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Single-cell analysis is an emerging area to reveal the heterogeneity of individual cells among all populations. Understanding the cell-to-cell variation can greatly promote the development of drug discovery, disease diagnostics, and prognostics. Metabolites, the end products of cellular metabolism, directly reflect the phenotype, status, and microenvironment of cells. Single-cell metabolomics is the study of complete metabolites’ profiles in individual cells under certain conditions, illustrating the biological heterogeneity among different cells. Numerous studies of single-cell metabolomics have been achieved, and the pioneering work is benefited from technology development in this field. The analytical techniques utilized for single-cell metabolomics primarily include fluorescence, electrochemical analysis, and mass spectrometry, whereas the integration of different analytical tools can provide additional molecular information of single cells. Here, we briefly summarized the recent developments of technologies with examples. We expect that more exciting studies will appear in this fascinating field with future development of new analytical techniques.

SARS-CoV-2, a virus which resulted in COVID-19 pandemic has prompted various challenges throughout the world. One of the major challenges is high demand of reliable diagnostic tests. Analytical tests accessible for COVID-19 are divided into following primary classifications: Molecular tests for detection of viral RNA and Serological tests for detection of anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulins. Some conventional COVID-19 diagnostic techniques have certain constraints like longer diagnostic times and low detection rates, resulting in insufficiency for massive quantity of tests. In order to counter such problems, emerging bio-sensing techniques have been developed that offer rapid analysis, high sensitivity and can be used for mass diagnosis. These emerging techniques are useful for point of care testing devices that would play a crucial role in combatting the disease spread. Artificial intelligence can also be utilized to combat COVID-19 outbreak. Applications of AI can be extended to detection and screening of the infection, assessing the treatment procedure, predicting and forecasting the infection pattern of the virus, but the applications of AI are not limited to the aforementioned aspects. AI can also find its application in contact tracing, development of drug, vaccine and decreasing work load on health professionals. Information systems and technology such as Telemedicine, Robotics, Internet of Things (IoT) and mobile phones are utilized to monitor this worldwide pandemic. This chapter advances technology development and future research to deliver better solutions for handling the challenges of present and future pandemics.

Prototypes support the development of new technology by enabling to collect user feedback before full market readiness is achieved. However, this potential is often not fully exploited as physical prototypes are mainly used at more mature levels of technology development, after demonstrating full functionality. Using physical prototypes that are not fully functional at an early stage of technology maturity could lead to lower resource consumption as customer feedback could be incorporated faster and acceptance could be established. However, previous research has indicated differences in consumer attitudes toward technologies before and after users have experienced prototypes first-hand. Therefore, this paper investigates whether experiencing a functional physical prototype at an early stage of technology maturity affects consumer perception. For this purpose, we utilized the first flight of an air taxi in Europe since we were certain that the technology had not been seen in action or used before. We conducted two studies: Study 1, with 126 potential users in a within-subject design, and Study 2, with 539 potential users in a between-subject design. We did not detect significant effects on the participants’ attitudes before and after watching an air taxi flight in person in either study. Overall, the data suggests that a live demonstration of a technology is not necessary to gain a comprehensive picture of peoples’ attitudes toward it, which creates the possibility of examining the effects of more inexpensive technologies, such as virtual and augmented reality simulators in mobility research.

Decarbonising the energy sector is crucial to reach future climate and energy goals. As established by the Energy Performance of Building Directive recast, Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) are the mandatory building target in Europe for all new buildings from 2021 onwards. In the light of the approaching deadline, this paper assesses the development of NZEBs in Europe based on the most recent collected data and information. This paper provides an overview of the implementation of national definitions and energy performance values for new, existing, residential, and non-residential buildings in Member States. It evaluates the differences with the established European benchmark and cost-optimal levels. An overview of the most commonly implemented technologies in NZEBs is given together with costs and the relative projections over next decades. Finally, quantitative data on the NZEBs diffusion in Member States are given as recently assessed. The evolution of the NZEB concept and the future NZEBs role is also forecasted. The results assume a strategic value in the light of future targets for the building sector, showing the progress made by Member States in relation to different NZEBs aspects. They provide a comprehensive analysis of the European NZEBs implementation depicting a positive overall progress improvement for NZEBs definitions, uptake, technology development, and energy performance levels. Next challenges and barriers are outlined and appear mainly related to NZEBs retrofit.

The powerful and intriguing idea that drives the emerging technology of microneedles—shrinking the standard needle to a micron scale—has fostered an entire field of microneedle study and subsequent exponential growth in research and product development. Originally enabled by microfabrication tools derived from the microelectronic industry, microneedles are now produced through a number of methods in a variety of forms including solid, coated, dissolvable, and hollow microneedles. They are used to deliver a broad spectrum of molecules, including small molecules, biomolecules, and vaccines, as well as various forms of energy into the skin, eye, and other tissues. Microneedles are also being exploited for use in diagnostics, as well as additional medical, cosmetic, and other applications. This review elucidates the relative roles of different aspects of microneedle technology development, as shown through scientific papers, patents, clinical studies, and internet/social media activity. Considering >1000 papers, 750 patents, and almost 80 clinical trials, we analyze different attributes of microneedles such as usage of microneedles, types of microneedles, testing environment, types of patent claims, and phases of clinical trials, as well as which institutions and people in academia and industry from different locations and in different journals are publishing, patenting, and otherwise studying the potential of microneedles. We conclude that there is robust and growing activity in the field of microneedles; the technology is rapidly developing and being used for novel applications to benefit human health and well-being.

The interest in artificial intelligence (AI) has ballooned within radiology in the past few years primarily due to notable successes of deep learning. With the advances brought by deep learning, AI has the potential to recognize and localize complex patterns from different radiological imaging modalities, many of which even achieve comparable performance to human decision-making in recent applications. In this chapter, we review several AI applications in radiology for different anatomies: chest, abdomen, pelvis, as well as general lesion detection/identification that is not limited to specific anatomies. For each anatomy site, we focus on introducing the tasks of detection, segmentation, and classification with an emphasis on describing the technology development pathway with the aim of providing the reader with an understanding of what AI can do in radiology and what still needs to be done for AI to better fit in radiology. Combining with our own research experience of AI in medicine, we elaborate how AI can enrich knowledge discovery, understanding, and decision-making in radiology, rather than replacing the radiologist.

The LightSail 2 solar sail spacecraft, currently in orbit, was entirely funded by everyday citizens who crowdfunded the project. LightSail 2 is a shining example of the promise of crowdfunding for space projects. Over the 10-year history of the project, 49,426 people from 109 countries contributed more than 7 million US dollars to make LightSail a reality. The Planetary Society, the nongovernmental, non-profit organization behind LightSail, has been crowdfunding space projects for 40 years. Over the decades, space enthusiasts have funded research projects, enabled science meetings, contributed to hardware and technology development and testing, and eventually developed payloads that have flown to other worlds. Projects have ranged from small (a few thousand US dollars) all the way up to the LightSail program. With more time and more crowdfunding experiments, The Planetary Society thinks the role of crowdfunding still has potential to grow. In this chapter, Planetary Society COO, Jennifer Vaughn, and Society co-founder, Louis D. Friedman, share past examples and lessons learned to encourage others in the space community work together to unlock the potential of crowdfunded space projects, creating more—and more meaningful—opportunities for everyday people to participate in space exploration.

Considering the future prospects of nuclear energy, need has been felt to review the nuclear reactor technology from the angle of fuel utilization and safety so that the nuclear power is economically competitive to contemporary energy systems, safe and secure and reliable in operation, minimum waste generation, and increase in the resistance to nuclear material proliferation. In consideration of these points, the research work is being performed on developing new reactors that include the Gen IV reactors and smaller modular reactors (SMR) and the development of reactors that are based on Breed and Burn (B&B) concept. The traveling wave reactors and CANDLE reactors are B&B concept reactors. In this chapter, the discussion is on these three types of reactors. The emphasis is on the design, characteristics, advantages and challenges in the technology development for Gen IV and SMR reactors and on the evaluation of the feasibility of B&B concept including the necessary conditions, mathematical models and results obtained and potential of development and deployment of TWR/CANDLE reactors.

Stimuli-responsive smart materials that can be prepared by various methods have the ability to sense and respond to various kinds of physical and chemical stimuli in their environment. These materials have many potential applications in fibrous materials in the fields of medicine, protection, security communication, and textile electronics. Smart fibrous materials are an interesting class of materials providing various functions in the textiles. The functionality of smart textiles consists of many fields such as informing, protecting, and relaxing the wearer. The objective of this chapter is to present the latest research results together with basic concepts related to the preparation methods, characterizations, and applications of stimuli-sensitive materials in smart fibrous materials and their importance in clothing. Future trends in this area of research are presented and issues regarding technology development and its uptake are highlighted.

The article is an introductory article and presents the rationale for pursuing innovative reactor research, technology development and design. The six Generation IV (GEN IV) nuclear energy systems are introduced and their main characteristics summarized.

SMR has its easy receptivity of advanced design concepts and technology. Inherent safety features and passive safety systems realize drastic safety enhancement, and system simplification and modularization can maximize its economics. As they successfully completed the technology self-reliance program for the design and construction of pressurized water reactor (PWR) plant with American companies, Korea has pursued on technology development for SMR (small modular reactors) for the last two decades. This chapter introduces their various SMR R&D programs with their design characteristics and future prospect. Representatively, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has developed integral type PWR—i.e., SMART to acquire the standard design approval according to Korean regulatory frame, and is making efforts to improve safety further. Sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) and very high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) designs are also being developed in KAERI. Besides KAERI’s research, several developments for the various types of SMR’s have also been made by the other Korean organizations such as KEPCO E&C, Seoul National University (SNU), KAIST, and UNIST, whose reactors are different in size, power, core, and application.

Environmental regulations can take many forms, from command and control to market-oriented regulations, but their success commonly depends on the active participation of the target. This study surveyed all companies in the Republic of Korea implementing national level emission trading system (ETS) to examine how external conditions and internal perceptions determine companies' response and technology development as against to ETS. It may be the first study to examine the relationships among the objective data (allocation and emissions), characteristics of company (size, employment, sector, and financials) and person in charge of ETS within company (division and position) and companies' perceptions. The results showed that fine allocation design alone does not lead companies to invest in reduction technology. Rather, companies’ perceptions drive the holistic response to ETS and technology investment. In addition, large emitters engaged more actively in ETS, but their holistic response was far from increasing investment in reduction technology. The goals of ETS—cost-effective reduction and green investment—can be best achieved through policy design that takes into account internal awareness, motivation, technology support, and pricing management.

This paper elaborates an empirical analysis of the temporal and geographical distribution of green technology, and on how specific country characteristics enable or thwart environmental inventive activities. Using patent data on 63 countries over the period 1971–2012 we identify key drivers of cross-country diversification and specialisation. Our first finding is that countries diversify towards green technologies that are related to their existing competences. Notably, the degree of green technology maturity matters more than a country`s level of development. The second main result is that countries move along cumulative paths of specialisation, and towards more mature green technologies. Interestingly, the complexity of green technologies is not an obstacle to further specialisation. This holds also for developing countries that are most exposed to climate change hazards., DC acknowledges the financial support of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) “Ayuda de Incorporación para Científicos Titulares” (OEP2014) and of the Ministerio de Economia Industria y Competitividad “Programa Estatal de I+D+i Orientada a los Retos de la Sociedad, 2017” (ECO2017- 86976R). FP acknowledges the financial support of European H2020 Project RISIS2 (grant agreement n∘ 824091).

Learning effects in concentrating solar power (CSP) technology have been limited in the past decade due to a low deployment of CSP plants. The technology development suffered mainly from the consequences of a financial and regulatory stagnation in locations with reasonable direct normal irradiance availability as well as from the fast decrease in cost of the competing solar photovoltaic technology. Nevertheless, a learning rate of about 10% can be assumed. The benefit of integrated thermal storage in CSP should be valued in a future fully renewable energy system.

Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) is an advanced AM technology that has matured over an extended period of research and industrial development. This technology development has enabled wide uptake of commercial applications of PBF technology, particularly for the production of high-value products that are not technically feasible with traditionally manufacturing processes. In particular, commercial opportunities exist for the manufacture of highly complex geometry at small production volume; for example, as required for medical and aerospace applications. Despite the significant technology development contributions made for PBF applications, extensive commercially relevant DFAM research opportunities exist. These include process optimization for known engineering alloys, the development of novel PBF-optimised materials, toolpath optimization to mitigate thermal defects and advanced topology optimization methods that accommodate PBF processes as an optimization variable.

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has followed a typical arc of technology development. Beginning in the laboratory setting, curiosity-driven researchers first pursued answers to questions about the fundamental physics of the methodology and then developed ever-better laboratory analytical systems. This, in turn, opened the door for investigations of practical applications in the laboratory that, when demonstrated, subsequently resulted in the development of portable and mobile LIBS systems for in-field LIBS analysis. Concurrently, LIBS technology moved from the research laboratory into the marketplace, first with the commercialization of the technology based on laboratory LIBS systems and, more recently, to the development of handheld LIBS analyzers. This chapter reviews this technology development and discusses different applications of handheld LIBS during the early years after its development.

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction encourages investment in innovation and technology development in disaster risk management. However, needs for science and technology inputs are unmet, and there is a lack of policy making that is based on science and evidence. This paper identified three key issues that could help overcome these barriers: networking, coproduction of knowledge, and a stronger role played by academia. A number of innovative approaches and tools have been developed for disaster risk reduction (DRR); however, it has not yet been understood what the most effective DRR innovations are. A survey was conducted among representatives of academia, government, NGOs, and the private sector to identify the most effective DRR innovations. Community-based DRR and risk management received the most votes. Half of the top-10 list was taken up with innovative approaches, which shows that both products and approaches are widely recognized as innovations, and both contribute to the improvement of existing and traditional DRR as it tackles new challenges. To enhance the interfaces among science, technology, and policy making and the development and implementation of DRR innovations, the following is recommended: increasing coproduction with researchers and practitioners, continuing the sharing of innovation case studies, strengthening communication and dialogues among stakeholders using effective, national and local platforms, understanding that innovations are not limited to high-tech products but can be approaches as well, and pursuing research on the potential of Artificial intelligence (AI), communication tools, and innovations related to climate disaster that can improve current strategies and capacities for DRR.

IEC 61850-based smart substations play a significant role in the smart grid, which is one of the basic platforms to promote a new round of energy revolution and technology innovation. With the development of advanced, reliable, integrated, and environmental-friendly intelligent electronic devices, the smart substations are based on the whole station information digitalization, communication platform networking, and information-sharing standardization. Automatically completing the basic functions of information collection, measurement, control, protection, computation, and monitoring, the smart substations also support advanced functions, such as real-time automatic control of the smart grid, intelligent regulation, online analysis and decision, and interaction with adjacent substations and power dispatching. Therefore, the IEC 61850-based smart substations stand for the technology development trend in the field of transformation section in the smart grid.

Mathematical modeling is a powerful tool in design, operation, optimization, prediction, and assessment of various processes in wastewater treatment. The majority of the key microbial processes comprises of mixed anaerobic microbial communities, where a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms of these microbial ecosystems is critical for efficient treatment of wastes. This review provides a comparison of approaches to model microbial activities in wastewater treatment, starting with traditional approaches and then proceeding toward more complex systems considering the effects of reversibility and thermodynamic equilibrium in kinetic rate expressions, maintenance requirements for microbial growth, as well as alternative metabolic models based on metabolic reaction networks. The current knowledge, state of the art of modeling applications in wastewater treatment systems, and future trends are discussed. The selection of a model depends on various factors including the available data, objective of the application, or problem under consideration and the required level of accuracy. While complex structure of models may be necessary for analysis of complex systems and technology development, simpler models may be sufficient to use for design purposes. The incorporation of reversible kinetic expressions for the simulation of product inhibition, thermodynamic factors and maintenance energy requirements within the existing wastewater treatment models may be recommended for further future development, as needed. This review chapter can prove useful for modeling microbial processes for a variety of applications in wastewater treatment systems, including the design of optimal bioreactors for bioremediation applications, start-up and shut-down periods of various reactor applications, resource recovery, and understanding the processes for optimal waste treatment.

This chapter provides a broad introduction to 3D printing concepts, processes, materials, applications, history, current state, and future outlook in medicine. The two generations and five/six eras of 3D printing technology development, beginning in the late 1970s and continuing through the present day, are described. The description of and distinction between the three general 3D printing approaches, energy-based, deposition-based, and combination energy/deposition-based, as well as the six major families of 3D printing technology are described, and the general approach to 3D printing and object fabrication, including the interplays between software, hardware, and materials are introduced. Additional attention is given to materials and material types, including metals, plastics, ceramics, composites, and biologics and their current and emerging compatibilities with the various types of 3D printing technologies. Extending the discussion into medicine, this chapter defines and explains the process and applications of three major categories of medical 3D printing; traditional, advanced biomaterials, and bioprinting. Due to their recent technologic development, extended discussion is given to emerging, advanced 3D printing processes, such as the acellular, tissue-regenerative 3D painting process and 3D paint materials, and bioprinting processes that utilize live cells in the 3D printing process to create live, tissue-engineered constructs. This chapter concludes with a perspective on the current state of 3D printing medicine and a discussion of what can be reasonably expected in the field of medical 3D printing in the near future.

This chapter reviews some key aspects of the studies and developments of filamentary-oxide-based resistive memory technology (OxRAM) carried out at imec over the last decade. It describes the switching mechanism and filament properties, details the main advantages of the concept, namely the CMOS-friendly integration, scalability, switching speed, and endurance, however, also the long-standing issues of switching variability and retention tail losses. It finally explains how the tackling of these latter limitations will determine the future application space of the concept, be it in storage-class or embedded memory areas.

The next section of this book provides insights on situations or advanced technology development that are unique. They represent situations in which human factors may not have been considered (at the onset) for the entire lifecycle of device use ( Chapter 19 ); they are best practices for maximum inclusion of users ( Chapter 20 ), especially for home use devices; and there is little or no human factors data published to support an advanced technology ( Chapter 21 ). The chapter highlights their importance when considering applying human factors in medical device design.

Polyaniline (PANI) is one of the important new materials for the rapidly growing technology development of PANI-based electronic devices such as sensors, corrosion protection, and radar absorbing materials. PANI, however, is relatively hard to process compared with other conventional polymers and plastics. The processing of PANI is daunting, mainly due to its rigid backbone, which is related to its high level of conjugation. The challenges faced in the processing of neat PANI have alternatively led to the development of the PANI-based composites and blends. This chapter focuses on the research activities of the processing of the PANI from 2003 till now, their unique properties and applications.

Based on the demographic shift and challenges resulting from the increasing number of elderly, the idea of a smart home, supporting its inhabitants in their daily life, gains importance. In this chapter we present two experimental studies that investigate health-supporting technologies integrated into a living environment. We discuss (older) people’s opinions about two ambient technology applications which are meant to support and accompany users in their daily life, and we examine to what extent they accept such technology in their homes. The results revealed that people are fascinated by the technology and indicated to willingly use it in the future. Serious games for healthcare are perceived as an entertaining addition with a high potential to retain physical mobility and the overall well-being of the inhabitants. In conclusion, we discuss the necessity of a user-centered methodology which integrates users in all phases of technology development, thereby contributing to a responsible research and innovation process.

This chapter makes the case that a new, integrated, multiagency program to develop nonproliferation verification, and monitoring technologies for nuclear security should be initiated without delay in the United States. These capabilities are essential to verify compliance with current and anticipated nuclear arms agreements, prevent nuclear terrorism and nuclear proliferation, and move safely toward a world without nuclear weapons. The program should be funded as a core aspect of the US nuclear infrastructure modernization plan, and thus implemented jointly by the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Department of Defense, with guidance from the State Department, the intelligence community, and the National Academy of Sciences. Such a program is affordable at a fraction of the cost of other nuclear infrastructure modernization tasks, and is needed to maintain nuclear security in an evolving security environment.

The challenge of every implantable device in contact with the circulating blood is managing the natural coagulation cascade response. Active debate continues on what constitutes adequate blood contacting performance and how this performance is assessed. While international standards of operation have been developed and are currently active, they constantly lag behind the speed of the technology development. A great deal of effort has been made for the development of hemocompatible devices. The majority of the current implantable solutions focus on sophisticated manufacturing methodologies that include more than one material and one phase (biomedical composite). They aim for a multidimensional function design striving to address the demands of the local and systemic environment, in addition to patient comfort and quality of life. These design advancements are expected to champion comprehensive solutions to the major cardiovascular applications domains: heart valves, vascular grafts, and stents.

This article investigates impact of substituting fumed silica with a cellulosic-crystal innovation in a commercial Vacuum Insulated Panel (VIP) core. High building performance demands have attracted VIP technology investment to increase production capacity and reduce cost. In building retrofit VIPs resolve practical problems on space saving that conventional insulations are unsuitable for. Three challenges exists in fumed silica: cost, low sustainability properties, and manufacture technical maturity. Cellulosic nano-crystal (CNC) technology is in its infancy and was identified as a possible alternative due to a similar physical nano-structure, and biodegradability. The study aim was to determine a performance starting point and establish how this compares with the current benchmarks. Laboratory cellulosic-crystal samples were produced and supplied for incorporation into commercial VIP manufacture. A selection of cellulosic-panels with core densities ranging 127–170 kg/m3 were produced. Thermal conductivities were tested at a pressure of 1 Pa (0.01 mBar), with the results compared against a selection of fumed silica-VIPs with core densities ranging 144–180 kg/m3. Conductivity tests were then done on a cellulosic-VIP with 140 kg/m3 density, under variable pressures ranging 1–100,000 Pa (0.01–1000 mBar). This investigated panel lifespan performance, with comparisons made to a fumed silica-VIP of similar core density. Manufactured cellulosic-samples were found unsuitable as a commercial substitute, with performance below current standards. Areas for cellulosic nano-material technology development were identified that show large scope for improvement. Pursuit could create a new generation of insulation materials that resolve problems associated with current commercial versions. This is most applicable in building retrofit where large ranges of domestic and commercial cases are marginalised from their construction markets due to impracticalities and high upgrade costs. This being a problem in multiple economies globally.

The sudden and violent nature of coal and gas outbursts continues to pose a serious threat to coal mine safety in China. One of the key issues is to predict the occurrence of outbursts. Current methods that are used for predicting the outbursts in China are considered to be inadequate, inappropriate or impractical in some seam conditions. In recent years, Huainan Mining Industry Group (Huainan) in China and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia have been jointly developing technology based on gas content in coal seams to predict the occurrence of outbursts in Huainan. Significant progresses in the technology development have been made, including the development of a more rapid and accurate system in determining gas content in coal seams, the invention of a sampling-while-drilling unit for fast and pointed coal sampling, and the coupling of DEM and LBM codes for advanced numerical simulation of outburst initiation and propagation. These advances are described in this paper. Keywords: Coal mining, Outburst, Outburst prediction, Gas content, Numerical modelling

Underground research laboratories (URLs), including “generic URLs” and “site-specific URLs”, are underground facilities in which characterisation, testing, technology development, and/or demonstration activities are carried out in support of the development of geological repositories for high-level radioactive waste (HLW) disposal. In addition to the generic URL and site-specific URL, a concept of “area-specific URL”, or the third type of URL, is proposed in this paper. It is referred to as the facility that is built at a site within an area that is considered as a potential area for HLW repository or built at a place near the future repository site, and may be regarded as a precursor to the development of a repository at the site. It acts as a “generic URL”, but also acts as a “site-specific URL” to some extent. Considering the current situation in China, the most suitable option is to build an “area-specific URL” in Beishan area, the first priority region for China's high-level waste repository. With this strategy, the goal to build China's URL by 2020 may be achieved, but the time left is limited.

The evolution of interlibrary loan to resource sharing has followed the path in many ways of the evolution of the library. The increased emphasis on technology has opened new areas of focus for both the library patrons and the services offered by the library. As technology develops, the way patrons think about the library has changed. They no longer view the library as a corporeal space. The library has a virtual presence, but in many ways the library has an emotional presence as well. The transition to a more emotive interaction with the library will lead to changing expectations. The library of the future and the resource-sharing units need to be ready to address these needs. No more is this evident than within resource sharing itself.

Modern biotechnology is another tool for addressing chronic food, feed, and fiber supply constraints globally. This is more so for the developing countries, which are constrained by resource, capacity, and institutional challenges in the wake of rapidly increasing population. Despite evidence of benefits in terms of savings from reduced herbicide and labor use, adoption of the technologies has been stifled by lengthy and uncertain approval processes. Involvement of consumers, scientists, and policy makers in the technology development and improved communication between them are needed to harness the potential of modern biotechnology.

The improvement in the efficiency of the coal-fired power plants has been mainly achieved by raising steam conditions. The steam temperature was raised from 538 to 566°C at the end of the 1950s and remained at this temperature until 1993 in Japan. Steam power plants that have been built recently usually have a steam temperature of around 600°C and a steam pressure of 25 MPa. This steam condition is usually called USC (ultra-supercritical steam condition). J-Power (Electric Power Development Company) started a comprehensive program to develop USC technology in 1981, subsidized by the Japanese government. Materials to be used for 600–650°C systems were developed through the year 2000. The materials that contain 9 to 12Cr steels were developed at that time and are being used for the USC plants in Japan today. Almost half of the capacity of the coal-fired power plants in Japan employ USC technology and is a fundamental power source today. Following the USC technology development program, and stimulated by European projects, Japanese boiler, turbine, and valve manufacturers, institutes, and utility companies have been cooperating to develop 700°C class advanced USC technology since 2008 with the support of the Japanese government. Basic technologies for materials and manufacturing of boilers, turbines, and valves were developed and verified by 2012. Long-term material tests will be conducted through 2020. A boiler components test and turbine rotating tests are scheduled to be completed by 2017. Some boiler superheater panels, large-diameter pipes, and valves will be tested in a commercially operating boiler from 2015 to 2017. The turbine rotor parts, which have the same diameter as commercial rotors, will be tested at 700°C and at actual speed.

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are a technology rapidly developing toward widespread commercialization, with hundreds of megawatts of generation capacity installed in the field for large-scale power generation (100 kW–1 MW), and small-scale distributed power generation (

The present article describes the recent evolution of the biopharmaceutical industry by highlighting the main forces that drive the behavior of dedicated biotechnology firms (DBFs). It explores how these firms perform their role of “bridging institutions” by connecting the academia with the market. In doing so, they facilitate the transfer of biotechnology-related scientific knowledge into new medicines and other biotechnology products. The relationships DBFs establish with large pharmaceutical companies and the features of the competitive game they play with them are also analyzed and discussed.

Waste heat recovery (WHR) is a topic that is often discussed when looking at cycle efficiency. The limitations of WHR and its applicability are related to the temperature of the waste heat source and how much heat is available. Low-temperature heat is often prevalent but difficult to use due to existing power cycle limitations. The supercritical CO 2 (sCO 2 ) power cycle is advantageous for WHR because it has a low bottom cycle temperature, which allows it to accept waste heat from low-grade heat sources. The use of the sCO 2 for the WHR cycle is explored in more detail in this chapter, including the advantages and disadvantages of sCO 2 WHR cycles, how they might be implemented in real-world applications, and a discussion of the technology development needs for sCO 2 WHR systems.

The field of chromogenics, dedicated to the study of materials exhibiting a reversible coloration under the application of various forms of external stimuli, is introduced in this chapter. Owing to their dynamic and interactive nature, these chromogenic materials have become extremely interesting and important both from a scientific research point of view and for technology development in the area of optics and photonics. The various types of chromogenic materials, such as electrochromic, photochromic, thermochromic, gasochromic, and more, are introduced along with typical examples of each type. Inorganic chromogenic materials, especially transition metal oxides (TMOs), being the main focus of this book, emphasis is placed on inorganic materials exhibiting this behavior. Only the aspects of thermochromics, electrochromics, and photochromics are covered in detail here, since the TMOs exhibit the most efficient switching through these effects and the majority of the applications are based these properties.

The main aerobic treatment methodologies for petroleum industry effluents are reviewed. This chapter includes a review of the main topics related to technical considerations and basic knowledge of the aerobic processes for application to petroleum and petroleum derivatives in effluents. Also, an analysis of the main characteristics of petroleum industry effluents is done followed by a review of the available literature on microbiological strains reported for application in petroleum and petroleum derivatives degradation. A fundamental analysis of the transformation processes and mechanisms through primary metabolism in the treatment processes is performed to provide accurate information on the basic processes occurring during effluent bio-treatment. Once all this basic information is reviewed, the chapter concentrates on detailed information on the various procedures available for the biological treatment of petrochemical effluents as well as an analysis of the state of the art in technology development for these applications. Technology topics such as the enhancement of petroleum bioavailability, the use of synthetic and natural tensioactives for biodegradation improvement and the use of genetically modified organisms are reviewed. Finally, a review of the novel trends and an analysis of current perspectives and challenges is included, using all the information from previous analyses.

India and Indonesia are privileged with abundant biomass resource potentials, 23 Giga-watt (GW) and 50 GW equivalents respectively, yet both countries harvest small proportions, with fundamentally different deployed policies and articulated strategies. In this regard, this paper focuses on analyzing evolution and deployment of different policies and execution of strategies by two countries. It analyzes the effects of the biomass energy policies and executed strategies in India and Indonesia with a holistic approach. Such an approach takes the policy and strategy of the whole biomass energy sector rather than a segmented and separated sector as biofuel, biogas, biodiesel, etc. Furthermore, how they have resulted in different outcomes is also addressed. Our analysis shows that India's biomass energy policy has evolved from incremental to more radical changes, while Indonesia's policy remains incremental. India has also a relatively more unified biomass energy strategy than Indonesia. India has been more focused on technology development and deployment along with strong institutional creation, whereas Indonesia has not been able to create any biomass sector supporting strong institutions. Therefore, in terms of biomass energy utilizations, India has demonstrated better performance than Indonesia.

Efforts to speed up China’s coal bed methane (CBM) exploration developments related to production safety, optimization of energy structures, prevention of energy waste and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions are all of great significance. In order to strengthen CBM exploration and development in China and to encourage increased growth in the CBM industry, we firstly give a general overview of the recent technological innovations and other developments in CBM exploration in the U.S., Canada and other countries. Using this background information as the starting point, we further present observations and analyses of CBM exploration and development, preferential policies, technical support and implications of R&D for CBM development in China. The results show that the problems related to CBM exploration technology development and lack of a complete set of management policies are still the major issues slowing down the growth of domestic CBM industry. Development of resource exploration and technology, R&D and establishment of favorable government policy to support the industry and the creation of a relevant information platform, etc. are finally recommended. Keywords: China, CBM, Exploration and development, Prospect, Proposal