The Local Emergence and Global Diffusion of Research Technologies: An Exploration of Patterns of Network Formation

Grasping the fruits of "emerging technologies" is an objective of many government priority programs in a knowledge-based and globalizing economy. We use the publication records (in the Science Citation Index) of two emerging technologies to study the mechanisms of diffusion in the case of two innovation trajectories: small interference RNA (siRNA) and nano-crystalline solar cells (NCSC). Methods for analyzing and visualizing geographical and cognitive diffusion are specified as indicators of different dynamics. Geographical diffusion is illustrated with overlays to Google Maps; cognitive diffusion is mapped using an overlay to a map based on the ISI Subject Categories. The evolving geographical networks show both preferential attachment and small-world characteristics. The strength of preferential attachment decreases over time, while the network evolves into an oligopolistic control structure with small-world characteristics. The transition from disciplinary-oriented ("mode-1") to transfer-oriented ("mode-2") research is suggested as the crucial difference in explaining the different rates of diffusion between siRNA and NCSC

Innovating Pedagogy 2020: Open University Innovation Report 8

This series of reports explores new forms of teaching, learning and assessment for an interactive world, to guide teachers and policy makers in productive innovation. This eighth report, produced by The Open University in collaboration with the National Institute for Digital Learning (NIDL) in Ireland, describes ten innovations that have the potential to influence education in the coming years

Bridging lab and industry with flow electrochemistry

A revitalization of organic electrosynthesis has incited the organic chemistry community to adopt electrochemistry as a green and cost-efficient method for activating small molecules to replace highly toxic and expensive redox chemicals. However, many of the critical challenges of batch electrosynthesis, especially for organic synthesis, still remain. The combination of continuous flow technology and electrochemistry is a potent means to enable industry to implement large scale electrosynthesis. Indeed, flow electrosynthesis helps overcome problems that mainly arise from macro batch electro-organic systems, such as mass transfer, ohmic drop, and selectivity, but this is still far from being a flawless and generic applicable process. As a result, a notable increase in research on methodology and hardware sophistication has emerged, and many hitherto uncharted chemistries have been achieved. To better help the commercialization of wide-scale electrification of organic synthesis, we highlight in this perspective the advances made in large-scale flow electrosynthesis and its future trajectory while pointing out the main challenges and key improvements of current methodologies

Current ethical issues in synthetic biology: Where should we go from here?

Synthetic Biology (SynBio) is an emerging scientific field which has quickly established momentum and visibility. Although no single definition of SynBio prevails, the field broadly encompasses the application of engineering principles to biology; re-designing biological materials and using them as new substrates to create products and entities not otherwise found in nature. This paper first reviews SynBio, highlighting the novel aspects of this technology. It then synthesises ethical issues highlighted in the literature to date and makes some initial claims that research on the ethical aspects of SynBio should: avoid creating a new sub-type of bioethics, concentrate on novel concepts and problems and be situated within a context of cooperative inter-disciplinary investigation. Keywords: Synthetic biology, ethical issues, regulation, creating life.This article was written by Dr Ainsley Newson during the time of her employment with the University of Bristol, UK (2006-2012). Self-archived in the Sydney eScholarship Repository with permission of Bristol University, Sept 2014

Biomanufacturing Technologies for Regenerative Medicine

Regenerative Medicine has the potential to be a game-changer for patients who have damaged tissues or organs due to untreatable diseases, injuries, and congenital conditions. Lab-based innovations have shown great promise in restoring structure and function, but to deliver treatments to large numbers of patients in a clinical setting, new tools and technologies are needed. Regenerative Medicine is a new area of medical research that seeks to automate and scale-up the production and deployment of these groundbreaking solutions. The technologies discussed in this report are intentionally pre-competitive, meaning that the Federal Government may choose to play a role in additional growth via well-informed initiatives. Governmental support can come in the form of additional research & development (R&D) dollars that are magnified by private co-investment, or can be in the form of non-pecuniary actions such as modifications to the regulatory environment to better support this rapidly changing field. Ideally, a cooperative relationship between government and private industry will result in cross-industry, pre-competitive tools that decrease development cost and time while still respecting individual intellectual property ownership within a competitive environment. This report identifies promising biomanufacturing platforms that will provide a foundation for the automation and standardization of the processes associated with successful scale-up and scale-out. After evaluating a range of potential translational technology options according to their suitability for co-investment and cross-industry appeal, two platform technologies and two enabling tools were selected: Platform Technology #1: 3D Constructs, including Organoids, Scaffolds, and Printed Tissues; Platform Technology #2: Biomanufacturing Processes; Enabling tool #1: Scaled-up bioreactors for cell culture; Enabling tool #2: Improvements in cell harvesting, cell processing, and preservation technologies.National Science Foundation, Grant No. 1552534https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144783/1/RegenMedicine_Final.pdfDescription of RegenMedicine_Final.pdf : Repor

Innovating Nanoparticle Safety: Storage, Handling, and Disposal Processes

Uncertainty concerning nanoparticle safety measures stem from a scarcity of readily accessible, practical, and application-specific information. This constitutes a hazard for the workplace and the environment. We investigated nano-safety questions and interviewed researchers across Switzerland. We created a set of printable, customizable posters with clear guidelines and a 3-D model of a nanoparticle-ready laboratory space, which we both made available online. Through these solutions, we aim to improve the implementation of safe nanoparticle practices and save researchers time and frustration

Organolithium Gels – Simple Easily Divided Delivery Vehicles for Highly Reactive Species

Organolithium reagents are a vital tool in modern organic chemistry allowing the synthesis of new carbon-carbon bonds. However, due to the high reactivity of organolithiums, the use of low temperatures, inert atmospheres and strictly dried solvents are usually necessary. Here, we report a new encapsulating method for the stabilisation of the sensitive organolithium reagents, PhLi and BuLi (n-BuLi), within a low-cost hexatriacontane (C36H74) organogel. The use of this technology is showcased in nucleophilic addition reactions under ambient conditions, low-temperature bromine-lithium exchange and CH functionalisation reactions. The gel significantly enhances the stability of these organolithiums, allows simple handling, delivery and storage, and enables reproducible reagent portioning. The use of gels as easily divided delivery vehicles for hazardous organometallic reagents has the potential to revolutionise this area of synthetic chemistry, making these powerful reactions safer and more accessible to non-specialist researchers, enabling the more widespread use of these common synthetic methods

Research Practices of Civil and Environmental Engineering Scholars at the University of Waterloo

This report is an investigation of research practices of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) scholars at the University of Waterloo. The study was conducted by the Library, and was part of a larger suite of parallel studies of Civil and Environmental Engineering scholars at institutions of higher education in the U.S. and Canada. The Ithaka capstone report provides a cumulative view of the evolving needs of Civil and Environmental Engineering scholars and includes recommendations that libraries, universities and engineering societies can use to support the changing research practices of engineering scholars

"If chemists don’t do it, who is going to?" Peer-driven occupational change and the emergence of green chemistry

Occupational membership guides what people do, how they think of themselves, and how they interact in organizations and with society. While a rich literature explains how occupations adapt in response to external triggers for change, we have limited insight into how occupational incumbents, absent external triggers, work to influence how their peers do their work. We investigate the emergence and growth of “green chemistry,” an effort by chemists to encourage other chemists to reduce the health, safety, and environmental impacts of chemical products and processes. We find that advocates simultaneously advanced normalizing, moralizing, and pragmatizing frames for green chemistry and that each frame resonated differently with chemists in their various occupational roles. While this pluralistic approach generated broad acceptance of the change effort, it also exposed tensions, which threatened the coherence of the change. Divergent responses of advocates to these tensions contribute to a persistent state of pluralism and dynamism in the change effort. We discuss implications for theory on occupational change arising from our attention to internally-generated peer-driven change, heterogeneity within occupations, and change efforts that moralize occupational work.Meyer Fund for Sustainability grant (University of Oregon