Early Innovation Research Articles

A Comprehensive Survey of Deep Learning Approaches in Image Processing.

The integration of deep learning (DL) into image processing has driven transformative advancements, enabling capabilities far beyond the reach of traditional methodologies. This survey offers an in-depth exploration of the DL approaches that have redefined image processing, tracing their evolution from early innovations to the latest state-of-the-art developments. It also analyzes the progression of architectural designs and learning paradigms that have significantly enhanced the ability to process and interpret complex visual data. Key advancements, such as techniques improving model efficiency, generalization, and robustness, are examined, showcasing DL's ability to address increasingly sophisticated image-processing tasks across diverse domains. Metrics used for rigorous model evaluation are also discussed, underscoring the importance of performance assessment in varied application contexts. The impact of DL in image processing is highlighted through its ability to tackle complex challenges and generate actionable insights. Finally, this survey identifies potential future directions, including the integration of emerging technologies like quantum computing and neuromorphic architectures for enhanced efficiency and federated learning for privacy-preserving training. Additionally, it highlights the potential of combining DL with emerging technologies such as edge computing and explainable artificial intelligence (AI) to address scalability and interpretability challenges. These advancements are positioned to further extend the capabilities and applications of DL, driving innovation in image processing.

Reviving coral reef ecotourism through green insurance investments

ABSTRACT Coral reefs are a vital landscape for ecotourism though they remain precarious due to climate change and natural disasters. This research seeks to elucidate insights as to how green investments in the form of coral reef insurance are conceptualized and operationalized in some parts of the world, where early innovators have been witnessed. Drawing from sentiment analysis of 116 journal articles and other gray literature (book chapters, industry reports, etc), the findings suggest that while there is optimism towards the use of insurance as a vehicle for reviving coral reef ecotourism, there remains some skepticism and lack of a willingness to pay motivation in other parts of the world. Theoretical and managerial implications for future landscapes of reef insurance are proposed.

Assessing health technology implementation during academic research and early-stage development: support tools for awareness and guidance: a review.

For successful health technology innovation and implementation it is key to, in an early phase, understand the problem and whether a proposed innovation is the best way to solve the problem. This review performed an initial exploration of published tools that support innovators in academic research and early stage development with awareness and guidance along the end-to-end process of development, evaluation and implementation of health technology innovations. Tools were identified from scientific literature as well as in grey literature by non-systematic searches in public research databases and search engines, and based on expert referral. A total number of 14 tools were included. Tools were classified as either readiness level tool (n = 6), questionnaire/checklist tool (n = 5) or guidance tool (n = 3). A qualitative analysis of the tools identified 5 key domains, 5 innovation phases and 3 implementation principles. All tools were mapped for (partially) addressing the identified domains, phases, and principles. The present review provides awareness of available tools and of important aspects of health technology innovation and implementation (vs. non-technological or non-health related technological innovations). Considerations for tool selection include for example the purpose of use (awareness or guidance) and the type of health technology innovation. Considerations for novel tool development include the specific challenges in academic and early stage development settings, the translation of implementation to early innovation phases, and the importance of multi-disciplinary strategic decision-making. A remaining attention point for future studies is the validation and effectiveness of (self-assessment) tools, especially in the context of support preferences and available support alternatives.

Early innovation to avoid late peritonitis-related complications.

Early innovation to avoid late peritonitis-related complications.

How position in the network determines the fate of lexical innovations on Twitter

This study analyzes the diffusion of lexical innovations on Twitter to understand how the social network position of adopters impacts their success. Looking at both successful and failed neologisms, we categorize them into "changes" which become established and "buzzes" which decline over time. Using a corpus of 650 million French tweets, we reconstruct user networks and characterize adopters of innovations during different diffusion phases based on prestige, centrality, clustering, and external ties. In the early innovation phase, change and buzz adopters have similar peripheral profiles. During propagation, changes spread to prestigious, central individuals while buzzes do not, which predicts their eventual success or failure. By the establishment phase, changes reach highly central users with closer external ties. The results align with sociolinguistic theories about weak ties for innovation and strong ties for establishment. Additionally, logistic regression models based on early adopter profiles can predict the fate of innovations. This work sheds light on the diffusion dynamics of online lexical innovations and the crucial role of user network factors.

The Crowdless Future? Generative AI and Creative Problem-Solving

The rapid advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI) open up attractive opportunities for creative problem-solving through human-guided AI partnerships. To explore this potential, we initiated a crowdsourcing challenge focused on sustainable, circular economy business ideas generated by the human crowd (HC) and collaborative human-AI efforts using two alternative forms of solution search. The challenge attracted 125 global solvers from various industries, and we used strategic prompt engineering to generate the human-AI solutions. We recruited 300 external human evaluators to judge a randomized selection of 13 out of 234 solutions, totaling 3,900 evaluator-solution pairs. Our results indicate that while human crowd solutions exhibited higher novelty—both on average and for highly novel outcomes—human-AI solutions demonstrated superior strategic viability, financial and environmental value, and overall quality. Notably, human-AI solutions cocreated through differentiated search, where human-guided prompts instructed the large language model to sequentially generate outputs distinct from previous iterations, outperformed solutions generated through independent search. By incorporating “AI in the loop” into human-centered creative problem-solving, our study demonstrates a scalable, cost-effective approach to augment the early innovation phases and lays the groundwork for investigating how integrating human-AI solution search processes can drive more impactful innovations. Funding: This work was supported by Harvard Business School (Division of Research and Faculty Development) and the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard (LISH) at the Digital Data and Design (D3) Institute at Harvard. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2023.18430 .

THE HISTORY OF USING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORTS

This article examines the historical development and implementation of information technologies in physical education and sports. Through comprehensive analysis of scientific literature and online sources, the study explores early innovations in computer programs and software applications designed for biomechanical analysis, monitoring of physical condition, training modeling, and individualized program creation in sports and fitness. Key contributions from researchers at the National University of Physical Education and Sports of Ukraine are highlighted, including significant developments in posture analysis, foot diagnostics, and video-based motion capture systems. The paper thoroughly reviews specialized software for professional bodybuilding, aqua aerobics, family health management, and student physical education, demonstrating the breadth of applications across various domains. A detailed classification system for information technologies in physical culture and sports is presented, categorizing applications by areas such as sports training, physical education, and rehabilitation. The research demonstrates the widespread adoption of information technologies across diverse aspects of physical education and sports, enabling sophisticated biomechanical assessments, comprehensive physical state monitoring, advanced training simulations, and personalized program development. The authors conclude that information technologies have become integral tools in enhancing physical education and sports practices, with significant potential for further implementation in higher education curricula. The study also emphasizes the need for continued research and development in this rapidly evolving field, particularly in areas such as virtual reality applications and mobile technologies for promoting physical activity and health.

Evolution of Advanced Process Control in GMAW: Innovations, Implications, and Application

The first half of this paper reviews the significant body of work that has been devoted to understanding the fundamentals of the basic GMAW process and the use of this knowledge to develop and enhance process performance. Some of the important background studies devoted to metal transfer mechanisms are reviewed, and the tools developed to model the process and define the critical control variables for GMAW are discussed. The limitations in process performance, such as unstable transfer in low current globular, spray, and short circuit transfer modes and the perceived risk of lack of fusion in short circuit transfer, are considered. These limitations have been mitigated to some extent by process optimization based on the process models developed as well as improvements in welding consumables. Despite the limitations, it is suggested that satisfactory operation could be achieved with simple equipment and a limited number of essential control variables. Early attempts to rectify the limitations are described, but it is argued that these early innovations were restricted by the limited operating envelopes and capabilities of the original power supplies. The radical development of advanced electronic power control and its effect on extending the process operating modes is described, as are the developments in dynamic waveform control. The introduction of synergic control to enable the more complex control variables to be accommodated is also discussed. The effect of waveform control and synergic program constraints on welding procedure management is analyzed, and the advantages of improved process monitoring are reviewed. Future developments in process monitoring and control based on artificial intelligence are introduced, and a possible development to improve synergic program flexibility is suggested. Finally, the type of applications that fully utilize this ‘intelligent’ GMAW are illustrated.

Navigating the Eco-Design Paradox: Criteria and Methods for Sustainable Eco-Innovation Assessment in Early Development Stages

This paper examines the growing importance of eco-innovation in aligning sustainability with technological development. It explores the ‘eco-design paradox’, which emphasizes the tension between the need for flexible design and the availability of data required for assessing environmental impacts during early innovation stages. This paradox presents a challenge: the lack of detailed data can have an impact on the ability to make sustainable optimal design decisions as designs are still fluid. The study investigates the essential sustainability aspects to be evaluated in the initial phases of innovation and explores the involvement of decision-makers and entrepreneurs in the sustainability assessment process. The paper uses a robust action research methodology to examine various eco-innovation diagnostic tools in collaboration with two French Institutes of Technology (FITs). A comparative analysis is conducted to assess these tools’ efficacity in evaluating several dimensions of sustainability, including environmental, social, and economic aspects. Our investigation identifies key criteria that are crucial for early-stage sustainability assessments, such as innovation description, systemic vision, functionality, and stakeholder involvement. The findings will guide policy makers, researchers, and practitioners in the field of eco-innovation by providing a comprehensive framework for evaluating and promoting sustainable innovations in their early stages. The insights from our findings show how important expert knowledge is in the eco-innovation diagnostic process. They also demonstrate the need for a more integrated approach to eco-innovation.

Dynamic predictors of COVID-19 vaccination uptake and their interconnections over two years in Hong Kong

The global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines faces a significant barrier in the form of vaccine hesitancy. This study adopts a dynamic and network perspective to explore the determinants of COVID-19 vaccine uptake in Hong Kong, focusing on multi-level determinants and their interconnections. Following the framework proposed by the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE), the study used repeated cross-sectional surveys to map these determinants at multiple levels and investigates their interconnections simultaneously in a sample of 15,179 over two years. The results highlight the dynamic nature of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in an evolving pandemic. The findings suggest that vaccine confidence attitudes play crucial roles in vaccination uptake, with their importance shifting over time. The initial emphasis on vaccine safety gradually transitioned to heightened consideration of vaccine effectiveness at a later stage. The study also highlights the impact of chronic condition, age, COVID-19 case numbers, and non-pharmaceutical preventive behaviours on vaccine uptake. Higher educational attainment and being married were associated with primary and booster vaccine uptake and it may be possible to leverage these groups as early innovation adopters. Trust in government acts as a crucial bridging factor linking various variables in the networks with vaccine confidence attitudes, which subsequently closely linked to vaccine uptake. This study provides insights for designing future effective vaccination programmes for changing circumstances.

Implementing objective structured practical examination as a formative assessment tool for practical skills in 1st-year MBBS students: A comparative study in the physiology department at Surat Municipal Institute of Medical Education and Research, Surat

Background: It is a well-known fact that assessment drives learning. One of the most important aspects of training a doctor is the acquisition of practical skills. The conventional practical examination (CPE) fails to guarantee the development of the skills expected from students by the end of the course. In addition, the scoring is affected based on the examiner’s variability for different students. Objective structured practical examination (OSPE) has been used to evaluate those areas of performance by students. CPE also does not provide any feedback except stating pass or fail. To overcome this problem, an earlier innovation in this regard is the OSPE described in 1975 and greater detail in 1979 by Harden and his group. The OSPE is now an accepted tool in the assessment of practical skills in both pre- and para-clinical subjects. In view of this, we have implemented the system of OSPE for the assessment of practical physiology in the Department of Physiology at SMIMER College in Surat. Aims and Objectives: The study aims to introduce OSPE as a formative assessment method for 1st-year MBBS students within the physiology department. It involves conducting a comparative analysis between CPE and OSPE to evaluate the efficacy of these assessment methods. In addition, the study seeks to assess students’ satisfaction with the implementation of OSPE for evaluating practical skills and to investigate faculty perceptions of OSPE as a formative assessment tool. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in the physiology department of SMIMER on 138 students of 1st-year MBBS. The first CPE was conducted on 46 students each on 3 alternate days over a period of 1 week by six faculties. The students underwent a second evaluation of the same practical skills, next week through the OSPE method. Feedback from students and faculties was taken separately. CPE was compared with OSCE statistically to find the significance of the difference in means between the marks of these two methods. Results: The results indicate that while students achieved higher marks in the conventional method of practical assessment compared to OSPE, the difference between the two was not deemed statistically significant (P = 0.1). Interestingly, over 80% of students expressed a preference for integrating OSPE into future assessments. Notably, 60% of students perceived OSPE as potentially easier to navigate than traditional practical assessments, while over 80% acknowledged its broader coverage of topics. Furthermore, a significant majority, more than 70% of students, deemed OSPE as a fairer evaluation method compared to traditional approaches. Moreover, a majority of faculty members, exceeding 50%, endorsed the feasibility of conducting OSPE within the Department of Physiology at SMIMER. Their strong consensus highlighted the objectivity and efficacy of OSPE stations in evaluating cognitive and psychomotor skills, surpassing conventional assessment methods. Conclusion: Overall, the findings suggest that while there may not be a statistically significant difference in marks obtained between traditional practical assessment methods and OSPE, there is a strong inclination among students and faculty toward incorporating OSPE into future assessments. Students appreciated the wider coverage of topics in this method. Faculty members recognize the objectivity, validity, and reliability of OSPE but are unsure about its feasibility. The consensus leans toward utilizing OSPE for formative assessment in the future.

Pore Space as a Resource: A Discussion of the Policy and Regulatory Framework for Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage

Reinforced by the International Energy Agency (IEA), carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is currently the only available group of technologies that reduce emissions in key hard to abate sectors and capture CO2 emissions that enable low carbon value chains such as hydrogen. Further, CCUS and carbon management play a critical role in achieving future global climate and energy goals. In fact, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the IEA state that there is no viable path to net zero emissions without CCUS and other carbon management technologies. Due to concerns regarding energy security and an increase in energy demand, generation of energy from conventional hydrocarbon resources continues to be vital. In Alberta, CCUS is a necessary tool to align provincial climate change goals with the responsible and competitive market of energy production. Canada’s oil and gas sector has been an early innovator and adopter of CCUS. Given the petroleum and natural gas resources available in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, and the decades-long energy industry expertise established in connection therewith, there is significant potential to further utilize CCUS to create a CCUS-based value chain. This article provides an overview of the current Canadian regulatory frameworks enabling CCUS, with a focus on the regulatory framework and development in Alberta. Specific topics include: (1) an overview of the regulatory frameworks governing CCUS in key jurisdictions in Canada, including Alberta; (2) an overview of the frameworks for the generation of offset credits from environmental attributes associated with a given project or activity, including both federal and provincial carbon credits and clean fuel credits; (3) a discussion of gaps in policy and legislation; (4) options for regulating “open access” CCUS hubs and CO2 pipelines; and (5) an overview of the various governmental incentives for CCUS projects, including federal and provincial tax credits.

Evidence and Models of Linguistic Relations: Subgroups, Linkages, Lexical Innovations, and Borneo

Abstract: Several recent studies place the languages of Borneo into one of two large groups, the Greater North Borneo subgroup and the Barito–Basap linkage. These same studies place both Greater North Borneo and Barito–Basap with the Western Indonesian subgroup, a large subgroup which is claimed to be a primary branch of Malayo-Polynesian. This paper demonstrates that the exclusively lexical evidence used to justify such subgroups is invalid as subgrouping evidence. Instead, it is shown that the languages of Borneo developed a small number of Bornean-only lexical items through contact, borrowing, and early innovations within the first Proto-Malayo-Polynesian-speaking settlers of the island. To support these claims, a detailed description of both the methods of lexical innovation evaluation as well as the types of linguistic relations that such lexical innovations support is undertaken in this paper. A new standard for the use of lexical evidence in subgrouping arguments is established, with wide-ranging implications for not only the classification of Bornean languages but of western Malayo-Polynesian languages in general.

The Therapy of Anxiety Disorders Around 1900. Hermann Oppenheim (1858-1919) and his Early Innovations

As a teacher and textbook author in psychiatry, Oppenheim initially received high national as well as international scientific recognition. In 1892, with his monograph on traumatic neurosis, which he regarded as the result of organic or molecular changes, his views became increasingly controversial and were met with rejection from the specialists of his time. mainly from German colleagues, probably not least because of his Jewish origin. Less historical attention, however, has been paid to Oppenheim's examination of the phenomenon of anxiety, which at his time was still a poorly elaborated pathological disorder. In his work, Oppenheim considered anxiety disorders to be an etiologically multifactorial disease and a syndrome in their own right. Oppenheim not only oriented himself towards common treatment methods such as dietetics or psychoanalysis but also considered the patient with his multi-dimensional problems as an individual deserving respect. What was more, he also applied self-developed psychotherapeutic treatment methods that show similarities with cognitive behavioral therapy that is predominantly used for anxiety disorders today. Oppenheim's work on anxiety disorders can be considered as highly innovative for his time.

FFEA software: Repeated early innovation

FFEA software: Repeated early innovation Dr Joanna Leng, Senior Research Software Engineering Fellow at the University of Leeds, discusses software with repeated early innovation using the example of the FFEA software. This article analyses the application of software engineering (SE) tools and practices and research software engineering (RSE) practices to the Fluctuating Finite Element Analysis (FFEA) software, a mesoscale modelling package. In 2016, I met the FFEA team to discuss improving their software. In 2020, I started working with them to develop a roadmap for the FFEA software by assessing their research interests and software.

Photography and electroplate in 1840s Birmingham

Industrial improvements to silver plating through the work of electroplating firms such as Elkington, Mason and Co are an important part of our industrial heritage, bridging art, science and industry to form a significant portion of museum collections. However, the impact of this development of silverplating technology upon photography has not previously been explored. This article details the improvements that electroplated silver brought to the daguerreotype photographic process and to the manufacture of daguerreotype plates in Birmingham, offering a material reappraisal of the inventive qualities of the daguerreotype within a wider narrative of industrial manufacture. Chemists in 1840s Birmingham were developing photographic techniques and silverplating processes at the Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery, later Queens College on Paradise Street. These scientists – George Shaw (1818–1904) and John Percy (1817–1889) – had detailed, tactile knowledge of the convergent chemistry and processes in both arenas. Developments in the industrial manufacture of silverplate in 1840s Birmingham created significant improvements to the materials used in the daguerreotype photographic process, making photography more viable as a commercial venture. Shaw planned an early portrait studio and worked with early innovators in electroplating techniques the Marrian brothers (Francis (1802–1893) and Benjamin James Pratt Marrian (1811–1891)) using magneto-plate technology developed by another Birmingham industrial entrepreneur John Woolrich (c. 1791–1843). This potential studio did not emerge due to restrictive patenting and licensing restrictions around the practice of daguerreotype photography, yet extant daguerreotypes tell a story of improvements stemming from technical innovation. These daguerreotypes situate industrial Birmingham as a place of innovation and invention and place the daguerreotype photographic process within narratives of industrial improvements and radically inventive manufacturing practices. Key to the analysis presented here is the role of the recreation of historic techniques in historical research and the value of acquiring tactile knowledge of the behaviour of materials during the processes explored. Here practical experiments allowed the author to look beyond the surviving daguerreotypes via material knowledge to the circumstances and social environment of production. This approach revealed new knowledge which offers an alternative reading of the history of objects through their materials.

"The Pedagogical Legacy of Dr. Chevalier Jackson: An Archival Visit to the John Q. Adams History Center at the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery".

This article explores the historic records of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery's (AAO-HNS) John Q. Adams Center for the History of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, with particular attention paid to the Dr. Chevalier Jackson Collection. The library houses diverse materials that would be of interest to medical historians seeking to understand the early innovations in our specialty. With a repository of over 2200 items chronicling over 200-years of otolaryngological history, the library contains special collections dedicated to Drs. Maurice H. Cottle, Samuel Rosen, Adam Politzer, and Chevalier Jackson. An original aim of this visit sought to understand Dr. Jackson's early contributions to the fields of laryngology, bronchology, and esophagology; yet, an intimate review of his works, including autobiographical material, reveals a fascinating pedagogical legacy.

Approach for the monetary evaluation of process innovations in early innovation phases focusing on manufacturing and material costs

In early innovation phases, the monetary evaluation of process innovations is a challenge for companies due to a lack of data. However, an innovation evaluation is essential in an early innovation phase to ensure that process innovations deliver economic value added (EVA) in early innovation phases and to channel technology transfer expenditures in a goal-oriented manner. This paper presents an approach for a semi-quantitative procedure for the monetary evaluation of process innovations in the early innovation phase focusing on manufacturing and material costs. Exemplarily, the approach is applied to process innovations of the Collaborative Research Center 1368 on oxygen-free production. In order to ensure the net present value orientation within the innovation evaluation, the procedure developed is based on a driver tree of the EVA. To link value drivers of the EVA and innovation-driven factors influencing EVA, the EVA driver tree is further systematized with a focus on manufacturing and material costs using a literature-based impact model. Based on the last level of the impact model, a guideline for a semi-structured expert interview is developed. Using this interview guideline, data is collected in the form of innovation-driven influencing factors, which represent the input for the final monetary innovation evaluation. An adapted weighted scoring model is used to draw a semi-quantitative conclusion regarding the EVA achieved by the process innovation. The practical application of the approach developed to process innovations in oxygen-free production has shown that, in the context of three process innovations under consideration, their implementation with the aim of achieving an EVA through reduced manufacturing and material costs at the current innovation status is not effective. However, based on the impact model developed, corresponding levers can be identified to positively influence the EVA and thus also the industrialization of the process innovation. Finally, further necessary steps are identified to evolve the presented approach into a complete method for monetary innovation evaluation in early innovation phases.

Gaming on the Go? Translation and Validation of the Video Game Demand Scale to Korean

The interactivity-as-demand model has been presented, which identifies the cognitive, emotional, physical (controller and exertion), and social demands of video games. These demands are presumed to apply to a broad set of video games and gaming technologies and are measured using the Video Game Demand Scale (VGDS). The current study fills a gap in the literature by translating the VGDS for use with Korean speakers, recognizing one of the largest global gaming populations, with a specific interest in and early innovation of mobile and online gaming. A sample of N = 524 self-identified Korean gamers was asked to recall a recent gaming experience, complete the VGDS-Korean, and then answer questions about the game. The results replicated the five-factor VGDS metric, and several measurement validity tests replicated from prior work. We also saw novel findings likely related to the dominance of mobile gaming in Korea (and in our sample).

Addressing Evaluation Barriers with Early Innovation Development for Adolescent-Focused Sexual and Reproductive Health Interventions.

Most evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs focus on individual-level sexual health outcomes (e.g., STIs, pregnancy, teen births). To expand program and intervention approaches within teen pregnancy prevention (TPP), the Department of Health and Human Services funded two grantees, Innovative Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programs (iTP3) and Innovation Next (IN) to support and enable early innovation to advance adolescent health and prevent teen pregnancy. The pipeline to support and enable innovation in adolescent health is complex, resulting in barriers and challenges to research and evaluation of novel programs. This paper presents some of the barriers encountered by the grantees. Data for this paper was collected from key personnel and secondary data sources. Focus group participants included seven representatives (n = 7) across the two organizations. Focus group questions assessed barriers related to innovative intervention development and evaluation. Key findings include four barriers to evaluation when fostering innovative adolescent-focused pregnancy prevention interventions. These included (a) funding constraints on evaluation activities, (b) innovation readiness for rigorous testing, (c) evaluation knowledge and expertise on innovation-development teams, and (d) challenges with evaluation requirements. Novel and promising system- and technology-focused interventions with the potential to impact TPP require alternative tools and approaches for evaluation. This would allow research to focus on how systems-level change mechanisms (i.e., policy, access to care) impact sexual risk behaviors and better understand ecological and social determinants of health for the priority population. The advancement of approaches to impact adolescent health identifies the need to expand the focus of evidence-based interventions beyond the adolescent themselves and understand approaches that impact external contexts and environments related to reducing sexual and reproductive health (SRH) risk-taking.