The Virtual Learning Commons (VLC): Enabling Co-Innovation Across Disciplines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pennington, D. D.; Gandara, A.; Del Rio, N.

2014-12-01

A key challenge for scientists addressing grand-challenge problems is identifying, understanding, and integrating potentially relevant methods, models and tools that that are rapidly evolving in the informatics community. Such tools are essential for effectively integrating data and models in complex research projects, yet it is often difficult to know what tools are available and it is not easy to understand or evaluate how they might be used in a given research context. The goal of the National Science Foundation-funded Virtual Learning Commons (VLC) is to improve awareness and understanding of emerging methodologies and technologies, facilitate individual and group evaluation of these, and trace the impact of innovations within and across teams, disciplines, and communities. The VLC is a Web-based social bookmarking site designed specifically to support knowledge exchange in research communities. It is founded on well-developed models of technology adoption, diffusion of innovation, and experiential learning. The VLC makes use of Web 2.0 (Social Web) and Web 3.0 (Semantic Web) approaches. Semantic Web approaches enable discovery of potentially relevant methods, models, and tools, while Social Web approaches enable collaborative learning about their function. The VLC is under development and the first release is expected Fall 2014.

Ecological generalism and behavioural innovation in birds: technical intelligence or the simple incorporation of new foods?

PubMed

Ducatez, Simon; Clavel, Joanne; Lefebvre, Louis

2015-01-01

Generalist species are more successful than specialists in anthropogenically modified environments or in environments in which they have been introduced, but the nature of the link between generalism and establishment success is unclear. A higher feeding innovation rate has previously been reported in habitat generalist birds from North America. By allowing them to exploit new resources, this higher feeding innovation rate might explain the generalists' advantage. This result might be due to generalists being more likely to find new resources because they are exposed to more diverse environmental conditions. Alternatively, they might differ from specialists in other traits, in particular cognitive skills that might allow them to innovate more complex food searching and handling techniques. To test these hypotheses, we separated avian feeding innovations into a 'technical' (novel searching and handling behaviour) and a 'food type' (incorporation of a new food in a species' diet) category. Technical innovations, but not food type innovations, have previously been shown to correlate with avian brain size, suggesting they reflect cognitive ability. We used a world-wide data base of 2339 feeding innovations recorded in the literature, covering a total of 765 avian species and assessed the correlations between brain size and feeding innovation rates on one side and habitat and diet generalism on the other. Habitat generalism was positively related with food type innovation rate, but not technical innovation rate or brain size. This suggests that habitat generalist species are more likely to incorporate new food types in their diet because of higher chances to find new food resources in their environment, or of a higher opportunism, but not enhanced cognitive skills. In contrast, diet generalist species had higher food type and technical innovation rates, as well as larger brains, suggesting that cognitive skills might help species expand their diet breadth or that an

Comparison of Traditional and Innovative Techniques to Solve Technical Challenges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Perchonok, Michele

2011-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the use of traditional and innovative techniques to solve technical challenges in food storage technology. The planning for a mission to Mars is underway, and the food storage technology improvements requires that improvements be made. This new technology is required, because current food storage technology is inadequate,refrigerators or freezers are not available for food preservation, and that a shelf life of 5 years is expected. A 10 year effort to improve food packaging technology has not enhanced significantly food packaging capabilities. Two innovation techniques were attempted InnoCentive and Yet2.com and have provided good results, and are still under due diligence for solver verification.

Unique technical innovations for short rotation woody crops research and development

Treesearch

Adam H. Wiese; Ronald S., Jr. Zalesny

2006-01-01

Often technology that is available to conduct short rotation woody crops (SRWC) research is too expensive, difficult to operate, cumbersome, and/or impractical for meeting sample size requirements. Thus, we have designed, constructed, and tested technical innovations that have allowed us to meet our specific experimental needs.

A Locomotor Innovation Enables Water-Land Transition in a Marine Fish

PubMed Central

Hsieh, Shi-Tong Tonia

2010-01-01

Background Morphological innovations that significantly enhance performance capacity may enable exploitation of new resources and invasion of new ecological niches. The invasion of land from the aquatic realm requires dramatic structural and physiological modifications to permit survival in a gravity-dominated, aerial environment. Most fishes are obligatorily aquatic, with amphibious fishes typically making slow-moving and short forays on to land. Methodology/Principal Findings Here I describe the behaviors and movements of a little known marine fish that moves extraordinarily rapidly on land. I found that the Pacific leaping blenny, Alticus arnoldorum, employs a tail-twisting movement on land, previously unreported in fishes. Focal point behavioral observations of Alticus show that they have largely abandoned the marine realm, feed and reproduce on land, and even defend terrestrial territories. Comparisons of these blennies' terrestrial kinematic and kinetic (i.e., force) measurements with those of less terrestrial sister genera show A. arnoldorum move with greater stability and locomotor control, and can move away more rapidly from impending threats. Conclusions/Significance My results demonstrate that axial tail twisting serves as a key innovation enabling invasion of a novel marine niche. This paper highlights the potential of using this system to address general evolutionary questions about water-land transitions and niche invasions. PMID:20585564

An Innovative Marketing Model: Promoting Technical Programs by Conducting One-Day Conferences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petrosian, Anahid

This document examines an innovative marketing strategy developed by South Texas Community College (STCC) to promote its technical programs. In 2000, STCC organized the "Business Conference Institute" to develop 1-day conferences with the Division of Business, Math & Sciences (DBMS). The creation of this Institute linked the College with the local…

Case studies of innovative medical device companies from India: barriers and enablers to development

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Over 75% of the medical devices used in India are imported. Often, they are costly and maladapted to low-resource settings. We have prepared case studies of six firms in Bangalore that could contribute to solving this problem. They have developed (or are developing) innovative health care products and therefore are pioneers in the Indian health care sector, better known for its reverse engineering skills. We have sought to understand what enablers and barriers they encountered. Methods Information for the case studies was collected through semi-structured interviews. Initially, over 40 stakeholders of the diagnostics sector in India were interviewed to understand the sector. However the focus here is on the six featured companies. Further information was obtained from company material and other published resources. Results In all cases, product innovation has been enabled by close interaction with local medical practitioners, links to global science and technology and global regulatory requirements. The major challenges were the lack of guidance on product specifications from the national regulatory agency, paucity of institutionalized health care payers and lack of transparency and formalized Health Technology Assessment in coverage decision-making. The absence of national evidence-based guidelines and of compulsory continuous education for medical practitioners were key obstacles in accessing the poorly regulated and fragmented private market. Conclusions Innovative Indian companies would benefit from a strengthened capacity and interdisciplinary work culture of the national device regulatory body, institutionalized health care payers and medical councils and associations. Continuous medical education and national medical guidelines for medical practitioners would facilitate market access for innovative products. PMID:23721110

Case studies of innovative medical device companies from India: barriers and enablers to development.

PubMed

Jarosławski, Szymon; Saberwal, Gayatri

2013-05-30

Over 75% of the medical devices used in India are imported. Often, they are costly and maladapted to low-resource settings. We have prepared case studies of six firms in Bangalore that could contribute to solving this problem. They have developed (or are developing) innovative health care products and therefore are pioneers in the Indian health care sector, better known for its reverse engineering skills. We have sought to understand what enablers and barriers they encountered. Information for the case studies was collected through semi-structured interviews. Initially, over 40 stakeholders of the diagnostics sector in India were interviewed to understand the sector. However the focus here is on the six featured companies. Further information was obtained from company material and other published resources. In all cases, product innovation has been enabled by close interaction with local medical practitioners, links to global science and technology and global regulatory requirements. The major challenges were the lack of guidance on product specifications from the national regulatory agency, paucity of institutionalized health care payers and lack of transparency and formalized Health Technology Assessment in coverage decision-making. The absence of national evidence-based guidelines and of compulsory continuous education for medical practitioners were key obstacles in accessing the poorly regulated and fragmented private market. Innovative Indian companies would benefit from a strengthened capacity and interdisciplinary work culture of the national device regulatory body, institutionalized health care payers and medical councils and associations. Continuous medical education and national medical guidelines for medical practitioners would facilitate market access for innovative products.

Extending green technology innovations to enable greener fabs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takahisa, Kenji; Yoo, Young Sun; Fukuda, Hitomi; Minegishi, Yuji; Enami, Tatsuo

2015-03-01

Semiconductor manufacturing industry has growing concerns over future environmental impacts as fabs expand and new generations of equipment become more powerful. Especially rare gases supply and price are one of prime concerns for operation of high volume manufacturing (HVM) fabs. Over the past year it has come to our attention that Helium and Neon gas supplies could be unstable and become a threat to HVM fabs. To address these concerns, Gigaphoton has implemented various green technologies under its EcoPhoton program. One of the initiatives is GigaTwin deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography laser design which enables highly efficient and stable operation. Under this design laser systems run with 50% less electric energy and gas consumption compared to conventional laser designs. In 2014 we have developed two technologies to further reduce electric energy and gas efficiency. The electric energy reduction technology is called eGRYCOS (enhanced Gigaphoton Recycled Chamber Operation System), and it reduces electric energy by 15% without compromising any of laser performances. eGRYCOS system has a sophisticated gas flow design so that we can reduce cross-flow-fan rotation speed. The gas reduction technology is called eTGM (enhanced Total gas Manager) and it improves gas management system optimizing the gas injection and exhaust amount based on laser performances, resulting in 50% gas savings. The next steps in our roadmap technologies are indicated and we call for potential partners to work with us based on OPEN INNOVATION concept to successfully develop faster and better solutions in all possible areas where green innovation may exist.

Technological innovations for a sustainable business model in the semiconductor industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levinson, Harry J.

2014-09-01

Increasing costs of wafer processing, particularly for lithographic processes, have made it increasingly difficult to achieve simultaneous reductions in cost-per-function and area per device. Multiple patterning techniques have made possible the fabrication of circuit layouts below the resolution limit of single optical exposures but have led to significant increases in the costs of patterning. Innovative techniques, such as self-aligned double patterning (SADP) have enabled good device performance when using less expensive patterning equipment. Other innovations have directly reduced the cost of manufacturing. A number of technical challenges must be overcome to enable a return to single-exposure patterning using short wavelength optical techniques, such as EUV patterning.

Evolution and revolution: gauging the impact of technological and technical innovation on Olympic performance.

PubMed

Balmer, Nigel; Pleasence, Pascoe; Nevill, Alan

2012-01-01

A number of studies have pointed to a plateauing of athletic performance, with the suggestion that further improvements will need to be driven by revolutions in technology or technique. In the present study, we examine post-war men's Olympic performance in jumping events (pole vault, long jump, high jump, triple jump) to determine whether performance has indeed plateaued and to present techniques, derived from models of human growth, for assessing the impact of technological and technical innovation over time (logistic and double logistic models of growth). Significantly, two of the events involve well-documented changes in technology (pole material in pole vault) or technique (the Fosbury Flop in high jump), while the other two do not. We find that in all four cases, performance appears to have plateaued and that no further "general" improvement should be expected. In the case of high jump, the double logistic model provides a convenient method for modelling and quantifying a performance intervention (in this case the Fosbury Flop). However, some shortcomings are revealed for pole vault, where evolutionary post-war improvements and innovation (fibre glass poles) were concurrent, preventing their separate identification in the model. In all four events, it is argued that further general growth in performance will indeed need to rely predominantly on technological or technical innovation.

Dissemination of an Innovative Technical Therapy through an Evaluated Practical Workshop Using Live Patient Simulators.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dykes, Michael H. M.; And Others

1981-01-01

The use of a practical workshop to disseminate an innovative technical therapy which must be learned and practiced under supervision is described. A removable rigid dressing for below-the-knee amputees, developed at the Veterans Administration Lakeside Medical Center, is discussed. (MLW)

25 CFR 547.6 - What are the minimum technical standards for enrolling and enabling Class II gaming system...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... and enabling Class II gaming system components? 547.6 Section 547.6 Indians NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR HUMAN SERVICES MINIMUM TECHNICAL STANDARDS FOR GAMING EQUIPMENT USED WITH THE PLAY OF CLASS II GAMES § 547.6 What are the minimum technical standards for enrolling and...

Data-Driven Diffusion Of Innovations: Successes And Challenges In 3 Large-Scale Innovative Delivery Models.

PubMed

Dorr, David A; Cohen, Deborah J; Adler-Milstein, Julia

2018-02-01

Failed diffusion of innovations may be linked to an inability to use and apply data, information, and knowledge to change perceptions of current practice and motivate change. Using qualitative and quantitative data from three large-scale health care delivery innovations-accountable care organizations, advanced primary care practice, and EvidenceNOW-we assessed where data-driven innovation is occurring and where challenges lie. We found that implementation of some technological components of innovation (for example, electronic health records) has occurred among health care organizations, but core functions needed to use data to drive innovation are lacking. Deficits include the inability to extract and aggregate data from the records; gaps in sharing data; and challenges in adopting advanced data functions, particularly those related to timely reporting of performance data. The unexpectedly high costs and burden incurred during implementation of the innovations have limited organizations' ability to address these and other deficits. Solutions that could help speed progress in data-driven innovation include facilitating peer-to-peer technical assistance, providing tailored feedback reports to providers from data aggregators, and using practice facilitators skilled in using data technology for quality improvement to help practices transform. Policy efforts that promote these solutions may enable more rapid uptake of and successful participation in innovative delivery system reforms.

Technical and Sociological Approaches for Curriculum Innovation on Clothing Education Department

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tristantie, N.

2018-02-01

Education in the context of social and technical development is defined as the main factor in the learning process which is implied into curriculum. It needs to be anticipated responsively how the goals of Clothing Education Department should be achieved. The sociological and technological through curriculum innovation at Clothing Education Department aims to gain good profile of the professional graduates in the future. By using the literature study, it is found out that sociological development and technological approach are the main foundation for sustainability of Clothing Education Department.

Data-Driven Diffusion Of Innovations: Successes And Challenges In 3 Large-Scale Innovative Delivery Models

PubMed Central

Dorr, David A.; Cohen, Deborah J.; Adler-Milstein, Julia

2018-01-01

Failed diffusion of innovations may be linked to an inability to use and apply data, information, and knowledge to change perceptions of current practice and motivate change. Using qualitative and quantitative data from three large-scale health care delivery innovations—accountable care organizations, advanced primary care practice, and EvidenceNOW—we assessed where data-driven innovation is occurring and where challenges lie. We found that implementation of some technological components of innovation (for example, electronic health records) has occurred among health care organizations, but core functions needed to use data to drive innovation are lacking. Deficits include the inability to extract and aggregate data from the records; gaps in sharing data; and challenges in adopting advanced data functions, particularly those related to timely reporting of performance data. The unexpectedly high costs and burden incurred during implementation of the innovations have limited organizations’ ability to address these and other deficits. Solutions that could help speed progress in data-driven innovation include facilitating peer-to-peer technical assistance, providing tailored feedback reports to providers from data aggregators, and using practice facilitators skilled in using data technology for quality improvement to help practices transform. Policy efforts that promote these solutions may enable more rapid uptake of and successful participation in innovative delivery system reforms. PMID:29401031

Innovations in national nutrition surveys.

PubMed

Stephen, Alison M; Mak, Tsz Ning; Fitt, Emily; Nicholson, Sonja; Roberts, Caireen; Sommerville, Jill

2013-02-01

The aim of this paper is to describe innovations taking place in national nutrition surveys in the UK and the challenges of undertaking innovations in such settings. National nutrition surveys must be representative of the overall population in characteristics such as socio-economic circumstances, age, sex and region. High response rates are critical. Dietary assessment innovations must therefore be suitable for all types of individuals, from the very young to the very old, for variable literacy and/or technical skills, different ethnic backgrounds and life circumstances, such as multiple carers and frequent travel. At the same time, national surveys need details on foods consumed. Current advances in dietary assessment use either technological innovations or simplified methods; neither lend themselves to national surveys. The National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) rolling programme, and the Diet and Nutrition Survey of Infants and Young Children (DNSIYC), currently use the 4-d estimated diary, a compromise for detail and respondent burden. Collection of food packaging enables identification of specific products. Providing space for location of eating, others eating, the television being on and eating at a table, adds to eating context information. Disaggregation of mixed dishes enables determination of true intakes of meat and fruit and vegetables. Measurement of nutritional status requires blood sampling and processing in DNSIYC clinics throughout the country and mobile units were used to optimise response. Hence, innovations in national surveys can and are being made but must take into account the paramount concerns of detail and response rate.

Installation and Assimilation of Educational Innovations in Vocational/Technical Programs in Post-Secondary Institutions. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Appel, Victor H.; Roueche, John E.

The factors which contribute to the successful installation and assimilation of educational innovations were examined in relation to vocational/technical programs in eight post-secondary institutions. About 555 instructors, administrators, and non-teaching professional staff were surveyed regarding the level and extent of use of individualized…

Tension as an Enabling Characteristic of Innovating in Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perillo, Suzanne

2007-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to argue that school innovation is a complex process requiring a detailed accounting of the relational activity characterising everyday innovating activity. It is further proposed that complex accounts of innovation practice that describe social factors only are insufficient. Design/methodology/approach: Using…

FY10 Engineering Innovations, Research and Technology Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lane, M A; Aceves, S M; Paulson, C N

This report summarizes key research, development, and technology advancements in Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Engineering Directorate for FY2010. These efforts exemplify Engineering's nearly 60-year history of developing and applying the technology innovations needed for the Laboratory's national security missions, and embody Engineering's mission to ''Enable program success today and ensure the Laboratory's vitality tomorrow.'' Leading off the report is a section featuring compelling engineering innovations. These innovations range from advanced hydrogen storage that enables clean vehicles, to new nuclear material detection technologies, to a landmine detection system using ultra-wideband ground-penetrating radar. Many have been recognized with R&D Magazine's prestigious R&Dmore » 100 Award; all are examples of the forward-looking application of innovative engineering to pressing national problems and challenging customer requirements. Engineering's capability development strategy includes both fundamental research and technology development. Engineering research creates the competencies of the future where discovery-class groundwork is required. Our technology development (or reduction to practice) efforts enable many of the research breakthroughs across the Laboratory to translate from the world of basic research to the national security missions of the Laboratory. This portfolio approach produces new and advanced technological capabilities, and is a unique component of the value proposition of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. The balance of the report highlights this work in research and technology, organized into thematic technical areas: Computational Engineering; Micro/Nano-Devices and Structures; Measurement Technologies; Engineering Systems for Knowledge Discovery; and Energy Manipulation. Our investments in these areas serve not only known programmatic requirements of today and tomorrow, but also anticipate the breakthrough engineering

Agency, Socio-Cultural Context, and the Role of the Technical Communicator during IT Adoption: A Case Study in Innovation Diffusion across Cultures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coggio, Grace Leinbach

2010-01-01

This dissertation examines the diffusion of an innovative information technology system across multiple cultures between 2000 and 2006. Developed and implemented by technical communicators in the technical communication department of a global medical device company, the Advanced Single-Source Authoring and Publication System (ASAPS) brought…

Innovation in Education--Norway. Technical Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dalin, Per

One in a series of five descriptive case studies dealing with innovation, this study on Norway elucidates the functions of the National Council for Innovation in Education (NCIE), an advisory council which was formed to regulate experimentation and reform in the entire Norwegian school system. With major emphasis on democratization, the objectives…

The Innovation Hyperlab - Linking Student Innovation at University and Pre-College Levels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tagg, Randall

2012-02-01

We have created a laboratory environment to support collaboration between university and pre-college students on innovation and entrepreneurship projects. Called the ``Innovation Hyperlab,'' this facility is located in a K-12 complex called VistaPEAK schools in Aurora, Colorado. The lab is supported by four elements: a research-grade technical infrastructure of supplies and equipment for technical prototyping, a developing curriculum of ``learning modules on demand'' for rapid assimilation of technical skills, mentors from universities / medical schools / industry, and innovation projects stimulated by connections with the regional community. A current focus of projects is on medical technology development, linking tenth graders with university undergraduate research students and coordinated with the University of Colorado Denver's medical school. The Innovation Hyperlab is a work in progress and we will describe challenges that arise in connecting such a collaboration with traditional curriculum at both the university and pre-college levels.

Enablers and inhibitors of the implementation of the Casalud Model, a Mexican innovative healthcare model for non-communicable disease prevention and control.

PubMed

Tapia-Conyer, Roberto; Saucedo-Martinez, Rodrigo; Mujica-Rosales, Ricardo; Gallardo-Rincon, Hector; Campos-Rivera, Paola Abril; Lee, Evan; Waugh, Craig; Guajardo, Lucia; Torres-Beltran, Braulio; Quijano-Gonzalez, Ursula; Soni-Gallardo, Lidia

2016-07-22

The Mexican healthcare system is under increasing strain due to the rising prevalence of non-communicable diseases (especially type 2 diabetes), mounting costs, and a reactive curative approach focused on treating existing diseases and their complications rather than preventing them. Casalud is a comprehensive primary healthcare model that enables proactive prevention and disease management throughout the continuum of care, using innovative technologies and a patient-centred approach. Data were collected over a 2-year period in eight primary health clinics (PHCs) in two states in central Mexico to identify and assess enablers and inhibitors of the implementation process of Casalud. We used mixed quantitative and qualitative data collection tools: surveys, in-depth interviews, and participant and non-participant observations. Transcripts and field notes were analyzed and coded using Framework Analysis, focusing on defining and describing enablers and inhibitors of the implementation process. We identified seven recurring topics in the analyzed textual data. Four topics were categorized as enablers: political support for the Casalud model, alignment with current healthcare trends, ongoing technical improvements (to ease adoption and support), and capacity building. Three topics were categorized as inhibitors: administrative practices, health clinic human resources, and the lack of a shared vision of the model. Enablers are located at PHCs and across all levels of government, and include political support for, and the technological validity of, the model. The main inhibitor is the persistence of obsolete administrative practices at both state and PHC levels, which puts the administrative feasibility of the model's implementation in jeopardy. Constructing a shared vision around the model could facilitate the implementation of Casalud as well as circumvent administrative inhibitors. In order to overcome PHC-level barriers, it is crucial to have an efficient and

R-IDEAL: A Framework for Systematic Clinical Evaluation of Technical Innovations in Radiation Oncology.

PubMed

Verkooijen, Helena M; Kerkmeijer, Linda G W; Fuller, Clifton D; Huddart, Robbert; Faivre-Finn, Corinne; Verheij, Marcel; Mook, Stella; Sahgal, Arjun; Hall, Emma; Schultz, Chris

2017-01-01

The pace of innovation in radiation oncology is high and the window of opportunity for evaluation narrow. Financial incentives, industry pressure, and patients' demand for high-tech treatments have led to widespread implementation of innovations before, or even without, robust evidence of improved outcomes has been generated. The standard phase I-IV framework for drug evaluation is not the most efficient and desirable framework for assessment of technological innovations. In order to provide a standard assessment methodology for clinical evaluation of innovations in radiotherapy, we adapted the surgical IDEAL framework to fit the radiation oncology setting. Like surgery, clinical evaluation of innovations in radiation oncology is complicated by continuous technical development, team and operator dependence, and differences in quality control. Contrary to surgery, radiotherapy innovations may be used in various ways, e.g., at different tumor sites and with different aims, such as radiation volume reduction and dose escalation. Also, the effect of radiation treatment can be modeled, allowing better prediction of potential benefits and improved patient selection. Key distinctive features of R-IDEAL include the important role of predicate and modeling studies (Stage 0), randomization at an early stage in the development of the technology, and long-term follow-up for late toxicity. We implemented R-IDEAL for clinical evaluation of a recent innovation in radiation oncology, the MRI-guided linear accelerator (MR-Linac). MR-Linac combines a radiotherapy linear accelerator with a 1.5-T MRI, aiming for improved targeting, dose escalation, and margin reduction, and is expected to increase the use of hypofractionation, improve tumor control, leading to higher cure rates and less toxicity. An international consortium, with participants from seven large cancer institutes from Europe and North America, has adopted the R-IDEAL framework to work toward coordinated, evidence

Toward an evidence-based system for innovation support for implementing innovations with quality: tools, training, technical assistance, and quality assurance/quality improvement.

PubMed

Wandersman, Abraham; Chien, Victoria H; Katz, Jason

2012-12-01

An individual or organization that sets out to implement an innovation (e.g., a new technology, program, or policy) generally requires support. In the Interactive Systems Framework for Dissemination and Implementation, a Support System should work with Delivery Systems (national, state and/or local entities such as health and human service organizations, community-based organizations, schools) to enhance their capacity for quality implementation of innovations. The literature on the Support System [corrected] has been underresearched and under-developedThis article begins to conceptualize theory, research, and action for an evidence-based system for innovation support (EBSIS). EBSIS describes key priorities for strengthening the science and practice of support. The major goal of EBSIS is to enhance the research and practice of support in order to build capacity in the Delivery System for implementing innovations with quality, and thereby, help the Delivery System achieve outcomes. EBSIS is guided by a logic model that includes four key support components: tools, training, technical assistance, and quality assurance/quality improvement. EBSIS uses the Getting To Outcomes approach to accountability to aid the identification and synthesis of concepts, tools, and evidence for support. We conclude with some discussion of the current status of EBSIS and possible next steps, including the development of collaborative researcher-practitioner-funder-consumer partnerships to accelerate accumulation of knowledge on the Support System.

Use of negotiated rulemaking in developing technical rules for low-Earth orbit mobile satellite systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Taylor, Leslie A.

1993-01-01

Technical innovations have converged with the exploding market demand for mobile telecommunications to create the impetus for low-earth orbit (LEO) communications satellite systems. The so-called 'Little LEO's' propose use of VHF and UHF spectrum to provide position - location and data messaging services. The so-called 'Big LEO's' propose to utilize the RDSS bands to provide voice and data services. In the United States, several applications were filed with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to construct and operate these mobile satellite systems. To enable the prompt introduction of such new technology services, the FCC is using innovative approaches to process the applications. Traditionally, when the FCC is faced with 'mutually exclusive' applications, e.g. a grant of one would preclude a grant of the others, it uses selection mechanisms such as comparative hearings or lotteries. In the case of the LEO systems, the FCC has sought to avoid these time-consuming approaches by using negotiated rulemakings. The FCC's objective is to enable the multiple applicants and other interested parties to agree on technical and service rules which will enable the grant of all qualified applications. With regard to the VHF/UHF systems, the Advisory Committee submitted a consensus report to the FCC. The process for the systems operating in the bands above 1 GHz involved more parties and more issues but still provided the FCC useful technical information to guide the adoption of rules for the new mobile satellite service.

Use of negotiated rulemaking in developing technical rules for low-Earth orbit mobile satellite systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, Leslie A.

Technical innovations have converged with the exploding market demand for mobile telecommunications to create the impetus for low-earth orbit (LEO) communications satellite systems. The so-called 'Little LEO's' propose use of VHF and UHF spectrum to provide position - location and data messaging services. The so-called 'Big LEO's' propose to utilize the RDSS bands to provide voice and data services. In the United States, several applications were filed with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to construct and operate these mobile satellite systems. To enable the prompt introduction of such new technology services, the FCC is using innovative approaches to process the applications. Traditionally, when the FCC is faced with 'mutually exclusive' applications, e.g. a grant of one would preclude a grant of the others, it uses selection mechanisms such as comparative hearings or lotteries. In the case of the LEO systems, the FCC has sought to avoid these time-consuming approaches by using negotiated rulemakings. The FCC's objective is to enable the multiple applicants and other interested parties to agree on technical and service rules which will enable the grant of all qualified applications. With regard to the VHF/UHF systems, the Advisory Committee submitted a consensus report to the FCC. The process for the systems operating in the bands above 1 GHz involved more parties and more issues but still provided the FCC useful technical information to guide the adoption of rules for the new mobile satellite service.

Curriculum Programs in Action, Their Administration and Evaluation; Report of a Conference Devoted to Description, Demonstration, and Evaluative Discussions of Innovative Programs in Vocational-Technical Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

San Francisco State Coll., CA. Center for Technological Education.

The presentation, review and evaluation of innovative vocational-technical curriculums in operation was the major function of a San Francisco conference sponsored jointly by the Center for Technical Education at San Francisco State College and the Center for Studies in Vocational and Technical Education at the University of Wisconsin. Major…

A socio-technical analytical framework on the EHR-organizational innovation interplay: Insights from a public hospital in Greece.

PubMed

Emmanouilidou, Maria

2015-01-01

The healthcare sector globally is confronted with increasing internal and external pressures that urge for a radical reform of health systems' status quo. The role of technological innovations such as Electronic Health Records (EHR) is recognized as instrumental in this transition process as it is expected to accelerate organizational innovations. This is why the widespread uptake of EHR systems is a top priority in the global healthcare agenda. The successful co-deployment though of EHR systems and organizational innovations within the context of secondary healthcare institutions is a complex and multifaceted issue. Existing research in the field has made little progress thus emphasizing the need for further research contribution that will incorporate a holistic perspective. This paper presents insights about the EHR-organizational innovation interplay from a public hospital in Greece into a socio-technical analytical framework providing a multilevel set of action points for the eHealth roadmap with worldwide relevance.

Additive manufacturing integrated energy—enabling innovative solutions for buildings of the future

DOE PAGES

Biswas, Kaushik; Rose, James; Eikevik, Leif; ...

2016-11-10

Here, the AMIE (Additive Manufacturing Integrated Energy) demonstration utilized 3D printing as an enabling technology in the pursuit of construction methods that use less material, create less waste, and require less energy to build and operate. It was developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in collaboration with the Governor's Chair for Energy and Urbanism, a research partnership of the University of Tennessee (UT) and ORNL led by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), AMIE embodies a suite of innovations demonstrating a transformative future for designing, constructing and operating buildings. Subsequent, blind UT College of Architecture and Design studios taughtmore » in collaboration with SOM professionals also explored forms and shapes based on biological systems that naturally integrate structure and enclosure. AMIE, a compact micro-dwelling developed by ORNL research scientists and SOM designers, incorporates next-generation modified atmosphere insulation, self-shading windows, and the ability to produce, store and share solar power with a paired hybrid vehicle. It establishes for the first time, a platform for investigating solutions integrating the energy systems in buildings, vehicles, and the power grid. The project was built with broad-based support from local industry and national material suppliers. Designed and constructed in a span of only nine months, AMIE 1.0 serves as an example of the rapid innovation that can be accomplished when research, design, academic and industrial partners work in collaboration toward the common goal of a more sustainable and resilient built environment.« less

NASA's Management and Utilization of the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mexcur, Winfield Paul

2003-01-01

The United Space Congress established the SBIR program in 1982 for the following purposes: ( 1) Stimulate technological innovation (2) Increase private-sector commercialization derived from federal R&D (3) Use small business to meet federal R&D needs (4) Foster and encourage participation by disadvantaged persons and women in technological innovation The STTR program was established in 1992 with the additional requirement of having a small business partner with a research institution (usually a university) for the purpose of transferring intellectual property from the research institution to the small business concern for enabling a government technical need and furthering the technological development for the purpose of developing commercial products. The government of Japan has established a program that models portions of the U.S. SBIR and STTR programs. They are very interested in how NASA has been so successful in fulfilling the Congressional objectives of these programs. In particular, they want to understand the management practices and incentives that are provided to enable partnerships between business enterprises, academia and government. The speech will also focus on some of the many successful technologies (on a conceptual level) that have been developed through NASA s SBIR and STTR programs and mechanisms used to promote cooperation between small businesses, large businesses, academia and government agencies within the United States. The speech is on a conceptual level, focusing on U.S. and NASA policies and management implementation practices. No enabling technical discussion will be held.

Getting Personal: Individuality, Innovation, and Technical Communication.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steiner, Carol J.

1999-01-01

Suggests that effective communication between technical and nontechnical people is difficult because technical communication lacks a personal dimension: technical people give up their identity to be considered competent. Argues that a different approach to communication education for scientists, engineers, and technologists is required to equip…

From Management to Negotiation: Technical and Institutional Innovations for Integrated Water Resource Management in the Upper Comoé River Basin, Burkina Faso

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roncoli, Carla; Kirshen, Paul; Etkin, Derek; Sanon, Moussa; Somé, Léopold; Dembélé, Youssouf; Sanfo, Bienvenue J.; Zoungrana, Jacqueline; Hoogenboom, Gerrit

2009-10-01

This study focuses on the potential role of technical and institutional innovations for improving water management in a multi-user context in Burkina Faso. We focus on a system centered on three reservoirs that capture the waters of the Upper Comoé River Basin and servicing a diversity of users, including a sugar manufacturing company, a urban water supply utility, a farmer cooperative, and other downstream users. Due to variable and declining rainfall and expanding users’ needs, drastic fluctuations in water supply and demand occur during each dry season. A decision support tool was developed through participatory research to enable users to assess the impact of alternative release and diversion schedules on deficits faced by each user. The tool is meant to be applied in the context of consultative planning by a local user committee that has been created by a new national integrated water management policy. We contend that both solid science and good governance are instrumental in realizing efficient and equitable water management and adaptation to climate variability and change. But, while modeling tools and negotiation platforms may assist users in managing climate risk, they also introduce additional uncertainties into the deliberative process. It is therefore imperative to understand how these technological and institutional innovations frame water use issues and decisions to ensure that such framing is consistent with the goals of integrated water resource management.

Lean production tools and decision latitude enable conditions for innovative learning in organizations: a multilevel analysis.

PubMed

Fagerlind Ståhl, Anna-Carin; Gustavsson, Maria; Karlsson, Nadine; Johansson, Gun; Ekberg, Kerstin

2015-03-01

The effect of lean production on conditions for learning is debated. This study aimed to investigate how tools inspired by lean production (standardization, resource reduction, visual monitoring, housekeeping, value flow analysis) were associated with an innovative learning climate and with collective dispersion of ideas in organizations, and whether decision latitude contributed to these associations. A questionnaire was sent out to employees in public, private, production and service organizations (n = 4442). Multilevel linear regression analyses were used. Use of lean tools and decision latitude were positively associated with an innovative learning climate and collective dispersion of ideas. A low degree of decision latitude was a modifier in the association to collective dispersion of ideas. Lean tools can enable shared understanding and collective spreading of ideas, needed for the development of work processes, especially when decision latitude is low. Value flow analysis played a pivotal role in the associations. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Work and technological innovation in organic agriculture.

PubMed

Tereso, M J A; Abrahão, R F; Gemma, S F B; Montedo, U B; Menegon, N L; Guarneti, J E; Ribeiro, I A V

2012-01-01

Organic agriculture is a sustainable cultivation ecologically, economically and socially. Several researches in organic agriculture have been made from technical perspectives, economic traits or related to ecological aspects. There are practically no investigations into the nature of the technology used in organic agriculture, especially from an ergonomic perspective. From the activity analysis, this study aimed to map the technology used in the production of organic vegetables. Properties producing organic vegetables were selected representing the State of São Paulo. It was applied an instrument (questionnaire and semi-structured interview) with their managers and it was made visual records to identify adaptations, innovations and technological demands that simultaneously minimize the workload and the difficulties in performing the tasks and increase work productivity. For some of the technological innovations a digital scanner was used to generate a virtual solid model to facilitate its redesign and virtual prototyping. The main results show that organic farmers have little technology in product form. The main innovations that enable competitive advantage or allow higher labor productivity occur in the form of processes, organization and marketing.

Speed and Agility: How Defense Acquisition Can Enable Innovation

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-04-30

an example of an innovation partnership, Airbus partnered with micro- manufacturing innovator Local Motors to co-create commercial drones using the... Airbus Quadcruiser’s hybrid concept as the starting design. Local Motors recently released its Strati roadster, the world’s first 3D-printed car... Airbus sought to “speed-up development and manufacturing in aerospace through an open competition based on co-creation and micro- manufacturing.” The

Enablers of innovation in digital public health surveillance: lessons from Flutracking.

PubMed

Dalton, Craig B

2017-05-01

Opportunities for digital innovation in public health surveillance have never been greater. Social media data streams, Open Data initiatives, mHealth geotagged data, and the 'internet of things' are ripe for development. To embrace these opportunities we need to provide public health professionals with environments that support experimentation with new technology. Innovative practitioners will lead discovery, adaption, trialling and deployment of new technological solutions mostly developed outside their organisation. To enhance innovation agencies will need to learn from 'startup culture' and the practices of large organisations that ring fence innovative teams to protect them and allow them to 'break rules', 'fail fast', and innovate. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

My care pathways - creating open innovation in healthcare.

PubMed

Lundberg, Nina; Koch, Sabine; Hägglund, Maria; Bolin, Peter; Davoody, Nadia; Eltes, Johan; Jarlman, Olof; Perlich, Anja; Vimarlund, Vivian; Winsnes, Casper

2013-01-01

In this paper we describe initial results from the Swedish innovation project "My Care Pathways" which envisions enabling citizens to track their own health by providing them with online access to their historical, current and prospective future events. We describe an information infrastructure and its base services as well as the use of this solution as an open source platform for open innovation in healthcare. This will facilitate the development of end-user e-services for citizens. We have technically enabled the information infrastructure in close collaboration with decision makers in three Swedish health care regions, and system vendors as well as with National eHealth projects. Close collaboration between heterogeneous actors made implementation in real practice possible. However, a number of challenges, mainly related to legal and business issues, persist when implementing our results. Future work should therefore target the development of business models for sustainable provision of end-user e-services in a public health care system such as the Swedish one. Also, a legal analysis of the development of third party provider (nonhealthcare based) personal health data e-services should be done.

WATERPROTECT: Innovative tools enabling drinking water protection in rural and urban environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seuntjens, Piet; Campling, Paul; Joris, Ingeborg; Wauters, Erwin; Lopez de Alda, Miren; Kuczynska, Anna; Lajer Hojberg, Anker; Capri, Ettore; Brabyn, Cristina; Boeckaert, Charlotte; Mellander, Per Erik; Pauwelyn, Ellen; Pop, Edit

2017-04-01

High-quality, safe, and sufficient drinking water is essential for life: we use it for drinking, food preparation and cleaning. Agriculture is the biggest source of pesticides and nitrate pollution in European fresh waters. The overarching objective of the recently approved H2020 project WATERPROTECT is to contribute to effective uptake and realisation of management practices and mitigation measures to protect drinking water resources. Therefore WATERPROTECT will create an integrative multi-actor participatory framework including innovative instruments that enable actors to monitor, to finance and to effectively implement management practices and measures for the protection of water sources. We propose seven case studies involving multiple actors in implementing good practices (land management, farming, product stewardship, point source pollution prevention) to ensure safe drinking water supply. The seven case studies cover different pedo-climatic conditions, different types of farming systems, different legal frameworks, larger and smaller water collection areas across the EU. In close cooperation with actors in the field in the case studies (farmers associations, local authorities, water producing companies, private water companies, consumer organisations) and other stakeholders (fertilizer and plant protection industry, environment agencies, nature conservation agencies, agricultural administrations) at local and EU level, WATERPROTECT will develop innovative water governance models investigating alternative pathways from focusing on the 'costs of water treatment' to 'rewarding water quality delivering farming systems'. Water governance structures will be built upon cost-efficiency analysis related to mitigation and cost-benefit analysis for society, and will be supported by spatially explicit GIS analyses and predictive models that account for temporal and spatial scaling issues. The outcome will be improved participatory methods and public policy instruments

Pathways and Challenges to Innovation in Aerospace

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Terrile, Richard J.

2010-01-01

This paper explores impediments to innovation in aerospace and suggests how successful pathways from other industries can be adopted to facilitate greater innovation. Because of its nature, space exploration would seem to be a ripe field of technical innovation. However, engineering can also be a frustratingly conservative endeavor when the realities of cost and risk are included. Impediments like the "find the fault" engineering culture, the treatment of technical risk as almost always evaluated in terms of negative impact, the difficult to account for expansive Moore's Law growth when making predictions, and the stove-piped structural organization of most large aerospace companies and federally funded research laboratories tend to inhibit cross-cutting technical innovation. One successful example of a multi-use cross cutting application that can scale with Moore's Law is the Evolutionary Computational Methods (ECM) technique developed at the Jet Propulsion Lab for automated spectral retrieval. Future innovations like computational engineering and automated design optimization can potentially redefine space exploration, but will require learning lessons from successful innovators.

Biodesign process and culture to enable pediatric medical technology innovation.

PubMed

Wall, James; Wynne, Elizabeth; Krummel, Thomas

2015-06-01

Innovation is the process through which new scientific discoveries are developed and promoted from bench to bedside. In an effort to encourage young entrepreneurs in this area, Stanford Biodesign developed a medical device innovation training program focused on need-based innovation. The program focuses on teaching systematic evaluation of healthcare needs, invention, and concept development. This process can be applied to any field of medicine, including Pediatric Surgery. Similar training programs have gained traction throughout the United States and beyond. Equally important to process in the success of these programs is an institutional culture that supports transformative thinking. Key components of this culture include risk tolerance, patience, encouragement of creativity, management of conflict, and networking effects. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sustainable rural telehealth innovation: a public health case study.

PubMed

Singh, Rajendra; Mathiassen, Lars; Stachura, Max E; Astapova, Elena V

2010-08-01

To examine adoption of telehealth in a rural public health district and to explain how the innovation became sustainable. Longitudinal, qualitative study (1988-2008) of the largest public health district in Georgia. Case study design provided deep insights into the innovation's social dynamics. Punctuated equilibrium theory helped present and make sense of the process. We identified antecedent conditions and outcomes, and we distinguished between episodes and encounters based on the disruptive effects of events. Twenty-five semistructured interviews with 19 decision makers and professionals, direct observations, published papers, grant proposals, technical specifications, and other written materials. Strong collaboration within the district, with local community, and with external partners energized the process. Well-functioning outreach clinics made telehealth desirable. Local champions cultivated participation and generative capability, and overcame barriers through opportunistic exploitation of technological and financial options. Telehealth usage fluctuated between medical and administrative operations in response to internal needs and contextual dynamics. External agencies provided initial funding and supported later expansion. Extensive internal and external collaboration, and a combination of technology push and opportunistic exploitation, can enable sustainable rural telehealth innovation.

Engineering management and innovation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Graham, R. W.

1980-01-01

Although improved management methods can enhance the performance of some enterprises, they can lower that of research organizations. The prevalent use of cost-effectiveness criteria as a management tool overvalues identifiable short-term accomplishment at the expense of long-term research efforts, which often serve as the antecedents upon which a new, seemingly unrelated technology is later founded. Medical instruments used in the treatment of emphysema, for example, evolved from NASA-sponsored research devoted to the measurement of the composition of the atmospheres of the planets. The best manager is the manager who creates an environment that enables his research engineers to pursue ideas with a minimum of interference. Such an environment consists of broad research objectives, adequate facilities, and proper technical support. Within a framework of prudent spending, the manager's aim is to cultivate innovation.

Smartphone application for multi-phasic interventional trials in psychiatry: Technical design of a smart server.

PubMed

Zhang, Melvyn W B; Ho, Roger C M

2017-01-01

Smartphones and their accompanying applications are currently widely utilized in various healthcare interventions. Prior to the deployment of these tools for healthcare intervention, typically, proof of concept feasibility studies, as well as randomized trials are conducted to determine that these tools are efficacious prior to their actual implementation. In the field of psychiatry, most of the current interventions seek to compare smartphone based intervention against conventional care. There remains a paucity of research evaluating different forms of interventions using a single smartphone application. In the field of nutrition, there has been recent pioneering research demonstrating how a multi-phasic randomized controlled trial could be conducted using a single smartphone application. Despite the innovativeness of the previous smartphone conceptualization, there remains a paucity of technical information underlying the conceptualization that would support a multi-phasic interventional trial. It is thus the aim of the current technical note to share insights into an innovative server design that would enable the delivery of multi-phasic trials.

Innovation and wound healing.

PubMed

Harding, Keith

2015-04-01

Innovation in medicine requires unique partnerships between academic research, biotech or pharmaceutical companies, and health-care providers. While innovation in medicine has greatly increased over the past 100 years, innovation in wound care has been slow, despite the fact that chronic wounds are a global health challenge where there is a need for technical, process and social innovation. While novel partnerships between research and the health-care system have been created, we still have much to learn about wound care and the wound-healing processes.

Problem Solving Process Research of Everyone Involved in Innovation Based on CAI Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Tao; Shao, Yunfei; Tang, Xiaowo

It is very important that non-technical department personnel especially bottom line employee serve as innovators under the requirements of everyone involved in innovation. According the view of this paper, it is feasible and necessary to build everyone involved in innovation problem solving process under Total Innovation Management (TIM) based on the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ). The tools under the CAI technology: How TO mode and science effects database could be very useful for all employee especially non-technical department and bottom line for innovation. The problem solving process put forward in the paper focus on non-technical department personnel especially bottom line employee for innovation.

Compiling the space shuttle wind tunnel data base: An exercise in technical and managerial innovators

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kemp, N. D.

1983-01-01

Engineers evaluating Space Shuttle flight data and performance results are using a massive data base of wind tunnel test data. A wind tunnel test data base of the magnitude attained is a major accomplishment. The Apollo program spawned an automated wind tunnel data analysis system called SADSAC developed by the Chrysler Space Division. An improved version of this system renamed DATAMAN was used by Chrysler to document analyzed wind tunnel data and data bank the test data in standardized formats. These analysis documents, associated computer graphics and standard formatted data were disseminated nationwide to the Shuttle technical community. These outputs became the basis for substantiating and certifying the flight worthiness of the Space Shuttle and for improving future designs. As an aid to future programs this paper documents the lessons learned in compiling the massive wind tunnel test data base for developing the Space Shuttle. In particular, innovative managerial and technical concepts evolved in the course of conceiving and developing this successful DATAMAN system and the methods and organization for applying the system are presented.

The impact of socio-technical communication styles on the diversity and innovation potential of global science collaboratories

DOE PAGES

Ozmen, Ozgur; Yilmaz, Levent; Smith, Jeffrey

2016-02-09

Emerging cyber-infrastructure tools are enabling scientists to transparently co-develop, share, and communicate about real-time diverse forms of knowledge artifacts. In these environments, communication preferences of scientists are posited as an important factor affecting innovation capacity and robustness of social and knowledge network structures. Scientific knowledge creation in such communities is called global participatory science (GPS). Recently, using agent-based modeling and collective action theory as a basis, a complex adaptive social communication network model (CollectiveInnoSim) is implemented. This work leverages CollectiveInnoSim implementing communication preferences of scientists. Social network metrics and knowledge production patterns are used as proxy metrics to infer innovationmore » potential of emergent knowledge and collaboration networks. The objective is to present the underlying communication dynamics of GPS in a form of computational model and delineate the impacts of various communication preferences of scientists on innovation potential of the collaboration network. Ultimately, the insight gained can help policy-makers to design GPS environments and promote innovation.« less

The impact of socio-technical communication styles on the diversity and innovation potential of global science collaboratories

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ozmen, Ozgur; Yilmaz, Levent; Smith, Jeffrey

Emerging cyber-infrastructure tools are enabling scientists to transparently co-develop, share, and communicate about real-time diverse forms of knowledge artifacts. In these environments, communication preferences of scientists are posited as an important factor affecting innovation capacity and robustness of social and knowledge network structures. Scientific knowledge creation in such communities is called global participatory science (GPS). Recently, using agent-based modeling and collective action theory as a basis, a complex adaptive social communication network model (CollectiveInnoSim) is implemented. This work leverages CollectiveInnoSim implementing communication preferences of scientists. Social network metrics and knowledge production patterns are used as proxy metrics to infer innovationmore » potential of emergent knowledge and collaboration networks. The objective is to present the underlying communication dynamics of GPS in a form of computational model and delineate the impacts of various communication preferences of scientists on innovation potential of the collaboration network. Ultimately, the insight gained can help policy-makers to design GPS environments and promote innovation.« less

Advancing Innovation Through Collaboration: Implementation of the NASA Space Life Sciences Strategy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davis, Jeffrey R.; Richard, Elizabeth E.

2010-01-01

On October 18, 2010, the NASA Human Health and Performance center (NHHPC) was opened to enable collaboration among government, academic and industry members. Membership rapidly grew to 90 members (http://nhhpc.nasa.gov ) and members began identifying collaborative projects as detailed in this article. In addition, a first workshop in open collaboration and innovation was conducted on January 19, 2011 by the NHHPC resulting in additional challenges and projects for further development. This first workshop was a result of the SLSD successes in running open innovation challenges over the past two years. In 2008, the NASA Johnson Space Center, Space Life Sciences Directorate (SLSD) began pilot projects in open innovation (crowd sourcing) to determine if these new internet-based platforms could indeed find solutions to difficult technical problems. From 2008 to 2010, the SLSD issued 34 challenges, 14 externally and 20 internally. The 14 external challenges were conducted through three different vendors: InnoCentive, Yet2.com and TopCoder. The 20 internal challenges were conducted using the InnoCentive platform, customized to NASA use, and promoted as NASA@Work. The results from the 34 challenges involved not only technical solutions that were reported previously at the 61st IAC, but also the formation of new collaborative relationships. For example, the TopCoder pilot was expanded by the NASA Space Operations Mission Directorate to the NASA Tournament Lab in collaboration with Harvard Business School and TopCoder. Building on these initial successes, the NHHPC workshop in January of 2011, and ongoing NHHPC member discussions, several important collaborations have been developed: (1) Space Act Agreement between NASA and GE for collaborative projects (2) NASA and academia for a Visual Impairment / Intracranial Hypertension summit (February 2011) (3) NASA and the DoD through the Defense Venture Catalyst Initiative (DeVenCI) for a technical needs workshop (June 2011) (4

48 CFR 227.7104 - Contracts under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. 227.7104 Section 227.7104 Federal Acquisition Regulations... Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. (a) Use the clause at 252.227-7018, Rights in Noncommercial Technical Data and Computer Software—Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, when technical data or...

48 CFR 227.7104 - Contracts under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. 227.7104 Section 227.7104 Federal Acquisition Regulations... Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. (a) Use the clause at 252.227-7018, Rights in Noncommercial Technical Data and Computer Software—Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, when technical data or...

48 CFR 227.7104 - Contracts under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. 227.7104 Section 227.7104 Federal Acquisition Regulations... Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. (a) Use the clause at 252.227-7018, Rights in Noncommercial Technical Data and Computer Software—Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, when technical data or...

Toward genome-enabled mycology.

PubMed

Hibbett, David S; Stajich, Jason E; Spatafora, Joseph W

2013-01-01

Genome-enabled mycology is a rapidly expanding field that is characterized by the pervasive use of genome-scale data and associated computational tools in all aspects of fungal biology. Genome-enabled mycology is integrative and often requires teams of researchers with diverse skills in organismal mycology, bioinformatics and molecular biology. This issue of Mycologia presents the first complete fungal genomes in the history of the journal, reflecting the ongoing transformation of mycology into a genome-enabled science. Here, we consider the prospects for genome-enabled mycology and the technical and social challenges that will need to be overcome to grow the database of complete fungal genomes and enable all fungal biologists to make use of the new data.

Sustainable Rural Telehealth Innovation: A Public Health Case Study

PubMed Central

Singh, Rajendra; Mathiassen, Lars; Stachura, Max E; Astapova, Elena V

2010-01-01

Objective To examine adoption of telehealth in a rural public health district and to explain how the innovation became sustainable. Study Setting Longitudinal, qualitative study (1988–2008) of the largest public health district in Georgia. Study Design Case study design provided deep insights into the innovation's social dynamics. Punctuated equilibrium theory helped present and make sense of the process. We identified antecedent conditions and outcomes, and we distinguished between episodes and encounters based on the disruptive effects of events. Data Collection Twenty-five semistructured interviews with 19 decision makers and professionals, direct observations, published papers, grant proposals, technical specifications, and other written materials. Principal Findings Strong collaboration within the district, with local community, and with external partners energized the process. Well-functioning outreach clinics made telehealth desirable. Local champions cultivated participation and generative capability, and overcame barriers through opportunistic exploitation of technological and financial options. Telehealth usage fluctuated between medical and administrative operations in response to internal needs and contextual dynamics. External agencies provided initial funding and supported later expansion. Conclusions Extensive internal and external collaboration, and a combination of technology push and opportunistic exploitation, can enable sustainable rural telehealth innovation. PMID:20459449

Innovations in clinical trials informatics.

PubMed

Summers, Ron; Vyas, Hiten; Dudhal, Nilesh; Doherty, Neil F; Coombs, Crispin R; Hepworth, Mark

2008-01-01

This paper will investigate innovations in information management for use in clinical trials. The application typifies a complex, adaptive, distributed and information-rich environment for which continuous innovation is necessary. Organisational innovation is highlighted as well as the technical innovations in workflow processes and their representation as an integrated set of web services. Benefits realization uncovers further innovations in the business strand of the work undertaken. Following the description of the development of this information management system, the semantic web is postulated as a possible solution to tame the complexity related to information management issues found within clinical trials support systems.

Grower networks support adoption of innovations in pollination management: The roles of social learning, technical learning, and personal experience.

PubMed

Garbach, Kelly; Morgan, Geoffrey P

2017-12-15

Management decisions underpinning availability of ecosystem services and the organisms that provide them in agroecosystems, such as pollinators and pollination services, have emerged as a foremost consideration for both conservation and crop production goals. There is growing evidence that innovative management practices can support diverse pollinators and increase crop pollination. However, there is also considerable debate regarding factors that support adoption of these innovative practices. This study investigated pollination management practices and related knowledge systems in a major crop producing region of southwest Michigan in the United States, where 367 growers were surveyed to evaluate adoption of three innovative practices that are at various stages of adoption. The goals of this quantitative, social survey were to investigate grower experience with concerns and benefits associated with each practice, as well as the influence of grower networks, which are comprised of contacts that reflect potential pathways for social and technical learning. The results demonstrated that 17% of growers adopted combinations of bees (e.g. honey bees, Apis mellifera, with other species), representing an innovation in use by early adopters; 49% of growers adopted flowering cover crops, an innovation in use by the early majority 55% of growers retained permanent habitat for pollinators, an innovation in use by the late majority. Not all growers adopted innovative practices. We found that growers' personal experience with potential benefits and concerns related to the management practices had significant positive and negative relationships, respectively, with adoption of all three innovations. The influence of these communication links likely has different levels of importance, depending on the stage of the adoption that a practice is experiencing in the agricultural community. Social learning was positively associated with adopting the use of combinations of bees

PREFACE: International Scientific and Technical Conference ''Innovative Mechanical Engineering Technologies, Equipment and Materials-2014''

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nail, K.

2015-06-01

In the period from 3 to 5 December 2014 the city of Kazan hosted the International Scientific Conference ''Innovative mechanical engineering technologies, equipment and materials - 2014'' (ISC ''vIMETEM - 2014''). The event was followed by the 14th International specialized exhibition ''Engineering. Metalworking. Kazan'' The main objective of the annual conference was for participants to discuss scientific and technical achievements in the design and manufacture of engineering products, the expansion of cooperation between scientific organizations and enterprises of machine-building complex and the definition of perspective ways of creation and development of new techniques, technologies and materials. The conference ''IMETEM'' was devoted to the 90th anniversary of Fayzrahman Salahovich Yunusov, who made a great contribution in the field of aviation technology. Kashapov Nail, D.Sc., professor (Kazan Federal University)

[Urotechnology: a new interdisciplinary platform for promoting and managing of technical innovations in urology].

PubMed

Miernik, A; Becker, C; Wullich, B; Schoenthaler, M; Arnolds, B J; Wetterauer, U

2015-01-01

The innovative power in medical engineering and technology development requires a close cooperation between universities and non-university research institutions and a collaboration with industrial partners. German knowledge in the fields of video and micro-optics, microsystem technology and of informational technology and software applications seem to be highly competitive at international level. Germany's previous leadership in the development of technical equipment will be challenged by today's requirements and difficulties in medical engineering. Research and expenses demands for the development of novel medical instruments, products and applications will increase continuously. Transparency and coordinated collaboration between universities and industrial partners will contribute to a substantial improvement in surgical therapy. Medical technology of the future, including urotechnology, requires professional structures and coordination and will have to be based on evidence.

[Environment, Trauma and Technical Innovations: Three Links Between Donald W. Winnicott and Sándor Ferenczi].

PubMed

Gutiérrez-Peláez, Miguel; Herrera-Pardo, Emilio

Throughout this paper, the theoretical and clinical approaches of D.W. Winnicott are reviewed in order to reread the written production of Sándor Ferenczi. Winnicott's clinical and theoretical concepts allow returning to Ferenczi and rescuing aspects of his work that had been silenced in the psychoanalytic community. Ferenczi, in turn, is one that holds his presence in Winnicott's thought. Even though there are few times in which he cites Ferenczi in his work, it is possible to draw clear relationships between both theories. Three main issues are addressed: the role of the environment as active; the primitive traumatic event in which there is no one that has experience of it, and psychoanalysis as the place to experience that which happened in the first months of life for the first time; and, finally, severe pathologies and psychoses: technical innovations in Winnicott and Ferenczi for the treatment of psychotic and borderline patients. It is concluded that the theoretical and technical developments of Winnicott serve to illuminate a retrospective reading of Ferenczi. Copyright © 2016 Asociación Colombiana de Psiquiatría. Publicado por Elsevier España. All rights reserved.

Enabling/Disabling English Teachers' Identities as Innovative Professionals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kempe, Elspeth; Reed, Yvonne

2014-01-01

In the extensive literature on teacher professional development, very little attention has been paid to the role of post-graduate study groups, or to the role of on-going professional conversations, in constituting and sustaining teachers' identities as innovative professionals. The purpose of this article is to suggest that on-going…

Evaluation of Investments in Science, Technology and Innovation: Applying Scientific and Technical Human Capital Framework for Assessment of Doctoral Students in Cooperative Research Centers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leonchuk, Olena

2016-01-01

This dissertation builds on an alternative framework for evaluation of science, technology and innovation (STI) outcomes--the scientific & technical (S&T) human capital which was developed by Bozeman, Dietz and Gaughan (2001). At its core, this framework looks beyond simple economic and publication metrics and instead focuses on…

The Quest for Engineering Innovation at NASA's Marshall Space Flight (MSFC)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turner, James E.

2017-01-01

A recent NASA team, chartered to examine innovation within the Agency, captured the meaning of the word innovation as the "application of creative ideas to improve and generate value for the organization". The former NASA Administrator Charles Bolden shared his own thoughts about innovation in a memo with all employees that stated, "At NASA, we are dedicated to innovation, bold ideas, and excellence." Innovation turns out to be one of the major driving forces behind the work produced at NASA. It seems failure is often what has driven NASA to be more innovative. Fifty years ago, the Apollo 1 tragedy killed three astronauts when fire erupted in their command module. NASA had to bear the responsibility of such loss and at the same time work smarter in order to obtain the dream to reach the moon by the end of the 1960s. Through this circumstance, NASA engineers developed a revolutionary replacement for the combustible nylon astronaut suits so the Apollo program could continue. A material called Beta Cloth was born. This material was used to produce noncombustible space suits for all Apollo astronauts, enabling the United States to ultimately land 12 Americans on the moon. Eventually this material was used as the roof system in the Denver International Airport, showing relevance and applications of NASA innovations to real-world need. Innovative ideas are also driven by the need to accomplish NASA missions and to improve the way we produce our products. MSFC engineers are advancing technologies in additive manufacturing of liquid rocket engines in order to reduce the number of parts, design time, and the cost of the engines. NASA is working with academia to eliminate the need for miles of sensor cables by investigating innovations in wireless sensors. In order to enable future exploration missions to Mars, MSFC engineers are pursuing innovative approaches in diverse areas such as the use of ionic liquids for life support systems and composite cryogenic tanks, very low

Catalyzing Innovation in Social Work Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Traube, Dorian E.; Begun, Stephanie; Okpych, Nathanael; Choy-Brown, Mimi

2017-01-01

Social innovation is defined by novelty and improvement. This definition requires social work practice to be more effective or efficient than preexisting alternatives. Practice innovation is accomplished by leveraging technical, social, and economic factors to generate novel interventions, diffusion or adoption of the interventions into broader…

Naval Science & Technology: Enabling the Future Force

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-04-01

corn for disruptive technologies Laser Cooling Spintronics Bz 1st U.S. Intel satellite GRAB Semiconductors GaAs, GaN, SiC GPS...Payoff • Innovative and game-changing • Approved by Corporate Board • Delivers prototype Innovative Naval Prototypes (5-10 Year) Disruptive ... Technologies Free Electron Laser Integrated Topside EM Railgun Sea Base Enablers Tactical Satellite Large Displacement UUV AACUS Directed

Installed Base as a Facilitator for User-Driven Innovation: How Can User Innovation Challenge Existing Institutional Barriers?

PubMed Central

Andersen, Synnøve Thomassen; Jansen, Arild

2012-01-01

The paper addresses an ICT-based, user-driven innovation process in the health sector in rural areas in Norway. The empirical base is the introduction of a new model for psychiatric health provision. This model is supported by a technical solution based on mobile phones that is aimed to help the communication between professional health personnel and patients. This innovation was made possible through the use of standard mobile technology rather than more sophisticated systems. The users were heavily involved in the development work. Our analysis shows that by thinking simple and small-scale solutions, including to take the user's needs and premises as a point of departure rather than focusing on advanced technology, the implementation process was made possible. We show that by combining theory on information infrastructures, user-oriented system development, and innovation in a three-layered analytical framework, we can explain the interrelationship between technical, organizational, and health professional factors that made this innovation a success. PMID:23304134

Writing a technical note.

PubMed

Ng, K H; Peh, W C G

2010-02-01

A technical note is a short article giving a brief description of a specific development, technique or procedure, or it may describe a modification of an existing technique, procedure or device applicable to medicine. The technique, procedure or device described should have practical value and should contribute to clinical diagnosis or management. It could also present a software tool, or an experimental or computational method. Technical notes are variously referred to as technical innovations or technical developments. The main criteria for publication will be the novelty of concepts involved, the validity of the technique and its potential for clinical applications.

Opening the door to innovation.

PubMed

Schuurman, Janine; Graus, Yvo F; Labrijn, Aran F; Ruuls, Sigrid; Parren, Paul W H I

2014-01-01

Open innovation is the new buzz, with initiatives popping up left and right. Here, we give a personal perspective on a very successful, knowledge-driven innovation initiated in an academia- industry alliance, which culminated in technology platforms that enable the generation of therapeutic antibodies with novel properties. To start, we provide a general background on open innovation in the drug development field.

From Mining Innovations to Sustainable Development: Keynote Speakers of the First to the Second International Innovative Mining Symposium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cehlár, Michal; Janočko, Juraj; Demirel, Nuray; Anyona, Seroni; Vöth, Stefan; Tyulenev, Maxim; Zhironkin, Sergey

2017-11-01

24-26 April, 2017 the Scientific Practical Conference "International Innovative Mining Symposium (in memory of Prof. Vladimir Pronoza)" was successfully organized at T.F. Gorbachev Kuzbass State Technical University - KuzSTU (Kemerovo Russia). More than 20 participants submitted their papers in presence, and more than 40 authors sent their papers for virtual participation. The main participants of the conference - Keynote Speakers - paid special attention to the development of international cooperation of technical universities as a form of accelerating the transfer of innovations in mineral resources mining and processing.

Indicators for International Comparison of Military-Technical Innovation

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-04-01

Glover, ed., War Theory Coursebook ,. (Maxwell AFB, AL: Air Command and Staff College, 1998), 34. 2 Andrew F. Krepinevich, Jr., “The Military-Technical...Revolution: A Preliminary Assessment,” in Air Command and Staff College War Theory Coursebook , ed. Gwen Story and Sybill Glover, (Maxwell AFB, AL: Air...Military-Technical Revolution: A Preliminary Assessment,” in Air Command and Staff College War Theory Coursebook , ed. Gwen Story and Sybill Glover

Investigation of enablers of knowledge transfer in the medical industry.

PubMed

Tuan, Han-Wen

2008-01-01

This paper presents a research model for investigating the relationship between organisational enablers and the Knowledge Transfer (KT) Performance (KTP) in the medical industry. The enablers include leadership, organisational culture, Information Technology (IT) and individual performance measurement, and KTP is determined by individual capability, organisational capability and product/service innovation. This paper chose professional medical personnel as the research subject to determine whether or not these enablers affect KT. The findings show that only leadership directly affects the KTP, with IT also impacting both organisational capability and product/service innovation. The implications of these findings are discussed based on interviews with experts and practitioners.

Technical Education and Resource Material.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mills, Marie T.

New approaches and many technical innovations will be required by the junior college to meet the increasing educational needs of technical occupations. A first is information on which the prospective student can base an intelligent choice of occupation. For this he must have a precise job description to determine whether the career fits his…

Weatherization Innovation Pilot Program (WIPP): Technical Assistance Summary

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hollander, A.

2014-09-01

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Weatherization and Intergovernmental Programs Office (WIPO) launched the Weatherization Innovation Pilot Program (WIPP) to accelerate innovations in whole-house weatherization and advance DOE's goal of increasing the energy efficiency and health and safety of low-income residences without the utilization of additional taxpayer funding. Sixteen WIPP grantees were awarded a total of $30 million in Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) funds in September 2010. These projects focused on: including nontraditional partners in weatherization service delivery; leveraging significant non-federal funding; and improving the effectiveness of low-income weatherization through the use of newmore » materials, technologies, behavior-change models, and processes.« less

Genome-Enabled Molecular Tools for Reductive Dehalogenation

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-11-01

Genome-Enabled Molecular Tools for Reductive Dehalogenation - A Shift in Paradigm for Bioremediation - Alfred M. Spormann Departments of Chemical...Genome-Enabled Molecular Tools for Reductive Dehalogenation 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d...Applications Technical Session No. 3D C-77 GENOME-ENABLED MOLECULAR TOOLS FOR REDUCTIVE DEHALOGENATION PROFESSOR ALFRED SPORMANN Stanford

Technical Writing across the Curriculum: Epics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olds, Barbara M.

Noting that technically competent graduates of professional schools need additional skills to function effectively in an increasingly complex and global society, this paper describes an innovative program in technical writing developed for undergraduate engineering students at the Colorado School of Mines. The paper first provides background…

Technical Assistance Plan (TAP)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

A Technical Assistance Plan (TAP) enables community groups to retain the services of an independent technical advisor and to provide resources for a community group to help inform other community members about site decisions.

Earthdata Search: How Usability Drives Innovation To Enable A Broad User Base

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reese, M.; Siarto, J.; Lynnes, C.; Shum, D.

2017-12-01

Earthdata Search (https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov) is a modern web application allowing users to search, discover, visualize, refine, and access NASA Earth Observation data using a wide array of service offerings. Its goal is to ease the technical burden on data users by providing a high-quality application that makes it simple to interact with NASA Earth observation data, freeing them to spend more effort on innovative endeavors. This talk would detail how we put end users first in our design and development process, focusing on usability and letting usability needs drive requirements for the underlying technology. Just a few examples of how this plays out practically, Earthdata Search teams with a lightning fast metadata repository, allowing it to be an extremely responsive UI that updates as the user changes criteria not only at the dataset level, but also at the file level. This results in a better exploration experience as the time penalty is greatly reduced. Also, since Earthdata Search uses metadata from over 35,000 datasets that are managed by different data providers, metadata standards, quality and consistency will vary. We found that this was negatively impacting users' search and exploration experience. We have resolved this problem with the introduction of "humanizers", which is a community-driven process to both "smooth out" metadata values and provide non-jargonistic representations of some content within the Earthdata Search UI. This is helpful for both the experience data scientist and our users that are brand new to the discipline.

Crowdsourcing for Challenging Technical Problems - It Works!

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davis, Jeffrey R.

2011-01-01

The NASA Johnson Space Center Space Life Sciences Directorate (SLSD) and Wyle Integrated Science and Engineering (Wyle) will conduct a one-day business cluster at the 62nd IAC so that IAC attendees will understand the benefits of open innovation (crowdsourcing), review successful results of conducting technical challenges in various open innovation projects, and learn how an organization can effectively deploy these new problem solving tools to innovate more efficiently and effectively. Results from both the SLSD open innovation pilot program and the open innovation workshop conducted by the NASA Human Health and Performance Center will be discussed. NHHPC members will be recruited to participate in the business cluster (see membership http://nhhpc.nasa.gov) and as IAF members. Crowdsourcing may be defined as the act of outsourcing tasks that are traditionally performed by an employee or contractor to an undefined, generally large group of people or community (a crowd) in the form of an open call. The open call may be issued by the organization wishing to find a solution to a particular problem or complete a task, or by an open innovation service provider on behalf of that organization. In 2008, the SLSD, with the support of Wyle, established and implemented pilot projects in open innovation (crowdsourcing) to determine if these new internet-based platforms could indeed find solutions to difficult technical challenges. These unsolved technical problems were converted to problem statements, called Challenges by some open innovation service providers, and were then posted externally to seek solutions to these problems. In addition, an open call was issued internally to NASA employees Agency wide (11 Field Centers and NASA HQ) using an open innovation service provider crowdsourcing platform to post NASA challenges from each Center for the others to propose solutions). From 2008 to 2010, the SLSD issued 34 challenges, 14 externally and 20 internally. The 14 external

Convergent innovation for sustainable economic growth and affordable universal health care: innovating the way we innovate.

PubMed

Dubé, Laurette; Jha, Srivardhini; Faber, Aida; Struben, Jeroen; London, Ted; Mohapatra, Archisman; Drager, Nick; Lannon, Chris; Joshi, P K; McDermott, John

2014-12-01

This paper introduces convergent innovation (CI) as a form of meta-innovation-an innovation in the way we innovate. CI integrates human and economic development outcomes, through behavioral and ecosystem transformation at scale, for sustainable prosperity and affordable universal health care within a whole-of-society paradigm. To this end, CI combines technological and social innovation (including organizational, social process, financial, and institutional), with a special focus on the most underserved populations. CI takes a modular approach that convenes around roadmaps for real world change-a portfolio of loosely coupled complementary partners from the business community, civil society, and the public sector. Roadmaps serve as collaborative platforms for focused, achievable, and time-bound projects to provide scalable, sustainable, and resilient solutions to complex challenges, with benefits both to participating partners and to society. In this paper, we first briefly review the literature on technological innovation that sets the foundations of CI and motivates its feasibility. We then describe CI, its building blocks, and enabling conditions for deployment and scaling up, illustrating its operational forms through examples of existing CI-sensitive innovation. © 2014 The New York Academy of Sciences.

NREL Advances Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator Projects | Energy Systems

Science.gov Websites

Integration Facility | NREL NREL Advances Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator Projects NREL Advances Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator Projects NREL has provided technical support and validation testing at the ESIF to help advance Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2) projects. The IN2 program helps

The Advanced Exploration Systems Water Recovery Project: Innovation on 2 Fronts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sarguisingh, Miriam M.; Neumeyer, Derek; Shull, Sarah

2012-01-01

As NASA looks forward to sending humans farther away from Earth, we will have to develop a transportation architecture that is highly reliable and that can sustain life for long durations without the benefit of Earth s proximity for continuous resupply or even operational guidance. NASA has consistently been challenged with performing great feats of innovation, but particularly in this time of economic stress, we are challenged to go farther with less. The Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) projects were implemented to address both of these needs by not only developing innovative technologies, but by incorporating innovative management styles and processes that foster the needed technical innovation given a small amount of resources. This presentation explains how the AES Water Recovery Project is exhibiting innovation on both fronts; technical and process. The AES Water Recovery Project (WRP) is actively engineering innovative technologies in order to maximize the efficiency of water recovery. The development of reliable, energy-efficient, and low-mass spacecraft systems to provide environmental control and life support (ECLS) is critical to enable long-duration human missions outside of low-Earth orbit. Recycling of life support consumables is necessary to reduce resupply mass and provide for vehicle autonomy. To address this, the WRP is working on a rotary distiller that has shown enhanced performance over the state-of-the-art (SOA). Additionally, the WRP is looking at innovative ways to address issues present in the state-of-the-art (SOA) systems pertaining to toxicity and calcium scale buildup. As an AES project, the WRP has a more streamlined Skunk Works like approach to technology development intended to reduce overhead but achieve a more refined end product. The project has incorporated key partnerships between NASA centers as well as between NASA and industry. A minimal project management style has been implemented such that risks are managed and

Structural Conditions for Collaboration and Learning in Innovation Networks: Using an Innovation System Performance Lens to Analyse Agricultural Knowledge Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hermans, Frans; Klerkx, Laurens; Roep, Dirk

2015-01-01

Purpose: We investigate how the structural conditions of eight different European agricultural innovation systems can facilitate or hinder collaboration and social learning in multidisciplinary innovation networks. Methodology: We have adapted the Innovation System Failure Matrix to investigate the main barriers and enablers eight countries…

Computer Security Systems Enable Access.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riggen, Gary

1989-01-01

A good security system enables access and protects information from damage or tampering, but the most important aspects of a security system aren't technical. A security procedures manual addresses the human element of computer security. (MLW)

Agile SE Enablers and Quantification Project: Identification, Characterization, and Evaluation Criteria for Systems Engineering Agile Enablers

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-16

Enablers Draft Technical Report SERC -2015-049-1 January 16, 2015 Principal Investigator: Dr. Richard Turner, Stevens Institute of...Hudson, Hoboken, NJ 07030 1 Copyright © 2015 Stevens Institute of Technology The Systems Engineering Research Center ( SERC ) is a federally...inappropriate enablers are not pursued. The identification criteria developed for RT-124 are based on earlier SERC work. [4, 5, 6]: 1 Operated by DAU

Ecological assessment of nano-enabled supercapacitors for automotive applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weil, M.; Dura, H.; Shimon, B.; Baumann, M.; Zimmermann, B.; Ziemann, S.; Lei, C.; Markoulidis, F.; Lekakou, T.; Decker, M.

2012-09-01

New materials on nano scale have the potential to overcome existing technical barriers and are one of the most promising key technologies to enable the decoupling of economic growth and resource consumption. Developing these innovative materials for industrial applications means facing a complex quality profile, which includes among others technical, economic, and ecological aspects. So far the two latter aspects are not sufficiently included in technology development, especially from a life cycle point of view. Supercapacitors are considered a promising option for electric energy storage in hybrid and full electric cars. In comparison with presently used lithium based electro chemical storage systems supercapacitors possess a high specific power, but a relatively low specific energy. Therefore, the goal of ongoing research is to develop a new generation of supercapacitors with high specific power and high specific energy. To reach this goal particularly nano materials are developed and tested on cell level. In the presented study the ecological implications (regarding known environmental effects) of carbon based nano materials are analysed using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Major attention is paid to efficiency gains of nano particle production due to scaling up of such processes from laboratory to industrial production scales. Furthermore, a developed approach will be displayed, how to assess the environmental impact of nano materials on an automotive system level over the whole life cycle.

Spatial and Social Networks in Organizational Innovation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wineman, Jean D.; Kabo, Felichism W.; Davis, Gerald F.

2009-01-01

Research on the enabling factors of innovation has focused on either the social component of organizations or on the spatial dimensions involved in the innovation process. But no one has examined the aggregate consequences of the link from spatial layout, to social networks, to innovation. This project enriches our understanding of how innovation…

Comparison of Traditional and Innovative Techniques to Solve Technical Challenges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Perchonok, Michele

2010-01-01

Although NASA has an adequate food system for current missions, research is required to accommodate new requirements for future NASA exploration missions. The Inadequate Food System risk reflects the need to develop requirements and technologies that will enable NASA to provide the crew with a safe, nutritious and acceptable food system while effectively balancing appropriate resources such as mass, volume, and crew time in exploratory missions. As we go deeper into space or spend more time on the International Space Station (ISS), there will be requirements for packaged food to be stored for 3 5 years. New food packaging technologies are needed that have adequate oxygen and water barrier properties to maintain the foods' quality over this extended shelf life. NASA has been unsuccessful in identify packaging materials that meet the necessary requirements when using several traditional routes including literature reviews, workshops, and internal shelf life studies on foods packaged in various packaging materials. Small Business Innovative Research grants were used for accelerating food packaging materials research with limited success. In order to accelerate the process, a theoretical challenge was submitted to InnoCentive resulting in a partial award. A similar food packaging challenge was submitted to Yet2.com and several potential commercial packaging material suppliers were identified that, at least partially, met the requirements. Comparisons and results of these challenges will be discussed.

Adaptable individuals and innovative lineages

PubMed Central

Sterelny, Kim

2016-01-01

This paper suggests (i) that while work on animal innovation has made good progress in understanding some of the proximate mechanisms and selective regimes through which innovation emerges, it has somewhat neglected the role of the social environment of innovation; a neglect manifest in the fact that innovation counts are almost always counts of resource-acquisition innovations; the invention of social tools is rarely considered. The same is true of many experimental projects, as these typically impose food acquisition tasks on their experimental subjects. (ii) That neglect is important, because innovations often pose collective action problems; the hominin species were technically innovative because they were also socially adaptable. (iii) In part for this reason, there remains a disconnect between research on hominin innovation and research on animal innovation. (iv) Finally, the paper suggests that there is something of a disconnect between the theoretical work on innovation in hominin evolution (based on theories of cultural evolution) and the experimental tradition on human innovation. That disconnect is largely due to the theoretical work retreating from strong claims about the proximate mechanisms of human cultural accumulation. PMID:26926286

7 CFR 1466.27 - Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG). 1466.27 Section... PROGRAM Contracts and Payments § 1466.27 Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG). (a) Definitions. In.... (6) Project Director means the individual responsible for the technical direction and management of...

Cultivating a Grassroots Aerospace Innovation Culture at NASA Ames Research Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

D'Souza, Sarah; Sanchez, Hugo; Lewis, Ryan

2017-01-01

This paper details the adaptation of specific 'knowledge production' methods to implement a first of its kind, grassroots event that provokes a cultural change in how the NASA Ames civil servant community engages in the creation and selection of innovative ideas. Historically, selection of innovative proposals at NASA Ames Research Center is done at the highest levels of management, isolating the views and perspectives of the larger civil servant community. Additionally, NASA innovation programs are typically open to technical organizations and do not engage non-technical organizations to bring forward innovative processes/business practices. Finally, collaboration on innovative ideas and associated solutions tend to be isolated to organizational silos. In this environment, not all Ames employees feel empowered to innovate and opportunities for employee collaboration are limited. In order to address these issues, the 'innovation contest' method was adapted to create the NASA Ames Innovation Fair, a unique, grassroots innovation opportunity for the civil servant community. The Innovation Fair consisted of a physical event with a virtual component. The physical event provided innovators the opportunity to collaborate and pitch their innovations to the NASA Ames community. The civil servant community then voted for the projects that they viewed as innovative and would contribute to NASA's core mission, making this event a truly grassroots effort. The Innovation Fair website provided a location for additional knowledge sharing, discussion, and voting. On March 3rd, 2016, the 'First Annual NASA Ames Innovation Fair' was held with 49 innovators and more than 300 participants collaborating and/or voting for the best innovations. Based on the voting results, seven projects were awarded seed funding for projects ranging from innovative cost models to innovations in aerospace technology. Surveys of both innovators and Fair participants show the Innovation Fair was successful

Quality Concerns in Technical Education in India: A Quantifiable Quality Enabled Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gambhir, Victor; Wadhwa, N. C.; Grover, Sandeep

2016-01-01

Purpose: The paper aims to discuss current Technical Education scenarios in India. It proposes modelling the factors affecting quality in a technical institute and then applying a suitable technique for assessment, comparison and ranking. Design/methodology/approach: The paper chose graph theoretic approach for quantification of quality-enabled…

Technical Assistance | NREL

Science.gov Websites

Multi-Wind Heat Smart Grid Project. Advancing Energy Solutions in Alaska NREL provides analysis mission to transfer knowledge and innovation to solve the nation's energy challenges. The goal of this transportation energy efficiency and reduce transportation energy costs State Technical Assistance-solar market

Innovation in Surgery

PubMed Central

Riskin, Daniel J.; Longaker, Michael T.; Gertner, Michael; Krummel, Thomas M.

2006-01-01

Objective: To describe the field of surgical innovation from a historical perspective, applying new findings from research in technology innovation. Background: While surgical innovation has a rich tradition, as a field of study it is embryonic. Only a handful of academic centers of surgical innovation exist, all of which have arisen within the last 5 years. To this point, the field has not been well defined, nor have future options to promote surgical innovation been thoroughly explored. It is clear that surgical innovation is fundamental to surgical progress and has significant health policy implications. A process of systematically evaluating and promoting innovation in surgery may be critical in the evolving practice of medicine. Methods: A review of the academic literature in technology innovation was undertaken. Articles and books were identified through technical, medical, and business sources. Luminaries in surgical innovation were interviewed to develop further relevance to surgical history. The concepts in technology innovation were then applied to innovation in surgery, using the historical example of surgical endoscopy as a representative area, which encompasses millennia of learning and spans multiple specialties of care. Results: The history of surgery is comprised largely of individual, widely respected surgeon innovators. While respecting individual accomplishments, surgeons as a group have at times hindered critical innovation to the detriment of our profession and patients. As a clinical discipline, surgery relies on a tradition of research and attracting the brightest young minds. Innovation in surgery to date has been impressive, but inconsistently supported. Conclusion: A body of knowledge on technology innovation has been developed over the last decade but has largely not been applied to surgery. New surgical innovation centers are working to define the field and identify critical aspects of surgical innovation promotion. It is our

Supply side management innovation: —Analysis on Enterprises in Scientific Industry Park Based on Market Orientation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xing; Mao, Fenlan; Lin, Mian; Yadi, Nan

2017-12-01

This research presents a conceptual framework for incorporating organizational learning and innovations as the mediating variables between market orientation and organizational performance. The samples of this study include 145 companies from the information technology industry in the Scientific Industry Parks. The global model fit is acceptable. This empirical result supports the constructs mentioned above. 1. Market orientation has a positive and direct impact on organizational learning, administrative and technical innovation. 2. Organizational learning has a positive and direct impact on administrative and technical innovation, but with no statistically significant direct impact on performance. 3. Organizational learning does have a positive and indirect impact on performance by means of organizational innovations. 4. It is not statistically significant that the impact of the two innovation types (both administrative and technical) interact with each other.

15 CFR 296.32 - Technical and educational services.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Technical and educational services... NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE NIST EXTRAMURAL PROGRAMS TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION PROGRAM Dissemination of Program Results § 296.32 Technical and educational services. (a) Under...

[Platforms are needed for innovative basic research in ophthalmology].

PubMed

Wang, Yi-qiang

2012-07-01

Basic research poses the cornerstone of technical innovation in all lines including medical sciences. Currently, there are shortages of professional scientists as well as technical supporting teams and facilities in the field of basic research of ophthalmology and visual science in China. Evaluation system and personnel policies are not supportive for innovative but high-risk-of-failure research projects. Discussion of reasons and possible solutions are given here to address these problems, aiming at promoting buildup of platforms hosting novel and important basic research in eye science in this country.

Innovation through developing consumers’ community. Part I: Innovation in action

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gălăţanu (Avram, E.; Avasilcăi, S.

2015-11-01

adapting to the technical and innovation changes as the main criteria for future product development and consumers' engagement motivation through the platform — based communication.

ENCOURAGING INNOVATION THROUGH UMBRELLA PERMITTING

EPA Science Inventory

The purpose of this project is to assess the behavioral, technical, economic, and environmental effects of removing disincentives to innovation in production and pollution management through more flexible environmental permitting. The study will examine the characteristics of tra...

An Innovative Course in Technical Communication and More

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cranor, Maria B.; Price, Richard H.

2004-05-01

Several studies have shown that otherwise well-prepared physics undergraduates do not develop writing and speaking skills sufficient to the demands of graduate school or the technical workplace. To rectify this, we have developed and taught, for five semesters, a very successful course for junior and senior physics majors. Students improve their writing and speaking skills through technical projects and through a reading list which includes modules on scientific practice and ethics, pseudo science, management, and workplace collaboration. We present here an overview of this course, and discuss the pros and cons of introducing a useful, yet unusual and highly labor-intensive (for teachers and for students) class into the traditional physics curriculum.

System thinking shaping innovation ecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abreu, António; Urze, Paula

2016-11-01

Over the last few decades, there has been a trend to build innovation platforms as enablers for groups of companies to jointly develop new products and services. As a result, the notion of co-innovation is getting wider acceptance. However, a critical issue that is still open, despite some efforts in this area, is the lack of tools and models that explain the synergies created in a co-innovation process. In this context, the present paper aims at discussing the advantages of applying a system thinking approach to understand the mechanisms associated with co-innovation processes. Finally, based on experimental results from a Portuguese co-innovation network, a discussion on the benefits, challenges and difficulties found are presented and discussed.

Technical Support for Contaminated Sites

EPA Science Inventory

In 1987, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD), Office of Land and Emergency Management, and EPA Regional waste management offices established the Technical Support Project. The creation of the Technical Support Project enabled...

Enabling the SMART Wind Power Plant of the Future Through Science-Based Innovation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dykes, Katherine L.; Hand, M. M.; Lantz, Eric J.

This report describes the scientific challenges facing wind energy today and the recent scientific advancements that position the research community to tackle those challenges, as well as the new U.S. Department of Energy applied research program Atmosphere to Electrons that takes an integrated approach to addressing those challenges. It also ties these resulting scientific accomplishments to future technological innovation and quantifies the impact of that collection of innovations on 2030 wind power cost of energy.

A Roadmap of Innovative Nuclear Energy System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sekimoto, Hiroshi

2017-01-01

Nuclear is a dense energy without CO2 emission. It can be used for more than 100,000 years using fast breeder reactors with uranium from the sea. However, it raises difficult problems associated with severe accidents, spent fuel waste and nuclear threats, which should be solved with acceptable costs. Some innovative reactors have attracted interest, and many designs have been proposed for small reactors. These reactors are considered much safer than conventional large reactors and have fewer technical obstructions. Breed-and-burn reactors have high potential to solve all inherent problems for peaceful use of nuclear energy. However, they have some technical problems with materials. A roadmap for innovative reactors is presented herein.

75 FR 54063 - Demand Response Compensation in Organized Wholesale Energy Markets; Technical Conference

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-03

... FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Hunger (Technical Information), Office of Energy Policy and Innovation....hunger@ferc.gov . Caroline Daly (Technical Information), Office of Energy Policy and [[Page 54064... information about the technical conference or comment procedures, please contact: David Hunger (Technical...

Innovation Incubator: Whisker Labs Technical Evaluation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sparn, Bethany F.; Frank, Stephen M.; Earle, Lieko

The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2) is a program to foster and accelerate startup companies with commercial building energy-efficiency and demand management technologies. The program is funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation and co-administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Whisker Labs, an Oakland, California-based company, was one of four awardees in the first IN2 cohort and was invited to participate in the program because of its novel electrical power sensing technology for circuit breakers. The stick-on Whisker meters install directly on the front face of the circuit breakers in an electrical panel using adhesive, eliminating the need tomore » open the panel and install current transducers (CTs) on the circuit wiring.« less

Reassembling the Information Technology Innovation Process: An Actor Network Theory Method for Managing the Initiation, Production, and Diffusion of Innovations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zendejas, Gerardo; Chiasson, Mike

This paper will propose and explore a method to enhance focal actors' abilities to enroll and control the many social and technical components interacting during the initiation, production, and diffusion of innovations. The reassembling and stabilizing of such components is the challenging goal of the focal actors involved in these processes. To address this possibility, a healthcare project involving the initiation, production, and diffusion of an IT-based innovation will be influenced by the researcher, using concepts from actor network theory (ANT), within an action research methodology (ARM). The experiences using this method, and the nature of enrolment and translation during its use, will highlight if and how ANT can provide a problem-solving method to help assemble the social and technical actants involved in the diffusion of an innovation. Finally, the paper will discuss the challenges and benefits of implementing such methods to attain widespread diffusion.

Enhancing non-technical skills by a multidisciplinary engineering summer school

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larsen, Peter Gorm; Kristiansen, Erik Lasse; Bennedsen, Jens; Bjerge, Kim

2017-11-01

In general engineering studies focus on the technical skills in their own discipline. However, in their subsequent industrial careers, a significant portion of their time needs to be devoted to non-technical skills. In addition, in an increasingly globalised world collaboration in teams across cultures and disciplines is paramount to the creation of new and innovative products. In order to enhance the non-technical skills for groups of engineering students a series of innovation courses has been arranged and delivered in close collaboration with an industrial company (Bang & Olufsen). These courses have been organised as summer schools called 'Conceptual Design and Development of Innovative Products' (CD-DIP) and delivered outside the usual educational environment. In order to explore the impact of this single course, we have conducted a study among the students participating from 2007 to 2013. This has been carried out both qualitatively using interviews with selected students as well as quantitatively using a survey. The results are outstanding in demonstrating that the non-technical skills obtained in this single course have been of high value for a large portion of the students' subsequent professional life.

[The implementation of innovations in public health].

PubMed

Systerova, A A; Totskaia, E G

2012-01-01

Nowadays, the innovative activities are considered as the mechanism of implementation of public policy to increase effectiveness of public health system on the basis of achievements of modern medicine and technical sciences. The development, elaboration and implementation of products being in line with corresponding to criteria of innovation, promote the concurrency of medical institutions at the medical services market. The administrators of health departments and medical science professionals are to become aware about the problems of implementation of innovations into medical practice to develop the mechanisms of overcoming these issues.

Lighting innovations in concept cars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berlitz, Stephan; Huhn, Wolfgang

2005-02-01

Concept cars have their own styling process. Because of the big media interest they give a big opportunity to bring newest technology with styling ideas to different fairgrounds. The LED technology in the concept cars Audi Pikes Peak, Nuvolari and Le Mans will be explained. Further outlook for the Audi LED strategy starting with LED Daytime Running Lamp will be given. The close work between styling and technical engineers results in those concept cars and further technical innovations based on LED technologies.

Adapting the design of Anesthesia Information Management Systems to innovations depicted in Industrial Property documents.

PubMed

Spyropoulos, B; Tzavaras, A; Zogogianni, D; Botsivaly, M

2013-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to present the design and the current development status of an Anesthesia Information Management System (AIMS). For this system, the physical and technical advances, depicted in relevant, recently published Industrial Property documents, have been taken into account. Additional innovative sensors create further data-load to be managed. Novel wireless data-transmission modes demand eventually compliance to further proper standards, so that interoperability between AIMS and the existing Hospital Information Systems is being sustained. We attempted to define, the state-of-the-art concerning the functions, the design-prerequisites and the relevant standards and of an "emerging" AIMS that is combining hardware innovation, real-time data acquisition, processing and displaying and lastly enabling the necessary interoperability with the other components of the existing Hospital Information Systems. Finally, we report based on this approach, about the design and implementation status, of our "real-world" system under development and discuss the multifarious obstacles encountered during this still on-going project.

Tracking the mutual shaping of the technical and social dimensions of solar-powered mosquito trapping systems (SMoTS) for malaria control on Rusinga Island, western Kenya.

PubMed

Oria, Prisca A; Hiscox, Alexandra; Alaii, Jane; Ayugi, Margaret; Mukabana, Wolfgang Richard; Takken, Willem; Leeuwis, Cees

2014-11-18

and different perspective on innovation where innovation is more than the technical aspects. This approach therefore requires that research is designed in a way that enables obtaining feedback from both aspects.

The future of academic innovation in the field of medical devices: is innovation still possible in orthopedics?

PubMed

Courvoisier, Aurélien

2016-09-01

Academic research is essential to bring disruptive innovation on medical devices market because the risk-taking is too high for companies and their investors. Performing clinical trials is essential to technical files but no one wants to accept responsibility for implanted off-label devices. The paper explains the academic process for innovation. We see that academic research depends, at the end, on the motivation of companies to develop a product. The key to innovation stands in the early collaboration between the surgeons, the research teams and the companies in a project. Innovation is a good idea supported by the expertise of the right people at the right moment. In orthopaedics, we need, more than ever, to stay focused on the patient benefits.

Innovating Teacher Education in a Complex Era

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tan, Oon Seng

2015-01-01

The meteoric increase in technological advancement in the last few decades has dramatically transformed how people live their lives. Innovation is seen to be essential as it ensures sustainable growth in a knowledge-based economy and a competitive global marketplace. Consequently, enabling innovation to occur becomes of prime concern to educators…

Cognition of Experts and Top Managers about the Changes in Innovation Space

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bergman, Jukka-Pekka; Jantunen, Ari; Saksa, Juha-Matti; Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, Pia

2007-01-01

The innovation space has become more complex and knowledge-intensive. As a result, it is increasingly important to see innovations as knowledge that is embodied in learning and technical and organisational knowledge bases. However, in processes such as innovation development, individuals make sense of it and utilise existing knowledge differently…

Vocational and Technical Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Compact, 1968

1968-01-01

Volume 2, Issue 3 of "Compact" was designed to point out the problems and potential of vocational-technical education and to offer some suggestions for action. Major content includes: (1) "Education for Twenty-First Century Employment," by Wayne Morse, (2) "Pending Federal Legislation Encourages Vocational Innovation," by Grant Venn, (3)…

Enabling School Structure, Mindfulness, and Teacher Empowerment: Test of a Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watts, Donald M.

2009-01-01

This study looked at the relationship of an enabling school structure and mindfulness toward teacher empowerment. An enabling school structure is the perception in which leadership fosters collaboration, innovation, and trust among participants. Its rules and procedures are flexible and promote problem-solving (Hoy & Sweetland, 2000, 2001).…

Design and technical evaluation of an enhanced location-awareness service enabler for spatial disorientation management of elderly with mild cognitive impairment.

PubMed

Moreno, Pedro A; Hernando, M Elena; Gómez, Enrique J

2015-01-01

The progressive ageing of population has turned the mild cognitive impairment (MCI) into a prevalent disease suffered by elderly. Consequently, the spatial disorientation has become a significant problem for older people and their caregivers. The ambient-assisted living applications are offering location-based services for empowering elderly to go outside and encouraging a greater independence. Therefore, this paper describes the design and technical evaluation of a location-awareness service enabler aimed at supporting and managing probable wandering situations of a person with MCI. Through the presence capabilities of the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) architecture, the service will alert patient's contacts if a hazardous situation is detected depending on his location. Furthermore, information about the older person's security areas has been included in the user profile managed by IMS. In doing so, the service enabler introduced contribute to "context-awareness" paradigm allowing the adaptation and personalization of services depending on user's context and specific conditions or preferences.

7 CFR 652.4 - Technical service standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... must approve all new technologies and innovative practices, including interim standards and specifications, prior to a TSP initiating technical services for those technologies and practices. (c) A TSP must...

2009 USCG Innovation Expo

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-11-19

USJFCOM, Langley AFB) - Strategic Government Agencies ( NSA , DOE) - Atlantic Area Command - Maritime Fusion Center Coast Guard Counterintelligence Service...Advanced bio and chemical sensors • Neuroscience • Disease surveillance • Specialized medical knowledge Innovation Enablers • CMMI® Level 5 • ISO

Innovations in energy expenditure assessment.

PubMed

Achamrah, Najate; Oshima, Taku; Genton, Laurence

2018-06-15

Optimal nutritional therapy has been associated with better clinical outcomes and requires providing energy as closed as possible to measured energy expenditure. We reviewed the current innovations in energy expenditure assessment in humans, focusing on indirect calorimetry and other new alternative methods. Although considered the reference method to measure energy expenditure, the use of indirect calorimetry is currently limited by the lack of an adequate device. However, recent technical developments may allow a broader use of indirect calorimetry for in-patients and out-patients. An ongoing international academic initiative to develop a new indirect calorimeter aimed to provide innovative and affordable technical solutions for many of the current limitations of indirect calorimetry. New alternative methods to indirect calorimetry, including CO2 measurements in mechanically ventilated patients, isotopic approaches and accelerometry-based fitness equipments, show promises but have been either poorly studied and/or are not accurate compared to indirect calorimetry. Therefore, to date, energy expenditure measured by indirect calorimetry remains the gold standard to guide nutritional therapy. Some new innovative methods are demonstrating promises in energy expenditure assessment, but still need to be validated. There is an ongoing need for easy-to-use, accurate and affordable indirect calorimeter for daily use in in-patients and out-patients.

An SNMP-based solution to enable remote ISO/IEEE 11073 technical management.

PubMed

Lasierra, Nelia; Alesanco, Alvaro; García, José

2012-07-01

This paper presents the design and implementation of an architecture based on the integration of simple network management protocol version 3 (SNMPv3) and the standard ISO/IEEE 11073 (X73) to manage technical information in home-based telemonitoring scenarios. This architecture includes the development of an SNMPv3-proxyX73 agent which comprises a management information base (MIB) module adapted to X73. In the proposed scenario, medical devices (MDs) send information to a concentrator device [designated as compute engine (CE)] using the X73 standard. This information together with extra information collected in the CE is stored in the developed MIB. Finally, the information collected is available for remote access via SNMP connection. Moreover, alarms and events can be configured by an external manager in order to provide warnings of irregularities in the MDs' technical performance evaluation. This proposed SNMPv3 agent provides a solution to integrate and unify technical device management in home-based telemonitoring scenarios fully adapted to X73.

Dimensions of Innovation: Some Historical Perspectives on Vocational Education and Training and Innovation in Australia. A Discussion Paper. A National Vocational Education and Training Research and Evaluation Program Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pickersgill, Richard

2005-01-01

The development of a uniquely Australian system of innovation and its relation to the vocational education and training (VET) system is considered in this discussion paper. It asserts that the Australian system of innovation fits the pattern of incremental innovation and diffusion of technical knowledge. It focuses on arrangements prior to the…

Emerging lessons from regional and state innovation in value-based payment reform: balancing collaboration and disruptive innovation.

PubMed

Conrad, Douglas A; Grembowski, David; Hernandez, Susan E; Lau, Bernard; Marcus-Smith, Miriam

2014-09-01

In recent decades, practitioners and policymakers have turned to value-based payment initiatives to help contain spending on health care and to improve the quality of care. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded 7 grantees across the country to design and implement value-based, multistakeholder payment reform projects in 6 states and 3 regions of the United States. As the external evaluator of these projects, we reviewed documents, conducted Internet searches, interviewed key stakeholders, cross-validated factual and narrative interpretation, and performed qualitative analyses to derive cross-site themes and implications for policy and practice. The nature of payment reform and its momentum closely reflects the environmental context of each project. Federal legislation such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and federal and state support for the development of the patient-centered medical home and accountable care organizations encourage value-based payment innovation, as do local market conditions for payers and providers that combine a history of collaboration with independent innovation and experimentation by individual organizations. Multistakeholder coalitions offer a useful facilitating structure for galvanizing payment reform. But to achieve the objectives of reduced cost and improved quality, multistakeholder payment innovation must overcome such barriers as incompatible information systems, the technical difficulties and transaction costs of altering existing billing and payment systems, competing stakeholder priorities, insufficient scale to bear population health risk, providers' limited experience with risk-bearing payment models, and the failure to align care delivery models with the form of payment. From the evidence adduced in this article, multistakeholder, value-based payment reform requires a trusted, widely respected "honest broker" that can convene and maintain the ongoing commitment of health plans, providers, and purchasers

Energy Levels and Co-evolution of Product Innovation in Supply Chain Clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ji, Guojun

In the last decade supply chain clusters phenomenon has emerged as a new approach in product innovation studies. This article makes three contributions to the approach by addressing some open issues. The first contribution is to explicitly incorporate the energy levels in the analysis. Hence, the unit of analysis is widened from sectoral systems of innovation to socio-technical systems. Hence, the unit of analysis is widened from sectoral systems of innovation to socio-technical systems. The second contribution is to suggest an analytical distinction between different evolution method, actors involved in them, and the institutions which guide actor's perceptions and activities. Thirdly, the article opens up the black box of institutions, making them an integral part of supply chain. The article provides a coherent conceptual multi-level perspective, using insights from sociology, institutional theory and innovation studies. The perspective is particularly useful to analyze long-term dynamics supply chain clusters phenomenon, shifts from one energy level to another and the co-evolution of product innovation.

The Micropolitics of Innovation--Revisited.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foster, Garrett R.; Richardson, Gerald L.

1980-01-01

Among the important factors in the success of organized change efforts involving local schools are direct personal contact of local entrepreneurs and internal advocacy groups, moral and technical support of the district administration, access to interpretive information about new ideas and teaching programs, and faculty acceptance of innovation.…

Innovation-Centric Teaching and Learning Processes in Technical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vikas, Om

2012-01-01

Globalization has put countries in competitive and collaborative mode. Underdeveloped nations are in catch-up phase, developing nations are in competitive phase and the advanced nations are in commanding phase with respect to certain technologies. Innovation--Technological, Business and Education--is imperative for sustainable socio-economic…

Technological Innovations in Magnetic Resonance for Early Detection of Cardiovascular Diseases.

PubMed

Santarelli, Maria F; Positano, Vincenzo; Martini, Nicola; Valvano, Giuseppe; Landini, Luigi

2016-01-01

Most recent technical innovations in cardiovascular MR imaging (CMRI) are presented in this review. They include hardware and software developments, and novelties in parametric mapping. All these recent improvements lead to high spatial and temporal resolution and quantitative information on the heart structure and function. They make it achievable ambitious goals in the field of magnetic resonance, such as the early detection of cardiovascular pathologies. In this review article, we present recent innovations in CMRI, emphasizing the progresses performed and the solutions proposed to some yet opened technical problems.

Skills training after night shift work enables acquisition of endovascular technical skills on a virtual reality simulator.

PubMed

Naughton, Peter A; Aggarwal, Rajesh; Wang, Tim T; Van Herzeele, Isabelle; Keeling, Aoife N; Darzi, Ara W; Cheshire, Nicholas J W

2011-03-01

Adoption of residents' working time restrictions potentially undermines surgical training by reduction of operating room exposure. Simulation has been proposed as a way to acquire necessary skills in a laboratory environment but remains difficult to incorporate into training schedules. This study assessed whether residents working successive nights could acquire endovascular skills similar to colleagues working day shifts. This prospective observational cohort study recruited 20 junior residents, divided into day shift and night shift groups by their respective call schedule. After initial cognitive skills training, a validated renal artery stent module on an endovascular simulator was completed over a series of seven sequential shifts during 1 week. The primary outcome measure was serial technical skill assessments. Secondary measures comprised assessments of activity, cognitive performance, introspective fatigue, quality, and quantity of preceding sleep. Both groups demonstrated significant learning curves for total time at the first session median vs seventh session median (181 vs 564 seconds [P < .001]; night, 1399 vs 572 [P < .001]), fluoroscopy time (day, 702 vs 308 seconds, [P < .001]; night, 669 vs 313 [P < .001]), and contrast volume (day, 29 vs 13 mL [P < .001]; night, 40 vs 16 [P < .001]). Residents working day shifts reached plateau 1 day earlier in the above measures vs those on night duty. The night shift group walked more steps (P < .001), reviewed more patients (P < .001), performed worse on all cognitive assessments (P < .05), slept less (P < .05), had poorer quality of sleep (P = .001), and was more fatigued (P < .001) than the day shift group. Acquired skill was retained a week after completion of shifts. Technical skills training after night shift work enables acquisition of endovascular technical skills, although it takes longer than after day shift training. This study provides evidence for program directors to organize simulation

Disrupting incrementalism in health care innovation.

PubMed

Soleimani, Farzad; Zenios, Stefanos

2011-08-01

To build enabling innovation frameworks for health care entrepreneurs to better identify, evaluate, and pursue entrepreneurial opportunities. Powerful frameworks have been developed to enable entrepreneurs and investors identify which opportunity areas are worth pursuing and which start-up ideas have the potential to succeed. These frameworks, however, have not been clearly defined and interpreted for innovations in health care. Having a better understanding of the process of innovation in health care allows physician entrepreneurs to innovate more successfully. A review of academic literature was conducted. Concepts and frameworks related to technology innovation were analyzed. A new set of health care specific frameworks was developed. These frameworks were then applied to innovations in various health care subsectors. Health care entrepreneurs would greatly benefit from distinguishing between incremental and disruptive innovations. The US regulatory and reimbursement systems favor incrementalism with a greater chance of success for established players. Small companies and individual groups, however, are more likely to thrive if they adopt a disruptive strategy. Disruption in health care occurs through various mechanisms as detailed in this article. While the main mechanism of disruption might vary across different health care subsectors, it is shown that disruptive innovations consistently require a component of contrarian interpretation to guarantee considerable payoff. If health care entrepreneurs choose to adopt an incrementalist approach, they need to build the risk of disruption into their models and also ascertain that they have a very strong intellectual property (IP) position to weather competition from established players. On the contrary, if they choose to pursue disruption in the market, albeit the competition will be less severe, they need to recognize that the regulatory and reimbursement hurdles are going to be very high. Thus, they would benefit

Innovation Enables New Research on Mutation Linked to Many Cancers | FNLCR Staging

Cancer.gov

A scientific innovation at the Frederick National Lab has opened the way for a new line of experiments in the decades-old quest for a drug to fight cancers triggered by mutant RAS proteins – which underlie one-third of all malignancies, including t

Innovative Work in School Development: Exploring Leadership Enactment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vennebo, Kirsten Foshaug

2017-01-01

Leadership is recognised in both policy and research as a key enabler of innovation in schools. Numerous researchers have focused on how school leaders formally narrate their experiences of leading innovations including their observations of effect; however, modest attention has been paid to the processes through which leaders engage in innovative…

Open innovation and external sources of innovation. An opportunity to fuel the R&D pipeline and enhance decision making?

PubMed

Schuhmacher, Alexander; Gassmann, Oliver; McCracken, Nigel; Hinder, Markus

2018-05-08

Historically, research and development (R&D) in the pharmaceutical sector has predominantly been an in-house activity. To enable investments for game changing late-stage assets and to enable better and less costly go/no-go decisions, most companies have employed a fail early paradigm through the implementation of clinical proof-of-concept organizations. To fuel their pipelines, some pioneers started to complement their internal R&D efforts through collaborations as early as the 1990s. In recent years, multiple extrinsic and intrinsic factors induced an opening for external sources of innovation and resulted in new models for open innovation, such as open sourcing, crowdsourcing, public-private partnerships, innovations centres, and the virtualization of R&D. Three factors seem to determine the breadth and depth regarding how companies approach external innovation: (1) the company's legacy, (2) the company's willingness and ability to take risks and (3) the company's need to control IP and competitors. In addition, these factors often constitute the major hurdles to effectively leveraging external opportunities and assets. Conscious and differential choices of the R&D and business models for different companies and different divisions in the same company seem to best allow a company to fully exploit the potential of both internal and external innovations.

provider venture capital funds: investing in innovation.

PubMed

Potter, Mary Jo; Wesslund, Rick

2016-05-01

As health systems continue to embrace disruptive innovation, they are increasingly likely to consider making a move into venture capital. Working in venture capital can benefit a health system in several ways, including: Allowing it to operate outside of bureaucracy and align projects with its core values. Encouraging innovation within the organization. Enabling it to respond quickly to changes in the market.

Vocational Education and Training and Innovation. Research Readings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dawe, Susan, Ed.

2004-01-01

This book of readings was commissioned to enable a better understanding of the past, present and future role of the Australian vocational education and training (VET) sector in business innovation. This collection considers what the innovation process in business means for Australian workers and identifies the contributions of the VET system.…

Nurse leaders and the innovation competence gap.

PubMed

White, Kenneth R; Pillay, Rubin; Huang, Xuan

2016-01-01

Nurses are well-positioned for innovation in health care delivery, although innovation is not generally learned in formal educational programs. The purpose of this study was to assess critical competencies for innovation success among nurse leaders in academia and practice, the perceived gaps on those competencies, and teaching methods that would be helpful in developing competencies related to innovation. A Web-enabled descriptive survey design was used to capture nurse leaders' perceptions of important innovation competencies and how they assess their level of competence in the particular innovation domain. Preferred approaches for innovation pedagogy were also queried. Respondents indicated significant gaps in 18 of 19 innovation competencies. Implications are for inclusion of innovation competencies in formal and continuing nursing education. The most preferred innovation pedagogical approaches are case studies of failures and successes and project- and field-based approaches. Traditional lectures are the least preferred way to address innovation competency gaps. There is a significant gap in innovation competencies among nurse leaders in practice and academia. The way we teach innovation needs to involve closer collaboration between academia and practice. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Innovative on-chip packaging applied to uncooled IRFPA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dumont, Geoffroy; Arnaud, Agnès; Imperinetti, Pierre; Mottin, Eric; Simoens, François; Vialle, Claire; Rabaud, Wilfried; Grand, Gilles; Baclet, Nathalie

2008-03-01

The Laboratoire Infrarouge (LIR) of the Laboratoire d'Electronique et de Technologie de l'Information (LETI) has been involved in the development of microbolometers for over fifteen years. Two generations of technology have been transferred to ULIS and LETI is still working to improve performances of low cost detectors. Simultaneously, packaging still represents a significant part of detectors price. Reducing production costs would contribute to keep on extending applications of uncooled IRFPA to high volume markets like automotive. Therefore LETI develops an onchip packaging technology dedicated to microbolometers. The efficiency of a micropackaging technology for microbolometers relies on two major technical specifications. First, it must include an optical window with a high transmittance for the IR band, so as to maximize the detector absorption. Secondly, in order to preserve the thermal insulation of the detector, the micropackaging must be hermetically closed to maintain a vacuum level lower than 10 -3mbar. This paper presents an original microcap structure that enables the use of IR window materials as sealing layers to maintain the expected vacuum level. The modelling and integration of an IR window suitable for this structure is also presented. This zero level packaging technology is performed in a standard collective way, in continuation of bolometers' technology. The CEA-LETI, MINATEC presents status of these developments concerning this innovating technology including optical simulations results and SEM views of technical realizations.

Islet Transplantation without Borders Enabling islet transplantation in Greece with international collaboration and innovative technology

PubMed Central

Papas, Klearchos K; Karatzas, Theodore; Berney, Thierry; Minor, Thomas; Pappas, Paris; Pattou, François; Shaw, James; Toso, Christian; Schuurman, Henk-Jan

2012-01-01

Recently, initiatives have been undertaken to establish an islet transplantation program in Athens, Greece. A major hurtle is the high cost associated with the establishment and maintenance of a clinical-grade islet manufacturing center. A collaboration was established with the University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland, to enable remote islet cell manufacturing with an established and validated fully operational team. However, remote islet manufacturing requires shipment of the pancreas from the procurement to the islet manufacturing site (in this case from anywhere in Greece to Geneva) and then shipment of the islets from the manufacturing site to the transplant site (from Geneva to Athens). To address challenges related to cold ischemia time of the pancreas and shipment time of islets, a collaboration was initiated with the University of Arizona, Tucson, USA. An international workshop was held in Athens, December 2011, to mark the start of this collaborative project. Experts in the field presented in three main sessions: [1] Islet transplantation: state-of-the-art, and the “network approach”; [2] Technical aspects of clinical islet transplantation and outcomes; and [3] Islet manufacturing – from the donated pancreas to the islet product. This manuscript presents a summary of the workshop. PMID:23330863

Technical and economic feasibility of development innovative technological solutions for expansion the adjustment range of high-power CCP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arakelyan, E. K.; Andryushin, A. V.; Burtsev, S. Y.; Andryushin, K. A.

2017-11-01

The analysis of technical and parametric constraints on the adjustment range of highpower CCP and recommended technological solutions in the technical literature for their elimination. Established that in the conditions of toughening the requirements for economy, reliability and maneuverability on the part of the system operator with the participation of CCP in control the frequency and power in the power system, existing methods do not ensure the fulfillment of these requirements. The current situation in the energy sector — the lack of highly manoeuvrable power equipment leads to the need participate in control of power consumption diagrams for all types of power plants, including CCP, although initially they were intended primarily for basic loads. Large-scale research conducted at the department of Automated control systems of technological processes, showed the possibility of a significant expansion of the adjustment range of CCP when it operating in the condensing mode and in the heating mode. The report presents the main results of these research for example the CCP-450 and CCP-450T. Various technological solutions are considered: when CCP in the condensation mode — the use of bypass steam distribution schemes, the transfer of a part of the steam turbine into a low-steam mode; when CCP operation in the heating mode — bypass steam distribution and the transfer CCP to gas turbine unit — power heating plants mode with the transfer the steam turbine to the motor mode. Data on the evaluation of the technical and economic feasibility of the proposed innovative technological solutions are presented in comparison with the methods used to solve this problem, which are used in practice, such as passing through the failures of the electric load graphs by transferring the CCP to the mode of operation with incomplete equipment. When comparing, both the economics, and the maneuverability and reliability of the equipment are considered.

Final Scientific/Technical Report for "Enabling Exascale Hardware and Software Design through Scalable System Virtualization"

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dinda, Peter August

2015-03-17

This report describes the activities, findings, and products of the Northwestern University component of the "Enabling Exascale Hardware and Software Design through Scalable System Virtualization" project. The purpose of this project has been to extend the state of the art of systems software for high-end computing (HEC) platforms, and to use systems software to better enable the evaluation of potential future HEC platforms, for example exascale platforms. Such platforms, and their systems software, have the goal of providing scientific computation at new scales, thus enabling new research in the physical sciences and engineering. Over time, the innovations in systems softwaremore » for such platforms also become applicable to more widely used computing clusters, data centers, and clouds. This was a five-institution project, centered on the Palacios virtual machine monitor (VMM) systems software, a project begun at Northwestern, and originally developed in a previous collaboration between Northwestern University and the University of New Mexico. In this project, Northwestern (including via our subcontract to the University of Pittsburgh) contributed to the continued development of Palacios, along with other team members. We took the leadership role in (1) continued extension of support for emerging Intel and AMD hardware, (2) integration and performance enhancement of overlay networking, (3) connectivity with architectural simulation, (4) binary translation, and (5) support for modern Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) hosts and guests. We also took a supporting role in support for specialized hardware for I/O virtualization, profiling, configurability, and integration with configuration tools. The efforts we led (1-5) were largely successful and executed as expected, with code and papers resulting from them. The project demonstrated the feasibility of a virtualization layer for HEC computing, similar to such layers for cloud or datacenter computing. For effort (3

Debunking Technical Competency as the Sole Source of Innovation

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-01

51 Sustaining vs. Disruptive Technologies Advocates for increasing the number of STEM-credentialed graduates often link U.S. innovation to economic...successful companies are led by talented managers who focus on developing sustaining technologies rather than on what he calls disruptive technologies . Sustaining...simpler, smaller, and frequently more convenient to use.53 Disruptive technologies will eventually overtake or match the performance of the

Mind the Gap: Infilling Stiegler's Philosophico-Educational Approach to Social Innovation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reveley, James; Peters, Michael A.

2016-01-01

According to Bernard Stiegler, social innovations in the educational field are an antidotical cure for social pathologies wrought by the digitalisation of society. This article explores how Stiegler's social pharmacology links to the human-technical co-constitution thesis that he first expounded in "Technics and Time, 1." Not only do we…

ARPA-E: Innovating Today. Transforming Tomorrow.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rohlfing, Eric; Brown, Kristen; Gerbi, Jennifer

Innovation and entrepreneurism are integral parts of America’s national fiber and driving forces behind many of the technologies that define our modern lives. It’s this entrepreneurial spirit – in conjunction with world-class institutions and talent – that enable the United States to develop advanced energy technologies that can solve the many challenges we face. Featuring remarks from multiple ARPA-E staff, this video explores how ARPA-E leverages our nation’s resources to help nurture and grow America’s energy innovation community. The video also incorporates footage shot onsite with several ARPA-E awardees who are innovating solutions to transform tomorrow’s energy future.

NREL Spectrum of Clean Energy Innovation (Brochure)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

2011-09-01

This brochure describes the NREL Spectrum of Clean Energy Innovation, which includes analysis and decision support, fundamental science, market relevant research, systems integration, testing and validation, commercialization and deployment. Through deep technical expertise and an unmatched breadth of capabilities, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) leads an integrated approach across the spectrum of renewable energy innovation. From scientific discovery to accelerating market deployment, NREL works in partnership with private industry to drive the transformation of our nation's energy systems. NREL integrates the entire spectrum of innovation, including fundamental science, market relevant research, systems integration, testing and validation, commercialization, and deployment.more » Our world-class analysis and decision support informs every point on the spectrum. The innovation process at NREL is inter-dependent and iterative. Many scientific breakthroughs begin in our own laboratories, but new ideas and technologies may come to NREL at any point along the innovation spectrum to be validated and refined for commercial use.« less

Governing Methods: Policy Innovation Labs, Design and Data Science in the Digital Governance of Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williamson, Ben

2015-01-01

Policy innovation labs are emerging knowledge actors and technical experts in the governing of education. The article offers a historical and conceptual account of the organisational form of the policy innovation lab. Policy innovation labs are characterised by specific methods and techniques of design, data science, and digitisation in public…

Advanced excimer laser technologies enable green semiconductor manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fukuda, Hitomi; Yoo, Youngsun; Minegishi, Yuji; Hisanaga, Naoto; Enami, Tatsuo

2014-03-01

"Green" has fast become an important and pervasive topic throughout many industries worldwide. Many companies, especially in the manufacturing industries, have taken steps to integrate green initiatives into their high-level corporate strategies. Governments have also been active in implementing various initiatives designed to increase corporate responsibility and accountability towards environmental issues. In the semiconductor manufacturing industry, there are growing concerns over future environmental impact as enormous fabs expand and new generation of equipments become larger and more powerful. To address these concerns, Gigaphoton has implemented various green initiatives for many years under the EcoPhoton™ program. The objective of this program is to drive innovations in technology and services that enable manufacturers to significantly reduce both the financial and environmental "green cost" of laser operations in high-volume manufacturing environment (HVM) - primarily focusing on electricity, gas and heat management costs. One example of such innovation is Gigaphoton's Injection-Lock system, which reduces electricity and gas utilization costs of the laser by up to 50%. Furthermore, to support the industry's transition from 300mm to the next generation 450mm wafers, technologies are being developed to create lasers that offer double the output power from 60W to 120W, but reducing electricity and gas consumption by another 50%. This means that the efficiency of lasers can be improve by up to 4 times in 450mm wafer production environments. Other future innovations include the introduction of totally Heliumfree Excimer lasers that utilize Nitrogen gas as its replacement for optical module purging. This paper discusses these and other innovations by Gigaphoton to enable green manufacturing.

Modernizing Career and Technical Education Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Drage, Karen

2009-01-01

High-quality career and technical education (CTE) programs can launch America's future competitiveness through increased student engagement, the innovative integration of traditional academic courses, and by meeting the needs of both employers and the economy as a whole. American students failing to keep pace with their international counterparts…

Medtech: Potential for innovation.

PubMed

Bestetti, Gilberto

2009-10-17

Switzerland, with its ETHZ and EPFL, universities, advanced technical colleges, the CSEM, the Empa and the Paul Scherrer Institute, possesses a complete chain of knowledge and interdisciplinary competence which ranks it among the worldwide leaders in medical technology. To ensure that a wider range of excellent research results are translated into marketable products and methods, the CTI Agency for the Promotion of Innovation launched the Medtech initiative, a success story.

Innovations in interventional pain management of chronic spinal pain.

PubMed

Manchikanti, Laxmaiah; Boswell, Mark V; Hirsch, Joshua A

2016-09-01

Interventional pain management dates back to 1901, with significant innovations, which include the definition, literature synthesis, pathophysiology, and technical interventions. Interventional pain management and interventional techniques include neural blockade, neural ablative procedures, spinal cord and peripheral nerve stimulation, intrathecal drug delivery systems, minimally invasive lumbar decompression (MILD®), percutaneous endoscopic spinal decompression, and regenerative medicine. In addition, advances are also related to the evidence synthesis of comparative effectiveness research. Expert commentary: Multiple innovations in interventional pain management and potential innovations may reduce costs and improve care and outcomes with proper evidence synthesis and application of principles of evidence-based medicine. Innovations in interventional pain management in managing chronic spinal pain depend on extensive research and appropriate evidence synthesis. Innovations should be developed in conjunction with health care policy based on principles of evidence-based medicine.

Innovation and motivation in public health professionals.

PubMed

García-Goñi, Manuel; Maroto, Andrés; Rubalcaba, Luis

2007-12-01

Innovations in public health services promote increases in the health status of the population. Therefore, it is a major concern for health policy makers to understand the drivers of innovation processes. This paper focuses on the differences in behaviour of managers and front-line employees in the pro-innovative provision of public health services. We utilize a survey conducted on front-line employees and managers in public health institutions across six European countries. The survey covers topics related to satisfaction, or attitude towards innovation or their institution. We undertake principal components analysis and analysis of variance, and estimate a multinomial ordered probit model to analyse the existence of different behaviour in managers and front-line employees with respect to innovation. Perception of innovation is different for managers and front-line employees in public health institutions. While front-line employees' attitude depends mostly on the overall performance of the institution, managers feel more involved and motivated, and their behaviour depends more on individual and organisational innovative profiles. It becomes crucial to make both managers and front-line employees at public health institutions feel participative and motivated in order to maximise the benefits of technical or organisational innovative process in the health services provision.

A survey of enabling technologies in synthetic biology

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Realizing constructive applications of synthetic biology requires continued development of enabling technologies as well as policies and practices to ensure these technologies remain accessible for research. Broadly defined, enabling technologies for synthetic biology include any reagent or method that, alone or in combination with associated technologies, provides the means to generate any new research tool or application. Because applications of synthetic biology likely will embody multiple patented inventions, it will be important to create structures for managing intellectual property rights that best promote continued innovation. Monitoring the enabling technologies of synthetic biology will facilitate the systematic investigation of property rights coupled to these technologies and help shape policies and practices that impact the use, regulation, patenting, and licensing of these technologies. Results We conducted a survey among a self-identifying community of practitioners engaged in synthetic biology research to obtain their opinions and experiences with technologies that support the engineering of biological systems. Technologies widely used and considered enabling by survey participants included public and private registries of biological parts, standard methods for physical assembly of DNA constructs, genomic databases, software tools for search, alignment, analysis, and editing of DNA sequences, and commercial services for DNA synthesis and sequencing. Standards and methods supporting measurement, functional composition, and data exchange were less widely used though still considered enabling by a subset of survey participants. Conclusions The set of enabling technologies compiled from this survey provide insight into the many and varied technologies that support innovation in synthetic biology. Many of these technologies are widely accessible for use, either by virtue of being in the public domain or through legal tools such as non

RFID Tag as a Sensor - A Review on the Innovative Designs and Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meng, Zhaozong; Li, Zhen

2016-12-01

The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has gained interests in both academia and industry since its invention. In addition to the applications in access control and supply chain, RFID is also a cost-efficient solution for Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) and pervasive monitoring. The battery free RFID tags are used as independent electromagnetic sensors or energy harvesting and data transmission interface of sensor modules for different measurement purposes. This review paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the innovative designs and applications of RFID sensor technology with new insights, identify the technical challenges, and outline the future perspectives. With a brief introduction to the fundamentals of RFID measurement, the enabling technologies and recent technical progress are illustrated, followed by an extensive discussion of the novel designs and applications. Then, based on an in-depth analysis, the potential constraints are identified and the envisaged future directions are suggested, including printable/wearable RFID, System-on-Chip (SoC), ultra-low power, etc. The comprehensive discussion of RFID sensor technology will be inspirational and useful for academic and industrial communities in investigating, developing, and applying RFID for various measurement applications.

History and future technical innovation in positron emission tomography

PubMed Central

Jones, Terry; Townsend, David

2017-01-01

Abstract. Instrumentation for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging has experienced tremendous improvements in performance over the past 60 years since it was first conceived as a medical imaging modality. Spatial resolution has improved by a factor of 10 and sensitivity by a factor of 40 from the early designs in the 1970s to the high-performance scanners of today. Multimodality configurations have emerged that combine PET with computed tomography (CT) and, more recently, with MR. Whole-body scans for clinical purposes can now be acquired in under 10 min on a state-of-the-art PET/CT. This paper will review the history of these technical developments over 40 years and summarize the important clinical research and healthcare applications that have been made possible by these technical advances. Some perspectives for the future of this technology will also be presented that promise to bring about new applications of this imaging modality in clinical research and healthcare. PMID:28401173

Development of Droplet Microfluidics Enabling High-Throughput Single-Cell Analysis.

PubMed

Wen, Na; Zhao, Zhan; Fan, Beiyuan; Chen, Deyong; Men, Dong; Wang, Junbo; Chen, Jian

2016-07-05

This article reviews recent developments in droplet microfluidics enabling high-throughput single-cell analysis. Five key aspects in this field are included in this review: (1) prototype demonstration of single-cell encapsulation in microfluidic droplets; (2) technical improvements of single-cell encapsulation in microfluidic droplets; (3) microfluidic droplets enabling single-cell proteomic analysis; (4) microfluidic droplets enabling single-cell genomic analysis; and (5) integrated microfluidic droplet systems enabling single-cell screening. We examine the advantages and limitations of each technique and discuss future research opportunities by focusing on key performances of throughput, multifunctionality, and absolute quantification.

Innovative on-chip packaging applied to uncooled IRFPA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dumont, Geoffroy; Arnaud, Agnès; Impérinetti, Pierre; Vialle, Claire; Rabaud, Wilfried; Goudon, Valérie; Yon, Jean-Jacques

2008-04-01

The Laboratoire Infrarouge (LIR) of the Laboratoire d'Electronique et de Technologie de l'Information (LETI) has been involved in the development of microbolometers for over fifteen years. Two generations of technology have been transferred to ULIS and LETI is still working to improve performances of low cost detectors. Simultaneously, packaging still represents a significant part of detectors price. Reducing production costs would contribute to keep on extending applications of uncooled IRFPA to high volume markets like automotive. Therefore LETI is developing an on-chip packaging technology dedicated to microbolometers. This paper presents an original microcap structure that enables the use of IR window materials as sealing layers to maintain the expected vacuum level. The modelling and integration of an IR window suitable for this structure is also presented. This monolithic packaging technology is performed in a standard collective way, in continuation of bolometers' technology. The CEA-LETI, MINATEC presents status of these developments concerning this innovating technology including optical simulations results and SEM views of technical realizations.

Making technological innovation work for sustainable development.

PubMed

Anadon, Laura Diaz; Chan, Gabriel; Harley, Alicia G; Matus, Kira; Moon, Suerie; Murthy, Sharmila L; Clark, William C

2016-08-30

This paper presents insights and action proposals to better harness technological innovation for sustainable development. We begin with three key insights from scholarship and practice. First, technological innovation processes do not follow a set sequence but rather emerge from complex adaptive systems involving many actors and institutions operating simultaneously from local to global scales. Barriers arise at all stages of innovation, from the invention of a technology through its selection, production, adaptation, adoption, and retirement. Second, learning from past efforts to mobilize innovation for sustainable development can be greatly improved through structured cross-sectoral comparisons that recognize the socio-technical nature of innovation systems. Third, current institutions (rules, norms, and incentives) shaping technological innovation are often not aligned toward the goals of sustainable development because impoverished, marginalized, and unborn populations too often lack the economic and political power to shape innovation systems to meet their needs. However, these institutions can be reformed, and many actors have the power to do so through research, advocacy, training, convening, policymaking, and financing. We conclude with three practice-oriented recommendations to further realize the potential of innovation for sustainable development: (i) channels for regularized learning across domains of practice should be established; (ii) measures that systematically take into account the interests of underserved populations throughout the innovation process should be developed; and (iii) institutions should be reformed to reorient innovation systems toward sustainable development and ensure that all innovation stages and scales are considered at the outset.

Making technological innovation work for sustainable development

PubMed Central

Anadon, Laura Diaz; Harley, Alicia G.; Matus, Kira; Moon, Suerie; Murthy, Sharmila L.

2016-01-01

This paper presents insights and action proposals to better harness technological innovation for sustainable development. We begin with three key insights from scholarship and practice. First, technological innovation processes do not follow a set sequence but rather emerge from complex adaptive systems involving many actors and institutions operating simultaneously from local to global scales. Barriers arise at all stages of innovation, from the invention of a technology through its selection, production, adaptation, adoption, and retirement. Second, learning from past efforts to mobilize innovation for sustainable development can be greatly improved through structured cross-sectoral comparisons that recognize the socio-technical nature of innovation systems. Third, current institutions (rules, norms, and incentives) shaping technological innovation are often not aligned toward the goals of sustainable development because impoverished, marginalized, and unborn populations too often lack the economic and political power to shape innovation systems to meet their needs. However, these institutions can be reformed, and many actors have the power to do so through research, advocacy, training, convening, policymaking, and financing. We conclude with three practice-oriented recommendations to further realize the potential of innovation for sustainable development: (i) channels for regularized learning across domains of practice should be established; (ii) measures that systematically take into account the interests of underserved populations throughout the innovation process should be developed; and (iii) institutions should be reformed to reorient innovation systems toward sustainable development and ensure that all innovation stages and scales are considered at the outset. PMID:27519800

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Technical Nuclear Forensics Research and Development Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Franks, J.

2015-12-01

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Technical Nuclear Forensics (TNF) Research and Development (R&D) Program's overarching goal is to design, develop, demonstrate, and transition advanced technologies and methodologies that improve the interagency operational capability to provide forensics conclusions after the detonation of a nuclear device. This goal is attained through the execution of three focus areas covering the span of the TNF process to enable strategic decision-making (attribution): Nuclear Forensic Materials Exploitation - Development of targeted technologies, methodologies and tools enabling the timely collection, analysis and interpretation of detonation materials.Prompt Nuclear Effects Exploitation - Improve ground-based capabilities to collect prompt nuclear device outputs and effects data for rapid, complementary and corroborative information.Nuclear Forensics Device Characterization - Development of a validated and verified capability to reverse model a nuclear device with high confidence from observables (e.g., prompt diagnostics, sample analysis, etc.) seen after an attack. This presentation will outline DTRA's TNF R&D strategy and current investments, with efforts focusing on: (1) introducing new technical data collection capabilities (e.g., ground-based prompt diagnostics sensor systems; innovative debris collection and analysis); (2) developing new TNF process paradigms and concepts of operations to decrease timelines and uncertainties, and increase results confidence; (3) enhanced validation and verification (V&V) of capabilities through technology evaluations and demonstrations; and (4) updated weapon output predictions to account for the modern threat environment. A key challenge to expanding these efforts to a global capability is the need for increased post-detonation TNF international cooperation, collaboration and peer reviews.

The use of smart technologies in enabling construction components reuse: A viable method or a problem creating solution?

PubMed

Iacovidou, Eleni; Purnell, Phil; Lim, Ming K

2018-06-15

The exploitation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for tracking and archiving the properties of structural construction components could be a potentially innovative disruption for the construction sector. This is because RFID can stimulate the reuse of construction components and reduce their wastage, hence addressing sustainability issues in the construction sector. To test the plausibility of that idea, this study explores the potential pre-conditions for RFID to facilitate construction components reuse, and develops a guidance for promoting their redistribution back to the supply chain. It also looks at how integrating RFID with Building Information Modelling (BIM) can possibly be a valuable extension of its capabilities, providing the opportunity for tracked components to be incorporated into new structures in an informed, sound way. A preliminary assessment of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the RFID technology is presented in order to depict its current and future potential in promoting construction components' sustainable lifecycle management, while emphasis has been laid on capturing their technical, environmental, economic and social value. Findings suggest that the collection of the right amount of information at the design-construction-deconstruction-reuse-disposal stage is crucial for RFID to become a successful innovation in the construction sector. Although a number of limitations related to the technical operability and recycling of RFID tags seem to currently hinder its uptake for structural components' lifecycle management, future technological innovations could provide solutions that would enable it to become a mainstream practice. Taken together these proposals advocate that the use of RFID and its integration with BIM can create the right environment for the development of new business models focused on sustainable resource management. These models may then unlock multiple values that are otherwise dissipated in

Using the crowd as an innovation partner.

PubMed

Boudreau, Kevin J; Lakhani, Karim R

2013-04-01

From Apple to Merck to Wikipedia, more and more organizations are turning to crowds for help in solving their most vexing innovation and research questions, but managers remain understandably cautious. It seems risky and even unnatural to push problems out to vast groups of strangers distributed around the world, particularly for companies built on a history of internal innovation. How can intellectual property be protected? How can a crowd-sourced solution be integrated into corporate operations? What about the costs? These concerns are all reasonable, the authors write, but excluding crowdsourcing from the corporate innovation tool kit means losing an opportunity. After a decade of study, they have identified when crowds tend to outperform internal organizations (or not). They outline four ways to tap into crowd-powered problem solving--contests, collaborative communities, complementors, and labor markets--and offer a system for picking the best one in a given situation. Contests, for example, are suited to highly challenging technical, analytical, and scientific problems; design problems; and creative or aesthetic projects. They are akin to running a series of independent experiments that generate multiple solutions--and if those solutions cluster at some extreme, a company can gain insight into where a problem's "technical frontier" lies. (Internal R&D may generate far less information.)

JPL Innovation Foundry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sherwood, Brent; McCleese, Daniel J.

2012-01-01

NASA supports the community of mission principal investigators by helping them ideate, mature, and propose concepts for new missions. As NASA's Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC), JPL is a primary resource for providing this service. The environmental context for the formulation lifecycle evolves continuously. Contemporary trends include: more competitors; more-complex mission ideas; scarcer formulation resources; and higher standards for technical evaluation. Derived requirements for formulation support include: stable, clear, reliable methods tailored for each stage of the formulation lifecycle; on-demand access to standout technical and programmatic subject-matter experts; optimized, outfitted facilities; smart access to learning embodied in a vast oeuvre of prior formulation work; hands-on method coaching. JPL has retooled its provision of integrated formulation lifecycle support to PIs, teams, and program offices in response to this need. This mission formulation enterprise is the JPL Innovation Foundry.

Author Steven Johnson, How We Got to Now, Innovative Initiatives workshop, Innovative Technology Partnerships Office (IPTO)

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-11-13

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center welcomed Steven Johnson, author of How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World, to the Innovative Initiatives workshop on Thursday, November 13, 2014 Credit: NASA/Goddard/Bill Hrybyk NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Author Steven Johnson, How We Got to Now, Innovative Initiatives workshop, Innovative Technology Partnerships Office (IPTO)

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center welcomed Steven Johnson, author of How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World, to the Innovative Initiatives workshop on Thursday, November 13, 2014 Credit: NASA/Goddard/Bill Hrybyk NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Proceedings of the International Symposium on Technical and Vocational Education (Beijing, China, September 13-18, 1993).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chinese National Commission for UNESCO (China).

This document contains 28 papers: "Technical and Vocational Education in Asia and the Pacific: Regional Overview and Recent Innovations" (Muhammad Ashraf Qureshi); "Secondary Education in Austria" (Helmut Aigner); "The Development of Technical Curricula in Austria" (Helmut Aigner); "Technical and Vocational Education in Australia. Australian…

48 CFR 227.7104 - Contracts under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... Data and Computer Software—Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, when technical data or computer software will be generated during performance of contracts under the SBIR program. (b) Under the clause at 252.227-7018, the Government obtains SBIR data rights in technical data and computer software...

48 CFR 227.7104 - Contracts under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... Data and Computer Software—Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, when technical data or computer software will be generated during performance of contracts under the SBIR program. (b) Under the clause at 252.227-7018, the Government obtains SBIR data rights in technical data and computer software...

Implementing Innovation: The Creation of an iUnit and the Role of Nursing.

PubMed

Tiase, Victoria L; Ventura, Rosemary; Sorbello, Daniel; Robinson, Kenya

2016-01-01

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital took on the challenge of thinking about innovation differently with the implementation of an innovation unit or iUnit to create the patient care unit of the future. Goals were to understand more about the innovation process and to test new service models, technology platforms, devices, and deployment models. Key findings from the focus groups included the need for additional training and technical support. In general, the initiative was felt to improve overall communication and represents a starting point for further innovation programs.

Long Fuse, Big Bang: Thomas Edison, Electricity, and the Locus of Innovation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hargadon, Andrew

2012-10-22

Calls for breakthroughs in science and technology have never been louder, and yet the demand for innovation is made more challenging by public and political misconceptions surrounding where, when, and how it happens. Professor Andrew Hargadon uses historical research to advance our current understanding of the innovation process. He discussed the social and technical context in which electric light, and the modern electric power infrastructure, were born and considers its implications for managing innovation in science and technology today.

State and Municipal Innovations in Obesity Policy: Why Localities Remain a Necessary Laboratory for Innovation

PubMed Central

Ashe, Marice; Farias, Ruben; Gostin, Lawrence

2015-01-01

Municipal and state governments are surging ahead in obesity prevention, providing a testing ground for innovative policies and shifting social norms in the process. Though high-profile measures such as New York City’s soda portion rule attract significant media attention, we catalog the broader array of initiatives in less-known localities. Local innovation advances prevention policy, but faces legal and political constraints—constitutional challenges, preemption, charges of paternalism, lack of evidence, and widening health inequalities. These arguments can be met with astute framing, empirical evidence, and policy design, enabling local governments to remain at the forefront in transforming obesogenic environments. PMID:25602886

State and municipal innovations in obesity policy: why localities remain a necessary laboratory for innovation.

PubMed

Reeve, Belinda; Ashe, Marice; Farias, Ruben; Gostin, Lawrence

2015-03-01

Municipal and state governments are surging ahead in obesity prevention, providing a testing ground for innovative policies and shifting social norms in the process. Though high-profile measures such as New York City's soda portion rule attract significant media attention, we catalog the broader array of initiatives in less-known localities. Local innovation advances prevention policy, but faces legal and political constraints-constitutional challenges, preemption, charges of paternalism, lack of evidence, and widening health inequalities. These arguments can be met with astute framing, empirical evidence, and policy design, enabling local governments to remain at the forefront in transforming obesogenic environments.

Innovation: the classic traps.

PubMed

Kanter, Rosabeth Moss

2006-11-01

Never a fad, but always in or out of fashion, innovation gets rediscovered as a growth enabler every half dozen years. Too often, though, grand declarations about innovation are followed by mediocre execution that produces anemic results, and innovation groups are quietly disbanded in cost-cutting drives. Each managerial generation embarks on the same enthusiastic quest for the next new thing. And each generation faces the same vexing challenges- most of which stem from the tensions between protecting existing revenue streams critical to current success and supporting new concepts that may be crucial to future success. In this article, Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter reflects on the four major waves of innovation enthusiasm she's observed over the past 25 years. She describes the classic mistakes companies make in innovation strategy, process, structure, and skills assessment, illustrating her points with a plethora of real-world examples--including AT&T Worldnet, Timberland, and Ocean Spray. A typical strategic blunder is when managers set their hurdles too high or limit the scope of their innovation efforts. Quaker Oats, for instance, was so busy in the 1990s making minor tweaks to its product formulas that it missed larger opportunities in distribution. A common process mistake is when managers strangle innovation efforts with the same rigid planning, budgeting, and reviewing approaches they use in their existing businesses--thereby discouraging people from adapting as circumstances warrant. Companies must be careful how they structure fledgling entities alongside existing ones, Kanter says, to avoid a clash of cultures and agendas--which Arrow Electronics experienced in its attempts to create an online venture. Finally, companies commonly undervalue and underinvest in the human side of innovation--for instance, promoting individuals out of innovation teams long before their efforts can pay off. Kanter offers practical advice for avoiding

Technology-Based Innovations to Foster Personalized Healthy Lifestyles and Well-Being: A Targeted Review.

PubMed

Spanakis, Emmanouil G; Santana, Silvina; Tsiknakis, Manolis; Marias, Kostas; Sakkalis, Vangelis; Teixeira, António; Janssen, Joris H; de Jong, Henri; Tziraki, Chariklia

2016-06-24

New community-based arrangements and novel technologies can empower individuals to be active participants in their health maintenance, enabling people to control and self-regulate their health and wellness and make better health- and lifestyle-related decisions. Mobile sensing technology and health systems responsive to individual profiles combined with cloud computing can expand innovation for new types of interoperable services that are consumer-oriented and community-based. This could fuel a paradigm shift in the way health care can be, or should be, provided and received, while lessening the burden on exhausted health and social care systems. Our goal is to identify and discuss the main scientific and engineering challenges that need to be successfully addressed in delivering state-of-the-art, ubiquitous eHealth and mHealth services, including citizen-centered wellness management services, and reposition their role and potential within a broader context of diverse sociotechnical drivers, agents, and stakeholders. We review the state-of-the-art relevant to the development and implementation of eHealth and mHealth services in critical domains. We identify and discuss scientific, engineering, and implementation-related challenges that need to be overcome to move research, development, and the market forward. Several important advances have been identified in the fields of systems for personalized health monitoring, such as smartphone platforms and intelligent ubiquitous services. Sensors embedded in smartphones and clothes are making the unobtrusive recognition of physical activity, behavior, and lifestyle possible, and thus the deployment of platforms for health assistance and citizen empowerment. Similarly, significant advances are observed in the domain of infrastructure supporting services. Still, many technical problems remain to be solved, combined with no less challenging issues related to security, privacy, trust, and organizational dynamics. Delivering

Technology-Based Innovations to Foster Personalized Healthy Lifestyles and Well-Being: A Targeted Review

PubMed Central

Santana, Silvina; Tsiknakis, Manolis; Marias, Kostas; Sakkalis, Vangelis; Teixeira, António; Janssen, Joris H; de Jong, Henri; Tziraki, Chariklia

2016-01-01

Background New community-based arrangements and novel technologies can empower individuals to be active participants in their health maintenance, enabling people to control and self-regulate their health and wellness and make better health- and lifestyle-related decisions. Mobile sensing technology and health systems responsive to individual profiles combined with cloud computing can expand innovation for new types of interoperable services that are consumer-oriented and community-based. This could fuel a paradigm shift in the way health care can be, or should be, provided and received, while lessening the burden on exhausted health and social care systems. Objective Our goal is to identify and discuss the main scientific and engineering challenges that need to be successfully addressed in delivering state-of-the-art, ubiquitous eHealth and mHealth services, including citizen-centered wellness management services, and reposition their role and potential within a broader context of diverse sociotechnical drivers, agents, and stakeholders. Methods We review the state-of-the-art relevant to the development and implementation of eHealth and mHealth services in critical domains. We identify and discuss scientific, engineering, and implementation-related challenges that need to be overcome to move research, development, and the market forward. Results Several important advances have been identified in the fields of systems for personalized health monitoring, such as smartphone platforms and intelligent ubiquitous services. Sensors embedded in smartphones and clothes are making the unobtrusive recognition of physical activity, behavior, and lifestyle possible, and thus the deployment of platforms for health assistance and citizen empowerment. Similarly, significant advances are observed in the domain of infrastructure supporting services. Still, many technical problems remain to be solved, combined with no less challenging issues related to security, privacy, trust, and

Information Technology to Help Drive Business Innovation and Growth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alonso, Igor Aguilar; Verdún, José Carrillo; Caro, Edmundo Tovar

This paper outlines how information technology (IT) can help to drive business innovation and growth. Today innovation is a key to properly managing business growth from all angles. IT governance is responsible for managing and aligning IT with the business objectives; managing strategic demand through the projects portfolio or managing operational demand through the services portfolio. IT portfolios offer the possibility of finding new opportunities to make changes and improve through innovation, enabling savings in capital expenditure and the company's IT operations staff time.

On the Logic and Process of Collaborative Innovation in Higher Vocational Education and Industrial Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhibin, Tang; Weiping, Shi

2017-01-01

Modern development of vocational education requires the joint participation of multiple departments and entities, and industry-education cooperation is a basic requirement. Against the backdrop of the third industrial revolution, cultivating skilled, innovative graduates and transforming the model of industrial technical innovation requires…

Introduction to 2005 National Technical Report

Treesearch

Mark J. Ambrose

2007-01-01

This annual technical report is a product of the Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) program. The report provides information about a variety of issues relating to forest health at the national scale. Previous FHM national reports have had a dual focus of presenting analyses of the latest available data and showcasing innovative techniques for analyzing forest health data....

Innovative Educational Technology Programs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Trucano, Michael

2017-01-01

For many people, the use of technology in education constitutes a de facto "innovation." Whether or not this belief is actually accurate, or useful, is a legitimate question for discussion. That said, there is no denying that many of the educational innovations celebrated (or at least touted) today are enabled by the use of such…

The Future of the Space Age or how to Evaluate Innovative Ideas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vollerthun, A.; Fricke, E.

2002-05-01

Based on an initiative of the German Aerospace Industry Association to foster a more transparent and structured funding of German commercial-oriented space projects a three-phased approach is suggested in this paper, to stepwise improve and evaluate proposed concepts for space-related innovations. The objective of this concept was to develop a transparent, structured, and reproducible process to select the right innovative project in terms of political, economical, and technical objectives for funding by e.g. a governmental agency. A stepwise process and related methods, that cover technical as well as economical aspects (and related sensitivities) are proposed. Based on the special needs and requirements of space industry the proposals are compared to a set of predefined top level objectives/requirements. Using an initial trades analysis with the criteria company, technology, product, and market, an initial business case is analyzed. The alternative innovative concepts are in the third process step subject to a very detailed analysis. The full economical and technical scale of the projects is evaluated and metrics for e.g. the 'Return on Investment' or 'Break Even Point' are determined, to compare the various innovations. Risks related to time, cost, and quality are considered, when performing sensitivity analysis by varying the most important factors of the project. Before discussing critical aspects of the proposed process, space-related examples will be presented to show how the process could be applied, and how different concepts should be evaluated.

Innovations and Innovative Approaches or Pseudo-Innovations in the Context of General Globalization? It's Time to Wake Up!

PubMed

Tchernev, Georgi

2018-01-25

Globalisation, scientific and technical progress are the basis of numerous innovative therapies for oncologic and non-oncologic diseases. It is another matter how much and by whom they are desired, and whether they have to be applied. When and how often? Innovative approaches should go towards simplification, universal distribution and application while at the same time analysis between the potential initial investment and the achieved final result should be made. An illustrative example for this is the targeted therapy for melanoma with its low baseline criteria or basic rules for its surgical treatment. Another example could be the confocal microscopy in the context of dysplastic nevus syndrome. Therapies for various autoimmune diseases should also be considered critically. In the current OAMJMS issue, as well as in some of our other ideas and statements reported also in OAMJMS, we are trying to answer at least to a part of these dilemmas, to provoke a critical point of view and to ask some simple questions: "Should any innovation be considered as a face value? Which is potentially beneficial for our patients? How could we regulate the processes to minimise the need for expensive medications for certain diseases? And, of course, we are also turning to our own mistakes by visualising the results of them!

Technical Feasibility Assessment of Lunar Base Mission Scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Magelssen, Trygve ``Spike''; Sadeh, Eligar

2005-02-01

Investigation of the literature pertaining to lunar base (LB) missions and the technologies required for LB development has revealed an information gap that hinders technical feasibility assessment. This information gap is the absence of technical readiness levels (TRL) (Mankins, 1995) and information pertaining to the criticality of the critical enabling technologies (CETs) that enable mission success. TRL is a means of identifying technical readiness stages of a technology. Criticality is defined as the level of influence the CET has on the mission scenario. The hypothesis of this research study is that technical feasibility is a function of technical readiness and technical readiness is a function of criticality. A newly developed research analysis method is used to identify the technical feasibility of LB mission scenarios. A Delphi is used to ascertain technical readiness levels and CET criticality-to-mission. The research analysis method is applied to the Delphi results to determine the technical feasibility of the LB mission scenarios that include: observatory, science research, lunar settlement, space exploration gateway, space resource utilization, and space tourism. The CETs identified encompasses four major system level technologies of: transportation, life support, structures, and power systems. Results of the technical feasibility assessment show the observatory and science research LB mission scenarios to be more technical ready out of all the scenarios, but all mission scenarios are in very close proximity to each other in regard to criticality and TRL and no one mission scenario stands out as being absolutely more technically ready than any of the other scenarios. What is significant and of value are the Delphi results concerning CET criticality-to-mission and the TRL values evidenced in the Tables that can be used by anyone assessing the technical feasibility of LB missions.

H3Africa and the African Life Sciences Ecosystem: Building Sustainable Innovation

PubMed Central

Huzair, Farah; Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander; Chirikure, Shadreck; Okpechi, Ikechi; Warnich, Louise; Masimirembwa, Collen

2014-01-01

Abstract Interest in genomics research in African populations is experiencing exponential growth. This enthusiasm stems in part from the recognition that the genomic diversity of African populations is a window of opportunity for innovations in postgenomics medicine, ecology, and evolutionary biology. The recently launched H3Africa initiative, for example, captures the energy and momentum of this interest. This interdisciplinary socio-technical analysis highlights the challenges that have beset previous genomics research activities in Africa, and looking ahead, suggests constructive ways H3Africa and similar large scale science efforts could usefully chart a new era of genomics and life sciences research in Africa that is locally productive and globally competitive. As independent African scholars and social scientists, we propose that any serious global omics science effort, including H3Africa, aiming to build genomics research capacity and capability in Africa, needs to fund the establishment of biobanks and the genomic analyses platforms within Africa. Equally they need to prioritize community engagement and bioinformatics capability and the training of African scientists on these platforms. Historically, the financial, technological, and skills imbalance between Africa and developed countries has created exploitative frameworks of collaboration where African researchers have become merely facilitators of Western funded and conceived research agendas involving offshore expatriation of samples. Not surprisingly, very little funding was allocated to infrastructure and human capital development in the past. Moving forward, capacity building should materialize throughout the entire knowledge co-production trajectory: idea generation (e.g., brainstorming workshops for innovative hypotheses development by African scientists), data generation (e.g., genome sequencing), and high-throughput data analysis and contextualization. Additionally, building skills for political

H3Africa and the African life sciences ecosystem: building sustainable innovation.

PubMed

Dandara, Collet; Huzair, Farah; Borda-Rodriguez, Alexander; Chirikure, Shadreck; Okpechi, Ikechi; Warnich, Louise; Masimirembwa, Collen

2014-12-01

Interest in genomics research in African populations is experiencing exponential growth. This enthusiasm stems in part from the recognition that the genomic diversity of African populations is a window of opportunity for innovations in postgenomics medicine, ecology, and evolutionary biology. The recently launched H3Africa initiative, for example, captures the energy and momentum of this interest. This interdisciplinary socio-technical analysis highlights the challenges that have beset previous genomics research activities in Africa, and looking ahead, suggests constructive ways H3Africa and similar large scale science efforts could usefully chart a new era of genomics and life sciences research in Africa that is locally productive and globally competitive. As independent African scholars and social scientists, we propose that any serious global omics science effort, including H3Africa, aiming to build genomics research capacity and capability in Africa, needs to fund the establishment of biobanks and the genomic analyses platforms within Africa. Equally they need to prioritize community engagement and bioinformatics capability and the training of African scientists on these platforms. Historically, the financial, technological, and skills imbalance between Africa and developed countries has created exploitative frameworks of collaboration where African researchers have become merely facilitators of Western funded and conceived research agendas involving offshore expatriation of samples. Not surprisingly, very little funding was allocated to infrastructure and human capital development in the past. Moving forward, capacity building should materialize throughout the entire knowledge co-production trajectory: idea generation (e.g., brainstorming workshops for innovative hypotheses development by African scientists), data generation (e.g., genome sequencing), and high-throughput data analysis and contextualization. Additionally, building skills for political science

Arthroscopy Authors Seek Innovative International Readers.

PubMed

Lubowitz, James H; Provencher, Matthew T; Rossi, Michael J; Brand, Jefferson C; Schmidt, Melissa B

2016-08-01

Arthroscopy and Arthroscopy Techniques attract authors as a result of our large, innovative, and global audience. In addition, the journals attract authors because of our robust and rapid review process, our wide indexing and search availability, and our openness to diverse article types including Technical Notes with video. Copyright © 2016 Arthroscopy Association of North America. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

NASA Small Business Innovation Research program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Harry W.

1985-01-01

NASA activities in the framework of the 11-agency federal Small Business Innovation Research program are outlined in tables and graphs and briefly characterized. Statistics on the program are given; the technical topics covered are listed; and the procedures involved in evaluating applications for support are discussed. A number of typical defects in proposals are indicated, and recommendations for avoiding them are provided.

Downloading from the OPAC: The Innovative Interfaces Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spore, Stuart

1991-01-01

Discussion of downloading from online public access catalogs focuses on downloading to MS-DOS microcomputers from the INNOPAC online catalog system. Tools for capturing and postprocessing downloaded files are described, technical and institutional constraints on downloading are addressed, and an innovative program for overcoming such constraints…

German innovation initiative for nanotechnology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rieke, Volker; Bachmann, Gerd

2004-10-01

In many areas of nanotechnology, Germany can count on a good knowledge basis due to its diverse activities in nanosciences. This knowledge basis, when paired with the production and sales structures needed for implementation and the internationally renowned German talent for system integration, should consequently lead to success in the marketplace. And this is exactly the field of application for the innovation initiative "Nanotechnologie erobert Märkte" (nanotechnology conquers markets) and for the new BMBF strategy in support of nanotechnology. Until now, aspects of nanotechnology have been advanced within the confines of their respective technical subject areas. However, the primary aim of incorporating them into an overall national strategy is to build on Germany's well-developed and internationally competitive research in science and technology to tap the potential of Germany's important industrial sectors for the application of nanotechnology through joint research projects (leading-edge innovations) that strategically target the value-added chain. This development is to be supported by government education policy to remedy a threatening shortage of skilled professionals. To realize that goal, forward-looking political policymaking must become oriented to a uniform concept of innovation, one that takes into consideration all facets of new technological advances that can contribute to a new culture of innovation in Germany. And that includes education and research policy as well as a climate that encourages and supports innovation in science, business and society.

Clean Heat: A Technical Response to a Policy Innovation

PubMed Central

Hernández, Diana

2017-01-01

New York City clean heat policies were enacted to improve air quality, especially reducing exposure to black carbon, particulate matter and sulfur that are linked to environmental degradation and various health risks. This policy measure specifically called for the phase out of residual oil and adoption of cleaner burning fuel sources through boiler conversions in commercial and residential properties throughout the city. This paper describes the process of clean heat technology adoption within the innovative clean heat policy context demonstrating its thorough compliance and discussing implications for scalability in other urban settings. PMID:29657663

Staff Considerations in Technical Services: The Chameleon Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foster, Constance L.

1988-01-01

Discusses the need to cope effectively with technological transitions in library technical services and to plan for successful staff development. The areas discussed include changing job skills, financial planning, ergonomics, innovative partnerships, training, and an emphasis on human resources development. (21 references) (Author/CLB)

Technical aspects of cardiac PET/MRI.

PubMed

Masuda, Atsuro; Nemoto, Ayaka; Takeishi, Yasuchika

2018-06-01

PET/MRI is a novel modality that enables to combine PET and MR images, and has significant potential to evaluate various cardiac diseases through the combination of PET molecular imaging and MRI functional imaging. Precise management of technical issues, however, is necessary for cardiac PET/MRI. This article describes several technical points, including patient preparation, MR attenuation correction, parallel acquisition of PET with MRI, clinical aspects, and image quality control.

The life-history basis of behavioural innovations

PubMed Central

Sol, Daniel; Sayol, Ferran; Ducatez, Simon; Lefebvre, Louis

2016-01-01

The evolutionary origin of innovativeness remains puzzling because innovating means responding to novel or unusual problems and hence is unlikely to be selected by itself. A plausible alternative is considering innovativeness as a co-opted product of traits that have evolved for other functions yet together predispose individuals to solve problems by adopting novel behaviours. However, this raises the question of why these adaptations should evolve together in an animal. Here, we develop the argument that the adaptations enabling animals to innovate evolve together because they are jointly part of a life-history strategy for coping with environmental changes. In support of this claim, we present comparative evidence showing that in birds, (i) innovative propensity is linked to life histories that prioritize future over current reproduction, (ii) the link is in part explained by differences in brain size, and (iii) innovative propensity and life-history traits may evolve together in generalist species that frequently expose themselves to novel or unusual conditions. Combined with previous evidence, these findings suggest that innovativeness is not a specialized adaptation but more likely part of a broader general adaptive system to cope with changes in the environment. PMID:26926277

Prizes for innovation of new medicines and vaccines.

PubMed

Love, James; Hubbard, Tim

2009-01-01

This article argues that prizes can help stimulate medical innovation, control costs and ensure greater access to new medicines and vaccines. The authors explore four increasingly ambitious prize options to reward medical innovation, each addressing flaws in the current patent system. The first option promotes innovation through a large prize fund linked to the impact on health outcomes; the second option rewards the sharing of knowledge, data, and technology with open source dividends; the third option awards prizes for interim benchmarks and discrete technical problems; and the final option removes the exclusive right to use patented inventions in upstream research in favor of prizes. The authors conclude that a system of prizes to reward drug development would break the link between R&D incentives and product prices, and that such a reform is needed to improve innovation and access to new medicines and vaccines.

Electronic Health Record Application Support Service Enablers.

PubMed

Neofytou, M S; Neokleous, K; Aristodemou, A; Constantinou, I; Antoniou, Z; Schiza, E C; Pattichis, C S; Schizas, C N

2015-08-01

There is a huge need for open source software solutions in the healthcare domain, given the flexibility, interoperability and resource savings characteristics they offer. In this context, this paper presents the development of three open source libraries - Specific Enablers (SEs) for eHealth applications that were developed under the European project titled "Future Internet Social and Technological Alignment Research" (FI-STAR) funded under the "Future Internet Public Private Partnership" (FI-PPP) program. The three SEs developed under the Electronic Health Record Application Support Service Enablers (EHR-EN) correspond to: a) an Electronic Health Record enabler (EHR SE), b) a patient summary enabler based on the EU project "European patient Summary Open Source services" (epSOS SE) supporting patient mobility and the offering of interoperable services, and c) a Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) enabler (PACS SE) based on the dcm4che open source system for the support of medical imaging functionality. The EHR SE follows the HL7 Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) V2.0 and supports the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) profiles (recently awarded in Connectathon 2015). These three FI-STAR platform enablers are designed to facilitate the deployment of innovative applications and value added services in the health care sector. They can be downloaded from the FI-STAR cataloque website. Work in progress focuses in the validation and evaluation scenarios for the proving and demonstration of the usability, applicability and adaptability of the proposed enablers.

Global Health Innovation Technology Models.

PubMed

Harding, Kimberly

2016-01-01

Chronic technology and business process disparities between High Income, Low Middle Income and Low Income (HIC, LMIC, LIC) research collaborators directly prevent the growth of sustainable Global Health innovation for infectious and rare diseases. There is a need for an Open Source-Open Science Architecture Framework to bridge this divide. We are proposing such a framework for consideration by the Global Health community, by utilizing a hybrid approach of integrating agnostic Open Source technology and healthcare interoperability standards and Total Quality Management principles. We will validate this architecture framework through our programme called Project Orchid. Project Orchid is a conceptual Clinical Intelligence Exchange and Virtual Innovation platform utilizing this approach to support clinical innovation efforts for multi-national collaboration that can be locally sustainable for LIC and LMIC research cohorts. The goal is to enable LIC and LMIC research organizations to accelerate their clinical trial process maturity in the field of drug discovery, population health innovation initiatives and public domain knowledge networks. When sponsored, this concept will be tested by 12 confirmed clinical research and public health organizations in six countries. The potential impact of this platform is reduced drug discovery and public health innovation lag time and improved clinical trial interventions, due to reliable clinical intelligence and bio-surveillance across all phases of the clinical innovation process.

Global Health Innovation Technology Models

PubMed Central

Harding, Kimberly

2016-01-01

Chronic technology and business process disparities between High Income, Low Middle Income and Low Income (HIC, LMIC, LIC) research collaborators directly prevent the growth of sustainable Global Health innovation for infectious and rare diseases. There is a need for an Open Source-Open Science Architecture Framework to bridge this divide. We are proposing such a framework for consideration by the Global Health community, by utilizing a hybrid approach of integrating agnostic Open Source technology and healthcare interoperability standards and Total Quality Management principles. We will validate this architecture framework through our programme called Project Orchid. Project Orchid is a conceptual Clinical Intelligence Exchange and Virtual Innovation platform utilizing this approach to support clinical innovation efforts for multi-national collaboration that can be locally sustainable for LIC and LMIC research cohorts. The goal is to enable LIC and LMIC research organizations to accelerate their clinical trial process maturity in the field of drug discovery, population health innovation initiatives and public domain knowledge networks. When sponsored, this concept will be tested by 12 confirmed clinical research and public health organizations in six countries. The potential impact of this platform is reduced drug discovery and public health innovation lag time and improved clinical trial interventions, due to reliable clinical intelligence and bio-surveillance across all phases of the clinical innovation process.

Biomedical device innovation methodology: applications in biophotonics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beswick, Daniel M.; Kaushik, Arjun; Beinart, Dylan; McGarry, Sarah; Yew, Ming Khoon; Kennedy, Brendan F.; Maria, Peter Luke Santa

2018-02-01

The process of medical device innovation involves an iterative method that focuses on designing innovative, device-oriented solutions that address unmet clinical needs. This process has been applied to the field of biophotonics with many notable successes. Device innovation begins with identifying an unmet clinical need and evaluating this need through a variety of lenses, including currently existing solutions for the need, stakeholders who are interested in the need, and the market that will support an innovative solution. Only once the clinical need is understood in detail can the invention process begin. The ideation phase often involves multiple levels of brainstorming and prototyping with the aim of addressing technical and clinical questions early and in a cost-efficient manner. Once potential solutions are found, they are tested against a number of known translational factors, including intellectual property, regulatory, and reimbursement landscapes. Only when the solution matches the clinical need, the next phase of building a "to market" strategy should begin. Most aspects of the innovation process can be conducted relatively quickly and without significant capital expense. This white paper focuses on key points of the medical device innovation method and how the field of biophotonics has been applied within this framework to generate clinical and commercial success.

The Technical Baccalaureate: Providing Excellence in Vocational Education?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Acquah, Daniel K.; Malpass, Debra

2017-01-01

Proposals for a technical baccalaureate have received cross-party support in England. The technical baccalaureate is intended to deliver the necessary training to enable young people to fill the UK's skills gap in intermediate-level occupations in STEM and other sectors. This paper explores how to design and implement a high-quality technical…

Innovations and Innovative Approaches or Pseudo-Innovations in the Context of General Globalization? It’s Time to Wake Up!

PubMed Central

Tchernev, Georgi

2018-01-01

Globalisation, scientific and technical progress are the basis of numerous innovative therapies for oncologic and non-oncologic diseases. It is another matter how much and by whom they are desired, and whether they have to be applied. When and how often? Innovative approaches should go towards simplification, universal distribution and application while at the same time analysis between the potential initial investment and the achieved final result should be made. An illustrative example for this is the targeted therapy for melanoma with its low baseline criteria or basic rules for its surgical treatment. Another example could be the confocal microscopy in the context of dysplastic nevus syndrome. Therapies for various autoimmune diseases should also be considered critically. In the current OAMJMS issue, as well as in some of our other ideas and statements reported also in OAMJMS, we are trying to answer at least to a part of these dilemmas, to provoke a critical point of view and to ask some simple questions: “Should any innovation be considered as a face value? Which is potentially beneficial for our patients? How could we regulate the processes to minimise the need for expensive medications for certain diseases? And, of course, we are also turning to our own mistakes by visualising the results of them! PMID:29483969

Innovation strategies for generic drug companies: moving into supergenerics.

PubMed

Ross, Malcolm S F

2010-04-01

Pharmaceutical companies that market generic products generally are not regarded as innovators, but rather as companies that produce copies of originator products to be launched at patent expiration. However, many generics companies have developed excellent scientific innovative skills in an effort to circumvent the defense patents of originator companies. More patents per product, in terms of both drug substances (process patents and polymorph patents) and formulations, are issued to generics companies than to companies that are traditionally considered to be 'innovators'. This quantity of issued patents highlights the technical knowledge and skill sets that are available in generics companies. In order to adopt a completely innovative model (ie, the development of NCEs), a generics company would require a completely new set of skills in several fields, including a sufficient knowledge base, project and risk management experience, and capability for clinical data evaluation. However, with relatively little investment, generics companies should be able to progress into the so-called 'supergeneric' drug space - an area of innovation that reflects the existing competencies of both innovative and generics companies.

Materials Technical Team Roadmap

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

none,

2013-08-01

Roadmap identifying the efforts of the Materials Technical Team (MTT) to focus primarily on reducing the mass of structural systems such as the body and chassis in light-duty vehicles (including passenger cars and light trucks) which enables improved vehicle efficiency regardless of the vehicle size or propulsion system employed.

International workshop: islet transplantation without borders enabling islet transplantation in Greece with international collaboration and innovative technology.

PubMed

Papas, Klearchos K; Karatzas, Theodore; Berney, Thierry; Minor, Thomas; Pappas, Paris; Pattou, François; Shaw, James; Toso, Christian; Schuurman, Henk-Jan

2013-01-01

Recently, initiatives have been undertaken to establish an islet transplantation program in Athens, Greece. A major hurdle is the high cost associated with the establishment and maintenance of a clinical-grade islet manufacturing center. A collaboration was established with the University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland, to enable remote islet cell manufacturing with an established and validated fully operational team. However, remote islet manufacturing requires shipment of the pancreas from the procurement to the islet manufacturing site (in this case from anywhere in Greece to Geneva) and then shipment of the islets from the manufacturing site to the transplant site (from Geneva to Athens). To address challenges related to cold ischemia time of the pancreas and shipment time of islets, a collaboration was initiated with the University of Arizona, Tucson, USA. An international workshop was held in Athens, December 2011, to mark the start of this collaborative project. Experts in the field presented in three main sessions: (i) islet transplantation: state-of-the-art and the "network approach"; (ii) technical aspects of clinical islet transplantation and outcomes; and (iii) islet manufacturing - from the donated pancreas to the islet product. This manuscript presents a summary of the workshop. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Emerging Lessons From Regional and State Innovation in Value-Based Payment Reform: Balancing Collaboration and Disruptive Innovation

PubMed Central

Conrad, Douglas A; Grembowski, David; Hernandez, Susan E; Lau, Bernard; Marcus-Smith, Miriam

2014-01-01

structure for galvanizing payment reform. But to achieve the objectives of reduced cost and improved quality, multistakeholder payment innovation must overcome such barriers as incompatible information systems, the technical difficulties and transaction costs of altering existing billing and payment systems, competing stakeholder priorities, insufficient scale to bear population health risk, providers’ limited experience with risk-bearing payment models, and the failure to align care delivery models with the form of payment. Conclusions From the evidence adduced in this article, multistakeholder, value-based payment reform requires a trusted, widely respected “honest broker” that can convene and maintain the ongoing commitment of health plans, providers, and purchasers. Change management is complex and challenging, and coalition governance requires flexibility and stable leadership, as market conditions and stakeholder engagement and priorities shift over time. Another significant facilitator of value-based payment reform is outside investment that enables increased investment in human resources, information infrastructure, and care management by provider organizations and their collaborators. Supportive community and social service networks that enhance population health management also are important enablers of value-based payment reform. External pressure from public and private payers is fueling a “burning bridge” between the past of fee-for-service payment models and the future of payments based on value. Robust competition in local health plan and provider markets, coupled with an appropriate mix of multistakeholder governance, pressure from organized purchasers, and regulatory oversight, has the potential to spur value-based payment innovation that combines elements of “reformed” fee-for-service with bundled payments and global payments. PMID:25199900

PREFACE: 2nd International Conference on Innovative Materials, Structures and Technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ručevskis, Sandris

2015-11-01

The 2nd International Conference on Innovative Materials, Structures and Technologies (IMST 2015) took place in Riga, Latvia from 30th September - 2nd October, 2015. The first event of the conference series, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Faculty of Civil Engineering of Riga Technical University, was held in 2013. Following the established tradition, the aim of the conference was to promote and discuss the latest results of industrial and academic research carried out in the following engineering fields: analysis and design of advanced structures and buildings; innovative, ecological and energy efficient building materials; maintenance, inspection and monitoring methods; construction technologies; structural management; sustainable and safe transport infrastructure; and geomatics and geotechnics. The conference provided an excellent opportunity for leading researchers, representatives of the industrial community, engineers, managers and students to share the latest achievements, discuss recent advances and highlight the current challenges. IMST 2015 attracted over 120 scientists from 24 countries. After rigorous reviewing, over 80 technical papers were accepted for publication in the conference proceedings. On behalf of the organizing committee I would like to thank all the speakers, authors, session chairs and reviewers for their efficient and timely effort. The 2nd International Conference on Innovative Materials, Structures and Technologies was organized by the Faculty of Civil Engineering of Riga Technical University with the support of the Latvia State Research Programme under the grant agreement "INNOVATIVE MATERIALS AND SMART TECHNOLOGIES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY, IMATEH". I would like to express sincere gratitude to Juris Smirnovs, Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, and Andris Chate, manager of the Latvia State Research Programme. Finally, I would like to thank all those who helped to make this event happen. Special thanks go to Diana

The Environment and Directed Technical Change.

PubMed

Acemoglu, Daron; Aghion, Philippe; Bursztyn, Leonardo; Hemous, David

2012-02-01

This paper introduces endogenous and directed technical change in a growth model with environmental constraints. The final good is produced from "dirty" and "clean" inputs. We show that: (i) when inputs are sufficiently substitutable, sustainable growth can be achieved with temporary taxes/subsidies that redirect innovation toward clean inputs; (ii) optimal policy involves both "carbon taxes" and research subsidies, avoiding excessive use of carbon taxes; (iii) delay in intervention is costly, as it later necessitates a longer transition phase with slow growth; and (iv) use of an exhaustible resource in dirty input production helps the switch to clean innovation under laissez-faire. (JEL O33, O44, Q30, Q54, Q56, Q58).

Microfluidics-Enabled Diagnostic Systems: Markets, Challenges, and Examples.

PubMed

Becker, Holger; Gärtner, Claudia

2017-01-01

Microfluidics has become an important tool for the commercial product development in diagnostics. This article will focus on current technical demands during the development process such as material and integration challenges. Furthermore, we present data on the diagnostics market as well as examples of microfluidics-enabled systems currently under commercial development or already on the market.

The Understanding and Interpretation of Innovative Technology-Enabled Multidimensional Physical Activity Feedback in Patients at Risk of Future Chronic Disease

PubMed Central

Western, Max J.; Peacock, Oliver J.; Stathi, Afroditi; Thompson, Dylan

2015-01-01

Background Innovative physical activity monitoring technology can be used to depict rich visual feedback that encompasses the various aspects of physical activity known to be important for health. However, it is unknown whether patients who are at risk of chronic disease would understand such sophisticated personalised feedback or whether they would find it useful and motivating. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether technology-enabled multidimensional physical activity graphics and visualisations are comprehensible and usable for patients at risk of chronic disease. Method We developed several iterations of graphics depicting minute-by-minute activity patterns and integrated physical activity health targets. Subsequently, patients at moderate/high risk of chronic disease (n=29) and healthcare practitioners (n=15) from South West England underwent full 7-days activity monitoring followed by individual semi-structured interviews in which they were asked to comment on their own personalised visual feedback Framework analysis was used to gauge their interpretation and of personalised feedback, graphics and visualisations. Results We identified two main components focussing on (a) the interpretation of feedback designs and data and (b) the impact of personalised visual physical activity feedback on facilitation of health behaviour change. Participants demonstrated a clear ability to understand the sophisticated personal information plus an enhanced physical activity knowledge. They reported that receiving multidimensional feedback was motivating and could be usefully applied to facilitate their efforts in becoming more physically active. Conclusion Multidimensional physical activity feedback can be made comprehensible, informative and motivational by using appropriate graphics and visualisations. There is an opportunity to exploit the full potential created by technological innovation and provide sophisticated personalised physical activity feedback

Telepresence-enabled research and developing work practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mirmalek, Z.

2016-02-01

In the fall of 2014, a group of scientists and students conducted two weeks of telepresence-enabled research from the University of Rhode Island Inner Space Center and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution with the Exploration Vessel Nautilus, which was at sea studying the Kick'em Jenny submarine volcano and Barbados Mud Volcanoes. The way that they conducted their work was not so different from other telepresence-enabled ocean science exploration. As a group, they spanned geographic distance, science expertise, exploration experience, and telepresence-enabled research experience. They were connected through technologies and work culture (e.g., shared habits, values, and practices particular to a community). Uniquely, their project included an NSF-sponsored cultural study on the workgroups' own use of technologies and social processes. The objective of the cultural study was, in part, to identify social and technical features of the work environment that present opportunities to better support science exploration via telepresence. Drawing from this case, and related research, I present some analysis on the developing work culture of telepresence-enabled research and highlight potential adjustments.

Small Business Innovations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

The purpose of QASE RT is to enable system analysts and software engineers to evaluate performance and reliability implications of design alternatives. The program resulted from two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) projects. After receiving a description of the system architecture and workload from the user, QASE RT translates the system description into simulation models and executes them. Simulation provides detailed performance evaluation. The results of the evaluations are service and response times, offered load and device utilizations and functional availability.

Exploring Mission Concepts with the JPL Innovation Foundry A-Team

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ziemer, John K.; Ervin, Joan; Lang, Jared

2013-01-01

The JPL Innovation Foundry has established a new approach for exploring, developing, and evaluating early concepts called the A-Team. The A-Team combines innovative collaborative methods with subject matter expertise and analysis tools to help mature mission concepts. Science, implementation, and programmatic elements are all considered during an A-Team study. Methods are grouped by Concept Maturity Level (CML), from 1 through 3, including idea generation and capture (CML 1), initial feasibility assessment (CML 2), and trade space exploration (CML 3). Methods used for each CML are presented, and the key team roles are described from two points of view: innovative methods and technical expertise. A-Team roles for providing innovative methods include the facilitator, study lead, and assistant study lead. A-Team roles for providing technical expertise include the architect, lead systems engineer, and integration engineer. In addition to these key roles, each A-Team study is uniquely staffed to match the study topic and scope including subject matter experts, scientists, technologists, flight and instrument systems engineers, and program managers as needed. Advanced analysis and collaborative engineering tools (e.g. cost, science traceability, mission design, knowledge capture, study and analysis support infrastructure) are also under development for use in A-Team studies and will be discussed briefly. The A-Team facilities provide a constructive environment for innovative ideas from all aspects of mission formulation to eliminate isolated studies and come together early in the development cycle when they can provide the biggest impact. This paper provides an overview of the A-Team, its study processes, roles, methods, tools and facilities.

Technical note: The Linked Paleo Data framework - a common tongue for paleoclimatology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McKay, Nicholas P.; Emile-Geay, Julien

2016-04-01

Paleoclimatology is a highly collaborative scientific endeavor, increasingly reliant on online databases for data sharing. Yet there is currently no universal way to describe, store and share paleoclimate data: in other words, no standard. Data standards are often regarded by scientists as mere technicalities, though they underlie much scientific and technological innovation, as well as facilitating collaborations between research groups. In this article, we propose a preliminary data standard for paleoclimate data, general enough to accommodate all the archive and measurement types encountered in a large international collaboration (PAGES 2k). We also introduce a vehicle for such structured data (Linked Paleo Data, or LiPD), leveraging recent advances in knowledge representation (Linked Open Data).The LiPD framework enables quick querying and extraction, and we expect that it will facilitate the writing of open-source community codes to access, analyze, model and visualize paleoclimate observations. We welcome community feedback on this standard, and encourage paleoclimatologists to experiment with the format for their own purposes.

Opening Public Administration: Exploring Open Innovation Archetypes and Business Model Impacts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feller, Joseph; Finnegan, Patrick; Nilsson, Olof

This work-in-progress paper presents an exploration of a network of Swedish municipal authorities. Within this network, we have observed a move from isolated innovation to leveraging inflows and outflows of knowledge in a manner characteristic of the open innovation paradigm. This paper presents a characterization of these knowledge exchanges using an existing framework of open innovation archetypes, as well as an initial description of the business model impacts of this innovation approach on the participant municipalities, and the enabling role of information technology. The paper concludes by drawing preliminary conclusions and outlining ongoing research.

Innovation in industry and the diffusion of technology.

PubMed

Utterback, J M

1974-02-15

The varied definitions used in the sources that have been discussed make any aggregate analysis difficult. A simple three-stage analysis of flows to, from, and within the firm was used to facilitate comparisons. Even so, each of the generalizations is drawn from relatively small and unrepresentative samples. Case studies may continue to be a source of ideas and hypotheses for further research, but do not appear to offer a means for deeper understanding of the innovation process. The retrospective nature of nearly all of the sources discussed probably means that the process has been viewed as much more rational and well-ordered than it is in fact. This failing is partially overcome in firsthand accounts such as those of Suites and Bueche (63) and Frey and Goldman (64). Each of these accounts involves a successful innovation according to technical or commercial criteria, or both. However, many of the characteristics of innovations that have failed commercially (10) appear to be similar to those of successful cases. The few longitudinal studies, and studies comparing more and less successful cases, do support the main conclusions drawn above (10, 32, 38). More serious problems are raised by the distinctly nonrepresentative nature of the samples used. There are few cases (17, 33, 65) in which the contributions of more than one organization, or details of interactions over a significant period of time, are discussed. There is a wide variation in the importance of the innovations included, ranging from those affecting the economy as a whole to cases involving production in a single firm, albeit with significant commercial results (66). In addition to questions of comparability and sampling, a central problem for further research on innovation will be to devise an operational model to account for interfirm and interindustry differences. Polar definitions used in past studies, "high technology" and "mature industry," for example, are insufficient. One possibility is to use

Maximizing Research and Development Resources: Identifying and Testing "Load-Bearing Conditions" for Educational Technology Innovations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iriti, Jennifer; Bickel, William; Schunn, Christian; Stein, Mary Kay

2016-01-01

Education innovations often have a complicated set of assumptions about the contexts in which they are implemented, which may not be explicit. Education technology innovations in particular may have additional technical and cultural assumptions. As a result, education technology research and development efforts as well as scaling efforts can be…

Implementation of a Technological Innovation: Factors Influencing the Adoption of a New Student Information System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnston, Katrina M.

2013-01-01

School information systems (SIS) have the potential to cause a change in a school's technical, structural, psycho-social, and managerial systems. Implementation of a technological innovation such as an SIS is not a one-step occurrence; it is a process that occurs over time. Implementing any technological innovation involves active learning…

The NASA Technical Report Server

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nelson, M. L.; Gottlich, G. L.; Bianco, D. J.; Paulson, S. S.; Binkley, R. L.; Kellogg, Y. D.; Beaumont, C. J.; Schmunk, R. B.; Kurtz, M. J.; Accomazzi, A.; Syed, O.

The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and charged it to "provide for the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of information concerning...its activities and the results thereof". The search for innovative methods to distribute NASA's information led a grass-roots team to create the NASA Technical Report Server (NTRS), which uses the World Wide Web and other popular Internet-based information systems .

Transcending Technological Innovation: The Impact of Acquisitions on Entrepreneurial Technical Organizations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crochetiere, Bruce

2011-01-01

Technology firms with substantial cash reserves acquire smaller entrepreneurial firms for diversification. In 2006, 3 large firms acquired 28 organizations, with the combined deals exceeding $4.7 billion. The problem addressed in this study is that new start-up companies with innovative ideas may not mature when they are acquired by larger…

The Systems Thinking and Curriculum Innovation Project. Technical Report, Part 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mandinach, Ellen B.; Thorpe, Margaret E.

This is the second of two reports on the first year activities and results of the Systems Thinking and Curriculum Innovation Project (STACI), a two-year project which is examining the cognitive demands and consequences of using the STELLA (Structural Thinking Experimental Learning Laboratory with Animation) software to teach systems thinking,…

Factors Forming Collaboration within the Knowledge Triangle of Education, Research and Innovation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zascerinska, Jelena; Ahrens, Andreas; Bassus, Olaf

2009-01-01

A proper combination of education, research and innovation is provided by varied cooperative networks. However, the success of collaboration within a multicultural environment requires that the key factors enabling synergy between education, research and innovation have to be considered. Aim of the following paper is to identify and to analyze…

Interactive BIM-Enabled Safety Training Piloted in Construction Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clevenger, Caroline; Lopez del Puerto, Carla; Glick, Scott

2015-01-01

This paper documents and assesses the development of a construction safety training module featuring interactive, BIM-enabled, 3D visualizations to test if such a tool can enhance safety training related to scaffolds. This research documents the technical challenges and the lessons learned through the development and administration of a prototype…

Nuclear Energy Innovation Workshops. Executive Summary

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Allen, Todd; Jackson, John; Hildebrandt, Phil

The nuclear energy innovation workshops were organized and conducted by INL on March 2-4, 2015 at the five NUC universities and Boise State University. The output from these workshops is summarized with particular attention to final summaries that were provided by technical leads at each of the workshops. The current revision includes 3-4 punctuation corrections and a correction of the month of release from May to June.

Crowd Sourcing for Challenging Technical Problems and Business Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davis, Jeffrey R.; Richard, Elizabeth

2011-01-01

Crowd sourcing may be defined as the act of outsourcing tasks that are traditionally performed by an employee or contractor to an undefined, generally large group of people or community (a crowd) in the form of an open call. The open call may be issued by an organization wishing to find a solution to a particular problem or complete a task, or by an open innovation service provider on behalf of that organization. In 2008, the Space Life Sciences Directorate (SLSD), with the support of Wyle Integrated Science and Engineering, established and implemented pilot projects in open innovation (crowd sourcing) to determine if these new internet-based platforms could indeed find solutions to difficult technical challenges. These unsolved technical problems were converted to problem statements, also called "Challenges" or "Technical Needs" by the various open innovation service providers, and were then posted externally to seek solutions. In addition, an open call was issued internally to NASA employees Agency wide (10 Field Centers and NASA HQ) using an open innovation service provider crowd sourcing platform to post NASA challenges from each Center for the others to propose solutions). From 2008 to 2010, the SLSD issued 34 challenges, 14 externally and 20 internally. The 14 external problems or challenges were posted through three different vendors: InnoCentive, Yet2.com and TopCoder. The 20 internal challenges were conducted using the InnoCentive crowd sourcing platform designed for internal use by an organization. This platform was customized for NASA use and promoted as NASA@Work. The results were significant. Of the seven InnoCentive external challenges, two full and five partial awards were made in complex technical areas such as predicting solar flares and long-duration food packaging. Similarly, the TopCoder challenge yielded an optimization algorithm for designing a lunar medical kit. The Yet2.com challenges yielded many new industry and academic contacts in bone

Innovative CO2 LASER-Based Pavement Striping and Stripe Removal

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-07-01

This is a Technical Report of an FY2014 NDOT funded project on Innovative CO2 Laserbased Pavement Striping and Stripe Removal. The project was concerned with adopting the laser technology for pavement stripe and markers removal and inferring on its e...

The Science And Art Of Delivery: Accelerating The Diffusion Of Health Care Innovation.

PubMed

Parston, Greg; McQueen, Julie; Patel, Hannah; Keown, Oliver P; Fontana, Gianluca; Al Kuwari, Hanan; Al Kuwari, Hannan; Darzi, Ara

2015-12-01

There is a widely acknowledged time lag in health care between an invention or innovation and its widespread use across a health system. Much is known about the factors that can aid the uptake of innovations within discrete organizations. Less is known about what needs to be done to enable innovations to transform large systems of health care. This article describes the results of in-depth case studies aimed at assessing the role of key agents and agencies that facilitate the rapid adoption of innovations. The case studies-from Argentina, England, Nepal, Singapore, Sweden, the United States, and Zambia-represent widely varying health systems and economies. The implications of the findings for policy makers are discussed in terms of key factors within a phased approach for creating a climate for change, engaging and enabling the whole organization, and implementing and sustaining change. Purposeful and directed change management is needed to drive system transformation. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Einstein Slew Survey: Data analysis innovations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Elvis, Martin S.; Plummer, David; Schachter, Jonathan F.; Fabbiano, G.

1992-01-01

Several new methods were needed in order to make the Einstein Slew X-ray Sky Survey. The innovations which enabled the Slew Survey to be done are summarized. These methods included experimental approach to large projects, parallel processing on a LAN, percolation source detection, minimum action identifications, and rapid dissemination of the whole data base.

From mechanisms to function: an integrated framework of animal innovation

PubMed Central

Tebbich, Sabine; Griffin, Andrea S.; Peschl, Markus F.; Sterelny, Kim

2016-01-01

Animal innovations range from the discovery of novel food types to the invention of completely novel behaviours. Innovations can give access to new opportunities, and thus enable innovating agents to invade and create novel niches. This in turn can pave the way for morphological adaptation and adaptive radiation. The mechanisms that make innovations possible are probably as diverse as the innovations themselves. So too are their evolutionary consequences. Perhaps because of this diversity, we lack a unifying framework that links mechanism to function. We propose a framework for animal innovation that describes the interactions between mechanism, fitness benefit and evolutionary significance, and which suggests an expanded range of experimental approaches. In doing so, we split innovation into factors (components and phases) that can be manipulated systematically, and which can be investigated both experimentally and with correlational studies. We apply this framework to a selection of cases, showing how it helps us ask more precise questions and design more revealing experiments. PMID:26926285

Application of Innovative P&E Method at Technical Universities in Slovakia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nemec, Miroslav; Krišták, Luboš; Hockicko, Peter; Danihelová, Zuzana; Velmovská, Klára

2017-01-01

The paper deals with innovative teaching methods at universities. The result of this effort is the interactive P&E method, whose main idea is the interactive work with students while solving problem tasks. The main aim of the given method is to change the students' position, by means of experiment analyses and qualitative tasks, from a passive…

Progress, innovation and regulatory science in drug development: the politics of international standard-setting.

PubMed

Abraham, John; Reed, Tim

2002-06-01

This paper examines international standard-setting in the toxicology of pharmaceuticals during the 1990s, which has involved both the pharmaceutical industry and regulatory agencies in an organization known as the International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH). The analysis shows that the relationships between innovation, regulatory science and 'progress' may be more complex and controversial than is often assumed. An assessment of the ICH's claims about the implications of 'technical' harmonization of drug-testing standards for the maintenance of drug safety, via toxicological testing, and the delivery of therapeutic progress, via innovation, is presented. By demonstrating that there is not a technoscientific validity for these claims, it is argued that, within the ICH, a discourse of technological innovation and scientific progress has been used by regulatory agencies and prominent parts of the transnational pharmaceutical industry to legitimize the lowering and loosening of toxicological standards for drug testing. The mobilization and acceptance of this discourse are shown to be pivotal to the ICH's transformation of reductions in safety standards, which are apparently against the interests of patients and public health, into supposed therapeutic benefits derived from promises of greater access to more innovative drug products. The evidence suggests that it is highly implausible that these reductions in the standards of regulatory toxicology are consistent with therapeutic progress for patients, and highlights a worrying aspect embedded in the 'technical trajectories' of regulatory science.

A Phenomenographic Investigation of the Ways Engineering Students Experience Innovation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fila, Nicholas David

Innovation has become an important phenomenon in engineering and engineering education. By developing novel, feasible, viable, and valued solutions to complex technical and human problems, engineers support the economic competitiveness of organizations, make a difference in the lives of users and other stakeholders, drive societal and scientific progress, and obtain key personal benefits. Innovation is also a complex phenomenon. It occurs across a variety of contexts and domains, encompasses numerous phases and activities, and requires unique competency profiles. Despite this complexity, many studies in engineering education focus on specific aspects (e.g., engineering students' abilities to generate original concepts during idea generation), and we still know little about the variety of ways engineering students approach and understand innovation. This study addresses that gap by asking: 1. What are the qualitatively different ways engineering students experience innovation during their engineering projects? 2. What are the structural relationships between the ways engineering students experience innovation? This study utilized phenomenography, a qualitative research method, to explore the above research questions. Thirty-three engineering students were recruited to ensure thorough coverage along four factors suggested by the literature to support differences related to innovation: engineering project experience, academic major, year in school, and gender. Each participant completed a 1-2 hour, semi-structured interview that focused on experiences with and conceptions of innovation. Whole transcripts were analyzed using an eight-stage, iterative, and comparative approach meant to identify a limited number of categories of description (composite ways of experiencing innovation comprised of the experiences of several participants), and the structural relationships between these categories. Phenomenographic analysis revealed eight categories of description that were

Specific character of sustainable innovative development of transport construction in self-regulation conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gumba, Khuta; Belyaeva, Svetlana

2017-10-01

The providing of sustainable development is impossible without activating the innovative activity of backbone economical sectors, in particular of transport construction. The system of self-regulation of activities is a specific feature of the transport industry development. The authors carried out the correlation analysis of innovative activity of construction enterprises, which proved the necessity of improving the normative and technical documents. The authors proposed and calculated the index of the legislation stability in the industry. The article suggests recommendations on the activation of innovative development in construction industry basing on the results of the modeling.

Implementation Characteristics of Organizational Innovations: Limits and Opportunities for Management Strategies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leonard-Barton, Dorothy

1988-01-01

Examines the effects of a technology's implementation characteristics (its transferability, organizational complexity, and divisibility) on tactics managers use to implement an innovation, such as: involving users, managing sponsorship, and managing organizational change in concert with technical change. (SR)

Science-Driven Innovation Can Reduce Wind Energy Costs by 50% by 2030 |

Science.gov Websites

-technology innovations, the unsubsidized cost of wind energy could drop to 50% of current levels, equivalent resulting innovations enabled by advances in science will impact the levelized cost of energy (defined as the total cost of installing and operating a project per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated by the

VET Applied Research: Driving VET's Role in the Innovation System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beddie, Francesca M.; Simon, Linda

2017-01-01

Innovation has become an increasingly important concept for Australian businesses in enabling them to continue to compete in an international market, but where does vocational education and training (VET) sit in this? To date, VET has been largely overlooked by the National Innovation and Science Agenda as a potential contributor in this field.…

The Environment and Directed Technical Change†

PubMed Central

Acemoglu, Daron; Aghion, Philippe; Bursztyn, Leonardo

2015-01-01

This paper introduces endogenous and directed technical change in a growth model with environmental constraints. The final good is produced from “dirty” and “clean” inputs. We show that: (i) when inputs are sufficiently substitutable, sustainable growth can be achieved with temporary taxes/subsidies that redirect innovation toward clean inputs; (ii) optimal policy involves both “carbon taxes” and research subsidies, avoiding excessive use of carbon taxes; (iii) delay in intervention is costly, as it later necessitates a longer transition phase with slow growth; and (iv) use of an exhaustible resource in dirty input production helps the switch to clean innovation under laissez-faire. (JEL O33, O44, Q30, Q54, Q56, Q58) PMID:26719595

Designing Pedagogical Innovation for Collaborating Teacher Teams

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weitze, Charlotte Laerke

2017-01-01

In this design-based research project, teachers co-created and used a new learning design model, the "IT-Pedagogical Think Tank Model for Teacher Teams." This continuous-competence-development method enabled teachers to collaborate and develop innovative-learning designs for students in a new hybrid synchronous video-mediated learning…

A technical innovation for improving identification of the trackers by the LED cameras in navigation-assisted total knee arthroplasty.

PubMed

Darmanis, Spyridon; Toms, Andrew; Durman, Robert; Moore, Donna; Eyres, Keith

2007-07-01

To reduce the operating time in computer-assisted navigated total knee replacement (TKR), by improving communication between the infrared camera and the trackers placed on the patient. The innovation involves placing a routinely used laser pointer on top of the camera, so that the infrared cameras focus precisely on the trackers located on the knee to be operated on. A prospective randomized study was performed involving 40 patients divided into two groups, A and B. Both groups underwent navigated TKR, but for group B patients a laser pointer was used to improve the targeting capabilities of the cameras. Without the laser pointer, the camera had to move a mean 9.2 times in order to identify the trackers. With the introduction of the laser pointer, this was reduced to 0.9 times. Accordingly, the additional mean time required without the laser pointer was 11.6 minutes. Time delays are a major problem in computer-assisted surgery, and our technical suggestion can contribute towards reducing the delays associated with this particular application.

An Extension Case Study in Institutional Innovation: Microfinance Intermediary Formation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edelman, Mark A.

2015-01-01

An institutional innovation process led by Extension created a statewide microfinance intermediary. The intermediary provides business technical assistance and microloans to entrepreneurs having difficulty securing conventional credit but having workable business plans. The process included (1) gathering indicators of a problem; (2) formation of a…

Sonic Boom Modeling Technical Challenge

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sullivan, Brenda M.

2007-01-01

This viewgraph presentation reviews the technical challenges in modeling sonic booms. The goal of this program is to develop knowledge, capabilities and technologies to enable overland supersonic flight. The specific objectives of the modeling are: (1) Develop and validate sonic boom propagation model through realistic atmospheres, including effects of turbulence (2) Develop methods enabling prediction of response of and acoustic transmission into structures impacted by sonic booms (3) Develop and validate psychoacoustic model of human response to sonic booms under both indoor and outdoor listening conditions, using simulators.

Innovation for the future of Irish MedTech industry: retrospective qualitative review of impact of BioInnovate Ireland's clinical fellows.

PubMed

McGloughlin, Elizabeth Kate; Anglim, Paul; Keogh, Ivan; Sharif, Faisal

2018-01-01

Clinicians have historically been integral in innovating and developing technology in medicine and surgery. In recent years, however, in an increasingly complex healthcare system, a doctor with innovative ideas is often left behind. Transition from idea to bedside now entails significant hurdles, which often go unrecognised at the outset, particularly for first-time innovators. The BioInnnovate Ireland process, based on the Stanford Biodesign Programme (Identify, Invent and Implement), aims to streamline the process of innovation within the MedTech sector. These programmes focus on needs-based innovation and enable multidisciplinary teams to innovate and collaborate more succinctly. In this preliminary study, the authors aimed to examine the impact of BioInnovate Ireland has had on the clinicians involved and validate the collaborative process. To date, 13 fellows with backgrounds in clinical medicine have participated in the BioInnovate programme. Ten of these clinicians remain involved in clinical innovation projects with four of these working on Enterprise Ireland funded commercialisation grants and one working as chief executive officer of a service-led start-up, Strive. Of these, five also remain engaged in clinical practice on a full or part-time basis. The clinicians who have returned to full-time clinical practice have used the process and learning of the programme to influence their individual clinical areas and actively seek innovative solutions to meet clinical challenges. Clinicians, in particular, describe gaining value from the BioInnovate programme in areas of 'Understanding Entrepreneurship' and 'Business Strategy'. Further study is needed into the quantitative impact on the ecosystem and impact to other stakeholders.

American export control, technology spillover and innovation of Chinese pharmaceutical Industry.

PubMed

Hui, Jiang

2017-05-01

This paper was aimed to analyze whether the U.S. strict export control to China affects the technological innovation of Chinese pharmaceutical industry. This paper selected the data of technological innovation and the expenditure of high and new technology adoption in China's pharmaceutical industry from 1995 to 2014, created panel regression model to study the impact of export controls on technology spillovers and the impact of technology spillovers on innovation capacity. The results show that US export control has a significant impact on technology spillovers, but foreign technology spillovers have no significant impact on the innovation of Chinese pharmaceutical industry. Although the US export control prevented foreign technology spillovers to China, but indirectly stimulated the domestic technology spillovers to pharmaceutical manufacturing industry in China. Statistical analysis show that the correlation coefficient between innovation capacity and expenditure for high technology adoption is not significant, but the expenditure of purchasing domestic technical is essential to pharmaceutical innovation. This study shows that US export control indirectly, not directly, affected the technological innovation of China's pharmaceutical industry, affected the allocation of innovative resources, but failed to prevent the technological progress and competitiveness improvement of Chinese pharmaceutical industry.

History, Evolution, and Continuing Innovations of Intracranial Aneurysm Surgery.

PubMed

Lai, Leon T; O'Neill, Anthea H

2017-06-01

Evolution in the surgical treatment of intracranial aneurysms is driven by the need to refine and innovate. From an early application of the Hunterian carotid ligation to modern-day sophisticated aneurysm clip designs, progress has been made through dedication and technical maturation of cerebrovascular neurosurgeons to overcome challenges in their practices. The global expansion of endovascular services has challenged the existence of aneurysm surgery, changing the complexity of the aneurysm case mix and volume that are referred for surgical repair. Concepts of how to best treat intracranial aneurysms have evolved over generations and will continue to do so with further technological innovations. As with the evolution of any type of surgery, innovations frequently arise from the criticism of current techniques. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Hanford`s innovations for science education

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carter, D.

1996-12-31

In recognition of declining science literacy in the United States and a projected shortfall of scientists, engineers and technologists to address environmental problems nationally and internationally during the 21st century, Westinghouse Hanford Company has launched several innovative science education projects at the US Department of Energy Hanford Site. The Hanford Site is very rich in resources that can be brought to bear on the problem: world-class technical experts, state of the art facilities and equipment, and the largest environmental laboratory in the world. During the past two years, several innovative science education initiatives have been conceived and pursued at themore » secondary education level including the International Academy for the Environment (residential high school with an environmental theme), Environmental BATTmobile Program (mobile middle school science education program), and Multicultural Experiences in Math and Science (education program based on cultural contributions to math and science). Hanford scientists, engineers and administrators have worked with the education community (K-12 and college-university) to develop innovative approaches to science education.« less

Innovation under cap-and-trade programs

PubMed Central

Taylor, Margaret R.

2012-01-01

Policies incentivizing the private sector to reach its innovative potential in “clean” technologies are likely to play a key role in achieving climate stabilization. This article explores the relationship between innovation and cap-and-trade programs (CTPs)—the world's most prominent climate policy instrument—through empirical evidence drawn from successful CTPs for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide control. The article shows that before trading began for these CTPs, analysts overestimated the value of allowances in a pattern suggestive of the frequent a priori overestimation of the compliance costs of regulation. When lower-than-expected allowance prices were observed, in part because of the unexpected range of abatement approaches used in the lead-up to trading, emissions sources chose to bank allowances in significant numbers and reassess abatement approaches going forward. In addition, commercially oriented inventive activity declined for emissions-reducing technologies with a wide range of costs and technical characteristics, dropping from peaks before the establishment of CTPs to nadirs a few years into trading. This finding is consistent with innovators deciding during trading that their research and development investments should be reduced, based on assessments of future market conditions under the relevant CTPs. The article concludes with a discussion of the results and their implications for innovation and climate policy. PMID:22411797

Innovation under cap-and-trade programs.

PubMed

Taylor, Margaret R

2012-03-27

Policies incentivizing the private sector to reach its innovative potential in "clean" technologies are likely to play a key role in achieving climate stabilization. This article explores the relationship between innovation and cap-and-trade programs (CTPs)--the world's most prominent climate policy instrument--through empirical evidence drawn from successful CTPs for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide control. The article shows that before trading began for these CTPs, analysts overestimated the value of allowances in a pattern suggestive of the frequent a priori overestimation of the compliance costs of regulation. When lower-than-expected allowance prices were observed, in part because of the unexpected range of abatement approaches used in the lead-up to trading, emissions sources chose to bank allowances in significant numbers and reassess abatement approaches going forward. In addition, commercially oriented inventive activity declined for emissions-reducing technologies with a wide range of costs and technical characteristics, dropping from peaks before the establishment of CTPs to nadirs a few years into trading. This finding is consistent with innovators deciding during trading that their research and development investments should be reduced, based on assessments of future market conditions under the relevant CTPs. The article concludes with a discussion of the results and their implications for innovation and climate policy.

A Phenomenographic Investigation of the Ways Engineering Students Experience Innovation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fila, Nicholas David

2017-01-01

Innovation has become an important phenomenon in engineering and engineering education. By developing novel, feasible, viable, and valued solutions to complex technical and human problems, engineers support the economic competitiveness of organizations, make a difference in the lives of users and other stakeholders, drive societal and scientific…

Building Science-Relevant Literacy with Technical Writing in High School

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Girill, T R

2006-06-02

By drawing on the in-class work of an on-going literacy outreach project, this paper explains how well-chosen technical writing activities can earn time in high-school science courses by enabling underperforming students (including ESL students) to learn science more effectively. We adapted basic research-based text-design and usability techniques into age-appropriate exercises and cases using the cognitive apprenticeship approach. This enabled high-school students, aided by explicit guidelines, to build their cognitive maturity, learn how to craft good instructions and descriptions, and apply those skills to better note taking and technical talks in their science classes.

Technical Assistance to Developers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rockward, Tommy; Borup, Rodney L.; Garzon, Fernando H.

2012-07-17

This task supports the allowance of technical assistance to fuel-cell component and system developers as directed by the DOE. This task includes testing of novel materials and participation in the further development and validation of single cell test protocols. This task also covers technical assistance to DOE Working Groups, the U.S. Council for Automotive Research (USCAR) and the USCAR/DOE Driving Research and Innovation for Vehicle efficiency and Energy sustainability (U.S. Drive) Fuel Cell Technology Team. Assistance includes technical validation of new fuel cell materials and methods, single cell fuel cell testing to support the development of targets and test protocols,more » and regular advisory participation in other working groups and reviews. This assistance is made available to PEM fuel cell developers by request and DOE Approval. The objectives are to: (1) Support technically, as directed by DOE, fuel cell component and system developers; (2) Assess fuel cell materials and components and give feedback to developers; (3) Assist the DOE Durability Working Group with the development of various new material durability Testing protocols; and (4) Provide support to the U.S. Council for Automotive Research (USCAR) and the USCAR/DOE Fuel Cell Technology Team. FY2012 specific technical objectives are: (1) Evaluate novel MPL materials; (2) Develop of startup/ shutdown protocol; (3) Test the impact of hydrophobic treatment on graphite bi-polar plates; (4) Perform complete diagnostics on metal bi-polar plates for corrosion; and (5) Participate and lead efforts in the DOE Working Groups.« less

Enabling Rapid Integration of Combined Arms Teams into a Brigade Combat Team Organizational Structure

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-06-01

organizational structure , fixed vs. mobile forward operating base (FOB) synchronization, prior preparation, and unit capabilities. 5. Ideas to Improve...Technical Report 1356 Enabling Rapid Integration of Combined Arms Teams into a Brigade Combat Team Organizational Structure ...2012 - May 2014 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Enabling Rapid Integration of Combined Arms Teams into a Brigade Combat Team Organizational Structure

Neural Pathway of Renovative and Innovative Products Appreciation.

PubMed

Huang, Furong; Chiu, Chiyue; Luo, Jing

2016-12-12

According to the level of change an invention makes on existing things and how it overrides people's mental schemas on established categories, new inventions can be classified into two groups: incremental inventions (i.e., renovations), which make minor improvements on existing designs, and radical inventions (i.e., innovations), which make major developments that enable people to do things they have never been able to do before. Although innovation and renovation are two fundamentally different types of creation that feature new changes ranging from those in product development to those in large scale social changes, and people tend to report higher subjective preferences for incremental inventions compared to radical inventions, the cognitive brain mechanisms underlying the mental representation of these two types of inventions remains unknown. Through the use of innovative and renovative designs as materials, we found that relative to non-creative designs, creative (renovative &innovative) designs enhanced memory or association-related activation in the right parahippocampus. In particular, innovations evoked more activation in the conceptual pathway for representing objects than did renovations, whereas renovations evoked more activation in the motor pathway than innovations. These results suggest that operating experiences may provide advantages for understanding and appreciating creative designs.

Small Business Innovations (Integrated Database)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

Because of the diversity of NASA's information systems, it was necessary to develop DAVID as a central database management system. Under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant, Ken Wanderman and Associates, Inc. designed software tools enabling scientists to interface with DAVID and commercial database management systems, as well as artificial intelligence programs. The software has been installed at a number of data centers and is commercially available.

The Dilemma of Service Productivity and Service Innovation

PubMed Central

Aspara, Jaakko; Klein, Jan F.; Luo, Xueming; Tikkanen, Henrikki

2017-01-01

We conduct a systematic exploratory investigation of the effects of firms’ existing service productivity on the success of their new service innovations. Although previous research extensively addresses service productivity and service innovation, this is the first empirical study that bridges the gap between these two research streams and examines the links between the two concepts. Based on a comprehensive data set of new service introductions in a financial services market over a 14-year period, we empirically explore the relationship between a firm’s existing service productivity and the firm’s success in introducing new services to the market. The results unveil a fundamental service productivity-service innovation dilemma: Being productive in existing services increases a firm’s willingness to innovate new services proactively but decreases the firm’s capabilities of bringing these services to the market successfully. We provide specific insights into the mechanism underlying the complex relationship between a firm’s productivity in existing services, its innovation proactivity, and its service innovation success. For managers, we not only unpack and elucidate this dilemma but also demonstrate that a focused customer scope and growth market conditions may enable firms to mitigate the dilemma and successfully pursue service productivity and service innovation simultaneously. PMID:29706764

E-learning for textile enterprises innovation improvement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blaga, M.; Harpa, R.; Radulescu, I. R.; Stepjanovic, Z.

2017-10-01

The Erasmus Plus project- TEXMatrix: “Matrix of knowledge for innovation and competitiveness in textile enterprises”, financed through the Erasmus+ Programme, Strategic partnerships- KA2 for Vocational Education and Training, aims at spreading the creative and innovative organizational culture inside textile enterprises by transferring and implementing methodologies, tools and concepts for improved training. Five European partners form the project consortium: INCDTP - Bucharest, Romania (coordinator), TecMinho - Portugal, Centrocot - Italy, University Maribor, Slovenia, and “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, Romania. These will help the textile enterprises involved in the project, to learn how to apply creative thinking in their organizations and how to develop the capacity for innovation and change. The project aims to bridge the gap between textile enterprises need for qualified personnel and the young workforce. It develops an innovative knowledge matrix for the tangible and intangible assets of an enterprise and a benchmarking study, based on which a dedicated software tool will be created. This software tool will aid the decision-making enterprise staff (managers, HR specialists, professionals) as well as the trainees (young employees, students, and scholars) to cope with the new challenges of innovation and competitiveness for the textile field. The purpose of this paper is to present the main objectives and achievements of the project, according to its declared goals, with the focus on the presentation of the knowledge matrix of innovation, which is a powerful instrument for the quantification of the intangible assets of textile enterprises.

Infusion of innovative technologies for mission operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Donati, Alessandro

2010-11-01

The Advanced Mission Concepts and Technologies Office (Mission Technologies Office, MTO for short) at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) of ESA is entrusted with research and development of innovative mission operations concepts systems and provides operations support to special projects. Visions of future missions and requests for improvements from currently flying missions are the two major sources of inspiration to conceptualize innovative or improved mission operations processes. They include monitoring and diagnostics, planning and scheduling, resource management and optimization. The newly identified operations concepts are then proved by means of prototypes, built with embedded, enabling technology and deployed as shadow applications in mission operations for an extended validation phase. The technology so far exploited includes informatics, artificial intelligence and operational research branches. Recent outstanding results include artificial intelligence planning and scheduling applications for Mars Express, advanced integrated space weather monitoring system for the Integral space telescope and a suite of growing client applications for MUST (Mission Utilities Support Tools). The research, development and validation activities at the Mission technologies office are performed together with a network of research institutes across Europe. The objective is narrowing the gap between enabling and innovative technology and space mission operations. The paper first addresses samples of technology infusion cases with their lessons learnt. The second part is focused on the process and the methodology used at the Mission technologies office to fulfill its objectives.

Supporting Better Evidence Generation and Use within Social Innovation in Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Qualitative Study.

PubMed

Ballard, Madeleine; Tran, Jenny; Hersch, Fred; Lockwood, Amy; Hartigan, Pamela; Montgomery, Paul

2017-01-01

While several papers have highlighted a lack of evidence to scale social innovations in health, fewer have explored decision-maker understandings of the relative merit of different types of evidence, how such data are interpreted and applied, and what practical support is required to improve evidence generation. The objectives of this paper are to understand (1) beliefs and attitudes towards the value of and types of evidence in scaling social innovations for health, (2) approaches to evidence generation and evaluation used in systems and policy change, and (3) how better evidence-generation can be undertaken and supported within social innovation in health. Thirty-two one-on-one interviews were conducted between July and November 2015 with purposively selected practitioners, policymakers, and funders from low- and middle- income countries (LMICs). Data were analysed using a Framework Analysis Approach. While practitioners, funders, and policymakers said they held outcome evidence in high regard, their practices only bear out this assertion to varying degrees. Few have given systematic consideration to potential unintended consequences, in particular harm, of the programs they implement, fund, or adopt. Stakeholders suggest that better evidence-generation can be undertaken and supported within social innovation in health by supporting the research efforts of emerging community organizations; creating links between practitioners and academia; altering the funding landscape for evidence-generation; providing responsive technical education; and creating accountability for funders, practitioners, and policymakers. How better evidence-generation can be undertaken and supported within social innovation in health is a previously under-operationalised aspect of the policy-making process that remains essential in order to refrain from causing harm, enable the optimization of existing interventions, and ultimately, to scale and fund what works.

Energy Innovation Hubs: A Home for Scientific Collaboration

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chu, Steven

Secretary Chu will host a live, streaming Q&A session with the directors of the Energy Innovation Hubs on Tuesday, March 6, at 2:15 p.m. EST. The directors will be available for questions regarding their teams' work and the future of American energy. Ask your questions in the comments below, or submit them on Facebook, Twitter (@energy), or send an e-mail to newmedia@hq.doe.gov, prior or during the live event. Dr. Hank Foley is the director of the Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster for Energy-Efficient Buildings, which is pioneering new data intensive techniques for designing and operating energy efficient buildings, including advanced computermore » modeling. Dr. Douglas Kothe is the director of the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors, which uses powerful supercomputers to create "virtual" reactors that will help improve the safety and performance of both existing and new nuclear reactors. Dr. Nathan Lewis is the director of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, which focuses on how to produce fuels from sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. The Energy Innovation Hubs are major integrated research centers, with researchers from many different institutions and technical backgrounds. Each hub is focused on a specific high priority goal, rapidly accelerating scientific discoveries and shortening the path from laboratory innovation to technological development and commercial deployment of critical energy technologies. Ask your questions in the comments below, or submit them on Facebook, Twitter (@energy), or send an e-mail to newmedia@energy.gov, prior or during the live event. The Energy Innovation Hubs are major integrated research centers, with researchers from many different institutions and technical backgrounds. Each Hub is focused on a specific high priority goal, rapidly accelerating scientific discoveries and shortening the path from laboratory innovation to technological development and commercial deployment of critical

Energy Innovation Hubs: A Home for Scientific Collaboration

ScienceCinema

Chu, Steven

2017-12-11

Secretary Chu will host a live, streaming Q&A session with the directors of the Energy Innovation Hubs on Tuesday, March 6, at 2:15 p.m. EST. The directors will be available for questions regarding their teams' work and the future of American energy. Ask your questions in the comments below, or submit them on Facebook, Twitter (@energy), or send an e-mail to newmedia@hq.doe.gov, prior or during the live event. Dr. Hank Foley is the director of the Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster for Energy-Efficient Buildings, which is pioneering new data intensive techniques for designing and operating energy efficient buildings, including advanced computer modeling. Dr. Douglas Kothe is the director of the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors, which uses powerful supercomputers to create "virtual" reactors that will help improve the safety and performance of both existing and new nuclear reactors. Dr. Nathan Lewis is the director of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, which focuses on how to produce fuels from sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. The Energy Innovation Hubs are major integrated research centers, with researchers from many different institutions and technical backgrounds. Each hub is focused on a specific high priority goal, rapidly accelerating scientific discoveries and shortening the path from laboratory innovation to technological development and commercial deployment of critical energy technologies. Ask your questions in the comments below, or submit them on Facebook, Twitter (@energy), or send an e-mail to newmedia@energy.gov, prior or during the live event. The Energy Innovation Hubs are major integrated research centers, with researchers from many different institutions and technical backgrounds. Each Hub is focused on a specific high priority goal, rapidly accelerating scientific discoveries and shortening the path from laboratory innovation to technological development and commercial deployment of critical energy

The chronic care model and technological research and innovation: a scoping review at the crossroads.

PubMed

Gammon, Deede; Berntsen, Gro Karine Rosvold; Koricho, Absera Teshome; Sygna, Karin; Ruland, Cornelia

2015-02-06

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are key to optimizing the outcomes of the Chronic Care Model (CCM), currently acknowledged as the best synthesis of available evidence for chronic illness prevention and management. At the same time, CCM can offer a needed framework for increasing the relevance and feasibility of ICT innovation and research in health care. Little is known about how and to what extent CCM and ICT research inform each other to leverage mutual strengths. The current study examines: What characterizes work being done at the crossroads of CCM and ICT research and innovation? Our aim is identify the gaps and potential that lie between the research domains CCM and ICT, thus enabling more substantive questions and opportunities for accelerating improvements in ICT-supported chronic care. Using a scoping study approach, we developed a search strategy applied to medical and technical databases resulting in 1054 titles and abstracts that address CCM and ICT. After iteratively adapting our inclusion/exclusion criteria to balance between breadth and feasibility, 26 publications from 20 studies were found to fulfill our criteria. Following initial coding of each article according to predefined categories (eg, type of article, CCM component, ICT, health issue), a 1st level analysis was conducted resulting in a broad range of categories. These were gradually reduced by constantly comparing them for underlying commonalities and discrepancies. None of the studies included were from technical databases and interventions relied mostly on "old-fashioned" technologies. Technologies supporting "productive interactions" were often one-way (provider to patient), and it was sometimes difficult to decipher how CCM was guiding intervention design. In particular, the major focus on ICT to support providers did not appear unique to the challenges of chronic care. Challenges in facilitating CCM components through ICT included poorly designed user interfaces

Promoting Creative Thinking Ability Using Contextual Learning Model in Technical Drawing Achievement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mursid, R.

2018-02-01

The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is influence; the differences in the results between students that learn drawing techniques taught by the Contextual Innovative Model (CIM) and taught by Direct Instructional Model (DIM), the differences in achievement among students of technical drawing that have High Creative Thinking Ability (HCTA) with Low Creative Thinking Ability (LCTA), and the interaction between the learning model with the ability to think creatively to the achievement technical drawing. Quasi-experimental research method. Results of research appoint that: the achievement of students that learned technical drawing by using CIM is higher than the students that learned technical drawing by using DIM, the achievement of students of technical drawings HCTA is higher than the achievement of students who have technical drawing LCTA, and there are interactions between the use of learning models and creative thinking abilities in influencing student achievement technical drawing.

Technical attributes, health attribute, consumer attributes and their roles in adoption intention of healthcare wearable technology.

PubMed

Zhang, Min; Luo, Meifen; Nie, Rui; Zhang, Yan

2017-12-01

This paper aims to explore factors influencing the healthcare wearable technology adoption intention from perspectives of technical attributes (perceived convenience, perceived irreplaceability, perceived credibility and perceived usefulness), health attribute (health belief) and consumer attributes (consumer innovativeness, conspicuous consumption, informational reference group influence and gender difference). By integrating technology acceptance model, health belief model, snob effect and conformity and reference group theory, hypotheses and research model are proposed. The empirical investigation (N=436) collects research data through questionnaire. Results show that the adoption intention of healthcare wearable technology is influenced by technical attributes, health attribute and consumer attributes simultaneously. For technical attributes, perceived convenience and perceived credibility both positively affect perceived usefulness, and perceived usefulness influences adoption intention. The relation between perceived irreplaceability and perceived usefulness is only supported by males. For health attribute, health belief affects perceived usefulness for females. For consumer attributes, conspicuous consumption and informational reference group influence can significantly moderate the relation between perceived usefulness and adoption intention and the relation between consumer innovativeness and adoption intention respectively. What's more, consumer innovativeness significantly affects adoption intention for males. This paper aims to discuss technical attributes, health attribute and consumer attributes and their roles in the adoption intention of healthcare wearable technology. Findings may provide enlightenment to differentiate product developing and marketing strategies and provide some implications for clinical medicine. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Potential Role of Social Innovation Financing in Career and Technical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Overholster, George; Klein, Steven

2015-01-01

A new class of financial tools is being developed to promote human capital investments that benefit society. Social innovation financing (SIF) entails raising private capital to support promising social interventions, with the expectation that those providing the funding will eventually be repaid. Funds are allocated based on service providers'…

Understanding Innovation Engines: Automated Creativity and Improved Stochastic Optimization via Deep Learning.

PubMed

Nguyen, A; Yosinski, J; Clune, J

2016-01-01

The Achilles Heel of stochastic optimization algorithms is getting trapped on local optima. Novelty Search mitigates this problem by encouraging exploration in all interesting directions by replacing the performance objective with a reward for novel behaviors. This reward for novel behaviors has traditionally required a human-crafted, behavioral distance function. While Novelty Search is a major conceptual breakthrough and outperforms traditional stochastic optimization on certain problems, it is not clear how to apply it to challenging, high-dimensional problems where specifying a useful behavioral distance function is difficult. For example, in the space of images, how do you encourage novelty to produce hawks and heroes instead of endless pixel static? Here we propose a new algorithm, the Innovation Engine, that builds on Novelty Search by replacing the human-crafted behavioral distance with a Deep Neural Network (DNN) that can recognize interesting differences between phenotypes. The key insight is that DNNs can recognize similarities and differences between phenotypes at an abstract level, wherein novelty means interesting novelty. For example, a DNN-based novelty search in the image space does not explore in the low-level pixel space, but instead creates a pressure to create new types of images (e.g., churches, mosques, obelisks, etc.). Here, we describe the long-term vision for the Innovation Engine algorithm, which involves many technical challenges that remain to be solved. We then implement a simplified version of the algorithm that enables us to explore some of the algorithm's key motivations. Our initial results, in the domain of images, suggest that Innovation Engines could ultimately automate the production of endless streams of interesting solutions in any domain: for example, producing intelligent software, robot controllers, optimized physical components, and art.

Disruptive Innovation Can Prevent the Next Pandemic.

PubMed

Shaikh, Affan T; Ferland, Lisa; Hood-Cree, Robert; Shaffer, Loren; McNabb, Scott J N

2015-01-01

Public health surveillance (PHS) is at a tipping point, where the application of novel processes, technologies, and tools promise to vastly improve efficiency and effectiveness. Yet twentieth century, entrenched ideology and lack of training results in slow uptake and resistance to change. The term disruptive innovation - used to describe advances in technology and processes that change existing markets - is useful to describe the transformation of PHS. Past disruptive innovations used in PHS, such as distance learning, the smart phone, and field-based laboratory testing have outpaced older services, practices, and technologies used in the traditional classroom, governmental offices, and personal communication, respectively. Arguably, the greatest of these is the Internet - an infrastructural innovation that continues to enable exponential benefits in seemingly limitless ways. Considering the Global Health Security Agenda and facing emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats, evolving environmental and behavioral risks, and ever changing epidemiologic trends, PHS must transform. Embracing disruptive innovation in the structures and processes of PHS can be unpredictable. However, it is necessary to strengthen and unlock the potential to prevent, detect, and respond.

Innovative Product Design Based on Comprehensive Customer Requirements of Different Cognitive Levels

PubMed Central

Zhao, Wu; Zheng, Yake; Wang, Rui; Wang, Chen

2014-01-01

To improve customer satisfaction in innovative product design, a topology structure of customer requirements is established and an innovative product approach is proposed. The topology structure provides designers with reasonable guidance to capture the customer requirements comprehensively. With the aid of analytic hierarchy process (AHP), the importance of the customer requirements is evaluated. Quality function deployment (QFD) is used to translate customer requirements into product and process design demands and pick out the technical requirements which need urgent improvement. In this way, the product is developed in a more targeted way to satisfy the customers. the theory of innovative problems solving (TRIZ) is used to help designers to produce innovative solutions. Finally, a case study of automobile steering system is used to illustrate the application of the proposed approach. PMID:25013862

Innovative product design based on comprehensive customer requirements of different cognitive levels.

PubMed

Li, Xiaolong; Zhao, Wu; Zheng, Yake; Wang, Rui; Wang, Chen

2014-01-01

To improve customer satisfaction in innovative product design, a topology structure of customer requirements is established and an innovative product approach is proposed. The topology structure provides designers with reasonable guidance to capture the customer requirements comprehensively. With the aid of analytic hierarchy process (AHP), the importance of the customer requirements is evaluated. Quality function deployment (QFD) is used to translate customer requirements into product and process design demands and pick out the technical requirements which need urgent improvement. In this way, the product is developed in a more targeted way to satisfy the customers. the theory of innovative problems solving (TRIZ) is used to help designers to produce innovative solutions. Finally, a case study of automobile steering system is used to illustrate the application of the proposed approach.

Innovation adoption processes for third party property management companies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shockman, Chris; Piette, Mary Ann

2000-07-01

Innovation adoption studies have never been applied to third party property management companies. These companies manage buildings for a fee as their primary business. Property management companies are influential in the adoption process for new technologies because they act as gatekeepers for technical information. This study analyzes radical and routine adoption process that are found in large, professionally operated property management companies. The process is explicated. The technical managers, and their role as technology gate keepers, are described. The distinction to the technical managers between routine and radical technology is that routine technologies do something in a new way andmore » radical technologies do something new. Observations concerning evaluation and adoption of information technologies are described. The findings suggest methods of successfully tailoring and introducing technologies to this market.« less

Innovating Education with an Educational Modeling Language: Two Case Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sloep, Peter B.; van Bruggen, Jan; Tattersall, Colin; Vogten, Hubert; Koper, Rob; Brouns, Francis; van Rosmalen, Peter

2006-01-01

The intent of this study was to investigate how to maximize the chances of success of an educational innovation--specifically one based on the implementation of the educational modeling language called EML. This language is both technically and organizationally demanding. Two different implementation cases were investigated, one situated in an…

Creating technical heritage object replicas in a virtual environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Egorova, Olga; Shcherbinin, Dmitry

2016-03-01

The paper presents innovative informatics methods for creating virtual technical heritage replicas, which are of significant scientific and practical importance not only to researchers but to the public in general. By performing 3D modeling and animation of aircrafts, spaceships, architectural-engineering buildings, and other technical objects, the process of learning is achieved while promoting the preservation of the replicas for future generations. Modern approaches based on the wide usage of computer technologies attract a greater number of young people to explore the history of science and technology and renew their interest in the field of mechanical engineering.

Technical Support for Contaminated Sites | Science Inventory ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

In 1987, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD), Office of Land and Emergency Management, and EPA Regional waste management offices established the Technical Support Project. The creation of the Technical Support Project enabled ORD to provide effective technical assistance by ensuring ORD scientists and engineers were accessible to the Agency’s Office and Regional decision makers, including Remedial Project Managers, On-Scene Coordinators, and corrective action staff. Five ORD Technical Support Centers (TSCs) were created to facilitate this technical assistance. Three of the five TSCs are supported by the Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program, and are summarized in the poster being presented:• Engineering Technical Support Center (ETSC) in Cincinnati, Ohio• Ground Water Technical Support Center (GWTSC) in Ada, Oklahoma• Site Characterization and Monitoring Technical Support Center (SCMTSC) in Atlanta, GeorgiaOver the past 29 years, the Technical Support Centers have provided numerous influential products to its internal Agency clients and to those at the State level (through the EPA Regions). These products include, but are not limited to the following: Annual TSC reports from the three Centers, a hard-rock mining conference every other year, PRO-UCL software development for site characterization statistics, groundwater modeling using state-of-the-art modeling software, numerical mo

Adaptive Acquisitions: Maintaining Military Dominance By Managing Innovation

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-04-01

for the relatively unknown disruptive technologies , even for the technical experts. For example, in the early years of rocket research Jerome Hunsaker...improve along existing performance metrics.19 Since disruptive technologies generally underperform along these old value metrics, customers tend to...since the actual value of the innovation is difficult, if not impossible, to determine a priori. In fact, most of the claimed potential disruptive

Innovation for the future of Irish MedTech industry: retrospective qualitative review of impact of BioInnovate Ireland’s clinical fellows

PubMed Central

McGloughlin, Elizabeth Kate; Anglim, Paul; Keogh, Ivan; Sharif, Faisal

2018-01-01

Clinicians have historically been integral in innovating and developing technology in medicine and surgery. In recent years, however, in an increasingly complex healthcare system, a doctor with innovative ideas is often left behind. Transition from idea to bedside now entails significant hurdles, which often go unrecognised at the outset, particularly for first-time innovators. The BioInnnovate Ireland process, based on the Stanford Biodesign Programme (Identify, Invent and Implement), aims to streamline the process of innovation within the MedTech sector. These programmes focus on needs-based innovation and enable multidisciplinary teams to innovate and collaborate more succinctly. In this preliminary study, the authors aimed to examine the impact of BioInnovate Ireland has had on the clinicians involved and validate the collaborative process. To date, 13 fellows with backgrounds in clinical medicine have participated in the BioInnovate programme. Ten of these clinicians remain involved in clinical innovation projects with four of these working on Enterprise Ireland funded commercialisation grants and one working as chief executive officer of a service-led start-up, Strive. Of these, five also remain engaged in clinical practice on a full or part-time basis. The clinicians who have returned to full-time clinical practice have used the process and learning of the programme to influence their individual clinical areas and actively seek innovative solutions to meet clinical challenges. Clinicians, in particular, describe gaining value from the BioInnovate programme in areas of ‘Understanding Entrepreneurship’ and ‘Business Strategy’. Further study is needed into the quantitative impact on the ecosystem and impact to other stakeholders. PMID:29599999

FOURTH FORUM ON INNOVATIVE HAZARDOUS WASTE TREATMENT TECHNOLOGIES: DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL - TECHNICAL PAPERS

EPA Science Inventory

On November 17-19, 1992, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Technology Innovation Office and Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory, Department of Energy, Corps of Engineers, and California Environmental Preotection Agency, hosted an International conference in San Francis...

Software Innovation in a Mission Critical Environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fredrickson, Steven

2015-01-01

Operating in mission-critical environments requires trusted solutions, and the preference for "tried and true" approaches presents a potential barrier to infusing innovation into mission-critical systems. This presentation explores opportunities to overcome this barrier in the software domain. It outlines specific areas of innovation in software development achieved by the Johnson Space Center (JSC) Engineering Directorate in support of NASA's major human spaceflight programs, including International Space Station, Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (Orion), and Commercial Crew Programs. Software engineering teams at JSC work with hardware developers, mission planners, and system operators to integrate flight vehicles, habitats, robotics, and other spacecraft elements for genuinely mission critical applications. The innovations described, including the use of NASA Core Flight Software and its associated software tool chain, can lead to software that is more affordable, more reliable, better modelled, more flexible, more easily maintained, better tested, and enabling of automation.

Health IT-enabled Care for Underserved Rural Populations: The Role of Nursing

PubMed Central

Effken, Judith A.; Abbott, Patricia

2009-01-01

This white paper explains the strong roles that nursing can play in using information technology (IT) to improve healthcare delivery in rural areas. The authors describe current challenges to providing care in rural areas, and how technology innovations can help rural communities to improve their health and health care. To maximize benefits, rural stakeholders (as individuals and groups) must collaborate to effect change. Because nonphysician providers deliver much of the health care in rural communities, this paper focuses on the critical roles of nurses on IT-enabled caremanagement teams. The authors propose changes in nursing practice, policy, and education to better prepare, encourage, and enable nurses to assume leadership roles in IT-enabled health care management in rural communities. PMID:19261937

River Protection Project Technology and Innovation Roadmap.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Reid, D. S.; Wooley, T. A.; Kelly, S. E.

The Technology and Innovation Roadmap is a planning tool for WRPS management, DOE ORP, DOE EM, and others to understand the risks and technology gaps associated with the RPP mission. The roadmap identifies and prioritizes technical areas that require technology solutions and underscores where timely and appropriate technology development can have the greatest impact to reduce those risks and uncertainties. The roadmap also serves as a tool for determining allocation of resources.

Nano-enabled drug delivery: a research profile.

PubMed

Zhou, Xiao; Porter, Alan L; Robinson, Douglas K R; Shim, Min Suk; Guo, Ying

2014-07-01

Nano-enabled drug delivery (NEDD) systems are rapidly emerging as a key area for nanotechnology application. Understanding the status and developmental prospects of this area around the world is important to determine research priorities, and to evaluate and direct progress. Global research publication and patent databases provide a reservoir of information that can be tapped to provide intelligence for such needs. Here, we present a process to allow for extraction of NEDD-related information from these databases by involving topical experts. This process incorporates in-depth analysis of NEDD literature review papers to identify key subsystems and major topics. We then use these to structure global analysis of NEDD research topical trends and collaborative patterns, inform future innovation directions. This paper describes the process of how to derive nano-enabled drug delivery-related information from global research and patent databases in an effort to perform comprehensive global analysis of research trends and directions, along with collaborative patterns. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Composites Manufacturing Education and Technology Facility Expedites Manufacturing Innovation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

The Composites Manufacturing Education and Technology facility (CoMET) at the National Wind Technology Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) paves the way for innovative wind turbine components and accelerated manufacturing. Available for use by industry partners and university researchers, the 10,000-square-foot facility expands NREL's composite manufacturing research capabilities by enabling researchers to design, prototype, and test composite wind turbine blades and other components -- and then manufacture them onsite. Designed to work in conjunction with NREL's design, analysis, and structural testing capabilities, the CoMET facility expedites manufacturing innovation.

Neural Pathway of Renovative and Innovative Products Appreciation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Furong; Chiu, Chiyue; Luo, Jing

2016-12-01

According to the level of change an invention makes on existing things and how it overrides people’s mental schemas on established categories, new inventions can be classified into two groups: incremental inventions (i.e., renovations), which make minor improvements on existing designs, and radical inventions (i.e., innovations), which make major developments that enable people to do things they have never been able to do before. Although innovation and renovation are two fundamentally different types of creation that feature new changes ranging from those in product development to those in large scale social changes, and people tend to report higher subjective preferences for incremental inventions compared to radical inventions, the cognitive brain mechanisms underlying the mental representation of these two types of inventions remains unknown. Through the use of innovative and renovative designs as materials, we found that relative to non-creative designs, creative (renovative &innovative) designs enhanced memory or association-related activation in the right parahippocampus. In particular, innovations evoked more activation in the conceptual pathway for representing objects than did renovations, whereas renovations evoked more activation in the motor pathway than innovations. These results suggest that operating experiences may provide advantages for understanding and appreciating creative designs.

Neural Pathway of Renovative and Innovative Products Appreciation

PubMed Central

Huang, Furong; Chiu, Chiyue; Luo, Jing

2016-01-01

According to the level of change an invention makes on existing things and how it overrides people’s mental schemas on established categories, new inventions can be classified into two groups: incremental inventions (i.e., renovations), which make minor improvements on existing designs, and radical inventions (i.e., innovations), which make major developments that enable people to do things they have never been able to do before. Although innovation and renovation are two fundamentally different types of creation that feature new changes ranging from those in product development to those in large scale social changes, and people tend to report higher subjective preferences for incremental inventions compared to radical inventions, the cognitive brain mechanisms underlying the mental representation of these two types of inventions remains unknown. Through the use of innovative and renovative designs as materials, we found that relative to non-creative designs, creative (renovative &innovative) designs enhanced memory or association-related activation in the right parahippocampus. In particular, innovations evoked more activation in the conceptual pathway for representing objects than did renovations, whereas renovations evoked more activation in the motor pathway than innovations. These results suggest that operating experiences may provide advantages for understanding and appreciating creative designs. PMID:27941936

Engineering Technical Support Center Annual Report Fiscal ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) Office of Research and Development (ORD) created the Engineering Technical Support Center (ETSC) in 1987, one of several technical support centers created as part of the Technical Support Project (TSP). ETSC provides engineering expertise to Agency program and regional offices and remediation teams working at contaminated sites across the country. The ETSC is operated within ORD’s Land Remediation and Pollution Control Division (LRPCD) of the National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL) in Cincinnati, Ohio. The ETSC’s mission is to provide site-specific scientific and engineering technical support to Remedial Project Managers, On-Scene Coordinators, and other remediation personnel at contaminated sites. This allows local, regional, or national authorities to work more quickly, efficiently, and cost effectively, while also increasing the technical experience of the remediation team. Since its inception, the ETSC has supported countless projects across all EPA Regions in almost all states and territories. This report highlights significant projects the ETSC supported in fiscal year 2015 (FY15). These projects addressed an array of environmental scenarios, such as remote mining contamination, expansive landfill waste, cumulative impacts from multiple contamination sources, and persistent threats from abandoned industrial sites. Constructing and testing new and innovative treatment technol

Vocational and Technical Education in Lebanon: Strategic Issues and Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karam, Gebran

2006-01-01

The current status of the Lebanese vocational and technical education (VTE) system is assessed and the strategic issues and challenges facing it are identified. In addition to the economic and social challenges that are common to many developing countries, the Lebanese system suffers from idiosyncratic problems, which may require innovative and…

Educational Innovation as a Process of Coalition-Building: A Study of Organizational Decision-Making. Volume I: Analysis and Conclusions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lambright, W. Henry; And Others

Local school districts must strengthen their innovative capacity in order to respond effectively to the problems facing them. Success depends on both an organization's technical capacity to match problems with appropriate solutions and its political capacity to move an innovation through the process from adoption to incorporation. Research shows…

Technology innovation for infectious diseases in the developing world.

PubMed

So, Anthony D; Ruiz-Esparza, Quentin

2012-10-25

Enabling innovation and access to health technologies remains a key strategy in combating infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, a gulf between paying markets and the endemicity of such diseases has contributed to the dearth of R&D in meeting these public health needs. While the pharmaceutical industry views emerging economies as potential new markets, most of the world's poorest bottom billion now reside in middle-income countries--a fact that has complicated tiered access arrangements. However, product development partnerships--particularly those involving academic institutions and small firms--find commercial opportunities in pursuing even neglected diseases; and a growing pharmaceutical sector in BRICS countries offers hope for an indigenous base of innovation. Such innovation will be shaped by 1) access to building blocks of knowledge; 2) strategic use of intellectual property and innovative financing to meet public health goals; 3) collaborative norms of open innovation; and 4) alternative business models, some with a double bottom line. Facing such resource constraints, LMICs are poised to develop a new, more resource-effective model of innovation that holds exciting promise in meeting the needs of global health.

Technology innovation for infectious diseases in the developing world

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Enabling innovation and access to health technologies remains a key strategy in combating infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, a gulf between paying markets and the endemicity of such diseases has contributed to the dearth of R&D in meeting these public health needs. While the pharmaceutical industry views emerging economies as potential new markets, most of the world’s poorest bottom billion now reside in middle-income countries--a fact that has complicated tiered access arrangements. However, product development partnerships--particularly those involving academic institutions and small firms--find commercial opportunities in pursuing even neglected diseases; and a growing pharmaceutical sector in BRICS countries offers hope for an indigenous base of innovation. Such innovation will be shaped by 1) access to building blocks of knowledge; 2) strategic use of intellectual property and innovative financing to meet public health goals; 3) collaborative norms of open innovation; and 4) alternative business models, some with a double bottom line. Facing such resource constraints, LMICs are poised to develop a new, more resource-effective model of innovation that holds exciting promise in meeting the needs of global health. PMID:23849080

Recasting Distance Learning with Network-Enabled Open Education: An Interview with Vijay Kumar

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morrison, James L.; Kumar, Vijay

2008-01-01

In an interview with James Morrison, "Innovate's" editor-in-chief, Vijay Kumar describes how rethinking distance learning as network-enabled open education can catalyze a whole new set of learning opportunities. The growing open-education movement has made an increasing number and variety of resources freely available online, including everything…

Control of innovation activity in a competitive metallurgical business

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bogdanov, S. V.

2010-12-01

Certain competitive advantages of a manufacturer on a goods market can be provided if one creates conditions for bifurcation development of an innovation process in metallurgical business under conditions of market uncertainty of a demand for goods of a specified consumer quality and determines the technical-and-economic versions of stable operation of a production system for performing orders of metal product consumers.

TU-E-BRD-01: President’s Symposium: The Necessity of Innovation in Medical Physics

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bayouth, J; Siewerdsen, J; Wahl, E

This abstract will not blow you away, but speed-painting presenter Erik Wahl will certainly make a truly unique AAPM symposium that you will not want to miss. Along with clinical director John Bayouth and scientific leader Jeff Siewerdsen, this session will highlight innovation. To avoid being button pushers and irrelevant investigators of yesterday’s science, we must innovate. This is particularly challenging in the changing landscape of declining research funding and healthcare reimbursement. But all hope is not lost, Medical Physics is a field born out of innovation. As scientists we quickly translated the man-made and natural phenomena of radiation intomore » a tool that could diagnose broken bones, locate foreign objects imbedded within the body, and treat a spectrum of diseases. As hyperbolae surrounding the curative powers of radiation overcame society, physicists continued their systematic pursuit of a fundamental understanding of radiation and applied their knowledge to enable the diagnostic and therapeutic power of this new tool. Health economics and the decline in research funding have put the Medical Physicist in a precarious position: how do we optimally participate in medical research and advanced patient care in the face of many competing needs? Today's diagnostic imaging and therapeutic approaches are tremendously sophisticated. Researchers and commercial vendors are producing technologies at a remarkable rate; to enable their safe and effective implementation Medical Physicists must work from a fundamental understanding of these technologies. This requires all of us, clinically practicing Medical Physicists, Researchers and Educators alike, to combine our training in scientific methods with innovation. Innovation is the key to our past, a necessity for our contemporary challenges, and critical for the future of Medical Physics. The keynote speakers for the 2014 AAPM Presidential Symposium session will address the way we approach these vitally

Supporting Better Evidence Generation and Use within Social Innovation in Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Qualitative Study

PubMed Central

Tran, Jenny; Hersch, Fred; Lockwood, Amy; Montgomery, Paul

2017-01-01

Background While several papers have highlighted a lack of evidence to scale social innovations in health, fewer have explored decision-maker understandings of the relative merit of different types of evidence, how such data are interpreted and applied, and what practical support is required to improve evidence generation. The objectives of this paper are to understand (1) beliefs and attitudes towards the value of and types of evidence in scaling social innovations for health, (2) approaches to evidence generation and evaluation used in systems and policy change, and (3) how better evidence-generation can be undertaken and supported within social innovation in health. Methods Thirty-two one-on-one interviews were conducted between July and November 2015 with purposively selected practitioners, policymakers, and funders from low- and middle- income countries (LMICs). Data were analysed using a Framework Analysis Approach. Results While practitioners, funders, and policymakers said they held outcome evidence in high regard, their practices only bear out this assertion to varying degrees. Few have given systematic consideration to potential unintended consequences, in particular harm, of the programs they implement, fund, or adopt. Stakeholders suggest that better evidence-generation can be undertaken and supported within social innovation in health by supporting the research efforts of emerging community organizations; creating links between practitioners and academia; altering the funding landscape for evidence-generation; providing responsive technical education; and creating accountability for funders, practitioners, and policymakers. Conclusion How better evidence-generation can be undertaken and supported within social innovation in health is a previously under-operationalised aspect of the policy-making process that remains essential in order to refrain from causing harm, enable the optimization of existing interventions, and ultimately, to scale and fund what

Innovative Composite Structure Design for Blast Protection

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-01-01

2007-01-0483 Innovative Composite Structure Design for Blast Protection Dongying Jiang, Yuanyuan Liu MKP Structural Design Associates, Inc...protect vehicle and occupants against various explosives. The multi-level and multi-scenario blast simulation and design system integrates three major...numerical simulation of a BTR composite under a blast event. The developed blast simulation and design system will enable the prediction, design, and

Enabling a sustainable and prosperous future through science and innovation in the bioeconomy at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

PubMed

Sarkar, Sara F; Poon, Jacquelyne S; Lepage, Etienne; Bilecki, Lori; Girard, Benoit

2018-01-25

Science and innovation are important components underpinning the agricultural and agri-food system in Canada. Canada's vast geographical area presents diverse, regionally specific requirements in addition to the 21st century agricultural challenges facing the overall sector. As the broader needs of the agricultural landscape have evolved and will continue to do so in the next few decades, there is a trend in place to transition towards a sustainable bioeconomy, contributing to reducing greenhouse gas emission and our dependency on non-renewable resources. We highlight some of the key policy drivers on an overarching national scale and those specific to agricultural research and innovation that are critical to fostering a supportive environment for innovation and a sustainable bioeconomy. As well, we delineate some major challenges and opportunities facing agriculture in Canada, including climate change, sustainable agriculture, clean technologies, and agricultural productivity, and some scientific initiatives currently underway to tackle these challenges. The use of various technologies and scientific efforts, such as Next Generation Sequencing, metagenomics analysis, satellite image analysis and mapping of soil moisture, and value-added bioproduct development will accelerate scientific development and innovation and its contribution to a sustainable and prosperous bioeconomy. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Is a Schools' Performance Related to Technical Change?--A Study on the Relationship between Innovations and Secondary School Productivity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haelermans, Carla; Blank, Jos L. T.

2012-01-01

This paper examines the relation between innovations and productivity in Dutch secondary schools. Innovation clusters are directly included in the production model. In order to correct for differences between schools, we add school type, region and year controls. The results indicate that process innovations, teacher professionalization…

Innovation Enables New Research on Mutation Linked to Many Cancers | Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research

Cancer.gov

A scientific innovation at the Frederick National Lab has opened the way for a new line of experiments in the decades-old quest for a drug to fight cancers triggered by mutant RAS proteins – which underlie one-third of all malignancies, including t

[Technological development: a weak link in vaccine innovation in Brazil].

PubMed

Homma, Akira; Martins, Reinaldo M; Jessouroum, Ellen; Oliva, Otavio

2003-01-01

In very recent years, the federal government has launched important initiatives mean to strengthen science, technology, and innovation in Brazil and thus enhance the results of technological innovation in key areas of the country's economy. Yet these initiatives have not been enough to reduce Brazil's heavy dependence on goods and technology from more developed nations. The article describes the current state of vaccination, production, and technological development of vaccines both internationally and nationally. Some thoughts are also offered on the complexity of vaccine innovation and the various stages whose completion is essential to the whole process of technological development. An analysis is made of the parameters and factors involved in each stage; technical requirements for facilities and equipment; good manufacturing practice guidelines; organizational, infrastructural, and managerial needs; and the lengthy time periods adn high costs entailed in these activities.

Evaluation of innovative traffic safety devices at short-term work zones : technical summary.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-08-01

The objective of this study was to investigate and evaluate the usage and effectiveness of innovative traffic control devices that can be used in short-term work zones. Any device to be used in short-term work zones should command the respect of driv...

Innovative Trajectory Designs to meet Exploration Challenges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Folta, David C.

2006-01-01

This document is a viewgraph presentation of the conference paper. Missions incorporated into NASA's Vision for Space Exploration include many different destinations and regions; are challenging to plan; and need new and innovative trajectory design methods to enable them. By combining proven methods with chaos dynamics, exploration goals that require maximum payload mass or minimum duration can be achieved. The implementation of these innovative methods, such as weak stability boundaries, has altered NASA's approach to meet exploration challenges and is described to show how exploration goals may be met in the next decade. With knowledge that various perturbations play a significant role, the mission designer must rely on both traditional design strategies as well as these innovative methods. Over the past decades, improvements have been made that would at first glance seem dramatic. This paper provides a brief narrative on how a fundamental shift has occurred and how chaos dynamics improve the design of exploration missions with complex constraints.

Benefit design innovations: implications for consumer-directed health care.

PubMed

Tu, Ha T; Ginsburg, Paul B

2007-02-01

Current health insurance benefit designs that simply rely on higher, one-size-fits-all patient cost sharing have limited potential to curb rapidly rising costs, but innovations in benefit design can potentially make cost sharing a more effective tool, according to a new study by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC). Innovative benefit designs include incentives to encourage healthy behaviors; incentives that vary by service type, patient condition or enrollee income; and incentives to use efficient providers. But most applications of these innovative designs are not widespread, suggesting that any significant cost impact is many years off. Moreover, regulations governing high-deductible, consumer-directed health plans eligible for health savings accounts (HSAs) preclude some promising benefit design innovations and dilute the incentives in others. A movement away from a one-size-fits-all HSA benefit structure toward a more flexible design might broaden the appeal of HSA plans and enable them to incorporate features that promote cost-effective care.

[Mathematical model of technical equipment of a clinical-diagnostic laboratory].

PubMed

Bukin, S I; Busygin, D V; Tilevich, M E

1990-01-01

The paper is concerned with the problems of technical equipment of standard clinico-diagnostic laboratories (CDL) in this country. The authors suggest a mathematic model that may minimize expenditures for laboratory studies. The model enables the following problems to be solved: to issue scientifically-based recommendations for technical equipment of CDL; to validate the medico-technical requirements for newly devised items; to select the optimum types of uniform items; to define optimal technical decisions at the stage of the design; to determine the lab assistant's labour productivity and the cost of some investigations; to compute the medical laboratory engineering requirement for treatment and prophylactic institutions of this country.

National innovation policy and public science in Australia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carter, Lyn

2017-12-01

In this paper, I have positioned myself with Kean Birch and explored some of the political-economic actors/actants of policy suites implicated in the biotechnologies and bioeconomy. In particular, I have considered Australia's recent National Innovation and Science Agenda and allied documents and entities (that is, Innovation and Science Australia, the National Science Statement and the 2016 National Research Infrastructure Roadmap) as one of the National Innovation Strategies in place now in OECD countries and beyond. In overview, these policy suites utilise the same high knowledge creation/low translation and commericalisation arguments as elsewhere to press for particular ideologically based `improvements' to public science. Mapping the terrain of these entities has revealed the innovation, biotechnology and bioeconomy policy space to be inordinately complex and challenging to navigate. Reviewing Australia's position enables the type of comparative work that contributes to a closer understanding of the largely neoliberal global economic imperatives shaping contemporaneity. Moreover, while these policy suites attempt to constitute and circulate particular visions of science education, their complex nature mitigates against science teachers/educators grappling with their implications.

The Surgery Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Program (SIEDP): An Experiential Learning Program for Surgery Faculty to Ideate and Implement Innovations in Health care.

PubMed

Servoss, Jonathan; Chang, Connie; Olson, David; Ward, Kevin R; Mulholland, Michael W; Cohen, Mark S

2017-10-05

Surgeons are continually engaged in the incorporation of new technologies in their practice. In the operating room and beyond, they combine technical skill with creative problem solving to improve tools and techniques for patient care, making them natural innovators. However, despite their innovative tendencies, education on entrepreneurship and commercialization is severely lacking. Moreover, with increasing pressure to meet productivity metrics, their availability to learn the complexities of commercialization is limited. To address these challenges, we designed the Surgery Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Program (SIEDP) with the objective to advance faculty innovations, develop new departmental innovation initiatives, and improve faculty education in the area of innovation, entrepreneurship, and commercialization. The SIEDP is a first-of-its-kind experiential learning program specifically designed for busy clinical and research faculty in a major academic surgery department. Participants ideated and formed teams around health care innovations as they progressed through a 9-month curriculum of expert guest lectures and interactive workshops. A postprogram evaluation and outcome tracking method was used to evaluate attainment of educational objectives and project development milestones. The Department of Surgery, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Eleven surgery faculty of varying academic rank and surgical subspecialties. The program generated 2 faculty startup companies, 1 departmental commercial product, 3 patent disclosures, and 3 innovations that received additional funding. All participants in the program reported a significant increase in their understanding of innovation and entrepreneurship and that participation was a worthwhile faculty development activity. Despite the various challenges and time constraints of surgical practices, programs like SIEDP can educate surgeons and other academicians on innovation

Identification, Characterization, and Evaluation Criteria for Systems Engineering Agile Enablers

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-16

Identification, Characterization, and Evaluation Criteria for Systems Engineering Agile Enablers Technical Report SERC -2015-TR-049-1...Task Order 024, RT 124 Report No. SERC -2015-TR-049-1 Report Documentation Page Form ApprovedOMB No. 0704-0188 Public reporting burden for the...Technology The Systems Engineering Research Center ( SERC ) is a federally funded University Affiliated Research Center managed by Stevens Institute of

AACE: an innovative partnership to enhance aircraft safety

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shurtleff, William W.

1999-01-01

The Federal Aviation Administration established the Airworthiness Assurance Center of Excellence (AACE) in September 1997, through a cooperative agreement grant with Iowa State University (ISU) and The Ohio State University (OSU). A technical support contract with the Center is now in place as well. Initially the Center has five areas of concentration supporting advances in airworthiness assurance. These are 1. Maintenance, inspection, and repair, 2. Propulsion and fuel systems safety, 3. Crashworthiness, 4. Advanced materials, and 5. Landing gear systems performance and safety. AACE has nine core members who provide guidance to the Program Management Office at ISU/OSU through a Board of Directors. The core members are: Arizona State University, Iowa State University, Northwestern University, The Ohio State University, University of Dayton, University of Maryland, University of California - Los Angeles, Wichita State University, and Sandia National Laboratories. The organization also includes numerous academic affiliates, industry partners, government laboratories and other organizations. The Center now has over thirty technical projects supporting technical advances in airworthiness assurance. All these projects have industry guidance and support. This paper discusses the current technical program of the center and the highlights of the five-year plan for technical work. Also included is a description of the factors that make the Center an innovative partnership to promote aircraft safety.

A venture capital view of challenges, opportunities, and innovation in biomedical research.

PubMed

Ratcliffe, L T

2011-02-01

Small biotech companies have been an important source of innovation, pipelines, and new products for the pharmaceutical industry, and are primarily financed by venture capital (VC). The significant changes happening within the VC industry have broad implications for these small companies. This includes a shift to financing later-stage programs with increasing interest in orphan or specialty indications. Nontraditional sources of capital and innovative risk-sharing structures can enable early-stage companies.

An Innovative Solution to NASA's NEO Impact Threat Mitigation Grand Challenge and Flight Validation Mission Architecture Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wie, Bong; Barbee, Brent W.

2015-01-01

This paper presents the results of a NASA Innovative Advanced Concept (NIAC) Phase 2 study entitled "An Innovative Solution to NASA's Near-Earth Object (NEO) Impact Threat Mitigation Grand Challenge and Flight Validation Mission Architecture Development." This NIAC Phase 2 study was conducted at the Asteroid Deflection Research Center (ADRC) of Iowa State University in 2012-2014. The study objective was to develop an innovative yet practically implementable mitigation strategy for the most probable impact threat of an asteroid or comet with short warning time (< 5 years). The mitigation strategy described in this paper is intended to optimally reduce the severity and catastrophic damage of the NEO impact event, especially when we don't have sufficient warning times for non-disruptive deflection of a hazardous NEO. This paper provides an executive summary of the NIAC Phase 2 study results. Detailed technical descriptions of the study results are provided in a separate final technical report, which can be downloaded from the ADRC website (www.adrc.iastate.edu).

Innovative Socio-Technical Environments in Support of Distributed Intelligence and Lifelong Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fischer, G; Konomi, S.

2007-01-01

Individual, unaided human abilities are constrained. Media have helped us to transcend boundaries in thinking, working, learning and collaborating by supporting "distributed intelligence". Wireless and mobile technologies provide new opportunities for creating novel socio-technical environments and thereby empowering humans, but not without…

Improvement of hospital performance through innovation: toward the value of hospital care.

PubMed

Dias, Casimiro; Escoval, Ana

2013-01-01

The perspective of innovation as the strategic lever of organizational performance has been widespread in the hospital sector. While public value of innovation can be significant, it is not evident that innovation always ends up in higher levels of performance. Within this context, the purpose of the article was to critically analyze the relationship between innovation and performance, taking into account the specificities of the hospital sector. This article pulls together primary data on organizational flexibility, innovation, and performance from 95 hospitals in Portugal, collected through a survey, data from interviews to hospital administration boards, and a panel of 15 experts. The diversity of data sources allowed for triangulation. The article uses mixed methods to explore the relationship between innovation and performance in the hospital sector in Portugal. The relationship between innovation and performance is analyzed through cluster analysis, supplemented with content analysis of interviews and the technical nominal group. The main findings reveal that the cluster of efficient innovators has twice the level of performance than other clusters. Organizational flexibility and external cooperation are the 2 major factors explaining these differences. The article identifies various organizational strategies to use innovation in order to enhance hospital performance. Overall, it proposes the alignment of perspectives of different stakeholders on the value proposition of hospital services, the embeddedness of information loops, and continuous adjustments toward high-value services.

Improvement of hospital performance through innovation: toward the value of hospital care.

PubMed

Dias, Casimiro; Escoval, Ana

2013-01-01

The perspective of innovation as the strategic lever of organizational performance has been widespread in the hospital sector. While public value of innovation can be significant, it is not evident that innovation always ends up in higher levels of performance. Within this context, the purpose of the article was to critically analyze the relationship between innovation and performance,taking into account the specificities of the hospital sector. This article pulls together primary data on organizational flexibility, innovation, and performance from 95 hospitals in Portugal,collected through a survey, data from interviews to hospital administration boards, and a panel of 15 experts. The diversity of data sources allowed for triangulation. The article uses mixed methods to explore the relationship between innovation and performance in the hospital sector in Portugal. The relationship between innovation and performance is analyzed through cluster analysis, supplemented with content analysis of interviews and the technical nominal group. The main findings reveal that the cluster of efficient innovators has twice the level of performance than other clusters. Organizational flexibility and external cooperation are the 2 major factors explaining these differences. The article identifies various organizational strategies to use innovation in order to enhance hospital performance. Overall, it proposes the alignment of perspectives of different stakeholders on the value proposition of hospital services, the embeddedness of information loops, and continuous adjustments toward high-value services.

Next-Generation Performance-Based Regulation: Emphasizing Utility Performance to Unleash Power Sector Innovation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Logan, Jeffrey S; Zinaman, Owen R; Littell, David

Performance-based regulation (PBR) enables regulators to reform hundred-year-old regulatory structures to unleash innovations within 21st century power systems. An old regulatory paradigm built to ensure safe and reliable electricity at reasonable prices from capital-intensive electricity monopolies is now adjusting to a new century of disruptive technological advances that change the way utilities make money and what value customers expect from their own electricity company. Advanced technologies are driving change in power sectors around the globe. Innovative technologies are transforming the way electricity is generated, delivered, and consumed. These emerging technology drivers include renewable generation, distributed energy resources such as distributedmore » generation and energy storage, demand-side management measures such as demand-response, electric vehicles, and smart grid technologies and energy efficiency (EE). PBR enables regulators to recognize the value that electric utilities bring to customers by enabling these advanced technologies and integrating smart solutions into the utility grid and utility operations. These changes in the electric energy system and customer capacities means that there is an increasing interest in motivating regulated entities in other areas beyond traditional cost-of-service performance regulation. This report addresses best practices gleaned from more than two decades of PBR in practice, and analyzes how those best practices and lessons can be used to design innovative PBR programs. Readers looking for an introduction to PBR may want to focus on Chapters 1-5. Chapters 6 and 7 contain more detail for those interested in the intricate workings of PBR or particularly innovative PBR.« less

The Innovation Hyperlab: a Physical and Curriculum Framework for Fostering Innovation From Grade School to Grad School

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tagg, Randall

2014-03-01

A versatile laboratory for open innovation has been created in a former auto-shop-instruction building adjacent to Gateway High School in the Aurora Public Schools district in Colorado. We have equipped this 2500 square foot space with resources to support fifty-two technologies, such as mechanical design, electronics, optics, and nanotechnology. Correspondingly, we are developing a web site to provide modular instruction around each of these technologies. The goal is to enable collaborations of secondary school students, university students, teachers, professors, and industry partners in an environment richly supported by both physical and educational resources. An Innovation Academy is currently in progress in the lab with projects such as surgery in zero-G and using music to script the motion of actuator arrays in robots and rehabilitation devices.

Medical innovation laws: an unnecessary innovation.

PubMed

Richards, Bernadette

2016-06-01

Objective This paper aims to demonstrate that any suggestion that there is a need for specific innovation laws is flawed. Innovation is central to good medical practice and is adequately supported by current law. Methods The paper reviews the nature of medical innovation and outlines recent attempts in the UK to introduce specific laws aimed at 'encouraging' and 'supporting' innovation. The current legal framework is outlined and the role of the law in relation to medical innovation explored. Results The analysis demonstrates the cyclic relationship between medical advancement and the law and concludes that there is no requirement for specific innovation laws. Conclusions The law not only supports innovation and development in medical treatment but encourages it as central to a functioning medical system. There is no need to introduce specific laws aimed at medical innovation; to do so represents an unnecessary legal innovation and serves to complicate matters. What is known about the topic? Over recent months, there has been a great deal of discussion surrounding the law in the context of medical innovation. This was driven by the attempts in the UK to introduce specific laws in the Medical Innovation Bill. The general subject matter - negligence and the expected standard of care in the provision of treatment - is very well understood, but not in cases where the treatment can be described as innovative. The general rhetoric in both the UK and Australia around the Medical Innovation Bill demonstrates a lack of understanding of the position of the law with regards to innovative treatment. What does this paper add? This paper adds clarity to the debate. It presents the law and explains the manner in which the law can operate around innovative treatment. The paper asserts that medical innovation is both supported and encouraged by existing legal principles. What are the implications for practitioners? The paper presents an argument that can guide the policy position

77 FR 20872 - Enabling a Secure Environment for Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Research Workshop; Notice of Public...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-06

... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Enabling a Secure Environment for Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Research Workshop; Notice of Public Meeting AGENCY: ITS Joint Program Office, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. ACTION: Notice. The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT...

An Empirical Investigation of Smart Board Innovations in Teaching in UAE University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Qirim, Nabeel

2016-01-01

This research investigates Teaching Faculty's (TF) adoption and usage of the Interactive or Smart White Board Technology (SB) in UAE University (UAEU). The developed theoretical framework is based on the technological innovation theories and is made of different socio-technical factors. Using survey research targeting UAEU's TF, the research…

Technical and Vocational Education in Asia and Oceania. Report of a Regional Seminar (Singapore, Malaysia, November 20-27, 1979).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Bangkok (Thailand). Regional Office for Education in Asia and Oceania.

This seminar report contains summaries of presentations as well as entire reports and addresses made at the Regional Seminar on Technical and Vocational Education in Asia and Oceania held in Singapore in November 1979. Chapter 1 summarizes the trends, problems, and innovations in technical and vocational education which were identified in…

Development of a large urban longitudinal HIV clinical cohort using a web-based platform to merge electronically and manually abstracted data from disparate medical record systems: technical challenges and innovative solutions

PubMed Central

Hays, Harlen; Castel, Amanda D; Subramanian, Thilakavathy; Happ, Lindsey Powers; Jaurretche, Maria; Binkley, Jeff; Kalmin, Mariah M; Wood, Kathy; Hart, Rachel

2016-01-01

Objective Electronic medical records (EMRs) are being increasingly utilized to conduct clinical and epidemiologic research in numerous fields. To monitor and improve care of HIV-infected patients in Washington, DC, one of the most severely affected urban areas in the United States, we developed a city-wide database across 13 clinical sites using electronic data abstraction and manual data entry from EMRs. Materials and Methods To develop this unique longitudinal cohort, a web-based electronic data capture system (Discovere®) was used. An Agile software development methodology was implemented across multiple EMR platforms. Clinical informatics staff worked with information technology specialists from each site to abstract data electronically from each respective site’s EMR through an extract, transform, and load process. Results Since enrollment began in 2011, more than 7000 patients have been enrolled, with longitudinal clinical data available on all patients. Data sets are produced for scientific analyses on a quarterly basis, and benchmarking reports are generated semi-annually enabling each site to compare their participants’ clinical status, treatments, and outcomes to the aggregated summaries from all other sites. Discussion Numerous technical challenges were identified and innovative solutions developed to ensure the successful implementation of the DC Cohort. Central to the success of this project was the broad collaboration established between government, academia, clinics, community, information technology staff, and the patients themselves. Conclusions Our experiences may have practical implications for researchers who seek to merge data from diverse clinical databases, and are applicable to the study of health-related issues beyond HIV. PMID:26721732

Privacy-preserving methods to retrieve origin-destination information from connect vehicles.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-01-01

This report investigates technical approaches to address privacy concerns associated with two innovative : applications enabled by connected vehicle systems, i.e., origin-destination (OD) flow measurement and differentiated : congestion pricing. The ...

Privacy-preserving methods to retrieve origin-destination information from connected vehicles.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-01-01

This report investigates technical approaches to address privacy concerns associated with two innovative : applications enabled by connected vehicle systems, i.e., origin-destination (OD) flow measurement and differentiated : congestion pricing. The ...

Battlefield innovation: a case-study of remote sensor development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Orson, Jay A.; Hague, Tyler N.

2007-10-01

Evolving threats encountered by coalition forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom drive the need for innovations in airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. In many cases, disruptive capabilities are created by linking existing technologies and new radical technologies in a novel way. Some of the radical technologies used in achieving these disruptive capabilities are existing prototypes or one-of-a-kind systems that are thrust into the field to quickly react to emerging threats. Horned Owl is one such rapidly developed innovative technical solution designed to meet immediate battlefield needs. This paper focuses on two key areas of this initiative. The first is the innovation champion establishing a collaborative environment which fosters creativity and allows the project to mature the disruptive capability. The second is the practical implication, or challenges of deploying experimental systems in a battlefield environment. Discussions of these two areas provide valuable lessons to guide future innovation champions when presented with the dual task of balancing system maturation with meeting operational demand. Contents of this paper are not necessarily the official views of, or endorsed by the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, or the Department of the Air Force.

Effect of government actions on technological innovation for SO2 control.

PubMed

Taylor, Margaret R; Rubin, Edward S; Hounshell, David A

2003-10-15

The relationship between government actions and innovation in environmental control technology is important for the design of cost-effective policies to achieve environmental goals. This paper examines such relationships for the case of sulfur dioxide control technology for U.S. coal-fired power plants. The study employs several complementary research methods, including analyses of key government actions, technology patenting activity, technology performance and cost trends, knowledge transfer activities, and expert elicitations. Our results indicate that government regulation appears to be a greater stimulus to inventive activity than government-sponsored research support alone, and that the anticipation of regulation also spurs inventive activity. Regulatory stringency focuses this activity along particular technical pathways and is a key factor in creating markets for environmental technologies. We also find that with greater technology adoption, both new and existing systems experience notable efficiency improvements and capital cost reductions. The important role of government in fostering knowledge transfer via technical conferences and other measures is also seen as an important factor in promoting environmental technology innovation.

From individual innovation to global impact: the Global Cooperation on Assistive Technology (GATE) innovation snapshot as a method for sharing and scaling.

PubMed

Layton, Natasha; Murphy, Caitlin; Bell, Diane

2018-07-01

Assistive technology (AT) is an essential facilitator of independence and participation, both for people living with the effects of disability and/or non-communicable disease, as well as people aging with resultant functional decline. The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes the substantial gap between the need for and provision of AT and is leading change through the Global Cooperation on Assistive Technology (GATE) initiative. Showcasing innovations gathered from 92 global researchers, innovators, users and educators of AT through the WHO GREAT Summit, this article provides an analysis of ideas and actions on a range of dimensions in order to provide a global overview of AT innovation. The accessible method used to capture and showcase this data is presented and critiqued, concluding that "innovation snapshots" are a rapid and concise strategy to capture and showcase AT innovation and to foster global collaboration. Implications for Rehabilitation Focal tools such as ePosters with uniform data requirements enable the rapid sharing of information. A diversity of innovative practices are occurring globally in the areas of AT Products, Policy, Provision, People and Personnel. The method offered for Innovation Snapshots had substantial uptake and is a feasible means to capture data across a range of stakeholders. Meeting accessibility criteria is an emerging competency in the AT community. Substantial areas of common interest exist across regions and globally in the AT community, demonstrating the effectiveness of information sharing platforms such as GATE and supporting the idea of regional forums and networks.

Development of Nano-crystalline Doped-Ceramic Enabled Fiber Sensors for High Temperature In-Situ Monitoring of Fossil Fuel Gases

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Xiao, Hai; Dong, Junhang; Lin, Jerry

2012-03-01

This is a final technical report for the first project year from July 1, 2005 to Jan 31, 2012 for DoE/NETL funded project DE-FC26-05NT42439: Development of Nanocrystalline Doped-Ceramic Enabled Fiber Sensors for High Temperature In-Situ Monitoring of Fossil Fuel Gases. This report summarizes the technical progresses and achievements towards the development of novel nanocrystalline doped ceramic material-enabled optical fiber sensors for in situ and real time monitoring the gas composition of flue or hot gas streams involved in fossil-fuel based power generation and hydrogen production.

Turning Technologies into Businesses- The Challenge for the Technical Entrepreneur

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glass, Alexander

2000-03-01

Over the past twenty-five years, new businesses based on innovative technology have been the driving force for the US economy. Due to the abundance of early-stage capital, each year, thousands of scientists and engineers receive support to start new, technology-based businesses. However, the transition from technologist to entrepreneur is often difficult. It requires a shift in emphasis from a technology focus to a market focus. We shall discuss the challenges facing the technical entrepreneur in launching a new enterprise, and a variety of resources that are available to help the entrepreneur succeed. Many technologists fall victim to the myth that if you ``build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door." To be sure, it is important to base your business on sound technology that offers a clear advantage over current practice, and, if possible, to secure title to the technology, either by obtaining patent protection, or securing an exclusive license. Once that is done, however, the principal concern of the fledgling enterprise is building a business and obtaining the financial resources to enable it to grow. The entrepreneur must develop a clear and compelling business model, that can be communicated to a non-technical investor in a few minutes. This requires a mode of thinking and expression quite different from that commonly used in engineering or scientific discussions. Fortunately, abundant resources are available to help the technologist become a successful entrepreneur. We shall discuss the kinds of assistance that are generally available through local and national programs, and give specific examples based on the activities of the Bay Area Regional Technology Alliance in northern California.

Technical Matters: Method, Knowledge and Infrastructure in Twentieth-Century Life Science

PubMed Central

Creager, Angela N. H.; Landecker, Hannah

2010-01-01

Conceptual breakthroughs in science tend to garner accolades and attention. But, as the invention of tissue culture and the development of isotopic tracers show, innovative methods open up new fields and enable the solution of longstanding problems. PMID:19953684

Defense Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR). Abstracts of Phase 2 Awards, 1984.

DTIC Science & Technology

165 proposals for funding in Phase II of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. These proposals were selected from those submitted by... small research and development firms awarded Phase I contracts from the FY 1984 solicitation. In order to make information available on the technical

FY2011 Engineering Innovations, Research, and Technology Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hamilton, Kip; Martz, Harry E.; Poyneer, Lisa A.

2012-04-24

This report summarizes key research, development, and technology advancements in Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Engineering Directorate for FY2011. These efforts exemplify Engineering’s nearly 60-year history of developing and applying the technology innovations needed for the Laboratory’s national security missions, and embody Engineering’s mission to “Enable program success today and ensure the Laboratory’s vitality tomorrow.

The Importance and Satisfaction of Collaborative Innovation for Strategic Entrepreneurship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsai, I-Chang; Lei, Han-Sheng

2016-01-01

Building on network, learning, resource-based and real options theories, collaborative innovation through the sharing of ideas, knowledge, expertise, and opportunities can enable both small and large firms to successfully engage in strategic entrepreneurship. We use the real case of a research-oriented organization and its incubator for analysis…

From Professional Development to System Change: Teacher Leadership and Innovation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frost, David

2012-01-01

This article argues for a particular conceptualisation of teacher leadership; one that enables us to overcome the limitations of established approaches to continuing professional development as a strategy for school improvement by mobilising the massive untapped potential of teachers as leaders of innovation. In this article, teacher leadership is…

Useful Sensor Web Capabilities to Enable Progressive Mission Autonomy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mandl, Dan

2007-01-01

This viewgraph presentation reviews using the Sensor Web capabilities as an enabling technology to allow for progressive autonomy of NASA space missions. The presentation reviews technical challenges for future missions, and some of the capabilities that exist to meet those challenges. To establish the ability of the technology to meet the challenges, experiments were conducted on three missions: Earth Observing 1 (EO-1), Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer (CHIPS) and Space Technology 5 (ST-5). These experiments are reviewed.

Innovative methods for knowledge transfer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goanta, A. M.

2015-11-01

At this time, learning takes place, either with classic books on paper support or using books scanned or drawn and further converted into PDF or PPT files that are printed on type support CD / DVD. The latter modern means of learning, the study adds live on the Internet using search engines and not least e-learning method, which allows the study of bibliographic related materials in PDF or PPT, stacked and grouped on the basis of a curriculum imposed which can be accessed on a website via a user name and password. Innovative methods come to successfully use other file types than those mentioned above. The graphics in teaching technical subjects such as descriptive geometry can be achieved using animated PowerPoint files, allowing for visualization of steps to be taken, in the case of solving by drawing a descriptive geometry. Another innovative method relies on the use of HTML files, inspired by related sites help design software packages that can be used when teaching descriptive geometry that the technical design. Through this work, the author has proposed to present a new innovative method, which is inspired by the methods listed above, but involves using AVI files to teaching of computer-assisted type graphics or info graphics. In general this new author's method lends itself particularly well to the teaching of the use of software packages because the student actually see the place from where the delivered command is accessed and contextual options of right button of the mouse. These laboratory courses or mentoring can be freestanding cards support CD / DVD or can be posted on websites with restricted access based on user name and password. Practically paper presents the methodology of creating courses and tutorials in AVI format, and how to monitor the degree of accessing the website, on which there were posted mentioned teaching materials, using the tools offered by Google Analytics. The results consist of graphical work, about the degree of access to

The link between health governance models and global health innovation: an exploration of OECD nations.

PubMed

Schnarr, Karin; Snowdon, Anne; Cramm, Heidi; Cohen, Jason; Alessi, Charles

2015-01-01

While there is established research that explores individual innovations across countries or developments in a specific health area, there is less work that attempts to match national innovations to specific systems of health governance to uncover themes across nations. We used a cross-comparison design that employed content analysis of health governance models and innovation patterns in eight OECD nations (Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United States). Country-level model of health governance may impact the focus of health innovation within the eight jurisdictions studied. Innovation across all governance models has targeted consumer engagement in health systems, the integration of health services across the continuum of care, access to care in the community, and financial models that drive competition. Improving our understanding of the linkage between health governance and innovation in health systems may heighten awareness of potential enablers and barriers to innovation success.

Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS): A Study of Stakeholders and Their Relations in System of Rice Intensification (SRI)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suchiradipta, Bhattacharjee; Raj, Saravanan

2015-01-01

Purpose: This paper identifies the stakeholders of System of Rice Intensification (SRI), their roles and actions and the supporting and enabling environment of innovation in the state as the elements of the Agricultural Innovation Systems (AIS) in SRI in Tripura state of India and studies the relationship matrix among the stakeholders.…

Consistent Criteria are Needed to Assess Small-Business Innovation Initiatives.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-07-07

Federal programs designed to provide funding or technical and management assistance directly to small busi - nesses (such as the National Science...activities to support small businesses as innovators 33 Efforts to influence economy-wide factors 35 Programs that provide funding or management and... Management : A Guide to Entrepreneurship (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977), p. 61. 2/H. Stoll and J. Walter, Tax Incentives for Small Businesses (Chicago

Innovation Configurations: Analyzing the Adaptations of Innovations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Gene E.; Loucks, Susan F.

When implementing an innovation, a multitude of components interact to change not only the users, but the innovation as well. This guide explains the concept of innovation configurations, or adaptations made in innovations during implementation. After presenting and discussing past research on innovation changes, the report outlines a five step…

Innovative Environments In Health Care: Where And How New Approaches To Care Are Succeeding.

PubMed

Bates, David W; Sheikh, Aziz; Asch, David A

2017-03-01

Organizations seeking to create innovative environments in health care need to pay attention to a number of factors. These include making available sufficient resources, notably money and physical space, but also coordination and consultation regarding intellectual property and licensing; enabling access to engineers, software developers, and behavioral scientists; making providers and patients available to innovators; having a sufficiently long-term view; and insulating the innovation group from operational demands. If there is a single essential key to success, it is making innovation a strategic priority. Academic health systems are enormous generators of innovation in the form of generalizable research in biomedical sciences. Typically, much of that innovation is externally supported, and little is directed to improving care processes internally. In industries other than health care, organizations invest their own funds in research and development to promote innovation, and this investment is seen as a metric for a firm's commitment to its future. Increased investment in care-process innovation is long overdue. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Small business innovation research: Program solicitation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

This, the seventh annual SBIR solicitation by NASA, describes the program, identifies eligibility requirements, outlines the required proposal format and content, states proposal preparation and submission requirements, describes the proposal evaluation and award selection process, and provides other information to assist those interested in participating in NASA's SBIR program. It also identifies the Technical Topics and Subtopics in which SBIR Phase 1 proposals are solicited in 1989. These Topics and Subtopics cover a broad range of current NASA interests, but do not necessarily include all areas in which NASA plans or currently conducts research. High-risk high pay-off innovations are desired.

Deliberate Science, Continuum Magazine: Clean Energy Innovation at NREL, Winter 2012 (Book)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

2012-02-01

This quarterly magazine is dedicated to stepping beyond the technical journals to reveal NREL's vital work in a real-world context for our stakeholders. Continuum provides insights into the latest and most impactful clean energy innovations, while spotlighting those talented researchers and unique facilities that make it all happen. This edition focuses on deliberate science.

Small Business Innovation Research. Program solicitation. Closing date: July 21, 1992

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1992-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) invites small businesses to submit Phase 1 proposals in response to its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program Solicitation 92-1. Firms with research or research and development capabilities (R/R&D) in science or engineering in any of the areas listed are encouraged to participate. This, the tenth annual SBIR solicitation by NASA, describes the program, identifies eligibility requirements, describes the proposal evaluation and award selection process, and provides other information to assist those interested in participating in NASA's SBIR program. It also identifies, in Section 8.0, the technical topics and subtopics in which SBIR Phase 1 proposals are solicited in 1992. These topics and subtopics cover a broad range of current NASA interests but do not necessarily include all areas in which NASA plans or currently conducts research. The NASA SBIR program seeks innovative approaches that respond to the needs, technical requirements, and new opportunities described in the subtopics. The focus is on innovation through the use of emerging technologies, novel applications of existing technologies, exploitation of scientific breakthroughs, or new capabilities or major improvements to existing technologies. NASA plans to select about 320 high-quality research or research and development proposals for Phase 1 contract awards on the basis of this Solicitation. Phase 1 contracts are normally six months in duration and funded up to $50,000, including profit. Selections will be based on the competitive merits of the offers and on NASA needs and priorities.

Bioethics for Technical Experts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asano, Shigetaka

Along with rapidly expanding applications of life science and technology, technical experts have been implicated more and more often with ethical, social, and legal problems than before. It should be noted that in this background there are scientific and social uncertainty elements which are inevitable during the progress of life science in addition to the historically-established social unreliability to scientists and engineers. In order to solve these problems, therefore, we should establish the social governance with ‘relief’ and ‘reliance’ which enables for both citizens and engineers to share the awareness of the issues, to design social orders and criterions based on hypothetical sense of values for bioethics, to carry out practical use management of each subject carefully, and to improve the sense of values from hypothetical to universal. Concerning these measures, the technical experts can learn many things from the present performance in the medical field.

Developing critical thinking, creativity and innovation skills of undergraduate students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shoop, Barry L.

2014-07-01

A desirable goal of engineering education is to teach students how to be creative and innovative. However, the speed of technological innovation and the continual expansion of disciplinary knowledge leave little time in the curriculum for students to formally study innovation. At West Point we have developed a novel upper-division undergraduate course that develops the critical thinking, creativity and innovation of undergraduate science and engineering students. This course is structured as a deliberate interactive engagement between students and faculty that employs the Socratic method to develop an understanding of disruptive and innovative technologies and a historical context of how social, cultural, and religious factors impact the acceptance or rejection of technological innovation. The course begins by developing the background understanding of what disruptive technology is and a historical context about successes and failures of social, cultural, and religious acceptance of technological innovation. To develop this framework, students read The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn, The Discoverers by Daniel J. Boorstin, and The Two Cultures by C.P. Snow. For each class meeting, students survey current scientific and technical literature and come prepared to discuss current events related to technological innovation. Each student researches potential disruptive technologies and prepares a compelling argument of why the specific technologies are disruptive so they can defend their choice and rationale. During course meetings students discuss the readings and specific technologies found during their independent research. As part of this research, each student has the opportunity to interview forward thinking technology leaders in their respective fields of interest. In this paper we will describe the course and highlight the results from teaching this course over the past five years.

A Systems Approach to Healthcare Innovation Using the MIT Hacking Medicine Model.

PubMed

Gubin, Tatyana A; Iyer, Hari P; Liew, Shirlene N; Sarma, Aartik; Revelos, Alex; Ribas, João; Movassaghi, Babak; Chu, Zen M; Khalid, Ayesha N; Majmudar, Maulik D; Lee, Christopher Xiang

2017-07-26

MIT Hacking Medicine is a student, academic, and community-led organization that uses systems-oriented "healthcare hacking" to address challenges around innovation in healthcare. The group has organized more than 80 events around the world that attract participants with diverse backgrounds. These participants are trained to address clinical needs from the perspective of multiple stakeholders and emphasize utility and implementation viability of proposed solutions. We describe the MIT Hacking Medicine model as a potential method to integrate collaboration and training in rapid innovation techniques into academic medical centers. Built upon a systems approach to healthcare innovation, the time-compressed but expertly guided nature of the events could enable more widely accessible preliminary training in systems-level innovation methodology, as well as creating a structured opportunity for interdisciplinary congregation and collaboration. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Non-technical skills training to enhance patient safety.

PubMed

Gordon, Morris

2013-06-01

  Patient safety is an increasingly recognised issue in health care. Systems-based and organisational methods of quality improvement, as well as education focusing on key clinical areas, are common, but there are few reports of educational interventions that focus on non-technical skills to address human factor sources of error. A flexible model for non-technical skills training for health care professionals has been designed based on the best available evidence, and with sound theoretical foundations.   Educational sessions to improve non-technical skills in health care have been described before. The descriptions lack the details to allow educators to replicate and innovate further.   A non-technical skills training course that can be delivered as either a half- or full-day intervention has been designed and delivered to a number of mixed groups of undergraduate medical students and doctors in postgraduate training. Participant satisfaction has been high and patient safety attitudes have improved post-intervention.   This non-technical skills educational intervention has been built on a sound evidence base, and is described so as to facilitate replication and dissemination. With the key themes laid out, clinical educators will be able to build interventions focused on numerous clinical issues that pay attention to human factor contributors to safety. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Innovations in plantar pressure and foot temperature measurements in diabetes.

PubMed

Bus, S A

2016-01-01

Plantar pressure and temperature measurements in the diabetic foot primarily contribute to identifying abnormal values that increase risk for foot ulceration, and they are becoming increasingly more integrated in clinical practice and daily life of the patient. While plantar pressure measurements have long been present, only recently evidence shows their importance in ulcer prevention, as a data-driven approach to therapeutic footwear provision. The long-term monitoring of plantar pressures with the option to provide feedback, when alarming pressure levels occur, is a promising development in this area, although more technical and clinical validation is required. Shear is considered important in ulcer aetiology but is technically difficult to measure. Innovative research is underway to assess if foot temperature can act as a useful surrogate for shear. Because the skin heats up before it breaks down, frequent monitoring of foot temperature can identify these warning signals. This approach has shown to be effective in preventing foot ulcers. Innovation in diagnostic methods for foot temperature monitoring and evidence on cost effectiveness will likely facilitate implementation. Finally, monitoring of adherence to offloading treatment using temperature-based sensors has proven to be a feasible and relevant method with a wide range of possible research and patient care applications. These innovations in plantar pressure and temperature measurements illustrate an important transfer in diabetic foot care from subjective to objective evaluation of the high-risk patient. They demonstrate clinical value and a large potential in helping to reduce the patient and economic burden of diabetic foot disease. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Sociology of Low Expectations: Recalibration as Innovation Work in Biomedicine.

PubMed

Gardner, John; Samuel, Gabrielle; Williams, Clare

2015-11-01

Social scientists have drawn attention to the role of hype and optimistic visions of the future in providing momentum to biomedical innovation projects by encouraging innovation alliances. In this article, we show how less optimistic, uncertain, and modest visions of the future can also provide innovation projects with momentum. Scholars have highlighted the need for clinicians to carefully manage the expectations of their prospective patients. Using the example of a pioneering clinical team providing deep brain stimulation to children and young people with movement disorders, we show how clinicians confront this requirement by drawing on their professional knowledge and clinical expertise to construct visions of the future with their prospective patients; visions which are personalized, modest, and tainted with uncertainty. We refer to this vision-constructing work as recalibration, and we argue that recalibration enables clinicians to manage the tension between the highly optimistic and hyped visions of the future that surround novel biomedical interventions, and the exigencies of delivering those interventions in a clinical setting. Drawing on work from science and technology studies, we suggest that recalibration enrolls patients in an innovation alliance by creating a shared understanding of how the "effectiveness" of an innovation shall be judged.

Innovative Mobile Smart Photonic Dimensional, Color and Spectral Measurement Engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hofmann, Dr Dietrich, Prof; Dittrich (B. Eng. , Paul-Gerald; Höfner (B. Eng. , Dieter; Kraus, Daniel

2015-02-01

Aim of the paper is the demonstration of a paradigm shift in dimensional, color and spectral measurements in industry, biology/medicine, farming/environmental protection and security, as well as in education and training: Measurement engineering and quality assurance become mobile, modular and smart. Smartpads, smartphones and smartwatches (smartcomps) in combination with innovative hardware apps (hwapps) and conventional software apps (swapps) are fundamental enablers for the transformation from conventional stationary working places towards innovative mobile working places with in-field measurements and point-of-care (POC) diagnostics. Furthermore mobile open online courses (MOOCs) are transforming the study habits. Practical examples for the application of innovative photonic micro dimensiometers, colorimeters and spectrometers will be given. The innovative approach opens so far untapped enormous markets for measurement science, engineering, applications, education and training. These innovative working conditions will be fast accepted due to their convenience, reliability and affordability. A highly visible advantage of smartcomps is the huge number of their real distribution, their worldwide connectivity via Internet and cloud services, the standardized interfaces like USB and HDMI and the experienced capabilities of their users for practical operations, obtained with their private smartcomps.

Important Non-Technical Skills in Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery Lobectomy: Team Perspectives.

PubMed

Gjeraa, Kirsten; Mundt, Anna S; Spanager, Lene; Hansen, Henrik J; Konge, Lars; Petersen, René H; Østergaard, Doris

2017-07-01

Safety in the operating room is dependent on the team's non-technical skills. The importance of non-technical skills appears to be different for minimally invasive surgery as compared with open surgery. The aim of this study was to identify which non-technical skills are perceived by team members to be most important for patient safety, in the setting of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lobectomy. This was an explorative, semistructured interview-based study with 21 participants from all four thoracic surgery centers in Denmark that perform VATS lobectomy. Data analysis was deductive, and directed content analysis was used to code the text into the Oxford Non-Technical Skills system for evaluating operating teams' non-technical skills. The most important non-technical skills described by the VATS teams were planning and preparation, situation awareness, problem solving, leadership, risk assessment, and teamwork. These non-technical skills enabled the team to achieve shared mental models, which in turn facilitated their efforts to anticipate next steps. This was viewed as important by the participants as they saw VATS lobectomy as a high-risk procedure with complementary and overlapping scopes of practice between surgical and anesthesia subteams. This study identified six non-technical skills that serve as the foundation for shared mental models of the patient, the current situation, and team resources. These findings contribute three important additions to the shared mental model construct: planning and preparation, risk assessment, and leadership. Shared mental models are crucial for patient safety because they enable VATS teams to anticipate problems through adaptive patterns of both implicit and explicit coordination. Copyright © 2017 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Collaborative Doctoral Programmes: Employer Engagement, Knowledge Mediation and Skills for Innovation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kitagawa, Fumi

2014-01-01

This paper investigates forms of collaborative doctoral programmes that enable employer engagement in innovation and skills development. Collaborative doctoral programmes exist in different national contexts for the development of the science and technology human capital. Such programmes are also seen as policy tools that enhance relationships…

Enhancing surgical innovation through a specialized medical school pathway of excellence in innovation and entrepreneurship: Lessons learned and opportunities for the future.

PubMed

Cohen, Mark S

2017-11-01

The mission of an academic medical center and academic departments of surgery focuses on teaching, scholarship/research, and expertise of clinical care. The standard 4-year medical school curriculum and general surgery residency training are well balanced to expose trainees to these missions in varying degrees, yet the advancement of medicine as a field is predicated on the creation, development, and successful implementation of medical innovations. Surgeons, by virtue of their clinical training, are immersed in medical technology and are continually required to use this technology effectively in combination with their own technical skills and judgment to provide optimal patient care. As such, they routinely face the challenges of current technology and the need for innovation and improvement, leading many to become natural inventors. Having a good idea or innovation to improve patient care, however, is just the starting point of the complex process of implementing that idea in the clinic. Unfortunately, the vast majority of surgeons and medical students have no formal educational training on the innovation process regarding how good ideas can be developed successfully for clinical and commercial implementation. Added to this lack of formal education are the limited resources and time constraints that surgeons, residents, and medical students face in acquiring the educational skill set to adeptly navigate this innovation and entrepreneurial landscape. To address these challenges, the University of Michigan recently created the first pathway of excellence for medical students to focus their passions and interests in medical innovation and entrepreneurship. This program has been transformative for building a new culture of young, motivated medical innovators, many of whom have dedicated their talents already to addressing several key problems in surgical patient care. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Innovation, systemic appropriation and prevention in the granite mining sector: The case of humidification.

PubMed

Mendes, R W B; Pueyo, V; Béguin, P; Duarte, F J C M

2017-01-01

This research was conducted in the Brazilian granite mining sector. After epidemiological studies, it was established that professional pneumoconiosis is related to the inhalation of dust. Therefore, the Brazilian mining health and safety regulatory standard made it compulsory to provide humidification throughout the extraction and mineral treatment processes. To develop the concept of systemic appropriation of the technological innovations that aim to protect the worker's health. Until now, appropriation has usually been presented in its individual dimensions. In this article, the focus is placed on the collective and organizational aspects of this appropriation. Two methodological approaches were used: interviews with the different individuals involved in order to report the history of the implementation of technical devices which meet the humidification norm; and ergonomic analysis of the work of the operators who used these devices. The appropriation of the technical devices occurred at two distinct levels: 1) Individual, related to the direct contact of the operator with the instrument; 2) Systemic, as the effects of the innovation propagated through the system affecting interdependent tasks, adaptation of the work organization and new production strategies. The implementation of prevention norms require innovations which are necessarily accompanied by transformations in the companies' techniques, work and management.

Implementing Innovations in Global Women's, Children's, and Adolescents' Health: Realizing the Potential for Implementation Science.

PubMed

Peterson, Herbert B; Haidar, Joumana; Fixsen, Dean; Ramaswamy, Rohit; Weiner, Bryan J; Leatherman, Sheila

2018-03-01

The launch of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the new Secretary General's Global Strategy for Women's, Children's, and Adolescents' Health are a window of opportunity for improving the health and well-being of women, children, and adolescents in the United States and around the world. Realizing the full potential of this historic moment will require that we improve our ability to successfully implement life-saving and life-enhancing innovations, particularly in low-resource settings. Implementation science, a new and rapidly evolving field that addresses the "how-to" component of providing sustainable quality services at scale, can make an important contribution on this front. A synthesis of the implementation science evidence indicates that three interrelated factors are required for successful, sustainable outcomes at scale: 1) effective innovations, 2) effective implementation, and 3) enabling contexts. Implementation science addresses the interaction among these factors to help make innovations more usable, to build ongoing capacity to assure the effective implementation of these innovations, and to ensure enabling contexts to sustain their full and effective use in practice. Improving access to quality services will require transforming health care systems and, therefore, much of the focus of implementation science in global health is on improving the ability of health systems to serve as enabling contexts. The field of implementation science is inherently interdisciplinary and academe will need to respond by facilitating collaboration among scientists from relevant disciplines, including evaluation, improvement, and systems sciences. Platforms and programs to facilitate collaborations among researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and funders are likewise essential.

Understanding adaptive capacity and capacity to innovate in social-ecological systems: Applying a gender lens.

PubMed

Cohen, Philippa J; Lawless, Sarah; Dyer, Michelle; Morgan, Miranda; Saeni, Enly; Teioli, Helen; Kantor, Paula

2016-12-01

Development policy increasingly focuses on building capacities to respond to change (adaptation), and to drive change (innovation). Few studies, however, focus specifically on the social and gender differentiation of capacities to adapt and innovate. We address this gap using a qualitative study in three communities in Solomon Islands; a developing country, where rural livelihoods and well-being are tightly tied to agriculture and fisheries. We find the five dimensions of capacity to adapt and to innovate (i.e. assets, flexibility, learning, social organisation, agency) to be mutually dependant. For example, limits to education, physical mobility and agency meant that women and youth, particularly, felt it was difficult to establish relations with external agencies to access technical support or new information important for innovating or adapting. Willingness to bear risk and to challenge social norms hindered both women's and men's capacity to innovate, albeit to differing degrees. Our findings are of value to those aspiring for equitable improvements to well-being within dynamic and diverse social-ecological systems.

Small Business Innovation Research. Abstracts of Phase I awards, 1999

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

1999-12-01

This booklet presents technical abstracts of Phase I awards made in Fiscal Year (FY) 1999 under the DOE Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. SBIR research explores innovative concepts in important technological and scientific areas that can lead to valuable new technology and products. The work described in the abstracts is novel, high-risk research, but the benefits will also be potentially high if the objectives are met. Brief comments on the potential applications, as described by the awardee, are given after each abstract. Individuals and organizations, including venture capital and larger industrial firms, with an interest in the research describedmore » in any of the abstracts are encouraged to contact the appropriate small business directly.« less

Women in Technical Education. Annual Report 1990-91.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Texas State Technical Coll., Waco.

First-year activities of Women in Technical Education, a project to develop a model for women in that field, were evaluated. A formative evaluation showed that intense development and implementation activity enabled achievement of first-year goals and objectives during the 1990-91 year. Procedures to accomplish objectives were effective.…

Innovations in non-communicable diseases management in ASEAN: a case series.

PubMed

Lim, Jeremy; Chan, Melissa M H; Alsagoff, Fatimah Z; Ha, Duc

2014-01-01

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are reaching epidemic proportions worldwide and present an unprecedented challenge to economic and social development globally. In Southeast Asia, the challenges are exacerbated by vastly differing levels of health systems development and funding availability. In addressing the burden of NCDs, ASEAN nations need to fundamentally re-examine how health care services are structured and delivered and discover new models as undiscerning application of models from other geographies with different cultures and resources will be problematic. We sought to examine cases of innovation and identify critical success factors in NCD management in ASEAN. A qualitative design, focusing on in-depth interviews and site visits to explore the meanings and perceptions of participants regarding innovations in NCD against the backdrop of the overall context of delivering health care within the country's context was adopted. In total 12 case studies in six ASEAN countries were analysed. Primary interventions accounted for five of the total cases, whereas secondary interventions comprised four, and tertiary interventions three. Five core themes contributing to successful innovation for NCD management were identified. They include: 1) encourage better outcomes through leadership and support, 2) strengthen inter-disciplinary partnership, 3) community ownership is key, 4) recognise the needs of the people and what appeals to them, and 5) raise awareness through capacity building and increasing health literacy. Innovation is vital in enabling ASEAN nations to successfully address the growing crisis of NCDs. More of the same or wholesale transfers of developed world models will be ineffective and lead to financially unsustainable programmes or programmes lacking appropriate human capital. The case studies have demonstrated the transformative impact of innovation and identified key factors in successful implementation. Beyond pilot success, the bigger challenge is

EO Domain Specific Knowledge Enabled Services (KES-B)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varas, J.; Busto, J.; Torguet, R.

2004-09-01

This paper recovers and describes a number of major statements with respect to the vision, mission and technological approaches of the Technological Research Project (TRP) "EO Domain Specific Knowledge Enabled Services" (project acronym KES-B), which is currently under development at the European Space Research Institute (ESRIN) under contract "16397/02/I- SB". Resulting from the on-going R&D activities, the KES-B project aims are to demonstrate with a prototype system the feasibility of the application of innovative knowledge-based technologies to provide services for easy, scheduled and controlled exploitation of EO resources (e.g.: data, algorithms, procedures, storage, processors, ...), to automate the generation of products, and to support users in easily identifying and accessing the required information or products by using their own vocabulary, domain knowledge and preferences. The ultimate goals of KES-B are summarized in the provision of the two main types of KES services: 1st the Search service (also referred to as Product Exploitation or Information Retrieval; and 2nd the Production service (also referred to as Information Extraction), with the strategic advantage that they are enabled by Knowledge consolidated (formalized) within the system. The KES-B system technical solution approach is driven by a strong commitment for the adoption of industry (XML-based) language standards, aiming to have an interoperable, scalable and flexible operational prototype. In that sense, the Search KES services builds on the basis of the adoption of consolidated and/or emergent W3C semantic-web standards. Remarkably the languages/models Dublin Core (DC), Universal Resource Identifier (URI), Resource Description Framework (RDF) and Ontology Web Language (OWL), and COTS like Protege [1] and JENA [2] are being integrated in the system as building bricks for the construction of the KES based Search services. On the other hand, the Production KES services builds on top of

Cultural innovations and demographic change.

PubMed

Richerson, Peter J; Boyd, Robert; Bettinger, Robert L

2009-04-01

Demography plays a large role in cultural evolution through its effects on the effective rate of innovation. If we assume that useful inventions are rare, then small isolated societies will have low rates of invention. In small populations, complex technology will tend to be lost as a result of random loss or incomplete transmission (the Tasmanian effect). Large populations have more inventors and are more resistant to loss by chance. If human populations can grow freely, then a population-technology-population positive feedback should occur such that human societies reach a stable growth path on which the rate of growth of technology is limited by the rate of invention. This scenario fits the Holocene to a first approximation, but the late Pleistocene is a great puzzle. Large-brained hominins existed in Africa and west Eurasia for perhaps 150,000 years with, at best, slow rates of technical innovation. The most sophisticated societies of the last glacial period appear after 50,000 years ago and were apparently restricted to west and north-central Eurasia and North Africa. These patterns have no simple, commonly accepted explanation. We argue that increased high-frequency climate change around 70,000-50,000 years ago may have tipped the balance between humans and their competitor-predators, such as lions and wolves, in favor of humans. At the same time, technically sophisticated hunters would tend to overharvest their prey. Perhaps the ephemeral appearance of complex tools and symbolic artifacts in Africa after 100,000 years ago resulted from hunting inventions that allowed human populations to expand temporarily before prey overexploitation led to human population and technology collapse. Sustained human populations of moderate size using distinctively advanced Upper Paleolithic artifacts may have existed in west Eurasia because cold, continental northeastern Eurasia-Beringia acted as a protected reserve for prey populations.

Successful technical trading agents using genetic programming.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Othling, Andrew S.; Kelly, John A.; Pryor, Richard J.

2004-10-01

Genetic programming (GP) has proved to be a highly versatile and useful tool for identifying relationships in data for which a more precise theoretical construct is unavailable. In this project, we use a GP search to develop trading strategies for agent based economic models. These strategies use stock prices and technical indicators, such as the moving average convergence/divergence and various exponentially weighted moving averages, to generate buy and sell signals. We analyze the effect of complexity constraints on the strategies as well as the relative performance of various indicators. We also present innovations in the classical genetic programming algorithm thatmore » appear to improve convergence for this problem. Technical strategies developed by our GP algorithm can be used to control the behavior of agents in economic simulation packages, such as ASPEN-D, adding variety to the current market fundamentals approach. The exploitation of arbitrage opportunities by technical analysts may help increase the efficiency of the simulated stock market, as it does in the real world. By improving the behavior of simulated stock markets, we can better estimate the effects of shocks to the economy due to terrorism or natural disasters.« less

Energy storage deployment and innovation for the clean energy transition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kittner, Noah; Lill, Felix; Kammen, Daniel M.

2017-09-01

The clean energy transition requires a co-evolution of innovation, investment, and deployment strategies for emerging energy storage technologies. A deeply decarbonized energy system research platform needs materials science advances in battery technology to overcome the intermittency challenges of wind and solar electricity. Simultaneously, policies designed to build market growth and innovation in battery storage may complement cost reductions across a suite of clean energy technologies. Further integration of R&D and deployment of new storage technologies paves a clear route toward cost-effective low-carbon electricity. Here we analyse deployment and innovation using a two-factor model that integrates the value of investment in materials innovation and technology deployment over time from an empirical dataset covering battery storage technology. Complementary advances in battery storage are of utmost importance to decarbonization alongside improvements in renewable electricity sources. We find and chart a viable path to dispatchable US$1 W-1 solar with US$100 kWh-1 battery storage that enables combinations of solar, wind, and storage to compete directly with fossil-based electricity options.

National Strategies for Developing Human Resources through Technical and Vocational Education and Training. The 2001 KRIVET International Conference on Technical and Vocational Education and Training [Proceedings] (Seoul, South Korea, November 21-23, 2001).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Korea Research Inst. for Vocational Education and Training, Seoul.

This document contains 19 papers and case studies, in English and Korean, from a conference on national strategies for developing human resources through technical and vocational education and training. The following are representative: "The Need to Innovate and Optimize Resources [Keynote]" (Wataru Iwamoto); "School to Work…

Exploration Medical System Technical Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McGuire, K.; Middour, C.; Cerro, J.; Burba, T.; Hanson, A.; Reilly, J.; Mindock, J.

2017-01-01

The Exploration Medical Capability (ExMC) Element systems engineering goals include defining the technical system needed to implement exploration medical capabilities for Mars. This past year, scenarios captured in the medical system concept of operations laid the foundation for systems engineering technical development work. The systems engineering team analyzed scenario content to identify interactions between the medical system, crewmembers, the exploration vehicle, and the ground system. This enabled the definition of functions the medical system must provide and interfaces to crewmembers and other systems. These analyses additionally lead to the development of a conceptual medical system architecture. The work supports the ExMC community-wide understanding of the functional exploration needs to be met by the medical system, the subsequent development of medical system requirements, and the system verification and validation approach utilizing terrestrial analogs and precursor exploration missions.

Teacher Educators as Learners: Enabling Learning while Developing Innovative Practice in ICT-Rich Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reading, Chris; Doyle, Helen

2013-01-01

It's time for teachers to consider themselves as learners in ICT-rich learning environments and to become more aware of factors that enable their learning in such environments. The notion of teachers as learners in ICT-rich environments is not new but the focus is usually on school teachers and formal professional development, rather than teachers…

Innovation management based on proactive engagement of customers: A case study on LEGO Group. Part I: Innovation Management at Lego Group

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rusu, G.; Avasilcăi, S.

2015-11-01

competitive strategies, new technologies developed for sustainable development and innovation, emphasizing also the concerns of the LEGO Group for a long-term orientation strategy which implies developing innovative products, made by ecological materials, reducing the negative impact on the environment. In addition, the company aims to foster innovation maintaining a clear vision, multiple contacts with the internal and external environment, and the flat structures which enable the communication between innovative management teams and top management team. Consequently, the study provides the insights regarding the innovation management of the LEGO Group, emphasizing the role of engaging customers and other external stakeholders in the co-creation of value.

Synergistic effect of business reputation in the result of application of innovations on the enterprises of the transport industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doroshin, Ivan; Diakonova, Sophia; Sharapova, Elena

2017-10-01

In the conditions of dynamic innovative development of the enterprises of transport branch along with maintaining economic instability it has become necessary to consider not only traditional factors at assessment of efficiency of activity and cost of business, but also consider business reputation factor, which depends on the level of innovative development of the enterprise and generates effect of synergy. Paper considers the concept of synergistic effect. Classification of types of synergistic effects is cited. Estimation procedure for influence of the technical level and innovative development of transport enterprises on the value of business reputation is considered. Functional dependence of the cost of business reputation on the innovative development and synergistic effect is defined.

Research Institute for Technical Careers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Glenn, Ronald L.

1996-01-01

The NASA research grant to Wilberforce University enabled us to establish the Research Institute for Technical Careers (RITC) in order to improve the teaching of science and engineering at Wilberforce. The major components of the research grant are infrastructure development, establishment of the Wilberforce Intensive Summer Experience (WISE), and Joint Research Collaborations with NASA Scientists. (A) Infrastructure Development. The NASA grant has enabled us to improve the standard of our chemistry laboratory and establish the electronics, design, and robotics laboratories. These laboratories have significantly improved the level of instruction at Wilberforce University. (B) Wilberforce Intensive Summer Experience (WISE). The WISE program is a science and engineering bridge program for prefreshman students. It is an intensive academic experience designed to strengthen students' knowledge in mathematics, science, engineering, computing skills, and writing. (C) Joint Collaboration. Another feature of the grant is research collaborations between NASA Scientists and Wilberforce University Scientists. These collaborations have enabled our faculty and students to conduct research at NASA Lewis during the summer and publish research findings in various journals and scientific proceedings.

Task-Based EFL Language Teaching with Procedural Information Design in a Technical Writing Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roy, Debopriyo

2017-01-01

Task-based language learning (TBLL) has heavily influenced syllabus design, classroom teaching, and learner assessment in a foreign or second language teaching context. In this English as foreign language (EFL) learning environment, the paper discussed an innovative language learning pedagogy based on design education and technical writing. In…

Assessing the Effects of Organizational Culture, Rewards, and Individual Creativity on Technical Workgroup Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Navaresse, Daniel O.; Yauch, Charlene A.; Goff, Kathy; Fonseca, Daniel J.

2014-01-01

This study used an experimental approach to investigate the conditions under which creative outcomes should be expected from the interplay of individual creativity, the innovation orientation of the organizational culture, and the rewards distribution rules. The results of this study suggest that the individual creativity of technically educated…

Innovation

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA frames innovation as critical to the protection of human health and the environment through initiatives such as sustainable practices, innovative research, prize competitions, innovation awards, partnerships, and community activities.

Charles Morris's Semiotic Model and Analytical Studies of Visual and Verbal Representations in Technical Communication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fan, Jiang-Ping

2006-01-01

In this article, the author demonstrates that the semiotic model proposed by Charles Morris enables us to optimize our understanding of technical communication practices and provides a good point of inquiry. To illustrate this point, the author exemplifies the semiotic approaches by scholars in technical communication and elaborates Morris's model…

Innovations in percutaneous nephrolithotomy.

PubMed

Tailly, Thomas; Denstedt, John

2016-12-01

Technical innovations in all aspects of percutaneous nephrolithotomy have changed the field considerably. The current review is aimed at reporting on the most recent advancements in the field of percutaneous nephrolithotomy. Improvements in CT imaging and the possibility of 3D rendering have dethroned the intravenous pyelogram as gold standard for pre-operative imaging. Where gaining access in the lower pole in prone position with telescopic metal dilators, placing a 30F tract used to be standard, the plethora of alternatives provides the trained surgeon with a large armamentarium to tackle any obstacle. Novel lithotripters appear more efficient than their predecessors and with tubeless PCNL gaining some momentum, ambulatory PCNL is slowly but surely becoming feasible rather than fictional. Copyright © 2016 IJS Publishing Group Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUX): Innovative or Excessive

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-04-06

DIUx, and the short history of DIUx. Innovation principles from authors Vijay Govindarajan, Michael Docherty, and Clayton Christensen are then...innovation principles such as performance engine & innovative team, collective / open innovation, and disruptive technology and its implications – is...various innovation principles drawing primarily from work by authors Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble, Michael Docherty, and Clayton Christenson

Enabling and challenging factors in institutional reform: The case of SCALE-UP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foote, Kathleen; Knaub, Alexis; Henderson, Charles; Dancy, Melissa; Beichner, Robert J.

2016-06-01

While many innovative teaching strategies exist, integration into undergraduate science teaching has been frustratingly slow. This study aims to understand the low uptake of research-based instructional innovations by studying 21 successful implementations of the Student Centered Active Learning with Upside-down Pedagogies (SCALE-UP) instructional reform. SCALE-UP significantly restructures the classroom environment and pedagogy to promote highly active and interactive instruction. Although originally designed for university introductory physics courses, SCALE-UP has spread to many other disciplines at hundreds of departments around the world. This study reports findings from in-depth, open-ended interviews with 21 key contact people involved with successful secondary implementations of SCALE-UP throughout the United States. We defined successful implementations as those who restructured their pedagogy and classroom and sustained and/or spread the change. Interviews were coded to identify the most common enabling and challenging factors during reform implementation and compared to the theoretical framework of Kotter's 8-step Change Model. The most common enabling influences that emerged are documenting and leveraging evidence of local success, administrative support, interaction with outside SCALE-UP user(s), and funding. Many challenges are linked to the lack of these enabling factors including difficulty finding funding, space, and administrative and/or faculty support for reform. Our focus on successful secondary implementations meant that most interviewees were able to overcome challenges. Presentation of results is illuminated with case studies, quotes, and examples that can help secondary implementers with SCALE-UP reform efforts specifically. We also discuss the implications for policy makers, researchers, and the higher education community concerned with initiating structural change.

A Successful Infusion Process for Enabling Lunar Exploration Technologies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Over, Ann P.; Klem, Mark K.; Motil, Susan M.

2008-01-01

The NASA Vision for Space Exploration begins with a more reliable flight capability to the International Space Station and ends with sending humans to Mars. An important stepping stone on the path to Mars encompasses human missions to the Moon. There is little doubt throughout the stakeholder community that new technologies will be required to enable this Vision. However, there are many factors that influence the ability to successfully infuse any technology including the technical risk, requirement and development schedule maturity, and, funds available. This paper focuses on effective infusion processes that have been used recently for the technologies in development for the lunar exploration flight program, Constellation. Recent successes with Constellation customers are highlighted for the Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP) Projects managed by NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC). Following an overview of the technical context of both the flight program and the technology capability mapping, the process is described for how to effectively build an integrated technology infusion plan. The process starts with a sound risk development plan and is completed with an integrated project plan, including content, schedule and cost. In reality, the available resources for this development are going to change over time, necessitating some level of iteration in the planning. However, the driving process is based on the initial risk assessment, which changes only when the overall architecture changes, enabling some level of stability in the process.

Investigating the effects of ICT on innovation and performance of European hospitals: an exploratory study.

PubMed

Arvanitis, Spyros; Loukis, Euripidis N

2016-05-01

Hospitals are making big investments in various types of ICT, so it is important to investigate their effects on innovation and performance. This paper presents an empirical study in this direction, based on data for 743 hospitals from 18 European countries. We specified and estimated econometrically five equations: one for product innovation, one for process innovation and three equations for the three different dimensions of (ICT-enabled) hospital performance. All five equations included various ICT-related variables reflecting ICT infrastructure and a series of important ICT applications, some of them hospital-specific, and some others of general business use, and also ICT personnel (viewed as a kind of 'soft' ICT investment), while the performance equations also included the two innovation measures.

Reform and Innovation of Technical and Vocational Education in the Republic of Korea.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Korea Research Inst. for Vocational Education and Training, Seoul.

In the Republic of Korea, technical and vocational education (TVE) programs in the formal education system are provided at senior secondary schools and postsecondary institutions (junior colleges). Out-of-school vocational training is provided as nonformal education. Since the early 1960s, the TVE system has been restructured in response to…

Technical writing versus technical writing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dillingham, J. W.

1981-01-01

Two terms, two job categories, 'technical writer' and 'technical author' are discussed in terms of industrial and business requirements and standards. A distinction between 'technical writing' and technical 'writing' is made. The term 'technical editor' is also considered. Problems inherent in the design of programs to prepare and train students for these jobs are discussed. A closer alliance between industry and academia is suggested as a means of preparing students with competent technical communication skills (especially writing and editing skills) and good technical skills.

Final Technical Report for Automated Manufacturing of Innovative CPV/PV Modules

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Okawa, David

Cogenra’s Dense Cell Interconnect system was designed to use traditional front-contact cells and string them together into high efficiency and high reliability “supercells”. This novel stringer allows one to take advantage of the ~100 GW/year of existing cell production capacity and create a solar product for the customer that will produce more power and last longer than traditional PV products. The goal for this program was for Cogenra Solar to design and develop a first-of-kind automated solar manufacturing line that produces strings of overlapping cells or “supercells” based on Cogenra’s Dense Cell Interconnect (DCI) technology for their Low Concentration Photovoltaicmore » (LCPV) systems. This will enable the commercialization of DCI technology to improve the efficiency, reliability and economics for their Low Concentration Photovoltaic systems. In this program, Cogenra Solar very successfully designed, developed, built, installed, and started up the ground-breaking manufacturing tools required to assemble supercells. Cogenra then successfully demonstrated operation of the integrated line at high yield and throughput far exceeding expectations. The development of a supercell production line represents a critical step toward a high volume and low cost Low Concentration Photovoltaic Module with Dense Cell Interconnect technology and has enabled the evaluation of the technology for reliability and yield. Unfortunately, performance and cost headwinds on Low Concentration Photovoltaics systems including lack of diffuse capture (10-15% hit) and more expensive tracker requirements resulted in a move away from LCPV technology. Fortunately, the versatility of Dense Cell Interconnect technology allows for application to flat plate module technology as well and Cogenra has worked with the DOE to utilize the learning from this grant to commercialize DCI technology for the solar market through the on-going grant: Catalyzing PV Manufacturing in the US With

Robots and service innovation in health care.

PubMed

Oborn, Eivor; Barrett, Michael; Darzi, Ara

2011-01-01

Robots have long captured our imagination and are being used increasingly in health care. In this paper we summarize, organize and criticize the health care robotics literature and highlight how the social and technical elements of robots iteratively influence and redefine each other. We suggest the need for increased emphasis on sociological dimensions of using robots, recognizing how social and work relations are restructured during changes in practice. Further, we propose the usefulness of a 'service logic' in providing insight as to how robots can influence health care innovation. The Royal Society of Medicine Press Ltd 2011.

Scientific innovation's two Valleys of Death: how blood and tissue banks can help to bridge the gap.

PubMed

Thompson, Sean D A

2014-12-01

Most biomedical basic research in the United States takes place at universities and research institutes and is funded by federal grants. Basic research is awarded billions of federal dollars every year, enabling new discoveries and greater understanding of the fundamental science that makes new innovations and therapies possible. However, when basic research yields an invention of practical use and the research evolves from basic to applied, the playing field changes. Pre-technology licensing federal dollars all but disappear, and innovations rely predominantly on private funding to support the full path from bench to bedside. It is along this path that the scientific advance faces two Valleys of Death. These sometimes insurmountable development stages are the product of the innovation's inherent financial, business and investment risks. Well-planned and executed in vivo studies using quality biological materials demonstrating proof-of-concept is often the key to bridging these gaps, and blood and tissue banks offer unique services and resources to enable this process.

Politics of innovation in multi-level water governance systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daniell, Katherine A.; Coombes, Peter J.; White, Ian

2014-11-01

Innovations are being proposed in many countries in order to support change towards more sustainable and water secure futures. However, the extent to which they can be implemented is subject to complex politics and powerful coalitions across multi-level governance systems and scales of interest. Exactly how innovation uptake can be best facilitated or blocked in these complex systems is thus a matter of important practical and research interest in water cycle management. From intervention research studies in Australia, China and Bulgaria, this paper seeks to describe and analyse the behind-the-scenes struggles and coalition-building that occurs between water utility providers, private companies, experts, communities and all levels of government in an effort to support or block specific innovations. The research findings suggest that in order to ensure successful passage of the proposed innovations, champions for it are required from at least two administrative levels, including one with innovation implementation capacity, as part of a larger supportive coalition. Higher governance levels can play an important enabling role in facilitating the passage of certain types of innovations that may be in competition with currently entrenched systems of water management. Due to a range of natural biases, experts on certain innovations and disciplines may form part of supporting or blocking coalitions but their evaluations of worth for water system sustainability and security are likely to be subject to competing claims based on different values and expertise, so may not necessarily be of use in resolving questions of "best courses of action". This remains a political values-based decision to be negotiated through the receiving multi-level water governance system.

Technological innovations in digital data management and changing roles of imaging specialists in Japan.

PubMed

Ehara, Shigeru

2010-11-28

Technical innovations in digital data management pose a threat to radiologists in that can we remain in the process of clinical decision making or be assigned to a secondary role in future clinical practice. The value added to the imaging studies by diagnostic radiologists, or imaging specialists, has never been questioned more seriously.

Creativity, Innovation and Arts Learning: Preparing All Students for Success in a Global Economy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruppert, Sandra S.

2010-01-01

The United States is competing in a dynamic global economy in which two assets--a skilled, versatile and highly adaptable workforce and the capacity for creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship--provide a decisive edge. To succeed in today's economic climate, the U.S. needs a well-educated, technically proficient workforce in all sectors and…

Discussion of the enabling environments for decentralised water systems.

PubMed

Moglia, M; Alexander, K S; Sharma, A

2011-01-01

Decentralised water supply systems are becoming increasingly affordable and commonplace in Australia and have the potential to alleviate urban water shortages and reduce pollution into natural receiving marine and freshwater streams. Learning processes are necessary to support the efficient implementation of decentralised systems. These processes reveal the complex socio-technical and institutional factors to be considered when developing an enabling environment supporting decentralised water and wastewater servicing solutions. Critical to the technological transition towards established decentralised systems is the ability to create strategic and adaptive capacity to promote learning and dialogue. Learning processes require institutional mechanisms to ensure the lessons are incorporated into the formulation of policy and regulation, through constructive involvement of key government institutions. Engagement of stakeholders is essential to the enabling environment. Collaborative learning environments using systems analysis with communities (social learning) and adaptive management techniques are useful in refining and applying scientists' and managers' knowledge (knowledge management).

Creativity and innovation by empowering the customer: The case of Mulino Bianco. Part I: Organisational innovation context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bujor, A.; Avasilcăi, S.

2015-11-01

The terms of creativity, co-creation, creative industries, innovation, and coinnovation are more and more used nowadays. While co-creation offers the possibility and encourages a more active involvement from the customers to create value rich experiences, innovation is responsible for the little improvements made for a better life, to grow a business, to improve products, services or company's productivity. Either customers, current and potential, or stakeholders’ involvement into innovation activities, through their creativity, represent an important way of value creation, of actions’ performance that increases the worth of goods, services, or business as a whole. More and more, different size businesses gather ideas for innovation from customers / stakeholders through their involvement into the early stages of the innovation process. Actually, it has been shown that their ideas sketch their needs and wishes, and have been described as “need information”. Customers and stakeholders, in general, also offer ideas that have been called “solution information”, which represents, not only need information, but also customer-based proposals that describe how ideas can be transformed into marketable products. The term of creative industries refers to those goods that can technically be reproduced, industrially produced, and commercially sold, this being one of the many definitions found in the literature. The classification of creative industries differs at the European Union level according to each country's development level and opening towards these industries’ perception as an engine for economic growth. To better explore and identify the importance of innovation and creativity for new products’ development or improvement a case study about Mulino Bianco was done. This methodology approach represents a part of a qualitative research approach within a broader research undertaken within the framework of the National Research Program PN II. Mulino Bianco

Designing a strategy to promote safe, innovative off-label use of medications.

PubMed

Ansani, Nicole; Sirio, Carl; Smitherman, Thomas; Fedutes-Henderson, Bethany; Skledar, Susan; Weber, Robert J; Zgheib, Nathalie; Branch, Robert

2006-01-01

Innovative off-label medication use (defined as prescribing with reasonable rationale for use, but insufficient evidence to allay safety, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness concerns, yet is not clinical research) is common practice and provides challenges to ensuring high-quality health care and patient safety. This article describes a strategy to promote policy and standardization of innovative off-label medication use, ensure oversight of patient safety, and prospectively assess efficacy. A multidisciplinary group developed a policy and process to regulate innovative off-label medication use that standardizes formulary review, maximizes peer expertise input, and minimizes institution liability by evaluating the effectiveness of use, promoting evidence-based practices, and ensuring ethical obligations to patients and society. This strategy has been implemented through institutional staff structure. The review process balances benefits/risks for biologically plausible therapy that lacks rigorous data support. The authors' strategy illustrates collaboration that enables a priori consideration for innovative off-label medication use while providing safety surveillance and outcomes monitoring.

Patient-centered innovation in health care organizations: a conceptual framework and case study application.

PubMed

Hernandez, Susan E; Conrad, Douglas A; Marcus-Smith, Miriam S; Reed, Peter; Watts, Carolyn

2013-01-01

Patient-centered innovation is spreading at the federal and state levels. A conceptual framework can help frame real-world examples and extract systematic learning from an array of innovative applications currently underway. The statutory, economic, and political environment in Washington State offers a special contextual laboratory for observing the interplay of these factors. We propose a framework for understanding the process of initiating patient-centered innovations-particularly innovations addressing patient-centered goals of improved access, continuity, communication and coordination, cultural competency, and family- and person-focused care over time. The framework to a case study of a provider organization in Washington State actively engaged in such innovations was applied in this article. We conducted a selective review of peer-reviewed evidence and theory regarding determinants of organizational change. On the basis of the literature review and the particular examples of patient-centric innovation, we developed a conceptual framework. Semistructured key informant interviews were conducted to illustrate the framework with concrete examples of patient-centered innovation. The primary determinants of initiating patient-centered innovation are (a) effective leadership, with the necessary technical and professional expertise and creative skills; (b) strong internal and external motivation to change; (c) clear and internally consistent organizational mission; (d) aligned organizational strategy; (e) robust organizational capability; and (f) continuous feedback and organizational learning. The internal hierarchy of actors is important in shaping patient-centered innovation. External financial incentives and government regulations also significantly shape innovation. Patient-centered care innovation is a complex process. A general framework that could help managers and executives organize their thoughts around innovation within their organization is presented.

A History of the Chemical Innovations in Silver-Halide Materials for Color PhotographyII. Color-Forming Development, Part 5. Coupler Innovations after the 1970's—Two-Equivalent Coupler and DIR Coupler

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oishi, Yasushi

After the 1970's on, several manufacturers including Fuji Film, Konica and Agfa-Gevaert participated in innovating color photographic materials by adding their own coupler chemistry to the technological architecture built by Kodak before then. One area of their major advances was development of the couplers having a coupling-off organic group. One of their functional forms was two-equivalent coupler which made the dye-forming process efficient and made the photosensitive layers slim. And another was DIR coupler which improved dramatically the image quality of color negative materials. In this paper a historical overview of these innovations is constructed from the technical documents, mainly patents.

Science Goals and Objectives for Canadian Robotic Exploration of the Moon Enabled by the Deep Space Gateway

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bourassa, M.; Osinski, G. R.; Cross, M.; Hill, P.; King, D.; Morse, Z.; Pilles, E.; Tolometti, G.; Tornabene, L. L.; Zanetti, M.

2018-02-01

Canadian contributions to the science goals and objectives of a lunar precursor rover for HERACLES, an international mission concept, are discussed. Enabled by the Deep Space Gateway, this rover is a technical demonstrator for robotic sample return.

Small Business Innovation Research. Program solicitation. Closing date: July 22, 1988

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1988-01-01

The sixth annual Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) solicitation by NASA, describes the program, identifies eligibility requirements, outlines proposal preparation and submission requirements, describes the proposal evaluation and award selection process, and provides other information to assist those interested in participating in the SBIR program. It also identifies in Section 8.0 and Appendix D, the specific technical topics and subtopics in which SBIR Phase 1 proposals are solicited in 1988.

Enlarging the `knowledge toolbox': helping students prepare for an innovation-driven world

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nilsen, Elizabeth

2015-03-01

Physics students graduate from their course of studies to enter the ``world of work.'' While for many years that transition meant joining a large corporation for a life-long career, this is no longer the case. Today's graduates will find their career with a series of organizations - often start-ups and small to mid-sized organizations - whose future depends on the ability to rapidly leverage technical knowledge into useful products and services. This session will discuss the value of preparing physics students to be innovators and entrepreneurs, both as a strategy to prepare them for future careers, as well as an opportunity to fully engage students in seeing the relevance of physics to ``real world'' challenges. The session will feature three case studies: 1) embedding core knowledge and skills within a technical content course; 2) building learning experiences around a team-based start-up exploration; 3) engaging an entire department in considering how to comprehensively include innovation & entrepreneurship themes in the curriculum. The session will conclude with information about how faculty members and institutions can access resources for adopting this approach to their course offerings.

Standardization and omics science: technical and social dimensions are inseparable and demand symmetrical study.

PubMed

Holmes, Christina; McDonald, Fiona; Jones, Mavis; Ozdemir, Vural; Graham, Janice E

2010-06-01

Standardization is critical to scientists and regulators to ensure the quality and interoperability of research processes, as well as the safety and efficacy of the attendant research products. This is perhaps most evident in the case of "omics science," which is enabled by a host of diverse high-throughput technologies such as genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. But standards are of interest to (and shaped by) others far beyond the immediate realm of individual scientists, laboratories, scientific consortia, or governments that develop, apply, and regulate them. Indeed, scientific standards have consequences for the social, ethical, and legal environment in which innovative technologies are regulated, and thereby command the attention of policy makers and citizens. This article argues that standardization of omics science is both technical and social. A critical synthesis of the social science literature indicates that: (1) standardization requires a degree of flexibility to be practical at the level of scientific practice in disparate sites; (2) the manner in which standards are created, and by whom, will impact their perceived legitimacy and therefore their potential to be used; and (3) the process of standardization itself is important to establishing the legitimacy of an area of scientific research.

Adoption of a High-Impact Innovation in a Homogeneous Population

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weiss, Curtis H.; Poncela-Casasnovas, Julia; Glaser, Joshua I.; Pah, Adam R.; Persell, Stephen D.; Baker, David W.; Wunderink, Richard G.; Nunes Amaral, Luís A.

2014-10-01

Adoption of innovations, whether new ideas, technologies, or products, is crucially important to knowledge societies. The landmark studies of adoption dealt with innovations having great societal impact (such as antibiotics or hybrid crops) but where determining the utility of the innovation was straightforward (such as fewer side effects or greater yield). Recent large-scale studies of adoption were conducted within heterogeneous populations and focused on products with little societal impact. Here, we focus on a case with great practical significance: adoption by small groups of highly trained individuals of innovations with large societal impact but for which it is impractical to determine the true utility of the innovation. Specifically, we study experimentally the adoption by critical care physicians of a diagnostic assay that complements current protocols for the diagnosis of life-threatening bacterial infections and for which a physician cannot estimate the true accuracy of the assay based on personal experience. We show through computational modeling of the experiment that infection-spreading models—which have been formalized as generalized contagion processes—are not consistent with the experimental data, while a model inspired by opinion models is able to reproduce the empirical data. Our modeling approach enables us to investigate the efficacy of different intervention schemes on the rate and robustness of innovation adoption in the real world. While our study is focused on critical care physicians, our findings have implications for other settings in education, research, and business, where small groups of highly qualified peers make decisions about the adoption of innovations whose utility is difficult if not impossible to gauge.

Adoption of a High-Impact Innovation in a Homogeneous Population.

PubMed

Weiss, Curtis H; Poncela-Casasnovas, Julia; Glaser, Joshua I; Pah, Adam R; Persell, Stephen D; Baker, David W; Wunderink, Richard G; Nunes Amaral, Luís A

2014-10-15

Adoption of innovations, whether new ideas, technologies, or products, is crucially important to knowledge societies. The landmark studies of adoption dealt with innovations having great societal impact (such as antibiotics or hybrid crops) but where determining the utility of the innovation was straightforward (such as fewer side effects or greater yield). Recent large-scale studies of adoption were conducted within heterogeneous populations and focused on products with little societal impact. Here, we focus on a case with great practical significance: adoption by small groups of highly trained individuals of innovations with large societal impact but for which it is impractical to determine the true utility of the innovation. Specifically, we study experimentally the adoption by critical care physicians of a diagnostic assay that complements current protocols for the diagnosis of life-threatening bacterial infections and for which a physician cannot estimate the true accuracy of the assay based on personal experience. We show through computational modeling of the experiment that infection-spreading models-which have been formalized as generalized contagion processes-are not consistent with the experimental data, while a model inspired by opinion models is able to reproduce the empirical data. Our modeling approach enables us to investigate the efficacy of different intervention schemes on the rate and robustness of innovation adoption in the real world. While our study is focused on critical care physicians, our findings have implications for other settings in education, research, and business, where small groups of highly qualified peers make decisions about the adoption of innovations whose utility is difficult if not impossible to gauge.

Managing Information On Technical Requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mauldin, Lemuel E., III; Hammond, Dana P.

1993-01-01

Technical Requirements Analysis and Control Systems/Initial Operating Capability (TRACS/IOC) computer program provides supplemental software tools for analysis, control, and interchange of project requirements so qualified project members have access to pertinent project information, even if in different locations. Enables users to analyze and control requirements, serves as focal point for project requirements, and integrates system supporting efficient and consistent operations. TRACS/IOC is HyperCard stack for use on Macintosh computers running HyperCard 1.2 or later and Oracle 1.2 or later.

The Dilemma of Service Productivity and Service Innovation: An Empirical Exploration in Financial Services.

PubMed

Aspara, Jaakko; Klein, Jan F; Luo, Xueming; Tikkanen, Henrikki

2018-05-01

We conduct a systematic exploratory investigation of the effects of firms' existing service productivity on the success of their new service innovations. Although previous research extensively addresses service productivity and service innovation, this is the first empirical study that bridges the gap between these two research streams and examines the links between the two concepts. Based on a comprehensive data set of new service introductions in a financial services market over a 14-year period, we empirically explore the relationship between a firm's existing service productivity and the firm's success in introducing new services to the market. The results unveil a fundamental service productivity-service innovation dilemma: Being productive in existing services increases a firm's willingness to innovate new services proactively but decreases the firm's capabilities of bringing these services to the market successfully. We provide specific insights into the mechanism underlying the complex relationship between a firm's productivity in existing services, its innovation proactivity, and its service innovation success. For managers, we not only unpack and elucidate this dilemma but also demonstrate that a focused customer scope and growth market conditions may enable firms to mitigate the dilemma and successfully pursue service productivity and service innovation simultaneously.

Knowledge Management Orientation: An Innovative Perspective to Hospital Management

PubMed Central

GHASEMI, Matina; GHADIRI NEJAD, Mazyar; BAGZIBAGLI, Kemal

2017-01-01

Background: By considering innovation as a new project in hospitals, all the project management’s standard steps should be followed in execution. This study investigated the validation of a new set of measures in terms of providing a procedure for knowledge management-oriented innovation that enriches the hospital management system. Methods: The relation between innovation and all the knowledge management areas, as the main constructs of project management, was illustrated by referring to project management standard steps and previous studies. Through consultations and meetings with a committee of professional project managers, a questionnaire was developed to measure ten knowledge management areas in hospital’s innovation process. Additionally, a group of experts from hospital managers were invited to comment on the applicability of the questionnaires by considering if the items are measurable in hospitals practically. Results: A close-ended, Likert-type scale items, consisted of ten sections, were developed based on project management body of knowledge thorough Delphi technique. It enables the managers to evaluate hospitals’ situation to be aware whether the organization follows the knowledge management standards in innovation process or not. By pilot study, confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory factor analysis were conducted to ensure the validity and reliability of the measurement items. Conclusion: The developed items seem to have a potential to help hospital managers and subsequently delivering new products/services successfully based on the standard procedures in their organization. In all innovation processes, the knowledge management areas and their standard steps help hospital managers by a new tool as questionnaire format. PMID:29259938

Knowledge Management Orientation: An Innovative Perspective to Hospital Management.

PubMed

Ghasemi, Matina; Ghadiri Nejad, Mazyar; Bagzibagli, Kemal

2017-12-01

By considering innovation as a new project in hospitals, all the project management's standard steps should be followed in execution. This study investigated the validation of a new set of measures in terms of providing a procedure for knowledge management-oriented innovation that enriches the hospital management system. The relation between innovation and all the knowledge management areas, as the main constructs of project management, was illustrated by referring to project management standard steps and previous studies. Through consultations and meetings with a committee of professional project managers, a questionnaire was developed to measure ten knowledge management areas in hospital's innovation process. Additionally, a group of experts from hospital managers were invited to comment on the applicability of the questionnaires by considering if the items are measurable in hospitals practically. A close-ended, Likert-type scale items, consisted of ten sections, were developed based on project management body of knowledge thorough Delphi technique. It enables the managers to evaluate hospitals' situation to be aware whether the organization follows the knowledge management standards in innovation process or not. By pilot study, confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory factor analysis were conducted to ensure the validity and reliability of the measurement items. The developed items seem to have a potential to help hospital managers and subsequently delivering new products/services successfully based on the standard procedures in their organization. In all innovation processes, the knowledge management areas and their standard steps help hospital managers by a new tool as questionnaire format.

The innovation catalysts.

PubMed

Martin, Roger L

2011-06-01

A few years ago the software development company Intuit realized that it needed a new approach to galvanizing customers. The company's Net Promoter Score was faltering, and customer recommendations of new products were especially disappointing. Intuit decided to hold a two-day, off-site meeting for the company's top 300 managers with a focus on the role of design in innovation. One of the days was dedicated to a program called Design for Delight. The centerpiece of the day was a PowerPoint presentation by Intuit founder Scott Cook, who realized midway through that he was no Steve Jobs: The managers listened dutifully, but there was little energy in the room. By contrast, a subsequent exercise in which the participants worked through a design challenge by creating prototypes, getting feedback, iterating, and refining, had them mesmerized. The eventual result was the creation of a team of nine design-thinking coaches--"innovation catalysts"--from across Intuit who were made available to help any work group create prototypes, run experiments, and learn from customers. The process includes a "painstorm" (to determine the customer's greatest pain point), a "soljam" (to generate and then winnow possible solutions), and a "code-jam" (to write code "good enough" to take to customers within two weeks). Design for Delight has enabled employees throughout Intuit to move from satisfying customers to delighting them.

Small Business Innovations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

Under an Army Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant, Symbiotics, Inc. developed a software system that permits users to upgrade products from standalone applications so they can communicate in a distributed computing environment. Under a subsequent NASA SBIR grant, Symbiotics added additional tools to the SOCIAL product to enable NASA to coordinate conventional systems for planning Shuttle launch support operations. Using SOCIAL, data may be shared among applications in a computer network even when the applications are written in different programming languages. The product was introduced to the commercial market in 1993 and is used to monitor and control equipment for operation support and to integrate financial networks. The SBIR program was established to increase small business participation in federal R&D activities and to transfer government research to industry. InQuisiX is a reuse library providing high performance classification, cataloging, searching, browsing, retrieval and synthesis capabilities. These form the foundation for software reuse, producing higher quality software at lower cost and in less time. Software Productivity Solutions, Inc. developed the technology under Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) projects funded by NASA and the Army and is marketing InQuisiX in conjunction with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). The SBIR program was established to increase small business participation in federal R&D activities and to transfer government research to industry.

The NASA Technical Report Server

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nelson, Michael L.; Gottlich, Gretchen L.; Bianco, David J.; Paulson, Sharon S.; Binkley, Robert L.; Kellogg, Yvonne D.; Beaumont, Chris J.; Schmunk, Robert B.; Kurtz, Michael J.; Accomazzi, Alberto

1995-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 established NASA and charged it to "provide for the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of information concerning its activities and the results thereof." The search for innovative methods to distribute NASA's information lead a grass-roots team to create the NASA Technical Report Server (NTRS), which uses the World Wide Web and other popular Internet-based information systems as search engines. The NTRS is an inter-center effort which provides uniform access to various distributed publication servers residing on the Internet. Users have immediate desktop access to technical publications from NASA centers and institutes. The NTRS is comprised of several units, some constructed especially for inclusion in NTRS, and others that are existing NASA publication services that NTRS reuses. This paper presents the NTRS architecture, usage metrics, and the lessons learned while implementing and maintaining the service. The NTRS is largely constructed with freely available software running on existing hardware. NTRS builds upon existing hardware and software, and the resulting additional exposure for the body of literature contained ensures that NASA's institutional knowledge base will continue to receive the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination.

Managing Innovation to Maximize Value Along the Discovery-Translation-Application Continuum.

PubMed

Waldman, S A; Terzic, A

2017-01-01

Success in pharmaceutical development led to a record 51 drugs approved in the past year, surpassing every previous year since 1950. Technology innovation enabled identification and exploitation of increasingly precise disease targets ensuring next generation diagnostic and therapeutic products for patient management. The expanding biopharmaceutical portfolio stands, however, in contradistinction to the unsustainable costs that reflect remarkable challenges of clinical development programs. This annual Therapeutic Innovations issue juxtaposes advances in translating molecular breakthroughs into transformative therapies with essential considerations for lowering attrition and improving the cost-effectiveness of the drug-development paradigm. Realizing the discovery-translation-application continuum mandates a congruent approval, adoption, and access triad. © 2016 ASCPT.

Managing Innovation to Maximize Value Along the Discovery-Translation-Application Continuum

PubMed Central

Waldman, SA; Terzic, A

2017-01-01

Success in pharmaceutical development led to a record 51 drug approved in the past year, surpassing every previous year since 1950. Technology innovation enabled identification and exploitation of increasingly precise disease targets ensuring a next generation diagnostic and therapeutic products for patient management. The expanding biopharmaceutical portfolio stands however in contradistinction to the unsustainable costs that reflect remarkable challenges of clinical development programs. This annual Therapeutic Innovations issue juxtaposes advances in translating molecular breakthroughs into transformative therapies with essential considerations for lowering attrition and improving the cost-effectiveness of the drug development paradigm. Realizing the discovery-translation-application continuum mandates a congruent approval, adoption and access triad. PMID:27869291

Defense Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR). Volume 4. Defense Agencies Abstracts of Phase 1 Awards. 1990

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-01-01

RI 02871 Program Manager: T. DEEGAN Contract #: Title: LF DETECTION OF AIRCRAFT Topic #: DARPA90-049 Office: ID #: 50506 TECHNICAL ABSTRACT - COMBAT...INNOVATION RESEARCH PROGRAM - PHASE I SDIO Solicitation 90.1 TORRANCE, CA 90505 Program Manager: JAMES E CRAIG Contract #: Title: NONINTRUSIVE OPTICAL

Technological innovations in digital data management and changing roles of imaging specialists in Japan

PubMed Central

Ehara, Shigeru

2010-01-01

Technical innovations in digital data management pose a threat to radiologists in that can we remain in the process of clinical decision making or be assigned to a secondary role in future clinical practice. The value added to the imaging studies by diagnostic radiologists, or imaging specialists, has never been questioned more seriously. PMID:21179309

An evolving Mars telecommunications network to enable exploration and increase science data return

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Edwards, Chad; Komarek, Tomas A.; Noreen, Gary K.; Wilson, Gregory R.

2003-01-01

The coming decade of Mars exploration involves a variety of unique telecommunications challenges. Increasing spatial and spectral resolution of in situ science instruments drive the need for increased bandwidth. At the same time, many innovative and low-cost in situ mission concepts are enabled by energy-efficient relay communications. In response to these needs, the Mars Exploration Program has established a plan for an evolving orbital infrastructure that can provide enhancing and enabling telecommunications services to future Mars missions. We will present the evolving capabilities of this network over the coming decade in terms of specific quantitative metrics such as data volume per sol and required lander energy per Gb of returned data for representative classes of Mars exploration spacecraft.

Technology Transfer: A Compilation of Varied Approaches to the Management of Innovation.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-12-01

Objectives. Risk. Technical interest. Social pressure. In Phase Two of the data review, the student-annotated articles were re-ordered by chapter...Type Plans--A. J. Geare Chapter 12. Willingness 71. The Absorption Rate of Ideas--G. Gallup 72. Innovacion -Resisting and Innovation-Producing...their questionable impact on social institu- tions. While technology has been clearly beneficial to many people, it has been of dubious value in

From the Islands of Knowledge to a Shared Understanding: Interdisciplinarity and Technology Literacy for Innovation in Smart Electronic Product Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blanco, Teresa; Casas, Roberto; Manchado-Pérez, Eduardo; Asensio, Ángel; López-Pérez, Jose M.

2017-01-01

In the context of the evolving Internet, a balance between technological advances and meaning change is crucial to develop innovative and breakthrough "connected electronics" that enable the Internet of Things. Designers and technologists are key enablers of this process respectively, ensuring adequate users' needs and technology…

An Innovative Supply Chain Management Programme Structure: Broadening the SCM Skill Set

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Okongwu, Uche

2007-01-01

This paper proposes a matrix structure for training Supply Chain Management (SCM) professionals. It is an innovative programme structure that combines two approaches: cross-border and inter-organisational. It enables the students to comprehend complex and specific business environments and to understand the diverse nature of SCM systems in both…

Minimally Invasive Implantable Fetal Micropacemaker: Mechanical Testing and Technical Refinements

PubMed Central

Zhou, Li; Vest, Adriana N.; Peck, Raymond A.; Sredl, Jonathan P.; Huang, Xuechen; Bar-Cohen, Yaniv; Silka, Michael J.; Pruetz, Jay D.; Chmait, Ramen H.; Loeb, Gerald E.

2016-01-01

This paper discusses the technical and safety requirements for cardiac pacing of a human fetus with heart failure and hydrops fetalis secondary to complete heart block. Engineering strategies to meet specific technical requirements were integrated into a systematic design and implementation consisting of a novel fetal micropacemaker, a percutaneous implantation system, and a sterile package that enables device storage and recharging maintenance in a clinical setting. We further analyzed observed problems on myocardial fixation and pacing lead fatigue previously reported in earlier preclinical trials. This paper describes the technical refinements of the implantable fetal micropacemaker to overcome these challenges. The mechanical performance has been extensively tested to verify the improvement of reliability and safety margins of the implantation system. PMID:27021067

Innovations in cold chain equipment for immunization supply chains.

PubMed

Robertson, Joanie; Franzel, Lauren; Maire, Denis

2017-04-19

Since 2010, numerous new technologies have entered the immunization cold chain equipment market. The World Health Organization (WHO) Immunization Devices Programme-Performance, Quality and Safety (PQS)-has played a key role in bringing these to market. In this article, the authors explore the emergence of new cold chain equipment technologies from 2004 to 2016 and the role of PQS in this evolution. This review focuses on three major vaccine cold chain technology innovations-solar direct-drive refrigerators, long-term passive cold boxes, and equipment with user-independent freeze prevention. For the review, we used online data from WHO PQS, a literature search, and unpublished research reports. Timelines with key milestones in the emergence of the three focus technologies show delays of between one and three years between earliest field trials and publication of WHO specifications; procurement builds after the WHO prequalification of initial devices. The timelines show the role of PQS as both gatekeeper and enabler for cold chain equipment technologies. The use of target product profiles by PQS has increased its ability to signal preferred attributes and to engage with manufacturers during the product-development stage. Procurement data show how demand for solar direct-drive refrigerators increased over time. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is employing demand-generation strategies to try to drive procurement of technologies with favorable technical attributes. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

The effects of diversity and network ties on innovations: The emergence of a new scientific field.

PubMed

Lungeanu, Alina; Contractor, Noshir S

2015-05-01

This study examines the influence of different types of diversity, both observable and unobservable, on the creation of innovative ideas. Our framework draws upon theory and research on information processing, social categorization, coordination, and homophily to posit the influence of cognitive, gender, and country diversity on innovation. Our longitudinal model is based on a unique dataset of 1,354 researchers who helped create the new scientific field of Oncofertility, by collaborating on 469 publications over a four-year period. We capture the differences among researchers along cognitive, country and gender dimensions, as well as examine how the resulting diversity or homophily influences the formation of collaborative innovation networks. We find that innovation, operationalized as publishing in a new scientific discipline, benefits from both homophily and diversity. Homophily in country of residence and working with prior collaborators help reduce uncertainty in the interactions associated with innovation, while diversity in knowledge enables the recombinant knowledge required for innovation.

Technical Submission Form: Technical Specification of a Wave Energy Farm.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Roberts, Jesse D.; Nielsen, Kim; Kennedy, Ben

The Wave - SPARC project developed the Technology Performance Level (TPL) assessment procedure based on a rigorous Systems Engineering exercise. The TPL assessment allows a whole system evaluation of Wave Energy Conversion Technology by measuring it against the requirements determined through the Systems Engineering exercise. The TPL assessment is intended to be useful in technology evaluation; in technology innovation; in allocation of public or priva te investment, and; in making equipment purchasing decisions. This Technical Submission Form (TSF) serves the purpose of collecting relevant and complete information, in a technology agnostic way, to allow TPL assessment s to be mademore » by third party assessor s. The intended usage of this document is that the organization or people that are performing the role of developers or promoters of a particular technology will use this form to provide the information necessary for the organization or people who are perf orming the assessor role to use the TPL assessment.« less

Innovative healthcare systems on their way to the market: how to cope with commercialization barriers.

PubMed

Hofmann, Isa

2007-01-01

Healthcare markets and healthcare systems worldwide will be undergoing tremendous changes in the upcoming 5-10 years. We will experience a paradigm shift in the personal awareness and responsibility of disease prevention and health management. Skyrocketing costs, an ageing population and a variety of technical innovations that enhance the quality of life of patients with chronic diseases or suffering from geriatric ailments will open up new horizons for a variety of partly textile based preventative, therapeutic & diagnostic systems, devices & technologies. Mainly these innovations are geared to optimize the patients comfort and concedes more freedom of mobility. However all partners in the healthcare value distribution chain need to cooperate in vue of the patients empowerment to bring innovations quicker to the market and find viable and cost efficient solutions.

Innovations in non-communicable diseases management in ASEAN: a case series

PubMed Central

Lim, Jeremy; Chan, Melissa M. H.; Alsagoff, Fatimah Z.; Ha, Duc

2014-01-01

Background Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are reaching epidemic proportions worldwide and present an unprecedented challenge to economic and social development globally. In Southeast Asia, the challenges are exacerbated by vastly differing levels of health systems development and funding availability. In addressing the burden of NCDs, ASEAN nations need to fundamentally re-examine how health care services are structured and delivered and discover new models as undiscerning application of models from other geographies with different cultures and resources will be problematic. Objective We sought to examine cases of innovation and identify critical success factors in NCD management in ASEAN. Design A qualitative design, focusing on in-depth interviews and site visits to explore the meanings and perceptions of participants regarding innovations in NCD against the backdrop of the overall context of delivering health care within the country's context was adopted. Results In total 12 case studies in six ASEAN countries were analysed. Primary interventions accounted for five of the total cases, whereas secondary interventions comprised four, and tertiary interventions three. Five core themes contributing to successful innovation for NCD management were identified. They include: 1) encourage better outcomes through leadership and support, 2) strengthen inter-disciplinary partnership, 3) community ownership is key, 4) recognise the needs of the people and what appeals to them, and 5) raise awareness through capacity building and increasing health literacy. Conclusions Innovation is vital in enabling ASEAN nations to successfully address the growing crisis of NCDs. More of the same or wholesale transfers of developed world models will be ineffective and lead to financially unsustainable programmes or programmes lacking appropriate human capital. The case studies have demonstrated the transformative impact of innovation and identified key factors in successful

Innovative Methodology For Detection of Fracture-Controlled Sweet Spots in the Northern Appalachian Basin

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jacobi, Rober

2007-03-28

This Topical Report (#6 of 9) consists of the figures 3.6-13 to (and including) 3.6-18 (and appropriate figure captions) that accompany the Final Technical Progress Report entitled: “Innovative Methodology for Detection of Fracture-Controlled Sweet Spots in the Northern Appalachian Basin” for DOE/NETL Award DE-AC26-00NT40698.

Technical Assistance for Southwest Solar Technologies Inc. Final Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Munoz-Ramos, Karina; Brainard, James Robert; McIntyre, Annie

2012-07-01

Southwest Solar Technologies Inc. is constructing a Solar-Fuel Hybrid Turbine energy system. This innovative energy system combines solar thermal energy with compressed air energy storage and natural gas fuel backup capability to provide firm, non-intermittent power. In addition, the energy system will have very little impact on the environment since, unlike other Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technologies, it requires minimal water. In 2008 Southwest Solar Technologies received a Solar America Showcase award from the Department of Energy for Technical Assistance from Sandia National Laboratories. This report details the work performed as part of the Solar America Showcase award for Southwestmore » Solar Technologies. After many meetings and visits between Sandia National Labs and Southwest Solar Technologies, several tasks were identified as part of the Technical Assistance and the analysis and results for these are included here.« less

The option value of innovative treatments in the context of chronic myeloid leukemia.

PubMed

Sanchez, Yuri; Penrod, John R; Qiu, Xiaoli Lily; Romley, John; Thornton Snider, Julia; Philipson, Tomas

2012-11-01

To quantify in the context of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) the additional value patients receive when innovative treatments enable them to survive until the advent of even more effective future treatments (ie, the "option value"). Observational study using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) cancer registry comprising all US patients with CML diagnosed between 2000 and 2008 (N = 9,760). We quantified the option value of recent breakthroughs in CML treatment by first conducting retrospective survival analyses on SEER data to assess the effectiveness of TKI treatments, and then forecasting survival from CML and other causes to measure expected future medical progress. We then developed an analytical framework to calculate option value of innovative CML therapies, and used an economic model to value these gains. We calculated the option value created both by future innovations in CML treatment and by medical progress in reducing background mortality. For a recently diagnosed CML patient, the option value of innovative therapies from future medical innovation amounts to 0.76 life-years. This option value is worth $63,000, equivalent to 9% of the average survival gains from existing treatments. Future innovations in CML treatment jointly account for 96% of this benefit. The option value of innovative treatments has significance in the context of CML and, more broadly, in disease areas with rapid innovation. Incorporating option value into traditional valuations of medical innovations is both a feasible and a necessary practice in health technology assessment.

ISABEL Triggering Sustainable Biogas Energy Communities through Social Innovation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baumgarten, Wibke; Piedra Garcia, Diego

2017-04-01

The Horizon 2020 funding project ISABEL (Triggering Sustainable Biogas Energy Communities through Social Innovation) is all about promoting, supporting and developing community biogas in Europe. The project is set on providing all the framework conditions for biogas communities to shape, develop and thrive. It works on all angles to pave the way for the transition from traditional supply chains to community ownership and take full advantage of the ample societal benefits of regional community-driven biogas systems, fuelled and inspired by Social Innovation principles. The biogas communities emerge in three targeted ISABEL regions, Baden-Württemberg in Germany, Central and Eastern Macedonia and Thrace in Greece and Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the Humber in UK. To realize this vision ISABEL is employing its "5E strategy" with the following objectives: Educate: Re-position biogas energy by re-branding it as a "public good". Engage: Enable the development of regional Biogas Communities. Empower: Utilize the created momentum through Social Innovation and Public Participation Evaluate: Assess the local interventions and drafting lessons and guidelines Expand: Maximise impact through transfer and replication

The Use of Virtual Reality Simulation to Improve Technical Skill in the Undergraduate Medical Imaging Student

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gunn, Therese; Jones, Lee; Bridge, Pete; Rowntree, Pam; Nissen, Lisa

2018-01-01

In recent years, simulation has increasingly underpinned the acquisition of pre-clinical skills by undergraduate medical imaging (diagnostic radiography) students. This project aimed to evaluate the impact of an innovative virtual reality (VR) learning environment on the development of technical proficiency by students. The study assessed the…

AN INNOVATIVE DESIGN FOR ANAEROBIC CO-DIGESTION OF ANIMAL WASTES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN RURAL COMMUNITIES

EPA Science Inventory

With the aim of the Phase I project to develop an innovative anaerobic co-digestion design for the treatment of dairy manure and poultry waste, our Phase I team has evaluated the technical and economic feasibility of the anaerobic co-digestion design concept with a thorough in...

The Chronic Care Model and Technological Research and Innovation: A Scoping Review at the Crossroads

PubMed Central

Berntsen, Gro Karine Rosvold; Koricho, Absera Teshome; Sygna, Karin; Ruland, Cornelia

2015-01-01

Background Information and communication technologies (ICT) are key to optimizing the outcomes of the Chronic Care Model (CCM), currently acknowledged as the best synthesis of available evidence for chronic illness prevention and management. At the same time, CCM can offer a needed framework for increasing the relevance and feasibility of ICT innovation and research in health care. Little is known about how and to what extent CCM and ICT research inform each other to leverage mutual strengths. The current study examines: What characterizes work being done at the crossroads of CCM and ICT research and innovation? Objective Our aim is identify the gaps and potential that lie between the research domains CCM and ICT, thus enabling more substantive questions and opportunities for accelerating improvements in ICT-supported chronic care. Methods Using a scoping study approach, we developed a search strategy applied to medical and technical databases resulting in 1054 titles and abstracts that address CCM and ICT. After iteratively adapting our inclusion/exclusion criteria to balance between breadth and feasibility, 26 publications from 20 studies were found to fulfill our criteria. Following initial coding of each article according to predefined categories (eg, type of article, CCM component, ICT, health issue), a 1st level analysis was conducted resulting in a broad range of categories. These were gradually reduced by constantly comparing them for underlying commonalities and discrepancies. Results None of the studies included were from technical databases and interventions relied mostly on “old-fashioned” technologies. Technologies supporting “productive interactions” were often one-way (provider to patient), and it was sometimes difficult to decipher how CCM was guiding intervention design. In particular, the major focus on ICT to support providers did not appear unique to the challenges of chronic care. Challenges in facilitating CCM components through ICT

IT as an enabler of sustainable use of data from innovative technical components for assisted living.

PubMed

Knaup, Petra; Schöpe, Lothar

2012-01-01

The authors see the major potential of systematically processing data from AAL-technology in higher sustainability, higher technology acceptance, higher security, higher robustness, higher flexibility and better integration in existing structures and processes. This potential is currently underachieved and not yet systematically promoted. The authors have written a position paper on potential and necessity of substantial IT research enhancing Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) applications. This paper summarizes the most important challenges in the fields health care, data protection, operation and user interfaces. Research in medical informatics is necessary among others in the fields flexible authorization concept, medical information needs, algorithms to evaluate user profiles and visualization of aggregated data.

Innovation diffusion on time-varying activity driven networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rizzo, Alessandro; Porfiri, Maurizio

2016-01-01

Since its introduction in the 1960s, the theory of innovation diffusion has contributed to the advancement of several research fields, such as marketing management and consumer behavior. The 1969 seminal paper by Bass [F.M. Bass, Manag. Sci. 15, 215 (1969)] introduced a model of product growth for consumer durables, which has been extensively used to predict innovation diffusion across a range of applications. Here, we propose a novel approach to study innovation diffusion, where interactions among individuals are mediated by the dynamics of a time-varying network. Our approach is based on the Bass' model, and overcomes key limitations of previous studies, which assumed timescale separation between the individual dynamics and the evolution of the connectivity patterns. Thus, we do not hypothesize homogeneous mixing among individuals or the existence of a fixed interaction network. We formulate our approach in the framework of activity driven networks to enable the analysis of the concurrent evolution of the interaction and individual dynamics. Numerical simulations offer a systematic analysis of the model behavior and highlight the role of individual activity on market penetration when targeted advertisement campaigns are designed, or a competition between two different products takes place.

"Let There Be Light" Minicourse, Career Oriented Pre-Technical Physics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dallas Independent School District, TX.

This instructional guide, intended for student use, develops the concept of light through a series of sequential activities. A technical development of the subject is pursued with examples stressing practical aspects of the concepts. Included in the minicourse are: (1) the rationale, (2) terminal behavioral objectives, (3) enabling behavioral…

Innovation implementation in the public sector: an integration of institutional and collective dynamics.

PubMed

Choi, Jin Nam; Chang, Jae Yoon

2009-01-01

The present study integrates institutional factors and employee-based collective processes as predictors of 2 key implementation outcomes: implementation effectiveness and innovation effectiveness (Klein, Conn, & Sorra, 2001). Specifically, the authors proposed that institutional factors shape employees' collective implementation efficacy and innovation acceptance. The authors further hypothesized that these employee-based collective processes mediate the effects of institutional factors on implementation outcomes. This integrative framework was examined in the context of 47 agencies and ministries of the Korean Government that were implementing a process innovation called E-Government. Three-wave longitudinal data were collected from 60 external experts and 1,732 government employees. The results reveal the importance of management support for collective implementation efficacy, which affected employees' collective acceptance of the innovation. As hypothesized, these collective employee dynamics mediated the effects of institutional enablers on successful implementation as well as the amount of long-term benefit that accrued to the agencies and ministries. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

Small business innovation research program solicitation: Closing date July 16, 1990

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

This is the eighth annual solicitation by NASA addressed to small business firms, inviting them to submit proposals for research, or research and development, activities in some of the science and engineering areas of interest to NASA. The solicitation describes the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program, identifies eligibility requirements, outlines the required proposal format and content, states proposal preparation and submission requirements, describes the proposal evaluation and award selection process, and provides other information to assist those interested in participating in NASA's SBIR program. It also identifies the technical topics and subtopics for which SBIR proposals are solicited. These cover a broad range of current NASA interests, but do not necessarily include all areas in which NASA plans or currently conducts research. High-risk high pay-off innovations are desired.

AFSPC Innovation and Science and Technology Outreach to Industry and Academia

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sanchez, Merri J.; Dills, Anthony N.; Chandler, Faith

2016-01-01

The U.S. Air Force is taking a strategic approach to ensuring that we are at the cutting edge of science and technology. This includes fostering game-changing approaches and technologies that are balanced with operational needs. The security of the Nation requires a constant pursuit of science, technical agility, and a rapid adoption of innovation. This includes pursuits of game-changing technologies and domains that perhaps we cannot even imagine today. This paper highlights the Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) collaboration and outreach to other government agencies, military and national laboratories, industry, and academia on long term science and technology challenges. In particular we discuss the development of the AFSPC Long Term Science and Technology Challenges that include both space and cyberspace operations within a multi-domain environment and the subsequent Innovation Summits.

Value Co-creation and Co-innovation: Linking Networked Organisations and Customer Communities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romero, David; Molina, Arturo

Strategic networks such as Collaborative Networked Organisations (CNOs) and Virtual Customer Communities (VCCs) show a high potential as drivers of value co-creation and collaborative innovation in today’s Networking Era. Both look at the network structures as a source of jointly value creation and open innovation through access to new skills, knowledge, markets and technologies by sharing risk and integrating complementary competencies. This collaborative endeavour has proven to be able to enhance the adaptability and flexibility of CNOs and VCCs value creating systems in order to react in response to external drivers such as collaborative (business) opportunities. This paper presents a reference framework for creating interface networks, also known as ‘experience-centric networks’, as enablers for linking networked organisations and customer communities in order to support the establishment of user-driven and collaborative innovation networks.

Allergen Challenge Chamber: an innovative solution in allergic rhinitis diagnosis.

PubMed

Krzych-Fałta, Edyta; Sowa, Jerzy; Wojas, Oksana; Piekarska, Barbara; Sybilski, Adam; Samoliński, Bolesław

2015-12-01

The Allergen Challenge Chamber (ACC) is definitely a serious challenge on the one hand and an innovative solution in allergic rhinitis diagnosis on the other. The gradual validation of the chamber (according to the test protocol) will allow for standardisation, which is a process undertaken by centres worldwide. The process of designing a consistent system that allows for creating conditions as those in the case of natural inhalation took into account all the aspects (technical specification) necessary to ensure appropriate inhalation.

Innovation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crosscombe, Nigel

2018-01-01

This paper considers how the meaning of innovation has changed over time and considers how contemporary conceptions of innovation are problematic for education. The popularity of the overhead projector in schools during the 1960s is examined to show how education innovation relies on a novel new product for classrooms and a belief by adopters that…

Harmonization of clinical laboratories in Africa: a multidisciplinary approach to identify innovative and sustainable technical solutions.

PubMed

Putoto, Giovanni; Cortese, Antonella; Pecorari, Ilaria; Musi, Roberto; Nunziata, Enrico

2015-06-01

In an effective and efficient health system, laboratory medicine should play a critical role. This is not the case in Africa, where there is a lack of demand for diagnostic exams due to mistrust of health laboratory performance. Doctors with Africa CUAMM (Collegio Universitario Aspiranti Medici Missionari) is a non-profit organization, working mainly in sub-Saharan Africa (Angola, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda) to help and sustain local health systems. Doctors with Africa CUAMM has advocated the need for a harmonized model for health laboratories to assess and evaluate the performance of the facilities in which they operate. In order to develop a harmonized model for African health laboratories, previous attempts at strengthening them through standardization were taken into consideration and reviewed. A survey with four Italian clinicians experienced in the field was then performed to try and understand the actual needs of health facilities. Finally a market survey was conducted to find new technologies able to update the resulting model. Comparison of actual laboratories with the developed standard - which represents the best setting any African health laboratory could aim for - allowed shortcomings in expected services to be identified and interventions subsequently prioritized. The most appropriate equipment was proposed to perform the envisaged techniques. The suitability of appliances was evaluated in consideration of recognized international recommendations, reported experiences in the field, and the availability of innovative solutions that can be performed on site in rural areas, but require minimal sample preparation and little technical expertise. The present work has developed a new, up-to-date, harmonized model for African health laboratories. The authors suggest lists of procedures to challenge the major African health problems - HIV/AIDS, malaria, tubercolosis (TB) - at each level of pyramidal health system. This

77 FR 26509 - Request for Information on Proposed New Program: National Network for Manufacturing Innovation...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-04

...): Refining standards, materials, and equipment for additive manufacturing to enable low- cost, low-volume...-01] Request for Information on Proposed New Program: National Network for Manufacturing Innovation...: Request for information. SUMMARY: The NIST-hosted Advanced Manufacturing National Program Office (AMNPO...

Hospital innovation portfolios: key determinants of size and innovativeness.

PubMed

Schultz, Carsten; Zippel-Schultz, Bettina; Salomo, Søren

2012-01-01

Health care organizations face an increasing demand for strategic change and innovation; however, there are also several barriers to innovation that impede successful implementation. We aimed to shed light on key issues of innovation management in hospitals and provide empirical evidence for controlling the size and innovativeness of a hospital's new health service and process portfolio. We show how health care managers could align the need for exploration and exploitation by applying both informal (e.g., employee encouragement) and formal (e.g., analytical orientation and reward systems) organizational mechanisms. To develop hypotheses, we integrated the innovation management literature into the hospital context. Detailed information about the innovation portfolio of 87 German hospitals was generated and combined with multirespondent survey data using ratings from management, medical, and nursing directors. Multivariate regression analysis was applied. The empirical results showed that an analytical approach increased the size of innovation portfolios. Employee encouragement amplified the degree of innovativeness of activities in the portfolio. Reward systems did not have direct effects on the composition of innovation portfolios. However, they adjusted bottom-up employee and top-down strategic initiatives to match with the existing organization, thereby decreasing the degree of innovativeness and enforcing exploitation. Hospitals should intertwine employee encouragement, analytical approaches, and formal reward systems depending on organizational goals.

Recommendations regarding technical standards for follow-on biologics: comparability, similarity, interchangeability.

PubMed

Davis, Gregory C; Beals, John M; Johnson, Craig; Mayer, Mark H; Meiklejohn, Bruce I; Mitlak, Bruce H; Roth, Jody L; Towns, John K; Veenhuizen, Melissa

2009-07-01

Policy makers around the world are currently considering the creation of a regulatory pathway for follow-on biologics (FOB), which will have to account for the substantial technical challenges associated with FOB development. These challenges will likely involve more complexity than comparability assessments of process changes made by the same manufacturer. The history of industry-regulator comparability discussions helps explain why the same degree of testing and flexibility now applied to change-control within a manufacturer's own process, at this time, cannot be extrapolated to the observed and possibly unknown differences between two manufacturing processes that are independently developed by different (non-collaborating) parties. This commentary provides recommendations on the technical aspects that should be considered in the creation of an approval pathway for FOB products. In the authors' view, analytical methodology in its current state cannot alone provide full assurance that the FOB is sufficiently similar to the innovator product. Moreover, the FOB manufacturer will not have access to the extensive knowledge accumulated by the innovator manufacturer from early development through marketing. Thus, extensive clinical evaluation will likely be necessary to provide assurance that the FOB is safe and efficacious. If such testing demonstrates the FOB is safe and efficacious per existing regulatory standards, the product should receive marketing approval as a 'similar' product. Since 'similarity' is a fundamentally different determination than establishing interchangeability between the two products, an interchangeability determination must be based on additional testing and market experience to ensure patient safety. Post-marketing surveillance of the FOB should be conducted to ensure that the approved molecule has similar clinical safety and efficacy as the innovator product, prior to any consideration of interchangeability.

Improving pharmaceutical innovation by building a more comprehensive database on drug development and use.

PubMed

Daniel, Gregory W; Cazé, Alexis; Romine, Morgan H; Audibert, Céline; Leff, Jonathan S; McClellan, Mark B

2015-02-01

New drugs and biologics have had a tremendous impact on the treatment of many diseases. However, available measures suggest that pharmaceutical innovation has remained relatively flat, despite substantial growth in research and development spending. We review recent literature on pharmaceutical innovation to identify limitations in measuring and assessing innovation, and we describe the framework and collaborative approach we are using to develop more comprehensive, publicly available metrics for innovation. Our research teams at the Brookings Institution and Deerfield Institute are collaborating with experts from multiple areas of drug development and regulatory review to identify and collect comprehensive data elements related to key development and regulatory characteristics for each new molecular entity approved over the past several decades in the United States and the European Union. Subsequent phases of our effort will add data on downstream product use and patient outcomes and will also include drugs that have failed or been abandoned in development. Such a database will enable researchers to better analyze the drivers of drug innovation, trends in the output of new medicines, and the effect of policy efforts designed to improve innovation. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Innovative Concepts and Technology for Railroad-Highway Grade Crossing Motorist Warning Systems : Volume 1. Overview and Concept Generation and Analysis

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1977-09-01

The document includes a general review of innovative conceptual and technical approaches to train-activated motorist warning systems for use at railroad-highway grade crossings, and also contains a specific report describing a study directed toward t...

The UK Ecosystem for Fostering Innovation in the Earth & Space Sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, V. E.

2015-12-01

The UK national government supports an ecosystem of government-funded organisations that carry a specific remit for innovation. By specifically cultivating the commercialisation of research where appropriate, the UK demonstrates a forward-thinking and coordinated approach to deriving economic and societal impact from scientific research activities. This presentation provides an overview of innovation activities at government-backed organisations that support the Earth and space science communities. At the broadest and highest levels, the UK has a whole-of-government approach to fostering innovation. The government also has a designated innovation agency - Innovate UK - which works with people, companies, and partner organisations to find and drive the science & technology innovations that will grow the UK economy. A primary source of scientific funding to UK-based researchers comes from the Research Councils UK (RCUK), which has seven constituent Research Councils. Along with funding activities that support basic research, innovation is supported through a variety of activities. The National Environmental Research Council (NERC), the UK's leading public funder for Earth & environmental science, has brought to market a wide variety of ideas and innovations, including by helping to register patents, negotiating licensing deals, and setting up spin-out companies or joint ventures with commercial organisations. Case studies of NERC commercialization successes will be given, as well as an overview of mechanisms by which NERC supports innovation. These include 'Pathfinder' awards that help enable researchers to develop a greater understanding of the commercial aspects and possibilities of their research. Complementary 'Follow-on Fund' awards provide proof-of-concept funding to support the commercialisation of ideas arising from NERC-funded research. Early-career researchers are also eligible for NERC's Environment Young Entrepreneurs Scheme. Innovation activity, like

Identification of the Key Fields and Their Key Technical Points of Oncology by Patent Analysis.

PubMed

Zhang, Ting; Chen, Juan; Jia, Xiaofeng

2015-01-01

This paper aims to identify the key fields and their key technical points of oncology by patent analysis. Patents of oncology applied from 2006 to 2012 were searched in the Thomson Innovation database. The key fields and their key technical points were determined by analyzing the Derwent Classification (DC) and the International Patent Classification (IPC), respectively. Patent applications in the top ten DC occupied 80% of all the patent applications of oncology, which were the ten fields of oncology to be analyzed. The number of patent applications in these ten fields of oncology was standardized based on patent applications of oncology from 2006 to 2012. For each field, standardization was conducted separately for each of the seven years (2006-2012) and the mean of the seven standardized values was calculated to reflect the relative amount of patent applications in that field; meanwhile, regression analysis using time (year) and the standardized values of patent applications in seven years (2006-2012) was conducted so as to evaluate the trend of patent applications in each field. Two-dimensional quadrant analysis, together with the professional knowledge of oncology, was taken into consideration in determining the key fields of oncology. The fields located in the quadrant with high relative amount or increasing trend of patent applications are identified as key ones. By using the same method, the key technical points in each key field were identified. Altogether 116,820 patents of oncology applied from 2006 to 2012 were retrieved, and four key fields with twenty-nine key technical points were identified, including "natural products and polymers" with nine key technical points, "fermentation industry" with twelve ones, "electrical medical equipment" with four ones, and "diagnosis, surgery" with four ones. The results of this study could provide guidance on the development direction of oncology, and also help researchers broaden innovative ideas and discover new

PhD Year 1 Students' Experience with the Educational Technology and Innovation Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Asamoah, Moses Kumi; Mackin, Eva Esi

2016-01-01

The advent of information, communication and new technologies, globalisation and rising costs has prompted rethinking what we teach, how we teach and even where teaching and learning take place. The Educational Technology and Innovation Course (Adlt704) was designed to enable students to create, use and manage appropriate technological processes…

Innovative Concepts and Technology for Railroad-Highway Grade Crossing Motorist Warning Systems : Volume 2. The Generation and Analysis of Alternative Concepts

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1977-09-01

The report describes the results of a study directed toward the generation, analysis and evaluation of innovative conceptual and technical approaches to train-activated motorist warning systems for use at railroad-highway grade crossings. Particular ...

Microfluidic Impedance Flow Cytometry Enabling High-Throughput Single-Cell Electrical Property Characterization

PubMed Central

Chen, Jian; Xue, Chengcheng; Zhao, Yang; Chen, Deyong; Wu, Min-Hsien; Wang, Junbo

2015-01-01

This article reviews recent developments in microfluidic impedance flow cytometry for high-throughput electrical property characterization of single cells. Four major perspectives of microfluidic impedance flow cytometry for single-cell characterization are included in this review: (1) early developments of microfluidic impedance flow cytometry for single-cell electrical property characterization; (2) microfluidic impedance flow cytometry with enhanced sensitivity; (3) microfluidic impedance and optical flow cytometry for single-cell analysis and (4) integrated point of care system based on microfluidic impedance flow cytometry. We examine the advantages and limitations of each technique and discuss future research opportunities from the perspectives of both technical innovation and clinical applications. PMID:25938973

Technical Competencies Applied in Experimental Fluid Dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tagg, Randall

2017-11-01

The practical design, construction, and operation of fluid dynamics experiments require a broad range of competencies. Three types are instrumental, procedural, and design. Respective examples would be operation of a spectrum analyzer, soft-soldering or brazing flow plumbing, and design of a small wind tunnel. Some competencies, such as the selection and installation of pumping systems, are unique to fluid dynamics and fluids engineering. Others, such as the design and construction of electronic amplifiers or optical imaging systems, overlap with other fields. Thus the identification and development of learning materials and methods for instruction are part of a larger effort to identify competencies needed in active research and technical innovation.

That's not how the learning works - the paradox of Reverse Innovation: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Harris, Matthew; Weisberger, Emily; Silver, Diana; Dadwal, Viva; Macinko, James

2016-07-05

There are significant differences in the meaning and use of the term 'Reverse Innovation' between industry circles, where the term originated, and health policy circles where the term has gained traction. It is often conflated with other popularized terms such as Frugal Innovation, Co-development and Trickle-up Innovation. Compared to its use in the industrial sector, this conceptualization of Reverse Innovation describes a more complex, fragmented process, and one with no particular institution in charge. It follows that the way in which the term 'Reverse Innovation', specifically, is understood and used in the healthcare space is worthy of examination. Between September and December 2014, we conducted eleven in-depth face-to-face or telephone interviews with key informants from innovation, health and social policy circles, experts in international comparative policy research and leaders in the Reverse Innovation space in the United States. Interviews were open-ended with guiding probes into the barriers and enablers to Reverse Innovation in the US context, specifically also informants' experience and understanding of the term Reverse Innovation. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed thematically using the process of constant comparison. We describe three main themes derived from the interviews. First, 'Reverse Innovation,' the term, has marketing currency to convince policy-makers that may be wary of learning from or adopting innovations from unexpected sources, in this case Low-Income Countries. Second, the term can have the opposite effect - by connoting frugality, or innovation arising from necessity as opposed to good leadership, the proposed innovation may be associated with poor quality, undermining potential translation into other contexts. Finally, the term 'Reverse Innovation' is a paradox - it breaks down preconceptions of the directionality of knowledge and learning, whilst simultaneously reinforcing it. We conclude that this term means

Remanufacturing Aided Added-Value Creation, Innovations Meeting to Deliver Sustainable Manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tariq Abullah, Ziyad; Guo, Shun Sheng; Yun, Sheng Bu

2015-05-01

End-of-life scrap steel such as vehicles bulks and bodies, steel wheel and shells are easily land filled at the end-of-life when treated in a developing country with non-industrial infrastructure. Research idea is about composite shape steel remanufacturing to be sheet steel for construction application through nested recovered pieces of scrap steel within new sheet steel base to meet innovation value creation of remanufactured steel and innovation eco-design of steel products to close supply chain through linkage developed and developing countries of non-industrial infrastructure economy. That can be satisfied through comprehensive business- education-training model conduction firstly at the developing countries to reduce costs and change the intensive labour remanufacturing paradigm collaboratively. Sustainable remanufacturing business model can be applied based on infrastructure of educational institutions such as institutes of technology to adopt environmental, economic, and social developments as triple bottom line sustainability. Such innovation value creation is driven by eco-design and eco-innovation enabling where the meet to deliver human development, employment, and education conscious environment and bench mark recommendations of development directions for upgrading to apply business that allows eco-societies to emerge, through cooperative steel scrap processing.

How to Develop Innovators? Innovation Education for the Gifted

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shavinina, Larisa

2013-01-01

Many people correctly believe that a majority of innovators come from the population of gifted and talented children. If we want to develop innovative abilities of the gifted, then a special, new direction in gifted education is needed: innovation education. This article introduces innovation education, which refers to a wide range of educational…

The widest practicable dissemination: The NASA technical report server

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nelson, Michael L.; Gottlich, Gretchen L.; Bianco, David J.; Binkley, Robert L.; Kellogg, Yvonne D.; Paulson, Sharon S.; Beaumont, Chris J.; Schmunk, Robert B.; Kurtz, Michael; Accomazzi, Alberto

1995-01-01

The search for innovative methods to distribute NASA's information lead a gross-roots team to create the NASA Technical Report Server (NTRS), which uses the World Wide Web and other popular Internet-based information systems as search engines. The NTRS is an inter-center effort which provides uniform access to various distributed publication servers residing on the Internet. Users have immediate desktop access to technical publications from NASA centers and institutes. This paper presents the NTRS architecture, usage metrics, and the lessons learned while implementing and maintaining the services over the initial 6-month period. The NTRS is largely constructed with freely available software running on existing hardware. NTRS builds upon existing hardware and software, and the resulting additional exposure for the body of literature contained will allow NASA to ensure that its institutional knowledge base will continue to receive the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination.

Rule-based graph theory to enable exploration of the space system architecture design space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arney, Dale Curtis

The primary goal of this research is to improve upon system architecture modeling in order to enable the exploration of design space options. A system architecture is the description of the functional and physical allocation of elements and the relationships, interactions, and interfaces between those elements necessary to satisfy a set of constraints and requirements. The functional allocation defines the functions that each system (element) performs, and the physical allocation defines the systems required to meet those functions. Trading the functionality between systems leads to the architecture-level design space that is available to the system architect. The research presents a methodology that enables the modeling of complex space system architectures using a mathematical framework. To accomplish the goal of improved architecture modeling, the framework meets five goals: technical credibility, adaptability, flexibility, intuitiveness, and exhaustiveness. The framework is technically credible, in that it produces an accurate and complete representation of the system architecture under consideration. The framework is adaptable, in that it provides the ability to create user-specified locations, steady states, and functions. The framework is flexible, in that it allows the user to model system architectures to multiple destinations without changing the underlying framework. The framework is intuitive for user input while still creating a comprehensive mathematical representation that maintains the necessary information to completely model complex system architectures. Finally, the framework is exhaustive, in that it provides the ability to explore the entire system architecture design space. After an extensive search of the literature, graph theory presents a valuable mechanism for representing the flow of information or vehicles within a simple mathematical framework. Graph theory has been used in developing mathematical models of many transportation and

The pivotal role of nurse managers, leaders and educators in enabling excellence in nursing care.

PubMed

McSherry, Robert; Pearce, Paddy; Grimwood, Karen; McSherry, Wilfred

2012-01-01

The aims of this paper are to present the findings from a discursive analysis of key issues associated with providing excellence in nursing care; and to provide an exemplar framework to support excellence in nursing care and describe the potential benefits when excellence in nursing care occurs. The challenge facing the nursing profession is in ensuring that the core principles of dignity, respect, compassion and person (people) centered care become central to all aspects of nursing practice. To regain the public and professional confidence in nursing, nurse leaders, managers and educators play a pivotal role in improving the image of nursing. Excellence in nursing care will only happen by ensuring that nurse managers, leaders and educators are able to respond to the complexity of reform and change by leading, managing, enabling, empowering, encouraging and resourcing staff to be innovative and entrepreneurial in practice. Creating healthcare environments that enable excellence in nursing care will not occur without the development of genuine shared working partnerships and collaborations between nurse managers, leaders and educators and their associated organizations. The importance of adopting an authentic sustainable leadership approach to facilitating and supporting frontline staff to innovate and change is imperative in restoring and evidencing that nurses do care and are excellent at what they do. By focusing attention on what resources are required to create a healthcare environment that enables compassion, safety and excellence in nursing care and what this means would be a reasonable start on the journey to excellence in nursing. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Does evolutionary innovation in pharyngeal jaws lead to rapid lineage diversification in labrid fishes?

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Background Major modifications to the pharyngeal jaw apparatus are widely regarded as a recurring evolutionary key innovation that has enabled adaptive radiation in many species-rich clades of percomorph fishes. However one of the central predictions of this hypothesis, that the acquisition of a modified pharyngeal jaw apparatus will be positively correlated with explosive lineage diversification, has never been tested. We applied comparative methods to a new time-calibrated phylogeny of labrid fishes to test whether diversification rates shifted at two scales where major pharyngeal jaw innovations have evolved: across all of Labridae and within the subclade of parrotfishes. Results Diversification patterns within early labrids did not reflect rapid initial radiation. Much of modern labrid diversity stems from two recent rapid diversification events; one within julidine fishes and the other with the origin of the most species-rich clade of reef-associated parrotfishes. A secondary pharyngeal jaw innovation was correlated with rapid diversification within the parrotfishes. However diversification rate shifts within parrotfishes are more strongly correlated with the evolution of extreme dichromatism than with pharyngeal jaw modifications. Conclusion The temporal lag between pharyngeal jaw modifications and changes in diversification rates casts doubt on the key innovation hypothesis as a simple explanation for much of the richness seen in labrids and scarines. Although the possession of a secondarily modified PJA was correlated with increased diversification rates, this pattern is better explained by the evolution of extreme dichromatism (and other social and behavioral characters relating to sexual selection) within Scarus and Chlorurus. The PJA-innovation hypothesis also fails to explain the most dominant aspect of labrid lineage diversification, the radiation of the julidines. We suggest that pharyngeal jaws might have played a more important role in enabling

Is High Fidelity Simulation the Most Effective Method for the Development of Non-Technical Skills in Nursing? A Review of the Current Evidence

PubMed Central

Lewis, Robin; Strachan, Alasdair; Smith, Michelle McKenzie

2012-01-01

Aim: To review the literature on the use of simulation in the development of non-technical skills in nursing Background: The potential risks to patients associated with learning 'at the bedside' are becoming increasingly unacceptable, and the search for innovative education and training methods that do not expose the patient to preventable errors continues. All the evidence shows that a significant proportion of adverse events in health care is caused by problems relating to the application of the 'non-technical' skills of communication, teamwork, leadership and decision-making. Results: Simulation is positively associated with significantly improved interpersonal communication skills at patient handover, and it has also been clearly shown to improve team behaviours in a wide variety of clinical contexts and clinical personnel, associated with improved team performance in the management of crisis situations. It also enables the effective development of transferable, transformational leadership skills, and has also been demonstrated to improve students' critical thinking and clinical reasoning in complex care situations, and to aid in the development of students' self-efficacy and confidence in their own clinical abilities. Conclusion: High fidelity simulation is able to provide participants with a learning environment in which to develop non-technical skills, that is safe and controlled so that the participants are able to make mistakes, correct those mistakes in real time and learn from them, without fear of compromising patient safety. Participants in simulation are also able to rehearse the clinical management of rare, complex or crisis situations in a valid representation of clinical practice, before practising on patients. PMID:22893783

High-NA EUV lithography enabling Moore's law in the next decade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Schoot, Jan; Troost, Kars; Bornebroek, Frank; van Ballegoij, Rob; Lok, Sjoerd; Krabbendam, Peter; Stoeldraijer, Judon; Loopstra, Erik; Benschop, Jos P.; Finders, Jo; Meiling, Hans; van Setten, Eelco; Kneer, Bernhard; Kuerz, Peter; Kaiser, Winfried; Heil, Tilmann; Migura, Sascha; Neumann, Jens Timo

2017-10-01

While EUV systems equipped with a 0.33 Numerical Aperture lenses are readying to start volume manufacturing, ASML and Zeiss are ramping up their activities on a EUV exposure tool with Numerical Aperture of 0.55. The purpose of this scanner, targeting an ultimate resolution of 8nm, is to extend Moore's law throughout the next decade. A novel, anamorphic lens design, capable of providing the required Numerical Aperture has been investigated; This lens will be paired with new, faster stages and more accurate sensors enabling Moore's law economical requirements, as well as the tight focus and overlay control needed for future process nodes. The tighter focus and overlay control budgets, as well as the anamorphic optics, will drive innovations in the imaging and OPC modelling. Furthermore, advances in resist and mask technology will be required to image lithography features with less than 10nm resolution. This paper presents an overview of the target specifications, key technology innovations and imaging simulations demonstrating the advantages as compared to 0.33NA and showing the capabilities of the next generation EUV systems.

A Socio-technical Approach for Transient SME Alliances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rezgui, Yacine

The paper discusses technical requirements to promote the adoption of alliance modes of operation by SMEs in the construction sector. These requirements have provided a basis for specifying a set of functionality to support the collaboration and cooperation needs of SMEs. While service-oriented architectures and semantic web services provide the middleware technology to implement the identified functionality, a number of key technical limitations have been identified, including lack of support for the dynamic and non-functional characteristics of SME alliances distributed business processes, lack of execution monitoring functionality to manage running business processes, and lack of support for semantic reasoning to enable SME business process service composition. The paper examines these issues and provides key directions for supporting SME alliances effectively.

Enabling Interoperable Space Robots With the Joint Technical Architecture for Robotic Systems (JTARS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bradley, Arthur; Dubowsky, Steven; Quinn, Roger; Marzwell, Neville

2005-01-01

Robots that operate independently of one another will not be adequate to accomplish the future exploration tasks of long-distance autonomous navigation, habitat construction, resource discovery, and material handling. Such activities will require that systems widely share information, plan and divide complex tasks, share common resources, and physically cooperate to manipulate objects. Recognizing the need for interoperable robots to accomplish the new exploration initiative, NASA s Office of Exploration Systems Research & Technology recently funded the development of the Joint Technical Architecture for Robotic Systems (JTARS). JTARS charter is to identify the interface standards necessary to achieve interoperability among space robots. A JTARS working group (JTARS-WG) has been established comprising recognized leaders in the field of space robotics including representatives from seven NASA centers along with academia and private industry. The working group s early accomplishments include addressing key issues required for interoperability, defining which systems are within the project s scope, and framing the JTARS manuals around classes of robotic systems.

Enhancement of automated blood flow estimates (ENABLE) from arterial spin-labeled MRI.

PubMed

Shirzadi, Zahra; Stefanovic, Bojana; Chappell, Michael A; Ramirez, Joel; Schwindt, Graeme; Masellis, Mario; Black, Sandra E; MacIntosh, Bradley J

2018-03-01

To validate a multiparametric automated algorithm-ENhancement of Automated Blood fLow Estimates (ENABLE)-that identifies useful and poor arterial spin-labeled (ASL) difference images in multiple postlabeling delay (PLD) acquisitions and thereby improve clinical ASL. ENABLE is a sort/check algorithm that uses a linear combination of ASL quality features. ENABLE uses simulations to determine quality weighting factors based on an unconstrained nonlinear optimization. We acquired a set of 6-PLD ASL images with 1.5T or 3.0T systems among 98 healthy elderly and adults with mild cognitive impairment or dementia. We contrasted signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of cerebral blood flow (CBF) images obtained with ENABLE vs. conventional ASL analysis. In a subgroup, we validated our CBF estimates with single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) CBF images. ENABLE produced significantly increased SNR compared to a conventional ASL analysis (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, P < 0.0001). We also found the similarity between ASL and SPECT was greater when using ENABLE vs. conventional ASL analysis (n = 51, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, P < 0.0001) and this similarity was strongly related to ASL SNR (t = 24, P < 0.0001). These findings suggest that ENABLE improves CBF image quality from multiple PLD ASL in dementia cohorts at either 1.5T or 3.0T, achieved by multiparametric quality features that guided postprocessing of dementia ASL. 2 Technical Efficacy: Stage 2 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2018;47:647-655. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Technological Innovations from NASA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pellis, Neal R.

2006-01-01

The challenge of human space exploration places demands on technology that push concepts and development to the leading edge. In biotechnology and biomedical equipment development, NASA science has been the seed for numerous innovations, many of which are in the commercial arena. The biotechnology effort has led to rational drug design, analytical equipment, and cell culture and tissue engineering strategies. Biomedical research and development has resulted in medical devices that enable diagnosis and treatment advances. NASA Biomedical developments are exemplified in the new laser light scattering analysis for cataracts, the axial flow left ventricular-assist device, non contact electrocardiography, and the guidance system for LASIK surgery. Many more developments are in progress. NASA will continue to advance technologies, incorporating new approaches from basic and applied research, nanotechnology, computational modeling, and database analyses.

Emergence of Vocational, Technical, and Occupational Education (VTO-E). Synthesis Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cupples, Michael Wayne; Tamburello, Gaspare B.

Significant concepts and emerging implications of technology, development of human capital, and visionary leadership can be applied to the design of vocational, technical, and occupational education to enable such education to meet the needs of today's information and service society. People without functional skills will be the technology…

So You "Gotta" Wear Glasses Minicourse, Career Oriented Pre-Technical Physics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dallas Independent School District, TX.

This instructional guide, intended for student use, develops the topic of optics through a series of sequential activities. A technical development of the subject is pursued with examples stressing practical aspects of the concepts. Included in the minicourse are: (1) the rationale, (2) terminal behavioral objectives, (3) enabling behavioral…

Tracking uptake of innovations from the European Union Public Health Programme.

PubMed

Voss, Margaretha; Alexanderson, Kristina; McCarthy, Mark

2013-11-01

The European Commission developed the Public Health Programme to enable cross-national innovation and transfer in fields of health information, health threats and health promotion. PHIRE (Public Health Innovation and Research in Europe), a collaboration of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) with seven partners, addressed the uptake of these public health innovation projects at country level. EUPHA thematic sections lead on areas of public health practice and research and experts can choose to be section members. The section presidents of seven sections chose eight European public health projects, starting in the EU Public Health Programme in 2003-05, that provided new knowledge for practice and covered a majority of the EU countries. A web-based questionnaire recorded country informants' (CIs) perceptions of uptake, assessed as relevance and dissemination to a range of public and non-governmental organizations. 108 CIs individually described the eight innovations in an average of 14 (46%) of the 30 European countries. Three of the eight innovations were considered of high relevance by >60% of respondents and at least 70% of informants considered seven of the eight innovation projects as of high or moderate relevance. Dissemination was noted across governmental, professional and academic settings, with high impact on knowledge/awareness for at least 30% of CIs. Some projects had uptake within the policy cycle in particular countries and connected strongly with academics and professionals. Projects working at local level had less visibility nationally and some projects were unknown to national respondents. European Union funding for public health can contribute to cross-national knowledge transfer and uptake of innovations. More attention is needed to classify, characterize and identify public health innovations and to demonstrate their direct contribution to European health and well-being.

Choice of rational structural solution for smart innovative suspension structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goremikins, V.; Serdjuks, D.; Buka-Vaivade, K.; Pakrastins, L.

2017-10-01

Choice of the rational structural solution for smart innovative suspension structure was carried out. The prestressed cable trusses and cross-laminated timber panels were considered as the main load bearing members for the smart innovative suspension structure. The FEM model, which enables to predict behaviours of the structure, was developed in the programme ANSYS v12. Structural solutions that are differed by the lattice configuration of the cable truss and placement of cross-laminated timber panels were considered. The variant of the cable truss with the vertical suspenders and chords joined in the middle of the span was chosen as the best one. It was shown, that placement of cross-laminated timber panels by the bottom chord of the prestressed cable truss enables to decrease materials consumption by 16.7% in comparison with the variant, where the panels are placed by the top chord. It was stated, that the materials consumption decrease by 17.3% in the case, when common work of the prestressed cable trusses and cross-laminated timber panels is taken into account. The cross-laminated timber panels are working in the both directions. Physical model of the structure with the span equal to 2 m was developed for checking of numerically obtained results.

Technological innovation in video-assisted thoracic surgery.

PubMed

Özyurtkan, Mehmet Oğuzhan; Kaba, Erkan; Toker, Alper

2017-01-01

The popularity of video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) which increased worldwide due to the recent innovations in thoracic surgical technics, equipment, electronic devices that carry light and vision and high definition monitors. Uniportal VATS (UVATS) is disseminated widely, creating a drive to develop new techniques and instruments, including new graspers and special staplers with more angulation capacities. During the history of VATS, the classical 10 mm 0° or 30° rigid rod lens system, has been replaced by new thoracoscopes providing a variable angle technology and allowing 0° and 120° range of vision. Besides, the tip of these novel thoracoscopes can be positioned away from the operating side minimize fencing with other thoracoscopic instruments. The curved-tip stapler technology, and better designed endostaplers helped better dissection, precision of control, more secure staple lines. UVATS also contributed to the development of embryonic natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery. Three-dimensional VATS systems facilitated faster and more accurate grasping, suturing, and dissection of the tissues by restoring natural 3D vision and the perception of depth. Another innovation in VATS is the energy-based coagulative and tissue fusion technology which may be an alternative to endostaplers.

Oxytonergic circuitry sustains and enables creative cognition in humans

PubMed Central

Baas, Matthijs; Roskes, Marieke; Sligte, Daniel J.; Ebstein, Richard P.; Chew, Soo Hong; Tong, Terry; Jiang, Yushi; Mayseless, Naama; Shamay-Tsoory, Simone G.

2014-01-01

Creativity enables humans to adapt flexibly to changing circumstances, to manage complex social relations and to survive and prosper through social, technological and medical innovations. In humans, chronic, trait-based as well as temporary, state-based approach orientation has been linked to increased capacity for divergent rather than convergent thinking, to more global and holistic processing styles and to more original ideation and creative problem solving. Here, we link creative cognition to oxytocin, a hypothalamic neuropeptide known to up-regulate approach orientation in both animals and humans. Study 1 (N = 492) showed that plasma oxytocin predicts novelty-seeking temperament. Study 2 (N = 110) revealed that genotype differences in a polymorphism in the oxytocin receptor gene rs1042778 predicted creative ideation, with GG/GT-carriers being more original than TT-carriers. Using double-blind placebo-controlled between-subjects designs, Studies 3–6 (N = 191) finally showed that intranasal oxytocin (vs matching placebo) reduced analytical reasoning, and increased holistic processing, divergent thinking and creative performance. We conclude that the oxytonergic circuitry sustains and enables the day-to-day creativity humans need for survival and prosperity and discuss implications. PMID:23863476

Diagnosing Organizational Innovation: Measuring the Capacity for Innovation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cropley, David H.; Cropley, Arthur J.; Chiera, Belinda A.; Kaufman, James C.

2013-01-01

Organizational innovation involves reconciling many contradictions or paradoxes. Dividing the process of innovation into phases ranging from Activation to Validation and examining each phase in terms of the six Ps of creativity offers a framework for making sense of these contradictions. The Innovation Phase Assessment Instrument (IPAI) was…