Reimagining Homelessness

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. The number of people experiencing homelessness is rising in the majority of advanced western economies. Bringing to light the most contemporary research, policy and practice, this book presents stark evidence from Irish experience to argue that we need to urgently reimagine homelessness as a pattern of residential instability and economic precariousness regularly experienced by marginal households

Standardisation framework to enable complex technological innovations: The case of photovoltaic technology

Strategic standardisation is becoming increasingly challenging due to high levels of complexity, interdisciplinarity, and systems nature of modern technologies. This paper develops a standardisation mapping framework for systematic and comprehensive analyses of how standardisation supports innovation, by integrating key ‘dimensions of standardisation’ addressed in existing conceptual models and related literature. A longitudinal case study of photovoltaic technology highlights evolving dynamics of these dimensions over multiple technology lifecycles, thus demonstrating the importance of such holistic and integrative approach. Based on a widely-used foresight tool, the framework can be used to help decision-makers develop more coherent, long-term, and system-wide strategies for standardisation.Gatsby Charitable Foundatio

Strategic standardisation of smart systems: A roadmapping process in support of innovation

With increasing awareness among policymakers and other stakeholders of the importance of standards in supporting innovation, many national governments and standards organisations are taking strategic foresight approaches to standardisation . This is especially the case for ICT-based ‘smart systems’, where an increasing number of different technologies and systems are interconnected to each other, involving a complex variety of actors. Roadmapping is a widely used tool to support such strategic policy processes, yet there remain significant challenges in terms of structuring and managing roadmapping exercises. This paper proposes a systematic process of managing roadmapping practices to develop effective strategies for standardisation in support of innovation. Based on literature regarding public-level strategy roadmaps and reviews of existing standardisation roadmapping exercises, a more systematic process has been developed, incorporating activities and tools to address increased challenges associated with standardisation of such complex areas. Findings of the research not only provide guidance on how roadmapping processes can be structured and organised to more effectively address standardisation issues in innovation strategies for smart systems, but also highlight policy implications, including potential roles for government in supporting standardisation efforts.The authors would like to thank Gatsby Charitable Foundation and Samsung Scholarship Foundation for their financial support, and all interviewees for sharing their knowledge and experiences, which provided invaluable insight for the research. Thanks are also due to two anonymous reviewers who provided constructive feedback and suggestions, which made the paper much stronger than before.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2016.04.01

Rate-Induced Tipping to Metastable Zombie Fires

Zombie fires in peatlands disappear from the surface, smoulder underground during the winter, and `come back to life' in the spring. They can release hundreds of megatonnes of carbon into the atmosphere per year and are believed to be caused by surface wildfires. Here, we propose rate-induced tipping (R-tipping) to a subsurface hot metastable state in bioactive peat soils as a main cause of Zombie fires. Our hypothesis is based on a conceptual soil-carbon model subjected to realistic changes in weather and climate patterns, including global warming scenarios and summer heatwaves. Mathematically speaking, R-tipping to the hot metastable state is a nonautonomous instability, due to crossing an elusive quasithreshold, in a multiple-timescale dynamical system. To explain this instability, we provide a framework combining a special compactification technique with concepts from geometric singular perturbation theory. This framework allows us to reduce an R-tipping problem due to crossing a quasithreshold to a heteroclinic orbit problem in a singular limit. We identify generic cases of tracking-tipping transitions via: (i) unfolding of a codimension-two heteroclinic folded saddle-node type-I singularity for global warming, and (ii) analysis of a codimension-one saddle-to-saddle hetroclinic orbit for summer heatwaves, in turn revealing new types of excitability quasithresholds.Comment: 35 pages, 15 figure

Addressing the evolving standardisation challenges of ‘smart systems’ innovation: Emerging roles for government?

At a time when standardisation is increasingly recognised as an important area of innovation policy, the emergence of cyber-physical ‘smart systems’ presents significant challenges. Such complex technological systems have unprecedented levels of complexity and interoperability requirements, and pervade many critical national infrastructures, so calling for active roles for government to support their effective standardisation. Existing literature, however, offer limited insights into where, why, and how policy intervention can address the evolving variety of innovation challenges associated with standardisation. This paper thus proposes a novel innovation systems-based framework, for structured analyses of complex dynamics between standard-related innovation problems, relevant roles of government, and appropriate policy instruments. The historical case study of photovoltaic technology (from its early R&D to integration into Smart Grid) illustrates the framework, and provides practical implications for policymakers, suggesting evolving roles of government in the transition to cyber-physical smart systems in response to growing risks of systemic problems.Gatsby Charitable Foundatio

Morphology of Vaccine RD&D translation

Translation as a concept coordinates participation in innovation but remains a qualitative construct. We provide multivariate accounting of linkages between market entries of vaccines, clinical trials, patents, publications, funders, and grants to quantify biomedical translation. We found that the most prevalent types of biomedical translation are those between basic and applied research (52 percent) followed by those between research and product development (36 percent). Although many biomedical stakeholders assume knowledge flows one way from upstream research to downstream application, knowledge feedbacks that mediate translation are prevalent. We also cluster biomedical funders based on the types of translations they fund. Large-scale funding agencies such as NIH are similarly involved in early-stage translation, whereas pharmaceuticals and mission-oriented agencies such as DARPA involve diverse translation types, and each leaves different translation footprints

Automatic imitation effects are influenced by experience of synchronous action in children

By their fourth year children are expert imitators but it is unclear how this ability develops. One approach suggests that certain types of experience might forge associations between the sensory and motor representations of an action that might facilitate imitation at a later time. Sensorimotor experience of this sort may occur when an infant’s action is imitated by a caregiver or when socially synchronous action occurs. This learning approach therefore predicts that the strength of sensory-motor associations should depend on the frequency and quality of previous experience. Here, we tested this prediction by examining automatic imitation; i.e., the tendency of an action stimulus to facilitate the performance of that action and interfere with the performance of an incompatible action. We required children (aged between 3:8 and 7:11) to respond to actions performed by an experimenter (e.g., two hands clapping), with both compatible actions (i.e., two hands clapping) and incompatible actions (i.e., two hands waving) at different stages in the experimental procedure. As predicted by a learning account, actions thought to be performed in synchrony (i.e., clapping/waving) produced stronger automatic imitation effects when compared to actions where previous sensorimotor experience is likely to be more limited (e.g., pointing/hand closing). Furthermore, these automatic imitation effects were not found to vary with age, as both compatible and incompatible responses quickened with age. These findings suggest a role for sensorimotor experience in the development of imitative ability

Measurement of salivary cortisol in two New World primate species

Funding: R.S. was supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF, Young Independent Researcher Group (YIRG) grant; Grant Number ZK 66) and ERC Grant 230604 SOMACCA (to W. Tecumseh Fitch).Glucocorticoids (GCs) are mammalian steroid hormones involved in a variety of physiological processes, including metabolism, the immune response, and cardiovascular functions. Due to their link to the physiological stress response, GC measurement is a valuable tool for conservation and welfare assessment in animal populations. GC levels can be measured from different matrices, such as urine and feces. Moreover, especially in captive settings, measuring GCs from saliva samples proved particularly useful as those samples can be collected non-invasively and easily from trained animals. Salivary GC levels can be measured using a variety of analytical methods, such as enzyme immunoassays. However, it is crucial to validate the analytical method for each specific application and species when using a new matrix. Using high-pressure liquid chromatography and a cortisol enzyme immunoassay, we show that the main glucocorticoids secreted in the saliva of squirrel monkeys and brown capuchin monkeys are cortisol and cortisone. Our biological validation found the expected salivary cortisol level to decline throughout the day. Our findings support the reliability of salivary cortisol measurements and their potential to be used as a valid tool in research and welfare assessment for these non-human primates.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe