Interdisciplinary Research Activities Research Articles

Direct and indirect effects of degree of interdisciplinarity on firms' innovation performance: The moderating role of firms' capabilities

AbstractCombinations of heterogeneous knowledge from different scientific domains may drive highly innovative outcomes. Our study investigates whether firms can benefit from interdisciplinary research and development (R&D) activities by also reflecting on the potential negative consequences of increasing complexity of outcome validation activities at later stages of innovation processes. We explore which resources and organizational capabilities may influence the efficacy of interdisciplinary R&D activities. We examine whether the available financial slack, collaborations with universities, and a high betweenness centrality in scientific networks may promote the flexibility, scope, and efficiency of knowledge integration, and thus moderate the direct and mediated relationships between the degree of interdisciplinarity (DoI) of a firm's R&D activities and innovation performance. To test our hypotheses, we performed an analysis of medical technology firms that are highly dependent on interdisciplinary R&D. We collected a panel dataset of R&D activities and successful market launches of new products from 79 large medical technology firms between 1997 and 2021. The measurement of a firm's DoI is based on a novel approach involving neural networks in a bibliographic data graph. Our results suggest that firms can improve their innovation performance if they conduct interdisciplinary R&D activities. However, higher levels of DoI also increase the complexity of the required outcome validation, which reduces a firm's innovation performance. We also found that high levels of financial slack help to overcome barriers of implementing interdisciplinary R&D activities. Collaborations with universities, and good access to knowledge in scientific networks, further foster interdisciplinary knowledge application in new product development.

An Investigation in the Interdisciplinary Nature of Digital Humanities

The disciplinary structure and dimensions of digital humanities is evolving for many years. Even though several journals focus solely on digital humanities, the interdisciplinary nature of digital humanities remains a fact. The current study is an endeavor to understand the linkage of the digital humanities with other disciplines in the universe of knowledge so that researchers from multiple subject backgrounds can carry out research on digital humanities in a more vivid manner. The present research will prove valuable for researchers, authors, and decision-makers of research and development organisations and other institutions to carry out collaborative research activities on individual and organisational levels. The research results and discussions of this research publication will enlighten the researchers from the digital humanities subject field to take a decision in a better way regarding the evolution and interdisciplinary research activities in digital humanities and the incorporation of methods and techniques from library and information science and computer science to expand the horizons of the subject field (digital humanities). The author conducted a bibliometric analysis focusing on the objectives to discover linkages and an interdisciplinary approach to digital humanities. The results infer that the highest number of authors active in research activities in the digital humanities belong to computer science followed by art and humanities and library and information science disciplines. The journals preferred for publication of research on digital humanities are also analysed, and it is found that the highest number of journals are from the literature discipline, followed by art & humanities, computer science, history, and library and information science. The publication productivity of journals is also studied, and it is found that “Digital Scholarship in the Humanities” is the most productive journal and that it belongs to the humanities discipline. In the list of the top ten most productive journals, five belong to the discipline of Library and information science. The study of citation and bibliographic coupling displays that the journals “Journal of Documentation” and “Digital Scholarship in the Humanities” are the most cited journals. During this research endeavor, emphasis is given to the subject affiliation of authors, journals and publications. It’s been found that digital humanities research is actively related to the disciplines of library and information science and computer science.

Synergetic Modeling of the System of State Organization of Society

The research contained in this work is aimed at actualizing the problem of forecasting the sustainable development of society and the state in the conditions of multifactorial socio-political turbulence observed in the modern world. The stated provisions and conclusions are intended to draw attention to the need to increase the effectiveness of cognitive activity in relation to state-organizational reality through logical and rational tools associated with the development of an appropriate dynamic self-organizational model of the object under study. The article, appealing to the synergetic methodology, expressing the basis of the post-non-classical scientific paradigm, contains an analysis concerning the issues of the ontology of modelling of human-dimensional systems; modelling of crisis states of socio-political systems; program formula of the dynamic model of the state system. The article substantiates the position on the fundamental possibility and importance of carrying out interdisciplinary design and research activities in the state-legal sphere, using methods of mathematical modelling and computer programming, thereby ensuring an increase in the quality of social engineering, predictability and functionality of the system of the state organization of society.

Processes in Isotopes and Molecules (PIM 2021), 22–24 September 2021, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

It is our pleasure to introduce a special issue of Analytical Letters comprising selected papers presented at the 13th edition of International Conference on Processes in Isotopes and Molecules (PIM 2021) held between 22 and 24 September 2021 and organized by the National Institute for Research and Development of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The Conference brought together scientists from academia, research institutes, and industry to discuss their latest results. The scientific program was completed by exhibitors presenting latest equipment and services in the field of molecular and isotopic sciences. The PIM 2021 conference promotes the exchange of ideas, experience and knowledge between scientists and engineers, as well as to encourage collaborative interdisciplinary research activities. PIM 2021 provided a stimulating communication and discussion platform in a wide range of topics from fundamentals in physics and chemistry, to applied research on energy efficiency, environment, materials and isotopic technologies.

Analyzing Interdisciplinary Research Using Co‐Authorship Networks

With the advancement of scientific collaboration in the 20th century, researchers started collaborating in many research areas. Researchers and scientists no longer remain solitary individuals; instead, they collaborate to advance fundamental understandings of research topics. Various bibliometric methods are used to quantify the scientific collaboration among researchers and scientific communities. Among these different bibliometric methods, the co‐authorship method is one of the most verifiable methods to quantify or analyze scientific collaboration. In this research, the initial study has been conducted to analyze interdisciplinary research (IDR) activities in the computer science domain. The ACM has classified the computer science fields. We selected the Journal of Universal Computer Science (J.UCS) for experimentation purposes. The J.UCS is the first Journal of Computer Science that addresses a complete ACM topic. Using J.UCS data, the co‐authorship network of the researcher up to the 2nd level was developed. Then the co‐authorship network was analyzed to find interdisciplinary among scientific communities. Additionally, the results are also visualized to comprehend the interdisciplinary among the ACM categories. A whole working web‐based system has been developed, and a forced directed graph technique has been implemented to understand IDR trends in ACM categories. Finally, the IDR values between the categories are computed to quantify the collaboration trends among the ACM categories. It was found that “Artificial Intelligence” and “Information Storage and Retrieval”, “Natural Language Processing and Information Storage and Retrieval”, and “Human‐Computer Interface” and “Database Applications” were found the most overlapping areas by acquiring an IDR score of 0.879, 0.711, and 0.663, respectively.

On the organization of interdisciplinary project and research activities in the conditions of additional education

On the organization of interdisciplinary project and research activities in the conditions of additional education

Earth Observation Data-Driven Cropland Soil Monitoring: A Review

We conducted a systematic review and inventory of recent research achievements related to spaceborne and aerial Earth Observation (EO) data-driven monitoring in support of soil-related strategic goals for a three-year period (2019–2021). Scaling, resolution, data characteristics, and modelling approaches were summarized, after reviewing 46 peer-reviewed articles in international journals. Inherent limitations associated with an EO-based soil mapping approach that hinder its wider adoption were recognized and divided into four categories: (i) area covered and data to be shared; (ii) thresholds for bare soil detection; (iii) soil surface conditions; and (iv) infrastructure capabilities. Accordingly, we tried to redefine the meaning of what is expected in the next years for EO data-driven topsoil monitoring by performing a thorough analysis driven by the upcoming technological waves. The review concludes that the best practices for the advancement of an EO data-driven soil mapping include: (i) a further leverage of recent artificial intelligence techniques to achieve the desired representativeness and reliability; (ii) a continued effort to share harmonized labelled datasets; (iii) data fusion with in situ sensing systems; (iv) a continued effort to overcome the current limitations in terms of sensor resolution and processing limitations of this wealth of EO data; and (v) political and administrative issues (e.g., funding, sustainability). This paper may help to pave the way for further interdisciplinary research and multi-actor coordination activities and to generate EO-based benefits for policy and economy.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY OF STUDENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF LASER PROCESSING AND 3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGIES IN TEXTILE FABRICS

Nowadays education and research promote interdisciplinary cooperation and development. An interdisciplinary approach creates change and new opportunities for design education in general, while innovation, the use of advanced materials and technologies transforms design technology studies. These changes affect the development of design technology as an integrated interdisciplinary direction, the creation of innovative solutions, products and services in research design activities. This process is facilitated by research grant projects involving students and researchers. The performed experimental research in Rezekne Academy of Technologies (RTA) engineering research centres shows the possibilities of laser processing and 3D printing in textile fabrics design, promotes innovative technological solutions in product design and ensures the development of scientifically based results. The aim of the research is to improve students' independent research activities in purposeful project activities by interacting with various engineering research centers. Research methods used: theoretical - literature and Internet resource research and analysis, empirical - action (case study) research. Eight students of engineering/design study programs and four lecturers – researchers - participants of grant projects - participate in the research. Research period 2017–2020. The research has a practical significance, because it substantiates the interdisciplinary experimental research activity process and results, determining of students' independent research activity improvement direction, promotes the transfer of research results into practice.

Gaining Acceptance of Novel Plant Breeding Technologies.

Ensuring the sustainability of agriculture under climate change has led to a surge in alternative strategies for crop improvement. Advances in integrated crop breeding, social acceptance, and farm-level adoption are crucial to address future challenges to food security. Societal acceptance can be slow when consumers do not see the need for innovation or immediate benefits. We consider how best to address the issue of social licence and harmonised governance for novel gene technologies in plant breeding. In addition, we highlight optimised breeding strategies that will enable long-term genetic gains to be achieved. Promoted by harmonised global policy change, innovative plant breeding can realise high and sustainable productivity together with enhanced nutritional traits.

Metal Nanoparticles Immobilized on Molecularly Modified Surfaces: Versatile Catalytic Systems for Controlled Hydrogenation and Hydrogenolysis.

ConspectusThe synthesis and use of supported metal nanoparticle catalysts have a long-standing tradition in catalysis, typically associated with the field of heterogeneous catalysis. More recently, the development and understanding of catalytic systems composed of metal nanoparticles (NPs) that are synthesized from organometallic precursors on molecularly modified surfaces (MMSs) have opened a conceptually new approach to the design of multifunctional catalysts (NPs@MMS). These complex yet fascinating materials bridge molecular (“homogeneous”) and material (“heterogeneous”) approaches to catalysis and provide access to catalytic systems with tailor-made reactivity through judicious combinations of supports, molecular modifiers, and nanoparticle precursors. A particularly promising field of application is the controlled activation and transfer of dihydrogen, enabling highly selective hydrogenation and hydrogenolysis reactions as relevant for the conversion of biogenic feedstocks and platform chemicals as well as for novel synthetic pathways to fine chemicals and even pharmaceuticals. Consequently, the topic offers an emerging field for interdisciplinary research activities involving organometallic chemists, material scientists, synthetic organic chemists, and catalysis experts.This Account will provide a brief overview of the historical background and cover examples from the most recent developments in the field. A coherent account on the methodological and experimental basis will be given from the long-standing experience in our laboratories. MMSs are widely accessible via chemisorption and physisorption methods for the generation of stable molecular environments on solid surfaces, whereby a special emphasis is given here to ionic liquid-type molecules as modifiers (supported ionic liquid phases, SILPs) and silica as support material. Metal nanoparticles are synthesized following an organometallic approach, allowing the controlled formation of small and uniformly dispersed monometallic or multimetallic NPs in defined composition. A combination of techniques from molecular and material characterization provides a detailed insight into the structure of the resulting materials across various scales (electron microscopy, solid-state NMR, XPS, XAS, etc.).The molecular functionalities grafted on the silica surface have a pronounced influence on the formation, stabilization, and reactivity of the NPs. The complementary and synergistic fine-tuning of the metal and its molecular environment in NPs@MMSs allow in particular the control of the activation of hydrogen and its transfer to substrates. Monometallic (Ru, Rh, Pd) monofunctional NPs@MMSs possess excellent activities for the hydrogenation of alkenes, alkynes, and arenes for which a nonpolarized (homolytic) activation of H2 is predominant. The incorporation of 3d metals in noble metal NPs to give bimetallic (FeRu, CoRh, etc.) monofunctional NPs@MMSs favors a more polarized H2 activation and thus its transfer to the C=O bond, while at the same time preventing the arrangement of noble metal atoms necessary for ring hydrogenation. The incorporation of reactive functionalities, such as, for example, a −SO3H moiety on NPs@MMSs, results in bifunctional catalysts enabling the heterolytic cleavage corresponding to a formal H–/H+ transfer. Consequently, such catalysts possess excellent deoxygenation activity with strong synergistic effects arising from an intimate contact between the nanoparticles and the molecular functionality.While many more efforts are still required to explore, control, and understand the chemistry of NPs@MMS catalysts fully, the currently available examples already highlight the large potential of this approach for the rational design of multifunctional catalytic systems.

Information and communication technologies: foreign experience and national model

The 21st century is characterized by the formation of an “intellectual nation” as a new direction of modernization of modern society; at the same time, the intellectual personality acts as a factor of socio-economic development. The most important task for Kazakhstan is the implementation of the Strategic Objective, where an important area is complete modernization in the socio-economic sphere. This task is also typical for a number of developing countries of the world, where the key aspect in the modernization of society is the creation of new innovative institutions to rethink and recreate the modern socio-economic formation. Modernization extends to areas such as intellectual work associated with the new division of labor; as a scientific and cultural sphere related to the knowledge economy and the new information society. Science is faced with a new task to solve the problem of forming an intellectual society, which implies the need for active interdisciplinary research, the integration of socio-humanitarian and socio-political sciences. Kazakhstan, like other developing countries, is faced with the strategic task of becoming a society of the future, in which the basis of the new economy is intellectual potential, a highly competitive system of higher education and an innovatively advanced socio-cultural infrastructure. At the present stage of development of the socio-economic formation, higher education successfully corresponds with the economic sector, and human resources are the main value that makes an innovative contribution to the creation of new products in industry, science, culture and other sectors of the economy and social sphere. In this regard, an important mission of higher education in Kazakhstan is to train highly competitive, innovatively advanced specialists who are able to think creatively and work as highly professional personnel of Kazakhstani society. Key words: intellectual nation, mass media, informational development, intellectual society, partners.

Nursing and Interdisciplinary Research: Phoenix or Dodo?

Interdisciplinary research activities are increasing in health care in terms of amount and quality. It is recognised that the global problems facing humankind will not be solved by individual disciplines working in isolation. The purpose of this paper is to examine the issues facing interdisciplinary research and how it impacts on nursing in particular. Some solutions to engendering cross disciplinary research are offered and a definition of interdisciplinary research is shared.

Highlights of the 2019 honors session at the International Students’ Conference in Siberian Federal University, Russia

In honors education, creating a community of talented and ambitious students is a goal of primary importance. Honors sessions at international conferences contribute to globalization of the honors community and offer opportunities for starting the dialogue between honors students of different universities and diverse academic fields. The current note provides insight into the discussion at the honors session organized by SibFU Honors College at the international students’ conference “Prospect Svobodny 2019” at the premises of Siberian Federal University in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. The author describes the results of the interdisciplinary research activities presented at the session by honors students from Texas Christian University, Western Michigan University, University of New Mexico, Lamar University, and Siberian Federal University. The note reveals how the honors students’ sessions become forums for reflecting on the value of learner agency and also for exploring the areas of prospective collaboration in interdisciplinary research for honors students worldwide.

Introduction to the dynamics of driven nonlinear systems

ABSTRACT The dynamics of nonlinear systems has emerged as an active interdisciplinary research field at the interface of biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics and engineering. This article introduces the discipline with emphasis on driven nonlinear systems. It examines the concepts from beginner's level while also highlighting some advanced topics and current research likely to lead to further advances in the field, such as the multistability and hidden attractors, basins of attractions, chaos control, synchronisation, nonlinear resonances, bursting oscillations and oscillation quenching. The concepts are illustrated by consideration of the dynamics of a driven particle in a ratchet potential as an archetypical-driven dynamical system whose behaviour captures the essential features of driven nonlinear systems more generally.

Are we going to Alpha Centauri?

Nobel Prize Laureate Didier Queloz talks about realistic ways to explore Proxima Centauri b and other potentially habitable planetary systems such as TRAPPIST-1 using technologies that are currently available. He also discusses his interdisciplinary research activities on abiogenesis and the search for life on other planets.

Universities’ commitment to interdisciplinary research: To what end?

In recent decades, research universities have been engaged in fostering interdisciplinary research (IDR) in an attempt to support high-impact research that can benefit not only the greater good, but also their bottom line. A common way to enhance “interdisciplinary momentum” and foster IDR is to alter the organizational structure and its basic units: departments and centers. What are the consequences of such structural changes? In short, we do not know. To date there has been no large-scale quantitative assessment of whether and how universities’ commitments to interdisciplinary research are successful in fostering interdisciplinary research. To address this gap within the literature, we collect a wealth of numeric and textual data on 156 research universities nationwide to assess whether structural commitments to IDR influence general research activity (e.g., publications, external grants) as well as interdisciplinary research activity. Our results suggest that structural commitment to IDR does indeed produce some of its intended effects. We found that universities’ commitment to IDR, as manifested in their organizational structure (i.e., the number and interdisciplinary nature of key research units: departments and centers), spurs both scholarly research and NIH grant activity in general, and interdisciplinary research and NIH grant activity in particular. These results suggest that efforts to develop and reorganize academic units are not futile; rather, when value commitments are made tangible via foundational research units like departments and centers, they can have their intended consequences.

Methodology of interdisciplinary research on the example of scientific research of the human genome

The problems of methodology of scientific research activity are actual to-day due to discoveries in Physics, Biology and Cosmology Due to widespread international cooperation and advances in the field of genomics (especially in sequence analysis), as well as major advances in computing technology, a «rough draft» of the genome was finished in 2000. This first available rough draft assembly of the genome was completed by the Genome Bioinformatics Group at the University of California. The OECD Project «Human Genome» is the first experience of application of methodology of scientific research activity based on mathematic modeling and cipher technology. The institutions, companies, and laboratories, engaged in OECD Human Genome Project, form a system based on laws and regulations, treaties and agreements, contracts and regulatory orders. This Model of methodological approach might have been used in other interdisciplinary scientific research activities. The study was carried out with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research in the framework of research project No. 18-29-14025 on the topic: “Legal regulation of genomic research and the use of their results: comparative legal aspect of research».

The Application of Mathematical Modeling in Building of Social and Environmental Competence of Future Technical Specialists in the Health Care Area

The paper considers building of social and environmental competence of future technical specialists. It shows that health care competence building is becoming more pressing issue each year. Behavioral patterns are formed in the process of training, upbringing and observing people around. They allow forming the ability or readiness to use the acquired interdisciplinary knowledge in professional activities related to health, safety of human life, as well as in the process of studying such disciplines as the “Elective Courses on Physical Education and Sports” and “Physical Education and Sports”. The patterns offer the possibility to develop a behavioral socio-ecological algorithm efficiently. In pedagogy and didactic processes, mathematical modeling is aimed at clarifying phenomena that are not amenable to experiment or unobservable as well as patterns of education for the development of efficient teaching technologies. The paper considers mathematical descriptions of the models for formation, interaction and efficiency of various target groups exemplified by Nordic walking, indoor soccer and interdisciplinary teams. It shows the dependence of student group population on an activity and quantitative composition of potential participants of sports group. This mathematical model is also applicable for building socioecological competence of future technical specialists in the framework of participation in interdisciplinary projects, research activities, Olympiads, social and environmental events that contribute to the assimilation of socio-ecological patterns of behavior, the condition for the development of which is the unity of cognitive and practical activities in the process of studying at the university. The paper includes the interim experiment results.

A multi-channel in situ light scattering instrument utilized for monitoring protein aggregation and liquid dense cluster formation

Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) phenomena have been observed in vitro as well as in vivo and came in focus of interdisciplinary research activities particularly aiming at understanding the physico-chemical pathways of LLPS and its functionality in recent years. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) has been proven to be a most efficient method to analyze macromolecular clustering in solutions and suspensions with diverse applications in life sciences, material science and biotechnology. For spatially and time-resolved investigations of LLPS, i.e. formation of liquid dense protein clusters (LDCs) and aggregation, a novel eight-channel in situ DLS instrument was designed, constructed and applied. The real time formation of LDCs of glucose isomerase (GI) and bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) under different physico-chemical conditions was investigated in situ. Complex shifts in the particle size distributions indicated growth of LDCs up to the μm size regime. Additionally, near-UV circular dichroism spectroscopy was performed to monitor the folding state of the proteins in the process of LDC formation.

VERSATIL TOOLS: DIGITAL SURVEY AND VIRTUAL REALITY FOR DOCUMENTATION, ANALYSIS AND FRUITION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE IN SEISMIC AREAS

Abstract. The paper deals with an interdisciplinary research activity aiming at developing a digital and integrated tool able to collect several data concerning the cultural heritage, and to manage and communicate them to a wide community. The small church of San Menna, located in the hamlet with same name in the municipality of Lucoli not so far from L’Aquila city, was the object of the research. The church has been chosen for its historical significance, its architectural peculiarity and for the valuable artworks that it preserves. Based on a photogrammetric model of the church, also used for the remote analysis of cultural asset (planimetric and evolutionary hypotheses, three-dimensional stratigraphic analysis, etc.) a virtual word usable in Virtual Reality (VR) has been developed. The VR setting allows the accessibility of a digital semantic model with information that can be activated with special interactive hotspots (images, texts and audio), which are able to provide an immersive and all-encompassing experience to the tourist. The potentialities of the same tool in the context of diagnosis and conservation process related to cultural heritage in seismic areas, such as those of the Abruzzi Apennines, have also been investigated through the integration of forms concerning the significant features of the artistic assets surveyed in the construction.