Key Technology Areas Research Articles

Editorial: Special Issue on Robotics Collaborative Technology Alliance (RCTA) Program

The growing technology investment in driverless cars, warehouse automation, human-service robots, and artificial intelligence applications in our daily lives is inspiring. However, the majority of this effort assumes a structured environment, which leaves significant, unsolved problems for autonomous robots operating in unstructured environments. Beginning in 2010, the U.S. Combat Capabilities Development Command, Army Research Laboratory (ARL), funded a 10-year research program, the Robotics Collaborative Technology Alliance (RCTA), which brought together scientists and engineers from government, academia, and industry to develop autonomous mobile robot technologies focused on solving the unique research challenges of operating in unstructured environments. While the underlying motivation came from helping soldiers operating in Army-relevant environments, the benefits extend to scenarios ranging from disasters, to planetary exploration, to reducing reliance on extensive prior knowledge in structured environments. Initially, the program focused around four key robotics technology areas: perception, intelligence, human-robot interaction, and dexterous manipulation and unique mobility (DMUM). In the program’s last several years, focus shifted to integrated capabilities, built upon the pillars of success already achieved. This revised, system-oriented approach laid the foundation for many experiments in laboratory, simulation, and field environments. The program concluded with a capstone demonstration that showcased advanced robotic capabilities for the stakeholders. This special issue highlights robotics technology developed during the RCTA program, progress of which was evaluated and documented through research articles, field experiments, and hardware/software system descriptions. The program produced hundreds of published papers describing innovations in multiple, autonomy-related research areas throughout the program. The papers selected for this special issue describe more recent work, and range from individual research advances to lessons learned from conducting system-level field experiments.

Masters or Slaves? AI and the Future of Humanity

Masters or Slaves? AI and the Future of Humanity

An Overview of Machine Learning within Embedded and Mobile Devices-Optimizations and Applications.

Embedded systems technology is undergoing a phase of transformation owing to the novel advancements in computer architecture and the breakthroughs in machine learning applications. The areas of applications of embedded machine learning (EML) include accurate computer vision schemes, reliable speech recognition, innovative healthcare, robotics, and more. However, there exists a critical drawback in the efficient implementation of ML algorithms targeting embedded applications. Machine learning algorithms are generally computationally and memory intensive, making them unsuitable for resource-constrained environments such as embedded and mobile devices. In order to efficiently implement these compute and memory-intensive algorithms within the embedded and mobile computing space, innovative optimization techniques are required at the algorithm and hardware levels. To this end, this survey aims at exploring current research trends within this circumference. First, we present a brief overview of compute intensive machine learning algorithms such as hidden Markov models (HMM), k-nearest neighbors (k-NNs), support vector machines (SVMs), Gaussian mixture models (GMMs), and deep neural networks (DNNs). Furthermore, we consider different optimization techniques currently adopted to squeeze these computational and memory-intensive algorithms within resource-limited embedded and mobile environments. Additionally, we discuss the implementation of these algorithms in microcontroller units, mobile devices, and hardware accelerators. Conclusively, we give a comprehensive overview of key application areas of EML technology, point out key research directions and highlight key take-away lessons for future research exploration in the embedded machine learning domain.

Modern web application development technologies

One of the key areas of modern information technology is the area of programming. Programming is the creation of various programs. If earlier it was, for the most part, about writing programs for the interaction of a user and a computer, today the applied field of programming is no longer limited to anything. These are programs for portable gadgets, medical equipment, space nanotechnology, and so on. Within the framework of this research, the work will focus on web development and specifically - on the development of a web application. This direction is quite popular, since the Internet segment has played a key role in human life. Whether it’s a government-owned company, a private enterprise, or a personal blog, having a website or application is a kind of business card. A web application is a client-server interaction model using browser software. In terms of their structure and logic of work, web applications often resemble the most common desktop solutions, but with one condition - such applications are always launched and executed in the browser.

A study on technology visualization analysis method using patent classifier

AbstractIn this paper, we propose an efficient method of technical structure analysis of Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) development using network analysis. Recently, with the reform of the industrial structure called “Industry 4.0″ and the explosive expansion of the application area of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the demand for computing power in edge devices is increasing. For these backgrounds, the acceleration by FPGA is focused on the industry. Hence, in this paper, we analyze the technology development trends of a significant FPGA supplier. As analytical data, we employ patents obtained by the company in the U.S. We focus on the classifiers in the patent information. We create graphs by classifiers and analyze their clusters. From the results of extracting graph features by the proposed method, key technology areas and their transitions are revealed in the technology development of FPGA suppliers.

Exploring the digital competence of pre-service teachers on entry onto an initial teacher education programme in Ireland

This study aimed to explore the digital competence of recent entrants into a pre-service teacher education programme in an Irish University. The participants were drawn from a cohort of 208 undergraduate teacher education students. The study employed an online survey that captured both self-reported levels of digital competence and knowledge of key areas of cyber ethics and digital technology. The respondents were active users of technology and very frequent users of social media but reported levels of skills in the use of other digital technologies were lower. In addition, their knowledge of cyber-ethics and associated practices varied. The study also found that they were positively disposed to technology in teaching. The paper argues that, while there are limitations to surveys that aim to capture one’s level of digital competence, they can help guide teacher educators in responding to pre-service teachers. However, digital competence is an evolving concept and care must be taken to ensure that frameworks and tools used to assess it do not stifle teachers’ autonomy in relation to their utilisation of technology.

Oilfield service companies as part of economy digitalization: assessment of the prospects for innovative development

The digital transformation of the economy as the most important stage of scientific and technological progress and transition to a new technological structure is becoming one of the determining factors in the development and competitiveness of the domestic upstream sector. Prospects for innovative development of oilfield service companies are the key technological areas within the first project of the Hi-Tech Strategy of the German Government until 2020 – “Industry 4.0”. The purpose of this study is to assess the prospects for innovative development of the domestic oilfield service industry in the context of the digitalization of the oil and gas industry.
 The subject of the research is the process of the formation of key technological lines of “Industry 4.0” and their impact on the domestic oil and gas sector. The research is based on logical-theoretical and empirical analyses. The main factors that determine processes of digital transformation in the oil and gas industry are considered; the results of digitalization processes in the largest foreign and Russian industry companies of the upstream and oilfield services segments are presented. The information base is made up of data from oilfield service and oil and gas producing companies, presented on the official websites of companies in the public domain on the Internet. It has been proven that, unlike the world's leading companies in oilfield services segment, independent domestic oilfield service companies provide mainly traditional service technologies in a fairly narrow range. The limited scope of functioning and technological capabilities of Russian companies is explained by the lack of necessary investment in development and expansion of business, as well as interest on the part of the state and corporate sectors in the development and replication of domestic technologies and the formation of a full-fledged oilfield services market in Russia.
 

Striving for a Safer and More Ergonomic Workplace: Acceptability and Human Factors Related to the Adoption of AR/VR Glasses in Industry 4.0

The word smart is very popular these days, as a result of nearly everything being digital today. Background information: In this digital world, everything is interconnected by smart devices. The driving force behind this is today’s Industry 4.0 environment, which is affected by many factors, including the ergonomic and safe design of new technology, ensuring the safety of factory operators, whilst increasing productivity and profits. The authors answer the following research questions: Are AR/VR systems or devices proposed for industrial use capable of meeting the needs of the industry (including sustainability)? Are these AR/VR devices designed to ensure easy use and efficient training of factory operators? Do the proposals of the reviewed research papers place sufficient emphasis on creating ergonomic workplaces? These publications were categorized into three subcategories based on the used key technology, research or application area, and their main purposes. Conclusion: Virtual reality, augmented reality, and IoT are becoming increasingly more suitable for industrial use, despite facing scrutiny and criticism.

The high - and new-technology enterprise identification, marketization process and the total factor productivity of enterprise

Purpose The purpose of this study is to find the relationships among the high- and new-technology enterprise (HNTE) identification policy, firm’s total factor productivity (TFP) and the marketization process by using data obtained from China manufacturing firms. Design/methodology/approach Propensity matching score – difference-in-difference modeling are used to investigate the relationships among the HNTE identification policy, firm’s TFP and the marketization process. In addition, the complex relations between policy and firm’s TFP, including in the proposed model, are assessed in detail through the mediation analysis. Findings The results show that the HNTE identification policy can promote firm’s TFP, but its effect depends on the marketization process. The transmission path of HNTE identification policy to promote enterprise productivity lies in the optimization of incentive mechanism, including the improvement of enterprise labor productivity, the reduction of income tax burden and cost and the reduction of financing constraints. In industries and regions with more effective market mechanism, as well as industries with more intense market competition, the productivity promotion effect of the HNTE identification policy is stronger. In industries and regions with low degree of marketization, as well as industries with low degree of market competition, the productivity promotion effect brought by the improvement of incentive mechanism is distorted, which actually inhibit the promotion of enterprises’ TFP. Practical implications The study confirms that the HNTE identification policy plays an important role in enhancing the TFP of China’s manufacturing firm. Policy makers can adopt industrial policy in the key industries and technology areas that are meaningful but market failure. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the effect of the HNTE identification policy largely depends on the marketization process. These finding imply that when formulating an industrial policy, the marketization process of the industry and region should be taken into account. Originality/value The paper analyzes the relationship among the HNTE identification policy, firm’s TFP and the marketization process. Panel data are used to discuss the mechanism of HNTE identification policy affecting firm’s TFP. The paper also reveals the effect of the marketization process on the effectiveness of the HNTE identification policy.

Innovation, Risk, and Uncertainty: A Study of Tourism Entrepreneurs

Innovation is inherently associated with risk and uncertainty, and the engagement of entrepreneurs with these is central to the innovation process. Entrepreneurs are not passive actors but, through learning, they contribute to the dynamic capabilities of the firm across the innovation process. Drawing on 57 interviews with entrepreneurs in tourism small and medium enterprises in Spain and the United Kingdom, the article identifies how risk and uncertainty are understood to change throughout the innovation process in the key areas of technology, finance, markets, and organizations. It also examines how tourism entrepreneurs respond to risk and uncertainty through a range of strategies, especially the harvesting of knowledge and networking. However, engaging with uncertainty remains elusive and relies as much on intuition as on reasoning.

Rise of the Liquid Metal Science, Technology and Industry: Advancements and Opportunities

The room temperature liquid metal and its allied materials are a class of emerging functional matters with diverse species. Recently, with breakthrough discoveries made on liquid metals, tremendous exciting applications were raised and many new materials that had never been anticipated before were invented. As a result, the latest achievements on liquid metals were ascribed as the second revolution of human beings over the process of utilizing metals. This article briefly summarized typical advancements, fundamental sciences, and key technological and industrial areas thus initiated which include but are not limited to: chip cooling and energy utilization, printed electronics and 3D printing, biomedical materials, as well as smart soft machines. In addition, historic background to propose and establish “The China Liquid Metal Valley” and the basic strategy to mold a brand new industry of liquid metal were outlined. The core values to strengthen future research on liquid metal material genome engineering and thus build up corresponding databases were summarized. Overall, liquid metals are important frontiers for science, technology, and industry integrating both fundamental and practical issues together. Further continuous endeavors would lead to pivotal progress of human civilization and thus reshape social production and lifestyle. Its impact for both China and the world to explore next generation revolutionary science, technology, and industry will be huge.

Reflecting trends in the academic landscape of sustainable energy using probabilistic topic modeling

BackgroundFacing planetary boundaries, we need a sustainable energy system providing its life support function for society in the long-term within environmental limits. Since science plays an important role in decision-making, this study examines the thematic landscape of research on sustainable energy, which may contribute to a sustainability transformation. Understanding the structure of the research field allows for critical reflections and the identification of blind spots for advancing this field.MethodsThe study applies a text mining approach on 26533 Scopus-indexed abstracts published from 1990 to 2016 based on a latent Dirichlet allocation topic model. Models with up 1100 topics were created. Based on coherence scores and manual inspection, the model with 300 topics was selected. These statistical methods served for highlighting timely topic trends, differing thematic fields, and emerging communities in the topic network. The study critically reflects the quantitative results from a sustainability perspective.ResultsThe study identifies a focus on establishing and optimizing the energy infrastructure towards 100% renewable energies through key modern technology areas: materials science, (biological) process engineering, and (digital) monitoring and control systems. Energy storage, photonic materials, nanomaterials, or biofuels belong to the topics with the strongest trends. The study identifies decreasing trends for general aspects regarding sustainable development and related economic, environmental, and political issues.ConclusionsThe discourse is latently adopting a technology-oriented paradigm focusing on renewable energy generation and is moving away from the multi-faceted concept of sustainability. The field has the potential to contribute to climate change mitigation by optimizing renewable energy systems. However, given the complexity of these systems, horizontal integration of the various valuable vertical research strands is required. Furthermore, the holistic ecological perspective considering the global scale that has originally motivated research on sustainable energy might be re-strengthened, e.g., by an integrated energy and materials perspective. Beyond considering the physical dimensions of energy systems, existing links from the currently technology-oriented discourse to the social sciences might be strengthened. For establishing sustainable energy systems, future research will not only have to target the technical energy infrastructure but put a stronger focus on issues perceivable from a holistic second-order perspective.

Emergence and development of the cleantech industry: A cognitive construction approach

Understanding the development of the industry creates major challenges for cleantech firms looking to renew their strategies to meet the continuously changing business conditions. Recent studies have argued that energy sector transition is both a technological and a social phenomenon that needs to be looked at from more holistic and comparative perspectives. The cognitive construction view of industry shows promise in opening up the role of managerial cognition and social construction in this regard. The cognitive construction view of industry suggests that the collective changes in firms' beliefs about market boundaries drive development of the industry. Drawing on this view, we investigate cleantech firms' shared beliefs about the key technologies to recognize development patterns in the collective strategy frames and propose an approach to capture the emergence and development of the industry. For this purpose, the study analyzes longitudinal data collected from the annual reports of the incumbent firms operating within the cleantech industry. The results of the study found two sequentially developing phases in industry-level belief structures regarding renewable energy, sustainability, and digitalization as the key technology areas among the firms. In addition, it was possible to trace the differences between the firms’ beliefs about technology development to their different social networks. Thus, the findings suggest that the cognitive construction view of industry provides an opportunity to shed light on the complex dynamics of energy transition and envision industry development within the fast-changing industry conditions.

Biosafety of RNA silencing and genome editing technologies in crop plants: Malaysian and Australian research perspectives

Research in agricultural biotechnology can produce novel solutions to address the ever growing demand for food, feed, renewable materials and renewable energy using increasingly limited resources. Yet research is expensive with long timelines before implementation can disseminate the benefits to society, so there is a need to maximise co-operation and communication between scientists, stakeholders and their governments, to optimise research, its development and the implementation of research outcomes, into mainstream applications. Recognising the impacts of regulations on biosafety, biosecurity and intellectual property policy on strategies for research, senior and early career researchers from two research intensive universities in Malaysia and Australia, held a workshop to identify and to deliberate over two key areas of technology that offer much promise for agriculture, namely RNA silencing and genome editing. A major focus of the workshop was the regulation of new breeding technologies, and how the regulations need to take into account these new technologies. Themes discussed were the need for harmonisation of international legal frameworks and careful use of terminology, standards and guidelines; and the need for good communication and consensus within and between groups of stakeholders and law-makers. This mini-review highlights the deliberations and recommendations from the workshop.

Analysis of innovative technologies of hydrogels from uronate polysaccharides and biodegradable films on their basis

The article is devoted to the analysis of the state and dynamics of scientific developments in the field of creating products for life and health, based on hydrogels from uronate polysaccharides (HUP). The article is reflected the results of the global scientific research monitoring and their changes in the field of technologies for the creation and use of HUP. The results of a retrospective analysis of existing technologies based on poorly studied in the field of food technologies uronic acids, as glucuronic, idouronic, hyaluronic were presented. The study showed, that nowadays the industry of products with their content is acquiring market traits, although it has insufficient scientific substantiation. Development segments with widely used uronate polysaccharides – pectins and alginates – according to the types of hydrogels (swollen hydrogel, cross-linked hydrogel, xerogel) were developed. The article presents examples and identified the required properties of substances intended for immobilization or encapsulation in the hydrogel matrix of uronate polysaccharides. The basic principles of uronate polysaccharides crosslinking chains in the hydrogel phase are determined. Possible methods of biologically active substances (BAS) retention in the matrix of uronate polysaccharides to reduce the risk of premature oxidation, destruction, decomposition, decomposition, evaporation were described. The search for information allowed us to identify key technological areas for the development of scientific research on the creation and use of HUP to improve people's lives and health. The archives of the world's leading publications in the field of food chemistry, biotechnology, food engineering, chemistry of new materials, food polymers and hydrocolloids were analyzed. The authors used in their work the resources of the Science Direct search system, which made it possible to determine the most promising and modern lines of development of HUP technologies and products based on them. The analysis of technologies has shown that existing innovative technologies are formed on “basic” technologies for producing solutions of high-molecular compounds under various conditions. Active modernization is carried out in the direction of creating products with immobilized biologically active substances, as well as in attempts to compose a composition with other polysaccharides and/or peptide components. The article notes that existing technologies allow developing other technologies with the help of which it is possible to expand the field of HUP application.

Zinc blende and wurtzite crystal structure formation in gold catalyzed InGaAs nanowires

III-V semiconductor nanowires made of materials which have the zinc blende crystal structure in bulk are well known to exhibit either the zinc blende or the wurtzite crystal structure. Understanding and controlling which crystal structure that forms is of highest importance for nanowire applications in a variety of areas. In addition to this, composition control in ternary nanowires is another key technology area for successful nanowire applications. We derive a general model, based on two-component nucleation theory, which we use to explain the so far less understood experimental observations of zinc blende, wurtzite, and mixed crystal structure as a function of growth conditions and composition, x, in gold catalyzed InxGa1-xAs nanowires. An interesting theoretical finding is that the wurtzite and zinc blende phases have different compositions, even if they are nucleated from the same catalyst particle at the same conditions.

The Emergence of Silicon Photonics as a Flexible Technology Platform

In this paper, we present a brief history of silicon photonics from the early research papers in the late 1980s and early 1990s, to the potentially revolutionary technology that exists today. Given that other papers in this special issue give detailed reviews of key aspects of the technology, this paper will concentrate on the key technological milestones that were crucial in demonstrating the capability of silicon photonics as both a successful technical platform, as well as indicating the potential for commercial success. The paper encompasses discussion of the key technology areas of passive devices, modulators, detectors, light sources, and system integration. In so doing, the paper will also serve as an introduction to the other papers within this special issue.

OQAM-OFDM for Wireless Communications in Future Internet of Things: A Survey on Key Technologies and Challenges

In this survey paper, we focus on the offset quadrature amplitude modulation-based orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OQAM-OFDM)-based wireless communications in future Internet of Things (IoT). First, we present the OQAM-OFDM-based wireless communication system model for IoT and show its superiority compared with OFDM. Then, we give a survey and analyze key technologies including the prototype filter design, peak to average power ratio reduction, tail reduction, channel estimation, and multiple-input multiple-output combination in OQAM-OFDM-based wireless communication systems for IoT. Extensive simulations are conducted to verify the spectral superiority of OQAM-OFDM and compare the corresponding performances of OQAM-OFDM with OFDM in the above key technology areas.

An industry update: the latest developments in therapeutic delivery.

The present industry update covers the period 1-30 June 2017, with information sourced from company press releases, regulatory and patent agencies as well as scientific literature. The combination of drug and devices such as improved, safer injectables (see various market reports, companies Adamis and Baxter), patches (Microdermis) and (nano)carriers are moving increasingly from the R&D stage into clinical trials and toward the market. This addresses increased safety and effectiveness requirements, limiting physico-chemical properties of active ingredients, cost-effectiveness and patient comfort through ease of use. Further attention in the market is on local delivery methods (such as intraocular by Icon Bioscience, Glaukos) and the sheer infinite possibilities of nanotechnology such as LDL nanocarriers, microneedles and hydrogel cubes. Another 21st century key technology area is mobile applications (Vital Art and Science) and connected devices (SmartPill, Pop Test Devices) which are increasingly finding their way into the drug delivery field to enable, for example, closed loop monitoring of drug dosing in trials and of patients with their care providers. Not surprisingly companies are increasingly utilizing convergence to combine their diverse capabilities (Vetter Pharma/Microdermis, TXCell/Lentigen Technology).

Geographical clustering and the effectiveness of public innovation programs

The paper analyzes how geographical clustering of beneficiaries might affect the effectiveness of public innovation support programs. The geographical proximity of firms operating in the same industry or field of technology is expected to facilitate innovation through knowledge spillovers and other localization advantages. Public innovation support programs may leverage these advantages by focusing on firms that operate in a cluster. We investigate this link using data from a large German program that co-funds R&D projects of SMEs in key technology areas called ‘Innovative SMEs’. We employ three alternative cluster measures which capture industry, technology and knowledge dimensions of clusters. Regardless of the measure, firms located in a geographical cluster are more likely to participate in the program. Firms being part of a knowledge-based cluster significantly increases their chance of receiving public financial support. We find no effects, however, of geographical clustering on the program’s effectiveness in terms of input or output additionality.