Innovative Technological Advances Research Articles

Drone Invasion: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and the Right to Privacy

Since the birth of the concept of a legally-recognized right to privacy in Samuel D. Warren and Louis D. Brandeis’ influential 1890 law review article, The Right to Privacy, common law – with the aid of influential scholars -- has massaged the concept of privacy torts into actionable claims. But now, one of the most innovative technological advancements in recent years, the unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone, has created difficult challenges for plaintiffs and courts navigating common law privacy tort claims. This Article explores the challenges of prosecution of the specific privacy tort of intrusion into seclusion involving non-governmental use of drone technology. Specifically, it proposes that drone technology must be an added consideration when determining the two elements of the intrusion into seclusion privacy tort. The current common law invasion of privacy tort analysis is not sufficient to protect an individual’s right to privacy for torts committed using the modern and complex technology of drones. Thus, considering drone technology must be weaved into analyzing whether the plaintiff had a reasonable expectation of privacy and whether the intrusion was highly offensive to a reasonable person. Further, this Article analyzes and evaluates the practical problems that arise in prosecuting intrusion upon seclusion claims in the drone-age, and how certain states’ statutes address or fail to address these issues. From determining the owner of the drone in order to name a defendant, to proving intent, it is almost impossible for a plaintiff to survive to establish a successful intrusion upon seclusion claim. Moreover, this Article suggests that statutes may combat many of the problems in prosecuting drone-related privacy tort claims by incorporating a rebuttable presumption that the defendant intruded upon the plaintiff’s seclusion once the plaintiff has alleged a prima facie case. This presumption is similar to the presumptions found in many state statutes regarding physical damage from torts committed with aircrafts against a person or property. Thus, because the defendant, a prudent drone owner, would be in the best position to disprove the intrusion, the defendant could rebut the claim by introducing such evidence as flight path data, photo of video footage, possession at the time of the alleged intrusion. With the constantly evolving technology and innovation in the age of drones, prosecuting William Prosser’s concept of the “right to be left alone” when an individual’s right to privacy comes with many challenges. Although other scholarship discusses the relationship between drones and privacy torts, this Article is novel in that it explores the practical issues of prosecuting intrusion upon seclusion claims in the age of drones. It further recommends considerations for courts and legislators when the right to privacy and drones collide.

Research of the modern state of the ballistic protection of aircraft engineering

The purpose of the work is to study the state and domestic and international experience in the protection of aircraft technology with the use of advanced innovative technologies in the production of transparent armor. The experience of using Mi-8 helicopters in the anti-terrorist operation on the territory of Ukraine has shown that there was an urgent need to protect the crew of the Mi-8 helicopter by booking his booth through the installation of tempered glass. In solving this issue, one of the most important tasks is to create an optimized system of differentiated local protection that can withstand the impact of small arms with a caliber of 7.62 mm and provide protection against impact by debris of mines and shells. The development of multilayer light-penetrating armor for differentiated booking of the Mi8 helicopter cabin is a relevant and important problem, the solution of which will significantly increase the survivability of the crew when performing assignments. It is established that there are no direct analogues of systems of differentiated transparent protection of aviation glazing of pilot cabins on the basis of basic armored glass elements. As the most probable and massive in modern conditions of warfare is damage by fragments of mines and shells, the protection of which does not require a high level of impact resistance, it allows the use of laminated multilayer structures of polycarbonate and organic glass to reduce the proportion of the system of local aircraft reservation.

Determining the market value of high-rise residential buildings based on evaluation of consumer properties

As you know, high-rise construction is an indicator of the practical implementation of advanced innovative technologies in the construction industry of the country. High-rise building inevitably comes to the big cities, in connection with the shortage and value of land. The life cycle of any construction project, including high-rise buildings consists of chains: of engineering survey - design-construction-operation. In the process of operation of a tall building, decisions about major repairs or reconstruction of a building are made for decision-making on further use. This article describes methods of assessing the consumer quality of high-rise residential buildings and the establishment of prices based on consumer characteristics of a tall residential building. It is proposed to assess the premises under their quality characteristics. The study was conducted to establish the influence of individual, comprehensive and integral indicators of comparable quality for effective quality living spaces. Simultaneously, there was established a relationship of quality with the consumer cost of housing, ultimately with the potential needs of owners, tenants of the home, lessor dwelling, or buyers of residential properties and other participants in the residential real estate market. This relationship further creates consumer requirements to quality standard of premises at a certain stage of socio-economic development.

Future of academic libraries: Opportunities and Challenges

Rapid advances in technological innovations, affordable high bandwidth networks, explosive growth of web resources,sophisticated search engines, ever growing digital resources and changing information seeking behavior of users are greatly transforming the future of academic libraries. The paper outlines the challenges which are very dominant and posing threat for the existence of academic libraries and suitable strategies requires to be made by the libraries and librarians to meet the expectations and information need of their existing and potential clienteles.

Key Techniques in Simulating Comprehensive Anchor Behaviors by Large Deformation Finite Element Analysis

With the application of innovative anchor concepts and advanced technologies in deepwater moorings, anchor behaviors in the seabed are becoming more complicated, such as 360 deg rotation of the anchor arm, gravity installation of anchors with high soil strain rate, and keying and diving (or penetration) of anchors. The anchor line connects the anchor and the anchor handling vessel (AHV) or floating moored platform. With moving of the AHV or platform, anchor line produces a space movement, and forms a reverse catenary shape and even a three-dimensional (3D) profile in the soil. Finite element analysis on the behaviors of anchor lines and deepwater anchors requires techniques that can deal with large strains and deformations of the soil, track changes in soil strength due to soil deformation, strain rate and strain softening effects, appropriately describe anchor–soil friction, and construct structures with connector elements to conform to their characteristics. This paper gives an overview of several key techniques in the coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian (CEL) analysis of comprehensive behaviors of deepwater anchors, including construction of the embedded anchor line and the anchor line in the water, installation of gravity installed anchors (GIAs), keying or diving of drag anchors, suction embedded plate anchors (SEPLAs) and GIAs, and implementation of the omni-directional arm of GIAs. Numerical probe tests and comparative studies are also presented to examine the robustness and accuracy of the proposed techniques. The aim of this paper is to provide an effective numerical framework to analyze the comprehensive behaviors of anchor lines and deepwater anchors.

50th Anniversary Perspective: Metal-Catalyzed Living Radical Polymerization: Discovery and Perspective

Development of living polymerizations via reversible activation of dormant species opened the door to discovery of metal-catalyzed living radical polymerization that is now very useful for precise construction of tailor-made polymeric architectures. In this commemorative Perspective, the historical aspects as well as the prospects as a new polymerization tool are described toward advanced structural control or technological materials innovation in various fields.

Game of Drones: Rolling the Dice with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Privacy

This Article offers a practical three-part test for courts and law enforcement to utilize when faced with drone and privacy issues. Specifically addressing the question: how should courts analyze the Fourth Amendment’s protection against ‘unreasonable searches’ in the context of drones? The Supreme Court’s Fourth Amendment jurisprudence produced an intricate framework to address issues arising out of the intersection of technology and privacy interests. In prominent decisions, including United States v. Katz, California v. Ciraolo, Kyllo v. United States, and most notably, United States v. Jones, the Court focused on whether the use of a single technology, such as the use of photography, audio recording, heat sensors, or GPS violated an individual’s Fourth Amendment right to privacy. But now, one of the most complex and innovative technological advances in recent years, the unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone, has created an especially difficult issue for courts. Because a single drone can be fitted with multiple technologies, courts need to employ a multidimensional analysis to determine whether an individual’s Fourth Amendment rights have been violated. Thus, with technology advancing quicker than the Court can address, lower courts are left without direction on how to handle this important constitutional quandary, leaving individual right to privacy vulnerable. This Article builds on other scholars’ work promoting a “technology-based” definition of what constitutes a search, by creating a three-factor test for courts to utilize when faced with a drone privacy issue. Specifically arguing that courts should apply a presumption that a warrant is necessary absent exigent circumstances when law enforcement uses drones to survey an individual’s home or curtilage by considering: 1) What type of technology is the drone employing in the search, 2) What is the extent of the surveillance?; and 3) What is the extent of the privacy interference? No longer are the days of addressing the use of a singular technology, as courts will soon, if not already, be inundated with cases involving the intersection of multiple technologies through the use of drones and privacy. Although other scholarship explores drones and privacy concerns, this Article is novel in that it offers a practical approach for courts and law enforcement to utilize, while offering the historical framework for each factor. Guiding courts and law enforcement to handle privacy concerns with the use of drones will provide a structured and approachable analysis that can apply regardless of the drone-in-question’s capabilities and the amount of technologies used.

A comprehensive and efficient daily quality assurance for PBS proton therapy

There are several general recommendations for quality assurance (QA) measures, which have to be performed at proton therapy centres. However, almost each centre uses a different therapy system. In particular, there is no standard procedure for centres employing pencil beam scanning and each centre applies a specific QA program. Gantry 2 is an operating therapy system which was developed at PSI and relies on the most advanced technological innovations. We developed a comprehensive daily QA program in order to verify the main beam characteristics to assure the functionality of the therapy delivery system and the patient safety system. The daily QA program entails new hardware and software solutions for a highly efficient clinical operation. In this paper, we describe a dosimetric phantom used for verifying the most critical beam parameters and the software architecture developed for a fully automated QA procedure. The connection between our QA software and the database allows us to store the data collected on a daily basis and use it for trend analysis over longer periods of time. All the data presented here have been collected during a time span of over two years, since the beginning of the Gantry 2 clinical operation in 2013. Our procedure operates in a stable way and delivers the expected beam quality. The daily QA program takes only 20 min. At the same time, the comprehensive approach allows us to avoid most of the weekly and monthly QA checks and increases the clinical beam availability.

Responsive Web-Based Molecule Viewer for 3D Communication, Collaboration, and Virtual Reality

Communication for molecular visualization is a fundamental component of any research, collaboration, and education pipeline between scientists across disciplines and knowledge base. However, existing industry standard tools provide limitations whereby complex 3D spatial data is reduced to 2D images. Novel approaches which utilize recent innovative technological advances are needed to adequately facilitate communication workflows. Autodesk Molecule Viewer leverages web-based, cloud-enabled 3D viewing technology to overcome limitations in accessibility and 3D sharing of curated molecular structural content to enable effective communication. Optimized for large-scale data, the Viewer demonstrates usage scenarios of author-curated 3D structural content through multiple saved camera and model states (such as measurements, annotations, captions, representations, color, etc.) to be shared through a URL. The shared URL contains presentation views of the authored content in its native 3D environment, which can be viewed through any internet-accessible device such as phones, tablets, and laptop devices. As such, novel methods of presentation, education, and exploration can be leveraged, such as immersive smartphone-enabled virtual reality using any affordable Cardboard VR device. Molecule Viewer applies innovative technological trends and breakthroughs to molecular visualization to accelerate efforts in communication, collaboration, and education.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATED EDUCATION, A HARD ROAD TO TRAVEL FOR LAME DUCKS: BLENDED INSTRUCTIONAL DELIVERY, POTENTIALS FOR LEARNING AFFORDANCES FOR ELT STUDENTS, UNIVERSITÉ FELIX HOUPHOUËT BOIGNY, CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Increasingly, matters relating to formal education have been moving away from secular formats to more technology-oriented ones, such as online and various distance teaching and learning networking arrangements. While advanced educational systems have been being carried in a general momentum towards these newer information technology integrated instructions, the vast majorities of countries worldwide lag behind. Such ones are those from the developing world, in general, and particularly most African countries. Among the main reasons, as it appears the culture of these newer ways of doing education and issues regarding the external environment are prominent candidates. Consequently, it is hard for all those countries to actually be on board. However, there seem glimpses of hope to benefit from advances in technological innovation even in underprivileged areas. To what extent can some forms of information technology be incorporated in education, and to what avail? Such was the central questioning which this research project tried to address. It turned out that forms of blended instructional formats were viable solutions given the many teaching and learning affordances they embody. A major contention that transpired from this study was that, based on their particular circumstances, instructors would be much better off considering the use of some forms of integration of new technologies in their instructional design than no integration at all, pending better auspices.

Biosafety of Prions.

Prions are the infectious agents that cause devastating and untreatable disorders known as Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs). The pathologic events and the infectious nature of these transmissible agents are not completely understood yet. Due to the difficulties in inactivating prions, working with them requires specific recommendations and precautions. Moreover, with the advent of innovative technologies, such as the Protein Misfolding Cyclic Amplification (PMCA) and the Real Time Quaking-Induced Conversion (RT-QuIC), prions could be amplified in vitro and the infectious features of the amplified products need to be carefully assessed.

SH2 Domain-Based FRET Biosensor for Measuring BCR-ABL Activity in Living CML Cells.

Fluorescent proteins (FPs) displaying distinct spectra have shed their light on a wide range of biological functions. Moreover, sophisticated biosensors engineered to contain single or multiple FPs, including Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based biosensors, spatiotemporally reveal the molecular mechanisms underlying a variety of pathophysiological processes. However, their usefulness for applied life sciences has yet to be fully explored. Recently, our research group has begun to expand the potential of FPs from basic biological research to the clinic. Here, we describe a method to evaluate the responsiveness of leukemia cells from patients to tyrosine kinase inhibitors using a biosensor based on FP technology and the principle of FRET. Upon phosphorylation of the tyrosine residue of the biosensor, binding of the SH2 domain to phosphotyrosine induces conformational change of the biosensor and brings the donor and acceptor FPs into close proximity. Therefore, kinase activity and response to kinase inhibitors can be monitored by an increase and a decrease in FRET efficiency, respectively. As in basic research, this biosensor resolves hitherto arduous tasks and may provide innovative technological advances in clinical laboratory examinations. State-of-the-art detection devices that enable such innovation are also introduced.

Index analysis of differentiation of the Russian Federation regions on the basic indicators of innovation activity

The most important strategic direction of the development of the Russian economy is to increase the innovation activity of enterprises and organizations. Despite the positive trends in the sphere of increasing the innovation activity of enterprises and organizations in the country, the creation and introduction of advanced technological innovations in production, low innovation activity of organizations remains in most regions. Problems of innovative development of the regions, as well as the methodology of statistical research of innovation activities are considered in the works of domestic scientists (M.Arkhipova, A.Varshavsky, L.Gokhberg, T.Dubrova, S.Ilyenkova, V.Kuznetsov, N.Sadovnikova and others), but the comparative analysis of innovation activity in the regions based on the index method was not carried out. The purpose of this article is to develop a methodology of applying the index method for a comparative analysis of the innovation development in the regions of the country. The methodology represents an algorithm for comparative analysis of key indicators that characterize innovation activity with a similar average Russian indicator: the proportion of organizations that carry out technological innovation in the total number of organizations surveyed; shares of the shipped innovative goods, works, services in the total volume of the shipped products; share of costs for technological innovation in the total volume of the shipped products. The uneven socio-economic development of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation causes the preservation of regional differentiation in terms of the level of innovation activity. In the process of research, based on the index method, the constituent entities of the Russian Federation were grouped according to the main indicators of innovative development; the leading regions and lagging regions were identified according to the main characteristics of innovation activity. According to the data for 2015, it was revealed that there is a very low innovation activity of organizations in 33 regions of the country (more than twice as below the similar level countrywide). Low innovation activity (10–50% less than the average Russian indicator) is observed in 24 regions of the Russian Federation. Increased innovation activity of organizations, exceeding the average Russian level by 10% or more, is noted in 17 regions of the country.

Burnout as a Selected Aspect Affecting the Work Performance of a Social Worker

The aim of the empirical study is to identify the symptoms and the preventive measuresof social workers' burnout, according to correlations of age, level of education, professionalexperience, length and the site of occupation.Design study. The study was carried out (from February to May 2016) on 49 respondents, socialworkers, by deliberate choice of typology: former colleagues currently working in NGOs of Košiceand Prešov regions, with who we had participated in various projects providing general-utilityservices. The Inventory of Burnout Symptom by T. and J. Tošner was used for processing thecollected data. The completion of this study is the correct implementation of innovative advancedtechnologies forming a part of the culture of the organization with clearly named functions andduties of the individual members of the working team

Simulation based energy-resource efficient manufacturing integrated with in-process virtual management

As energy efficiency is one of the key essentials towards sustainability, the development of an energy-resource efficient manufacturing system is among the great challenges facing the current industry. Meanwhile, the availability of advanced technological innovation has created more complex manufacturing systems that involve a large variety of processes and machines serving different functions. To extend the limited knowledge on energy-efficient scheduling, the research presented in this paper attempts to model the production schedule at an operation process by considering the balance of energy consumption reduction in production, production work flow (productivity) and quality. An innovative systematic approach to manufacturing energy-resource efficiency is proposed with the virtual simulation as a predictive modelling enabler, which provides real-time manufacturing monitoring, virtual displays and decision-makings and consequentially an analytical and multidimensional correlation analysis on interdependent relationships among energy consumption, work flow and quality errors. The regression analysis results demonstrate positive relationships between the work flow and quality errors and the work flow and energy consumption. When production scheduling is controlled through optimization of work flow, quality errors and overall energy consumption, the energy-resource efficiency can be achieved in the production. Together, this proposed multidimensional modelling and analysis approach provides optimal conditions for the production scheduling at the manufacturing system by taking account of production quality, energy consumption and resource efficiency, which can lead to the key competitive advantages and sustainability of the system operations in the industry.

An efficient approach to incorporate anchor line effects into the coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian analysis of comprehensive anchor behaviors

With the application of innovative anchor concepts and advanced technologies in deepwater moorings, anchor behaviors in the seabed are becoming more complicated and significantly affected by the anchor line. Based on the coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian (CEL) method, a numerical approach incorporating anchor line effects is developed to investigate comprehensive anchor behaviors in the soil, including penetration of drag anchors, keying of suction embedded plate anchors and diving of gravity installed anchors. Compared to the method directly incorporating the anchor line into the CEL analysis, the proposed method is computationally efficient. To examine the robustness and accuracy of the proposed method, numerical probe tests and then comparative studies are carried out. It is found that the penetration (or diving) and keying behaviors of anchors can be well simulated. A parametric study is also undertaken to quantify the effects of various factors on the behavior of OMNI-Max anchors, whose mechanisms are not yet fully understood. The maximum embedment loss of OMNI-Max anchors during keying is not influenced by the initial anchor embedment depth, whereas significantly increases with increasing drag angle at the embedment point. With decreasing initial anchor embedment depth or increasing soil strength gradient, drag angle at the embedment point and diameter of the anchor line, the behavior of OMNI-Max anchors could change from diving to pullout, which is undesirable in offshore engineering practice. If the drag angle increases over a certain limit, the anchor will fail similar to a suction anchor.

Scheme for preparation of multi-partite entanglement of atomic ensembles**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11174052 and 11474049) and the China Advanced Science and Technology Innovation Fund.

We show a scheme of preparing multipartite W type of maximally entangled states among many atomic ensembles with the generation time increasing with the party number only polynomially. The scheme is based on laser manipulation of atomic ensembles and single-photon detection, and fits well the status of the current experimental technology. We also show one of the applications of this kind of W state, demonstrating Bell theorem without inequalities.

Expanding Thinking Through a Kaleidoscopic Look Into the Future

The field of mixed methods research abounds with opportunities for creative development in terms of methodological advances and potential to contribute to important and complex societal problems. Inspired by issues that arose in the Mixed Methods International Research Association task force report on the future of mixed methods, this article contemplates its implications for challenges and opportunities for the mixed methods community for advancement in philosophy and methodology, innovative designs, technological advancements and big data, preparation of mixed methods researchers, and responsiveness to complex societal problems. We invite the mixed methods research community to participate in the conversation about these important, as yet unanswered, questions relevant for the future of mixed methods research and the world.

Technological Innovation in the Maritime Industry: The Case of Remote Pilotage and Enhanced Navigational Assistance

Advances in technological innovation have been deployed to support autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles in many industries. A question that remains unanswered is why very little progress has been made in remote pilotage over the past 15 years. This paper draws together theories from innovation management and the high reliability organisation literatures to shed light on this question. Using a case study of two Australian ports, we examine a business case for remote pilotage demonstrating that despite positive cost benefit models, ambiguities in benefits exist throughout the ecosystem. The discussion sheds light on unique challenges that port executives face where it is necessary to simultaneously develop a strategy to: (1) manage the internal innovation process, and (2) manage the external consequences of the innovation by mobilising allies, managing opponents, and converting those who are indifferent to the innovation. The main contribution of this paper is to show that any assessment of the innovation challenge facing remote pilotage and enhanced navigational assistance requires the maritime industry to ask new questions not previously considered.

Efforts to Elevate Al-Quran Studyamong the Visually Impaired Group in Malaysia: Challenges and Proposals

Reciting and familiarization with al-Qur’an is very much urged on the Muslim ummah, whether they are typical or disbled people. Based on innovative research and current technological advances, it is now possible to provide this opportunity and facilities of education, including in al-Quran studies, to visually impaired people. There are some previous research and innovations, including the invention of a portable electronic panel known as Electronic Braille (e-Braille) al-Quran Teaching Aid (N.A.Abdul Khoni 2010), research on vibration of al-Quran in Braille code (Abdallah M.Abualkhishik (2010) and research through Google Speech API (Samir, 2013). This research proves that al-Quran studies among the visually impaired are increasingly gaining the attention of many parties, especially among the academicians. In Malaysia the Special Education program implemented for the visually impaired is part of the National Education Policy. However, this program poses certain challenges for secondary schools in Malaysia, including the issues of infrastructural needs in support of teaching and learning of Islamic Education and the lack of teaching aids from extensive sources. The course module materials for al-Quran teaching in Braille are too scanty and textbooks for Islamic Education are not in Braille. A paradigm shift is required to overcome the challenges, particularly involving social engagements of smart partnerships among the authorities. Malaysia should emulate the excellent examples of other Muslim countries in dealing with issues involving the visually impaired, such as Jordan which was awarded the Franklin Delano Roosevelt International Disability Award for her success in placing issues of the disabled at the top of the national agenda. The “investment in humanity” policy which is an effort to compete with resource-rich neighbouring countries explains how Jordan is able to solve the needs of her disabled in comparison to her neighbours (Muslim World Issue, 2006). Meanwhile Iran has succeeded in publishing and distributing copies of Quran in Braille to other countries through the application of new technology. This Braille Quran is recognized as the best during the Braille Quran International Seminar in Turkey. Hence the purpose of this article is to discuss several important solutions to elevate al-Quran studies among the visually impaired in Malaysia. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s5p419