Innovation as emergence: Hybrid agent enablers for evolutionary competence

AbstractHuman-performed innovation processes can be viewed as complex adaptive systems in their own right. The competitive effectiveness of such innovation processes is of not only academic interest, but also in commercial and military domains, in which levels of competency in innovation spell the difference between success and failure for the competitors.This paper describes an epigenetic view of innovation as an interaction of innovation agents, domain systems, and models of those systems. As contrasted from a genetic algorithms framework, we instead examine the case in which multiple localized innovation agents that include humans or hybrid human-machine agents are in interaction with evolving models of target systems.Key enablers of this framework include (1) system patterns (emergent, configurable, evolvable models) and (2) innovation agent views. The resulting framework can improve understanding of human-performed innovation processes, as well as point out enablers of increased competency for the overall system of innovation

Ultrasonic Evaluation of Polymers and Composites Using Air-Coupled Capacitance Transducres

It is often necessary to evaluate materials using non-contact ultrasonic techniques, for example when the test sample is hot, moving, or highly absorbent to conventional fluid couplants. Several non-contact methods are available, such as various optical techniques [1–3], which are generally expensive and require the sample to have optimized optical characteristics. Electro-magnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs) [4,5] and capacitance devices [6] may be used, but require an electrically conductive sample, and a small stand-off distance of a few millimeters or less. There has been much interest recently in the use of air-coupled transducers [7], which may be piezoelectric, using piezopolymers such as PVDF [8], piezocomposites of PZT and epoxy [9,10], or piezoceramics with impedance matching layers on the transducer face [11]. Another type of device is the electrostatic or capacitance transducer [12,13], which consists of a metallized polymer membrane against a backplate electrode to which a bias voltage is applied. Motion of the membrane causes the charge on the backplate to change, which may be detected using a suitable charge amplifier. These devices in general have a wider bandwidth than their piezoelectric counterparts, and improved sensitivity. The backplates are usually mechanically roughened metal, and it is therefore difficult to manufacture two identical devices. However, using a silicon backplate [14–17] and standard etching techniques, the surface of the backplate may be precisely controlled. Such a device is shown schematically in Figure 1. The backplate consists of a silicon wafer into which pits 40μm in diameter and 80μm apart have been anisotropically etched to a depth of approximately 40μm. A gold electrode is then evaporated onto the backplate, and a thin metallized polymer membrane is then placed next to the plate

Air-Coupled Ultrasonic Transducers for the Detection of Defects in Plates

In order to minimise the problems due to the acoustic impedance mismatch between solids and air, the non destructive testing of materials using ultrasonic transducers generally requires either contact transducers or immersion transducers to be used [1]. Air-coupled transducers however would be very advantageous for testing structures which must be not contaminated with couplant and also for all in-situ industrial applications. Although the propagation of ultrasonic waves from laser generation [2] involves air-coupling, the difficulties due to the experimental set-up of this technique and the financial investment it implies are two major disadvantages

Barcoding life to conserve biological diversity: Beyond the taxonomic imperative

Barcoding scientists aspire to adhere to the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity by promoting conservation, sustainability, and the equitable sharing of benefits arising from use of genetic resources. (Image: Juan Manuel Escalante, wwww.realitat.com

Transport model analysis of the transverse momentum and rapidity dependence of pion interferometry at SPS energies

Based on the UrQMD transport model, the transverse momentum and the rapidity dependence of the Hanbury-Brown-Twiss (HBT) radii $R_L$, $R_O$, $R_S$ as well as the cross term $R_{OL}$ at SPS energies are investigated and compared with the experimental NA49 and CERES data. The rapidity dependence of the $R_L$, $R_O$, $R_S$ is weak while the $R_{OL}$ is significantly increased at large rapidities and small transverse momenta. The HBT "life-time" issue (the phenomenon that the calculated $\sqrt{R_O^{2}-R_S^{2}}$ value is larger than the correspondingly extracted experimental data) is also present at SPS energies.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figure

The Barcode of Life Data Portal: Bridging the Biodiversity Informatics Divide for DNA Barcoding

With the volume of molecular sequence data that is systematically being generated globally, there is a need for centralized resources for data exploration and analytics. DNA Barcode initiatives are on track to generate a compendium of molecular sequence–based signatures for identifying animals and plants. To date, the range of available data exploration and analytic tools to explore these data have only been available in a boutique form—often representing a frustrating hurdle for many researchers that may not necessarily have resources to install or implement algorithms described by the analytic community. The Barcode of Life Data Portal (BDP) is a first step towards integrating the latest biodiversity informatics innovations with molecular sequence data from DNA barcoding. Through establishment of community driven standards, based on discussion with the Data Analysis Working Group (DAWG) of the Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL), the BDP provides an infrastructure for incorporation of existing and next-generation DNA barcode analytic applications in an open forum

PCR Primers for Metazoan Mitochondrial 12S Ribosomal DNA Sequences

Background: Assessment of the biodiversity of communities of small organisms is most readily done using PCR-based analysis of environmental samples consisting of mixtures of individuals. Known as metagenetics, this approach has transformed understanding of microbial communities and is beginning to be applied to metazoans as well. Unlike microbial studies, where analysis of the 16S ribosomal DNA sequence is standard, the best gene for metazoan metagenetics is less clear. In this study we designed a set of PCR primers for the mitochondrial 12S ribosomal DNA sequence based on 64 complete mitochondrial genomes and then tested their efficacy. Methodology/Principal Findings: A total of the 64 complete mitochondrial genome sequences representing all metazoan classes available in GenBank were downloaded using the NCBI Taxonomy Browser. Alignment of sequences was performed for the excised mitochondrial 12S ribosomal DNA sequences, and conserved regions were identified for all 64 mitochondrial genomes. These regions were used to design a primer pair that flanks a more variable region in the gene. Then all of the complete metazoan mitochondrial genomes available in NCBI’s Organelle Genome Resources database were used to determine the percentage of taxa that would likely be amplified using these primers. Results suggest that these primers will amplify target sequences for many metazoans. Conclusions/Significance: Newly designed 12S ribosomal DNA primers have considerable potential for metazoa

Positioning pharmacists’ roles in primary health care: a discourse analysis of the compensation plan in Alberta, Canada

Abstract Background A comprehensive Compensation Plan for pharmacy services delivered by community pharmacists was implemented in Alberta, Canada in July 2012. Services covered by the Compensation Plan include care planning services, prescribing services such as adapting prescriptions, and administering a drug or publicly-funded vaccine by injection. Understanding how the Compensation Plan was framed and communicated provides insight into the roles of pharmacists and the potential influence of language on the implementation of services covered by the Compensation Plan by Albertan pharmacists. The objective of this study is to examine the positioning of pharmacists’ roles in documents used to communicate the Compensation Plan to Albertan pharmacists and other audiences. Methods Publicly available documents related to the Compensation Plan, such as news releases or reports, published between January 2012 and December 2015 were obtained from websites such as the Government of Alberta, Alberta Blue Cross, the Alberta College of Pharmacists, the Alberta Pharmacists’ Association, and the Blueprint for Pharmacy. Searches of the Canadian Newsstand database and Google identified additional documents. Discourse analysis was performed using social positioning theory to explore how pharmacists’ roles were constructed in communications about the Compensation Plan. Results In total, 65 publicly available documents were included in the analysis. The Compensation Plan was put forward as a framework for payment for professional services and formal legitimization of pharmacists’ changing professional roles. The discourse associated with the Compensation Plan positioned pharmacists’ roles as: (1) expanding to include services such as medication management for chronic diseases, (2) contributing to primary health care by providing access to services such as prescription renewals and immunizations, and (3) collaborating with other health care team members. Pharmacists’ changing roles were positioned in alignment with the aims of primary health care. Conclusions Social positioning theory provides a useful lens to examine the dynamic and evolving roles of pharmacists. This study provides insight into how communications regarding the Compensation Plan in Alberta, Canada positioned pharmacists’ changing roles in the broader context of changes to primary health care delivery. Our findings may be useful for other jurisdictions considering implementation of remunerated clinical services provided by pharmacists

Towards barcode markers in Fungi: an intron map of Ascomycota mitochondria

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A standardized and cost-effective molecular identification system is now an urgent need for Fungi owing to their wide involvement in human life quality. In particular the potential use of mitochondrial DNA species markers has been taken in account. Unfortunately, a serious difficulty in the PCR and bioinformatic surveys is due to the presence of mobile introns in almost all the fungal mitochondrial genes. The aim of this work is to verify the incidence of this phenomenon in Ascomycota, testing, at the same time, a new bioinformatic tool for extracting and managing sequence databases annotations, in order to identify the mitochondrial gene regions where introns are missing so as to propose them as species markers.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The general trend towards a large occurrence of introns in the mitochondrial genome of Fungi has been confirmed in Ascomycota by an extensive bioinformatic analysis, performed on all the entries concerning 11 mitochondrial protein coding genes and 2 mitochondrial rRNA (ribosomal RNA) specifying genes, belonging to this phylum, available in public nucleotide sequence databases. A new query approach has been developed to retrieve effectively introns information included in these entries.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After comparing the new query-based approach with a blast-based procedure, with the aim of designing a faithful Ascomycota mitochondrial intron map, the first method appeared clearly the most accurate. Within this map, despite the large pervasiveness of introns, it is possible to distinguish specific regions comprised in several genes, including the full NADH dehydrogenase subunit 6 (ND6) gene, which could be considered as barcode candidates for Ascomycota due to their paucity of introns and to their length, above 400 bp, comparable to the lower end size of the length range of barcodes successfully used in animals.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The development of the new query system described here would answer the pressing requirement to improve drastically the bioinformatics support to the DNA Barcode Initiative. The large scale investigation of Ascomycota mitochondrial introns performed through this tool, allowing to exclude the introns-rich sequences from the barcode candidates exploration, could be the first step towards a mitochondrial barcoding strategy for these organisms, similar to the standard approach employed in metazoans.</p