Public–private interaction in pharmaceutical research

We empirically examine interaction between the public and private sectors in pharmaceutical research using qualitative data on the drug discovery process and quantitative data on the incidence of coauthorship between public and private institutions. We find evidence of significant reciprocal interaction, and reject a simple “linear” dichotomous model in which the public sector performs basic research and the private sector exploits it. Linkages to the public sector differ across firms, reflecting variation in internal incentives and policy choices, and the nature of these linkages correlates with their research performance.

Industry-academia linkages in a high tech research field

Currently academic researches' focus started changing towards protecting IP rights and to transferring them into industrial actors. Accordingly, it is argued that academic's basic research focus started shifting towards applied research as it is essential for the radical inventions to be introduced in a competitive market. This research seeks to understand industry-academia linkages in a high tech field such as nano-crystals. In regards to supporting the technology transfer process within or cross country, this study illustrates the technology development trends and actors' engagement; nano-crystals technology and their interconnections; and maps the organisational (industry-academia) linkages that enhance the commercialisation of radical inventions. The results show that the industry-academia linkages that appeared as decentralized structure are more stable compared to other linkage types. Korean and Japanese organisations present such stable linkages. The linkages are even stronger when they appear as a mono-linkage type. Chinese organisations show a great illustration of such an effective mono-linkage of co-inventorships in high tech research field. The organisations in the US maintain international linkages.

Experimental methodology report

In architectural design and the construction industry, there is insufficient evidence about the way designers collaborate in their normal working environments using both traditional and digital media. It is this gap in empirical evidence that the CRC project, “Team Collaboration in High Bandwidth Virtual Environments” addresses. The project is primarily, but not exclusively, concerned with the conceptual stages of design carried out by professional designers working in different offices. The aim is to increase opportunities for communication and interaction between people in geographically distant locations in order to improve the quality of collaboration. In order to understand the practical implications of introducing new digital tools on working practices, research into how designers work collaboratively using both traditional and digital media is being undertaken. This will involve a series of empirical studies in the work places of the industry partners in the project. The studies of collaboration processes will provide empirical results that will lead to more effective use of virtual environments in design and construction processes. The report describes the research approach, the industry study, the methods for data collection and analysis and the foundation research methodologies. A distinctive aspect is that the research has been devised to enable field studies to be undertaken in a live industrial environment where the participant designers carry out real projects alongside their colleagues and in familiar locations. There are two basic research objectives: one is to obtain evidence about design practice that will inform the architecture and construction industries about the impact and potential benefit of using digital collaboration technologies; the second is to add to long term research knowledge of human cognitive and behavioural processes based on real world data. In order to achieve this, the research methods must be able to acquire a rich and heterogeneous set of data from design activities as they are carried out in the normal working environment. This places different demands upon the data collection and analysis methods to those of laboratory studies where controlled conditions are required. In order to address this, the research approach that has been adopted is ethnographic in nature and case study-based. The plan is to carry out a series of indepth studies in order to provide baseline results for future research across a wider community of user groups. An important objective has been to develop a methodology that will produce valid, significant and transferable results. The research will contribute to knowledge about how architectural design and the construction industry may benefit from the introduction of leading edge collaboration technologies. The outcomes will provide a sound foundation for the production of guidelines for the assessment of high bandwidth tools and their future deployment. The knowledge will form the basis for the specification of future collaboration products and collaboration processes. This project directly addresses the industry-identified focus on cultural change, image, e-project management, and innovative methods.

Innovation

Innovation can be defined broadly to include the development and uptake of new technology, the introduction of new products, the utilisation of new market opportunities and the implementation of new business processes including new forms of work organisation or management structures and approaches. Innovation, or the commercial application of new knowledge, is of increasing importance to economic competitiveness given the growth in production and trade in high technology industries and knowledge intensive service sectors such as business services (Edquist, Hommen and McKelvey 2001). An important field of innovation in modern economies is associated with the rapid development and application of information and communications technologies (ICTs). ICTs constitute an increasing share of value added, growth and employment and also impact on employment and productivity in other industry sectors. The structural transformation of modern economies associated with ICTs has led to an increase in the importance of information and knowledge resources (rather than physical capital) as inputs or factors of production. Technology and product innovations are often given central attention in innovation research, however, organisational and managerial changes have been recognised as critical. Over the last two decades, understandings of the nature and process of innovation have advanced significantly. In the 1950s and 1960s, there was a view that innovation resulted from basic research, or in essence that scientific research acted as a 'push' for innovation. As such there was a great deal of emphasis on formal research and development, undertaken either by governments or research and development units within business organisations. Radical innovations involving new products and new technological trajectories were thought to derive from basic research (Freeman 1995).

Don't sell social science short

The News of the Week article that reports on Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) questioning the need to fund social science research at the National Science Foundation is alarming and shortsighted ("Senate panel chair asks why NSF funds social sciences," 12 May, p. 829). Social science research is at the fundamental core of basic research and has much to contribute to the economic viability of the United States. Twenty years of direct and jointly funded social and ecosystem science research at Colorado State University's Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory has produced deep insights into environmental and societal impacts of political upheaval, land use, and climate change in parts of Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Beyond greatly advancing our understanding of the coupled human-environmental system, the partnership of social and ecosystem science has brought scientists and decision-makers together to begin to develop solutions to difficult problems.

An improved chemically inducible gene switch that functions in the monocotyledonous plant sugar cane

Chemically inducible gene switches can provide precise control over gene expression, enabling more specific analyses of gene function and expanding the plant biotechnology toolkit beyond traditional constitutive expression systems. The alc gene expression system is one of the most promising chemically inducible gene switches in plants because of its potential in both fundamental research and commercial biotechnology applications. However, there are no published reports demonstrating that this versatile gene switch is functional in transgenic monocotyledonous plants, which include some of the most important agricultural crops. We found that the original alc gene switch was ineffective in the monocotyledonous plant sugar cane, and describe a modified alc system that is functional in this globally significant crop. A promoter consisting of tandem copies of the ethanol receptor inverted repeat binding site, in combination with a minimal promoter sequence, was sufficient to give enhanced sensitivity and significantly higher levels of ethanol inducible gene expression. A longer CaMV 35S minimal promoter than was used in the original alc gene switch also substantially improved ethanol inducibility. Treating the roots with ethanol effectively induced the modified alc system in sugar cane leaves and stem, while an aerial spray was relatively ineffective. The extension of this chemically inducible gene expression system to sugar cane opens the door to new opportunities for basic research and crop biotechnology.

Plasmas meet plasmonics

The term ‘plasmon’ was first coined in 1956 to describe collective electronic oscillations in solids which were very similar to electronic oscillations/surface waves in a plasma discharge (effectively the same formulae can be used to describe the frequencies of these physical phenomena). Surface waves originating in a plasma were initially considered to be just a tool for basic research, until they were successfully used for the generation of large-area plasmas for nanoscale materials synthesis and processing. To demonstrate the synergies between ‘plasmons’ and ‘plasmas’, these large-area plasmas can be used to make plasmonic nanostructures which functionally enhance a range of emerging devices. The incorporation of plasma-fabricated metal-based nanostructures into plasmonic devices is the missing link needed to bridge not only surface waves from traditional plasma physics and surface plasmons from optics, but also, more topically, macroscopic gaseous and nanoscale metal plasmas. This article first presents a brief review of surface waves and surface plasmons, then describe how these areas of research may be linked through Plasma Nanoscience showing, by closely looking at the essential physics as well as current and future applications, how everything old, is new, once again.

Advanced mass spectrometry-based multi-omics technologies for exploring the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the primary hepatic malignancies and is the third most common cause of cancer related death worldwide. Although a wealth of knowledge has been gained concerning the initiation and progression of HCC over the last half century, efforts to improve our understanding of its pathogenesis at a molecular level are still greatly needed, to enable clinicians to enhance the standards of the current diagnosis and treatment of HCC. In the post-genome era, advanced mass spectrometry driven multi-omics technologies (e.g., profiling of DNA damage adducts, RNA modification profiling, proteomics, and metabolomics) stand at the interface between chemistry and biology, and have yielded valuable outcomes from the study of a diversity of complicated diseases. Particularly, these technologies are being broadly used to dissect various biological aspects of HCC with the purpose of biomarker discovery, interrogating pathogenesis as well as for therapeutic discovery. This proof of knowledge-based critical review aims at exploring the selected applications of those defined omics technologies in the HCC niche with an emphasis on translational applications driven by advanced mass spectrometry, toward the specific clinical use for HCC patients. This approach will enable the biomedical community, through both basic research and the clinical sciences, to enhance the applicability of mass spectrometry-based omics technologies in dissecting the pathogenesis of HCC and could lead to novel therapeutic discoveries for HCC.

Synonymization of key pest species within the Bactrocera dorsalis species complex (Diptera: Tephritidae): Taxonomic changes based on a review of 20 years of integrative morphological, molecular, cytogenetic, behavioural and chemoecological data

Bactrocera papayae Drew & Hancock, Bactrocera philippinensis Drew & Hancock, Bactrocera carambolae Drew & Hancock, and Bactrocera invadens Drew, Tsuruta & White are four horticultural pest tephritid fruit fly species that are highly similar, morphologically and genetically, to the destructive pest, the Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae). This similarity has rendered the discovery of reliable diagnostic characters problematic, which, in view of the economic importance of these taxa and the international trade implications, has resulted in ongoing difficulties for many areas of plant protection and food security. Consequently, a major international collaborative and integrated multidisciplinary research effort was initiated in 2009 to build upon existing literature with the specific aim of resolving biological species limits among B. papayae, B. philippinensis, B. carambolae, B. invadens and B. dorsalis to overcome constraints to pest management and international trade. Bactrocera philippinensis has recently been synonymized with B. papayae as a result of this initiative and this review corroborates that finding; however, the other names remain in use. While consistent characters have been found to reliably distinguish B. carambolae from B. dorsalis, B. invadens and B. papayae, no such characters have been found to differentiate the latter three putative species. We conclude that B. carambolae is a valid species and that the remaining taxa, B. dorsalis, B. invadens and B. papayae, represent the same species. Thus, we consider B. dorsalis (Hendel) as the senior synonym of B. papayae Drew and Hancock syn.n. and B. invadens Drew, Tsuruta & White syn.n. A redescription of B. dorsalis is provided. Given the agricultural importance of B. dorsalis, this taxonomic decision will have significant global plant biosecurity implications, affecting pest management, quarantine, international trade, postharvest treatment and basic research. Throughout the paper, we emphasize the value of independent and multidisciplinary tools in delimiting species, particularly in complicated cases involving morphologically cryptic taxa.

Reliability in the Parameterization of the Functional Reach Test in Elderly Stroke Patients: A Pilot Study

BACKGROUND: Postural instability is one of the major complications found in stroke survivors. Parameterising the functional reach test (FRT) could be useful in clinical practice and basic research. OBJECTIVES: To analyse the reliability, sensitivity, and specificity in the FRT parameterisation using inertial sensors for recording kinematic variables in patients who have suffered a stroke. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. While performing FRT, two inertial sensors were placed on the patient's back (lumbar and trunk). PARTICIPANTS: Five subjects over 65 who suffer from a stroke. MEASUREMENTS: FRT measures, lumbosacral/thoracic maximum angular displacement, maximum time of lumbosacral/thoracic angular displacement, time return initial position, and total time. Speed and acceleration of the movements were calculated indirectly. RESULTS: FRT measure is  12.75±2.06 cm. Intrasubject reliability values range from 0.829 (time to return initial position (lumbar sensor)) to 0.891 (lumbosacral maximum angular displacement). Intersubject reliability values range from 0.821 (time to return initial position (lumbar sensor)) to 0.883 (lumbosacral maximum angular displacement). FRT's reliability was 0.987 (0.983-0.992) and 0.983 (0.979-0.989) intersubject and intrasubject, respectively. CONCLUSION: The main conclusion could be that the inertial sensors are a tool with excellent reliability and validity in the parameterization of the FRT in people who have had a stroke.

Single molecule microscopy in 3D cell cultures and tissues

From the onset of the first microscopic visualization of single fluorescent molecules in living cells at the beginning of this century, to the present, almost routine application of single molecule microscopy, the method has well-proven its ability to contribute unmatched detailed insight into the heterogeneous and dynamic molecular world life is composed of. Except for investigations on bacteria and yeast, almost the entire story of success is based on studies on adherent mammalian 2D cell cultures. However, despite this continuous progress, the technique was not able to keep pace with the move of the cell biology community to adapt 3D cell culture models for basic research, regenerative medicine, or drug development and screening. In this review, we will summarize the progress, which only recently allowed for the application of single molecule microscopy to 3D cell systems and give an overview of the technical advances that led to it. While initially posing a challenge, we finally conclude that relevant 3D cell models will become an integral part of the on-going success of single molecule microscopy.

Development of a cultured tissue substitute to repair the ageing retina

This project provides a foundation for the use of silk membranes in a tissue engineered therapy for the treatment of devastating retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration. The three-dimensional tissue model described in this thesis has great potential for use in basic research of retinal pathologies, and the potential to be implemented into clinical approaches after appropriate refinement.

Dancing and Professional Dancers in Roman Egypt

The main aim of the study is to create a many-sided view of dancing in Roman Egypt (1st - early 4th centuries AD) and especially of the dancers who earned their living by dancing as hired performers. Even though dancers and other performers played a central part in many kinds of festivities throughout the ancient world, research on ancient professional dancers is rare and tends to rest on the ancient literature, which reflects the opinions of the elite. Documentary written sources (i.e., papyri, ostraka) the core of the present study are mentioned rather superficially, easily resulting in a stereotypical view of the dancers. This study will balance the picture of professional dancers in antiquity and of ancient dancing in a more general sense. The second aim characterizes this study as basic research: to provide a corpus of written sources from Greco-Roman Egypt on dancing and to discuss pictorial sources contemporary with the texts. The study also takes into account the theoretical discussion that centres on dancing as a nonverbal communicative mode. Dancers are seen as significant conveyors of social and cultural matters. This study shows that dancers were hired to perform especially in religious contexts, where the local associations on the village level also played an important part as the employers of the performers. These performers had a better standard of living in economic terms than the average hired worker, and dancers were better paid than other performers. In the Egyptian villages and towns, where the dancers performed and lived, the dancers do not seem to have been marginal because they were professionals or because of some ethnic or social background. However, their possible marginality may have occurred for reasons related to the practicalities of their profession (e.g., the itinerant life style). The oriental background of performers was a literary topos reflecting partly the situation in the centres of the empire, especially Rome, where many performers were of other than Roman origin. The connection of dancing, prostitution and slavery reflects the essential link between dance, body and gender: dancers are equated with such professions or socio-legal statuses where the body is the focus of attention, a commodity and a source of sensual pleasure; this dimension is clearly observable in ancient literature. According to the Egyptian documentary sources, there is no watertight evidence that professional dancers would have been engaged in prostitution and very little, if any, evidence that the disapproval of the professional dancers expressed by the ancient authors was shared by the Egyptians. From the 4th century onwards the dancers almost disappear from the documentary sources, reflecting the political and religious changes in the Mediterranean east.

Kohti lyyristä abstraktismia : Anitra Lucanderin 1950-luvun modernismi

Towards Lyrical Abstraction Anitra Lucander s Modernism in the 1950s Anitra Lucander (1918-2000) was one of the early pioneers of abstract art in Finland. During the Second World War Finnish art and cultural life was isolated and stagnated and figurative art was still dominant after the war. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, new international abstract art movements started to come to Finland. Anitra Lucander was one of the artists of the younger generation after the war who took an interest in the abstract movements in the early 1950s. At the beginning of the 1950s, abstract art came to Finland primarily in the form of Concretism, but simultaneously, a more delicate abstract movement emerged, and Anitra Lucander was among those cultivating such conceptions in her art. In this thesis, I observe and analyze through Anitra Lucander s art this central movement in Finnish modern art that has not yet been extensively studied. I examine how Anitra Lucander s art connects with the style change in Finnish art. I scrutinize the factors that affected Lucander and turned her towards abstract expression, and the effect her art had on emergence of abstract art in Finland. I will also consider the development of her art, the reception and critique of her art and the effect the critique had on her position in the 1950s art world. Because of a lack of earlier studies, I will undertake basic research, relying on empirical primary source material, where the starting point is to place the phenomenon under examination in the historical and cultural context. The most significant study materials are the artist s paintings and graphics from 1948 to 1960, newspaper and magazine articles from the same era, archive sources and interviews with Lucander s relatives, fellow artists and friends. An interesting aspect of the topic is the fact that Anitra Lucander was the only woman among the important pioneers of early Finnish abstract art. Through Lucander s art, I also examine the position of female artists in the tradition of Modernism as well as in the Finnish art world of the 1950s. This theoretical background is provided by the studies of feminist art historians, such as Marsha Meskimmon, Gill Perry, Griselda Pollock and Anne Middleton Wagner. Lucander s position in the male-dominated Finnish art scene of the 1950s, and how she achieved her position, emerges as one of the central themes of the study. I will also observe whether gender is evident in Lucander s art and expression, as well as her reception and critique compared to the reception of her male colleagues art. From a woman s point of view, I reveal the masculine rhetoric and gendered attitudes in the critique of the era. As a theoretical and methodological frame of reference, I use discourse analysis. Anitra Lucander encountered modernistic, international art movements during her journeys to Paris in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Her art evolved from the geometric Concretism of the early decade towards more delicate and painterly abstract expression. After the mid-1950s, she had developed her signature expression; through Cubism and a collage technique, she developed in her painting a delicate, coloristic imagery, which can be characterized as Lyrical Abstraction. Lucander did not consider abstract expression to be categorical, but saw the abstract and the nonfigurative as equals: the line between the abstract and the figurative is very often fleeting in her art. Already in her own time, Lucander achieved a position as one of the most talented young artists of her generation and her work was included in significant exhibitions. This success can definitely be attributed to the fact that she embraced Modernism in its extreme form, abstraction, already at the beginning of her career and networked with male painters who shared her outlook and modernistic expression. For her, this was either a conscious or an unconscious method of adapting to the male-dominated Finnish art field in the 1950s. In spite of acclaim and attention, Lucander had to encounter the gendered attitudes in the critique of the time, and her art was often perceived through stereotypical views as overly feminine and dependent. However, with her art, Lucander played an important role in the breakthrough for colorism and abstract art in Finland in the 1950s.

A delphi study on health in future India

PIP: A delphi study was conducted to identify or envision health scenarios in India by the year 2000. Questionnaires consisting of 48 questions on 5 areas (diagnosis and therapy; family planning; pharmaceuticals and drugs; biochemical and biomedical research; health services) were mailed to 250 experts in India. 36 responded. Results were compiled and mailed back to the respondents for changes and comments. 17 people responded. Results of the delphi study shows that policy decisions with respect to compulsory family planning as well as health education at secondary school level will precede further breakthroughs in birth control technology. Non operation reversible sterilization procedures, immunological birth control, Ayurvedic medicines for contraception and abortion, and selection of baby's sex are all possible by 2000 thereafter. Complete eradication of infectious diseases, malnutrition and associated diseases is considered unlikely before 2000, as are advances in biomedical research. Changes in health services (e.g., significant increases in hospital beds and doctors, cheap bulk drugs), particularly in rural areas, are imminent, leading to prolonging of life expectancy to 70 years. Genetic engineering may provide significant breakthroughs in the prevention of malignancies and cardiac disorders. The India delphi study is patterned after a similar delphi study conducted in the U.S. by Smith, Kline and French (SKF) Laboratories in 1968. The SKF study was able to predict some breakthroughs with basic research which have been realized.