The integration of knowledge within science, technology and industry : enzymes a case study

Enzyme technology is widely regarded as an exciting new technology possessing great opportunities for commercial interests and is one of a small group of key technologies singled out by the Science Research Councils during the 1960's as worthy of special support. In this thesis I outline the basic characteristics of this technology analysing the nature of the Government's policy towards it. The approach I have chosen requires an in depth analysis of the innovation process for enzymes which forms the basis for a model. This model is then used to focus on aspects of the UK science policy towards innovation in enzyme technology, assessing its impacts, and appraising the usefulness of this approach for future policy initiatives.

The politics of knowledge in central Asia:science between Marx and the market

Through careful historical and ethnographic research and extensive use of local scholarly works, this book provides a persuasive and careful analysis of the production of knowledge in Central Asia. The author demonstrates that classical theories of science and society are inadequate for understanding the science project in Central Asia. Instead, a critical understanding of local science is more appropriate. In the region, the professional and political ethos of Marxism-Leninism was incorporated into the logic of science on the periphery of the Soviet empire. This book reveals that science, organizes and constructed by Soviet rule, was also defined by individual efforts of local scientists. Their work to establish themselves 'between Marx and the market' is therefore creating new political economies of knowledge at the edge of the scientific world system.

Transnational environmental policy:reconstructing ozone

Transnational Environmental Policy analyses a surprising success story in the field of international environmental policy making: the threat to the ozone layer posed by industrial chemicals, and how it has been averted. The book also raises the more general question about the problem-solving capacities of industrialised countries and the world society as a whole. Reiner Grundmann investigates the regulations which have been put in place at an international level, and how the process evolved over twenty years in the US and Germany.

The genius of Erasmus Darwin

The Genius of Erasmus Darwin provides insight into the full extent of Erasmus Darwin's exceptional intellect. He is shown to be a major creative thinker and innovator, one of the minds behind the late eighteenth-century industrial revolution, and one of the first, if not the first, to perceive the living world (including humans) as part of a unified evolutionary scenario. The contributions here provide contextual understandings of Erasmus Darwin's thought, as well as studies of particular works and accounts of the later reception of his writings. In this way it is possible to see why the young Samuel Taylor Coleridge was moved to describe Darwin as 'the first literary character in Europe, and the most original-minded man'. Erasmus Darwin, Charles Darwin's grandfather, was one of the leading intellectuals of eighteenth-century England. He was a man with an extraordinary range of interests and activities: he was a doctor, biologist, inventor, poet, linguist, and botanist. He was also a founding member of the Lunar Society, an intellectual community that included such eminent men as James Watt and Josiah Wedgwood. Contents: Introduction; Setting the scene, Jonathan Powers; Prologue 'Catching up with Erasmus Darwin in the New Century', Desmond King-Hele. Section 1: Medicine: Physicians and physic in 17th and 18th century Lichfield, Dennis Gibbs; Dr Erasmus Darwin MD FRS (1731–1802): England's greatest physician?, Gordon Cook; William Pale (1743–1805) and James Parkinson (1755–1824): two peri-Erasmatic thinkers (and several others), Christopher Gardner-Thorpe; The vertiginous philosophers: Erasmus Darwin and William Charles Wells on vertigo, Nicholas Wade. Section 2: Biology: The Antipodes and Erasmus Darwin: the place of Erasmus Darwin in the heritage of Australian literature and biology, John Pearn; Erasmus Darwin on human reproductive generation: placing heredity within historical and Zoonomian contexts, Philip Wilson; All from fibres: Erasmus Darwin's evolutionary psychobiology, C.U.M. Smith; Two special doctors: Erasmus Darwin and Luigi Galvani, Rafaella Simili. Section 3: Education: But what about the women? The lunar society's attitude to women and science and to the education of girls, Jenny Uglow; The Derbyshire 'Darwinians': the persistence of Erasmus Darwin's influence on a British provincial literary and scientific community, c.1780–1850, Paul Elliot. Section 4: Technology: Designing better steering for carriages (and cars); with a glance at other inventions, Desmond King-Hele; Mama and papa: the ancestors of modern-day speech science, Philip Jackson; Negative and positive images: Erasmus Darwin, Tom Wedgwood and the origins of photography, Alan Barnes; Section 5: Environment: Erasmus Darwin's contributions to the geological sciences, Hugh Torrens; The air man, Desmond King-Hele; Erasmus Darwin, work and health, Tim Carter; Section 6: Literature: The progress of society: Darwin's early drafts for the temple of nature, Martin Priestman; The poet as pathologist: myth and medicine in Erasmus Darwin's epic poetry, Stuart Harris; 'Another and the same': nature and human beings in Erasmus Darwin's doctrines of love and imagination, Maurizio Valsania. Epilogue: 'One great slaughter-house the warring world': living in revolutionary times, David Knight; Coda: Midlands memorabilia, Nick Redman; Appendix: The Creation of the Erasmus Darwin Foundation and Erasmus Darwin House, Tony Barnard; Index.

A solar powered liquid-desiccant cooling system for greenhouses

Liquid desiccant systems are of potential interest as a means of cooling greenhouses to temperatures below those achieved by conventional means. However, only very little work has been done on this technology with previous workers focussing on the cooling of human dwellings using expensive desiccants such as lithium salts. In this study we are designing a system for greenhouse cooling based on magnesium chloride desiccant which is an abundant and non-toxic substance. Magnesium chloride is found in seawater, for example, and is a by-product from solar salt works. We have carried out a detailed experimental study of the relevant properties of magnesium rich solutions. In addition we have constructed a test rig that includes the main components of the cooling system, namely a dehumidifier and solar regenerator. The dehumidifier is a cross-flow device that consists of a structured packing made of corrugated cellulose paper sheets with different flute angles and embedded cooling tubes. The regenerator is of the open type with insulated backing and fabric covering to spread the flow of desiccant solution. Alongside these experiments we are developing a mathematical model in gPROMS® that combines and simulates the heat and mass transfer processes in these components. The model can be applied to various geographical locations. Here we report predictions for Havana (Cuba) and Manila (Philippines), where we find that average wet-bulb temperatures can be lowered by 2.2 and 3°C, respectively, during the month of May.