September 8th, 2010
Novelda AS is a semiconductor company in Norway that has been invited by Norwegian government and Innovation Norway to exhibit its impulse radar technology at EXPO 2010 in Shanghai, China. The technology has a wide variety of applications and is being currently used and evaluated by companies around the world, according to the company’s Chief Marketing Officer.
Impulse radar is used to sense proximate objects and measure distances to them. It can, for example, be used to avoid collision with other vehicles during parking, detect intruders into homes by sensing motion and locate living persons in disaster sites by sensing breathing and heartbeat.
The nanotechnology based impulse radars can provide innovative sensor applications not possible with conventional ones. The company mentions possible applications in “human vital sign monitoring, personal security, environmental monitoring, industrial automation and other novel sensor applications.”
The Novelda Impulse Radar is a transceiver integrated into a single chip. The new technology requires no clock, thus saving on power and enhancing speed. As the sensing is done using radio waves, no lenses are required compared to technologies that require free visibility, thus saving on costs. The single chips can also be embedded into small mobile devices.
Read the news at NanotechnologyNow.
Tags: nanotech impulse radar, sensor technology
Posted in impulse radar, nanotechnology | No Comments »
September 7th, 2010
We see universities as places where people are trained to provide manpower for various industries. Actually, universities have another role, research, which also can help industries. Many of the research findings that emerge in university labs might have practical applications.
For the practical applications to materialize, however, the technology should be applied to produce things that have a market. In addition, the technology needs to be transferred from labs into production floors. This typically involves scaling up the lab processes into full-fledged production processes.
Applying new technology to develop marketable products, and the engineering involved in scaling up lab operations to production operations, is basically what we call as commercialization of technology.
In Connecticut, schools are working with state and industry officials to create incubator programs for businesses in the high technology areas such as biotechnology that can, for example, help develop more effective treatments for diseases.
An example is the University of Bridgeport that has the largest engineering school in the state. Its faculty and students are involved in major research projects, such as a project to develop unmanned aerial vehicles for the army.
The University has now joined Connecticut Innovations Inc. (CII), the state’s quasi-public authority for technology investing and innovation development, to set up CTech IncUBator that has begun accepting applications from hopeful entrepreneurs.
Read the full report at conntact.com.
Tags: business, connecticut, incubator programs, technology transfer
Posted in business, mentoring, skills training, technology commercialization | No Comments »
September 6th, 2010
Our world is threatened by food shortage (among other threats) resulting from climate change and population growth. Climate change is making yields of food crops unpredictable as they depend on the weather under traditional farming practices. And population growth is tending to push up demand for food beyond availability.
A solution to the problem under such a scenario might lie in the adoption of modern biotechnology in traditional societies. For example, Professor Walter Sandow Alhassan, Project Coordinator for Safe Biotechnology Management in Sub-Saharan Africa (SABIMA) under the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), recently called upon the people of Ghana, Africa, to adopt modern biotechnology in farming.
Modern biotechnology is seeking to tackle several issues related to farming. The following are some of the major issues biotechnology is seeking to help with:
* Expansion of arable land by developing crops that can grow in areas formerly unfit for the crops
* Increasing the yield of crops through genetic modification of the crops
* Preventing pollution of human and animal habitats that occurs now from agro-chemical runoffs
* Finding a way to tackle the crop pests that have so far proven intractable
* Finding cures for the diseases that affect plants and animals
* Developing alternatives for fossil fuels used in agricultural operations, as the fuel supplies are not only getting exhausted but also becoming costlier
* Tackling the stresses resulting from climate change
Read the news story at GhanaWeb.
Tags: biotechnology, climate change, food crops, food shortage
Posted in biotechnology, crop science, diseases, genetic modification | No Comments »
September 5th, 2010
Technology changes fast in the field of IT and the requirements to be met by the IT function are extremely varied under the huge range of environments where it is used. In such a situation, familiarity with the constantly changing best practices is the best guarantee for successful use of IT.
Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is an approach to the identification, planning, delivery and support of IT services to businesses. Over the 20 years it has been in existence, it has become the most widely adopted framework for IT Service Management (ITSM) in the world.
ITIL was born in UK as a government initiative aimed at providing some consistency in the processes for technology delivery and support in a distributed computing environment. The distributed environment led to inconsistent practices that can not only affect the efficiency of the basic business services but also the predictability of the service levels, a serious problem in governance.
A business service can be defined as providing some value to a customer. The service delivery can benefit by carefully analyzing things like:
* Who is the customer?
* What specific services are needed to meet the customer’s needs?
* What technology resources are available to provide these services?
* How can the service delivery be designed in a cost-effective manner in the light of available technology?
* …
Read fuller details about the ITIL initiative, which is in its third version now, by downloading the ITIL Basics book.
Tags: information technology, it best practices, itsm
Posted in best practices, e-governance, information technology, trends | 2 Comments »
September 4th, 2010
A report dated August 25, 2010 in the New York Times makes the point that India’s success in Information Technology is leading to a poor infrastructure of “potholed roadways, collapsing bridges, rickety railroads and a power grid so unreliable that many modern office buildings run their own diesel generators to make sure the lights and computers stay on.”
According to the report, the reason is not lack of money but lack of civil engineers. In an earlier age, civil engineering was an elite occupation in India. In today’s India, however, even qualified civil engineers might be writing software code for a Japanese automaker.
The huge difference in pay received by engineers who write code for foreign clients and those who work on India’s infrastructural projects has meant that there is a serious shortage of civil engineers working in the infrastructure sector. And the sector is showing the results in the form of roads unfit to drive in. The rainwater-filled potholes on the road can even pose danger to life and limb during the monsoons.
Poor infrastructure is affecting industries that require good road and rail networks. Even more importantly, it leads to lower quality life for the general populace, most of who live in villages away from the healthcare and other conveniences available in urban centers.
Of course there are other reasons also for the poor infrastructure, such as poor planning and corruption. However, shortage of civil engineers is an important contributor to the problem.
Read the report at New York Times.
Tags: india, information technology
Posted in information technology | No Comments »
September 3rd, 2010
AVI BioPharma focuses on “the discovery and development of novel RNA-based therapeutics for rare and infectious diseases, as well as other select disease targets.” The company reports that with its proprietary technologies, it is able “to directly target both messenger RNA (mRNA) and precursor messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) to either down-regulate (inhibit) or up-regulate (promote) the expression of targeted genes or proteins.”
Recently the company announced positive results for AVI-7100 against human pandemic H1N1 influenza virus. According to the announcement, preclinical studies demonstrated statistically significant reductions in average viral titer for AVI-7100 against a fully virulent pandemic H1N1 virus versus saline and Tamiflu(R) controls.
The studies used AVI’s proprietary PMOplus(TM) chemistry, and were supported by the Transformational Medical Technologies program (TMT) of the U.S. Department of Defense to identify RNA-based drug candidates against pandemic H1N1 virus. The report mentions that “the studies were undertaken as part of a rapid response exercise demonstrating TMT’s ability, in partnership with AVI, to rapidly respond to a real-world emerging viral threat.”
According to the company spokesperson, the PMO Plus(R) and other advanced proprietary chemistries already have found success in developing anti-infective therapeutic candidates. As a result, TMT is funding “an accelerated IND enabling program and Phase 1 study, as well as expanded preclinical evaluation that explores AVI-7100’s potential as a broad spectrum influenza therapeutic.”
Read the news release at MarketWatch.
Tags: biopharmaceuticals, biotechnology, H1N1 virus, RNA-based therapy
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
September 2nd, 2010
Nanotechnology works with molecular structures of less than 100 nanometers (one nanometer is one-billionth of a meter). It can modify the molecular structures of materials, resulting in changed properties, and even create new materials. We can thus produce self-cleaning surfaces, faster electronic microprocessors, superior water-filtration systems and more.
But nanotechnology is not a science by itself unlike, say physics, biology or chemistry. Instead, it can work in all these fields with the essential requirement being the ability to work at nanoscale. Working at nanoscale involves advanced and high-precision equipment, such as scanning probe microscopes with probes that can work with materials invisible to the naked eye.
Nanotechnology research needs researchers with a sound basic training in sciences, engineering and medicine, and with the additional skill to work at nanoscale. Nanotechnology is also an interdisciplinary field combining the disciplines of physics, chemistry and biology. Nanotechnology courses will thus have to ensure that trainees have the needed fundamental training in one of the sciences.
Considering the potential of nanotechnology to create products tailored to our expectations, it is a huge investment area. Investors are interested in tangible products and are more likely to be interested in nano-manufacturing than just nano-science as such.
Read about the job potential of nanotechnology at Atlanta Post.
Tags: education, nanotech applications, nanotechnology, scanning probe microscope
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September 1st, 2010
Information Technology (IT) is one industry that is seeing the fastest changes and developments. An example is graphic chips. According to Alain Chesnais, president of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), capacity of these chips are likely to increase thousand fold over a five year period. This means, for example, that game platforms will be constantly getting obsolete as new ones appear in the market.
Changes occur not only from such technological developments but also because of several other factors such as the impact of Web use, increasing use of mobile computing, consumerization and virtualization. The result of all these developments will be that IT organizations will be functioning in a very different way ten years from now.
According to Thomas Druby, an IT executive and former CIO at a large insurer, incidental operations such as help desks, network and desktop support, LANs and telecom will be outsourced while companies will focus on the core niches that add business value.
Adding business value will involve improving the effectiveness of business processes, better business analytics and reporting, and improved vendor relationships. Security is another core area that needs increasing attention in view of the variety of new threats that are constantly appearing.
Read how the emerging business scenario affects the career landscape in this Reuters Article.
Tags: business impact, career prospects, information technology, pace of change
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August 31st, 2010
As the spread of H1N1 and AIDS highlighted, pandemic diseases can cause serious disruption to society and the lives of its members. In addition to these natural threats, a new threat lurks in the background, biological terrorism where disgruntled groups are able to deliberately spread biological agents that cause serious diseases. Considering these threats, the Department of Human and Health Services (HHS) of USA released a review on August 19 titled Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasure Enterprise Review: Transforming the Enterprise to Meet Long Range National Needs.
The review looks at the federal government’s system to produce medications, vaccines, equipment and supplies needed for a health emergency, known as medical countermeasures. The review examines the current scenario involved in research, development and FDA approval of medications, vaccines, medical equipment and supplies for a health emergency. The review was triggered by the challenges posed by the recent H1N1 pandemic.
Releasing the document, HHS Secretary suggested that “with a strong base of discovery, a clear regulatory pathway, and agile manufacturing, we will be able to respond faster and more effectively to public health threats.”
According to the review, HHS proposes significant investments to help FDA scientists find faster ways to analyze promising new discoveries and to give innovators a clear regulatory pathway to bring their products to market.
Read the report at FierceBiotech.
Tags: biological warfare, biotechnology, medical countermeasures, pandemics, regulatory approval
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August 29th, 2010
A news release mentions about the launch of a new product jointly by Beijing Goodwill Information and Technology Co., Ltd. that provides electronic cardiogram systems in China and IBM. The product is an all-in-one electronic cardiogram management system introduced for the first time in China. The system provides real-time insight for doctors treating patients with cardiovascular conditions.
WHO estimates that heart disease, stroke, and diabetes have cost China US$558 billion in national income. The new system helps improve the management of ECG processes. Physicians will be able to deliver ECG tests and diagnoses by tapping into a databank of centralized ECG information. The centralized databank can be accessed from anywhere, even from mobile devices.
The integration of patient data as exemplified above enables doctors, patients and insurers to share information seamlessly. Such a connected system will result in fewer mistakes, and better prediction and prevention of diseases. A substantial improvement in healthcare is the consequence.
The new system includes Beijing Goodwill’s Cardiogram suite of professional applications and medical devices – such as holter systems, treadmill stress machines and patient monitors. Using IBM analytics and DB2 database software as the backbone, Beijing Goodwill was able to deliver an all-in-one solution for hospitals.
Read the news release at PR Newswire.
Tags: cardiovascular disease treatment, electronic healthcare, information technology
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
