Band engineering in dilute nitride and bismide semiconductor lasers

Highly mismatched semiconductor alloys such as GaNAs and GaBiAs have several novel electronic properties, including a rapid reduction in energy gap with increasing x and also, for GaBiAs, a strong increase in spin orbit- splitting energy with increasing Bi composition. We review here the electronic structure of such alloys and their consequences for ideal lasers. We then describe the substantial progress made in the demonstration of actual GaInNAs telecomm lasers. These have characteristics comparable to conventional InP-based devices. This includes a strong Auger contribution to the threshold current. We show, however, that the large spin-orbit-splitting energy in GaBiAs and GaBiNAs could lead to the suppression of the dominant Auger recombination loss mechanism, finally opening the route to efficient temperature-stable telecomm and longer wavelength lasers with significantly reduced power consumption.Comment: 27 pages, 11 figure

The control of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis infection in sheep flocks : a mathematical model of the impact of vaccination, serological testing, clinical examination and lancing of abscesses

A mathematical model of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis infection in sheep flocks was used to evaluate strategies for control and elimination of caseous lymphadenitis (CIA). Control strategies tested were vaccination, serological testing and removal of seropositives, clinical examination and removal of sheep with abscesses, lancing abscesses, and appropriate combinations. Three different infection rates with and without replacement of culled ewes were used to evaluate the control options. Controls were either implemented immediately after infection was detected in a flock or once CIA was at endemic equilibrium, and with different frequencies of examination or testing. Elimination of infection was defined as 99% confidence that no sheep were infected with C. pseudo tuberculosis. The control strategies were evaluated by estimating the reduction in infection or probability of elimination and the number of ewes culled from the flock. Lancing abscesses reduced the prevalence of infection when the initial prevalence was 0.90, but vaccination combined with clinical examination reduced infection rapidly with little impact on lamb productivity. Further research is required to develop a diagnostic test with at least 0.90 specificity and sensitivity under field conditions before any methods of control can be recommended with confidence

Interactions in Ireland's Food Innovation System

This paper presents an analysis of the Irish food innovation system. The research was conducted as part of a larger project aimed at developing a research commercialisation toolbox to assist public research organisations and universities improve technology transfer and commercialisation of publicly funded food research. Ireland’s food innovation system (FIS) is discussed for the first time to identify key actors, agencies and knowledge flows that contribute to food innovation nationally. Following a section in which a FIS is defined, an overview of the food industry and its research activities are presented to provide context for the current research and the discussion that follows. The methodology adopted for this research is then outlined with identification and discussion of the key actors in the FIS the focus of the next section. The main findings of the research are then presented, followed by conclusions and an outline of future research to be conducted on the Irish FIS.Agribusiness, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Technology Transfer in the Irish Food Industry: Researcher Perspectives

The public R&D system represents an important part of the framework conditions for carrying out innovation activities and creating commercially applicable knowledge (Drejer and Jørgensen, 2004). It is an important source of information for companies, particularly those that are developing new products (Tijssen, 2004). However, Rubenstein (2003) stated that there has been a perception that public research capacity and results were not being optimally used and thus that potential economic benefits were not entirely realised. It is also suggested that research conducted in the public sector is not efficiently or successfully transferred to industry (Markman et al, 1999) and that it is necessary to understand and improve the means of technology transfer for society to reap the benefits of public science (Geuna and Nesta, 2003). Thus, there is a growing interest, and indeed pressure, among policymakers and academics to ensure informed spending of taxpayers’ money, that useful and relevant research is conducted that represents good “value for money” and that wealth is generated from publicly-funded research (Carr, 1992; Lyall et al., 2004; Mustar et al., 2006). To achieve this requires, amongst other things, the establishment of scientific and technical human capital which is the sum of researchers’ professional network ties and their technical skills and resources (Bozeman and Coreley, 2004). This paper examines the interactions engaged in by researchers from Irish public science providers (public research centres and higher education institutions), with a particular focus on researchers- industry interactions, as well as their skills and resources. To provide context, it firstly briefly outlines the actors involved in conducting publicly funded R&D in Ireland. It then describes the methodology and presents the results of a national survey of publicly funded food researchers focusing on the extent and nature of researcher interactions with other researchers and with industry, the barriers to and motivations for researcher-industry interaction and researcher skills regarding technology transfer. It concludes with a discussion and some policy recommendations.Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Industrial Organization,

Knowledge Transfer in the Irish Food Innovation System: Industry and Researcher Perspectives

The new EU Animal Health Strategy suggests a shift in emphasis away from control towards prevention and surveillance activities for the management of threats to animal health. The optimal combination of these actions will differ among diseases and depend on largely unknown and uncertain costs and benefits. This paper reports an empirical investigation of this issue for the case of Avian Influenza. The results suggest that the optimal combination of actions will be dependent on the objective of the decision maker and that conflict exists between an optimal strategy which minimises costs to the government and one which maximises producer profits or minimises negative effects on human health. From the perspective of minimising the effects on human health, prevention appears preferable to cure but the case is less clear for other objectives.Knowledge transfer, technology transfer, Irish food sector, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

A class of ideals of the centre of a group ring

Reynolds (1972), using character-theory, showed that the p-section sums span an ideal of the centre Z(kG) of the group algebra of a finite group G over a field k of characteristic dividing the order of G. In O'Reilly (1973) a character-free proof was given. Here we extend these techniques to show the existence of a wider class of ideals of Z(kG)

The entrepreneurial university in Ireland - from rhetoric to reality. A phenomenological study of the evolution of the entrepreneurial capabilities of universities

The role of the university has evolved from teaching and research to include the ‘third mission’ of knowledge transfer and beyond to the creation of ‘entrepreneurship capital’ which can have a positive socioeconomic impact on national economies (Audretsch & Keilbach, 2005). The modern ‘entrepreneurial university’ is now expected to fulfil the three roles of teaching, research and entrepreneurship simultaneously. This research brings to bear a qualitative, phenomenological research methodology using semi structured interviews to understanding both the lived experience and, indeed, the attitudes of senior university leadership across the island of Ireland to the entrepreneurial university paradigm. Executive team members, often at the level of President, in third level institutions were interviewed. The aims of this research are twofold. Firstly, the research looks to explore how these leaders interpret the concept of entrepreneurship within the entrepreneurial university paradigm: how or, indeed, whether it is woven into their institutional strategy and with what effect. Secondly, strategic management theory, specifically dynamic capabilities theory (Teece et al., 1997), has been chosen as a theoretical lens to consider mission and strategy within the entrepreneurial university. The findings of this research have yielded rich and original insights which have contributed to the development of a new theoretical model of the Entrepreneurial University in Ireland. This contribution is significant, not just in advancing theory, but equally, in terms of guiding senior management of universities as they plan their next steps in their journey to deliver the third mission

The entrepreneurial university in Ireland - from rhetoric to reality. A phenomenological study of the evolution of the entrepreneurial capabilities of universities

The role of the university has evolved from teaching and research to include the ‘third mission’ of knowledge transfer and beyond to the creation of ‘entrepreneurship capital’ which can have a positive socioeconomic impact on national economies (Audretsch & Keilbach, 2005). The modern ‘entrepreneurial university’ is now expected to fulfil the three roles of teaching, research and entrepreneurship simultaneously. This research brings to bear a qualitative, phenomenological research methodology using semi structured interviews to understanding both the lived experience and, indeed, the attitudes of senior university leadership across the island of Ireland to the entrepreneurial university paradigm. Executive team members, often at the level of President, in third level institutions were interviewed. The aims of this research are twofold. Firstly, the research looks to explore how these leaders interpret the concept of entrepreneurship within the entrepreneurial university paradigm: how or, indeed, whether it is woven into their institutional strategy and with what effect. Secondly, strategic management theory, specifically dynamic capabilities theory (Teece et al., 1997), has been chosen as a theoretical lens to consider mission and strategy within the entrepreneurial university. The findings of this research have yielded rich and original insights which have contributed to the development of a new theoretical model of the Entrepreneurial University in Ireland. This contribution is significant, not just in advancing theory, but equally, in terms of guiding senior management of universities as they plan their next steps in their journey to deliver the third mission