Knowledge production at the global frontier : the case of China

Thesis (S.M. in Technology and Policy)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2009.Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-132).China is increasingly seen as a participant in the global knowledge economy, with recent studies have highlighted the rising number of scientists and engineers educated in Chinese institutions of higher education, and the growing funding allocated to the production of knowledge. Question remains as to whether China is producing scientific knowledge at the global frontier, and whether the production of scientific research in China is globally competitive. Since the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, Chinese policymakers have distinguished scientific modernization as essential to long-term economic prosperity and endogenous growth, and, more recently, to addressing the modern socioeconomic and environmental challenges confronting China. The State Council, largely through the Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Education, have invested heavily in universities and research institutes to promote the development of world-class research. To evaluate the state of scientific innovation in China, three bibliometric analyses are conducted. First, United States patents with full or partial Chinese ownership are used to provide a measure of high-impact industrial and applied innovation. Second, all SCI-indexed articles affiliated with at least one Chinese institution are evaluated. Finally, articles published in the journal Nature and subject-specific Nature journals are used as a proxy for high-impact scientific research. The results suggest that while the majority of Chinese scientific research is of low impact, that frontier research is becoming increasingly common in a growing number of Chinese institutions.(cont.) There is evidence of a learning effect, suggesting that China engages in international consortia to participate in frontier research and uses the resulting experience to independently produce frontier knowledge, particularly in the fields of genetics and nanotechnology.by Devin Robert Fensterheim.S.M.in Technology and Polic

The Rutgers Arm: An Upper-Extremity Rehabilitation System in Virtual Reality

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. Its prevalence calls for innovative rehabilitation methods for post-stroke patients. The Rutgers Arm is a novel arm rehabilitation system consisting of a special table, 3D tracker, custom forearm support, PC workstation, library of Java 3D VR exercises, clinical database module, and a tele-rehabilitation extension. The Rutgers Arm was tested on a chronic stroke subject, under local and tele-rehabilitation conditions, over five weeks of training. Case study results show improvements in arm motor control, shoulder range of motion, and (as illustrated by improvements in computerized measures and in Fugl-Meyer test scores). The tele-rehabilitation portion of training showed that exercise duration, level of difficulty and patient motivation, were maintained. A one-week-retention trial showed that most of the gains were maintained (or improved on) by the subject