The application of constructability is increasingly required not only in the construction phase but also in the whole project stage. In particular, the proper application of construction experience and knowledge during the design phase enables the minimization of inefficiencies such as design changes and improvements in constructability during the construction phase. In order to apply knowledge...

Mutant DNA polymerases have become an increasingly important tool in biotechnology. The ability to examine the activity and specific properties of enzymes has a crucial role in the characterization of the enzyme. We have developed several systems for characterizing DNA polymerases that combine random mutagenesis with in vivo selection systems. However in vivo screening systems for specific prop...

Dean H. Betts1,2, Bill Kalionis3,4, and Stephen G. Hillier5 Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5C1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5C1 Pregnancy Research Centre, Department of Perinatal Medicine, Royal Women’s Hospital, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia Unive...

“Basic research” is often used in science policy. It is commonly thought to refer to research that is directed solely toward acquiring new knowledge rather than any more practical objective. Recently, there has been considerable concern about the future of basic research because of purported changes in the nature of knowledge production and increasing pressures on scientists to demonstrate the ...

The paper argues that a substantial proportion of the wider economic benefits to society from publicly-funded basic research is associated with scientists’ migration into the commercial sector of the innovation system. Rejecting a reduction of the research process to the propositional knowledge it produces, a set of hypotheses on the value of different types of knowledge is derived. The hypothe...

Clinical and basic science advances have raised considerable hope for achieving an HIV cure by accelerating research. This research is dominated primarily by issues about the nature and design of current and future clinical trials. Stakeholder engagement for HIV cure remains in its early stages. Our analysis examines timing and mechanisms of historical stakeholder engagement in other HIV resear...

575 from the Society’s archives some 300 years ago and discovered in 2005 in a private house—was about to be auctioned when the Society and the vendors reached an agreement for a UK£1 million transaction. “We are keen that as wide an audience as possible, including scholars and the general public, should now be able to appreciate these documents,” commented the Royal Society’s President, Lord R...

Recently, plans have been announced to perform the first human head transplantation within the next few years [15]. Known as the head anastomosis venture (HEAVEN) protocol, details of this project have been outlined primarily from existing literature with supplementary basic science animal model data [1-6]. In this brief review, I analyze the literature of the two methodologies proposed by HEAV...

CONTEXT A 'new', problem-based medical curriculum was introduced at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 2002. The objective of this study was to assess the perceptions of competence for internship and the factors influencing competence of final-year medical students. METHODS Eighteen focus groups were conducted (six per year) with UCT final-year medical students in 2007 (n =27), 2008 (n =27)...

BACKGROUND Being aware of the limits of traditional discipline-based education, the Faculty of Dentistry at King Abdulaziz University (KAU) tasked basic medical science faculty members with developing a new integrated curriculum for undergraduate dental students to be applied in the 2014/2015 academic year. OBJECTIVE To determine the students' perceptions of the restructured curriculum and el...