Graphene is a nanomaterial with many promising and innovative applications, yet early studies indicate that graphene may pose risks to humans and the environment. According to ideas of responsible research and innovation, all relevant actors should strive to reduce risks related to technological innovations. Through semi-structured interviews, we investigated the idea of graphene as a risk held by two types of key actors: graphene researchers and innovation advisors at universities, where the latter are facilitating the movement (...) of graphene from the laboratory to the marketplace. The most common idea found is that graphene is not a risk due to, e.g., low toxicity, low amounts produced/used, and its similarity to harmless materials. However, some researchers and advisors also say that graphene is a risk, e.g., under certain conditions or due to a lack of risk-related information. We explain the co-existence of these seemingly contradictory ideas through the semantic ambiguity of the word risk and a risk/no-risk rhetoric, where risks are mentioned rhetorically only to be disregarded as manageable or negligible. We suggest that some of the ideas held by the researchers and innovation advisors constitute a challenge to responsible research and innovation regarding graphene. At the same time, we acknowledge the dilemma that the discourse of responsible innovation creates for the actors: denying graphene risks makes them irresponsible due to a lack of risk awareness, while affirming graphene risks makes them irresponsible due to their everyday engagement in graphene development. We therefore recommend more research into what researchers and innovation advisors should do in practice in order to qualify as responsible. (shrink)

Textual representation of graphene in Sweden’s most circulated newspapers is analyzed in 229 articles from 2004 to 2018. What is and is not said about graphene is explored through systematically identifying the lexical and grammatical patterns of sentences using the word “graphene.” Graphene is said to be a super material with certain properties, to be an object of research, commercialization, and application, and to have societal significance. Given frequent classifications of graphene as a nanomaterial in (...) scientific discourse, there is notably limited reference to graphene as “nano” in the newspapers and only marginal reference to risk. This paper discusses the findings regarding this Swedish newspaper discourse on graphene in relation to its intertextuality, i.e., how texts draw upon and recontextualize other texts: the Swedish newspaper discourse on graphene echoes discourses of promise formulated elsewhere in society; it is not very diversified in terms of themes; it is dominated by positive and neutral representations rather than by risk; and it makes limited reference to the nano-discourse, even though, according to most definitions, graphene is a nanomaterial. (shrink)

Neben der Sprache spielt das Bild in Wittgensteins Philosophie eine wesentliche Rolle. Wittgenstein denkt in Bildern und mit Bildern, wie die über 1000 Handzeichnungen des Nachlasses eindrucksvoll bezeugen. Dabei nimmt das Bildliche ebenso einen eigenen Status ein, wie es gleichzeitig immer wieder als Modell oder Vergleichsfolie für die Sprachuntersuchungen fungiert. Im Vordergrund steht aber von Anfang an die Analyse der Struktur und des Gebrauchs von Plänen, Karten, Diagrammen, geometrischen Figuren oder Graphen, so dass epistemische Fragen dominieren.Der vorliegende Beitrag vertritt die (...) Thesen, dass erstens die Bildtheorie des „Tractatus“ sich dem Paradigma des Diagramms beziehungsweise des mathematischen Graphen verdankt und damit von vornherein „notationale Bilder“ privilegiert, zweitens dass diese Bildtheorie umgekehrt für eine noch ausstehende Theorie des Diagrammatischen fruchtbar gemacht werden kann, drittens dass in der Spätphilosophie zwar der Kreis des Bildlichen ausgeweitet und nunmehr auch Portraits, Photographien und sogar Filme als Beispiele herangezogen werden, dass gleichwohl jedoch weiterhin das Epistemische und Fragen der „Grammatik“ von Bildern maßgeblich bleiben, schließlich viertens dass die zahlreichen Aspekte, die Wittgenstein diskutiert, wichtige Hinweise für eine allgemeine Theorie des Ikonischen und seiner besonderen „Logik“ geben, insbesondere die Frage nach „kleinsten bildlichen Einheiten“, nach der Hypothetizität in Bildern, nach dem Unterschied zwischen „konträren“ und „kontradiktorischen“ Negationen sowie der Struktur der Farbgebung und vieles mehr. (shrink)

Papers on nanotechnology in the Scientific Electronic Library Online database were studied bibliometrically. The terms ‘nanotechnology’, ‘nanoparticle’, ‘graphene’, ‘fullerene’, ‘nanotube’ and ‘quantum dot’ were used for the search in their singular and plural forms in three languages, and a total of 1205 papers were selected for the study to assess the frequency rates of the study variables. The results of the study are presented in this article focusing on gender differences.

This book addresses a wide range of topics relating to the properties and behavior of condensed matter under extreme conditions such as intense magnetic and electric fields, high pressures, heat and cold, and mechanical stresses. It is divided into four sections devoted to condensed matter theory, molecular chemistry, theoretical physics, and the philosophy and history of science. The main themes include electronic correlations in material systems under extreme pressure and temperature conditions, surface physics, the transport properties of low-dimensional electronic systems, (...) applications of the density functional theory in molecular systems, and graphene. The book is the outcome of a workshop held at the University of Catania, Italy, in honor of Professor Renato Pucci on the occasion of his 70th birthday. It includes selected invited contributions from collaborators and co-authors of Professor Pucci during his long and successful career, as well as from other distinguished guest authors. (shrink)

Computer aided modeling and simulation of nanomaterials can describe the correlation between the material’s microstructure and its macroscopic properties quantitatively. In this paper, we propose an integrated modeling, simulation, and visualization approach for designing nanomaterials. Firstly, a fast parametric modeling method for important nanomaterials such as graphene, nanotubes, and MOFs is proposed; secondly, the material model could be edited adaptively without affecting the validity of the model on the physical level; thirdly a preliminary calculation for nanomaterials’ energy is implemented (...) based on the theory of surface fitting; finally, an integrated framework of nanomaterials modeling, simulation, and visualization is designed and implemented. Experimental results show that the proposed approach is feasible and effective. (shrink)