Purpose – Seeks to present a new method of trajectory planning, i.e. genetic algorithms (GA), for six‐degree‐of‐freedom (DOF) industrial robots. Design/methodology/approach – Describes the effects of the GA method with the advantage of quaternion algebra and by a process of elimination...

Purpose – Tissue engineering (TE) offers treatments for chronic, life threatening, degenerative illnesses and possibilities for restoring cellular or organ functions that have been lost due to injuries or hereditary conditions. However, a prerequisite for the use of TE products as part of...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the eugenic beliefs of behavioral geneticist Barbara S. Burks and scientific‐management pioneers B. Frank and Lillian M. Moeller Gilbreth. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on personal communications with the Gilbreths' daughter,...

It is widely claimed that new developments in human genetics will be instrumental in shaping life over the next century. But how, exactly, might these technologies affect developed societies? Do technologies themselves shape society or are technologies such as genetic testing and engineering...

The controversy over genetically modified organisms in the UK came to a head with the publication of three official reports in May 1999. A review of the three reports leads to the suggestion that the controversy is exacerbated in part by the conflation of three sets of issues: the underlying...

This article, third in a series of six, describes Life Sciences Era activities. Life sciences, rapidly gaining momentum, will begin to dominate US economic activity by 2100, then predominate well into the following century (see Figure 1). Massive advances will follow as the 140 000 genes, and 3...

A small part of the budget of the Human Genome Project was reserved for the study of the social, legal and ethical questions raised by personal genetic profiles. Answers may be slow in coming, but around the world public concern increasingly drives the legislative agenda. There is now a pressing...

Modern new biotechnology has the potential to provide major economic and other benefits, but at the same time it poses potential hazards for human health, the environment, the “natural” biological order, and can have adverse socio‐economic consequences. The application of such technology...

The aim of this research is, first, to explore consumer beliefs, attitudes and purchase intentions with regard to genetically modified (GM) food and second, based on this exploration, to develop a hypothetical model which can explain and predict consumer attitudes and purchase intentions with...

The announcement in February 1997, that scientists at the Roslin Institute, Edinburgh and at PPL Therapeutics had successfully cloned a sheep from another adult sheep raised many interesting questions. Ignoring the hotly debated and important ethical issues, this note explores the potential...