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newsletter-may-2013


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    In This issue:
     


  • Quantitative and qualitative analysis of fluorescent substances and binary mixtures by use of shifted excitation Raman difference spectroscopy

    Boris L. Volodin, a) Sergei Dolgy, a) a) Chad Lieber, b) Huawen Wu, b) William Yang
     

    ABSTRACT

    Shifted Excitation Raman Difference Spectroscopy (SERDS) implemented with two wavelength-stabilized laser diodes with fixed wavelength separation is discussed as an effective method for dealing with the effects of fluorescence in Raman spectroscopic analysis. In this presentation we discuss the results of both qualitative and quantitative SERDS analysis of a variety of strongly fluorescing samples, including binary liquid mixtures. This application is enabled by the Volume Bragg Grating® (VBG®) technology, which allows manufacturing of compact low-cost high-power laser sources, suitable for extending the SERDS methodology to portable Raman spectrometers.

    INTRODUCTION

    Raman spectroscopy has been experiencing a period of growing interest for qualitative and quantitative analysis in a vast scope of applications pertinent to various industries, including pharmaceuticals [1-5], petrochemical [6-8] and law b)
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  • 
    10 Tips for Successful Innovation Teams

     
    Innovation projects are said to fail 90% of the time. Why is this? Part of the answer lies in the special “innovation teams” who are mandated with finding breakthrough growth in large corporations. Setting these teams up for success is vital, yet corporations often fail when doing this. This article provides a collection of ten tips. This month we share with you the first tip that serve as a talent management roadmap for growth companies in search of high-performance teams that deliver.
     

    First tip this month:

    Start by building a bigger box rather than trying to think outside it!

    The first step in building the innovation team is selecting the right people. The best way to start is by understanding the actual work the team will do and then optimizing the personnel around these key activities. Commonly included in the work of an innovation team is a creative phase to generate new business ideas, an analytical phase to understand their business potential and a development phase to refine the most promising ideas and then test them in the market. With these activities in mind, assembling a group of people only capable of thinking “outside the box” clearly won’t be sufficient for success, as the generation of the idea is only one part of the process. We believe that a better staffing goal is to bring together a team that has the “biggest box” possible.
    …assembling a group of people only capable of thinking “outside the box” clearly won’t be sufficient for success, as the generation of the idea is only one part of the process.

    The box represents the sum of the experiences, skills, professional networks and academic knowledge that the team possesses collectively. The more diverse the backgrounds of the team are, the bigger the box they will have to draw from. Professor Jeanne Liedtka from the University of Virginia’s Darden School was among the first to make the important distinction between these two concepts in her book, The Catalyst and it applies as well to the innovation team as it does to the growth leader, which was her focus.

    A big box is helpful for many reasons, especially because it increases the likelihood of forming new cognitive connections between all of the team members, commonly known as the “a-ha” moments that spur great new ideas and identify undiscovered possibilities. A team with a larger box will also be more capable of addressing the various challenges and questions that come up along the course of a journey from idea generation to launch.
    While we believe that selecting people capable of generating fresh thinking is a given, we are surprised at how often companies err on the side of caution in this respect, bringing in a group of veterans whose deep experience of the core business can prevent them from seeing new possibilities. While we don’t advocate stocking the team full of “creatives” who are wired to generate a bucket of crazy ideas that can’t be implemented, it is unlikely that your team will come up with anything too breakthrough without sufficient diversity and a big box.


    This monthly tip is brought to you by Carl Fudge & Joaquín Roca

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  • Success Story:
     
    ISOPLANE via research of organic molecules at Tel-Aviv University

    The first ISOPLANE Spectrometer in Israel for the use of organic molecules research.
     
    DR. Tal Schwartz, from Tel Aviv University, says he hopes to achieve higher resolution, better quality responses and more accurate results by using the ISOPLANE spectrometer. His research investigates the optical properties of organic molecules (dyes) coupled to optical devices and optical properties of metallic nanoparticle-clusters.
     
    Eyal Shachar from SK-Advanced says: “We will continue to follow the exciting research of Dr. Schwartz, for Breakthrough results. Advanced technology is always perfected for higher resolutions that eventually allow research breakthroughs”.

    View the full Photonics West IsoPlane Presentation 2013 PDF


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