Scan Monthly No. 024February 2005 |
 |
<< Other Issues of Scan Monthly |
 Download this Scan™ Monthly (PDF) |
Signals of Change
Personal Healthware
SoC087
Devices and software to help individuals monitor and manage their health, diet, and well-being are not only fostering self-directed or self-administered health-care management among consumers. They are also creating the potential for aggregations of data sufficient to help researchers develop models for diagnosing or predicting health status from a broad array of physiological and social data.
Sensor Synergies
SoC088
Most sensor applications currently focus on one application, but as sensors proliferate, designers are realizing that such focused applications of sensor data are costly and inefficient. The practice of tapping synergies among various sensor systems is already well under way in the auto industry and will soon become standard procedure for reducing costs and optimizing the benefits of sometimes expensive sensors.
The Back Side of Distribution
SoC089
The industrialized world has the process of distributing products to business users and consumers down cold. But what about the return trip? For most products, no formal return path for recycling, reuse, or deconstruction exists. That situation may be about to change. An increasing level of interest is emerging in the business world concerning the back side of distribution.
Personal Biomonitoring for Chemicals
SoC090
In 2004, California legislators introduced the Healthy Californians Biomonitoring Program, calling for the assessment of more than 50 chemicals for human-exposure risk. The legislation failed to pass by a narrow margin, but the issue is certain to resurface in other forms. Nongovernment organizations such as the California Body Burden Campaign are also raising public awareness of the issue and calling for the collection of biomonitoring data.
Private Equity: Turn at Bat or Paradigm Shift?
SoC091
The business world's current infatuation with private equity has been building for a while. Will the rising tide of private equity reshape the fundamentals of the business world or merely wax and wane in a manner similar to the way junk-bond financiers, T-bond traders, and investment bankers with their IPOs came and went in the past 20 years?
Healing Light
SoC092
Studies indicate that cells exposed to LED light grow 150% to 200% faster than cells without comparable LED exposure. Researchers want to know what's going on and just where the phenomenon will be helpful in health care and cosmetics. Light could be a valuable new tool to supplement doctors' more traditional drugs and scalpels.
Insights
| Services Innovation: Challenge for Manufacturers | View full summary |
| D05-2500 | Download this Insight |
|
Less than 20% of a personal-computer owner's $6259 annual cost of ownership is for hardware. The total cost of operating a railroad locomotive is more than 20 times the purchase cost of the locomotive itself. When amortized over the life of the car, the new-car purchase price is less than 20% of a car owner's $6064 annual cost of ownership. Manufacturers have long realized that services present substantial revenue opportunities surrounding the equipment they manufacture. But they also realize that developing services and services innovation are processes that differ dramatically from developing manufactured products. This study derives from a presentation by William Ralston, vice president of SRI Consulting Business Intelligence. It discusses some of the processes and approaches that companies use to develop and implement services innovation. Author: William Ralston. 15 pages. |
|
| Inference Engines for Home and Mobile Applications | View full summary |
| D05-2501 | Download this Insight |
|
Visionaries often speculate about the potential for pervasive computing and advanced robotics and come up with a variety of possible applications. These application ideas often require technologies and capabilities that resemble reasoning. Such applications need to analyze content, monitor user behaviors, and draw conclusions about likely user reactions. The World Wide Web Consortium's Semantic Web program is producing an emerging approach to creating software that can emulate reasoning: inference engines. No one imagines that such software can think. But such software can and does draw conclusions based on input data. Perhaps only a matter of time will pass before inference engines become common for residential and commercial building automation, for assembling custom compilations of daily news and entertainment, and for filtering messages to prevent distraction while driving a vehicle. Author: Michael Gold. 8 pages. |
|
Calendar
Scan™ Abstract Meetings
Scan abstract meetings (in which SRIC-BI [now SBI] staff participate in a free-form discussion of current Scan abstracts) are open for client observation/participation on:
- 23 March 2005 at 9:00 am
- 18 May 2005 at 9:00 am
- 20 July 2005 at 9:00 am
- 21 September 2005 at 9:00 am
- 19 October 2005 at 9:00 am
- 25 January 2006 at 9:00 am.