Do individual factors matter? A survey of scientists’ patenting in Portuguese public research organisations

This paper addresses scientists’ behaviour regarding the patenting of knowledge produced in universities and other public sector research organisations (PSROs). Recent years have witnessed a rapid growth in patenting and licensing activities by PSROs. We argue that the whole process depends to a certain extent on scientists’ willingness to disclose their inventions. Given this assumption, we conduct research into individual behaviour in order to understand scientists’ views concerning the patenting of their research results. Data from a questionnaire survey of Portuguese researchers from nine PSROs in life sciences and biotechnology is presented and analysed and complemented with in-depth interviews. The results reveal that overall the scientists surveyed show a low propensity to become involved in patenting and licensing activities, despite the fact that the majority had no “ethical” objections to the disclosure of their inventions and the commercial exploitation of these. Perceptions about the impacts of these activities on certain fundamental aspects of knowledge production and dissemination are however divergent. This may account for the low participation levels. Furthermore, most scientists perceived the personal benefits deriving from this type of activity to be low. Similarly, the majority also believed that there are many difficulties associated with the patenting process and that they receive limited support from their organisations, which lack the proper competences and structures to assist with patenting and licensing.     

A backstepping controller for path‐tracking of an underactuated autonomous airship

In this paper we propose a nonlinear control approach for the path‐tracking of an autonomous underactuated airship. A backstepping controller is designed from the airship nonlinear dynamic model including wind disturbances, and further enhanced to consider actuators saturation. Control implementation issues related to airship underactuation are also addressed, namely control allocation and an attitude reference shaping to obtain a faster error correction with smoother input requests. The results obtained demonstrate the capacity of an underactuated unmanned airship to execute a realistic mission including vertical take‐off and landing, stabilization and path‐tracking, in the presence of wind disturbances, with a single robust control law. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influence of Surface Morphology on the Torsion Fracture of NiTi Endodontic Instruments

This study analyzed the influences of manufacturing process (twisting and machining) and surface finishing on the angular distortion, maximum torque, and toughness of two NiTi endodontic instruments (Race—FKG Dentaire and TF—Twisted Files, SybronEndo). Statistical analysis of results showed that TF instruments (twisted) had higher distortion angle (p < 0.05) and lower maximum torque to fracture (p < 0.05) than Race instruments (machined). SEM analysis of fractured instruments showed a surface morphology characteristic of ductile fracture, with plastic deformation in the helical shafts. The results suggest that both instruments are equally suitable for clinical applications. This study is purely scientific as it evaluates only some material properties, and is not intended to endorse a commercial product.     

Identification of unbalance forces by metaheuristic search algorithms

This paper discusses the identification of parameters in rotary systems, namely, the unbalance magnitude, phase and position in the rotor system. These parameters can be identified using the measured orbits in the hydrodynamic bearings. The oil film forces are evaluated in the different positions of the orbit of the journal and are applied to the model of the shaft. The model, integrated in time domain, allows with an assumed unbalance, to simulate the orbits. The objective function is basically the difference between measured and simulated orbits, and its minimum corresponds to the identified unbalance amount, phase and position along the shaft. With respect to traditional model based identification procedures, this approach using oil film forces instead of oil film linearized stiffness and damping coefficients, and unfiltered orbits instead of 1X vibration components is suitable to deal with non-linear behaviour of the system.     

trans Fatty Acids in Colostrum,Mature Milk and Diet of Lactating Adolescents

The purpose of this study was to investigate the trans fatty acids (TFA) content and distribution in colostrum, mature milk, and diet of adolescent mothers, after TFA declaration in food labels became mandatory in Brazil. Participants were healthy adolescents (n 54, 15–19 years, 1–90 days postpartum) practicing exclusive breastfeeding. Milk samples were collected 3 days after delivery (colostrum) and in the third month postpartum (mature milk) by hand expression. The fatty acid composition of the milk samples was determined by gas chromatography. TFA intake corresponded to 1.23 % of total energy value. Total 18:2 TFA accounted for less than 0.5 % of the energy intake. The amount of total 18:1 TFA (mean ± SEM) was 1.9 % ± 0.14 in colostrum and 1.5 % ± 0.2 in mature milk. The total content of n‐3 PUFA was inversely correlated with the total content of 18:1 TFA in colostrum. Both in colostrum and in mature milk, vaccenic acid (11t‐18:1) was found to be the most abundant 18:1 trans isomer, followed by elaidic acid (9t‐18:1), whereas rumenic acid (9c,11t‐18:2 CLA) was the predominant 18:2 trans isomer. In conclusion, the levels of TFA of industrial sources found in the mother's diet and breast milk (colostrum and mature milk) showed a decrease in relation to those observed in studies conducted prior to the TFA labeling resolution in Brazil. However, the current low intake levels of n‐3 LCPUFA and DHA content in the milk of lactating adolescents may be insufficient for supporting adequate neurological development of the infants.     

Cross-sectional atomic force microscopy imaging of polycrystalline thin films

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) can be used to image cross-sections of thin-film samples. So far, however, it has mainly been used to study cross-sections of epitaxial systems or integrated circuits on crystalline substrates. In this paper, we show that AFM is a powerful tool to image fractured cross-sections of polycrystalline thin films deposited on crystalline and non-crystalline substrates, yielding unique information on the three-dimensional properties of the cross-sections, with a spatial resolution in the nm range. Original images of three different heterostructure systems are presented: Si(wafer)/SnO2/CdS/CdTe, glass/Mo/Cu(In,Ga)Se2,/CdS/ZnO, and glass/SnO2/WO3. We discuss the results by comparing AFM and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, and explain, for the different materials, why the AFM provides useful additional information.     

Historiography of psychology in Spain: The last decade.

History of Psychology has been an extremely active field for many years in Spain. Both the great expansion of psychological studies and the inclusion of history as a compulsory subject in the psychology curriculum are crucial factors helping to understand the current state of affairs. The aim of this paper is to provide a survey of the work done in this area over the last decade, covering research, teaching, and institutional developments. The study includes consideration of aspects such as main research lines, major theoretical and methodological trends, teaching materials, relevant archives and exhibits, and significant websites. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The design of mosaic armour: The influence of tile size on ballistic performance

Silicon carbide square tiles of different areal geometries and manufactured via two different processing routes have been bonded to polycarbonate layers to evaluate their ballistic performance. Four ceramic tile sizes were tested: 85 mm, 60 mm, 50 mm and 33 mm. In each case the residual depth-of-penetration into a polycarbonate semi-infinite backing was recorded. To elucidate the penetration and failure mechanisms, a computational model using the JH-1 ceramic model [Holmquist TJ, Johnson GR. Response of silicon carbide to high velocity impact. J Appl Phys 2002;91:5858–66] of the projectile used in the experimental study penetrating into a silicon carbide-faced polycarbonate was implemented in the hydrocode AUTODYN-2D. This paper shows that there is a critical dimension of tile that should be used in a silicon carbide-based ceramic-faced mosaic armour system design to ensure optimum system performance when each tile is struck centrally.     

Meshless Helmholtz-Hodge Decomposition

Vector fields analysis traditionally distinguishes conservative (curl-free) from mass preserving (divergence-free) components. The Helmholtz-Hodge decomposition allows separating any vector field into the sum of three uniquely defined components: curl free, divergence free and harmonic. This decomposition is usually achieved by using mesh-based methods such as finite differences or finite elements. This work presents a new meshless approach to the Helmholtz-Hodge decomposition for the analysis of 2D discrete vector fields. It embeds into the SPH particle-based framework. The proposed method is efficient and can be applied to extract features from a 2D discrete vector field and to multiphase fluid flow simulation to ensure incompressibility.     

Characterization of hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene

¹H and ¹³C NMR spectra were used to study the structure of hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) obtained by using hydrogen peroxide as initiator and an alcohol as solvent. This alcohol was introduced into the polymer chain, forming a hydroxylated end group. The subject has aroused some argument in the literature and is considered further in our discussion of reaction mechanisms. Received: 29 November 1996/Revised: 4 December 1996/Accepted: 9 December 1996