Innovation through Pertinent Patents Research based on Physical Phenomena Involved

AbstractOne can find innovative solutions to complex industrial problems by looking for knowledge in patents. Traditional search using keywords in databases of patents has been widely used. Currently, different computational methods that limit human intervention have been developed.We aim to define a method to improve the search for relevant patents in order to solve industrial problems and specifically to deduce evolution opportunities. The non-automatic, semi-automatic, and automatic search methods use keywords. For a detailed keyword search, we propose as a basis the functional decomposition [1] and the analysis of the physical phenomena involved in the in the achievement of the function to fulfill. The search for solutions to design a bi-phasic separator in deep offshore shows the method presented in this paper

Business Agility and Flexibility in Enterprise Service-based Information Systems: Application to PLM Systems

International audienceIndustrial companies collaborating to develop new products need to implement the effective management of their product design processes (PDPs) and product information. PDPs are known for their changing, emergent and non-deterministic characteristics due to the business environment within which they are executed. Unfortunately, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems, which are dedicated to support product design activities, are not as efficient as might be expected. PLM systems are based on workflow technology, which does not support PDP's agility. Process support flexibility requirements, are necessary in order to facilitate coupling with the business reality. Furthermore, systems based on Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) have the inherent ability to evolve. We believe that SOA can promote the support of flexible PDPs. The aim of the work presented in this chapter is to propose an alternative approach for flexible product design process support within PLM systems, by making profiles from SOA. The objective is to specify, design and implement PDPs in a very flexible manner, in order to ensure that business changes can be rapidly made in PLM solutions. A generic services identification approach is proposed for architecting agile process-centered service-based information systems

Prognostic Factors of Hydrocephalus in Children with Brain Tumors: A Retrospective Analysis

Background/Objectives: Hydrocephalus is one of the main complications of brain tumors in children, involving about 50% of cases at diagnosis. It usually resolves with surgical tumor resection but could persist up to 10-40% of cases. The aim of this study is to identify prognostic factors associated with persistent hydrocephalus in a pediatric population of patients with brain tumors. Design/Methods: Retrospective case note review of 56 newly diagnosed brain tumour patients referred between 04/2012 and 01/2018 to our regional paediatric neuro-oncology ser- vice was carried out to evaluate preoperative and postoper- ative Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and to determine Evans\u2019 Index (EI) and fronto-occipital horn ratio (FOHR) for each scan. Chi-square and Fischer test were used to analyze categorical variables as appropriate. Mann-Whitney analysis was used for the evaluation of continuous variables. A p-value 0.46 at diagnosis (p: 0.042) were related to a higher prevalence of persistent hydrocephalus and therefore to the need for a cerebrospinal fluid drain device. Conclusions: Identifying pre-operatively patients at risk for developing persistent hydrocephalus would avoid delays in the execution of interventions for the placement of perma- nent cerebrospinal fluid drain devices. This study finds that a FOHR> 0.46 at diagnosis could impact on the therapeu- tic management of children with hydrocephalus and brain tumors. Prospective and large-scale studies are needed in order to standardize this approach

A Multi-Agent Platform to Support Knowledge Based Modelling in Engineering Design

Nowadays engineering design process requires the involvement of multiple partners from multiple disciplines throughout the Product Life Cycle (PLC). Consequently, the construction of numerical models became a difficult task due to the distribution of experts. This article proposes an agent based approach to support a coherent know-how elicitation, to enrich design problem analysis, based on the re-use of experiences and their storage in a standardized knowledge base. A set of Tutor-Agents (TAs) aid experts in the knowledge modelling process focusing on Variables, Domains and Constraints as a key component of engineering knowledge. A shared and coherent knowledge base is the main purpose of the proposed Multi-Agent System (MAS). The interaction among agents enables to highlight potential incoherencies during the modelling process to avoid inconsistent information. The Multi-Agent approach is implemented in a software prototype and a knowledge base can then be constructed, providing standardized Product Life Cycle (PLC) constraints (based on the product related knowledge) for creating models to be analyzed by traditional inference engines such as Optimization solvers, Constraint Satisfaction programming, etc. © 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG