Identifying innovation in surveys of services: a Schumpeterian perspective

In order to compensate for decades of neglect of services in innovation studies, a strand of literature has emerged, which emphasises alleged distinctive features of service innovation. These studies apply innovation concepts developed especially for services, thereby contributing to the existing divide between manufacturing and services. The present paper demonstrates that Schumpeter’s original innovation concept is indeed broad enough to encompass services and manufacturing, and that a more direct reference to Schumpeter, in particular innovation as a contrast to activities based on routine systems, in service oriented studies would add a needed theoretical and conceptual strengthening to service innovation studies.     

Pre-service mathematics teachers’ professional modeling competencies: a comparative study between Germany,Mainland China,and Hong Kong

Educational Studies in Mathematics - Although mathematical modeling plays an important role in many curricula worldwide, significant discrepancies persist in the importance of mathematical modeling...     

Using comparative genomics for inquiry-based learning to dissect virulence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Yersinia pestis

Genomics and bioinformatics are topics of increasing interest in undergraduate biological science curricula. Many existing exercises focus on gene annotation and analysis of a single genome. In this paper, we present two educational modules designed to enable students to learn and apply fundamental concepts in comparative genomics using examples related to bacterial pathogenesis. Students first examine alignments of genomes of Escherichia coli O157:H7 strains isolated from three food-poisoning outbreaks using the multiple-genome alignment tool Mauve. Students investigate conservation of virulence factors using the Mauve viewer and by browsing annotations available at the A Systematic Annotation Package for Community Analysis of Genomes database. In the second module, students use an alignment of five Yersinia pestis genomes to analyze single-nucleotide polymorphisms of three genes to classify strains into biovar groups. Students are then given sequences of bacterial DNA amplified from the teeth of corpses from the first and second pandemics of the bubonic plague and asked to classify these new samples. Learning-assessment results reveal student improvement in self-efficacy and content knowledge, as well as students' ability to use BLAST to identify genomic islands and conduct analyses of virulence factors from E. coli O157:H7 or Y. pestis. Each of these educational modules offers educators new ready-to-implement resources for integrating comparative genomic topics into their curricula.