title: Innovation, R&D cooperation and labor recruitment: evidence from Finland

authors: Simonen, Jaakko

subjects: innovation

abstract: This article investigates the role played by one type of firm interaction, namely R&D cooperation, and also the acquisition of labor, in the promotion of industrial innovations. We employ a unique innovation dataset from Finland which combines firm specific information about the innovation performance of the firms along with their individual characteristics, as well as firm specific information regarding the origins of their recent labor acquisitions. Analyzing this data allows us to identify the different roles which the knowledge spillovers and labor markets play in the innovation process. Our results suggest that small firms are generally more innovative than large firms; R&D cooperation is an essential feature of innovation, but the variety of cooperation is of little importance; and labor acquisition appears to be only of limited importance for innovation.

text: Innovation, R&D cooperation and labor recruitment: evidence from Finland This article investigates the role played by one type of firm interaction, namely R&D cooperation, and also the acquisition of labor, in the promotion of industrial innovations. We employ a unique innovation dataset from Finland which combines firm specific information about the innovation performance of the firms along with their individual characteristics, as well as firm specific information regarding the origins of their recent labor acquisitions. Analyzing this data allows us to identify the different roles which the knowledge spillovers and labor markets play in the innovation process. Our results suggest that small firms are generally more innovative than large firms; R&D cooperation is an essential feature of innovation, but the variety of cooperation is of little importance; and labor acquisition appears to be only of limited importance for innovation.

year: 2008

title: Biopolymer foams from Novatein thermoplastic protein and poly(lactic acid)

authors: Walallavita, Anuradha Sammani

subjects: Biopolymer

abstract: Novatein is the only commercial thermoplastic protein made from bloodmeal, a highly denatured protein and a readily available by-product of the meat processing industry. One of the major limitations of Novatein is its hydrophilic nature and loss of plasticizer during processing which leads to poor mechanical properties. To address these issues, Novatein has been blended with another biodegradable polymer with good mechanical properties, polylactic acid (PLA).  

Blending two components can lead to poor mechanical properties of the blend due to weak interfacial adhesion and thermodynamic incompatibility. These problems can be overcome with the use of a compatibilizer which helps to stabilize the interface by coalescence suppression of the dispersed domains. In this work, itaconic anhydride grafted PLA (PLA-g-IA) was chosen as a compatibilizer for Novatein-PLA blends because IA is extremely stable when reacted with proteins and less harmful compared to maleic anhydride. 

Reactive extrusion was used to blend different proportions of Novatein and PLA and the compatibilizing effects of itaconic anhydride was examined. Results showed that fewer agglomerated Novatein particles and less phase separation was visible in the presence of compatibilizer. At 50-50 Novatein/PLA, the absence of compatibilizer produced a dispersed morphology which caused the material to disintegrate in chloroform. Upon the addition of itaconic anhydride, the 50-50 blend stayed intact which was thought to be a result of co-continuous morphology. Incorporating 50 wt.% of PLA-g-IA improved the tensile strength of Novatein by 42% and impact strength by 36%. The effect of compatibilizer was evident in wide-angle x-ray scattering. Three phases were detected in the absence of compatibilizer: crystalline Novatein, amorphous Novatein, and amorphous PLA phases. With compatibilizer, the blend was moving toward two phases: crystalline Novatein, and an amorphous blend of Novatein and PLA. Itaconic anhydride grafted PLA improved miscibility between Novatein and PLA, which lead to the fabrication of Novatein-PLA foams.

Foaming Novatein is a new area of study which has never been investigated before. The foamability of a material depends on the ability of the material to withstand the stretching forces during bubble growth and hold the newly formed cellular structure. The low melt strength of Novatein, however, make it difficult to induce a cellular structure in the proteinous bioplastic. Therefore, the foaming ability of Novatein can be improved by blending with PLA, which can successfully be foamed using a batch process with carbon dioxide as the blowing agent.

Various compositions of Novatein/PLA were batch foamed with and without compatibilizer. Results showed that pure Novatein cannot form a cellular structure at a foaming temperature of 80°C, however, in a blend with 50 wt.% PLA, micro cells formed with a higher cell density (8.44x1021 cells cm-3) and smaller cell sizes (3.36 µm) compared to pure PLA and blends with higher amounts of PLA. A further reduction in cell size and increase in cell density was observed upon the addition of compatibilizer due to the higher crystallinity of grafted PLA. The co-continuous morphology obtained upon the addition of compatibilizer led to the development of foams with more uniform cell sizes, which was stable for cell nucleation even at high temperatures.

text: Biopolymer foams from Novatein thermoplastic protein and poly(lactic acid) Novatein is the only commercial thermoplastic protein made from bloodmeal, a highly denatured protein and a readily available by-product of the meat processing industry. One of the major limitations of Novatein is its hydrophilic nature and loss of plasticizer during processing which leads to poor mechanical properties. To address these issues, Novatein has been blended with another biodegradable polymer with good mechanical properties, polylactic acid (PLA).  

Blending two components can lead to poor mechanical properties of the blend due to weak interfacial adhesion and thermodynamic incompatibility. These problems can be overcome with the use of a compatibilizer which helps to stabilize the interface by coalescence suppression of the dispersed domains. In this work, itaconic anhydride grafted PLA (PLA-g-IA) was chosen as a compatibilizer for Novatein-PLA blends because IA is extremely stable when reacted with proteins and less harmful compared to maleic anhydride. 

Reactive extrusion was used to blend different proportions of Novatein and PLA and the compatibilizing effects of itaconic anhydride was examined. Results showed that fewer agglomerated Novatein particles and less phase separation was visible in the presence of compatibilizer. At 50-50 Novatein/PLA, the absence of compatibilizer produced a dispersed morphology which caused the material to disintegrate in chloroform. Upon the addition of itaconic anhydride, the 50-50 blend stayed intact which was thought to be a result of co-continuous morphology. Incorporating 50 wt.% of PLA-g-IA improved the tensile strength of Novatein by 42% and impact strength by 36%. The effect of compatibilizer was evident in wide-angle x-ray scattering. Three phases were detected in the absence of compatibilizer: crystalline Novatein, amorphous Novatein, and amorphous PLA phases. With compatibilizer, the blend was moving toward two phases: crystalline Novatein, and an amorphous blend of Novatein and PLA. Itaconic anhydride grafted PLA improved miscibility between Novatein and PLA, which lead to the fabrication of Novatein-PLA foams.

Foaming Novatein is a new area of study which has never been investigated before. The foamability of a material depends on the ability of the material to withstand the stretching forces during bubble growth and hold the newly formed cellular structure. The low melt strength of Novatein, however, make it difficult to induce a cellular structure in the proteinous bioplastic. Therefore, the foaming ability of Novatein can be improved by blending with PLA, which can successfully be foamed using a batch process with carbon dioxide as the blowing agent.

Various compositions of Novatein/PLA were batch foamed with and without compatibilizer. Results showed that pure Novatein cannot form a cellular structure at a foaming temperature of 80°C, however, in a blend with 50 wt.% PLA, micro cells formed with a higher cell density (8.44x1021 cells cm-3) and smaller cell sizes (3.36 µm) compared to pure PLA and blends with higher amounts of PLA. A further reduction in cell size and increase in cell density was observed upon the addition of compatibilizer due to the higher crystallinity of grafted PLA. The co-continuous morphology obtained upon the addition of compatibilizer led to the development of foams with more uniform cell sizes, which was stable for cell nucleation even at high temperatures.

year: 2018

title: 'Thinking-through-Complicity' with Te Iwi o Ngāti Hauiti: Towards a Critical Use of Participatory Video for Research

authors: Kindon, Sara Louise

subjects: human geography

abstract: This thesis explores some of the seductions and dangers of participatory video for research (PVR) involving Indigenous Māori and Pākehā research partners. The project within which PVR was used focused on exploring relationships between place, identity and social cohesion within ‘remote’ rural communities. It involved about 15 members of the Potaka whānau of Te Iwi o Ngāti Hauiti in the central Rangitīkei district of the North Island, Aotearoa New Zealand. A small group of iwi members, myself and an audiovisual specialist and trainer negotiated the project’s focus, process and ethics during 1998. A different group of iwi members were then trained in video production and community research methods later that year and supported to produce their own productions, and carry out video research interviews with other iwi members. The entire process of negotiation, training and collaborative research was filmed for archival and research purposes with everyone’s consent, and several collaborative publications and presentations have been produced since 1999.

The discursive space opened up by Ngāti Hauiti’s engagement with, and use of, video provides an opportunity to attend to the ‘cultural mediations’ that occurred throughout the research partnership and to inquire into the possible ‘empire building effects’ of visual technologies within participatory research more generally. The focus on PVR within a Māori context also prompts questions about the visual’s transformative potential within geographic research, and the implications of working through the use of a visual medium for rethinking disciplinary practices and knowledges, particularly when working cross-culturally. 

In the thesis, I first review the evolution and attendant challenges associated with both the use of participation and video within research contexts. I trace their similar origins in modernist attempts to ‘know’ and ‘empower’ marginalised others, and highlight the ongoing marginalisation of Indigenous perspectives within mainstream debates. I then engage with conceptualisations of complicity and develop an analytical framework that expands on current discursive and ideological discussions to also attend to its material, embodied and spatial dimensions.

Using this framework and a complementary autoethnographic and ‘hyper-self-reflexive’ approach, I track aspects of my own power, complicity and desire within my research practice in the PVR project during the period 1998-2001. This approach involves the development of a particular reading position to focus on critical incidents of my research practice and a means of grappling productively with the polyvalent nature of my audiovisual and other information sources. I discuss these critical incidents within three processes associated with the research: facilitation, production and reception, attending to the complex and multifaceted interplay of audiovisual texts, their producers and their audiences throughout. 

Such a thesis is expedient given that powerful and often uncritical rhetoric that besets participatory research and development is fast taking hold within geography. It is also timely given the proliferation of affordable and accessible audiovisual technology and its increasing use within geography and other social sciences. As geographers respond to calls to embrace more visual, tactile and other methods, this thesis offers possibilities for the repoliticisation of participatory discourse within social geography, through a more considered engagement with participatory action research, Indigenous research practices and audiovisual media such as video. I offer cautionary insights into the ‘power-full’ effects of these ways of working.

text: 'Thinking-through-Complicity' with Te Iwi o Ngāti Hauiti: Towards a Critical Use of Participatory Video for Research This thesis explores some of the seductions and dangers of participatory video for research (PVR) involving Indigenous Māori and Pākehā research partners. The project within which PVR was used focused on exploring relationships between place, identity and social cohesion within ‘remote’ rural communities. It involved about 15 members of the Potaka whānau of Te Iwi o Ngāti Hauiti in the central Rangitīkei district of the North Island, Aotearoa New Zealand. A small group of iwi members, myself and an audiovisual specialist and trainer negotiated the project’s focus, process and ethics during 1998. A different group of iwi members were then trained in video production and community research methods later that year and supported to produce their own productions, and carry out video research interviews with other iwi members. The entire process of negotiation, training and collaborative research was filmed for archival and research purposes with everyone’s consent, and several collaborative publications and presentations have been produced since 1999.

The discursive space opened up by Ngāti Hauiti’s engagement with, and use of, video provides an opportunity to attend to the ‘cultural mediations’ that occurred throughout the research partnership and to inquire into the possible ‘empire building effects’ of visual technologies within participatory research more generally. The focus on PVR within a Māori context also prompts questions about the visual’s transformative potential within geographic research, and the implications of working through the use of a visual medium for rethinking disciplinary practices and knowledges, particularly when working cross-culturally. 

In the thesis, I first review the evolution and attendant challenges associated with both the use of participation and video within research contexts. I trace their similar origins in modernist attempts to ‘know’ and ‘empower’ marginalised others, and highlight the ongoing marginalisation of Indigenous perspectives within mainstream debates. I then engage with conceptualisations of complicity and develop an analytical framework that expands on current discursive and ideological discussions to also attend to its material, embodied and spatial dimensions.

Using this framework and a complementary autoethnographic and ‘hyper-self-reflexive’ approach, I track aspects of my own power, complicity and desire within my research practice in the PVR project during the period 1998-2001. This approach involves the development of a particular reading position to focus on critical incidents of my research practice and a means of grappling productively with the polyvalent nature of my audiovisual and other information sources. I discuss these critical incidents within three processes associated with the research: facilitation, production and reception, attending to the complex and multifaceted interplay of audiovisual texts, their producers and their audiences throughout. 

Such a thesis is expedient given that powerful and often uncritical rhetoric that besets participatory research and development is fast taking hold within geography. It is also timely given the proliferation of affordable and accessible audiovisual technology and its increasing use within geography and other social sciences. As geographers respond to calls to embrace more visual, tactile and other methods, this thesis offers possibilities for the repoliticisation of participatory discourse within social geography, through a more considered engagement with participatory action research, Indigenous research practices and audiovisual media such as video. I offer cautionary insights into the ‘power-full’ effects of these ways of working.

year: 2012