Climbing Atop the Shoulders of Giants: The Impact of Institutions on Cumulative Research

While the cumulative nature of knowledge is recognized as central to economic growth, the microeconomic foundations of cumulativeness are less understood. This paper investigates the impact of a research-enhancing institution on cumulativeness, highlighting two effects. First, a selection effect may result in a high correlation between "high-quality" institutions and knowledge of high intrinsic quality. Second, an institution may have a marginal impact -- an incremental influence on cumulativeness, conditional on the type and quality of knowledge considered. This paper distinguishes these effects in the context of a specific institution, biological resource centers (BRCs). BRCs are "living libraries" that authenticate, preserve, and offer independent access to biological materials, such as cells, cultures, and specimens. BRCs may enhance the cumulativeness of knowledge by reducing the marginal cost to researchers of drawing on prior research efforts. We exploit three key aspects of the environment in which BRCs operate to evaluate how they affect the cumulativeness of knowledge: (a) the impact of scientific knowledge is reflected in future scientific citations, (b) deposit into BRCs often occurs with a substantial lag after initial research is completed and published, and (c) "lagged" deposits often result from shocks unrelated to the characteristics of the materials themselves. Employing a difference-in-differences estimator linking specific materials deposits to journal articles, we find evidence for both selection effects and the marginal impact of BRCs on the cumulativeness of knowledge associated with deposited materials. Moreover, the marginal impact increases with time and varies with the economic and institutional conditions in which deposit occurs.

The Determinants of National Innovative Capacity

Motivated by differences in R&D productivity across advanced economies, this paper presents an empirical examination of the determinants of country-level production of international patents. We introduce a novel framework based on the concept of national innovative capacity. National innovative capacity is the ability of a country to produce and commercialize a flow of innovative technology over the long term. National innovative capacity depends on the strength of a nation's common innovation infrastructure (cross-cutting factors which contribute broadly to innovativeness throughout the economy), the environment for innovation in its leading industrial clusters, and the strength of linkages between these two areas. We use this framework to guide our empirical exploration into the determinants of country-level R&D productivity, specifically examining the relationship between international patenting (patenting by foreign countries in the United States) and variables associated with the national innovative capacity framework. While acknowledging important measurement issues arising from the use of patent data, we provide evidence for several findings. First, the production function for international patents is surprisingly well-characterized by a small but relatively nuanced set of observable factors, including R&D manpower and spending, aggregate policy choices such as the extent of IP protection and openness to international trade, and the share of research performed by the academic sector and funded by the private sector. As well, international patenting productivity depends on each individual country's knowledge stock.' Further, the predicted level of national innovative capacity has an important impact on more downstream commercialization and diffusion activities (such as achieving a high market share of high-technology export markets). Finally, there has been convergence among OECD countries in terms of the estimated level of innovative capacity over the past quarter century.

Pilonidal Sinus of the Glans Penis Associated with Actinomyces

Pilonidal sinus is a well-recognized condition that occurs most commonly in the sacrococcygeal area of younger men. It is hypothesized to be an acquired chronic inflammation condition due mainly to hair trapped beneath the surface. A pilonidal sinus in the sacrococcygeal region is associated with recurrent infection, abscess formation, cellulitis, fistulae, and rarely, squamous cell carcinoma. A pilonidal sinus of the penis is a rare entity. The association of a penile pilonidal cyst and Actinomyces is even more uncommon with only three cases reported previously. Two cases of pilonidal sinus are reported in this paper. One of the cases was associated with actinomycosis. Pilonidal sinus of the penis should be considered in the clinical and pathological differential diagnosis and has to be distinguished from balanoposthitis, epidermal cyst, and carcinoma. The knowledge about possible association with actinomycosis is important to ensure early treatment

Predictors of Participant Development Through Adventure Programs: Replication and Extension of Previous Findings from NOLS

This study continues the examination of one of the largest and most established adventure education programs in the world, the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). Founded in 1965, NOLS has developed 11 branches worldwide and has graduated over 75,000 students. NOLS was originally known as a wilderness skills school, but quickly expanded their program goals and emphases to include leadership training, communication skills, expedition behavior, environmental awareness, and safety and judgment. NOLS courses include those for youth, adults, and intact groups who contract with NOLS for topic-specific courses. Courses range from eight days to months long semester courses. College credit is also available for some courses. As part of an on-going relationship between the University of Utah and NOLS, the study reported here is part of a series of efforts to develop and test a predictive model that would increase understanding of the relationships between participant characteristics, program components, and program outcomes for NOLS specifically. Such a predictive model would help explain how the NOLS process produces outcomes and how that process might be modified to produce additional or different outcomes. The model may also assist other adventure programs in better understanding how their programs produce outcomes

Have Astronauts Visited Neptune? Student Ideas About How Scientists Study The Solar System

The nature of students’ ideas about the scientific practices used by astronomers when studying objects in our Solar System is of widespread interest to discipline-based astronomy education researchers.  A sample of middle-school, high-school, and college students (N=42) in the U.S. were interviewed about how astronomers were able to learn about properties of the Solar System as a follow-up question after specific questions about the nature of the Solar System and its objects.  These students often held naive ideas about the practices of astronomy, and 19% of them proposed that humans or robots have returned samples of the planets to Earth for analysis.  While the college students provided more sophisticated responses to the questions than the younger students, we found that even they held naive ideas about human sample return and infrequently appealed to studying objects at a distance using telescopes.  We propose that students are not receiving specific instruction that allows them to investigate the tools and practices of astronomy, which leads them to rely on their prior knowledge about science practices in other disciplines (e.g., geoscience) when queried about how scientists study the Solar System.  This result implies that instruction around the limits of human and robotic spaceflight is needed to allow students to have a more scientific understanding of the practices of astronomy in studying the Solar System

Drift Macroalgal Distribution In Northern Gulf of Mexico Seagrass Meadows

Drift macroalgae, often found in clumps or mats adjacent to or within seagrass beds, can increase the value of seagrass beds as habitat for nekton via added food resources and structural complexity. But, as algal biomass increases, it can also decrease light availability, inhibit faunal movements, smother benthic communities, and contribute to hypoxia, all of which can reduce nekton abundance. We quantified the abundance and distribution of drift macroalgae within seagrass meadows dominated by turtle grass Thalassia testudinum across the northern Gulf of Mexico and compared seagrass characteristics to macroalgal biomass and distribution. Drift macroalgae were most abundant in areas with higher seagrass shoot densities and intermediate canopy heights. We did not find significant relationships between algal biomass and point measures of salinity, temperature, or depth. The macroalgal genera Laurencia and Gracilaria were present across the study region, Agardhiella and Digenia were collected in the western Gulf of Mexico, and Acanthophora was collected in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Our survey revealed drift algae to be abundant and widespread throughout seagrass meadows in the northern Gulf of Mexico, which likely influences the habitat value of seagrass ecosystems

Time Reversed Electromagnetic Wave Propagation as a Novel Method of Wireless Power Transfer

We investigate the application of time-reversed electromagnetic wave propagation to transmit energy in a wireless power transmission system. “Time reversal” is a signal focusing method that exploits the time reversal invariance of the lossless wave equation to direct signals onto a single point inside a complex scattering environment. In this work, we explore the properties of time reversed microwave pulses in a low-loss ray-chaotic chamber. We measure the spatial profile of the collapsing wavefront around the target antenna, and demonstrate that time reversal can be used to transfer energy to a receiver in motion. We demonstrate how nonlinear elements can be controlled to selectively focus on one target out of a group. Finally, we discuss the design of a rectenna for use in a time reversal system. We explore the implication of these results, and how they may be applied in future technologies

Adapting HYDRUS-1D to Simulate Overland Flow and Reactive Transport during Sheet Flow Deviations

Surface runoff is commonly described in numerical models using either the diffusion wave or kinematic wave equations, which assume that surface runoff occurs as sheet flow with a uniform depth and velocity across the slope. In reality, overland water flow and transport processes are rarely uniform. Local soil topography, vegetation, and spatial soil heterogeneity control directions and magnitudes of water fluxes. These spatially varying surface characteristics can generate deviations from sheet flow such as physical nonequilibrium flow and transport processes that occur only on a limited fraction of the soil surface. In this study, we first adapted the HYDRUS-1D model to solve the diffusion wave equation for overland flow at the soil surface. The numerical results obtained by the new model produced an excellent agreement with an analytical solution for the kinematic wave equation. Additional model tests further demonstrated the applicability of the adapted model to simulate the transport and fate of many different solutes (non-adsorbing tracers, nutrients, pesticides, and microbes) that undergo equilibrium and/or kinetic sorption and desorption and first- or zero-order reactions. HYDRUS-1D includes a hierarchical series of models of increasing complexity to account for both uniform and physical nonequilibrium flow and transport, e.g., dual-porosity and dual-permeability models, up to a dual-permeability model with immobile water. This same conceptualization was adapted to simulate physical nonequilibrium overland flow and transport at the soil surface. The developed model improves our ability to describe nonequilibrium overland flow and transport processes and our understanding of factors that cause this behavior

Process evaluation of a peer-led antenatal breastfeeding class for fathers: perceptions of facilitators and participants

Background: The Parent Infant Feeding Initiative (PIFI) was a factorial, randomised controlled trial that aimed to prolong exclusive breastfeeding by targeting expecting fathers. One of the intervention strategies evaluated was a father-focused breastfeeding class facilitated by a male peer facilitator. The aim of this mixed-methods descriptive study was to 1) evaluate the feedback provided from participants of the class and 2) explore the motivations and experiences of volunteer male peer facilitators trained to deliver the class. Methods: Father-focused breastfeeding antenatal (FFAB) classes were conducted in six Western Australian hospitals between August 2015 and December 2016. Following each peer facilitated FFAB class, expecting father participants completed an evaluation form to assess their satisfaction with the format, facilitation and content, in addition to whether their expectations and confidence to manage breastfeeding problems had changed. Feedback to open-ended questions was analysed using content analysis to identify learnings and suggestions for improvements. At the completion of PIFI, individual telephone interviews were undertaken with 14 peer facilitators to gain insight into their motivations for volunteering and experiences of conducting the classes. Transcripts from interviews were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s six phases for thematic analysis. Results: Participant evaluation forms were completed by 678 of the 697 father participants (98%). Overall satisfaction with class format, facilitation and content was high with 90% or more of fathers either strongly agreeing or agreeing with each positively-phrased evaluation item. Class participants enjoyed interacting with other fathers, appreciated validation of their role, were not always aware of the importance of breastfeeding or potential difficulties, valued the anticipatory guidance around what to expect in the early weeks of parenting and appreciated learning practical breastfeeding support strategies. Peer facilitators indicated they felt well prepared and supported to conduct FFAB classes. Analysis of interview transcripts revealed common experiences of the peer facilitators incorporating four themes: ‘Highlights of being a facilitator’, ‘Challenges’, ‘Mourning the project completion’ and ‘Satisfaction with training and support’. Conclusion: Father-focused breastfeeding classes supported by volunteer male peer facilitators are a feasible and acceptable way of engaging fathers as breastfeeding supporters. Trial registration: ACTRN12614000605695. Registered 6 June 2014