Determinants of emerging technology commercialization: evidence from MEMS technology

The term “emerging technology” refers to new technologies that create substantial changes to industry evolution and enterprise management. Nowadays, such technologies are mainly based on the development of information technology, internet technology, biotechnology and other interdisciplinary areas with potential industrial applications. Although emerging technologies have created opportunities for technological and economic innovation, their “creative destruction” characteristics also result in a very high failure rate in their commercialization processes. Most of the recent studies on the commercialization of emerging technology have focused on developed areas such as the United States, Japan, and the European Union, with few studies on developing countries like China. The present thesis seeks to fill this gap. Taking 112 Chinese MEMS enterprises as a sample, this thesis empirically investigated the determinants of emerging technology in China. Furthermore, a case study (Wuxi BEWIS Sensing Technology, Ltd.) was employed to analyze how these determinants affect the real commercializing process in the Chinese economy. Through multiple regression analysis, the empirical results show that technology property, market conditions, regional innovation network, and enterprise capability are determinants of MEMS commercialization, whereas social environment and policy and regulation do not have significant impacts on the performance of MEMS commercialization.O termo “tecnologia emergente” diz respeito a novas tecnologias que estão a gerar mudanças substanciais na evolução da indústria e na gestão das empresas. Atualmente essas tecnologias baseiam-se sobretudo no desenvolvimento da tecnologia de informação, da tecnologia de internet, da biotecnologia e de outras áreas interdisciplinares com potencial de aplicação industrial. Embora as tecnologias emergentes tenham criado oportunidades para a inovação, tecnológica e económica, as suas características de “destruição criativa” também resultaram numa elevada taxa de insucesso nos processos de comercialização. A maioria dos estudos recentes relativos à comercialização de tecnologia emergente têm-se focado em regiões desenvolvidas tais como os Estados Unidos, o Japão, e a União Europeia, existindo poucos estudos em países em vias de desenvolvimento como é o caso da China. Esta tese procura contribuir para o preenchimento dessa lacuna. Partindo de uma amostra de 112 empresas chinesas de sistemas microeletromecânicos (MEMS), procurou-se investigar empiricamente os determinantes de tecnologia emergente na China. Além disso, foi efetuado um estudo de caso (Wuxi BEWIS Sensing Technology, Ltd.) para analisar como esses determinantes afetam o processo real de comercialização na economia chinesa. Os resultados empíricos, obtidos através de análises de regressão múltipla, mostram que a propriedade tecnológica, as condições de mercado, a rede regional de inovação e a capacidade empresarial são determinantes para a comercialização de MEMS. Por outro lado, constata-se que o ambiente social, a política e a regulamentação não têm impactos significativos no desempenho da comercialização de MEMS

Usage History of Scientific Literature: Nature Metrics and Metrics of Nature Publications

In this study, we analyze the dynamic usage history of Nature publications over time using Nature metrics data. We conduct analysis from two perspectives. On the one hand, we examine how long it takes before the articles' downloads reach 50%/80% of the total; on the other hand, we compare the percentage of total downloads in 7 days, 30 days, and 100 days after publication. In general, papers are downloaded most frequently within a short time period right after their publication. And we find that compared with Non-Open Access papers, readers' attention on Open Access publications are more enduring. Based on the usage data of a newly published paper, regression analysis could predict the future expected total usage counts.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures and 4 table

The kinetics and pore structure of sorbents during the simultaneous calcination/sulfation of limestone in CFB

The interaction of calcination and sulfation in the simultaneous calcination/sulfation of limestone sorbent under circulating fluidized bed boiler conditions was studied. A specially designed constant-temperature reactor which can stop the reaction at a given time was employed. When limestone entered the furnace of mixed gases of CO2, O2, SO2, etc., its weight went down first, then up, so there was a minimum weight point. The whole reaction period could be divided into two stages by this minimum weight point, named the weight-loss stage and the weight-growth stage, which were dominated by the calcination reaction and by the sulfation reaction, respectively. In the weight-loss stage, the sulfation reaction took place and CaSO4 formed simultaneously together with limestone calcination as long as SO2 was present. In the weight-growth stage, the sulfation ratio at 60 min in simultaneous calcination/sulfation is 30.7% higher than that in the sequential calcination then sulfation process. The weight loss rate of limestone calcined in the presence of SO2 was lower than that without SO2 present but the final weight was higher. The calcination of limestone was slowed by the presence of SO2; a probable mechanism was proposed, namely that the CaSO4 formed may fill or plug the pores in the CaO layer, and impede the transfer of CO2 and, therefore, retard the calcination reaction. This mechanism was supported by the observation that the effective diffusion coefficient of CO2 in CaO produced in the presence of SO2 was reduced. The impeding effect increased with increasing SO2 concentration (0–3000 ppm), while, when the particle size decreased from 0.4–0.45 mm to 0.2–0.25 mm, the calcination rate of limestone was higher, no matter whether there was SO2 present or not. The impeding effect was less pronounced at 880 °C than at 850 °C. The reason for this appears to be the fact that there was less CaSO4 formed at 880 °C and, therefore, fewer pores of the particle were filled or plugged

Invasive Chloroplast Population Genetics of Mikania micrantha in China: No Local Adaptation and Negative Correlation between Diversity and Geographic Distance

Two fundamental questions on how invasive species are able to rapidly colonize novel habitat have emerged. One asks whether a negative correlation exists between the genetic diversity of invasive populations and their geographic distance from the origin of introduction. The other is whether selection on the chloroplast genome is important driver of adaptation to novel soil environments. Here, we addressed these questions in a study of the noxious invasive weed, Mikania micrantha, which has rapidly expanded in to southern China after being introduced to Hong Kong in 1884. Seven cpSSRs were used to investigate population genetics in twenty-eight populations of M. micrantha, which produced thirty-nine loci. The soil compositions for these populations, including Mg abundance, were measured. The results showed that M. micrantha possessed relatively high cpSSR variation and differentiation among populations. Multiple diversity indices were quantified, and none was significantly correlated with distance from the origin of introduction. No evidence for isolation by distance, significant spatial structure, bottlenecks, nor linkage disequilibrium was detected. We also were unable to identify loci on the chloroplast genome that exhibited patterns of differentiation that would suggest adaptive evolution in response to soil attributes. Soil Mg has only a genome-wide effect instead of being a selective factor, which highlighted the association between Mg and the successful invasion. This study characterizes the role of the chloroplast genome of M. micrantha during its recent invasion of southern China

Constructing a Computer Model of the Human Eye Based on Tissue Slice Images

Computer simulation of the biomechanical and biological heat transfer in ophthalmology greatly relies on having a reliable computer model of the human eye. This paper proposes a novel method on the construction of a geometric model of the human eye based on tissue slice images. Slice images were obtained from an in vitro Chinese human eye through an embryo specimen processing methods. A level set algorithm was used to extract contour points of eye tissues while a principle component analysis was used to detect the central axis of the image. The two-dimensional contour was rotated around the central axis to obtain a three-dimensional model of the human eye. Refined geometric models of the cornea, sclera, iris, lens, vitreous, and other eye tissues were then constructed with their position and ratio relationships kept intact. A preliminary study of eye tissue deformation in eye virtual surgery was simulated by a mass-spring model based on the computer models developed