NASA's Role in Aeronautics: A Workshop. Volume 4: General aviation

A substantially improved flow of new technology is imperative if the general aviation industry is to maintain a strong world position. Although NASA is the most eminently suited entity available to carry out the necessary research and technology development effort because of its facilities, expertise, and endorsement by the aircraft industry, less than 3% of its aeronautical R&T budget is devoted to general aviation aeronautics. It is recommended that (1) a technology program, particularly one that focuses on improving fuel efficienty and safety, be aggressively pursued by NASA; (2) NASA be assigned the role of leading basic research technology effort in general aviation up through technology demonstration; (3) a strategic plan be developed by NASA, in cooperation with the industry, and implemented in time for the 1982 budget cycle; and (4) a NASA R&T budget be allocated for general aviation adequate to support the proposed plan

OAST space power technology program

The current research and technology (R and T) base program is first described, then special attention is directed toward outlining a new system technology specifically oriented toward providing the utility power plant technology base for semi-permanent earth orbital facilities expected to be needed in the middle to late 1980's. The R and T program involves five areas of research: (1) photovoltaic energy conversion; (2) chemical energy conversion and storage; (3) thermal-to-electric conversion; (4) environment interactions; and (5) power systems management and distribution. The general objectives and planned direction of efforts in each of these areas is summarized

From knowledge to wealth : transforming Russian science and technology for a modern knowledge economy

Russia possesses a sophisticated science and technology (S&T) infrastructure (research capability, technically trained workforce, and technical research universities) which, even today, is a world leader in many fields. Despite this world class basic research capacity, Russia's exports are primarily raw materials. At a time when wealth depends to an increasing degree on knowledge, Russia does not have an effective system for converting its scientific capacity into wealth. Russia's S&T resources are isolated bureaucratically (they are deployed in the rigid hierarchical system devised in the 1920s to mobilize resources for rapid state-planned industrial development and national defense), functionally (there are few links between the supply of S&T output by research institutes and the demand for S&T by Russian or foreign enterprises), and geographically (many assets are located in formerly closed cities or isolated science/atomic cities). Overcoming these inefficiencies and adjusting the S&T system to the demands of a market economy will require a major program of institutional and sectoral reform. Part I of this paper describes the ambiguous legacy of the Soviet S&T system and the status of the Russian S&T sector after 10 years of transition. Part II describes the evolution of the Russian system of intellectual property rights protection from Soviet times to the present and argues that Russia will never develop a successful commercialization program until it clarifies the ownership of the large stock of intellectual property funded with federal budget resources. Part III outlines a comprehensive 10-point sectoral reform program to improve the efficiency of government research and development spending and link the Russian S&T system with market forces.ICT Policy and Strategies,Public Health Promotion,Scientific Research&Science Parks,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,General Technology,ICT Policy and Strategies,Scientific Research&Science Parks,Science Education,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,General Technology

Phase B: Final definition and preliminary design study for the initial Atmospheric Cloud Physics Laboratory (ACPL), a spacelab mission payload

A preliminary identification of the Supporting Research and Technology (SR&T) necessary during the planned evolution of atmospheric cloud physics is discussed. All requirements are for subsequent flights over its expected ten year lifetime. Those components identified as requiring some SR&T work prior to inclusion are listed. A data sheet is included for each item, briefly justifying the need, giving general objectives for the proposed development effort and identifying approximate schedule requirements on the program

Congruency fit: beyond performance in the auto supplier industry

The effects of manufacturing strategy (MS) and technology (T) on performance have been studied separately, but few studies have examined the relationship between MS and T practices clusters that improve effectiveness when implemented jointly, and even then they do not consider possible congruency between the two. This paper develops a congruency (selection) model to test for any interconnection between said clusters, without addressing causation or their combined effect on performance. The implicit outcome is that the plant will achieve a desirable effectiveness level. Through a wide-ranging survey of auto supplier plants, two approaches are considered: 1) grouping both clusters in pairs (canonical correlation analysis); and 2) a more general selection view version, with practices from both clusters related multidimensionally and subordinated by bivariate analysis (regression) to test for any congruent pattern. Both methods find a congruent relationship between manufacturing strategy and technology practice clusters, although the second provides greater detail.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia DPI-2006-0553

Immunogenicity of targeted lentivectors

To increase the safety and possibly efficacy of HIV-1 derived lentivectors (LVs) as an anti-cancer vaccine, we recently developed the Nanobody (Nb) display technology to target LVs to antigen presenting cells (APCs). In this study, we extend these data with exclusive targeting of LVs to conventional dendritic cells (DCs), which are believed to be the main cross-presenting APCs for the induction of a TH1-conducted antitumor immune response. The immunogenicity of these DC-subtype targeted LVs was compared to that of broad tropism, general APC-targeted and non-infectious LVs. Intranodal immunization with ovalbumin encoding LVs induced proliferation of antigen specific CD4(+) T cells, irrespective of the LVs' targeting ability. However, the cytokine secretion profile of the restimulated CD4(+) T cells demonstrated that general APC targeting induced a similar TH1-profile as the broad tropism LVs while transduction of conventional DCs alone induced a similar and less potent TH1 profile as the non-infectious LVs. This observation contradicts the hypothesis that conventional DCs are the most important APCs and suggests that the activation of other APCs is also meaningful. Despite these differences, all targeted LVs were able to stimulate cytotoxic T lymphocytes, be it to a lesser extent than broad tropism LVs. Furthermore this induction was shown to be dependent on type I interferon for the targeted and non-infectious LVs, but not for broad tropism LVs. Finally we demonstrated that the APC-targeted LVs were as potent in therapy as broad tropism LVs and as such deliver on their promise as safer and efficacious LV-based vaccines

Should Exact Index Numbers Have Standard Errors? Theory and Application to Asian Growth

In this paper we derive the standard error of a price index when both prices and tastes or technology are treated as stochastic. Changing tastes or technology are a reason for the weights in the price index to be treated as stochastic, which can interact with the stochastic prices themselves. We derive results for the constant elasticity of substitution expenditure function (with Sato-Vartia price index), and also the translog function (with T””rnqvist price index), which proves to be more general and easier to implement. In our application to Asian growth, we construct standard errors on the total factor productivity (TFP) estimates of Hsieh (2002) for Singapore. We find that TFP growth is insignificantly different from zero in any year, but cumulative TFP over fifteen years is indeed positive.

Science and Technology (S&T) Legislative Landscape: Mapping State-Level S&T Legislation in the US

Atlanta Conference on Science and Innovation Policy 2009This presentation was part of the session : Policy Actors and RelationshipsOver the last four years, the Georgia Tech Research Institute's Office of Policy Analysis and Research has supported the Georgia General Assembly's Science and Technology (S&T) legislative committees with policy analysis and expert testimony. This role provides OPAR a unique perspective on the S&T policy agenda in Georgia. In our duties, we are often called upon to prepare policy bulletins on S&T topics, including health information technology, biotechnology for economic development, and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. Because this research often results in comparative analysis with other US states, we recognized an opportunity not only to systematize this research, but also to provide a valuable service to the S&T policy community. The Science and Technology Legislative Landscape Project is an effort to do so. This research will inform state-level policymakers of nationwide trends in science and technology policy