Informatics & Technology
Engineers’ pre-eminent role: An account of six decades in the industry
Prof Sudhangsu Chakraborty’s book takes us on a very personal journey, detailing his life and work. His life story serves to highlight the pre-eminent role that engineers play in society. Engineers bridge the gap between art and science, often creating artifacts that are technically innovative but also become landmarks. Chakraborty points out the importance of engineers playing a role in […]
Choice‑making and choose‑ables: Making decision agents more choosy
Dr Lorraine Dodd, from Cranfield University, examines the Artificial Intelligence approach to modelling a decision agent’s choice-making. She explores the factors affecting an adaptive agent’s freedom of decision-making and investigates factors that can shape, extend, limit or re-focus an agent’s potential in terms of their ways forward. Dr Dodd also discusses the higher-order concept of choice-making that she refers to […]
Optimising Particle Accelerators with Adaptive Machine Learning
Machine learning has become a staple of research into many of today’s most cutting-edge technologies. Until now, however, it has not been widely considered as a useful tool for online optimisation of the performance of particle accelerators. Through his research, Dr Alexander Scheinker at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, USA, introduces new techniques based on machine learning, […]
Unsupervised feature extraction applied to bioinformatics
In his new book, Professor Y-h Taguchi, from Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan, takes two classical mathematical techniques, principal component analysis and tensor decomposition, and demonstrates how they can be used to perform feature selection in his cutting-edge research. Both unsupervised learning methods are applied to carry out feature extraction in a wide range of ‘large p small n’ problems. This […]
Covert polarisation display: The future of everyday encryption
Did you know that you can store information in a way that it is right in front of you, yet you cannot see it unless being under specific light conditions? Nowadays there is smart technology, which allows valuable, written information to be protected, using materials that reveal the message only when placed under polarised light. Dr Young Min Song and […]
Social Robots – a New Perspective in Healthcare
Some social robots are assistants helping with tasks such as lifting, while others take on companion roles and simulate emotions. Dr Oliver Korn, Professor for Human Computer Interaction and Director of the Affective & Cognitive Institute at Offenburg University in Germany, discusses whether social robots should be able to replicate human emotions and explores ethical challenges arising from it. He […]
Understanding statistical significance of subgroups in the data science era
Statistical models are routinely used to derive inferences from large amounts of data. They directly impact several disciplines, including precision medicine and individualised learning, which rely on information concerning individuals and groups to make predictions on the expected effects of a specific intervention on population subgroups. Although it is relatively easy to find impressive-looking associations in big data, for instance […]
A new academic discipline: Advancing factory science, economics and artifacts science
Professor Masayuki Matsui from The University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo, proposes that Industrial Engineering and Operational Research (IEOR) can be viewed as the art of his 3M&I-body system. His methods have led to a new academic discipline that contribute to the integration of knowledge and intelligence in nature versus artifacts science. This research facilitates the realisation of the cyber/real world, including […]
Post-quantum secure encryption and cybersecurity education
Encryption systems that are capable of surviving quantum computer attacks are urgently required, but the cybersecurity talent gap militates against securing cyberinfrastructure. Dr Aydin Aysu, Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University, is advancing the research and teaching of post-quantum secure encryption. He has developed a quantum-secure encryption system together with a new graduate program on hardware security and is […]
Volumetric representations
could revolutionise 3D printing
The world of manufacturing is facing a massive game change. For half a century, subtractive manufacturing (SM) has reigned king. In SM, a cutter removes material from a homogeneous block until the desired shape is formed. Additive manufacturing is a major industry waiting just around the corner – and with it, the opportunity to design in a more flexible way. However, […]