Blockbusters and Bombs

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Kinch
Keyword(s):  
Guinea Pig ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
New Products ◽  
Cancer Drug ◽  
Generic Medicines ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Generic Competition ◽  
The Cost

The first indications of future trouble are identified. For most of history, new medicines arise from nature but this approach came into question as evidenced by the development of the cancer drug Taxol. As understanding of biology and chemistry incraesed, a degree of over-confidence arose as researchers assumed that new technologies would allow them to predict the most effective medicines. These changes were a response to an environment confronting twin pressures in the form of rising generic medicines coupled with ever more costly research and development activities needed to develop new products to replace those devastated by generic competition. These issues were exacerbated by a rising dependence upon “blockbuster” products, which conveyed short-term revenues but inevitably needed to be replaced by even more profitable products once generic competition intervened. Dependence on blockbusters was exemplified by the story of ulcer medicines, which was disrupted by an audacious study by an investigator who used himself as a Guinea pig to make his point. As such risks increased, the industry became more cautious and the race was on to make incremental improvements upon competitors’ products. All the while the cost of developing new medicines continued to escalate.

scholarly journals Talking about the Energy-saving Technical Measures in the Electrical Design of Buildings

1970 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhang Mian
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Conservation ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
Energy Saving ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
New Products ◽  
New Energy ◽  
Technical Measures

At present, people pay more attention to the energy consumption of building electrical design, the use of energy-saving design can maximize the energy conservation resources, and ultimately increase the pace of social sustainable development. Therefore, the energy-saving designers involved in the need to follow the economic rational, safe and feasible benchmark to select the appropriate energy-saving measures to increase research and development of new technologies, new products and new energy, the concept of sustainable development to be implemented. In view of this, this paper mainly analyzes the energy saving technical measures in the electrical design of thebuilding.

scholarly journals Benchtop Semi-Automated Solid State Photolithography Tool

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoulikha Mouffak ◽  
A. Olaivar ◽  
A. N. Vang
Keyword(s):  
Solid State ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Uv Exposure ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Uv Led ◽  
Mask Aligner ◽  
Led Array ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Photolithography Process

The cost of a lab-grade photolithography tool is typically of the order of tens of thousands of dollars, a prohibitive price for many organizations that wish to prototype the fabrication of nanostructures. The availability of a more cost-friendly implementation of photolithography is crucial to the research and development of new technologies in nanoscale devices. In this work, we built a scaled down simplified version of a patterning system, the benchtop photolithography tool, which is expected to replicate certain nanopatterning techniques for under $300 —a tiny fraction of the cost of a typical mask aligner. A semi-automated benchtop photolithography tool is designed, fabricated, and programmed for prototyping and for research purposes. We use a USB 32-Bit Whacker PIC32MX795 Development Board that drives a programmable touchscreen, a UV LED array, a shutter, and a UV sensor, allowing us to have the desired high precision UV exposure. The integration of a microcontroller to operate the peripheral components of the tool allows to automate the small-scale photolithography process.

Industrial Vicissitudes and Commercialization of Technology in Japan

1993 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 416-419
Author(s):  
Kihachiro Nishikawa ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
Cost Reduction ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Years Of Experience ◽  
Technical Design ◽  
Industrial Expansion ◽  
Difficult Challenge ◽  
The Cost

Through my forty years of experience as an electromechanical engineer, I have realized that the development of technical design has been one of the most important elements necessary for Japanese industrial expansion. The cost reduction of the products, along with quality assurance and functional improvements, is one of the main purposes of the technological progress; and it is a difficult challenge. To achieve this purpose, engineers are requested to design smaller, lighter products with fewer parts. In other words, engineering designers must adopt the new technologies in order to reach their target. This demand stimulates Research and Development (R&D) activity in many related fields.

Highly Active Modified Variants of Recombinant Phospholipase А2 from Streptomyces violaceoruber for Effective Biosynthesis in Yeasts

2019 ◽  
pp. 30-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.P. Sannikova ◽  
A.V. Malysheva ◽  
F.A. Klebanov ◽  
D.G. Kozlov
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Specific Activity ◽  
Point Mutations ◽  
Egg Yolk ◽  
Enzyme Preparations ◽  
Highly Active ◽  
High Calcium ◽  
Pla2 Enzyme ◽  
Streptomyces Violaceoruber ◽  
The Cost

The capacity of yeast to produce the highly active variants of PLA2 has been confirmed. The high-active variants were based on the original enzyme from the strain А-2688 of Streptomyces violaceoruber. To reduce the enzyme toxicity and to increase its expression, various approaches were tested including point mutations, construction of artificial N- and/or C-end pro-regions, hybridization with other proteins and engineering or inactivation of glycosylation sites. As a main result, the modified PLA2 enzymes were obtained which have the same secretion level as their low-active predecessors, but specific activity of which was at least tenfold higher. As the main feature, the selected mutants were characterized by a lower affinity for Ca2+ that probably accounts for their low toxicity (and high expression capacity) at the stage of biosynthesis and their ability to activate under special conditions, e.g. during the egg yolk fermentation. The data obtained can provide a basis for the cost reduction of highly active PLA2 enzyme preparations in industries where the application of high calcium concentrations is allowed. recombinant phospholipase А2, Streptomyces violaceoruber, yeasts, secretion, producer strain The work was initiated by the Innovation Center Biriuch - New Technologies, Ltd., and was supported within the framework of the State Assignment no. 595-00004-18 PR.

Protecting the Desperate: The Regulation of Payday Lending

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-176
Author(s):  
Andrew J Serpell
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Credit ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Payday Lending ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Payday Loans ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Right ◽  
Credit Contracts ◽  
The Cost

Payday loans are small-amount, short-term, unsecured, high-cost credit contracts provided by non-mainstream credit providers. Payday loans are usually taken out to help the consumer pay for essential items, such as food, rent, electricity, petrol, broken-down appliances or car registration or repairs. These consumers take out payday loans because they cannot — or believe that they cannot — obtain a loan from a mainstream credit provider such as a bank. In recent years there has been a protracted debate in Australia — and in several overseas jurisdictions — about how to regulate the industry. Recent amendments to the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth) — referred to in this article as the 2013 reforms — are designed to better protect payday loan consumers. While the 2013 reforms provide substantially improved protection for payday loan consumers, further changes to the law may be warranted. This article raises several law reform issues which should be considered as part of the 2015 review into small amount credit contracts, including whether the caps on the cost of credit are set at the right level, whether the required content and presentation of the consumer warnings needs to be altered, whether more needs to be done to protect consumers who are particularly disadvantaged or vulnerable and whether a general anti-avoidance provision should be included in the credit legislation.

scholarly journals Design and Adoption of Low-Cost Point-of-Care Diagnostic Devices: Syrian Case

Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 882
Author(s):  
M. Munzer Alseed ◽  
Hamzah Syed ◽  
Mehmet Cengiz Onbasli ◽  
Ali K. Yetisen ◽  
Savas Tasoglu
Keyword(s):  
Civil Wars ◽  
Healthcare Workers ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Efficient Solutions ◽  
Humanitarian Crises ◽  
Technology Experience ◽  
The Cost

Civil wars produce immense humanitarian crises, causing millions of individuals to seek refuge in other countries. The rate of disease prevalence has inclined among the refugees, increasing the cost of healthcare. Complex medical conditions and high numbers of patients at healthcare centers overwhelm the healthcare system and delay diagnosis and treatment. Point-of-care (PoC) testing can provide efficient solutions to high equipment cost, late diagnosis, and low accessibility of healthcare services. However, the development of PoC devices in developing countries is challenged by several barriers. Such PoC devices may not be adopted due to prejudices about new technologies and the need for special training to use some of these devices. Here, we investigated the concerns of end users regarding PoC devices by surveying healthcare workers and doctors. The tendency to adopt PoC device changes is based on demographic factors such as work sector, education, and technology experience. The most apparent concern about PoC devices was issues regarding low accuracy, according to the surveyed clinicians.

scholarly journals Embracing Industry 4.0: Empirical Insights from Malaysia

Informatics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Mansoor Ahmed Soomro ◽  
Mohd Hizam-Hanafiah ◽  
Nor Liza Abdullah ◽  
Mohd Helmi Ali ◽  
Muhammad Shahar Jusoh
Keyword(s):  
Industry 4.0 ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Descriptive Study ◽  
Digital Transformation ◽  
Quantitative Approach ◽  
Survey Questionnaire ◽  
Digital Revolution ◽  
Leadership Strategy ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Cost

Industry 4.0 revolution, with its cutting-edge technologies, is an enabler for businesses, particularly in reducing the cost and improving the productivity. However, a large number of organizations are still too in their infancy to leverage the true potential of Industry 4.0 and its technologies. This paper takes a quantitative approach to reveal key insights from the companies that have implemented Industry 4.0 technologies. For this purpose, 238 technology companies in Malaysia were studied through a survey questionnaire. As technology companies are usually the first in line to adopt new technologies, they can be studied better as leaders in adopting the latest technologies. The findings of this descriptive study surfaced an array of insights in terms of Industry 4.0 readiness, Industry 4.0 technologies, leadership, strategy, and innovation. This research paper contributes by providing 10 key empirical insights on Industry 4.0 that can be utilized by managers to pace up their efforts towards digital transformation, and can help the policymakers in drafting the right policy to drive the digital revolution.

scholarly journals Methods to Prevent Future Severe Animal Welfare Problems Caused by COVID-19 in the Pork Industry

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 830
Author(s):  
Temple Grandin
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Detrimental Effect ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Electrical Parameters ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Pork Industry ◽  
Third Party Auditing ◽  
The Cost ◽  
High Welfare

In the U.S., the most severe animal welfare problems caused by COViD-19 were in the pork industry. Thousands of pigs had to be destroyed on the farm due to reduced slaughter capacity caused by ill workers. In the future, both short-term and long-term remedies will be needed. In the short-term, a portable electrocution unit that uses scientifically validated electrical parameters for inducing instantaneous unconsciousness, would be preferable to some of the poor killing methods. A second alternative would be converting the slaughter houses to carcass production. This would require fewer people to process the same number of pigs. The pandemic revealed the fragility of large centralized supply chains. A more distributed supply chain with smaller abattoirs would be more robust and less prone to disruption, but the cost of pork would be greater. Small abattoirs can coexist with large slaughter facilities if they process pigs for specialized premium markets such as high welfare pork. The pandemic also had a detrimental effect on animal welfare inspection and third party auditing programs run by large meat buyers. Most in-person audits in the slaughter plants were cancelled and audits were done by video. Video audits should never completely replace in-person audits.

scholarly journals Planting Systems for Modern Olive Growing: Strengths and Weaknesses

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 494
Author(s):  
Riccardo Lo Bianco ◽  
Primo Proietti ◽  
Luca Regni ◽  
Tiziano Caruso
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Biotic And Abiotic Stress ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Mediterranean Countries ◽  
Social Concerns ◽  
The World ◽  
Fruit Growing ◽  
Cultivar Diversity

The objective of fully mechanizing olive harvesting has been pursued since the 1970s to cope with labor shortages and increasing production costs. Only in the last twenty years, after adopting super-intensive planting systems and developing appropriate straddle machines, a solution seems to have been found. The spread of super-intensive plantings, however, raises serious environmental and social concerns, mainly because of the small number of cultivars that are currently used (basically 2), compared to over 100 cultivars today cultivated on a large scale across the world. Olive growing, indeed, insists on over 11 million hectares. Despite its being located mostly in the Mediterranean countries, the numerous olive growing districts are characterized by deep differences in climate and soil and in the frequency and nature of environmental stress. To date, the olive has coped with biotic and abiotic stress thanks to the great cultivar diversity. Pending that new technologies supporting plant breeding will provide a wider number of cultivars suitable for super-intensive systems, in the short term, new growing models must be developed. New olive orchards will need to exploit cultivars currently present in various olive-growing areas and favor increasing productions that are environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable. As in fruit growing, we should focus on “pedestrian olive orchards”, based on trees with small canopies and whose top can be easily reached by people from the ground and by machines (from the side of the top) that can carry out, in a targeted way, pesticide treatments, pruning and harvesting.

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