Selected Online Reading on Digital Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies

• Ethical Dilemmas and Privacy Issues in Emerging Technologies: A Review. Dhirani, Lubna Luxmi ; Mukhtiar, Noorain ; Chowdhry, Bhawani Shankar ; Newe, Thomas. Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), 2023, Vol.23 (3), p.1151.
  Abstract: Industry 5.0 is projected to be an exemplary improvement in digital transformation allowing for mass customization and production efficiencies using emerging technologies such as universal machines, autonomous and self-driving robots, self-healing networks, cloud data analytics, etc., to supersede the limitations of Industry 4.0. To successfully pave the way for acceptance of these technologies, we must be bound and adhere to ethical and regulatory standards. Presently, with ethical standards still under development, and each region following a different set of standards and policies, the complexity of being compliant increases. Having vague and inconsistent ethical guidelines leaves potential gray areas leading to privacy, ethical, and data breaches that must be resolved. This paper examines the ethical dimensions and dilemmas associated with emerging technologies and provides potential methods to mitigate their legal/regulatory issues.
   

• Emerging Technologies at Work: Policy Ideas to Address Negative Consequences for Work, Workers, and Society. Bailey, Diane E. Industrial & labor relations review, 2022, Vol.75 (3), p.527-551.
  Abstract: Emerging technologies such as sensors, drones, robots, digital platforms, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality increasingly operate as interlinked components in large technological suites that carry out novel functions. In this article, the author outlines potential negative consequences for work, workers, and society that use of these emerging technologies pose and offers policy ideas for a proactive, strategic response. Resonating across these policy ideas is a call for government to hold corporations accountable. In addition, workers and others who tend to our social fabric, built environment, and governing institutions must participate in the process of technology development, selection, design, implementation, and use. Given the potential for the use of emerging technologies to transform work and society radically and quickly, it falls upon all of us, not just a powerful few, to make choices that support positive outcomes.
   

• Artificial intelligence for the metaverse: A survey. Huynh-The, Thien et al. Engineering applications of artificial intelligence, 2023, Vol.117, p.105581.
  Abstract: Along with the massive growth of the Internet from the 1990s until now, various innovative technologies have been created to bring users breathtaking experiences with more virtual interactions in cyberspace. Many virtual environments have been developed with immersive experience and digital transformation, but most are incoherent instead of being integrated into a platform. In this context, metaverse has been introduced as a shared virtual world that is fueled by many emerging technologies. Among such technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) has shown the great importance of enhancing immersive experience and enabling human-like intelligence of virtual agents. In this survey, we make a beneficial effort to explore the role of AI, including machine learning algorithms and deep learning architectures, in the foundation and development of the metaverse. As the main contributions, we convey a comprehensive investigation of AI-based methods concerning several technical aspects (e.g., natural language processing, machine vision, blockchain, networking, digital twin, and neural interface) that have potentials to build virtual worlds in the metaverse. Furthermore, several primary AI-aided applications, including healthcare, manufacturing, smart cities, and gaming, are studied to be promisingly deployed in the virtual worlds. Finally, we conclude the key contribution and open some future research directions of AI for the metaverse. Serving as a foundational survey, this work will help researchers, including experts and non-experts in related fields, in applying, developing, and optimizing AI techniques to polish the appearance of virtual worlds and improve the quality of applications built in the metaverse.
   

• The who and how of commercializing emerging technologies: A technology-focused review. Haessler, Philipp ; Giones, Ferran ; Brem, Alexander. Technovation, 2023, Vol.121, p.102637.
  Abstract: Emerging technologies combine high expectations with market and technological uncertainty. Scholars are increasingly interested in the commercialization of such emerging technologies, existing studies have worked to identify the actors, dynamics, and contexts conducive to successful commercialization efforts. However, collecting and organizing the findings of these studies has been challenging as they cover a broad spectrum of technologies and have significant differences among them. To address this challenge, the present study reviews existing research on the commercialization of emerging technologies by taking the technology view, explicitly considering the technologies’ shared and distinctive attributes. We have conducted a systematic literature review covering 154 articles published in 43 journals over 28 years and structured the results around the distinct factors that allow emerging technologies to help generate innovation. Our analysis differentiates between proprietary and generic technologies to explain how new entrants and incumbents take emerging technologies to market, with substantially different paths to generating technology-based innovations. Ultimately, we use this technological heterogeneity as a lens to better understand the factors and dynamics behind how emerging technologies are commercialized and used as drivers of future innovation.
   

• Metaverse in medicine. Yang, Dawei; Zhou, Jian; Song, Yuanlin; Sun, Mengting; Bai, Chunxue. Clinical eHealth, 2022, Vol.5, p.39-43.
  Abstract: The emergence of the Medical Internet of Things (MIoT) has presented an opportune solution to these problems, as it provides effective technological support. Based on the current MIoT theory, it is feasible to realize efficient and accurate graded diagnosis and treatment through the linkage between doctors in large hospitals (the ‘Cloud Experts’) and doctors in small hospitals (the ‘Terminal Doctors’), and to contribute to the research and development of related technologies to improve graded diagnosis and treatment in China. Nevertheless, the following issues remain in clinical practice: (1) The Cloud Experts are not available to dedicate themselves to popular science education, or to give professional lectures, at all times and in all settings. (2) The Cloud Experts are not available to provide guidance for the Terminal Doctors on diagnosis and treatment at all times and in all settings. (3) In clinical trials, the main researchers are not available to monitor the research or guide the team at all times and in all settings. (4) Due to the lack of real-time quality control at all times and in all settings, non-standard diagnosis and treatment, with the features of a handicraft workshop, still exist to a considerable degree. The real cause lies in the limitations of the Internet technology itself, which cannot facilitate communication at all times and in all settings between the Cloud Experts and the Terminal Doctors involved in graded diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, the MIoT-based digital platforms need to be further improved, especially concerning the communication and interactions between humans and computers, and the integration and linkage between the virtual and real worlds. It is gratifying that the concept of the metaverse has been introduced, which provides a possible solution to all these problems, and serves as a foundation for the proposal and development of the Metaverse in Medicine.
   

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