Building a Biorefinery Business - If it does not fit, make it fit - strategies for successful commercialization

Due to a combination of economic challenges as well as uncertain policy conditions in the United States and the European Union, the development of (advanced) biorefineries has been slower than anticipated. This has hampered the transition to a more sustainable and less carbon-intensive economy, namely the bioeconomy. In this thesis, the technological innovation system (TIS) approach is combined with the business model (BM) framework to analyze how biorefineries have addressed commercialization challenges and system weaknesses in practice. Hereby, a business-centered perspective is taken, using case study analysis and expert interviews as major means of empirical data collection. The analysis highlights a number of key strategies that have been applied: (1) cooperation, partnerships and networks play a major role for e.g. the mobilization of resources, market formation and knowledge development and diffusion; (2) a high degree of vertical integration, especially upstream, is found to overcome feedstock related challenges (3) product and market diversification into higher values is perceived as key to overcome dependence on oil prices and policy frameworks. Furthermore, prospects for lignocellulosic biorefineries are considered low due to unfavorable economics and lack of policy incentives. In addition to the empirical contribution, the study contributes with novel insights into the role of agency and individual actors as system builders within the TIS framework. The thesis thus suggests that both actor specific activities as well as policy measures are needed to overcome system weaknesses to achieve successful commercialization of biorefineries

SDS, Future Challenges

Produced by The Center on Disability Studies, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawai'i, The Frank Sawyer School of Management, Suffolk University, Boston, Massachusetts and The School of Social Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, for the Society for Disability Studies

Making Conferences Accessible: Experiences from 1995 SDS

Produced by Center on Disabilities, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawai'i, Frank Sawyer School of Management, Suffolk University, Boston, Massachusetts, and School of Social Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas for The Society for Disability Studies

Tumor-assoziierte neutrophile Granulozyten während Pseudomonas aeruginosa-vermittelter Tumortherapie

Since the i.v. application of Pseudomonas aeruginosa lead to tumor clearance in WT mice, the quality of differentially primed CD4 and CD8 T cells to specifically act against tumor cells was investigated by adoptive transfer experiments in syngeneic Rag1-/- animals. Thereby, T cells isolated out of uninfected tumor-bearing WT mice allowed the complete rejection of new tumors, when a combination of such CD4 + CD8 T cells was injected into the recipient mice. Thereby it was demonstrated, that also uninfected tumor-bearing mice possess tumor-antigen specific T cells, which are nevertheless not able to reject established tumors. The adjuvant effect of the bacteria seemed to be necessary to enable tumor clearance in WT animals. However, when T cells were isolated out of WT mice, which had cleared CT26 tumors after infection with P. aeruginosa, the application of CD8 T cells alone prevented the development of tumors on modified Rag1 mice. By that, the development of a T cell memory and functional specificity was revealed. The impact of the bacterial infection on functional specializations of tumor-associated neutrophils (TANs) in the tumor microenvironment was furthermore investigated. Therefore, the expression of the extracellular phenotyping markers Icam, Fas, and CD62L, as well as the production of the cytokines TNF-alpha and active caspase 3, analyzed as intracellular phenotyping markers, was determined. The analyses revealed phenotype switches of the respective TAN population from N2 to N1 after the i.v. injection of P. aeruginosa into tumor-bearing WT- as well as Rag1-/- mice. The most and maximal significant changes of the percental number of TANs expressing a certain phenotype marker were observed three days post infection of tumor-bearing Rag1-/- mice. By the application of P. aeruginosa into tumor-bearing mice, tumor-supportive N2 TANs were obviously manipulated to switch into tumor-suppressing N1 TANs. Now, defined functions of N1 TANs can be investigated in future experiments and their onset in the present model probably induced by the bacteria-mediated tumor therapy.Da nach der i.v. Anwendung von Pseudomonas aeruginosa die Tumore auf den WT-Mäuse verschwanden, wurden unterschiedlich aktivierte CD4 und CD8 T-Zellen daraufhin untersucht, wie spezifisch sie gegen Tumorzellen agieren. Dafür wurden adoptive Transferexperimente in genidentischen Rag1-/- Mäuse durchgeführt. T-Zellen die aus unifizierten tumortragenden WT-Mäusen isoliert wurden ermöglichten eine komplette Abstoßung neuer Tumore, wenn eine Kombination aus solchen CD4 + CD8 T-Zellen in die Rezipienten-Mäuse injiziert wurde. Dadurch konnte gezeigt werden, dass auch uninfizierte tumortragende Mäuse Tumorantigen-spezifische T-Zellen besitzen. Diese waren allerdings nicht dazu fähig bereits ausgebildete Tumore zu beseitigen. Der adjuvante Effekt der Bakterien schien daher für eine solche Beseitigung von Tumoren in WT-Mäusen notwendig zu sein. Wenn dahingegen T-Zellen aus WT-Mäusen isoliert wurden, welche die Tumore nach der Infektion mit P. aeruginosa beseitigt hatten, war die Anwendung von ausschließlich CD8 T-Zellen ausreichend um die Entwicklung neuer Tumore in den modifizierten Rag1-Mäusen zu verhindern. Dadurch konnte das Bestehen von Gedächtnis-T-Zellen und deren funktionelle Spezifität bestätigt werden. Ebenfalls wurde der Einfluss der bakteriellen Infektion auf die funktionale Spezialisierung von Tumor-assoziierten Neutrophilen (TANs) im Tumormikromilieu untersucht. Dazu wurde die Expression der extrazellulären Phänotypisierungsmarker Icam, Fas und CD62L, sowie die Produktion der Zytokine TNF-alpha und aktive Caspase 3, die als intrazelluläre Phänotypisierungs-marker analysiert wurden, bestimmt. Die Analysen zeigten einen Phänotyp-Wechsel der jeweiligen TAN-Population von N2 zu N1 nach der i.v. Injektion von P. aeruginosa in tumortragenden WT- als auch Rag1-/--Mäusen an. Mittels der bakteriellen Injektion wurden Tumor-unterstützende N2 TANs offensichtlich dazu gebracht sich in Tumor-hemmende N1 TANs umzuwandeln. Nun können bestimmte Funktionen von N1 TANs in zukünftigen Experimenten untersucht und ihre Aktivierung wahrscheinlich mittels der Bakterien-vermittelten Tumortherapie im vorliegenden Model induziert werden

“What if There's Something Wrong with Her?”‐How Biomedical Technologies Contribute to Epistemic Injustice in Healthcare

While there is a steadily growing literature on epistemic injustice in healthcare, there are few discussions of the role that biomedical technologies play in harming patients in their capacity as knowers. Through an analysis of newborn and pediatric genetic and genomic sequencing technologies (GSTs), I argue that biomedical technologies can lead to epistemic injustice through two primary pathways: epistemic capture and value partitioning. I close by discussing the larger ethical and political context of critical analyses of GSTs and their broader implications for just and equitable healthcare delivery

On Nature and the Human

A major contribution of anthropological work has been to challenge a unitary theory of the human. In this American Anthropologist vital topics forum, a range of prominent anthropologists contribute to this challenge and provide musings on the human. The essays in this forum reflect diversity and unity of anthropological thought on human nature. Some note humans’ connection to other primates, and others emphasize our distinction from ancestral patterns. Several reflect on cultural change, globally and locally, while others problematize what we might mean by, and who we include in, a “human” nature. The perception of humans constructing and being constructed by the world and the warning to be cognizant of our approaches to defining ourselves are central themes here. Our goal is to initiate a discussion that might reshape, or at least influence, academic and public debates.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79283/1/j.1548-1433.2010.01271.x.pd

Growing up to belong transnationally : parent perceptions on identity formation among Latvian emigrant children in England

As a result of the wide availability of social media, cheap flights and free intra-EU movement it has become considerably easier to maintain links with the country of origin than it was only a generation ago. Therefore, the language and identity formation among children of recent migrants might be significantly different from the experiences of children of the previous generations. The aim of this paper is to examine the perceptions of parents on the formation of national and transnational identity among the ‘1.5 generation migrant children’ – the children born in Latvia but growing up in England and the factors affecting them. In particular, this article seeks to understand whether 1.5 generation migrant children from Latvia construct strong transnational identities by maintaining equally strong ties with their country of origin and mother tongue and, at the same time, intensively creating networks, learning and using the language of the new home country. The results of 16 semi-structured in-depth interviews with the parents of these children reveal that the 1.5 generation Latvian migrants are on a path of becoming English-dominant bilinguals. So far there is little evidence of the development of a strong transnational identity among 1.5 generation migrant children from Latvia. Instead, this study observed a tendency towards an active integration and assimilation into the new host country facilitated by their parents or occurring despite their parents’ efforts to maintain ties with Latvia. These findings suggest that rather than the national identity of the country of origin being supplemented with a new additional national identity – that of the country of settlement – the identity of the country of origin becomes dominated by it instead

Review of Giving Voice: Mobile Communication, Disability, and Inequality by Meryl Alper

No abstract available