Applied Technology Review : News

Digital twins are essential to streamlining product development and operations. Manufacturers have been substantially spending on their digitalization as a part of the industrial revolution 4.0. To automate manufacturing processes and improves the standard, frequency, adaptability, and expense of business processes, the latter makes use of innovative technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), cloud computing, Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). About domains like smart wealth management, quality assurance, supply chain management, and creative product development, Industry 4.0 specifically provides a variety of data-driven, added-value use cases. Additionally, it has been clear in recent times that digital technologies play a critical role in lowering CO2 emissions and accomplishing sustainability goals. For example, forecasting effective maintenance strategies can help to reduce waste by preventing machine breakdowns. Digital twins as Tools for Sustainability A digital twin gives a precise online replica of interconnected physical objects. It is a virtual representation of linked manufacturing machinery that is updated in real-time to represent the real components and operational procedures that make up the environment. The digital twins will not impact the status of physical objects to imitate complex processes. Additionally, they make it possible to analyze potential physical circumstances safely and economically. The analysis and evaluation of various scenarios are essential to optimizing production processes by identifying ideal configurations in fields including equipment maintenance, production control, logistics, and supply chain management. The digital twin is one of the most important components of Industry 4.0 applications. Precise and adaptable digital twins can be created using Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPS) systems, system modelling, and digital technologies like Big Data, Cloud computing, and AI. CPPS systems and IoT gadgets make it easier to gather real-time data on assets and physical production processes. While deciding on manufacturing designs that minimize waste and maximize durability, digital twins are a highly potent instrument. For example, operational controlled variables can be established using a digital twin to eliminate product flaws and reduce waste production. A digital twin is used to verify and evaluate different periodic maintenance for one or more assets, which aids in identifying the schedule that minimizes relevant CO2 emissions, prevents unanticipated downtimes, and avoids machine breakdowns. Overall, as part of the growing twin shift of contemporary organizations, a digital twin is a critical facilitator for sustainable industrial operations. ...Read more

The fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war could be deemed immense. The conflict is worsening supply and demand strains, harming consumer presumption and jeopardising global economic development. From skyrocketing food prices to social turmoil, the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war could be deemed immense. When Russia invaded Ukraine, no one comprehended how serious the shockwaves sent through Europe and the world would be or how long the following conflict would last. As the war approaches its sixth month, the consequences of the conflict are becoming more transparent. Against an already tumultuous backdrop of global inflationary coercion amid increasing food and energy costs and disrupted supply chains following the pandemic, the war is worsening supply and demand strains, harming consumer presumption and jeopardising global economic development. Looking at the more expansive global food supply chain, the world could clearly see this conflict shocking important pillars of this system in an already distressed context. In the UK, the government has postponed levying post-Brexit border checks on imports from the EU, quoting that it did not want to aggravate inflationary tensions. With this statement, it is the fourth time that the UK government has stalled such checks. The influence of Brexit on food expenses is indeed being felt by the British populace. In April, the trade hindrances created via Brexit increased food costs by 6%. Technology persists to have an influence on reshaping modern food supply chain systems to enhance productivity, affordability, accessibility, and variety of choices and lower losses and waste. More than 80% of Europeans purchase food from enormous retailers because they are convenient and dependable. The dominance of large retailers, who can invest in technology, has led to increased quality and welfare measures across the food industry. Future supply chains need to deliver healthy and nutritious food that has been cultivated in an environmentally friendly and ethical way, while also negotiating with the powerful challenges of a rising population, climate crisis, and dwindling natural resources. ...Read more

A digital twin is a longitudinal clinical record built from a patient's baseline data—before they receive their first therapy—that forecasts how that patient would likely evolve if given a placebo. Most professionals in drug research are familiar with the nerve-wracking wait for the results of a large trial. Is the experimental therapy useless if the impact is negative? Or is the failure due to an unanticipated defect in the protocol's design or implementation rather than a lack of efficacy? The researchers could spend weeks examining data, but a definite answer may be elusive due to limited statistical power for such analyses in the already completed experiment. These issues are exacerbated if the trial has a lower enrollment or higher dropout rate than anticipated due to an unforeseen occurrence such as Covid-19. And if an attempt is unsuccessful, the next one will likely be larger and more expensive, if it occurs at all. Sponsors typically employ external control arms in proof-of-concept trials to save schedules and costs. Unfortunately, this opens the door to confounders or discrepancies between patients in the external control arm and those in the treatment arm that prevent attributing differences in outcomes to the treatment's effect. Thus, trials employing outer control arms are effective yet unreliable. With the availability of massive historical datasets of longitudinal patient data and the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, clinical trials are no longer required to adhere to the status quo. It is possible to combine the dependability of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with the effectiveness of an external control arm. The technological advancement that makes this feasible is known as a digital twin. A digital twin is a detailed, longitudinal clinical record built from baseline data taken from a patient—before they get their first therapy—that forecasts how that patient would likely evolve throughout the study if a placebo were administered. In other words, a digital twin is analogous to a simulated control group for a certain patient. Digital twins are viewed as factors that are optimized to explain outcome variability. By employing pre-specified covariate adjustment—essentially comparing anticipated placebo outcomes to actual placebo results and removing any bias—digital twins can be introduced into randomized controlled trials without introducing bias to increase power and efficiency. Digital twins do not constitute Synthetic Controls. Synthetic Control Arms (SCAs) include patients not included in the trial's initial patient sample. Because SCAs can raise Type I error, regulatory guidelines limit their applications5. Digital twins provide additional information on study participants. Because projected outcomes are considered covariates, they do not create bias and can be applied to all phases of clinical development. ...Read more