May the new year bring more published papers

Merry Christmas everyone!

Innovation - from ideas to reality

During The Dutch Technology Week I attended a very interesting event. Innovation in technology, in 100 years, doubled the lifespan, tripled the income, reduced the food cost by 13 times, reduced the energy cost by 20 times, reduced the transportantion cost by 100 times, and reduced the communication cost by 1000 times. All these were possible when knowing how to get the maximum outcome from a technical innovation.

The first presentation talks about the industrial evolution. Ray Kurzweil's graph, "the most important graph in all the technology business", or even better said "the most important graph ever graphed" is on one of the slides. In 1965 the co-founder of Intel, Gordon Moore, observed that the number of transistors doubles every two years in the integrated circuits. Nowadays the components get cheaper, computers transform and get smaller, and Moore's law is still valid.

From the year 1784 we passed through four industrial revolutions, with an increased technical complexity with time. Nowadays machines do amazing things. An interesting statement presented was that there is a 93.5% chance that the job for accountants and auditors may be done in full automatic mode by a machine in the future.

Video 1 . The importance of innovation

The second presentation outlines the updates from 19 May 2016 for the taxation of the Dutch innovation box. The profit for the innovation box is taxed at an incredibly reduced rate of 5%, in comparison to the rate of 25% for the normal Dutch corporate income. The new innovation box proposal states that all the intangible assets developed after 30 June continue to benefit from the current regulations until 1 July 2021. The presentation discusses about the criteria for access to the innovation box, methods to determine the profit, methods to continue the development of intangible assets (the innovation), and administrative details.

Video 2 . The innovation box

The third presentation continues the discussion for the research and development tax credit scheme with details from the WBSO manual for the year 2016. It helps the entrepreneurs to continue the development of their technical innovation with low or lower costs, in order to remain competitive in the field.

Video 3 . Make the best use of innovation grants

The event had a fourth presentation, about technology and smart mobility. Unfortunately my telephone ran out of battery, and it is anyway outside the range of my research interests.

The event had two breaks when the entrepreneurs that attended the event could have had professional advice from the speakers regarding specific details for their own business. The atmosphere was relaxed and with a good exchange of information.

The fascinating world of innovation

One of the most important annual events in Eindhoven, The Dutch Technology Week, filled the area Strijp-S with people in May. The second event that I attended was [Night] <of> <the> nerds. It was organised by Future Bites. More than 55 different activities were prepared for anyone between 14 and 19 years old. Young people match their subject of passion and interest with the presentations prepared. The emphasis raised at this event is on the impact of enthusiasm and creativity over technology. The activities were organised in 5 sections: <challenge>, <clinics/workshops>, <tech talks>, <professions with a future> and <experiences>.

I kept reading about the awesome RoboCup competition but I didn't have the chance to see one of the teams with my own eyes until this event. It is a mid size league competition of autonomous football playing robots. I had the pleasure to see the Falcon robot football team and I enjoyed watching the game.

Video 1 . Robots playing football

An inspiring Tech Talk from Ineke Scheffers caught my attention. She outlined in Dutch most of her achievements that are described in further detail on her page. Girl power in coding can produce great results. I am not sure about the statement that women are better coders, but I know that women can be good coders. I think that one is either good or not good at the job done. If that one finishes the task at the deadline then the work is a success. I am a woman scientist who needs coding from time to time in order to complete the work needed. I liked listening to her presentation.

Video 2 . The presentation for the women coders

A challenging activity was the one about 3D printing. As most of the young people participating at the event may not have extended knowledge for creating the 3D structures of their dreams using CAD software, another software was presented step by step at the event.

Video 3 . The overall presentation for the elements of the event

It is very difficult to summarise the experience had at the event. Up to date technology was presented in a fun way. Although there were so many stands in such a small place the feeling was not that it might be crowded. Each activity presented challenged the mind to innovate. If one was interested in a particular subject then one can find out every single detail about it at this event. One can find out the science behind the technology, and also how "future proof" are the career opportunities in that direction. I wish I had more time to spend at this event.

Look with your hands

The young and the old were invited at an interesting event in Strijp-S Eindhoven during The Dutch Technology Week. This event was organised by The Modelling Association in Eindhoven, Architecture Lessons, and Permanent Future Lab. It presented the 3 months work of 150 children from primary schools (10-12 year old) in Best.

Video 1 . The overall presentation for the elements of the event

Trains are a good theme for a starting point in understanding the science behind this project. It is not as easy as it may seem at the first glance. The oval circuit was split into four sections. Each section was split itself again into four work areas. Each work area was given for setting up to a group of children with an adult supervisor. The work time per week was fixed during school time.

Video 2 . The presentation of a section of the train circuit

They managed to:

• do computer design in 2D and 3D for the scenery;
• find the suitable materials for the scenery and then perform laser cutting;
• design and implement the electronics behind it, using also a microcontroller.

Video 3. The presentation of another section of the train circuit

Personally I wouldn't have been able to participate at such a project at an age of 10-12 years. The children need to comprehend the electronics behind the scenery and the train track. The electronic elements are connected like in a LEGO game with Little Bits. They are color coded, magnetic and reusable. The DIY project also uses the computer of the size of a swipe card, version 2.0, from The Raspberry Pi Foundation The behaviour of each electronic building block in the circuit is checked firstly in the software environment.

Video 4. The hardware has a solid software behind it

The presentation during The Dutch Technology Week showed also a small video with how different hardware parts are put together by children, under supervision.

Video 5. The hardware requires focus on every small detail

The scenery has walking paths with one material, the water with a glassy one, the houses have different material for roof and the walls, and the trees are carefully designed. There are also people featured, in such a small size that one can barely keep the figurines in one's hand. It was a pleasure attending this event.

The animated implantation of the aortic heart valve prosthesis

The transcatheter aortic valve implantation is the non-invasive alternative for the open heart surgery . The percutaneous beating heart interventional procedure for The Medtronic product , The CoreValve Revalving System , is 3D animated by Elite Imaging .

The procedure performed under fluoroscopy in the CathLab lasts for up to 2 - 3 hours . The self expanding multilevel frame containing the tri-leaflet porcine pericardial tissue prosthesis is specifically designed for retrograde percutaneous implantation via the 18Fr catheter .

Video 1 . The presentation of the loading procedure for the bioprosthetic valve
into the delivery catheter

If aortic stenosis is present then a single inflation of the valvuloplasty balloon is performed prior to implantation . The delivery system is advanced retrogradely over the guide wire , from the femoral artery , up to the native failing aortic valve . The catheter circular tip frame is positioned in the aortic valve annulus . The external sheath is progresively retracted . The framed valve is deployed , while pushing aside the native valve leaflets . The new prosthesis is securely anchored by the radial force of the self expanding Nitinol frame . It starts functioning immediately during placement .

Video 2 . The presentaton in detail for the implantation procedure
for the bioprosthetic valve

The side of the frame that expands in the ascending aorta optimises the hemodynamics of the blood flow system . The central level of the frame is calcaved to prevent obstruction of and allow access to the coronary artery ostia . The conforming side of the frame towards the annulus minimises the risk of paravalvular leaks . The tri-level aortic framed bioprosthesis provides secure anchoring , without migration , and with natural valve function , ensuring long term valve durability .

The results for the open heart surgery for aortic valve replacement are compared with the ones for the CoreValve Revalving System , for 795 high risk patients , two years after the clinical procedure . The non-invasive method provides improved outcomes and increased quality of life for the patient .