Claudio Boer - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Claudio Boer
Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology, May 1, 2022
Acne is one of the most common pathologies and affects people of all ages, genders, and ethniciti... more Acne is one of the most common pathologies and affects people of all ages, genders, and ethnicities. The assessment of the type and severity status of a patient with acne should be done by a dermatologist, but the ever-increasing waiting time for an examination makes the therapy not accessible as quickly and consequently less effective. This work, born from the collaboration with CHOLLEY, a Swiss company with decades of experience in the research and production of skin care products, with the aim of developing a deep learning system that, using images produced with a mobile device, could make assessments and be as effective as a dermatologist. Methods: There are two main challenges within this task. The first is to have enough data to train a neural model. Unlike other works in the literature, it was decided not to collect a proprietary dataset, but rather to exploit the enormity of public data available in the world of face analysis. Part of Flickr-Faces-HQ (FFHQ) was re-annotated by a CHOLLEY dermatologist, producing a dataset that is sufficiently large, but still very extendable. The second challenge was to simultaneously use high-resolution images to provide the neural network with the best data quality, but at the same time to ensure that the network learned the task correctly. To prevent the network from searching for recognition patterns in some uninteresting regions of the image, a semantic segmentation model was trained to distinguish, what is a skin region possibly affected by acne and what is background and can be discarded. Results: Filtering the re-annotated dataset through the semantic segmentation model, the trained classification model achieved a final average f1 score of 60.84% in distinguishing between acne affected and unaffected faces, result that, if compared to other techniques proposed in the literature, can be considered as state-of-the-art.
The Swiss IMS Digital Factory (DIFAC) project; implementing ICT Technologies for sustainable innovation
Towards a reference curriculum for education on Concurrent Engineering / Enterprising
2010 IEEE International Technology Management Conference (ICE), 2010
Abstract Concurrent Engineering/Enterprising success relies on the ability of multidisciplinary t... more Abstract Concurrent Engineering/Enterprising success relies on the ability of multidisciplinary teams and manufacturing enterprise networks to be able to communicate their requirements to each other effectively, and coordinate their simultaneous activities and their dependencies during the product development process. Concurrent strategies demand a huge amount of cooperation between individuals and/or organisations during the product development process, and collaboration technologies play a key role as the enablers of ...
Mass Customization and Footwear: Myth, Salvation or Reality?, 2007
The use of registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the abs... more The use of registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made.
Integrated Virtual Reality for Education and Training in Machining: A Virtual Lathe Prototype
Proceedings of the Thirty-Second International Matador Conference, 1997
Virtual Reality represents a useful educational environment that permits to join traditional symb... more Virtual Reality represents a useful educational environment that permits to join traditional symbolic-reconstructive cognitive modality with perceptive-motory cognitive modality improving learning processes and reducing investments, accidents and architectural barriers. Virtual Reality offers environments where you can immerse yourself interactively in “ad hoc” unreal phenomenology; PC becomes a tool (extensor) of student imagination (virtuality) that allows the required verification (realism). Moreover, hypermedia systems have showed great benefits in the knowledge building according to the modern theory on reticulated structure of learning process.
International Journal of Mass Customisation, 2006
This case study describes and analyses an Italian-based laboratory as a state-of-the-art approach... more This case study describes and analyses an Italian-based laboratory as a state-of-the-art approach to the mass customisation of shoe design and manufacturing. Based in Italy's shoemaking capital, Vigevano, the ITIA-CNR Design & Mass Customisation Laboratory (D&MC Lab) covers the entire spectrum of development and production activities of mass-customised shoes: based on a digital foot scan and an evaluation of customers' wishes, customised shoes are manufactured. The case study covers internal changes required during production, information processing and human resources management, and comments on the need to consistently manage the relationships with other external actors of the value chain for successful mass customisation.
A new approach to programming flexibility for cnc machines. an example of application in woodworking machining
The major part of positioning errors of multi-axis machine tools reveals systematic behaviour. Un... more The major part of positioning errors of multi-axis machine tools reveals systematic behaviour. Unfortunately, the dependency of these error on environmental and loading conditions passes through complex relationships for describing kinematic structure, machine elements mechanical behaviour, foundation characteristics, temperature distribution in operating conditions and workpiece mass properties. This paper describes an approach to error compensation, developed within the ongoing European research project SOMMACT (Self Optimizing Measuring MAChine Tools). This project is intended to develop and to validate an innovative production hardware and control system founded on understanding, evaluating and controlling large machine tools production performances, based on a self learning controller capable to manage a large amount of measurements coming from environmental sensors, embedded metrological systems and other useful information, all related with the referring measurements conditions. The proposed architecture uses a support vector machine kernel and a fuzzy logic inference system as the fundamental mechanisms for detecting similarities among the collected data and the current condition, because these similarities concern not comparable fields whose contribution can not a priori be added directly.
Customization and Manufacturing Sustainability: General considerations and footwear investigation
ABSTRACT To adapt to global competitive pressures, European Industry must develop methods and ena... more ABSTRACT To adapt to global competitive pressures, European Industry must develop methods and enabling technologies towards a personalized, customer oriented and sustainable manufacturing [1]. To this end, a key question to be addressed is whether Mass Customization can be regarded as one of the main driving forces to achieve effective Sustainability, or a burden. Indeed, manufacturing is growing beyond the economic context, into a social and ecological phenomenon, motivating companies to move towards sustainable manufacturing: manufacturers are thus demanded to merge the need to be reactive towards customer needs and wishes (customized products), with the requisite to be proactive towards ecological and social impact (sustainable products). Are those two aspects empowering one another? Are they colliding? This paper will first portray the two concepts of mass customization and sustainability, and will then propose a framework to establish a link and evaluate it, also with the support of concrete examples in footwear.
Flexibility and reconfigurability: An analytical approach and some examples
A Model-Based Approach to Design Modular Plant Architectures
IFIP – The International Federation for Information Processing
The world is "becoming flat" , this means that innovations are emerging thanks to the deployment ... more The world is "becoming flat" , this means that innovations are emerging thanks to the deployment of new open collaborative frameworks and Information and Communication Technologies that enable the development of new products and services. Additionally, there are two key emerging trends changing the business arena: 1) the fast development of economies, such as China and India that besides low cost opportunities also represent new attractive markets counting together with more than 2 billion people and which at the same time are investing to improve their innovation capabilities and 2) the acknowledgement of the latent worldwide need to care not only about economic returns, but also about the social welfare of human beings, in whichever market they live, and the impact that any type of organisation has on the environment to diminish worries such as global warming, energy consumption and waste. Therefore, the goal of this paper is twofold: 1) propose a sustainable innovation framework that integrates four key enablers and 2) explain how this framework was applied in the SWISSMAIN project to assess and compare seven identified scenarios to enable Swiss and Indian firms to collaborate towards new business opportunities considering economic, social and environmental impacts..
Establishing the Foundation of Collaborative Networks, 2007
Sustainable Product-Process-Network
Poler/Intelligent Non-hierarchical Manufacturing Networks, 2012
Mass customization is an established paradigm that aims at producing goods and services to meet i... more Mass customization is an established paradigm that aims at producing goods and services to meet individual customer's needs with near mass production efficiency. The implementation of the sustainable mass customization paradigm requires the development of a new business model that could reshape the way a company makes profit. Its implementation calls for a careful management of the transition process that interests the whole company and its supply chain. On the basis of the developed scheme that supports a structured analysis and the positioning of each considered element, it is possible to analyze and map the shift required to evolve to the sustainable mass customization, starting from the enabling tools needed, moving to the corresponding design activities and to the required interventions and the implications at managerial level.
Mass Customization and Sustainability, 2013
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the growth in demand for social work field placements in New Zea... more Anecdotal evidence suggests that the growth in demand for social work field placements in New Zealand is outstripping supply and impacting on placement quality. However, to date, no systematic study of placement demand or supply in New Zealand has been published. Our study sought to identify the number of students placed during 2012, their placement setting (government or non-government), whether they were supervised by a Registered Social Worker (RSW), and whether they had on-site supervision. It combined secondary analysis of the annual reports of recognised programmes to the Social Workers Registration Board with a survey of seven tertiary institutions. We found that students placed in government settings were three times more likely to experience on-site supervision by an RSW, but that the majority of placements were in non-government settings. The study also uncovered significant problems with the integrity of the annual report data collected and recommendations for improvements are outlined in this article.
Virtual Factory Manager for semantic data handling
CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology, 2013
ABSTRACT The growing importance of manufacturing SMEs within the European economy, in terms of Gr... more ABSTRACT The growing importance of manufacturing SMEs within the European economy, in terms of Gross Domestic Product and number of jobs, emphasizes the need of proper ICT tools to support their competitiveness. Major ICT players already offer one-does-all Product Lifecycle Management suites, however, these do show consistent shortcomings in terms of SME accessibility, degree of personalization and they often lack of an acceptable level of interoperability. These problems are being addressed by the development of a Virtual Factory Framework (VFF). The approach is based on four pillars: (1) Semantic Shared Data Model, (2) Virtual Factory Manager (VFM), (3) Decoupled Software Tools and (4) Integration of Knowledge. This paper will focus on the Virtual Factory Manager that acts as a server supporting the I/O communications within the framework and its stored knowledge for the Decoupled Software Tools needing to access its repository.
Critical Success Factors and Challenges to develop new Sustainable Supply Chains in India based on Swiss Experiences
International …, 2008
Growing global competition requires companies not only to offer high quality and innovative produ... more Growing global competition requires companies not only to offer high quality and innovative products with competitive prices, but also to understand and identify new business opportunities wherever they may be and to develop the sustainable supply chains necessary to take ...
Mass Customization and Sustainability
To adapt to global competitive pressures, manufacturers must develop methods and enabling technol... more To adapt to global competitive pressures, manufacturers must develop methods and enabling technologies towards a personalized, customer oriented and sustainable manufacturing. Mass Customization and Sustainability defines the two concepts of mass customization and sustainability and introduces a framework to establish a link between the two concepts to answer the questions: Are these two aspects empowering one another? Or are they hindering one another? These questions investigate mass customization as one of the main driving forces to achieve effective sustainability. A methodology to assess the contribution of mass customization to sustainability is developed, providing an assessment model composed by a set of indicators covering the three aspects of sustainability: social, economical and environmental. This is supported and further explained using ideas and new concepts compiled from recent European research. Researchers, scientists, managers and industry professionals alike can follow a set of practical examples and industrial cases, enabling them to easily transfer Mass Customization and Sustainability theoretical concepts into actions to be enforced into their everyday business for gaining competitiveness. Mass Customization and Sustainability also introduces useful concepts for government officials responsible for establishing sustainable policies and regulations, offering methods to compare the results of implementation of such policies
Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology, May 1, 2022
Acne is one of the most common pathologies and affects people of all ages, genders, and ethniciti... more Acne is one of the most common pathologies and affects people of all ages, genders, and ethnicities. The assessment of the type and severity status of a patient with acne should be done by a dermatologist, but the ever-increasing waiting time for an examination makes the therapy not accessible as quickly and consequently less effective. This work, born from the collaboration with CHOLLEY, a Swiss company with decades of experience in the research and production of skin care products, with the aim of developing a deep learning system that, using images produced with a mobile device, could make assessments and be as effective as a dermatologist. Methods: There are two main challenges within this task. The first is to have enough data to train a neural model. Unlike other works in the literature, it was decided not to collect a proprietary dataset, but rather to exploit the enormity of public data available in the world of face analysis. Part of Flickr-Faces-HQ (FFHQ) was re-annotated by a CHOLLEY dermatologist, producing a dataset that is sufficiently large, but still very extendable. The second challenge was to simultaneously use high-resolution images to provide the neural network with the best data quality, but at the same time to ensure that the network learned the task correctly. To prevent the network from searching for recognition patterns in some uninteresting regions of the image, a semantic segmentation model was trained to distinguish, what is a skin region possibly affected by acne and what is background and can be discarded. Results: Filtering the re-annotated dataset through the semantic segmentation model, the trained classification model achieved a final average f1 score of 60.84% in distinguishing between acne affected and unaffected faces, result that, if compared to other techniques proposed in the literature, can be considered as state-of-the-art.
The Swiss IMS Digital Factory (DIFAC) project; implementing ICT Technologies for sustainable innovation
Towards a reference curriculum for education on Concurrent Engineering / Enterprising
2010 IEEE International Technology Management Conference (ICE), 2010
Abstract Concurrent Engineering/Enterprising success relies on the ability of multidisciplinary t... more Abstract Concurrent Engineering/Enterprising success relies on the ability of multidisciplinary teams and manufacturing enterprise networks to be able to communicate their requirements to each other effectively, and coordinate their simultaneous activities and their dependencies during the product development process. Concurrent strategies demand a huge amount of cooperation between individuals and/or organisations during the product development process, and collaboration technologies play a key role as the enablers of ...
Mass Customization and Footwear: Myth, Salvation or Reality?, 2007
The use of registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the abs... more The use of registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may be made.
Integrated Virtual Reality for Education and Training in Machining: A Virtual Lathe Prototype
Proceedings of the Thirty-Second International Matador Conference, 1997
Virtual Reality represents a useful educational environment that permits to join traditional symb... more Virtual Reality represents a useful educational environment that permits to join traditional symbolic-reconstructive cognitive modality with perceptive-motory cognitive modality improving learning processes and reducing investments, accidents and architectural barriers. Virtual Reality offers environments where you can immerse yourself interactively in “ad hoc” unreal phenomenology; PC becomes a tool (extensor) of student imagination (virtuality) that allows the required verification (realism). Moreover, hypermedia systems have showed great benefits in the knowledge building according to the modern theory on reticulated structure of learning process.
International Journal of Mass Customisation, 2006
This case study describes and analyses an Italian-based laboratory as a state-of-the-art approach... more This case study describes and analyses an Italian-based laboratory as a state-of-the-art approach to the mass customisation of shoe design and manufacturing. Based in Italy's shoemaking capital, Vigevano, the ITIA-CNR Design & Mass Customisation Laboratory (D&MC Lab) covers the entire spectrum of development and production activities of mass-customised shoes: based on a digital foot scan and an evaluation of customers' wishes, customised shoes are manufactured. The case study covers internal changes required during production, information processing and human resources management, and comments on the need to consistently manage the relationships with other external actors of the value chain for successful mass customisation.
A new approach to programming flexibility for cnc machines. an example of application in woodworking machining
The major part of positioning errors of multi-axis machine tools reveals systematic behaviour. Un... more The major part of positioning errors of multi-axis machine tools reveals systematic behaviour. Unfortunately, the dependency of these error on environmental and loading conditions passes through complex relationships for describing kinematic structure, machine elements mechanical behaviour, foundation characteristics, temperature distribution in operating conditions and workpiece mass properties. This paper describes an approach to error compensation, developed within the ongoing European research project SOMMACT (Self Optimizing Measuring MAChine Tools). This project is intended to develop and to validate an innovative production hardware and control system founded on understanding, evaluating and controlling large machine tools production performances, based on a self learning controller capable to manage a large amount of measurements coming from environmental sensors, embedded metrological systems and other useful information, all related with the referring measurements conditions. The proposed architecture uses a support vector machine kernel and a fuzzy logic inference system as the fundamental mechanisms for detecting similarities among the collected data and the current condition, because these similarities concern not comparable fields whose contribution can not a priori be added directly.
Customization and Manufacturing Sustainability: General considerations and footwear investigation
ABSTRACT To adapt to global competitive pressures, European Industry must develop methods and ena... more ABSTRACT To adapt to global competitive pressures, European Industry must develop methods and enabling technologies towards a personalized, customer oriented and sustainable manufacturing [1]. To this end, a key question to be addressed is whether Mass Customization can be regarded as one of the main driving forces to achieve effective Sustainability, or a burden. Indeed, manufacturing is growing beyond the economic context, into a social and ecological phenomenon, motivating companies to move towards sustainable manufacturing: manufacturers are thus demanded to merge the need to be reactive towards customer needs and wishes (customized products), with the requisite to be proactive towards ecological and social impact (sustainable products). Are those two aspects empowering one another? Are they colliding? This paper will first portray the two concepts of mass customization and sustainability, and will then propose a framework to establish a link and evaluate it, also with the support of concrete examples in footwear.
Flexibility and reconfigurability: An analytical approach and some examples
A Model-Based Approach to Design Modular Plant Architectures
IFIP – The International Federation for Information Processing
The world is "becoming flat" , this means that innovations are emerging thanks to the deployment ... more The world is "becoming flat" , this means that innovations are emerging thanks to the deployment of new open collaborative frameworks and Information and Communication Technologies that enable the development of new products and services. Additionally, there are two key emerging trends changing the business arena: 1) the fast development of economies, such as China and India that besides low cost opportunities also represent new attractive markets counting together with more than 2 billion people and which at the same time are investing to improve their innovation capabilities and 2) the acknowledgement of the latent worldwide need to care not only about economic returns, but also about the social welfare of human beings, in whichever market they live, and the impact that any type of organisation has on the environment to diminish worries such as global warming, energy consumption and waste. Therefore, the goal of this paper is twofold: 1) propose a sustainable innovation framework that integrates four key enablers and 2) explain how this framework was applied in the SWISSMAIN project to assess and compare seven identified scenarios to enable Swiss and Indian firms to collaborate towards new business opportunities considering economic, social and environmental impacts..
Establishing the Foundation of Collaborative Networks, 2007
Sustainable Product-Process-Network
Poler/Intelligent Non-hierarchical Manufacturing Networks, 2012
Mass customization is an established paradigm that aims at producing goods and services to meet i... more Mass customization is an established paradigm that aims at producing goods and services to meet individual customer's needs with near mass production efficiency. The implementation of the sustainable mass customization paradigm requires the development of a new business model that could reshape the way a company makes profit. Its implementation calls for a careful management of the transition process that interests the whole company and its supply chain. On the basis of the developed scheme that supports a structured analysis and the positioning of each considered element, it is possible to analyze and map the shift required to evolve to the sustainable mass customization, starting from the enabling tools needed, moving to the corresponding design activities and to the required interventions and the implications at managerial level.
Mass Customization and Sustainability, 2013
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the growth in demand for social work field placements in New Zea... more Anecdotal evidence suggests that the growth in demand for social work field placements in New Zealand is outstripping supply and impacting on placement quality. However, to date, no systematic study of placement demand or supply in New Zealand has been published. Our study sought to identify the number of students placed during 2012, their placement setting (government or non-government), whether they were supervised by a Registered Social Worker (RSW), and whether they had on-site supervision. It combined secondary analysis of the annual reports of recognised programmes to the Social Workers Registration Board with a survey of seven tertiary institutions. We found that students placed in government settings were three times more likely to experience on-site supervision by an RSW, but that the majority of placements were in non-government settings. The study also uncovered significant problems with the integrity of the annual report data collected and recommendations for improvements are outlined in this article.
Virtual Factory Manager for semantic data handling
CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology, 2013
ABSTRACT The growing importance of manufacturing SMEs within the European economy, in terms of Gr... more ABSTRACT The growing importance of manufacturing SMEs within the European economy, in terms of Gross Domestic Product and number of jobs, emphasizes the need of proper ICT tools to support their competitiveness. Major ICT players already offer one-does-all Product Lifecycle Management suites, however, these do show consistent shortcomings in terms of SME accessibility, degree of personalization and they often lack of an acceptable level of interoperability. These problems are being addressed by the development of a Virtual Factory Framework (VFF). The approach is based on four pillars: (1) Semantic Shared Data Model, (2) Virtual Factory Manager (VFM), (3) Decoupled Software Tools and (4) Integration of Knowledge. This paper will focus on the Virtual Factory Manager that acts as a server supporting the I/O communications within the framework and its stored knowledge for the Decoupled Software Tools needing to access its repository.
Critical Success Factors and Challenges to develop new Sustainable Supply Chains in India based on Swiss Experiences
International …, 2008
Growing global competition requires companies not only to offer high quality and innovative produ... more Growing global competition requires companies not only to offer high quality and innovative products with competitive prices, but also to understand and identify new business opportunities wherever they may be and to develop the sustainable supply chains necessary to take ...
Mass Customization and Sustainability
To adapt to global competitive pressures, manufacturers must develop methods and enabling technol... more To adapt to global competitive pressures, manufacturers must develop methods and enabling technologies towards a personalized, customer oriented and sustainable manufacturing. Mass Customization and Sustainability defines the two concepts of mass customization and sustainability and introduces a framework to establish a link between the two concepts to answer the questions: Are these two aspects empowering one another? Or are they hindering one another? These questions investigate mass customization as one of the main driving forces to achieve effective sustainability. A methodology to assess the contribution of mass customization to sustainability is developed, providing an assessment model composed by a set of indicators covering the three aspects of sustainability: social, economical and environmental. This is supported and further explained using ideas and new concepts compiled from recent European research. Researchers, scientists, managers and industry professionals alike can follow a set of practical examples and industrial cases, enabling them to easily transfer Mass Customization and Sustainability theoretical concepts into actions to be enforced into their everyday business for gaining competitiveness. Mass Customization and Sustainability also introduces useful concepts for government officials responsible for establishing sustainable policies and regulations, offering methods to compare the results of implementation of such policies