Cryoreservation of alginate-fibrin beads involving bone marrow derived mesenchymal stromal cells by vitrification

Application of cell-–biomaterial systems in regenerative medicine can be facilitated by their successful low temperature preservation. Vitrification, which avoids ice crystal formation by amorphous solidification, is an emerging approach to cryopreservation. Developing vitrification strategy, effective cryopreservation of alginate–fibrin beads with porcine mesenchymal stromal cells has been achieved in this study. The cell–biomaterial constructs were pre-cultured for 20 days before cryopreservation, allowing for cell proliferation and construct stabilization. Ethylene glycol (EG) was employed as the basic cryoprotectant for two equilibration solutions. Successful cryopreservation of the constructs was achieved using vitrification solution composed of penetrating (EG MW 62 Da) and non-penetrating (sucrose MW 342 Da) cryoprotectants. Stepwise procedure of introduction to and removal of cryoprotectants was brief; direct plunging into liquid nitrogen was applied. Cell viability, evaluated by combining live/death staining and confocal laser microscopy, was similar for both control and vitrified cells in the beads. No detectable damage of microstructure of cryopreserved beads was found as shown by scanning electron microscopy. Both osteogenically induced control and vitrified cells in the constructs were equally capable of mineral production and deposition. There was no statistically significant difference in metabolic activity and proliferation between both groups during the entire culture period. Our study leads to the conclusion that the developed cryopreservation protocol allowed to maintain the integrity of the beads while preserving the ability of the pig bone marrow derived mesenchymal stromal cells to proliferate and subsequently differentiate; demonstrating that vitrification is a promising approach for cryopreser-vation of “ready-to-use” cell–biomaterial constructs.

A study of entrepreneurship : Taiwanese digital content companies in China

China’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has greatly enhanced global interest in investment in the Chinese media market, where demand for digital content is growing rapidly. The East Asian region is positioned as a growth area in many forms of digital content and digital service industries. China is attempting to catch up and take its place as a production centre to offset challenges from neighbouring countries. Meanwhile, Taiwan is seeking to use China both as an export market and as a production site for its digital content. This research investigates entry strategies of Taiwanese digital content firms into the Chinese market. By examining the strategies of a sample of Taiwan-based companies, this study also explores the evolution of their market strategies. However, the focus is on how distinctive business practices such as guanxi are important to Taiwanese business and to relations with Mainland China. This research examines how entrepreneurs manage the characteristics of digital content products and in turn how digital content entrepreneurs adapt to changing market circumstances. This project selected five Taiwan-based digital content companies that have business operations in China: Wang Film, Artkey, CnYES, Somode and iPartment. The study involved a field trip, undertaken between November 2006 and March 2007 to Shanghai and Taiwan to conduct interviews and to gather documentation and archival reports. Six senior managers and nine experts were interviewed. Data were analysed according to Miller’s firm-level entrepreneurship theory, foreign direct investment theory, Life Cycle Model and guanxi philosophy. Most studies of SMEs have focused on free market (capitalist) environments. In contrast, this thesis examines how Taiwanese digital content firms’ strategies apply in the Chinese market. I identified three main types of business strategy: cost-reduction, innovation and quality-enhancement; and four categories of functional strategies: product, marketing, resource acquisition and organizational restructuring. In this study, I introduce the concept of ‘entrepreneurial guanxi’, special relationships that imply mutual obligation, assurance and understanding to secure and exchange favors in entrepreneurial activities. While guanxi is a feature of many studies of business in Pan-Chinese society, it plays an important mediating role in digital content industries. In this thesis, I integrate the ‘Life Cycle Model’ with the dynamic concept of strategy. I outline the significant differences in the evolution of strategy between two types of digital content companies: off-line firms (Wang Film and Artkey) and web-based firms (CnYES, Somode and iPartment). Off-line digital content firms tended to adopt ‘resource acquisition strategies’ in their initial stages and ‘marketing strategies’ in second and subsequent stages. In contrast, web-based digital content companies mainly adopted product and marketing strategies in the early stages, and would adopt innovative approaches towards product and marketing strategies in the whole process of their business development. Some web-based digital content companies also adopted organizational restructuring strategies in the final stage. Finally, I propose the ‘Taxonomy Matrix of Entrepreneurial Strategies’ to emphasise the two dimensions of this matrix: innovation, and the firm’s resource acquisition for entrepreneurial strategy. This matrix is divided into four cells: Effective, Bounded, Conservative, and Impoverished.

Report on Innovation Working Group : The Mathematics Education into the 21st Century Project. Dresden, Saxony

This document reports on the Innovations Working Group that met at the 10th International Conference “Models in Developing Mathematics Education” from the 11-17th September 2009 in Dresden, Saxony. It briefly describes the over arching and consistent themes that emerged from the numerous papers presented. The authors and titles of each of the papers presented will be listed in Table 2.

A holistic approach to the support and engagement of first year students : a retention strategy

Institutions should enact holistic approaches that address students’ personal, social and academic engagement in the early weeks of first year to facilitate retention (Nelson, Kift & Clarke, 2008). This holistic approach is central to the FYE program at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), which was established to maximise learning engagement and hence positively influence the retention of commencing students. The program aims to • engage students in their learning through an intentionally designed and enacted curriculum (Kift, 2008) • facilitate timely access to life and learning support • promote a sense of belonging to the discipline, cohort and profession. The FYE program’s aims are achieved by strategic alliances between academic and professional staff across the institution.

Listening, sharing understanding and facilitating consumer, family and community empowerment through a priority driven partnership in Far North Queensland

Objectives: This paper provides an example of a mental health research partnership underpinned by empowerment principles that seeks to foster strength among community organizations to support better outcomes for consumers, families and communities. It aims to raise awareness among researchers and service providers that empowerment approaches to assist communities to address mental health problems are not too difficult to be practical but require long-term commitment and appropriate support. Methods: A collaborative research strategy that has become known as the Priority Driven Research (PDR) Partnership emerged through literature review,consultations, Family Wellbeing Program delivery with community groups and activities in two discrete Indigenous communities. Progress to date on three of the four components of the strategy is described. Results: The following key needs were identified in a pilot study and are now being addressed in a research-based implementation phase: (i) gaining two-way understanding of perspectives on mental health and promoting universal awareness; (ii) supporting the empowerment of carers, families, consumers and at-risk groups through existing community organizations to gain greater understanding and control of their situation; (iii) developing pathways of care at the primary health centre level to enable support of social and emotional wellbeing as well as more integrated mental health care; (iv) accessing data to enable an ongoing process of analysis/sharing/planning and monitoring to inform future activity. Conclusion: One of the key learnings to emerge in this project so far is that empowerment through partnership becomes possible when there is a concerted effort to strengthen grassroots community organizations. These include social health teams and men’s and women’s groups that can engage local people in an action orientation. Key words: Aboriginal, empowerment, Indigenous, mental health.

A holistic approach to the support and engagement of first year students : a retention strategy.

Institutions should enact holistic approaches that address students’ personal, social and academic engagement in the early weeks of first year to facilitate retention (Nelson, Kift & Clarke, 2008). This holistic approach is central to the FYE program at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), which was established to maximise learning engagement and hence positively influence the retention of commencing students.

Key performance indicators for innovation implementation : perception vs. actual usage

This paper aimed to explore the proportion associated with the perceived importance and the actual use of performance indicators from manufacturing and non manufacturing industries. The sample was 86 small and medium sized-organizations in Thailand. The perceived importance and the actual use of financial and non financial indicators were found to be significantly related among manufacturing and non manufacturing industries. KPI 3, 9, and 12 (i.e. sales and sales growth; quality of products and /or services; and process time) were perceived the most importance among manufacturing managers (85.3%, 79.4% and 76.5% respectively). While KPI 6, 9, and 12 (i.e. customer satisfaction, quality of products and /or services; and process time) were perceived the most importance among non manufacturing managers (84.8%, 93.5%, and 84.8% respectively). Interestingly, the most used KPIs for manufacturing were sales and sales growth (64.7%); profit margins (61.8%); and customer satisfaction (84.8) while non manufacturing used quality products/services (60.9%); sales and sales growth (54.3%) and employee development (54.3%) respectively. Limitation and implication were also discussed.

An exploratory study of innovation effectiveness measurement between Australian and Thai SMEs

The advantages of using a balanced approach to measurement of overall organisational performance are well-known. We examined the effects of a balanced approach in the more specific domain of measuring innovation effectiveness in 144 small to medium sized companies in Australia and Thailand. We found that there were no differences in the metrics used by Australian and Thai companies. In line with our hypotheses, we found that those SMEs that took a balanced approach were more likely to perceive benefits of implemented innovations than those that used only a financial approach to measurement. The perception of benefits then had a subsequent effect on overall attitudes towards innovation. The study shows the importance of measuring both financial and non-financial indicators of innovation effectiveness within SMEs and discusses ways in which these can be conducted with limited resources.

Innovation implementation effectiveness : a multiorganizational test of Klein Conn and Sorra’s model.

In an empirical test and extension of Klein Conn and Sorra’s model of innovation implementation effectiveness, we apply structural equation modelling to identify the generalizability of their data-modified model in comparison with their theorised model. We examined the implementation of various types of innovations in a sample of 135 organizations. We found that the data supported the original model rather than the data-modified model, such that implementation climate mediated polices and practices and implementation effectiveness, while implementation effectiveness partially mediated the relationship between implementation climate and innovation effectiveness. Furthermore, we extend their model to suggest that non-financial resources availability plays a critical role in implementation policies and practices.

An empirical study : a role of financial and non-financial performance measurement and perceived innovation effectiveness

Practitioners and academics often assume that investments in innovation will lead to organizational improvements. However, previous research has often shown that implemented innovations fail to realise these potential improvements. On the other hand, organisation, perhaps, has been growing and productive because of the innovation, but traditional measurements have failed to capture that growth. In order to help organizations capture their innovation performance effectively, this study examined the organizations which employ different types of performance measurement and their perception of innovation effectiveness.

Vitreous cryopreservation of nanofibrous tissue-engineered constructs generated using mesenchymal stromal cells

Development of an effective preservation strategy to fulfill off-the-shelf availability of tissue-engineered constructs (TECs) is demanded for realizing their clinical potential. In this study, the feasibility of vitrification, ice-free cryopreservation, for precultured ready-to-use TECs was evaluated. To prepare the TECs, bone marrow-derived porcine mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) were seeded in polycaprolactone-gelatin nanofibrous scaffolds and cultured for 3 weeks before vitrification treatment. The vitrification strategy developed, which involved exposure of the TECs to low concentrations of cryoprotectants followed by a vitrification solution and sterile packaging in a pouch with its subsequent immersion directly into liquid nitrogen, was accomplished within 11min. Stepwise removal of cryoprotectants, after warming in a 38 degrees C water bath, enabled rapid restoration of the TECs. Vitrification did not impair microstructure of the scaffold or cell viability. No significant differences were found between the vitrified and control TECs in cellular metabolic activity and proliferation on matched days and in the trends during 5 weeks of continuous culture postvitrification. Osteogenic differentiation ability in vitrified and control groups was similar. In conclusion, we have developed a time- and cost-efficient cryopreservation method that maintains integrity of the TECs while preserving MSCs viability and metabolic activity, and their ability to differentiate.