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EUROPA - Research and Innovation: What's New in Innovation

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Materials Science and Engineering Defined: Protect your laptop -

Materials Science and Engineering Defined: Protect your laptop -

NB all main pass words now protected.

Monday, September 27, 2010

This-Above-All: Six Strategic Mental Attitudes Part II - Strategic Mental Attitude N° I - BENCHMARKING

This-Above-All: Six Strategic Mental Attitudes Part II - Strategic Mental Attitude N° I - BENCHMARKING

Part II of VI

Friday, September 24, 2010

Plants scream posted on Unexplained-Mysteries website

Not a botanist, this research appeared new to me. This info, posted 11 May 2002, on Unexplained-Mysteries website,was originally brought to me by a fellow blogger.

Quoting Unexplained Mysteries:
"TREAD softly in the garden and pluck that rose with care: flowers cry when cut, cucumbers squeal and even healthy fruit gurgles according to new acoustic research on the stressful life of plants.
The findings, released by the Institute for Applied Physics at the University of Bonn, could have important implications for farmers since, with the proper eavesdropping device, one can now distinguish between healthy and sick vegetables. Talking to plants, it seems, is not as rewarding as listening to them.

The Bonn scientists have developed laser-driven microphones that pick up sounds inaccessible to the human ear. When a leaf or a stem is sliced, the plant signals pain (or perhaps merely dismay) by releasing the gas ethylene over its entire surface.

Doctor Frank Kühnemann of Bonn University has been trapping the ethylene in a bell jar. The gas molecules are later bombarded with calibrated laser beams, which makes them vibrate. This produces a sound-wave picked up by the microphones. “The more a plant is subjected to stress, the louder the signal we get on our microphone,” he said.

Potential material for breakthrough Innovations

By eavesdropping on plants it should be possible to develop an early warning system to detect pests and disease. Knowing the stress level of fruit and vegetables can also be an aid in efficient storing and transporting. Acoustical evidence demonstrates that apples emit higher levels of ethylene, which causes neighbouring plants to wilt. As a result, the scientists urged fruit producers to store apples separately.

When ripe fruit is packed with unripe, a substantial amount of fruit often ends up rotting even when the shipments are separated by type. The scientists in Bonn have solved this mystery: differences in ripeness are often invisible, but can be detected acoustically in the form of ethylene. It should therefore be sufficient to measure fruit with laser microphones to separate it into batches of appropriate ripeness before loading it on to ships and trucks."

Corroborated by research on Trees (ref book in French -to be traced )

"But the Bonn University team believes plants do more than chatter about aches and pains as if passing time in a doctor’s waiting room. The team also thinks plants warn each other about approaching danger. The “alarm signal” is a chemical message transmitted between individual plants: this too can be measured by the new equipment.

"But the Bonn University team believes plants do more than chatter about aches and pains as if passing time in a doctor’s waiting room. The team also thinks plants warn each other about approaching danger. The “alarm signal” is a chemical message transmitted between individual plants: this too can be measured by the new equipment."

REFERENCE_en référence à :
- Plants Scream?? - Unexplained Mysteries Discussion Forums (afficher sur Google Sidewiki)
TREES COMMUNICATE  REFERENCEI

Do Trees Talk REFERENCE II

Friday, September 17, 2010

The Cost of Cartilage maintenance, via Glucosamine,Chondroitin , better than surgical repair? II

A look at Tweet meme app brought my attention to a product (Chondroitin) that I use regularly for more than 3 years despite never ending debates over efficiency and probably poor medical coverage. (I also intend to use the Chondroitin-Glucosamine mix - as yet 3 months experience only).

From my experience, I cannot let such studies, if that is the proper name in this day and age, go without commented.

The latest very bad news comes from  Researchers at the University of Bern in Switzerland, who conducted a meta-analysis (statistical analysis) of past studies on these popular complementary medicines, which is published in today's edition of British Medical Journal.

QUOTE from BMJ news

"Effects of glucosamine, chondroitin, or placebo in patients with osteoarthritis of hip or knee


Compared with placebo, glucosamine and chondroitin - either alone or in combination - do not reduce joint pain or have an impact on narrowing of joint space, according to this meta-analysis. Health authorities and health insurers should not cover the costs of these preparations, and treating new patients with these drugs should be discouraged, say the authors."


I am neither a medical doctor nor a specialised statistician but from my experience of knee-joint-pain  found to be a severe thinning of the cartilage area  on one side*. When I say  thinning of the cartilage area on one side I mean wafer thin, the other side is substantially thicker. The standard X-Ray radiology is insufficient for more highly detailed precision of what wafer thin can mean-much less indeed than we materials scientists involved say in metallurgical research and development would demand. When I talk of  knee-joint-pain I mean enough to fear being force to no longer be able to walk, one of my last sports activities strongly recommended by my general medical practitioner)

[* Main outcome measure Pain intensity. Secondary outcome was change in minimal width of joint space. The minimal clinically important difference between preparations and placebo was prespecified at −0.9 cm on a 10 cm visual analogue scale. (my wafer thin was visually less than .5mm at an uneducated guess!

I have used Chondroitin (sulfate) for more than 3 years. After 1 month I experience less pain, after 3 months practically no pain and was able to resume my 40-45 mn walks with renewed pleasure and great relief - and hope for a continuing maintenance of a certain quality of life.

BONUS
After 3 years, I noticed that I no longer experienced vertebral complaint and could carry weighty items I was forced to avoid for a number of years previously (

Cost here in France where Glucosamine,Chondroitin are very expensive is forcing me to seek other sources.

I shall not pretend to have delved into the published study in-depth, this will come later but have looked at the definition of the complaint supposed to be under examination here, namely osteoarthritis of hip or knee.   As the title says the hip condition appears to be amalgamated with the knee condition, effort subjected to are certainly not equivalent. The definition of Osteoarthritis* is like many medical terms a porridge of number of physico-chemical ills according to wikipedia's list . Herein lies enough basic hotchpotch definition*, of the exact physical (and chemical) , defects as we Metallurgist would call them, to be examined, and corrected.

[*Osteoarthritis (OA) also known as degenerative arthritis or degenerative joint disease, is a group of mechanical abnormalities involving degradation of joints,[1] including articular cartilage and subchondral bone. Symptoms may include joint pain, tenderness, stiffness, locking, and sometimes an effusion. A variety of causes—hereditary, developmental, metabolic, and mechanical—may initiate processes leading to loss of cartilage. When bone surfaces become less well protected by cartilage, bone may be exposed and damaged. As a result of decreased movement secondary to pain, regional muscles may atrophy, and ligaments may become more lax.[2] ]

Now all this would lead me to feel as I did when I waited three months between the X-ray and requesting my doctors help, that treatment is administered in many cases including mine as being too late. Nothing out of the ordinary was signaled in the "full examination" under radioactive substance intake for whole body radio-isotope scanner detection several years earlier.[REM look-up the dates of the "early bird TBD ]

GOOD and BAD NEWS

"More results needed, [GOOD]


Professor Graeme Jones of Hobart's Menzies Research Institute, and Medical Director of Arthritis Australia, disagrees with some of the findings of the study.

Jones says while is there no evidence that chondroitin is effective in the treatment of osteoarthritis, there's still some debate about the effectiveness of glucosamine. [this refers to the current study and contradicts my experience with chondroitin.- Dubious-Bad?]

"The study concludes that glucosamine doesn't work, however, if you look closely at the study's results, it shows that glucosamine hydrochloride doesn't work, but that glucosamine sulphate does seem to have some benefit," he says.

"We need further large scale studies of glucosamine sulphate to really know."

Jones says the Long Term Evaluation of Glucosamine Sulphate Study (LEGS), currently being conducted by the University of Sydney and funded by the National Health and Medical Council, may provide a clearer answer regarding the effectiveness of glucosamine.

He says many patients with osteoarthritis (of the knee in particular) do report improved symptoms on glucosamine sulphate, although its real mechanism of action remains unknown.

"It's safe, has very few side effects and patients shouldn't be discouraged from trying it," he says.

I am not alone in enjoying the obvious improved quality of life benefits of Chondroitin and am in the process of changing to the mixed Chondroitin-Glucosamine (sulphates) from more cost advantageous sources. 

WHICH BRINGS BACK THE QUESTION OF WHAT IS THE LESS EXPENSIVE TREATMENT, THE LEAST INVASIVE, THE LEAST DANGEROUS.....
 
AND WHEN WILL EARLIER AND MORE PRECISE, MORE DISCERNING DIAGNOSIS TECHNIQUES COME INTO USE? 
 
WHEN WILL THE LABORITORIES REACT TO THE ALTERNATIVE SURGICAL OFFER WHAT APPEERS TO BE MISLEADING STUDIES AND ABUSING THE CLIENTS (both Individuals and government bodies struggling to maintain responsible affordable budgets where France at least this is lagging badly esp behind UK and probably USA) Earlier preventive treatment will mean larger volume at reduced price but over longer periods so it's a good long-term investment.


PS In guise of a personal conclusion: I can also do a bit of running after a 10year stop. I can only atridutte this to my Chondroitin experience. My fairly healthy life style has remained unchanged.
 
REFERENCES:
ABC Science

BMJ-British Medical Journal 17 Sept 2010.

Innovation-at-Work: Companies who help accelerate innovation and of course social progress and economic growth


I discovered the innovation focused company, Innovia Technology, Cambridge UK, thanks to the Google AdSense on my Materials Science & Engineering focused pages Materials Science and Engineering Defined.

Innova Technologies "Capabilities and Approach" page sums up succinct important messages for innovators and their clients:
QUOTE
"Breakthrough innovation relies on breadth of perspective, insight, agility, and integration.

Our balanced, holistic approach to innovation gives us the flexibility to find a fast and effective route through uncertainty.

We combine creative skills to make leaps of imagination with the systematic analytical thinking needed to turn dreams into vivid, manufacturable reality.

In addition to our in-house skills, we actively develop and maintain an extensive network of associates, including leading academics and industry specialists."

CASE STUDIES.
Innovia proposes an most instructive list of case studies via an easy to scan web page.

RELATED POSTS:

Creativity in Materials Science, Invention, Innovation - Innovation Sells.

Top Invention and Innovators Class, FREE too, online WW and at the Exhibition at The British Library, London, UK



BOOKS ON INNOVATION AT AMAZON for example from a numerous collection:


 

Thursday, September 09, 2010

Materials Science and Engineering Defined: Creativity, Invention, Innovation - Innovation Sells

Materials Science and Engineering Defined: Creativity, Invention, Innovation - Innovation Sells


This series of posts arise from a pointer from my latest September 2010 Issue of Materials World, Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining (IOM3) house journal, Materials World (MW). Our professional development p.19, reported on (improving) "Connecting research with creativity" the article title.

Monday, September 06, 2010

Top Invention and Innovators Class, FREE too, online WW and at the Exhibition at The British Library, London, UK

A MUST for Scientists and Engineers of all walks.

TAKE HEED; Managers of the Big corporations and the Small business a like take heed, especially relevant in our current troubled employment and economical circumstances.

STIMULATING EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE: for young and old, not to be missed.
"Inventing the 21st Century" is open daily from 6 September to 28 November 2010 at the British Library, London. Admission free.

INTRODUCTION:
Every year the UK generates over 25,000 patents, trademarks, and design rights for new products and services - with the British Library helping inventors protect their ideas and explore the business potential.

To celebrate innovation - and hopefully inspire budding entrepreneurs - the Library is hosting a new exhibition exploring the journey behind 15 of the most ingenious inventions to come out of Britain in the past ten years. Take a look at some of the patented products - and get some advice from their creators.

REFERENCES: (en référence à) :
1. ""Inventing the 21st Century" is open daily from 6 September to 28 November 2010 at the British Library, London. Admission free."
- BBC News - Audio slideshow: 21st Century inventors (afficher sur Google Sidewiki)
        2. Well ranked on new twitter app Tweetmeme