Bio-based polyamides are in high demand as these are made from renewable and biobased feedstock. These materials are likely to exhibit a superior environmental profile and deliver applicative performances at a competitive price. All the major market players are aggressively pursuing agreements, M&A, and partnerships with other vendors to leverage the opportunity inherent in the market and build a competitive edge.

A rise in instances of security breaches and transactional fraud in many sectors has increased the need for reliable authentication and identification systems. Biometrics are based on the unique behavioral and physiological characteristics of an individual, which are difficult to replicate. They authenticate an individual through voice recognition, palm geometry, DNA identification, gait recognition, fingerprint matching, facial recognition, iris recognition, signature verification, and vein recognition. Biometric technologies are considered to be more reliable than checks that use physical devices or numeric authentication codes. With advances in hardware, sensors, readers, pattern recognition, and signal and image processing technologies, a number of biometric.

Online corporate meetings in enterprises have changed the method of business communication.

Composites are made up of two or more materials with different properties. These materials are combined to exhibit unique characteristics. Polymer composites are made up of two major components: a polymer matrix and a reinforcing fiber material. Carbon, glass, and aramid are the most commonly used fibers in the manufacture of polymer composites, while epoxy, polyester, phenol, and polyacrylic are the major types of polymer resins used. The aerospace and aviation, automotive, electronics, energy, and marine segments are the key application areas for these polymer composites.

The application of nanotechnology in the field of biology has given rise to a host of innovations ranging from diagnostics, biomedical sensors, targeted drug delivery systems, to the creation of integrated chips with scalable memory. Recently, increased investments in basic nanotechnology research and demand for improved convergence based product development, have led to the organization of national innovation ecosystems such as the National Nanotechnology Initiative in the United States, National Nanotechnology Initiative and associated National Nanotechnology Centre in Malaysia and the Australia Nanotechnology Network in Australia to name a few. While academic laboratories and spin-offs have served as epicenters of nanobiotechnology commercialization across these countries, the extent of commercialization of products across developed and emerging economies is largely driven by the maturity of innovation networks and knowledge flows surrounding the nanobiotechnology initiatives. In the wake of the global market challenges of the biopharmaceuticals, successful deployment of nanobiotechnology innovations in regional economies will depend on inclusive and adaptable innovation models that can be replicated globally. To that end, this commentary discusses the design of a hybrid innovation ecosystem that captures nanotechnology policy, stakeholders, and knowledge to facilitate accelerated nanobiotechnology commercialization. Examples of innovation ecosystems in the US, Malaysia and Australia are used to demonstrate the emergence of this hybrid model where research and human capacity development including knowledge dissemination between the participating stakeholders, are the overarching goals of the designed ecosystems. Objective of Commentary: In the context of the limitations of existing innovation models as static entities that have failed to accelerate innovation and commercialization of nanotechnology innovations in medicine, an adaptable hybrid ecosystem or AHE for effective commercialization of nanomedicine and emerging technologies is proposed . The adaptable hybrid ecosystem builds upon the concepts of National Systems of Innovation, Triple Helix Model and strategic arenas-a broad area of focus that engages contributions from multidisciplinary areas. The multistakeholder participatory approach of the AHE model is suggestive of a dynamic asset pool comprising customers, industries, universities and international governments that enable technology commercialization in emerging areas such as nanomedicine and nanotechnology by the influence of fundamental paradigm shifts discussed in this paper.

A micromechanics analysis modeling method was developed to analyze the damage progression and fatigue failure of fabric reinforced composite structures, especially for the brittle ceramic matrix material composites. A repeating unit cell concept of fabric reinforced composites was used to represent the global composite structure. The thermal and mechanical properties of the repeating unit cell were considered as the same as those of the global composite structure. The three-phase micromechanics, the shear-lag, and the continuum fracture mechanics models were integrated with a statistical model in the repeating unit cell to predict the progressive damages and fatigue life of the composite structures. The global structure failure was defined as the loss of loading capability of the repeating unit cell, which depends on the stiffness reduction due to material slice failures and nonlinear material properties in the repeating unit cell. The present methodology is demonstrated with the analysis results evaluated through the experimental test performed with carbon fiber reinforced silicon carbide matrix plain weave composite specimens.

Titanium dioxide has been used as the white pigment since the ancient times.95% of its current usage in industry involves paints, cosmetics, plastics, paper, and food. However, in near future the economic impact of titanium dioxide seems to be controlled by energy related applications mostly. Therefore, this chapter projects a brief outlook on the added value provided by the titanium dioxide structures in new and emerging technologies of the energy sector. The applications focused are: solar fuels, solar cells, fuel cells, Li ion batteries and solid state lighting. In those applications, TiO_2 standouts with its chemical and thermal stability, morphology variety, position of conduction and valance band energy levels, optical properties and cost.

The ionization signals in the liquid argon of the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter are studied in detail using cosmic muons. In particular, the drift time of the ionization electrons is measured and used to assess the intrinsic uniformity of the calorimeter gaps and estimate its impact on the constant term of the energy resolution. The drift times of electrons in the cells of the second layer of the calorimeter are uniform at the level of 1.3% in the barrel and 2.8% in the endcaps.