Trajectories to reconcile sharing and commercialization in the maker movement

Maker technologies, including collaborative digital fabrication tools like 3-D printers, enable entrepreneurial opportunities and new business models. To date, relatively few highly successful maker startups have emerged, possibly due to the dominant mindset of the makers being one of cooperation and sharing. However, makers also strive for financial stability and many have profit motives. We use a multiple case study approach to explore makers' experiences regarding the tension between sharing and commercialization and their ways of dealing with it. We conducted interviews with maker initiatives across Europe including Fab Labs, a maker REtD center, and other networks of makers. We unpack and contextualize the concepts of sharing and commercialization. Our cross-case analysis leads to a new framework for understanding these entrepreneurs' position with respect to common good versus commercial offerings. Using the framework, we describe archetypal trajectories that maker initiatives go through in the dynamic transition from makers to social enterprises and social entrepreneurs. (C) 2017 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Together is better: mRNA co-encapsulation in lipoplexes is required to obtain ratiometric co-delivery and protein expression on the single cell level

Liposomes can efficiently deliver messenger RNA (mRNA) into cells. When mRNA cocktails encoding different proteins are needed, a considerable challenge is to efficiently deliver all mRNAs into the cytosol of each individual cell. In this work, two methods are explored to co-deliver varying ratiometric doses of mRNA encoding red (R) or green (G) fluorescent proteins and it is found that packaging mRNAs into the same lipoplexes (mingle-lipoplexes) is crucial to efficiently deliver multiple mRNA types into the cytosol of individual cells according to the pre-defined ratio. A mixture of lipoplexes containing only one mRNA type (single-lipoplexes), however, seem to follow the "first come - first serve" principle, resulting in a large variation of R/G uptake and expression levels for individual cells leading to ratiometric dosing only on the population level, but rarely on the single-cell level. These experimental observations are quantitatively explained by a theoretical framework based on the stochasticity of mRNA uptake in cells and endosomal escape of mingle- and single-lipoplexes, respectively. Furthermore, the findings are confirmed in 3D retinal organoids and zebrafish embryos, where mingle-lipoplexes outperformed single-lipoplexes to reliably bring both mRNA types into single cells. This benefits applications that require a strict control of protein expression in individual cells.Drug Delivery Technolog

Simulation based energy-resource efficient manufacturing integrated with in-process virtual management

Supported by the EU 7th Framework ICT Programme under EuroEnergest Project (Contract No. 288102)

A 1-Year Prospective French Nationwide Study of Emergency Hospital Admissions in Children and Adults with Primary Immunodeficiency.

PURPOSE: Patients with primary immunodeficiency (PID) are at risk of serious complications. However, data on the incidence and causes of emergency hospital admissions are scarce. The primary objective of the present study was to describe emergency hospital admissions among patients with PID, with a view to identifying "at-risk" patient profiles. METHODS: We performed a prospective observational 12-month multicenter study in France via the CEREDIH network of regional PID reference centers from November 2010 to October 2011. All patients with PIDs requiring emergency hospital admission were included. RESULTS: A total of 200 admissions concerned 137 patients (73 adults and 64 children, 53% of whom had antibody deficiencies). Thirty admissions were reported for 16 hematopoietic stem cell transplantation recipients. When considering the 170 admissions of non-transplant patients, 149 (85%) were related to acute infections (respiratory tract infections and gastrointestinal tract infections in 72 (36%) and 34 (17%) of cases, respectively). Seventy-seven percent of the admissions occurred during winter or spring (December to May). The in-hospital mortality rate was 8.8% (12 patients); death was related to a severe infection in 11 cases (8%) and Epstein-Barr virus-induced lymphoma in 1 case. Patients with a central venous catheter (n = 19, 13.9%) were significantly more hospitalized for an infection (94.7%) than for a non-infectious reason (5.3%) (p = 0.04). CONCLUSION: Our data showed that the annual incidence of emergency hospital admission among patients with PID is 3.4%. The leading cause of emergency hospital admission was an acute infection, and having a central venous catheter was associated with a significantly greater risk of admission for an infectious episode

Impact of land use and soil properties on piping in Belgium

Field observations and literature reveal that land use and soil characteristics play an important role in the development of piping. In this study, the hypothesis is tested that discontinuities in the soil profile favour piping erosion in loess-derived soils in a temperate humid climate. Abiotic characteristics (clay content, bulk density, Ksat, penetration resistance) and the biological activity in the soil were measured for each soil horizon until a depth of at least 40 cm below the pipes (ca. 1.30 m) for 12 representative soil profiles with different land use (pasture with and without collapsed pipes, arable land and forest). No clear discontinuities in abiotic characteristics were observed at soil depths where subsurface pipes occurred, but pastures with piping had significantly more earthworm channels and mole burrows at larger depths than pastures without piping, arable land or forest

GROWTH AND PROPERTIES OF 1,3 AND 1.5µm GaInAsP DOUBLE HETEROSTRUCTURE WITH DIFFERENT ACTIVE LAYER THICKNESSES

The control of active layer growth of laser diode (L-D) and Edge Light Emitting Diode (E-LED) is very crucial because an optimum layer thickness is required for the optimised performance of these devices. Theoretical optimum thickness values are around 500-700°C for E-LED /l/ and 1500Å for 1.3 or 1.55 µm L.D. /2/.We have studied the growth kinetics of 1.3 and 1.55 µm active layer of typical double heterostructure (D-H) grown by Liquid Phase Epitaxy with a two phase solution technique. By optimising the cooling rate of the furnace and the supersaturation of the melt we are able to reproduce active layer thickness as low as 500 Å.The quality of the waveguide formed by the active layer of the D-H has been studied from the shape of the emitted beam in the plane perpendicular to the junction. For active layer thickness greater than 0.3 µm the light distribution can be described by the usual slab waveguide theory. However, for lower active layer thickness the light distribution has a complicated shape, especially for E-LED, which cannot be described by theory. Moreover, the study of threshold current density with active layer thickness shows that the experimental optimum value is higher than the theoretical one. For example at 1.55 µm, our best threshold current density, 1.5kA/cm2 is obtained for a 0.3 µm active layer thickness, the threshold current increasing for lower values.These two observations suggest that some non uniformities appear in very thin active layer. Their origin and their relation with growth conditions will be discussed

Rethinking Eco-design Priorities: The case of the Econova television

Eco-design heuristics (defined as experience-based techniques for problem solving) can play a useful role in helping designers prioritize eco-design strategies. One of these eco-design heuristics (the ‘use phase’ heuristic) is: Frequently used electric and electronic products usually have, over their life span, a dominant impact in the use phase. Modern mobile devices like smart phones however have their dominant impact in the production phase and therefore challenge this heuristic. The paper asked whether this could be a trend and whether we might find more electric and electronic products that challenge the ‘use phase’ heuristic. We found that in general, the development of highly energy efficient consumer electronics and the widespread shortening of product lifespans have indeed started to shift the focus to the materials and production phase of the life cycle. The case study of the Econova television showed that with a ‘best in class’ product like this TV, it is not possible to establish which life cycle phase is dominant. These findings led to several additions to the ‘use phase’ heuristic.Design EngineeringIndustrial Design Engineerin

[Performance of the Breastfeeding Assessment Score for the prediction of early weaning in France]

National audienceBACKGROUND: The Breastfeeding Assessment Score (BAS) was derived to help identify mothers at increased risk of early weaning in United States. Data are currently lacking on the accuracy of the BAS for French mother-infant pairs. OBJECTIVE: To assess the accuracy of the BAS in a French validation cohort. METHODS: We used the original data from a prospective cohort study of 488 mothers who were breastfeeding at discharge in 9 maternity wards in 2005. The outcome measures were assessed using structured follow-up telephone interviews at 4 and 26 weeks. RESULTS: The weaning rate was 3% at 14 days of infant age. The corresponding area under ROC curve was 0.73 [0.60-0.85] and was comparable to that observed in the derivation cohort (0.75). For a cut point of 8 recommended by the authors of the BAS, 43% of mother-infant pairs were categorized at high risk and the weaning rate in this subgroup was 5%. The mother-infant pairs with a score lower than 8 had a shorter median breastfeeding duration (18 versus 20 weeks, P=0.02), were more likely to report breastfeeding difficulties after discharge (63% versus 53%, P=0.03), and were less likely to be "very satisfied" with breastfeeding experience (66% versus 77%, P=0.007). CONCLUSION: The intrinsic properties of the BAS are robust. However, its use would be of limited interest in France because of the relatively low rate of early weaning. Randomized trials are needed before recommending routine use of BAS-based breastfeeding support intervention