Blockchain technology introduces asset types and custody mechanisms that fundamentally break traditional financial auditing paradigms. This paper presents an autoethnographic analysis of cryptoasset auditing challenges, build on top of prior research on a comprehensive framework addressing existence, ownership, valuation, and internal control verification. Drawing from lived experience implementing blockchain systems as an engineer, smart contract auditor, and CTO of a publicly traded cryptoasset firm, we demonstrate how autoethnographic methodology becomes necessary for understanding technical complexities that external analysis cannot capture. Through detailed examination of token airdrops, multi-signature smart contracts, and real-time on-chain reporting, we provide experimental approaches and common scenarios that auditing firms can analyze to address blockchain innovations currently considered technically insurmountable.
This paper investigates the fundamental mechanisms of technological change in complex systems by analyzing how the evolution of embedded subsystems dictates the trajectory and sets the tempo of a host technology. Building on the theoretical framework of technological parasitism, the study conceptualizes host systems having a modular architecture—such as smartphones—as evolving through dynamic, coevolutionary interactions with their constituent subsystems. These relations gradually shift from parasitic reliance to mutualistic and ultimately symbiotic interactions. Central to this research is the concept of subsystems as pacemakers. Methodologically, this research employs a longitudinal, mixed-methods approach, combining an 18-year case study of the iPhone (2007–2025) with time-series regression and log–log hedonic pricing models. Key findings are: (a) Temporal precedence: Advances in subsystems (e.g., Bluetooth protocols) consistently precede host releases. The integration lag has contracted from three years to one, signaling an acceleration in symbiotic coupling and highlighting Bluetooth as a systemic pacemaker whose evolutionary tempo anticipates shifts in the wider smartphone architecture. (b) Differential evolutionary pressure in technological host systems: While camera resolution exhibited the highest exponential growth (+16.73%), it remained a secondary driver of systemic evolution. (c) Economic pacemakers: Hedonic analysis identifies battery life as the dominant evolutionary predictor (standardized beta = 0.77). With an elasticity of approximately 0.30, a 1% gain in battery performance correlates to a 0.3% increase in nominal price, whereas display and camera resolution exert significantly less influence on the system’s valuation and trajectory. These findings reveal that subsystems evolve—and exert influence—at different speeds and with different degrees of systemic leverage. Overall, the proposed theory shows that subsystem evolution functions as a leading indicator of forthcoming host–system transitions. By identifying which subsystems act as temporal pacemakers, this research contributes new design rules for forecasting technological generations and optimizing R&D strategies in complex, multi-component innovations. Hence, the study demonstrates that mastering complex innovation requires a granular understanding of the asynchronous rhythms between a host technology and its constitutive parts.
The urgent global transition towards renewable energy has positioned biodiesel as a pivotal alternative for decarbonizing industrial sector. Moving beyond the contentious “food-versus-fuel” dilemma of first-generation biofuels, this review focuses on the sustainable production of biodiesel from non-food biomass, including agricultural residues, non-edible oilseed crops (e.g., Jatropha curcas and Pongamia pinnata), waste streams, and microalgae. The chapter provides a systematic analysis of the entire value chain, beginning with a classification of biofuel generations and a critique of food-based feedstocks’ socio-economic and environmental limitations. It then details the typology of advanced non-food feedstocks and the technological evolution in conversion processes, highlighting breakthroughs in heterogeneous catalysis and microwave-assisted and ultrasonic transesterification that enhance efficiency and sustainability. The analysis further addresses critical technological and environmental challenges, such as feedstock variability and emission profiles.
The exponential rise in mobile device usage necessitates streamlined automation for effective task management, yet many AI frameworks fall short due to inadequate operational expertise. While manually written knowledge can bridge this gap, it is often burdensome and inefficient. We introduce Mobile-Agent-V, an innovative framework that utilizes video as a guiding tool to effortlessly and efficiently inject operational knowledge into mobile automation processes. By deriving knowledge directly from video content, Mobile-Agent-V eliminates manual intervention, significantly reducing the effort and time required for knowledge acquisition. To rigorously evaluate this approach, we propose Mobile-Knowledge, a benchmark tailored to assess the impact of external knowledge on mobile agent performance. Our experimental findings demonstrate that Mobile-Agent-V enhances performance by 36% compared to existing methods, underscoring its effortless and efficient advantages in mobile automation.
This study explores how AI-powered digital innovations are reshaping organisational accountability in a transnational governance context. As AI systems increasingly mediate decision-making in domains such as auditing and financial reporting, traditional mechanisms of accountability, based on control, transparency, and auditability, are being destabilised. We integrate the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Actor-Network Theory (ANT), and institutional theory to examine how organisations adopt AI technologies in response to regulatory, ethical, and cultural pressures that transcend national boundaries. We argue that accountability is co-constructed within global socio-technical networks, shaped not only by user perceptions but also by governance logics and normative expectations. Extending TAM, we incorporate compliance and legitimacy as key factors in perceived usefulness and usability. Drawing on ANT, we reconceptualise accountability as a relational and emergent property of networked assemblages. We propose two organisational strategies including internal governance reconfiguration and external actor-network engagement to foster responsible, legitimate, and globally accepted AI adoption in the accounting domain.
As artificial intelligence (AI) technologies increasingly enter important sectors like healthcare, transportation, and finance, the development of effective governance frameworks is crucial for dealing with ethical, security, and societal risks. This paper conducts a comparative analysis of AI risk management strategies across the European Union (EU), United States (U.S.), United Kingdom (UK), and China. A multi-method qualitative approach, including comparative policy analysis, thematic analysis, and case studies, investigates how these regions classify AI risks, implement compliance measures, structure oversight, prioritize transparency, and respond to emerging innovations. Examples from high-risk contexts like healthcare diagnostics, autonomous vehicles, fintech, and facial recognition demonstrate the advantages and limitations of different regulatory models. The findings show that the EU implements a structured, risk-based framework that prioritizes transparency and conformity assessments, while the U.S. uses decentralized, sector-specific regulations that promote innovation but may lead to fragmented enforcement. The flexible, sector-specific strategy of the UK facilitates agile responses but may lead to inconsistent coverage across domains. China's centralized directives allow rapid large-scale implementation while constraining public transparency and external oversight. These insights show the necessity for AI regulation that is globally informed yet context-sensitive, aiming to balance effective risk management with technological progress. The paper concludes with policy recommendations and suggestions for future research aimed at enhancing effective, adaptive, and inclusive AI governance globally.
In this paper, we offer an overview of indigenous languages, identifying the causes of their devaluation and the need for legislation on language rights. We review the technologies used to revitalize these languages, finding that when they come from outside, they often have the opposite effect to what they seek; however, when developed from within communities, they become powerful instruments of expression. We propose that the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge in large language models (LLMs) will enrich the technological landscape, but must be done in a participatory environment that encourages the exchange of knowledge.
Ostonya Thomas, M Sabbir Salek, Jean-Michel Tine
et al.
The transportation industry is experiencing vast digitalization as a plethora of technologies are being implemented to improve efficiency, functionality, and safety. Although technological advancements bring many benefits to transportation, integrating cyberspace across transportation sectors has introduced new and deliberate cyber threats. In the past, public agencies assumed digital infrastructure was secured since its vulnerabilities were unknown to adversaries. However, with the expansion of cyberspace, this assumption has become invalid. With the rapid advancement of wireless technologies, transportation systems are increasingly interconnected with both transportation and non-transportation networks in an internet-of-things ecosystem, expanding cyberspace in transportation and increasing threats and vulnerabilities. This study investigates some prominent reasons for the increase in cyber vulnerabilities in transportation. In addition, this study presents various collaborative strategies among stakeholders that could help improve cybersecurity in the transportation industry. These strategies address programmatic and policy aspects and suggest avenues for technological research and development. The latter highlights opportunities for future research to enhance the cybersecurity of transportation systems and infrastructure by leveraging hybrid approaches and emerging technologies.
Traditional industry regions like Värmland, Sweden are under increasing pressure to digitalise, a transition that raises broader social and governance challenges for regional actors. RRI has been promoted at EU level as a framework to guide such transformations, however there is limited understanding of how RRI principles are implemented in practice. The case of digitalisation transformation process of Värmland provided an opportunity to further explore how RRI is implemented in practice. This article explores how RRI was operationalised through the DigiTeRRI project, and how it aided in shaping the regional digitalisation transformation policy and collaborative practices. A key finding is that by involving regional actors early in the process and fostering a sense of ownership contributed to the implementation of RRI measures. This study contributes to both RRI scholarship and regional policy practice by offering insights into the situated application of RRI in territorial digital transformation processes.
Catherine Agatha Soesanto, Rachel Widya Fernanda, Bagas Brian Pratama
et al.
Koperasi merupakan salah satu bentuk usaha ekonomi yang berperan penting dalam meningkatkan kesejahteraan anggotanya. Namun, banyak koperasi di Indonesia masih menghadapi tantangan dalam penyusunan laporan keuangan, terutama menjelang Rapat Anggota Tahunan (RAT), yang menjadi forum pertanggungjawaban pengurus kepada anggota. Permasalahan umum yang dihadapi adalah keterlambatan serta ketidaksesuaian dalam pencatatan dan pembukuan keuangan, yang berdampak pada rendahnya tingkat transparansi dan akuntabilitas, serta berpotensi mengganggu proses pembagian Sisa Hasil Usaha (SHU). Untuk mengatasi permasalahan ini, dilakukan pendampingan kepada Koperasi Konsumen Lumbung Berkat Tulang Bawang agar mampu melakukan pembukuan dan pencatatan keuangan sesuai dengan Standar Akuntansi Keuangan Entitas Privat (SAK-EP) yang berlaku di Indonesia. Pendampingan dilakukan melalui pendekatan konsultatif dan fasilitasi secara langsung, yang melibatkan pelatihan pemahaman prinsip dasar akuntansi, penerapan sistem pembukuan sederhana dan efektif, serta penyesuaian dalam pencatatan transaksi keuangan menggunakan aplikasi Microsoft Excel. Hasil dari kegiatan ini menunjukkan peningkatan yang signifikan dalam penyusunan laporan keuangan koperasi, baik dari sisi akurasi, akumulasi data pembukuan, maupun kepatuhan terhadap standar akuntansi. Koperasi juga menunjukkan peningkatan kemampuan dalam pengelolaan keuangan, persediaan, serta barang konsinyasi. Kegiatan ini berdampak langsung pada peningkatan transparansi dan akuntabilitas laporan keuangan dalam RAT.
Since the discovery of X-ray, it has been used extensively to image internal structures or chemical compositions of materials varying from human body to battery cells. X-rays have short wavelengths and high energy compared with visible light and do not reflect or refract easily. The strong penetration capability of X-rays led to the invention of X-ray microscopy (XRM). XRM is thus a very powerful too that can be utilized to non-destructively image internal structures of materials, and with various image processing software, reconstruct 3-dimensional images. Although electron microscopy provides higher resolution images, XRM can scan thicker or denser materials without extensive preparation. Thanks to these advantages, XRM became widespread worldwide to be used in diverse fields of research and industry. With this growing interest, it is essential that researchers who are trying to use it understand basic properties and technical terms to exploit the full capacity of XRM. In this review, technological advances regarding resolution and contrast of XRM are investigated after the history and types of XRM are introduced. More recent innovations of laboratory and synchrotron-based systems are also explored, with existing models and facilities. Finally, the seemingly bright future of XRM, which is of course not precisely predictable, is briefly covered.
Sheik Murad Hassan Anik, Xinghua Gao, Hao Zhong
et al.
As the innovation of smart devices and internet-of-things (IoT), smart homes have become prevalent. People tend to transform residences into smart homes by customizing off-the-shelf smart home platforms, instead of creating IoT systems from scratch. Among the alternatives, Home Assistant (HA) is one of the most popular platforms. It allows end-users (i.e., home residents) to smartify homes by (S1) integrating selected devices into the system, and (S2) creating YAML files to control those devices. Unfortunately, due to the diversity of devices and complexity of automatic configurations, many users have difficulty correctly creating YAML files. Consequently, their smart homes may not work as expected, causing frustration and concern in users. This paper presents a novel study on issues of YAML-based automation configuration in smart homes (issues related to S2). We mined the online forum Home Assistant Community for discussion threads related to automation configuration. By manually inspecting 190 threads, we revealed 3 categories of concerns: implementation, optimization, and debugging. Under each category, we classified discussions based on the issue locations and technical concepts involved. Among debugging discussions, we further classified discussions based on users' resolution strategies; we also applied existing analysis tools to buggy YAML files, to assess the tool effectiveness. Our study reveals the common challenges faced by users and frequently applied resolution strategies. There are 129 (68%) examined issues concerning debugging, but existing tools can detect at most 14 issues and fix none. It implies that existing tools provide limited assistance in automation configuration. Our research sheds light on future directions in smart home development.
This literature review surveys the advancements of keyword spotting (KWS) technologies, specifically focusing on Urdu, Pakistan's low-resource language (LRL), which has complex phonetics. Despite the global strides in speech technology, Urdu presents unique challenges requiring more tailored solutions. The review traces the evolution from foundational Gaussian Mixture Models to sophisticated neural architectures like deep neural networks and transformers, highlighting significant milestones such as integrating multi-task learning and self-supervised approaches that leverage unlabeled data. It examines emerging technologies' role in enhancing KWS systems' performance within multilingual and resource-constrained settings, emphasizing the need for innovations that cater to languages like Urdu. Thus, this review underscores the need for context-specific research addressing the inherent complexities of Urdu and similar URLs and the means of regions communicating through such languages for a more inclusive approach to speech technology.
Lukas Pöhler, Valentin Schrader, Alexander Ladwein
et al.
Potential malicious misuse of civilian artificial intelligence (AI) poses serious threats to security on a national and international level. Besides defining autonomous systems from a technological viewpoint and explaining how AI development is characterized, we show how already existing and openly available AI technology could be misused. To underline this, we developed three exemplary use cases of potentially misused AI that threaten political, digital and physical security. The use cases can be built from existing AI technologies and components from academia, the private sector and the developer-community. This shows how freely available AI can be combined into autonomous weapon systems. Based on the use cases, we deduce points of control and further measures to prevent the potential threat through misused AI. Further, we promote the consideration of malicious misuse of civilian AI systems in the discussion on autonomous weapon systems (AWS).
Lamidi Lamidi, Fitri Kurnianingsih, Oksep Adhayanto
et al.
Pengembangan ekowisata berbasis mangrove di Desa Kelumu, Kabupaten Lingga, menjadi perhatian utama dalam program pengabdian masyarakat ini. Desa ini memiliki potensi ekowisata yang besar, namun pengelolaannya masih belum optimal akibat keterbatasan sumber daya manusia, pemahaman yang kurang tentang ekowisata, serta keterbatasan akses teknologi. Tujuan dari program ini adalah untuk meningkatkan kapasitas SDM lokal dalam mengelola ekowisata mangrove secara berkelanjutan melalui pendekatan holistik dan terstruktur. Metode yang diterapkan adalah pendekatan partisipatif yang melibatkan masyarakat secara aktif dalam pemetaan potensi ekowisata mangrove, pelatihan, dan implementasi lapangan. Pemetaan ini melibatkan identifikasi kawasan strategis untuk pengembangan ekowisata, sementara pelatihan meliputi manajemen ekowisata, konservasi lingkungan, dan pengembangan produk lokal. Tahap implementasi melibatkan kegiatan langsung di lapangan, termasuk pembukaan jalur wisata, jasa pemandu wisata, dan konservasi mangrove. Hasil dari kegiatan ini menunjukkan peningkatan keterlibatan masyarakat dan pengetahuan teknis dalam pengelolaan ekowisata mangrove dianalisa dengan pendekatan PESTEL. Kesimpulan dari kegiatan ini menekankan pentingnya kerjasama lintas sektoral yang erat untuk mengatasi tantangan yang ada dan memastikan keberlanjutan ekowisata mangrove di Desa Kelumu.
The article presents a methodological approach to assessing the innovation development potential of agribusiness entities, which is a crucial stage in enhancing the competitiveness and efficiency of enterprises in the face of global challenges. The proposed approach allows for a comprehensive evaluation of both internal and external factors influencing the innovation activity of enterprises. Key components of the assessment include financial capacity, technological readiness, innovation climate, and market opportunities. It is highlighted that insufficient support for innovation at the corporate culture level, as well as a low proportion of innovation-active enterprises, act as restraining factors for development in the agricultural sector. Additionally, the article underlines the need for increased investments in innovations and the continuous training of personnel to ensure the successful implementation of modern technologies. The role of benchmarking in this process is also examined, as it allows for the comparative analysis of agribusiness enterprises that have successfully implemented innovation projects. Through this comparison, enterprises can identify best practices and effective strategies for enhancing their innovation potential. The analysis of innovation potential also includes an assessment of a company’s resource base, which is critical for determining its ability to develop and implement new technologies and processes. Companies with sufficient financial and human resources are better positioned to invest in innovative solutions and implement them effectively. Moreover, technological readiness, measured by the level of automation and digitalization, plays a significant role in a company’s ability to enhance its productivity through innovation. The innovation climate within an organization, including management’s support for innovation and employees' readiness for change, is a determining factor in whether innovative ideas will be successfully implemented. Furthermore, market opportunities, both domestic and international, are considered when evaluating the potential for innovation-driven growth, as they help define the market niches that can be filled by new products or services
Raihani Rafie, Azamuddin Hardy, Nuraina Mohamad Zain
et al.
As global urbanisation, industrialisation, and population growth escalate, the production of wastewater also increases, leading to significant water pollution on a global scale. This pollution poses severe threats to environmental health, wildlife, and human communities. In rural areas where centralised sewage systems are often absent, septic tanks play a crucial role in managing wastewater. They separate solids from liquids and facilitate the biological decomposition of organic matter. This paper utilises a Patent Landscape Review (PLR) to analyse the scope and direction of innovations in septic tank technology. Conducted on 23 September 2022, the patent search targeted filings from January 2001 through June 2022 to identify prevailing trends and advancements within this field. Through a detailed examination of 889 patents, categorised by keywords, processes, materials, and designs, this study offers a comprehensive overview of the patent landscape for septic tanks. Key findings indicate that fibreglass cylindrical tanks dominate the market due to their durability and efficiency. This review also highlights a growing trend towards modular septic systems, which offer scalable solutions adaptable to specific environmental conditions. Furthermore, some patents propose the repurposing of various objects as septic tanks, demonstrating a move towards sustainability by reducing waste and enhancing environmental conservation. This paper emphasises the importance of continued innovation in septic tank technology to address the challenges of effective wastewater management in underserved rural communities.
Engineering machinery, tools, and implements, Technological innovations. Automation
We present DBNet, a data-driven network automation framework built on top of a DBMS. DBNet utilizes key primitives of a DBMS including tables, procedures, transactions, logging, and access control to serve the functions of a data-centric network control plane. DBNet accomplishes this functionality by storing mirrored network device states, executing automation programs on these mirror states within the DBMS, and proxying state updates out to the physical devices upon changes to mirror/local state. The framework also stores network telemetry data, performs analytics on the data, uses the analytics to motivate control plane actions, and provides provenance logging features on the actions taken. We apply DBNet to motivating cloud network infrastructure examples and show how developers can use DBNet's interface to express rich user-defined policies. Our preliminary case studies show that the overhead to run DBNet is trivial in the timescales generally relevant for network automation.