Placing Sustainability: Geo-Historical Entanglements of Grassroots Innovations and Place-Making Politics in Taiwan

Grassroots innovations, understood as bottom-up experiments on more socio-ecologically sound practices, have been a primary focus in civic-oriented studies on transformative pathways to sustainability. However, grassroots innovation studies often adopt a socio-technical systemic approach, whereby grassroots actors’ aspirations, mobilization efforts, and visions beyond the scope of certain socio-technical transitions are largely left off. This thesis proposes a place-centered enabling approach that foregrounds site-specific needs and place-based politics to better capture the nature and transformative potential of grassroots innovations. It first reconceptualizes a grassroots niche as ‘a hybrid space’ grounded in socio-spatial dynamics and networked politics and mixed with elements of incumbent socio-technical regimes. Drawing inspiration from political ecology and human geography, it then recasts grassroots innovations as grassroots place-making actions and analytically focuses on three constituents—the development history of the host community, outstanding place-framings, and internal and/or external place-making politics—to investigate a grassroots innovation in relation to the socio-spatial transformation and the underlying politico-economic structure experienced by a community. Empirically, this research draws on evidence from three cases of energy and agri-food grassroots innovations in Taiwan that address important problems emerging from the country’s capitalist development, including the violation of indigenous rights, resource grabbing, and industrial pollution. Evidence was built through a comprehensive data collection, in-depth interviews, and participant observation over the course of 11 months in 2016 and 2017, supplemented by three annual post-fieldwork visits. The research shows that the formation of a grassroots innovation is often motivated by the geo-historical processes that communities co-evolve with and may seek to change in line with other defensive and/or innovative actions. Moreover, its development can be subject to structural lock-ins underlying site-specific concerns that also constrain systemic solutions. Overlooking unmet site-specific needs and ends can lead to problematic gaps in knowledge production for policymaking, which can unintentionally consolidate the injustice a community has faced. With these findings, the research contributes to the debate of transformative pathways to sustainability by joining the call for a geographical and critical turn in sustainability transitions research, thereby facilitating dialogues between grassroots innovation studies and critical studies for radical change. It enriches the meaning of ‘sustainability’ by situating it in the context of a (former) developmental state in East Asia, and expands the scope from socio-technical transitions to socio-spatial and structural transformations from a grounded, bottom-up perspective, which I argue, is vital to reach a real ‘win-win’ balance between ‘sustainable’ community development and ‘sustainable’ socio-technical transitions

Using silica nanoparticles for modifying sulfonated poly(phthalazinone ether ketone) membrane for direct methanol fuel cell : A significant improvement on cell performance

Sulfonated poly(phthalazinone ether ketone) (sPPEK) with a degree of sulfonation of 1.23 was mixed with silica nanoparticles to form hybrid materials for using as proton exchange membranes. The nanoparticles were found homogeneously dispersed in the polymer matrix and a high 30 phr (parts per hundred resin) loading of silica nanoparticles can be achieved. The hybrid membranes exhibited improved swelling behavior, thermal stability, and mechanical properties. The methanol crossover behavior of the membrane was also depressed such that these membranes are suitable for a high methanol concentration in feed (3 M) in cell test. The membrane with 5 phr silica nanoparticles showed an open cell potential of 0.6V and an optimum power density of 52.9mWcm 122 at a current density of 264.6mAcm 122, which is better than the performance of the pristine sPPEK membrane and Nafion\uae 117.NRC publication: Ye

Identification of Postoperative Prognostic MicroRNA Predictors in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Comparison of microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles in the noncancerous liver tissues adjacent to hepatocelluar carcinomas (HCCs) was a strategy to identify postoperative prognostic predictors in this study. Expression profiles of 270 miRNAs were determined in the paraneoplastic liver tissues of 12 HCC patients with known postoperative prognosis. A panel of candidate miRNA predictors was identified. The prognostic predictive value of these candidate miRNAs was then verified in 216 postoperative HCC patients. Univariate analysis identified 8 and 3 miRNA predictors for recurrence-free (RFS) and overall (OS) survivals, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed high expression levels of miR-155 (HR, 2.002 [1.324–3.027]; P = .001), miR-15a (HR, 0.478 [0.248–0.920]; P = .027), miR-432 (HR, 1.816 [1.203–2.740]; P = .015), miR-486-3p (HR, 0.543 [0.330–0.893]; P = .016), miR-15b (HR, 1.074 [1.002–1.152]; P = .043) and miR-30b (HR, 1.102 [1.025–1.185]; P = .009) were significantly associated with RFS. When clinicopathological predictors were included, multivariate analysis revealed that tumor number and miR-432, miR-486-3p, and miR-30b expression levels remained significant as independent predictors for RFS. Additionally, expression knockdown of miR-155 in J7 and Mahlavu hepatoma cells resulted in decreased cell growth and enhanced cell death in xenograft tumors, suggesting an oncogenic effect of miR-155. In conclusion, significant prognostic miRNA predictors were identified through examination of miRNA expression levels in paraneoplastic liver tissues. Functional analysis of a miRNA predictor, miR-155, suggested that the prognostic miRNA predictors identified under this strategy could serve as potential molecular targets for anticancer therapy