2002 IRISH SCIENTIST YEAR BOOK

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2002 Index by Topic

This attempt to do an indexing of directory entries by topic should be regarded as provisional, pending the completion of a project to do the job effectively, integrating all earlier editions, and enabling an entry to be found approximating to a user-defined multi- dimensional requirement profile. We are aware of its limitations and invite anyone dissatisfied with how they have been classified to contact us with suggested additional or alternative class labels.


Group 1 (general)

State agencies:  Professional Bodies:  Industry:  Colleges:  Young Scientists

Group 2 (sciences)

Biological sciences:  Biochemistry:  Chemistry:  Physics: Mathematics:  Earth sciences:  Materials:    Social sciences

Group 3 (technologies)

 Agriculture / Horticulture /Forestry:  Biotechnology:  Communications:   Environment:  Food:  Forensics:  Information Technology:  Innovation Services:   Manufacturing/Engineering:  Marine:  Medical / Veterinary:  Pharmaceuticals

A Possible Projected Set of Indexing Parameters

  What we have in mind is a set of indexing parameters; in most cases with symbolic values structured in the form of, say, a 3-level taxonomy, enabling rough measures of concept proximity, for use in fuzzy matching with a user-specified requirement profile.

  A workable set of indexing parameters might be as follows:

Location: the taxonomy here could be fairly rough, a requirement for ease of access to a one-day meeting being the criterion.
Ownership: here we have in mind to indicate whether the entry relates to an academic, industrial, commercial or State agency.
Activity: for example, teaching, research, awareness, training, technical support, accreditation….
Scientific discipline: here the taxonomic structures may seem obvious but to get this right should perhaps need some thought…
Experimental technology: this can be important, especially where it is unusual, or not readily available….
Economic sector (occupied by the target user of the results of the research): where the research is very basic this will seldom be relevant.
Productive technology in the target economic sector: again, where relevant…
Material: sometimes there is a key material involved in the research, lending itself to taxonomic classification…
Species: relevant usually in the biology area.
Problem type: here we have in mind a numerical scale say 1 to 5, indicating location of the work on a virtual 'pure-applied' spectrum.

  …Etc; this list is far from closed; we are open to suggestions for what should be the names and scopes of the parameters.

  To develop relevant taxonomies, allocate values to all entries, and adapt the 'nearest- neighbour matching' search engine to the parametric system is a non-trivial piece of development work.

  We welcome expressions of interest, and indications of sources of the necessary funding, perhaps ideally a consortium of R&D-dependent firms with an interest in interacting with the scientific resources referenced.

  Please contact [email protected] if you are interested in developing this concept.