costs. We were commissioned to examine the economic case for accelerated investment in technology that could, over time, deliver savings on the overall cost of care for people with dementia. Our short study included a rapid review of international evidence on effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of technology, consideration of the conditions for its successful adoption, and liaison with people from industry, government, academic, third sector and other sectors, and people with dementia and carers. We used modelling analyses to examine the economic case, using the UK as context. We then discussed the roles that state investment or action could play, perhaps to accelerate use of technology so as to deliver both wellbeing and economic benefits

Social impact of artificial intelligence in Europe

La Inteligencia Artificial (IA) puede ser una herramienta de gran ayuda para el crecimiento y desarrollo de la sociedad. Para conseguir un enfoque más cercano y una evolución más eficaz de esta tecnología, la Comision Europea ha creado la red AI DIH, la cual centra su visión en el soporte de las pymes y sector público para implementar la IA en las diferentes regiones de Europa, ayudando a reducir la brecha entre las grandes corporaciones especializadas. En este documento se contextualiza la funcionalidad de la red DIH y cómo está actuando de cara a la IA, para introducir el análisis de los diferentes centros colaborativos enfocados a la IA. El resultado es una propuesta de técnicas, modelos y parámetros que pueden implementarse en esta red de centros, con el apoyo de Living Labs, para incrementar la efectividad y mejorar el producto/servicio final.Artificial intelligence (AI) can be a very useful tool for the growth and development of society. To achieve a closer approach and a more effective evolution of this technology, the European Commission has created the AI DIH network, which focuses its vision on supporting SMEs and the public sector to implement AI in the different regions of Europe, helping to close the gap between large specialized corporations. This document contextualizes the functionality of the DIH network and how it is acting in the face of AI, to introduce the analysis of the different collaborative centers focused on AI. The result is a proposal of techniques, models and parameters that can be implemented in this network of centers, supported by Living Labs, to increase effectiveness and improve the final product/service

A Novel Method for Adaptive Control of Manufacturing Equipment in Cloud Environments

The ability to adaptively control manufacturing equipment, both in local and distributed environments, is becoming increasingly more important for many manufacturing companies. One important reason for this is that manufacturing companies are facing increasing levels of changes, variations and uncertainty, caused by both internal and external factors, which can negatively impact their performance. Frequently changing consumer requirements and market demands usually lead to variations in manufacturing quantities, product design and shorter product life-cycles. Variations in manufacturing capability and functionality, such as equipment breakdowns, missing/worn/broken tools and delays, also contribute to a high level of uncertainty. The result is unpredictable manufacturing system performance, with an increased number of unforeseen events occurring in these systems. Events which are difficult for traditional planning and control systems to satisfactorily manage. For manufacturing scenarios such as these, the use of real-time manufacturing information and intelligence is necessary to enable manufacturing activities to be performed according to actual manufacturing conditions and requirements, and not according to a pre-determined process plan. Therefore, there is a need for an event-driven control approach to facilitate adaptive decision-making and dynamic control capabilities. Another reason driving the move for adaptive control of manufacturing equipment is the trend of increasing globalization, which forces manufacturing industry to focus on more cost-effective manufacturing systems and collaboration within global supply chains and manufacturing networks. Cloud Manufacturing is evolving as a new manufacturing paradigm to match this trend, enabling the mutually advantageous sharing of resources, knowledge and information between distributed companies and manufacturing units. One of the crucial objectives for Cloud Manufacturing is the coordinated planning, control and execution of discrete manufacturing operations in collaborative and networked environments. Therefore, there is also a need that such an event-driven control approach supports the control of distributed manufacturing equipment. The aim of this research study is to define and verify a novel and comprehensive method for adaptive control of manufacturing equipment in cloud environments. The presented research follows the Design Science Research methodology. From a review of research literature, problems regarding adaptive manufacturing equipment control have been identified. A control approach, building on a structure of event-driven Manufacturing Feature Function Blocks, supported by an Information Framework, has been formulated. The Function Block structure is constructed to generate real-time control instructions, triggered by events from the manufacturing environment. The Information Framework uses the concept of Ontologies and The Semantic Web to enable description and matching of manufacturing resource capabilities and manufacturing task requests in distributed environments, e.g. within Cloud Manufacturing. The suggested control approach has been designed and instantiated, implemented as prototype systems for both local and distributed manufacturing scenarios, in both real and virtual applications. In these systems, event-driven Assembly Feature Function Blocks for adaptive control of robotic assembly tasks have been used to demonstrate the applicability of the control approach. The utility and performance of these prototype systems have been tested, verified and evaluated for different assembly scenarios. The proposed control approach has many promising characteristics for use within both local and distributed environments, such as cloud environments. The biggest advantage compared to traditional control is that the required control is created at run-time according to actual manufacturing conditions. The biggest obstacle for being applicable to its full extent is manufacturing equipment controlled by proprietary control systems, with native control languages. To take the full advantage of the IEC Function Block control approach, controllers which can interface, interpret and execute these Function Blocks directly, are necessary

Why Computer-Based Systems Should be Autonomic

The objective of this paper is to discuss why computer-based systems should be autonomic, where autonomicity implies self-managing, often conceptualized in terms of being self-configuring, self-healing, self-optimizing, self-protecting and self-aware. We look at motivations for autonomicity, examine how more and more systems are exhibiting autonomic behavior, and finally look at future directions