[en] The topic discussed are science, technology and innovation - innovation, key factors to be noted when considering the innovation process, characteristics of the innovation process in scientific instruments, recognizing the commercial prospects for novel scientific instrumentation, the needs and opportunities for commercialization for both small and big companies, integration of research and industry

[en] The author describes how Hypres, Inc., the only company marketing a superconducting electronics product, was formed. The company decided to select a commercial product with significant market potential that employs the unique technological advantage of Josephson Junction in superconducting electronics. The company began by focusing on products in the test and instrumentation area. After receiving a government technology development contract and working to overcome reliability and reproducibility problems, the PSP-1000, a sampling oscilloscope and time-domain reflectometer, was introduced in 1987. The company is now researching the new superconductive materials and preparing for product development based on copper oxides

[en] The term 'market transformation' was first coined in 1992 and, in the subsequent decade, dozens of market transformation initiatives have been operated in the U.S., including national, regional and local initiatives. This paper looks at 28 of the major initiatives, how they have fared in the market, and the lessons each initiative teaches. We examine a range of initiatives, including ones that have prospered, ones that have had difficulties, and ones that have had mixed success. The paper concludes with a summary of lessons learned that should be kept in mind when developing and refining market transformation initiatives in the future

No abstract available

[en] Canada's new energy pioneers have many ways to generate power-from glacial creeks to urban trash. The problem is, they only have one way to generate profits: Get miserly provincial hydro companies to pay what their output is worth

[en] Provides the plan for integrating research, development, and deployment of new technologies to improve future commercial buildings in the U.S

[en] In the past two years, public and private efforts to promote development and deployment of innovative environmental technologies have shifted from the analysis of barriers to the implementation of a variety of initiatives aimed at surmounting those barriers. Particular attention has been directed at (1) streamlining fragmented technology acceptance processes within and among the states, and (2) alleviating disincentives, created by inadequate or unverified technology cost and performance data, for users and regulators to choose innovative technologies. Market fragmentation currently imposes significant cost burdens on technology developers and inhibits the investment of private capital in environmental technology companies. Among the responses to these problems are state and federal technology certification/validation programs, efforts to standardize cost/performance data reporting, and initiatives aimed at promoting interstate cooperation in technology testing and evaluation. This paper reviews the current status of these initiatives, identifies critical challenges to their success, and recommends strategies for addressing those challenges

[en] The achievement of energy efficiency in commercial buildings is a function of the activities undertaken, the technology in place, and the extent to which those technologies are used efficiently. We study the factors that affect efficient energy use in the Canadian commercial sector by applying a stochastic frontier approach to a cross-section of Canadian commercial buildings included in the Commercial and Institutional Building Energy Use Survey (CIBEUS). Structural and climate-control features of the buildings as well as climatic conditions are assumed to determine the location of the frontier, while management-related variables including such factors as ownership type and activities govern whether or not the maximally attainable efficiency along the frontier is achieved. Our results indicate that although, on average, buildings appear to be fairly efficient, certain types of operations are more likely than others to exhibit energy efficiencies that are significantly worse than average. These results, along with those related to the effects of physical characteristics on the stochastic efficiency frontier, suggest that there is scope for focused policy initiatives to increase energy efficiency in this sector

No abstract available

[en] Application of differents dosimeter systems: Standard Frickie, Modify Frickie, Yellow Perspex, Amber Perspex, Red Perspex and Clear Prespex, for industrial irradiation were studied. Dosimeter expositions in the range 0.05 KGy to 10 KGy were applied using both a Gammacell 220 source and a semi-industrial irradiator of Co-60, with dosis rates of 0.2 KGy/hr and 4 KGy/hr respectivily. During the experiment variables like storage temperature with 20, 35 and 45 degC were studied. Experimental results point out that Standard Frickie and Perspex dosimeter system can be used successfully with a very low dependence upon storage temperature and storage time