The transfer and commercialisation of nanotechnology: a comparative analysis of university and company researchers (journal article)
by Christopher Palmberg
from Journal of Technology Transfer Volume 33, Number 6 / December, 2008 pp. 631-652
Nanotechnology has been proposed as the next general purpose technology and engine for growth for the 21th century. Increasing public R&D investments are foremost reflected in the growth of scientific publications, while nanotechnology still is in an uncertain phase of development with various directions of commercialization pending. This paper focuses on the challenges, modes and outcomes of nanotechnology as an emerging science-based field in Finland. The paper contributes by interrogating how challenges and modes of nanotechnology transfer differ across universities and companies and determine outcomes broadly defined. The results of a survey show significant differences in the perceptions of researchers across these organisations, and highlight specific challenges and modes as determinants of outcomes.

Globalization of technology-based growth: the policy imperative (journal article)
by Gregory Tassey
from Journal of Technology Transfer Volume 33, Number 6 / December, 2008 pp. 560-578
The United States became the dominant technology-based economy after World War II and held that position for decades by accumulating a huge base of superior technical, physical, organizational, and marketing assets. However, the world is witnessing the rapid globalization of technology-based competition, which is the result of major commitments by many nations to investment in technology and its effective utilization. The changing dynamics of such competition requires revisions to the centuries’ old law of comparative advantage and the Schumpeterian process of creative destruction. However, U.S. technology-based growth policies have at best stood still for most of this period.

Register of Australian Mining 2008/09

Resource Information Unit

"It provides a comprehensive analysis of all mines, projects and prospects in Australia in a user-friendly, state-by-state, commodity-by-commodity format, which is fully indexed. It includes full geology details. It also provides a financial and editorial summary of all Australian Stock Exchange-listed mining companies and more than 300 private mining companies. It includes names and titles and contact details (including email addresses) for management staff and company directors at company offices and mine sites. " - publisher's website.

Now available in Library & Research Services' Reference Collection.

What if they had never existed? [book]

Nicola Sasanelli

Pays tribute to some of the great inventors and scientists including Pythagoras, Leonardo da Vinci, and Marie Curie.

Mapping the frontiers of evaluation of public sector R&D programs (journal article)
by Irwin Feller
from Science and Public Policy Vol 34 No 10 December 2007, pp. 681-690
Evident in recent requests by policy-makers for evidence about the effectiveness and impacts of public-sector R&D programs and associated calls for a science of science policy is a call for new and improved approaches to evaluation. The trend is towards ex ante questions directed at providing analytical frameworks, metrics or methodologies relevant to future decisions, rather than ex post questions related to whether programs are working or had worked. Evaluators thus confront an evolving research agenda consisting both of new questions and old questions asked with increased emphasis. Among these are: how to set priorities among and within fields of scientific and technological inquiry; how to effectively and equitably choose among competing performers and proposals; and how to aggregate and integrate findings relating to specific policies and programs into an overarching national innovation systems framework.

A Question of balance : weighing the options on global warming policies [book]

William D. Nordhaus

"Integrates the entire spectrum of economics and scientific research to weigh the costs of reducing emissions against the benefits of reducing the long-run damages from global warming." - cover.

People and biodiversity policies : impacts, issues and strategies for policy action [online resource]

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Aims to "help policy-makers who are responsible for designing and implementing biodiversity policies understand the relevance of distributive issues (for both equity and efficiency), and how to integrate them into policy formulation." - page 10.

Visual design for the modern web [book]

Author: Penny McIntire

"Shows novice web designers how their tools - including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript - in conjunction with the principles of aethetics and usabililty to become masters of their craft." - cover.

Strategies for today's energy challenge (Journal article)
by Jeff Bingaman
from Issues in Science and Technology Summer2008, Vol. 24 No 4, pp. 33-38
Developing new energy sources provides an economic and technological opportunity for the United States.

Effects of university characteristics on scientists’ interactions with the private sector: an exploratory assessment (Journal article)
by Branco L. Ponomariov
From Journal of Technology Transfer Vol 33 No 5 October 2008, pp. 485-503
This paper estimates the effect of select university characteristics on the propensity of individual scientists to interact with private sector companies. The academic prestige of an institution has a direct negative effect on scientists’ interactions with the private sector, while the level of industrial R&D expenditures has a direct positive effect on such interactions. Institutional characteristics also moderate the effect of some individual-level variables such as tenure status, grant activity, involvement with students and disciplinary effects.

In the future, the best will be better than perfect: the new biology paradigm (journal article)
by Arnold Brown
From The Futurist, Sep/Oct 2008, Vol 42 No 5, pp. 25-28
The article explores the development of biological systems and technology. According to the author, the change focuses on the evolution of functional machines which are more efficient, faster and better. He adds that the things need to adapt to the changes and circumstances, and function according to their environment. These biology-based systems include Wikipedia, Internet, virtual networks and user-generated computer games. New manufacturing model localized modularization which specifies key features, size and weight of products has emerged in China.

Global Trends in Culture, Infrastructure and Values (journal Article)
by Andy Hines
from The Futurist, Sep/Oct2008, Vol 42 No 5, p18-23
The article examines the global consumer trends that affect the changes of culture, public infrastructure and values. The emergence of cultural centers of excellence influence the potential division and specialization of labor. Half and 19 percent of the population has access to Internet and mobile communications, yet, remote areas lack access to these technologies. It predicts that the younger generation will accelerate the flow of information and ideas immersed in different cultures. The increase of access to electricity stimulate the development of rural communities and living standards.

Energy technology perspectives 2008 : in support of the G8 Plan of Action : scenarios & strategies to 2050 [online resource]

Authors: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) & International Energy Agency (IEA)

"Presents an in-depth review of the status and outlook for existing and advanced clean energy technologies, offering scenario analysis of how a mix of these technologies can make the difference." - page 37.

Conducting sustainability assessments [online resource]

Author: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Reviews "the state-of-the-art in conducting integrated sustainability assessments and their policy application as a key tool for advancing sustainable development. These assessments identify longer-term synergies and trade-offs across the economic, environmental and social impacts of policies and programmes." - foreword.

We-think [book]

Author: Charles Leadbeater

"You are what you share is the ethic of the world being created by YouTube and MySpace, Wikipedia and Facebook. .... [this book] reports on an unparalleled wave of collaborative creative as people form California to China devise ways to work together that are more democratic, productive and creative." - cover.

Urban water pricing: practical perspectives and customer preferences (journal article)
by Lin Crase, Sue O'Keefe and Brian Dollery
from Economic Papers, Vol 27 No 2 June 2008, pp. 194-206
There is considerable variation between Australian jurisdictions in their approach to urban water and waste-water pricing. Regardless of the explicit commitments of signatories to the National Water Initiative to 'best practice pricing' in 2004, there are no obvious signs that a common and efficient pricing regime is emerging. This paper considers one of the dimensions of urban water tariffs: the split between 'volumetric' and 'access' charges."
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Some emerging issues in urban water supply and pricing (journal article)
by John Freebairn
from Economic Papers, Vol 27 No. 2 June 2008, pp. 184-193
"In the future, the marginal cost curve for urban water will be an increasing function. This fact favours a single volumetric water price to meet both equity and revenue adequacy criteria, and in some cities an explicit resource rent tax should be imposed. Although desalination and recycled water are likely to be more expensive than rain-fed water, their comparative stability and security of supply gives them a stabilisation value, and in a portfolio model framework there is a good case for their inclusion as a component of urban water supply."
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Cities as sustainable ecosystems : principles and practices [book]

Authors: Peter Newman & Isabella Jennings

"Explains how to pursue a path of urban sustainable development and regeneration. Its organizing principle is the ten Melbourne Principles for Sustainable Cities." - cover.

False hope : why carbon capture and storage won't save the climate [online resource]

By: Greenpeace International

Argues that independent scientific research shows that CCS cannot be deployed in time to stop climate change, that it wastes energy, and that safe storage cannot be guaranteed.

Biofuels or biofertilisers? Agriculture's contribution to reducing emissions (article)
By Brian Chatterton
from Australian Options Autumn 2008, pp. 27 - 29
"The program to develop bio-ethanol in the United States is a triumph of the lobbyist's art over rationality. Most of the powerful pressure groups have been mollified but the scheme is fundamentally flawed and should not be used as a model for Australian efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."