New device allows for skin biopsies in under five minutes without anesthetic

 

The newly-patented automatic biopsy device can grab a tissue sample with a simple click of a button (Photo: UC3M) (Source: UC3M) Researchers at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and the Institute Ramón y Cajal for Health Research (IRYCIS) have created a new device that significantly cuts down the time required to perform a skin biopsy. It doesn't require any specialized skills to use, and could open the door to faster skin cancer diagnoses. The current method of performing a skin biopsy involves manually cutting out a layer of skin and carefully removing it, before sewing up the small incision. Not only is this a time-consuming process, but it also requires significant skill to complete. The newly patented automatic biopsy device streamlines things significantly, grabbing a sample with a simple press of a button. The doctor places the device on the patient's skin, pushes down on the button at the top, with the mechanism then automatically cutting and collecting the tissue sample. The process does not require local anesthesia, and takes just a few minutes to complete – a huge improvement over the 25-30 minutes required for the traditional method. Non-melanoma skin cancers are very common, with more than 100,000 cases registered in the UK alone in 2011. Furthermore, cases of malignant melanoma – a much more dangerous form of skin cancer – were diagnosed in more than 100,000 patients worldwide in 2012. The research team believes that the new device will prove a powerful tool in the early detection of such skin diseases, allowing doctors to see a greater volume of patients. This would in turn lead to a higher chance of early detection, giving patients the best chance of successfully tackling the disease.   Source: UC3M

Antibiotic resistant typhoid detected in countries around the world

 

There is an urgent need to develop global surveillance against the threat to public health caused by antimicrobial resistant pathogens, which can cause serious and untreatable infections in humans. Typhoid is a key example of this, with multidrug resistant strains of the bacterium Salmonella Typhi becoming common in many developing countries. A landmark genomic study, with contributors from over two-dozen countries, shows the current problem of antibiotic resistant typhoid is driven by a single clade, family of typhoid bacteria, called H58 that has now spread globally. "The data was produced by a consortium of 74 collaborators from the leading laboratories working on typhoid and describes one of the most comprehensive sets of genome data on a single human infectious agent. It represents global co-operation in the scientific community at its best," says Dr Vanessa Wong, first author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. "Typhoid affects around 30 million people each year and global surveillance at this scale is critical to address the ever-increasing public health threat caused by multidrug resistant typhoid in many developing countries around the world." The study shows the H58 clade of Typhi is displacing other typhoid fever strains that have been established over decades and centuries throughout the typhoid endemic world, completely transforming the genetic architecture of the disease. Multidrug resistant H58 has spread across Asia and Africa over the last 30 years, and created a previously underappreciated and ongoing epidemic through countries in eastern and southern Africa with important public health consequences. Vaccination to prevent the disease is not currently in widespread use in these countries; instead the disease is controlled mainly through use of antimicrobial drugs. H58 Typhi is often resistant to the first-line antimicrobials commonly used to treat the disease, and is continuing to evolve as it spreads to new regions and populations, acquiring novel mutations providing resistance to newer antimicrobial agents, such as ciprofloxacin and azithromycin. "Multidrug resistant typhoid has been coming and going since the 1970s and is caused by the bacteria picking up novel antimicrobial resistance genes, which are usually lost when we switch to a new drug," says Dr Kathryn Holt, senior author from the University of Melbourne. "In H58, these genes are becoming a stable part of the genome, which means multiply antibiotic resistant typhoid is here to stay." "H58 is an example of an emerging multiple drug resistant pathogen which is rapidly spreading around the world," says Professor Gordon Dougan, senior author from the Sanger Institute. "In this study we have been able to provide a framework for future surveillance of this bacterium, which will enable us to understand how antimicrobial resistance emerges and spreads intercontinentally, with the aim to facilitate prevention and control of typhoid through the use of effective antimicrobials, introduction of vaccines, and water and sanitation programmes." The publication of this research in Nature Genetics coincides with the 9th International Conference on Typhoid and invasive Non-Typhoidal Salmonelloses held by the Coalition against Typhoid (CaT), where these results will be shared with the scientific community. The meeting brings together an international group of healthcare and public health experts, researchers and clinicians to focus on strategies to counteract the spread of typhoid in endemic countries. "These results reinforce the message that bacteria do not obey international borders and any efforts to contain the spread of antimicrobial resistance must be globally coordinated," says Dr Stephen Baker, an author from The Hospital for Tropical Diseases, an Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Wong VK et al. Phylogeographic analysis of the dominant multidrug-resistant H58 clade of Salmonella Typhi identifies inter- and intra-continental transmission events. Nature Genetics, May 2015 DOI: 10.1038/ng.3281

NASA challenges public for ideas to make a Mars colony more sustainable

 

This view of the Sun setting on Mars as taken by NASA's Curiosity rover may one day be shared by a permanent human colony (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS) NASA has launched a public challenge with the aim of innovating technologies vital for the establishment of a colony on Mars. The agency is focused on a mission to the Red Planet, and has already taken the first vital steps. However, whilst simply reaching Mars with a cargo of healthy astronauts would be a monumental triumph, maintaining a permanent presence on so inhospitable a planet could prove to be a much greater technological challenge. Development is well underway with regard to the next-generation Orion spacecraft and the impressive Space Launch System (SLS), which will evolve to become the most powerful launch vehicle ever created. The SLS is expected to undertake its maiden launch some time in 2018. Maintaining a colony on the Red Planet will prove to be a leviathan challenge, compounded by the knowledge that should a catastrophe occur, the nearest aid sits roughly 140 million miles (225.3 million km) miles away. At best estimates, the shortest periods between resupply missions from Earth would be around 500 days. It is inevitable that much of the technology at the outpost will be reliant on resources from the homeworld, making any delays in the launch of a supply run a potentially life-endangering event. To limit the risks, tech used by the first Mars colonists must be built with durability and self-sufficiency in mind, and that is exactly what NASA is asking from participants. Those wishing to put forward an entry are asked to submit an idea for one or more Mars surface systems or capabilities necessary to achieve a continuous human presence on the Red Planet. The submissions, which can range in scope from food and exercise to innovative shelter solutions and beyond, must be geared towards sustainability with an eye to minimizing reliance on Earth re-supply runs. The written proposals must include a suggested program of testing and development, operation and implementation of the system/device. The culmination of the competition will see the three most promising candidates granted a US$5,000 minimum award. Further details on what is required from applicants can be found on the NASA competition page. Source: NASA

Yoho National Park

 

Lake O’Hara nestles in the Canadian Rockies at more than 6,600 feet “like an emerald in a bowl of mountains,” wrote paleontologist Charles Walcott in 1911. Generations of artists have put brush to canvas at this lookout, called All Souls Prospect.    Photograph by Peter Essick

Photograph by Peter Essick

Mountain goats are masters of Yoho’s dizzying heights, but the high life is risky even for this sure-footed species: Avalanches, falls, predators, and severe weather kill many goats in their first year.

www.national geographic.com

Do these pics tell you something?

 

10 Scientific Keys to Changing Anything In Your Life

 

Changing your behavior is hard. Luckily, there is a scientifically proven way to do it that gives you the best chance of success. Anyone who is trying to change their behavior without understanding this science needs to stop, now. Read up on the science. Learn to do it the more effective way. Then, start again, with better strategies, and create the life you’ve always wanted. Here’s the other thing you should know: behavior change is hard. Hard like algebra. You will work on it for “a while” before you get to that dream-life. What is “a while”? Years. But that’s okay. The secret of self-development is that everybody has to work hard and put in a lot of work, if they want to achieve something great. It just so happens that here at Fierce Gentleman we believe that every man is destined for greatness. So, below we give you the keys to greatness: 10 scientific keys you need to change anything in your life. Of course, information alone does not lead to life change. (That’s one of the keys.) But never before has so much high-quality, scientifically-validated information been available for free, to anyone, to get their path started:   10 Scientific Keys to Change Any Behavior Willpower is weak. Environmental influences are much more important than willpower. (1,2) Information does not lead to action. Emotions lead to action. (Tweet this) This one is harder to back up with scientific studies, but it has long been my personal experience….over 8 years of studying both my own behavior, and the behavior of others who I’m trying to help. Information allows us to know in which direction we can go, but ultimately, emotions motivate us to take action. See also (2) The Internet destroys your ability to focus. Unless you’re reading higher-level long-form articles, like this one. Read the book The Shallows by Nicholas Carr. Facebook makes you unhappy. Delete your account (unless you’re using it for business.) (3) Today’s processed foods are engineered to flood the reward centers of your brain, and potentially trigger food addictions that will wreck your health and wellbeing. Eat vegetables instead. (4,5) Exercise makes your brain bigger. It also gives you more self-control, lifts depression, and stamps out anxiety. (6) Meditation makes your brain bigger. It also gives you more self-control, lifts depression, and stamps out anxiety. (7) Give up alcohol. The breakdown of alcohol in your body creates toxins that the body has to remove. It is also extra calories that will contribute to extra fat storage. The additional toxic load can make you sick. And drinking and driving or just being out around other drunk drivers can kill you.  Give up alcohol. (1o) Take time off work. Overwork drains your willpower and makes you stressed and sick. (Personal experience, common sense.) Maximize neurotransmitters oxytocin, GABA and serotonin. Minimize activities that have you “chasing the dopamine dragon.” Activities that stimulate dopamine: shopping, gambling, pornography, binge eating. Activities that stimulate serotonin, oxytocin & GABA: getting a massage, swing in a hammock, spending time with loved ones, meditating, praying, listening to music, reading. (See The Willpower Instinct.) Ready for more? Click here to get the full ebook with 23 principles (No email required) Each of the above 23 principles could be a textbook in its own right, given the amount of research that has been done in that area — and there is much, much more to be said about how to actually implement changes using these principles in your own life. But the information is out there. There is enough knowledge freely available to completely change your life and make it into whatever you wish — if you are able to take action. As I used to say when I was working with adult students, “There are tons of ways to be an F student, but only a few ways to be an A student.” Whenever I study another person who is really achieving greatness in life, I see them doing one of a small number of very similar things. If you do the things they do, you will get the results they get.   SOURCES I’m a behavior change professional. I’ve spent my entire professional career helping people change things in their lives: ability to focus, study habits, success habits, corporate performance, brain function. I’ve read tons of books and research articles on the subject of willpower, habit formation, interpersonal neurobiology, and cognitive science, and I’ve been involved on the ground-level of helping other people change their patterns, habits, and lives for over 10 years. So although the majority of the above assertions are backed by solid science, a few of them, marked “personal experience” are just from my own experience with over 500 individuals and their life-change journeys.   WRITTEN BY Drew is the Founder of FierceGentleman.com. He's been featured on numerous radio shows and in COSMOPOLITAN magazine. Connect with him on Twitter or LinkedIn.

The 19 funniest expressions in Italian (and how to use them)

 

Photo: liquene 1. Italians don’t “play dumb”… they “do the dead cat” (Fare la gatta morta). 2. Italians aren’t “wasted”… they are “drunk as a monkey” (Ubriaco come una scimmia). 3. Italians don’t “scold” somebody… they “shave against the growth” (Fare il contropelo). 4. Italians don’t “disrespect”… they “treat you with fishes in your face” (Trattare a pesci in faccia). 5. Italians don’t “have a bee in one’s bonnet”… they “have a fixed nail in one’s head” (Avere un chiodo fisso in testa). 6. Italians don’t “arouse somebody’s doubts”… they “put a flea in the ear” (Mettere la pulce nell’orecchio). 7. Italians don’t “do it with hands tied behind the back”… they “jump ditches the long way” (Saltare I fossi per il lungo). 8. Italians don’t say “it rains cats and dogs”… they say “it rains from washbasins” (Piovere a catinelle). 9. Italians don’t say “well cooked”… they say “cooked to the small point” (Cotto a puntino). 10. Italians don’t say “not the sharpest tool in the box”… they say “merry goose” (Oca giuliva). 11. Italians don’t “take things too far”… they “pull the rope” (Tirare la corda). 12. Italians aren’t “fidgety”… they “have live silver on themselves”(Avere argento vivo addosso). 13. Italians aren’t “dumbfounded”… they “remain as stucco” (Rimanerci di stucco). 14. Italians don’t “keep their mouth shut”… they have “water in the mouth” (Acqua in bocca). 15. Italians don’t “go to bed early”… they “go to bed with the chickens” (Andare a letto con le galline). 16. Italians don’t “sleep like a log”… they “sleep like a dormouse” (Dormire come un ghiro). 17. Italians are not “out of their mind”… they are “outside as a balcony” (Fuori come un balcone). 18. Italians don’t “bite the hand that feeds them”… they “spit in the plate they eat from” (Sputare nel piatto dove si mangia). 19. Italians don’t say “it’s the last straw”… they say “the drop that made the vase overflow” (La goccia che ha fatto traboccare il vaso).   source : www.matadornetwork.com

The 20 funniest expressions in Brazil (and how to use them)

 

Photo: Marina Aguiar 1. A Brazilian man does not ‘have sex’, he ‘dips the cookie’ (Molhar o biscoito). Or, he ‘drowns the goose’ (Afogar o ganso). 2. A Brazilian does not ‘give up’ or ‘retire’, he ‘hangs his football boots’ (Pendurar as chuteiras). 3. A Brazilian does not ‘get drunk’, he ‘puts his foot inside a jackfruit’ (Enfiar o pé na jaca). And he doesn’t ‘get wasted’, he ‘eats water’. (Comer água). 4. A Brazilian does not ‘have a problem’, he is ‘deep fried’ (Estou frito). More like this 12 signs you've become a true local in Brazil 5. A Brazilian is not ‘shameless’, he has a ‘stick face’ (Ter cara de pau). 6. A Brazilian does not ‘pay for something he did not do’, he ‘pays for the duck’ (Pagar o pato). 7. A Brazilian does not ‘deal with a complicated problem’, he ‘peels a pineapple’ (Descacar o abacaxi). 8. A Brazilian does not ‘die’, he ‘buttons his jacket’ (Abotoar o paletó). 9. A Brazilian does not ‘talk about meaningless issues in details’, he ‘fills spicy pork sausages’. (Encher linguiça). 10. A Brazilian does not ‘look for problems’, he ‘looks for horns on a horse’s head’ (Procurar chifre em cabeça de cavalo). 11. A Brazilian does not ‘waste time’, he ‘puts smoke inside a bag’ (Ensacar fumaça). 12. A Brazilian does not ‘show off’, he ‘puts a watermelon on his head’ (Colocar a melancia na cabeça). More like this: How to piss off a Brazilian 13. A Brazilian does not ‘not understand something’, he ‘travels through mayonnaise’ (Viajar na maionese). 14. A Brazilian does not ‘feel down’, he feels ‘like a deflated ball’ (Bola murcha). 15. A Brazilian does not ‘let his hair down’, he ‘releases the chicken’ (Soltar a franga). 16. For a Brazilian, things don’t ‘heat up’, the ‘bug will come and get them’ (O Bicho vai pegar). 17. A Brazilian is not a ‘bootlicker’ nor an ‘ass kisser’, he ‘pulls your bag’ (Puxar o saco). Or he can ‘drool over your egg’ (Babar ovo). 18. A Brazilian does not ‘relax’, he ‘ties a donkey’ (Amarrar o burro). 19. A Brazilian does not ‘keep a secret,’ he ‘keeps a crab’s mouth’ (Manter boca de siri). 20. A Brazilian will not tell you to ‘get lost’, he will tell you to ‘pick coconuts’ (Catar coquinho). Or if he really wants you to piss off, he will ask you to ‘pick coconuts on a slope’ (Catar coquinho na ladeira). source :www.matadornetwork.com

The 20 funniest French expressions (and how to use them)

 

Photo: Ben Raynal 1. The French don’t “piss you off”…they “shit you off” (Faire chier quelqu’un). 2. The French don’t call you “idiotic”…they call you “as dumb as a broom” (Être con comme un balai). 3. The French don’t “blow you off”…they “give you the rake” (Se prendre un râteau). 4. The French don’t tell you that “they don’t care”…they tell you that “they care about it like they care about their very first shirt” (S’en foutre comme de sa première chemise). 5. The French don’t say “this is annoying me”…they say “I’m getting swollen by this” (Ça me gonfle). 6. The French don’t tell you to “leave them alone”…they tell you to “go and cook yourself an egg” (Aller se faire cuire un œuf). 7. The French don’t tell you that “you’re grumpy”…they tell you that “you’re farting sideways” (Avoir un pet de travers). 8. The French don’t “go crazy”…they “break a fuse” (Péter un plomb). 9. The French are not “bumbling”…they have “their two feet in the same clog” (Avoir les deux pieds dans le même sabot). More like this: 16 idioms that show the French are obsessed with food 10. The French are not “energized”…they have “the potato” or the “French fry” (Avoir la patate/la frite). 11. The French don’t tell you “to mind your own business”…they tell you “to deal with your own onions” (Occupe-toi de tes oignons). 12. The French are not “broke”…they are “scythed like wheat fields” (Être fauché comme les blés). 13. The French are not “very lucky”…they have “as much luck as a cuckold” (Avoir une veine de cocu). 14. The French don’t say “it’s useless”…they say “it’s like pissing in a violin” (Pisser dans un violon). 15. The French are not “ungrateful”…they “spit in the soup” (Cracher dans la soupe). 16. The French don’t “fuss about something”…they “make a whole cheese about it” (En faire tout un fromage). 17. The French don’t “give someone a tongue-lashing”…they “yell at them like they’re rotten fish” (Engueuler quelqu’un comme du poisson pourri). 18. French men don’t “sleep around”…they “dip their biscuit” (Tremper son biscuit). 19. The French are not “big-headed”…they “fart higher than their ass is located” (Péter plus haut que son cul). 20. The French don’t “shup someone up”…they “nail someone’s beak” (Clouer le bec de quelqu’un). source : www.matadornetwork.com

An important step in artificial intelligence

 

Mon, 05/11/2015 - 4:51pm Sonia Fernandez, University of California, Santa Barbara Artist's concept of a neural network. Image: Peter Allen In what marks a significant step forward for artificial intelligence, researchers at Univ. of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara) have demonstrated the functionality of a simple artificial neural circuit. For the first time, a circuit of about 100 artificial synapses was proved to perform a simple version of a typical human task: image classification. “It’s a small, but important step,” said Dmitri Strukov, a professor of electrical and computer engineering. With time and further progress, the circuitry may eventually be expanded and scaled to approach something like the human brain’s, which has 1015 (one quadrillion) synaptic connections. For all its errors and potential for faultiness, the human brain remains a model of computational power and efficiency for engineers like Strukov and his colleagues, Mirko Prezioso, Farnood Merrikh-Bayat, Brian Hoskins and Gina Adam. That’s because the brain can accomplish certain functions in a fraction of a second what computers would require far more time and energy to perform. What are these functions? Well, you’re performing some of them right now. As you read this, your brain is making countless split-second decisions about the letters and symbols you see, classifying their shapes and relative positions to each other and deriving different levels of meaning through many channels of context, in as little time as it takes you to scan over this print. Change the font, or even the orientation of the letters, and it’s likely you would still be able to read this and derive the same meaning. In the researchers’ demonstration, the circuit implementing the rudimentary artificial neural network was able to successfully classify three letters (“z”, “v” and “n”) by their images, each letter stylized in different ways or saturated with “noise”. In a process similar to how we humans pick our friends out from a crowd, or find the right key from a ring of similar keys, the simple neural circuitry was able to correctly classify the simple images. “While the circuit was very small compared to practical networks, it is big enough to prove the concept of practicality,” said Merrikh-Bayat. According to Gina Adam, as interest grows in the technology, so will research momentum. “And, as more solutions to the technological challenges are proposed the technology will be able to make it to the market sooner,” she said. Key to this technology is the memristor (a combination of “memory” and “resistor”), an electronic component whose resistance changes depending on the direction of the flow of the electrical charge. Unlike conventional transistors, which rely on the drift and diffusion of electrons and their holes through semiconducting material, memristor operation is based on ionic movement, similar to the way human neural cells generate neural electrical signals. “The memory state is stored as a specific concentration profile of defects that can be moved back and forth within the memristor,” said Strukov. The ionic memory mechanism brings several advantages over purely electron-based memories, which makes it very attractive for artificial neural network implementation, he added. “For example, many different configurations of ionic profiles result in a continuum of memory states and hence analog memory functionality,” he said. “Ions are also much heavier than electrons and do not tunnel easily, which permits aggressive scaling of memristors without sacrificing analog properties.” This is where analog memory trumps digital memory: In order to create the same human brain-type functionality with conventional technology, the resulting device would have to be enormous—loaded with multitudes of transistors that would require far more energy. “Classical computers will always find an ineluctable limit to efficient brain-like computation in their very architecture,” said lead researcher Prezioso. “This memristor-based technology relies on a completely different way inspired by biological brain to carry on computation.” To be able to approach functionality of the human brain, however, many more memristors would be required to build more complex neural networks to do the same kinds of things we can do with barely any effort and energy, such as identify different versions of the same thing or infer the presence or identity of an object not based on the object itself but on other things in a scene. Potential applications already exist for this emerging technology, such as medical imaging, the improvement of navigation systems or even for searches based on images rather than on text. The energy-efficient compact circuitry the researchers are striving to create would also go a long way toward creating the kind of high-performance computers and memory storage devices users will continue to seek long after the proliferation of digital transistors predicted by Moore’s Law becomes too unwieldy for conventional electronics. “The exciting thing is that, unlike more exotic solutions, it is not difficult to imagine this technology integrated into common processing units and giving a serious boost to future computers,” said Prezioso. In the meantime, the researchers will continue to improve the performance of the memristors, scaling the complexity of circuits and enriching the functionality of the artificial neural network. The very next step would be to integrate a memristor neural network with conventional semiconductor technology, which will enable more complex demonstrations and allow this early artificial brain to do more complicated and nuanced things. Ideally, according to materials scientist Hoskins, this brain would consist of trillions of these type of devices vertically integrated on top of each other. “There are so many potential applications — it definitely gives us a whole new way of thinking,” he said. The researchers’ findings are published in Nature. Source: Univ. of California, Santa Barbara

Breaking Down Barriers: Streamlining Data Management to Boost Knowledge Sharing

 

Thu, 04/23/2015 - 3:10pm Ian Peirson, Senior Solutions Consultant, IDBS   Image: IDBS Research in the pharmaceutical and industrial science industries has become increasingly global, multidisciplinary and data-intensive. This is made clear by the evolution in patent approvals, which can also be considered a reliable measure of innovation in these industries. Innovation itself, of course, is a cumulative effect, which requires access to multiple fragments of knowledge from disparate sources and exchange of technology and ideas. While the benefits in innovation in such a competitive environment are clear, investment in research is primarily influenced by the strategic behavior of companies, and a deeper understanding of the importance of market share. Patents and publications help to establish corporate reputation, allowing for controlled technology transfer with strategic joint ventures and to raise barriers to prevent competitors from eroding market share. The relationship between technological processes, innovation and economic growth has changed over time, as innovation and technological advancement became increasingly important for sustained economic performance. This change was largely driven by globalization, with concurrent flows of information, technology, capital and services and resources across the world, and was manifested by the rising investment in market-oriented research, a surge in patenting driven by rapid innovation across all technology fields and a broad investment in the services sectors. For those who fund the research, the sharing—and therefore efficient use—of data is a high priority. This keeps the “knowledge management” cogs turning, helping organizations to create, acquire, disseminate and leverage knowledge in order to retain competitive advantage. In R&D, this process increasingly requires researchers to externalize and exchange information, to increase the productivity and profitability of the organization. This growing emphasis on knowledge sharing is a significant, step-change in the way research is carried out—and presents new challenges to the R&D ecosystem. Moving beyond the “paper prison” Although efficient knowledge management and sharing is seen as key to increasing productivity and profitability of organizations, there are a number of potential barriers that can exist within an organization—primarily created by factors such as hierarchy, motivation, flexibility and transparency of the communication system within the organization. Many researchers are familiar with the challenges of data storage, given that important research may often be archived in paper notebooks, computers, external hard drives and corporate IT systems. Although document management systems encompass enterprise storage capability for IP compliance, often these fail to capture the tacit knowledge of the researcher—and crucially, the context of how and why the data was created. The introduction of electronic laboratory notebooks has helped to overcome this, by providing an environment that allows the researcher to capture the experimental design process, together with the data and conclusions as the experiment is conducted. Addressing the human factors Trust is an important influence on an individual’s reticence to share knowledge. Employees may believe they are in competition with each other, and that the action of sharing knowledge may result in them losing power and influence in the organization. Employees may also not be willing to share information unless they are sure their knowledge is safe from misuse, or that they are certain about the results. Traditionally, such information may have been controlled by visibility and access to the paper notebook where the information was stored. In an electronic laboratory notebook, private areas can be created to hide data from public view, until an experiment has been completed and the results have been validated. Equally, these protected areas may be created to protect sensitive data, or to segment in-house research from that conducted by a contract research organization. Human capital is an important component of the innovation process, and requires a deeper understanding the soft skills of teamwork and inter-personal relationships. Communication skills and knowledge transfer of employees are thus positively influenced by the level of interaction within the organization (given the opportunity, distance and visibility of the channel of interaction within an organization), but may be equally challenged by a “know-it-all” attitude, poor ability to comprehend the information being exchanged or a fear of receiving negative criticism. Image: IDBSTackling the infrastructure obstacles From an organizational perspective, barriers may also exist due to ethnographic language differences—particularly prevalent in global organizations—or where inherent differences in culture exist because of successive mergers and acquisitions. It is said that one of the key challenges to successful mergers of organizations is to reconcile and adopt a new organizational culture, but this may take years for managers to effectively develop and implement successfully. Organizations can help to overcome this by creating a recognition system to reward employees for sharing information, or by accrediting those whose work contributes to new patents and publications. By enabling information exchange sessions between remote teams, an open culture of knowledge sharing may be established. The organization itself needs to recognize it’s cheaper to re-use information for both successful and failed research, than it is to repeat the work of someone else. In a paper notebook world, it’s almost impossible to identify what has been done by a co-worker in a foreign site. However with text mining of documents, an electronic data repository offers users a facile way to use keywords to search for data that’s analogous to their own research aims. Technology also forms a key part of the knowledge management infrastructure, along with the employee resource and the processes of data capture. It forms the backbone of intra-organizational knowledge sharing, particularly where multiple research sites exist in different geographic locations. By connecting sites, the research operation become decentralized, although potential technology barriers may result from a lack of integration of the information systems, together with a disconnect between employees’ expectations of the technology and what it’s capable of delivering. Additionally, researchers now often work with a multitude of systems and instruments, and it’s important to recognize not all users have the same degree of capability or access to these. Although some of these barriers can be overcome through education or formal training, users may simply suffer from slow network speeds between sites, which can hinder system adoption and a willingness to search for prior research remotely.  Clearly, the R&D process is evolving. Firms must now manage and share knowledge, and deal with an evolving set of associated challenges in doing so—but these can be overcome. An open corporate culture, coupled with effective data management tools, helps to break the communication barrier by linking researchers across different geographies and business units. This ensures researchers are able collaborate effectively and reuse existing data, to seed new discoveries and keep science moving forwards.

Phase Monitor II

 

Fri, 05/08/2015 - 5:56pm Supercritical Fluid Technologies The SFT Phase Monitor II is a powerful tool for determining the solubility of various compounds and mixtures in supercritical and high-pressure fluids. It provides direct, visual observation of materials under conditions precisely controlled by the researcher. Experiments may be performed in liquids, supercritical carbon dioxide or other liquefied gases. The effect of co-solvents on the solubility of compounds of interest may be investigated as well. The Phase Monitor II allows the user direct observation of the dissolution, precipitation and crystallization of compounds over a wide range of pressures and temperatures. Advanced studies may be done to determine melting point depressions and the degree of polymer swelling in SF CO2 or traditional solvents. Experiments can be performed at pressures up to 10,000 psi and from ambient temperature to 150 centigrade. Supercritical Fluid Technologies, www.supercriticalfluids.com   Note : A supercritical fluid is any substance at a temperature and pressure above its critical point, where distinct liquid and gas phases do not exist. It can effuse through solids like a gas, and dissolve materials like a liquid. In addition, close to the critical point, small changes in pressure or temperature result in large changes in density, allowing many properties of a supercritical fluid to be "fine-tuned". Supercritical fluids are suitable as a substitute for organic solvents in a range of industrial and laboratory processes. Carbon dioxide and water are the most commonly used supercritical fluids, being used for decaffeination and power generation, respectively.