Blockchain

Blockchain technology is an advanced database mechanism that allows transparent information sharing within a business network. A blockchain database stores data in blocks that are linked together in a chain. The data is chronologically consistent because you cannot delete or modify the chain without consensus from the network. As a result, you can use blockchain technology to create an unalterable or immutable ledger for tracking orders, payments, accounts, and other transactions. The system has built-in mechanisms that prevent unauthorized transaction entries and create consistency in the shared view of these transactions.

Why is blockchain important?

Business runs on information. The faster information is received and the more accurate it is, the better. Blockchain is ideal for delivering that information because it provides immediate, shared, and observable information that is stored on an immutable ledger that only permissioned network members can access. A blockchain network can track orders, payments, accounts, production and much more. And because members share a single view of the truth, you can see all details of a transaction end to end, giving you greater confidence, and new efficiencies and opportunities.

How do different industries use blockchain?

Blockchain is an emerging technology that is being adopted in innovative manner by various industries. We describe some use cases in different industries in the following subsections:

Energy

Energy companies use blockchain technology to create peer-to-peer energy trading platforms and streamline access to renewable energy. For example, consider these uses:

• Blockchain-based energy companies have created a trading platform for the sale of electricity between individuals. Homeowners with solar panels use this platform to sell their excess solar energy to neighbors. The process is largely automated: smart meters create transactions, and blockchain records them.
• With blockchain-based crowd funding initiatives, users can sponsor and own solar panels in communities that lack energy access. Sponsors might also receive rent for these communities once the solar panels are constructed.

Finance

Traditional financial systems, like banks and stock exchanges, use blockchain services to manage online payments, accounts, and market trading. For example, Singapore Exchange Limited, an investment holding company that provides financial trading services throughout Asia, uses blockchain technology to build a more efficient interbank payment account. By adopting blockchain, they solved several challenges, including batch processing and manual reconciliation of several thousand financial transactions.

Media and entertainment

Companies in media and entertainment use blockchain systems to manage copyright data. Copyright verification is critical for the fair compensation of artists. It takes multiple transactions to record the sale or transfer of copyright content. Sony Music Entertainment Japan uses blockchain services to make digital rights management more efficient. They have successfully used blockchain strategy to improve productivity and reduce costs in copyright processing.

Retail

Retail companies use blockchain to track the movement of goods between suppliers and buyers. For example, Amazon retail has filed a patent for a distributed ledger technology system that will use blockchain technology to verify that all goods sold on the platform are authentic. Amazon sellers can map their global supply chains by allowing participants such as manufacturers, couriers, distributors, end users, and secondary users to add events to the ledger after registering with a certificate authority. 

Benefits of Blockchain

Having a cryptographically secure permanent record comes with perks:

More Security

Cryptography and hashing algorithms ensure that only authorized users are able to unlock information meant for them, and that the data stored on the blockchain cannot be manipulated in any form. Consensus mechanisms, such as proof of work or proof of stake, further enhance security by requiring network participants to agree on the validity of transactions before they are added to the blockchain. Additionally, blockchains operate on a distributed system, where data is stored across multiple nodes rather than one central location — reducing the risk of a single point of failure.

Improved Accuracy

By providing a fully transparent, single-source-of-truth ledger, where transactions are recorded in a chronological and immutable manner, the potential for error or discrepancy drops when compared to centralized databases or manual record-keeping processes. Transactions are objectively authorized by a consensus algorithm and, unless a blockchain is made private, all transactions can be independently verified by users.

Higher Efficiency

Aside from saving paper, blockchain enables reliable cross-team communication, reduces bottlenecks and errors while streamlining overall operations. By eliminating intermediaries and automating verification processes — done via smart contracts — blockchain enjoys reduced transaction costs, timely processing times and optimized data integrity.

Challenges of Blockchain

Although this emerging technology may be tamper proof, it isn’t faultless. Below are some of the biggest obstacles blockchain faces today.

Transaction Limitations

As blockchain networks grow in popularity and usage, they face bottlenecks in processing transactions quickly and cost-effectively. This limitation hampers the widespread adoption of blockchain for mainstream applications, as networks struggle to handle high throughput volumes, leading to congestion and increased transaction fees.

Energy Consumption

The computational power required for certain functions — like Bitcoin’s proof-of-work consensus mechanism — consumes vast amounts of electricity, raising concerns around environmental impact and high operating costs. Addressing this challenge requires exploring alternative consensus mechanisms, such as proof of stake, which consume significantly less energy while maintaining network security and decentralization.

Scalability Issues

As it is now, every node of a blockchain network stores a copy of the entire data chain and processes every transaction. This requires a certain level of computational power, resulting in slow, congested networks and lagged processing times especially during high-traffic periods. Scalability issues arise due to limitations in block size, block processing times and resource-intensive consensus mechanisms. 

Regulation Concerns

Governments and regulators are still working to make sense of blockchain — more specifically, how certain laws should be updated to properly address decentralization. While some governments are actively spearheading its adoption and others elect to wait-and-see, lingering regulatory and legal concerns hinder blockchain’s market appeal, stalling its technical development.

What are the types of blockchain networks?

There are four main types of decentralized or distributed networks in the blockchain:

Public blockchain networks

Public blockchains are permissionless and allow everyone to join them. All members of the blockchain have equal rights to read, edit, and validate the blockchain. People primarily use public blockchains to exchange and mine cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. 

Private blockchain networks

A single organization controls private blockchains, also called managed blockchains. The authority determines who can be a member and what rights they have in the network. Private blockchains are only partially decentralized because they have access restrictions. Ripple, a digital currency exchange network for businesses, is an example of a private blockchain.

Hybrid blockchain networks

Hybrid blockchains combine elements from both private and public networks. Companies can set up private, permission-based systems alongside a public system. In this way, they control access to specific data stored in the blockchain while keeping the rest of the data public. They use smart contracts to allow public members to check if private transactions have been completed. For example, hybrid blockchains can grant public access to digital currency while keeping bank-owned currency private.

Consortium blockchain networks

A group of organizations governs consortium blockchain networks. Preselected organizations share the responsibility of maintaining the blockchain and determining data access rights. Industries in which many organizations have common goals and benefit from shared responsibility often prefer consortium blockchain networks. For example, the Global Shipping Business Network Consortium is a not-for-profit blockchain consortium that aims to digitize the shipping industry and increase collaboration between maritime industry operators.

Virtual reality and Augmented reality

We spend a lot of time looking at screens these days. Computers, smartphones, and televisions have all become a big part of our lives; they're how we get a lot of our news, use social media, watch movies, and much more. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are two technologies that are changing the way we use screens, creating new and exciting interactive experiences.

Virtual reality uses a headset to place you in a computer-generated world that you can explore. Augmented reality, on the other hand, is a bit different. Instead of transporting you to a virtual world, it takes digital images and layers them on the real world around you through the use of either a clear visor or smartphone.

With virtual reality, you could explore an underwater environment. With augmented reality, you could see fish swimming through the world around you.

Virtual reality

Virtual reality immerses you in a virtual world through the use of a headset with some type of screen displaying a virtual environment. These headsets also use a technology called head tracking, which allows you to look around the environment by physically moving your head. The display will follow whichever direction you move, giving you a 360-degree view of the virtual environment.

Augmented reality

Augmented reality allows you to see the world around you with digital images layered on top of it. There are currently a couple of AR headsets available, including the Microsoft HoloLens and the Magic Leap. However, they are currently more expensive than VR headsets, and are marketed primarily to businesses.

Augmented reality can also be used on devices like smartphones and laptops without the use of a headset. There are a variety of apps that use AR, including some that allow you to translate text using your camera, identify stars in the sky, and even see how your garden would look with different plants. You may have even previously used AR without realizing it, while playing a game like Pokemon Go or using filters on Snapchat.

The differences between AR and VR

While both technologies involve simulated reality, AR and VR rely on different underlying components and generally serve different audiences.

In virtual reality, the user almost always wears an eye-covering headset and headphones to completely replace the real world with the virtual one. The idea of VR is to eliminate the real world as much as possible and insulate the user from it. Once inside, the VR universe can be coded to provide just about anything, ranging from a light saber battle with Darth Vader to a realistic (yet wholly invented) recreation of earth. While VR has some business applications in product design, training, architecture and retail, today the majority of VR applications are built around entertainment, especially gaming.

Augmented reality, on the other hand, integrates the simulated world with the real one. In most applications the user relies on a smartphone or tablet screen to accomplish this, aiming the phone’s camera at a point of interest, and generating a live-streaming video of that scene on the screen. The screen is then overlaid with helpful information, which includes implementations such as repair instructions, navigation information or diagnostic data.

However, AR can also be used in entertainment applications. The mobile game Pokemon Go, in which players attempt to capture virtual creatures while moving around in the real world, is a classic example.

Examples of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality

Augmented reality entails abundant — and growing — use cases. Here are some actual applications you can engage with today.

• Ikea Place is a mobile app that allows you to envision Ikea furniture in your own home, by overlaying a 3D representation of the piece atop a live video stream of your room.
• YouCam Makeup lets users virtually try on real-life cosmetics via a living selfie.
• Repair technicians can don a headset that walks them through the steps of fixing or maintaining a broken piece of equipment, diagramming exactly where each part goes and the order in which to do things.
• Various sports are relying on augmented reality to provide real-time statistics and improve physical training for athletes.

Beyond gaming and other entertainment cases, some business examples of virtual reality include:

• Architects are using VR to design homes — and let clients “walk through” before the foundation has ever been laid.
• Automobiles and other vehicles are increasingly being designed in VR.
• Firefighters, soldiers and other workers in hazardous environments are using VR to train without putting themselves at risk.

Challenges for Business and Technology

Technology challenges

• Limited mobile processing capability – Mobile handsets have limited processing power, but tethering a user to a desktop or server isn’t realistic. Either mobile processing power will have to expand, or the work will have to be offloaded to the cloud.
• Limited mobile bandwidth – While cloud-based processing offers a compelling potential solution to the mobile processing bottleneck, mobile phone bandwidth is still too slow in most places to offer the necessary real-time video processing. This will likely change as mobile bandwidth improves.
• Complex development – Designing an AR or VR application is costly and complicated. Development tools will need to become more user-friendly to make these technologies accessible to programmers.

Business challenges

• VR hardware’s inconvenience – Putting on a virtual reality headset and clearing a room often detracts from the user experience. VR input devices, in the form of modified gaming controllers, can also often be unintuitive, with a steep learning curve.
• Building a business model – Outside of video gaming, many AR and VR applications remain in early stages of development with unproven viability in the business world.
• Security and privacy issues – The backlash over the original Google Glass proved that the mainstream remains skeptical about the proliferation of cameras and their privacy implications. How are video feeds secured, and are copies stored somewhere?

Quantum Computing

Quantum computing is a multidisciplinary field comprising aspects of computer science, physics, and mathematics that utilizes quantum mechanics to solve complex problems faster than on classical computers. The field of quantum computing includes hardware research and application development. Quantum computers are able to solve certain types of problems faster than classical computers by taking advantage of quantum mechanical effects, such as superposition and quantum interference. Some applications where quantum computers can provide such a speed boost include machine learning (ML), optimization, and simulation of physical systems. Eventual use cases could be portfolio optimization in finance or the simulation of chemical systems, solving problems that are currently impossible for even the most powerful supercomputers on the market.

Understanding Quantum Computing

The field of quantum computing emerged in the 1980s. It was discovered that certain computational problems could be tackled more efficiently with quantum algorithms than with their classical counterparts.

Quantum computing has the capability to sift through huge numbers of possibilities and extract potential solutions to complex problems and challenges. Where classical computers store information as bits with either 0s or 1s, quantum computers use qubits. Qubits carry information in a quantum state that engages 0 and 1 in a multidimensional way.1

Such massive computing potential and the projected market size for its use have attracted the attention of some of the most prominent companies.3 These include IBM, Microsoft, Google, D-Waves Systems, Alibaba, Nokia, Intel, Airbus, HP, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, SK Telecom, NEC, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Rigetti, Biogen, Volkswagen, and Amgen. 

Benefits of Quantum Computing

• Financial institutions may be able to use quantum computing to design more effective and efficient investment portfolios for retail and institutional clients. They could focus on creating better trading simulators and improve fraud detection.
• The healthcare industry could use quantum computing to develop new drugs and genetically-targeted medical care. It could also power more advanced DNA research.
• For stronger online security, quantum computing can help design better data encryption and ways to use light signals to detect intruders in the system.
• Quantum computing can be used to design more efficient, safer aircraft and traffic planning systems.

Features of Quantum Computing

Superposition and entanglement are two features of quantum physics on which quantum computing is based. They empower quantum computers to handle operations at speeds exponentially higher than conventional computers and with much less energy consumption.

Superposition

According to IBM,  it's what a qubit can do rather than what it is that's remarkable. A qubit places the quantum information that it contains into a state of superposition. This refers to a combination of all possible configurations of the qubit. "Groups of qubits in superposition can create complex, multidimensional computational spaces. Complex problems can be represented in new ways in these spaces.

Entanglement

Entanglement is integral to quantum computing power. Pairs of qubits can be made to become entangled. This means that the two qubits then exist in a single state. In such a state, changing one qubit directly affects the other in a manner that's predictable.

Quantum algorithms are designed to take advantage of this relationship to solve complex problems. While doubling the number of bits in a classical computer doubles its processing power, adding qubits results in an exponential upswing in computing power and ability.8

Decoherence

Decoherence occurs when the quantum behavior of qubits decays. The quantum state can be disturbed instantly by vibrations or temperature changes. This can cause qubits to fall out of superposition and cause errors to appear in computing. It's important that qubits be protected from such interference by, for instance, supercooled refridgerators, insulation, and vacuum chambers.

Limitations of Quantum Computing

Quantum computing offers enormous potential for developments and problem-solving in many industries. However, currently, it has its limitations.

• Decoherence, or decay, can be caused by the slightest disturbance in the qubit environment. This results in the collapse of computations or errors to them. As noted above, a quantum computer must be protected from all external interference during the computing stage.
• Error correction during the computing stage hasn't been perfected. That makes computations potentially unreliable. Since qubits aren't digital bits of data, they can't benefit from conventional error correction solutions used by classical computers.
• Retrieving computational results can corrupt the data. Developments such as a particular database search algorithm that ensures that the act of measurement will cause the quantum state to decohere into the correct answer hold promise.
• Security and quantum cryptography is not yet fully developed.
• A lack of qubits prevents quantum computers from living up to their potential for impactful use. Researchers have yet to produce more than 128, as of 2019.

Edge Computing

Edge computing is a distributed information technology (IT) architecture in which client data is processed at the periphery of the network, as close to the originating source as possible.

Data is the lifeblood of modern business, providing valuable business insight and supporting real-time control over critical business processes and operations. Today's businesses are awash in an ocean of data, and huge amounts of data can be routinely collected from sensors and IoT devices operating in real time from remote locations and inhospitable operating environments almost anywhere in the world.

But this virtual flood of data is also changing the way businesses handle computing. The traditional computing paradigm built on a centralized data center and everyday internet isn't well suited to moving endlessly growing rivers of real-world data. Bandwidth limitations, latency issues and unpredictable network disruptions can all conspire to impair such efforts. Businesses are responding to these data challenges through the use of edge computing architecture.

In simplest terms, edge computing moves some portion of storage and compute resources out of the central data center and closer to the source of the data itself. Rather than transmitting raw data to a central data center for processing and analysis, that work is instead performed where the data is actually generated -- whether that's a retail store, a factory floor, a sprawling utility or across a smart city. Only the result of that computing work at the edge, such as real-time business insights, equipment maintenance predictions or other actionable answers, is sent back to the main data center for review and other human interactions.

Thus, edge computing is reshaping IT and business computing. Take a comprehensive look at what edge computing is, how it works, the influence of the cloud, edge use cases, tradeoffs and implementation considerations.

Key capabilities for edge computing

• Manage the distribution of software at massive scale-Reduce unnecessary administrators, save the associated costs and deploy software where and when it’s needed.

• Leverage open-source technology-Leverage an edge computing solution that nurtures the ability to innovate and can handle the diversity of equipment and devices in today’s marketplace.

• Address security concerns-Know that the right workloads are on the right machine at the right time. Make sure there’s an easy way to govern and enforce the policies of your enterprise.

• Engage a trusted partner with deep industry expertise-Find a vendor with a proven multicloud platform and a comprehensive portfolio of services designed to increase scalability, accelerate performance and strengthen security in your edge deployments. Ask your vendor about extended services that maximize intelligence and performance at the edge.

What is an example of edge computing?

Consider a building secured with dozens of high-definition IoT video cameras. These are "dumb" cameras that simply output a raw video signal and continuously stream that signal to a cloud server. On the cloud server, the video output from all the cameras is put through a motion-detection application to ensure that only clips featuring activity are saved to the server’s database. This means there is a constant and significant strain on the building’s Internet infrastructure, as significant bandwidth gets consumed by the high volume of video footage being transferred. Additionally, there is very heavy load on the cloud server that has to process the video footage from all the cameras simultaneously.

Now imagine that the motion sensor computation is moved to the network edge. What if each camera used its own internal computer to run the motion-detecting application and then sent footage to the cloud server as needed? This would result in a significant reduction in bandwidth use, because much of the camera footage will never have to travel to the cloud server.

Additionally, the cloud server would now only be responsible for storing the important footage, meaning that the server could communicate with a higher number of cameras without getting overloaded. This is what edge computing looks like.

What are the benefits of edge computing?

Cost savings

As seen in the example above, edge computing helps minimize bandwidth use and server resources. Bandwidth and cloud resources are finite and cost money. With every household and office becoming equipped with smart cameras, printers, thermostats, and even toasters, Statista predicts that by 2025 there will be over 75 billion IoT devices installed worldwide. In order to support all those devices, significant amounts of computation will have to be moved to the edge.

Performance

Another significant benefit of moving processes to the edge is to reduce latency. Every time a device needs to communicate with a distant server somewhere, that creates a delay. For example, two coworkers in the same office chatting over an IM platform might experience a sizable delay because each message has to be routed out of the building, communicate with a server somewhere across the globe, and be brought back before it appears on the recipient’s screen. If that process is brought to the edge, and the company’s internal router is in charge of transferring intra-office chats, that noticeable delay would not exist.

Similarly, when users of all kinds of web applications run into processes that have to communicate with an external server, they will encounter delays. The duration of these delays will vary based upon their available bandwidth and the location of the server, but these delays can be avoided altogether by bringing more processes to the network edge.

New functionality

In addition, edge computing can provide new functionality that wasn’t previously available. For example, a company can use edge computing to process and analyze their data at the edge, which makes it possible to do so in real time.

To recap, the key benefits of edge computing are:

• Decreased latency
• Decrease in bandwidth use and associated cost
• Decrease in server resources and associated cost
• Added functionality

What are the drawbacks of edge computing?

One drawback of edge computing is that it can increase attack vectors. With the addition of more "smart" devices into the mix, such as edge servers and IoT devices that have robust built-in computers, there are new opportunities for malicious attackers to compromise these devices.

Another drawback with edge computing is that it requires more local hardware. For example, while an IoT camera needs a built-in computer to send its raw video data to a web server, it would require a much more sophisticated computer with more processing power in order for it to run its own motion-detection algorithms. But the dropping costs of hardware are making it cheaper to build smarter devices.

One way to completely mitigate the need for extra hardware is to take advantage of edge servers. For example, with Cloudflare’s network of 320 geographically distributed edge locations, Cloudflare customers can have edge code running worldwide using Cloudflare Workers.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Robotic process automation (RPA) is a software technology that makes it easy to build, deploy, and manage software robots that emulate humans actions interacting with digital systems and software. Just like people, software robots can do things like understand what’s on a screen, complete the right keystrokes, navigate systems, identify and extract data, and perform a wide range of defined actions. But software robots can do it faster and more consistently than people, without the need to get up and stretch or take a coffee break.

How does RPA work?

According to Forrester, RPA software tools must include the following core capabilities:

• Low-code capabilities to build automation scripts
• Integration with enterprise applications
• Orchestration and administration including configuration, monitoring and security
• Automation technology, like RPA, can also access information through legacy systems, integrating well with other applications through front-end integrations. This allows the automation platform to behave similarly to a human worker, performing routine tasks, such as logging in and copying and pasting from one system to another. While back-end connections to databases and enterprise web services also assist in automation, RPA’s real value is in its quick and simple front-end integrations.

The benefits of RPA

• Less coding: RPA does not necessarily require a developer to configure; drag-and-drop features in user interfaces make it easier to onboard non-technical staff.

• Rapid cost savings: Since RPA reduces the workload of teams, staff can be reallocated towards other priority work that does require human input, leading to increases in productivity and ROI. 

• Higher customer satisfaction: Since bots and chatbots can work around the clock, they can reduce wait times for customers, leading to higher rates of customer satisfaction.

• Improved employee morale: By lifting repetitive, high-volume workload off your team, RPA allows people to focus on more thoughtful and strategic decision-making. This shift in work has a positive effect on employee happiness.

• Better accuracy and compliance: Since you can program RPA robots to follow specific workflows and rules, you can reduce human error, particularly around work which requires accuracy and compliance, like regulatory standards. RPA can also provide an audit trail, making it easy to monitor progress and resolve issues more quickly.

• Existing systems remain in place: Robotic process automation software does not cause any disruption to underlying systems because bots work on the presentation layer of existing applications. So, you can implement bots in situations where you don’t have an application programming interface (API) or the resources to develop deep integrations.

Challenges of RPA

While RPA software can help an enterprise grow, there are some obstacles, such as organizational culture, technical issues and scaling.

Organizational culture:-

While RPA will reduce the need for certain job roles, it will also drive growth in new roles to tackle more complex tasks, enabling employees to focus on higher-level strategy and creative problem-solving. Organizations will need to promote a culture of learning and innovation as responsibilities within job roles shift. The adaptability of a workforce will be important for successful outcomes in automation and digital transformation projects. By educating your staff and investing in training programs, you can prepare teams for ongoing shifts in priorities.

Difficulty in scaling;-

While RPA can perform multiple simultaneous operations, it can prove difficult to scale in an enterprise due to regulatory updates or internal changes. According to a Forrester report, 52% of customers claim they struggle with scaling their RPA program. A company must have 100 or more active working robots to qualify as an advanced program, but few RPA initiatives progress beyond the first 10 bots.

RPA use cases

There are several industries that leverage RPA technology to streamline their business operations. RPA implementations can be found across the following industries:

• Banking and financial services: In the Forrester report on “The RPA Services Market Will Grow To Reach USD 12 Billion By 2023”, 36% of all use cases were in the finance and accounting space. More than 1 in 3 bots today are in the financial industry, which is of little surprise given banking's early adoption of automation. Today, many major banks use RPA automation solutions to automate tasks, such as customer research, account opening, inquiry processing and anti-money laundering. A bank deploys thousands of bots to automate manual high-volume data entry. These processes entail a plethora of tedious, rule-based tasks that automation streamlines.

• Insurance: Insurance is full of repetitive processes well suited for automation. For example, you can apply RPA to claims processing operations, regulatory compliance, policy management and underwriting tasks.

• Retail: The rise of ecommerce has made RPA an integral component of the modern retail industry that has improved back office operations and the customer experience. Popular applications include customer relationship management, warehouse and order management, customer feedback processing and fraud detection.

• Healthcare: Accuracy and compliance are paramount in the health care industry. Some of the world's largest hospitals use robotic process automation software to optimize information management, prescription management, insurance claim processing and payment cycles, among other processes.

Genomics

Genomics is the study of human genes and chromosomes. The human genome typically consists of 23 pairs of chromosomes and 24,000 genes. In medicine, genome and DNA sequencing -- determining the exact structure of a DNA molecule -- are done to learn more about a patient's molecular biology.

Genomic studies uncover the genetic makeup of patients, including their genetic differences and mutations. All of that information can be used to form a care plan specific to patients' individual genetic composition, rather than treating them with a one-size-fits-all approach.

What genomics is used for

There are many applications for human genetics in medicine, biotechnology, anthropology and other social sciences.

In medicine, next-generation genomic technology can collect increased amounts of genomic data. When this data is combined with informatics, it enables the integration of all this information. Doing so better enables researchers to understand drug response and disease based on genetics and also helps in the efforts to achieve personalized medicine.

Mapping a human genome is time-consuming and produces a terabyte (TB) of unorganized data. As technology advances and that data becomes easier to store and comprehend, more healthcare providers will use it to diagnose and treat patients and create clinical decision support.

Strides have been made in genome sequencing efficiency. It took Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, one week to analyze the same data set that was studied over 18 months during the 1,000 Genomes Project. That project was the first to sequence the genomes of a large group, an endeavor that could benefit population health management.

Some pilot projects have targeted integrating genomics capabilities into providers' electronic health record (EHR) systems as their goal. Genomics is considered part of personalized or precision medicine, a model of healthcare in which providers customize treatment to fit each individual patient's needs and genetic configuration.

Types of genomics

• Structural genomics: Aims to determine the structure of every protein encoded by the genome.
• Functional genomics: Aims to collect and use data from sequencing for describing gene and protein functions.
• Comparative genomics: Aims to compare genomic features between different species.
• Mutation genomics: Studies the genome in terms of mutations that occur in a person's DNA or genome.

What is the Human Genome Project?

The Human Genome Project, which was led at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by the National Human Genome Research Institute, produced a very high-quality version of the human genome sequence that is freely available in public databases. That international project was successfully completed in April 2003, under budget and more than two years ahead of schedule.

The sequence is not that of one person, but is a composite derived from several individuals. Therefore, it is a "representative" or generic sequence. To ensure anonymity of the DNA donors, more blood samples (nearly 100) were collected from volunteers than were used, and no names were attached to the samples that were analyzed. Thus, not even the donors knew whether their samples were actually used.

The Human Genome Project was designed to generate a resource that could be used for a broad range of biomedical studies. One such use is to look for the genetic variations that increase risk of specific diseases, such as cancer, or to look for the type of genetic mutations frequently seen in cancerous cells. More research can then be done to fully understand how the genome functions and to discover the genetic basis for health and disease.

3D Printing

3D printing is a process in which a digital model is turned into a tangible, solid, three-dimensional object, usually by laying down many successive, thin layers of a material. 3D printing has become popular so quickly because it makes manufacturing accessible to more people than ever before. This is partly due to the price (the starting price for a basic 3D printer is about $300), but also the small size of the printers compared to traditional manufacturing.

3D printing is an additive technology used to manufacture parts. It is ‘additive’ in that it doesn’t require a block of material or a mold to manufacture physical objects, it simply stacks and fuses layers of material. It’s typically fast, with low fixed setup costs, and can create more complex geometries than ‘traditional’ technologies, with an ever-expanding list of materials. It is used extensively in the engineering industry, particularly for prototyping and creating lightweight geometries.

How does it work?

First, a virtual design of the object is made. This design will work like a blueprint for the 3D printer to read. The virtual design is made using computer-aided design (CAD) software, a type of software that can create precise drawings and technical illustrations. A virtual design can also be made using a 3D scanner, which creates a copy of an existing object by basically taking pictures of it from different angles.

Once the virtual model is made, it must be prepared for printing. This is done by breaking down the model into many layers using a process called slicing. Slicing takes the model and slices it into hundreds or even thousands of thin, horizontal layers using special software.

After the model has been sliced, the slices are ready to be uploaded to the 3D printer. This is done using a USB cable or Wi-Fi connection to move the sliced model from the computer it’s on to the 3D printer. When the file is uploaded to the 3D printer, it reads every slice of the model and prints it layer by layer.

The different types of 3D printing

• Vat Polymerization: liquid photopolymer is cured by light
• Material Extrusion: molten thermoplastic is deposited through a heated nozzle
• Powder Bed Fusion: powder particles are fused by a high-energy source
• Material Jetting: droplets of liquid photosensitive fusing agent are deposited on a powder bed and cured by light
• Binder Jetting: droplets of liquid binding agent are deposited on a bed of granulated materials, which are later sintered together
• Direct Energy Deposition: molten metal simultaneously deposited and fused
• Sheet Lamination: individual sheets of material are cut to shape and laminated together

3D Printing Applications

1. Construction

Construction is one of the significant applications of 3D printing. Concrete 3D printing has been explored since the 1990s as researchers sought a faster and cheaper way to construct structures. Specific applications of 3D printing in construction include additive welding, powder bonding (reactive bond, polymer bond, sintering), and extrusion (foam, wax, cement/concrete, polymers).

2. Prototyping and manufacturing

In the case of traditional injection-molded prototyping, it can take weeks to produce a single mold that would cost up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. As established earlier in the article, the original purpose of 3D printing was faster and more efficient prototyping.

3D printing technology minimizes lead times in manufacturing, enabling prototyping to be completed within a few hours and at a small percentage of traditional costs. This makes it especially ideal for projects where users must upgrade the design with every iteration.

3D printing is also suitable for manufacturing products that do not need to be mass-produced or are usually customized. SLS and DMLS are used in the rapid manufacturing of final products, not just prototypes.

3. Healthcare

In healthcare, 3D printing creates prototypes for new product development in the medical and dental fields. In dentistry, 3D printing is also helpful in creating patterns for casting metal dental crowns and manufacturing tools for creating dental aligners.

The solution is also helpful for directly manufacturing knee and hip implants and other stock items and creating patient-specific items such as personalized prosthetics, hearing aids, and orthotic insoles. The possibility of 3D-printed surgical guides for particular operations and 3D-printed bone, skin, tissue, organs, and pharmaceuticals is being explored.

4. Aerospace

In aerospace, 3D printing is used for prototyping and product development. The solution is also critically helpful in aircraft development, as it helps researchers keep up with the strenuous requirements of R&D without compromising on the high industry standards. Certain non-critical or older aircraft components are 3D-printed for the flight!

5. Automotive

Automotive enterprises, especially those specializing in racing automobiles, such as those used in F1, leverage 3D printing for prototyping and manufacturing specific components. Organizations in this space are also exploring the possibility of using 3D printing to fulfill aftermarket demand by producing spare parts as customers require rather than stocking them up.