Behavior of Cementitious Materials under the Effect of an Eco-Cement Based on Dredged Sludge

This paper attempts to simulate the use of green materials from the silt in a dam, and reduce the harmful impacts of siltation on Algerian dams affected by frequent droughts and irregular rainfalls, which are resulted from climate change. These harsh weather conditions are the main cause of water erosion in Algeria, leading to a high silting level in many dams across the country. Therefore, it is necessary to dredge the considerable volumes of sludge in the dam areas. This paper treats the sludge dredged from the K’sob dam, and adds the treated sludge into cement, creating a hybrid binder that can be used in composition of cementitious materials. Specifically, the sludge extracted from the K’sob dam was characterized chemically, physically, mineralogically, and mechanically, and introduced both as a substitute of cement and a component in the mixture of ordinary concrete/mortar. The sludge was firstly activated through calcination, and added to cement at the mass dosages of 10%, 15%, and 20% separately. The mechanical behavior, especially that under compression, of cementitious materials (concrete/mortar) based on the treated sludge was studied through lab tests. The test results show that this technical innovation gives the finished product three major properties, namely, high strength, economy, and a beneficial ecological impact. The results obtained are encouraging and promise an optimal exploitation of the sludge from similar dam areas.

Influence of Industry-University Cooperation on Economic Development: A Mathematical Statistical Analysis

Technical innovation is an important means to achieve sustainable development. Industry-university cooperation is a new form of technological innovation. Most of the existing researches on industry-university cooperation focus on the analysis of industry-university cooperation models, but there are few researches on the examination of the relationship between industry-university cooperation and economic development. Using the spatial autocorrelation and spatial measurement model, the relationship between China’s industry-university cooperation and economic development was empirically investigated. The results indicate that, first, the nighttime light data could be used as a proxy variable for GDP data to characterize China’s economic development. Second, industry-university cooperation had a positive effect on China’s economic development. Third, industry-university cooperation affected China’s economic development through technological innovation.

Methodology for Measuring the Impact of the Privacy Protection Law on the Use of Big Data

The ICT revolution triggered by the emergence of smart devices, typically represented by the iPhone and the iPad, is migrating into the new domain of ‘big data’ after passing the turning point of ‘SNS Life,’ which is represented by Twitter and FaceBook among others. These developments have brought significant changes in all areas of politics, economy and culture. The stock prices of Apple, Samsung Electronics, FaceBook and Google fluctuate depending on who takes the hegemony in the changes. Meanwhile, such a reform of the ICT sector has generated some new undesirable sideeffects, including online disclosure of personal information, malicious comments, Smishing or other forms of financial scams. As we cannot abandon either big data or privacy protection, it is critical to find a compromise. It seems both evident and selfexplanatory that the use of big data, which is attributable to technical innovation, conflicts with privacy protection based on the idea that individuals should be allowed to determine the disclosure or not of their personal information. Yet, the problem here is that the discussion of countermeasures remains at the level of catching the wind with a net. Therefore, this paper intends to present a framework that can objectively verify what impact the enhanced legal regulation concerning privacy protection has on the use of big data as the first step in exploring a compromise between the use of big data and privacy protection.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL INNOVATION INFRASTRUCTURE OF THE REGIONS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION INCLUDED IN THE CENTRAL FEDERAL DISTRICT

Целью данной статьи явился анализ основных объектов инновационных научно-технических инфраструктур региональных инновационных систем ЦФО. В рамках проведенного исследования был составлен перечень основных научно-технических региональных элементов инновационной инфраструктуры, были выявлены региональные различия дифференциации основных объектов инновационной инфраструктуры в трех группах субъектов Федерации, входящих в Центральный федеральный округ.

Business Model Innovation and the Rise of Technology Giants

Technology giants owe much of their success to fundamental improvements in the science and technology of information and communications technology. However, complementary advancements were also necessary, and, much as firms had to learn to incorporate electricity in the last nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, we posit that the giant platforms have learned to harness the contributions of external actors in order to grow more rapidly than would otherwise have been possible. Thus, the drivers of the dramatic rise of the tech giant platform firm can be viewed as a business model innovation as well as a technical innovation. As orchestration business models become better understood, we expect that firms in non-platform sectors are increasingly likely to adapt practices that also allow them to participate in and benefit from external value creation. At the same time, we expect regulatory scrutiny to increase as the power and reach of technology giants increases and their influence is felt across the economy.

Leapfrogging in China's Renewable Electricity Development Pathway? The Roles of Policy Frameworks, Innovation and International Cooperation Partnerships in Fostering Renewable Electricity

<p>The topic of this thesis is China's transition to a sustainable and low-carbon energy system based predominantly on renewable electricity supply. The specific focus is the concept of leapfrogging, frequently proposed as an alternative development strategy for China and other large developing countries to bypass the historical energy-intensive and polluting stages of development of the already industrialised countries. The thesis poses the question whether leapfrogging in China's renewable electricity sector occurred in the period from 2005 to 2010 and what the future potential for leapfrogging is. The specific technology focus of the thesis is renewable electricity and to some lesser degree renewable energy for heating. In this context five main areas have been looked at in detail: decentralised renewable energy technologies for rural development, innovative capacity and development of China's emerging renewable energy companies, application of renewable electricity and electricity saving technologies in China's cities, application and use of renewable technologies for large-scale electricity generation and China's national energy system as a whole. Two main bodies of theory are used as a conceptual framework to support the analysis: socio-technical innovation systems and global environmental governance with a focus on multi-stakeholder partnerships. This multi-disciplinary approach is applied to identify and analyse the roles of domestic policies, socio-technical innovation and international cooperation partnerships for renewable electricity development. In this context the thesis specifically analyses the effectiveness of China's national and local policy frameworks in facilitating transition processes and supporting innovation for renewable electricity development. Furthermore, the contribution of international cooperation initiatives and partnerships to renewable electricity development and leapfrogging is analysed. The research results show that leapfrogging in China's renewable electricity development to date has occurred only in some selected cases. Environmental leapfrogging, a reduction of environmental impacts through renewable energies replacing fossil fuels, has not yet occurred. China's policy frameworks and national targets have been crucial for fast development of renewable electricity technologies in the period 2005-2010. Further refinements and more ambition would be required to facilitate leapfrogging as national development strategy. China's institutional framework for energy governance is still fragmented, which impacts on the effectiveness and implementation of policies. International partnerships for technology transfer, capacity building and policy dialogues are a key element in the transition to an energy system based on renewables and are interlinked with China's national innovation system and support policies for renewable electricity. Despite China's rapid development of renewable electricity, further cooperation for technology transfer, specifically policy dialogues and capacity building, will be crucial in the future. On a conceptual level, the research shows that the concept and definitions of leapfrogging so far are still very vague and would require further research in order to develop the concept of leapfrogging into an analytical framework and practical guiding principle for developing countries.</p>

Quantifying Vision through Language Demonstrates that Visionary Ideas Come from the Periphery

Where do visionary ideas come from? Although the products of vision as manifested in technical innovation are readily observed, the ideas that eventually change the world are often obscured. Here we develop a novel method that uses deep learning to identify visionary ideas from the language used by individuals and groups. Quantifying vision this way unearths prescient ideas, individuals, and documents that prevailing methods would fail to detect. Applying our model to corpora spanning the disparate worlds of politics, law, and business, we demonstrate that it reliably detects vision in each domain. Moreover, counter to many prevailing intuitions, vision emanates from each domain’s periphery rather than its center. These findings suggest that vision may be as much as property of contexts as of individuals.

Leapfrogging in China's Renewable Electricity Development Pathway? The Roles of Policy Frameworks, Innovation and International Cooperation Partnerships in Fostering Renewable Electricity

<p>The topic of this thesis is China's transition to a sustainable and low-carbon energy system based predominantly on renewable electricity supply. The specific focus is the concept of leapfrogging, frequently proposed as an alternative development strategy for China and other large developing countries to bypass the historical energy-intensive and polluting stages of development of the already industrialised countries. The thesis poses the question whether leapfrogging in China's renewable electricity sector occurred in the period from 2005 to 2010 and what the future potential for leapfrogging is. The specific technology focus of the thesis is renewable electricity and to some lesser degree renewable energy for heating. In this context five main areas have been looked at in detail: decentralised renewable energy technologies for rural development, innovative capacity and development of China's emerging renewable energy companies, application of renewable electricity and electricity saving technologies in China's cities, application and use of renewable technologies for large-scale electricity generation and China's national energy system as a whole. Two main bodies of theory are used as a conceptual framework to support the analysis: socio-technical innovation systems and global environmental governance with a focus on multi-stakeholder partnerships. This multi-disciplinary approach is applied to identify and analyse the roles of domestic policies, socio-technical innovation and international cooperation partnerships for renewable electricity development. In this context the thesis specifically analyses the effectiveness of China's national and local policy frameworks in facilitating transition processes and supporting innovation for renewable electricity development. Furthermore, the contribution of international cooperation initiatives and partnerships to renewable electricity development and leapfrogging is analysed. The research results show that leapfrogging in China's renewable electricity development to date has occurred only in some selected cases. Environmental leapfrogging, a reduction of environmental impacts through renewable energies replacing fossil fuels, has not yet occurred. China's policy frameworks and national targets have been crucial for fast development of renewable electricity technologies in the period 2005-2010. Further refinements and more ambition would be required to facilitate leapfrogging as national development strategy. China's institutional framework for energy governance is still fragmented, which impacts on the effectiveness and implementation of policies. International partnerships for technology transfer, capacity building and policy dialogues are a key element in the transition to an energy system based on renewables and are interlinked with China's national innovation system and support policies for renewable electricity. Despite China's rapid development of renewable electricity, further cooperation for technology transfer, specifically policy dialogues and capacity building, will be crucial in the future. On a conceptual level, the research shows that the concept and definitions of leapfrogging so far are still very vague and would require further research in order to develop the concept of leapfrogging into an analytical framework and practical guiding principle for developing countries.</p>