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This paper aims to make investment compliance professionals aware of the new model of the flexible, high‐service open architecture broker‐dealer – which is characterized as the “plug and play” online brokerage.

An analogy is made to “plug and play” computer devices, which allow computer systems to recognize and work with new devices as soon as they are connected. It is explained that, in the same way, the “plug and play” brokerage, because of its predominantly open architecture investment products and services, is able to much more easily “recognize” the investments, methodologies, and tools of investors and financial intermediaries new to its platform.

The model has a wide and deep array of brokerage and investment products and services available, many of them at much lower cost than similar products or services at full service or wirehouse firms. The previous “friction” of movement of investors and financial advisors from one brokerage to another, due to firm‐specific fund share classes, proprietary trading and investment management tools, or exclusive investment opportunities, has been dramatically reduced.

The developments described will help to ensure a more educated investor population and a more consistent investment activity experience for the investing public and their financial advisors. The regulatory and compliance issues confronted by this type of firm are not substantially different from those faced by any other online brokerage firm, except perhaps with respect to the substantial lack of proprietary products and therefore associated potential conflicts.

This thorough description of the services offered through this new model and its implications for the brokerage industry will educate investment compliance and other financial services professionals about these critical new developments.

Remote communities often face a range of problems related to distance, service provision, high costs, and economic uncertainty. Many of these problems are structural and a direct result of their location on a periphery. In recent decades many remote settlements have looked to the tourism sector to supplement existing local economies. Numerous tools variously described in the literature as theories, models, and frameworks have been suggested as approaches for assisting local economies develop tourism. In searching for solutions, it is not unusual for researchers to advocate a standalone theory, model, or framework as a preferred approach. However, this method ignores the complexity of the real world and that solutions usually require a multidimensional approach based on combining various theoretical tools. This paper proposes an open architecture approach that utilizes a number of theories and models that can be selectively and collectively used to assist remote settlements develop a tourism sector. This approach was tested in Cooktown, Australia. One outcome was the identification of a range of deficiencies in the strategies currently used by the destination.

Stiffness control of redundant robot arm, aimed at using extra degrees of freedom (DoF) to shape the robot tool center point (TCP) elastomechanical behavior to be consistent with the essential requirements needed for a successful part mating process, i.e., to mimic part supporting mechanism with selective quasi-isotropic compliance (Remote Center of Compliance – RCC), with additional properties of inherent flexibility.

Theoretical analysis and synthesis of the complementary projector for null-space stiffness control of kinematically redundant robot arm. Practical feasibility of the proposed approach was proven by extensive computer simulations and physical experiments, based on commercially available 7 DoF SIA 10 F Yaskawa articulated robot arm, equipped with the open-architecture control system, system for generating excitation force, dedicated sensory system for displacement measurement and a system for real-time acquisition of sensory data.

Simulation experiments demonstrated convergence and stability of the proposed complementary projector. Physical experiments demonstrated that the proposed complementary projector can be implemented on the commercially available anthropomorphic redundant arm upgraded with open-architecture control system and that this projector has the capacity to efficiently affect the task-space TCP stiffness of the robot arm, with a satisfactory degree of consistency with the behavior obtained in the simulation experiments.

A novel complementary projector was synthesized based on the adopted objective function. Practical verification was conducted using computer simulations and physical experiments. For the needs of physical experiments, an adequate open-architecture control system was developed and upgraded through the implementation of the proposed complementary projector and an adequate system for generating excitation and measuring displacement of the robot TCP. Experiments demonstrated that the proposed complementary projector for null-space stiffness control is capable of producing the task-space TCP stiffness, which can satisfy the essential requirements needed for a successful part-mating process, thus allowing the redundant robot arm to mimic the RCC supporting mechanism behavior in a programmable manner.

This paper aims to present an open-architecture kinematic controller, which was developed for articulated robots, facing the demands of various applications and low cost on robot system.

A general approach to develop this controller is described in hardware and software design. The hardware consists of embedded boards and programable multi-axes controller (PMAC), connected with ethernet, and the software is implemented on a robot operating system with MoveIt!. The authors also developed a teach pendant running as a LAN node to provide a human–machine interface (HMI).

The proposed approach was applied to several real articulated robot systems and was proved to be effective and portable. The proposed controller was compared with several similar systems to verify its integrality and flexibility. The openness of this controller was discussed and is summarized at the end of this paper.

The proposed approach provided an open and low-complex solution for experimental studies in the lab and short-run production in small workshops.

Several contributions are made by the research. The actuation model and communication were implemented to integrate the trajectory planning module and PMAC for setting up the physical interface. Method and program interface based on kinematics was provided to generate various interpolations for trajectory planning. A teach pedant with HMI was developed for controlling and programing the robot.

A flexible agile assembly system requires an open architecture integration environment that is mechatronic device and computer platform independent. An interactive environment allows the users to step through programs and acquire immediate feedback from the system and is most suitable for the development of mechatronic systems used on the shop floor. Ch, an embeddable C/C++ interpreter, was developed for mechatronic‐independent task‐level programming. An experimental mechatronic system with an IBM 7575 Robotic Arm and a National Instruments' motion control board has been developed to demonstrate the capabilities and the ease in integrating mechatronic devices in Ch, which is freely available for downloading.

With the diversification of modelling activities encouraged by versatile modelling tools, handling their datasets has become a formidable problem. A further impetus stems from the emergence of the real‐time forecasting culture, transforming data embedded in computer programs of one‐off modelling activities of the 1970s‐1980s into dataset assets, an important feature of modelling since the 1990s, where modelling has emerged as a practice with a pivotal role to data transactions. The scope for data is now vast but in legacy data management practices datasets are fragmented, not transparent outside their native software systems, and normally “monolithic”. Emerging initiatives on published interfaces will make datasets transparent outside their native systems but will not solve the fragmentation and monolithic problems. These problems signify a lack of science base in data management and as such it is necessary to unravel inherent generic structures in data. This paper outlines root causes for these problems and presents a tentative solution referred to as “systemic data management”, which is capable of solving the above problems through the assemblage of packaged data. Categorisation is presented as a packaging methodology and the various sources contributing to the generic structure of data are outlined, e.g. modelling techniques, modelling problems, application areas and application problems. The opportunities offered by systemic data management include: promoting transparency among datasets of different software systems; exploiting inherent synergies within data; and treating data as assets with a long‐term view on reuse of these assets in an integrated capability.

Business Model Analysis is acquiring increasing visibility in the European banking regulatory framework, following the European Banking Authority guidelines on common procedures and methodologies for the supervisory review and evaluation process (SREP), developed to assess business and strategic risks (EBA, 2014, 2015a, 2015b, 2015c). Starting from a selected literature review, in the paper, the authors analyse business models set up by financial intermediaries, bank and non-banks, for the distribution of investment services, first by comparing European niche players with European banking global players, and second, comparing European niche players among themselves to understand the evolution of business models for the distribution of investment services at European level. The research is supported by the Baffi–Carefin Research Centre at the Bocconi University (Italy), in collaboration with ANASF, the Italian Association of Financial Advisors (Italy).

The authors consider a sample of European financial players from 2009 to 2014. The authors’ focus is on France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and the UK; overall the authors’ handmade data set is based on 162 annual reports. The authors follow two main questions: Do the niche players, as they are focused on the distribution of investment services, have an upper limit to profitability, compared to the global players, as risk-takers in many financial areas? How is the business model of niche players changing, facing increasing competition and regulatory pressures?

Answering the first research question, the highest net profitability is found in the niche players group; the global players, as risk-takers, achieve lower remuneration, in contrast with the risk premium theory. The results were assessed over a limited period, however, deemed in line with the company’s strategic planning horizon. Answering the second research question, the authors focus on the case of niche players, using a cluster analysis. The authors identify three different business models: most dynamic niche players, which combine investment services, insurance and welfare services, achieving the highest margins and stability; players mainly focused on asset management, whose key vulnerability is the degree of open architecture, especially in light of future MiFID 2 implementation; and players mainly focused on the creation of well-structured on-line platforms, which offer also brokerage services, thereby reducing their marginality and potentially increasing their business risk.

Despite the limited time series, the authors’ research gives some inputs for those interested in deepening the business model analysis focus on the distribution of investment services and the business and strategic risk assessment, both for the global banks and the niche players (banks and non-banks).

The authors’ results could be of some interest during the strategic assessment of global banks and niche players, both adopting an internal perspective or an external one, as regulator.

By giving some specific insights into the assessment and comparison of business and strategic risks among global and niche players, the authors’ research provides the basis for further research in the field of the distribution of investment services.

The originality mainly regards the business model risk perspective and the focus of the authors’ analysis: the distribution of investment services. This sector, unlike the asset management, does not have an easily recognisable group of comparables at European level, all the European countries analysed have very different business models. This research avails of an original database, that is unique to Europe.

To present an open architecture for real‐time sensory feedback control of a dual‐arm industrial robotic cell. The setup is composed of two industrial robot manipulators equipped with force/torque sensors and pneumatic grippers, a vision system and a belt conveyor.

The original industrial robot controllers have been replaced by a single PC with software running under a real‐time variant of the Linux operative system.

The new control architecture allows advanced control schemes to be developed and tested for the single robots and for the dual‐arm robotic cell, including force control and visual servoing tasks.

An advanced user interface and a simulation environment have been developed, which permit fast, safe and reliable prototyping of planning and control algorithms.

This paper aims to investigate a high‐profile marketing stratagem staged by a robot manufacturer.

The exhibition, press release and video are described. The relevant technical details of the KUKA robot and controller are presented, followed by those of the Nintendo Wii remote control device and its Bluetooth communications technology. The experimental set‐up used in the video is then explained.

This advertising exercise created a lot of interest, but was rather misleading and of questionable value in its stated aim of encouraging the trickle‐down of robots to the consumer market.

This paper highlights the power and availability of the Nintendo Wii controller and Bluetooth communications, and KUKA's drive to appeal to non‐engineers.

The purpose of this paper is to design an open architecture of an interconnected communication system (ICS) for multi‐level electric power control centers (EPCC) based on Tele‐control Application Service Element (TASE.2), which possesses specialties of high performances, robustness, cost‐efficiency, quick‐restoration, and easy‐maintenance.

Based on the hierarchy and structure of TASE.2, the overall architecture of the ICS for multi‐level EPCC is put forward at first. As the key devices in the system, the structures of the communication gateway (CG) and common interface are designed. Then, the logical procession flows in CG and the con modes, for both CG and IC are analyzed in detail. The web‐based software configuration of remote maintenance and fault diagnosis is discussed conceptually.

As a standardized, well‐developed, and efficient protocol, TASE.2 is considered to be the most suitable protocol to support the ICS for multi‐level EPCC.

The performance of the ICS needs to be further simulated.

Practical architecture for ICS for multi‐level EPCC with robustness and cost‐efficient specialty is designed in principle, which is very useful for manufacturers to develop pilot devices or even products.

This paper proposes a new ICS scheme for multi‐level EPCC based on TASE.2 is proposed.