Unpacking the innovation toolbox for design research and practice

The terms design and innovation are intuitively related, but the relationship between these two concepts is more complex and subtle than it appears at first sight. Few authors have made rigorous attempts to explore this relationship in depth, and the contributions present in the literature generally suffer the specialist backgrounds on which they are grounded. Consequently, this paper provides a high-level synthesis of the innovation management domain and defines an original framework that allows the positioning of the concepts from Innovation Management that are most relevant for scholars and practitioners operating in the Design domain. Specifically, this framework provides a concise representation of the typologies of innovation activities along the technology lifecycle, and associates them to their business implications and to technical and organizational implications on the design process. This framework allows scholars and practitioners from both fields to identify the typical design challenges that are inherent to each type of innovation activity, and to evaluate the suitability of specific support methods and tools

Tackling the Design of Platform-Based Service Systems, Integrating Data and Cultures: The Case of Urban Markets

Different design traditions address the design of services. When adopted alone, they can limit design, especially if services systems are complex. Some combinations among service design traditions are theorized in the literature and a cultural synthesis is considered a priority. This paper discusses a practical application of that synthesis: systematic/data-driven methods from engineering and service innovation are applied within a participatory and transformative environment. Intangible versus material and functional versus experience service elements are considered. The case study on urban markets shows that economics and the transactional/functional mechanics of a service system must be understood for proper design actions, and that overcoming separations between strands of literature is necessary to achieve this aim. Moreover, since urban markets are two-sided platforms in a physical setting, the study allows easier investigation than in modern digital platforms regarding how platform economics affect the design of a service system, providing insights for digital services as well. Originality is due to generally scant contributions on urban market design, since markets are often regulated, rather than designed, beyond the rare practical attempts of cultural synthesis

Design Methods Review for Smart Product: Objectomy, a New Approach

Digital artefacts call for new design challenges: they enable services, technology-driven and multidisciplinary never ended processes, uncouple form-function, in a social relationship that must be ecosystem-framed. Then, the usual design mindset is not proper and expected vs unexpected outcomes must be equally studied. A framework of methods, in view of the usual design variables and the new ones called by design of smart objects, is here offered. From that the seeds for the future aid to the design process of smart objects result. Then, Objectomy and one real application case are described

Regulation by Iterative Learning in Continuum Soft Robots

The dynamic uncertainties and disturbances characterizing continuum soft robots call for the derivation of simple and possibly information-free controllers. We propose an iterative learning control law for shape regulation of continuum soft robots consisting of a PD action and a feedforward term, updated to learn the potential forces at the target configuration. We prove that the regulator achieves global asymptotic stabilization of the closed-loop system to the desired set-point. Simulation results validate the proposed control law

Pricing Derivatives by Path Integral and Neural Networks

Recent progress in the development of efficient computational algorithms to price financial derivatives is summarized. A first algorithm is based on a path integral approach to option pricing, while a second algorithm makes use of a neural network parameterization of option prices. The accuracy of the two methods is established from comparisons with the results of the standard procedures used in quantitative finance.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, 1 table. Contribution to Proceedings of International Econophysics Conference, Bali, August 28-31, 200

Data-driven design: the new challenges of digitalization on product design and development

Abstract Digitalization and the momentous role being assumed by data are commonly viewed as pervasive phenomena whose impact is felt in all aspects of society and the economy. Design activity is by no means immune from this trend, and the relationship between digitalization and design is decades old. However, what is the current impact of this 'data revolution' on design? How will the design activity change? What are the resulting research questions of interest to academics? What are the main challenges for firms and for educational institutions having to cope with this change? The paper provides a comprehensive conceptual framework, based on recent literature and anecdotal evidence from the industry. It identifies three main streams: namely the consequences on designers, the consequences on design processes and the role of methods for data analytics. In turn, these three streams lead to implications at individual, organizational and managerial level, and several questions arise worthy of defining future research agendas. Moreover, the paper introduces relational diagrams depicting the interactions between the objects and the actors involved in the design process and suggests that what is occurring is by no means a simple evolution but a paradigmatic shift in the way artefacts are designed

Pricing financial derivatives with neural networks

Abstract Neural network algorithms are applied to the problem of option pricing and adopted to simulate the nonlinear behavior of such financial derivatives. Two different kinds of neural networks, i.e. multi-layer perceptrons and radial basis functions, are used and their performances compared in detail. The analysis is carried out both for standard European options and American ones, including evaluation of the Greek letters, necessary for hedging purposes. Detailed numerical investigation show that, after a careful phase of training, neural networks are able to predict the value of options and Greek letters with high accuracy and competitive computational time

The "Corsica Channel Cold-Water Coral Province" (Mediterranean Sea)

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Angeletti, L., Castellan, G., Montagna, P., Remia, A., & Taviani, M. The "Corsica Channel Cold-Water Coral Province" (Mediterranean Sea). Frontiers in Marine Science, 7, (2020): 661, doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.00661.Over 25 mounds have been identified in the Corsica Channel (Mediterranean Sea) through multibeam bathymetric mapping at depth of 400–430 m, with dimensions ranging from 70 to 330 m, achieving maximum heights of 25 m. Two mounds have been explored in detail using a remotely operated vehicle, revealing thick coral growth with a predominance of the branching scleractinian Madrepora oculata as main frame builder and subordinate Desmophyllum pertusum. The solitary scleractinians Desmophyllum dianthus and Javania cailleti add to the biodiversity here, which accounts for at least 50 macro- and megabenthic species. In consideration of the remarkable surface (ca. 5.3 km2) covered by living corals, their density and healthy appearance, and discontinuity with other major cold-water coral (CWC) occurrences in the Mediterranean Sea, we propose that this area represents a distinct CWC province in a sector already known for the presence of pre-modern CWC mounds. Noticeably, well-developed contourite drift systems occur in the Corsica Channel, lending support to their strict spatial link with coral establishment at depth. The ecosystemic value of the new CWC province calls for proper conservation measures to ensure their present Good Environmental Status.This work was partly supported by the “Convenzione MATTM-CNR per i Programmi di Monitoraggio per la Direttiva sulla Strategia Marina (MSFD, Art. 11, Dir. 2008/56/CE)” and is part of the DG Environment programme IDEM (grant agreement no. 11.0661/2017/750680/SUB/EN V.C2) and the MIUR-PRIN GLIDE

A simplified model of chromatin dynamics drives differentiation process in Boolean models of GRN

Cellular types of multicellular organisms are the stable results of complex intertwined processes that occur in biological cells. Among the many others, chromatin dynamics significantly contributes\u2014by modulating access to genes\u2014to differential gene expression, and ultimately to determine cell types. Here, we propose a dynamical model of differentiation based on a simplified bio-inspired methylation mechanism in Boolean models of GRNs. Preliminary results show that, as the number of methylated nodes increases, there is a decrease in attractor number and networks tend to assume dynamical behaviours typical of ordered ensembles. At the same time, results show that this mechanism does not affect the possibility of generating path dependent differentiation: cell types determined by the specific sequence of methylated genes