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Scientific Breakthrough (scientific + breakthrough)
Selected AbstractsAdvances in insect biotechnology for human welfareENTOMOLOGICAL RESEARCH, Issue 2008Thomas A. MILLER Abstract Biotechnology is the latest scientific breakthrough in the history of agriculture. Yet despite the promise of developing new tools for pest and disease control, transgenic organisms have encountered a mixed reception by the lay and scientific public alike. Yields are unable to keep pace with rising costs resulting in a decline in traditional farming. Switching to a new organic growing paradigm is occurring in Korea and the United States today. These new approaches ignore traditional tools that were responsible for the increased yields that support the current affluence and allowed us to protect crops while buying time to find more ecologically-friendly methods. The perception that we understand crop diseases and pests is false and those making this assumption risk destabilizing global food production. There are new pests and diseases that are very difficult to control without these traditional non-organic methods. Invasive species continue to arrive at high rates adding to the burden of farming. Global climate change is already causing changes in the pest and disease complexes and is forcing the entomologist and plant pathologist to make drastic changes to adjust to them. [source] Florigen: One Found, More to Follow?JOURNAL OF INTEGRATIVE PLANT BIOLOGY, Issue 6 2006Xuhong Yu Abstract Florigen(s) are molecules that are synthesized in response to appropriate photoperiods and transmitted from leaves to shoot apices to promote floral initiation. It has been recently discovered in Arabidopsis that mRNA of the FT gene acts as a florigen. In Arabidopsis, cryptochromes and phytochromes mediate long-day promotion of CO protein expression, which activates FT mRNA expression in leaves. FT mRNA is transmitted to the shoot apex, where it acts together with FD to activate transcription of floral meristem identity genes, resulting in floral initiation. The discovery of the molecular nature of a florigen was a major scientific breakthrough in 2005. (Managing editor: Li-Hui Zhao) [source] Mentoring and organisational learning in research and developmentR & D MANAGEMENT, Issue 5 2005Liz Borredon This paper presents and discusses the contribution of ,mentoring' relationships to organisational learning and knowledge creation in the early stages of research and development (R&D) projects. Our study considers the characteristics of a scientific leader, the nature of the context he creates, and how dialogue contributes to scientific breakthrough. Our study is unusual in as much as research on knowledge creation has developed separately, yet in parallel, with that of mentoring. It is rare to combine these disciplines and yet our research shows there is much to learn from examining the two as a process. We conducted our research at TECHNO, a high-tech-based European company producing advanced equipment dedicated to particles acceleration. Interviews were carried out in 2002,2003 with the founder of the company, the head of the R&D and engineering department, and team members involved in the low energy cyclotron project. Our exploratory research enabled us to identify differences in actors' perceptions about the nature and characteristics of these relationships. Our study also suggests that not all sets of relationships can tolerate the degree of intensity provided by the ,mentor'. TECHNO has other ,mentors' who do not manage to generate the same creative context. Complementary mentoring styles based on premises and process reflection allow to support and enhance ,upper levels' learning by junior team members. We examine the nature of the leaders as mentors and catalysts within the learning process and briefly discuss implications for setting up and maintaining learning teams. [source] Alcohol research and the alcoholic beverage industry: issues, concerns and conflicts of interestADDICTION, Issue 2009Thomas F. Babor ABSTRACT Aims Using terms of justification such as ,corporate social responsibility' and ,partnerships with the public health community', the alcoholic beverage industry (mainly large producers, trade associations and ,social aspects' organizations) funds a variety of scientific activities that involve or overlap with the work of independent scientists. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the ethical, professional and scientific challenges that have emerged from industry involvement in alcohol science. Method Source material came from an extensive review of organizational websites, newspaper articles, journal papers, letters to the editor, editorials, books, book chapters and unpublished documents. Results Industry involvement in alcohol science was identified in seven areas: (i) sponsorship of research funding organizations; (ii) direct financing of university-based scientists and centers; (iii) studies conducted through contract research organizations; (iv) research conducted by trade organizations and social aspects/public relations organizations; (v) efforts to influence public perceptions of research, research findings and alcohol policies; (vi) publication of scientific documents and support of scientific journals; and (vii) sponsorship of scientific conferences and presentations at conferences. Conclusion While industry involvement in research activities is increasing, it constitutes currently a rather small direct investment in scientific research, one that is unlikely to contribute to alcohol science, lead to scientific breakthroughs or reduce the burden of alcohol-related illness. At best, the scientific activities funded by the alcoholic beverage industry provide financial support and small consulting fees for basic and behavioral scientists engaged in alcohol research; at worst, the industry's scientific activities confuse public discussion of health issues and policy options, raise questions about the objectivity of industry-supported alcohol scientists and provide industry with a convenient way to demonstrate ,corporate responsibility' in its attempts to avoid taxation and regulation. [source] On the Future of Reanimatology,ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 1 2000Peter Safar MD Abstract: This article is adapted from a presentation given at the 1999 SAEM annual meeting by Dr. Peter Safar. Dr. Safar has been involved in resuscitation research for 44 years, and is a distinguished professor and past initiating chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the founder and director of the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research at the University of Pittsburgh, and has been the research mentor of many critical care and emergency medicine research fellows. Here he presents a brief history of past accomplishments, recent findings, and future potentials for resuscitation research. Additional advances in resuscitation, from acute terminal states and clinical death, will build upon the lessons learned from the history of reanimatology, including optimal delivery by emergency medical services of already documented cardiopulmonary cerebral resuscitation, basic-advanced,prolonged life support, and future scientific breakthroughs. Current controversies, such as how to best educate the public in life-supporting first aid, how to restore normotensive spontaneous circulation after cardiac arrest, how to rapidly induce mild hypothermia for cerebral protection, and how to minimize secondary insult after cerebral ischemia, are discussed, and must be resolved if advances are to be made. Dr. Safar also summarizes future technologies already under preliminary investigation, such as ultra-advanced life support for reversing prolonged cardiac arrest, extending the "golden hour" of shock tolerance, and suspended animation for delayed resuscitation. [source] The Global Governance of Communicable Diseases: The Case for Vaccine R&DLAW & POLICY, Issue 1 2005DANIELE ARCHIBUGI Fighting communicable diseases such HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB, and malaria has become a global endeavor, with international health authorities urging the development of effective vaccines for the eradication of these global pandemics. Yet, despite the acknowledged urgency, and given the feasibility of effective vaccine development, public and private research efforts have failed to address a response adequate to the magnitude of the crisis. Members of the academic community suggest bridging this gap by devising research pull mechanisms capable of stimulating private investments, confident that competition-based market devices are more effective than public intervention in shaping scientific breakthroughs. With reference to the economics of innovation, the paper argues that, whilst such an approach would lead to a socially suboptimal production of knowledge, direct public intervention in vaccine R&D activities would represent a far more socially desirable policy option. In recognition of the current financial and political fatigue affecting the international community towards communicable disease control, the paper resorts to the theories of global public goods (GPGs) to provide governments, both in the North and in the South, with a powerful rationale for committing to a cooperative approach for vaccine R&D. The paper encourages the creation of a Global Health Research Fund to manage such exercise and proposes enshrining countries' commitments into an International Health Treaty. The paper ends by providing a number of policy recommendations. [source] | |||||||||||||