Success begets success and opportunity begets opportunity. This principle is something that the author sees at work in his own life. One example of opportunities begetting opportunities is the experience he had at the Academy of Science and Technology to practice his programming skills. The Academy served as a great training ground for what would…

During the transformation process from a command economy, the extraordinary statist university-industry-government (UIG) linkages model was replaced by an extreme version of laissez-faire relationships. A more modern interaction-based UIG model could be implemented only by changing the whole national innovation system of catching-up economies. The…

The purpose of this study is to determine the alternative conceptions of elementary school pre-service science teachers regarding DNA and DNA technologies. The questions asked in the study related to subjects including the structure and role of DNA molecule, structure of genes, some genetic technologies, Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) plants,…

This article is an expanded version of the 2008 American Educational Research Association's Presidential Address. The purpose of the article is to describe the geography of opportunity in two metropolitan regions of the United States that are engaged in significant efforts to transform their local political economies. Both metropolitan regions…

Our project was to provide a community college undergraduate an authentic research opportunity in a science discipline. To do this, students who have completed a two-semester sequence in chemistry or physics were recruited to investigate the technical aspects of producing economically viable bio-diesel fuel from donated discarded restaurant…

This article examines problems that may arise when addressing liability resulting from the genetic modification of microbes, animals, and plants. More specifically, it evaluates how uncertainties relating to the outcomes of these biotechnological innovations affect--or may affect--the courts' application of the reasonable foreseeability…

Inoculation messages employed in past studies have been consistently preventative. Yet, if inoculation strategies are to be used in mass media campaigns, researchers need to know what the effects will be on all audience members--not just those known to support a message sponsor's position. A 3-phase experiment was conducted involving 558…

A simple multiday laboratory exercise suitable for use in a high school or community college chemistry course or a biotechnology advanced placement biology course is described. In this experiment students gain experience in the use of column chromatography as a tool for the separation and characterization of biomolecules, thus expanding their…

Taking the emergence of the organic foods system as a case study, the authors aim to demonstrate both how the discursive richness of the organic foods system offers a challenge to the traditional operations of the market and how activity systems theory as understood in English studies can productively be tied to and enriched by theories of social…

Biotechnology, usually commercialized in collaboration with the private sector, has been among the most fruitful university-based research endeavors, for the public as well as universities. Biological medications have made possible crucial advances in the treatment of life-threatening illnesses and yielded significant royalty streams for the…

In the past few decades, with the explosion of biotechnology and the aging of the population, the use of human subjects in research has increased significantly. The United States has done much to protect human research subjects, and no one can deny the importance of keeping them safe. But at the same time, researchers whose work poses no threat to…

The law of patents has long struggled with the status of intent in determining liability for infringement. This struggle has recently been given a sharper edge by the emergence of biotechnological products with the inherent ability of auto-dispersal and regeneration. The question thus is whether a person on whose backyard a patented genetic…

The impact of genetic engineering on peoples' everyday life has become present reality. In order to establish the level of the available schoolchildren and university students' knowledge of biotechnology, various investigations have been conducted. However, the current situation in Lithuania remains unclear. A total of 287 students--pre-service…

Increasingly, the general media cover new advancements and research in the field of biology. Stem cell research, emerging diseases and bioethics are some of the issues gaining public attention. The rate of increase of these new developments creates additional challenges to teachers of biology as they try to remain abreast of new information and…

In light of the current economic downturn, thousands of Iowans are unemployed and this is the ideal time to build the skills of the workforce to compete in the knowledge-based economy so businesses and entrepreneurs can compete in a global economy. A tool for assessing the skills and knowledge of dislocated workers and students as well as…