Whole proteome analyses on Ruminiclostridium cellulolyticum show a modulation of the cellulolysis machinery in response to cellulosic materials with subtle differences in chemical and structural properties

Lignocellulosic materials from municipal solid waste emerge as attractive resources for anaerobic digestion biorefinery. To increase the knowledge required for establishing efficient bioprocesses, dynamics of batch fermentation by the cellulolytic bacterium Ruminiclostridium cellulolyticum were compared using three cellulosic materials, paper handkerchief, cotton discs and Whatman filter paper. Fermentation of paper handkerchief occurred the fastest and resulted in a specific metabolic profile: it resulted in the lowest acetate-to-lactate and acetate-to-ethanol ratios. By shotgun proteomic analyses of paper handkerchief and Whatman paper incubations, 151 proteins with significantly different levels were detected, including 20 of the 65 cellulosomal components, 8 non-cellulosomal CAZymes and 44 distinct extracytoplasmic proteins. Consistent with the specific metabolic profile observed, many enzymes from the central carbon catabolic pathways had higher levels in paper handkerchief incubations. Among the quantified CAZymes and cellulosomal components, 10 endoglucanases mainly from the GH9 families and 7 other cellulosomal subunits had lower levels in paper handkerchief incubations. An in-depth characterization of the materials used showed that the lower levels of endoglucanases in paper handkerchief incubations could hypothetically result from its lower crystallinity index (50%) and degree of polymerization (970). By contrast, the higher hemicellulose rate in paper handkerchief (13.87%) did not result in the enhanced expression of enzyme with xylanase as primary activity, including enzymes from the xyl-doc cluster. It suggests the absence, in this material, of molecular structures that specifically lead to xylanase induction. The integrated approach developed in this work shows that subtle differences among cellulosic materials regarding chemical and structural characteristics have significant effects on expressed bacterial functions, in particular the cellulolysis machinery, resulting in different metabolic patterns and degradation dynamics.This work was supported by a grant [R2DS 2010-08] from Conseil Regional d'Ile-de-France through DIM R2DS programs (http://www.r2ds-ile-de-france.com/). Irstea (www.irstea.fr/) contributed to the funding of a PhD grant for the first author. The funders provided support in the form of salaries for author [NB], funding for consumables and laboratory equipment, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Omics Services provided support in the form of salaries for authors [VS, MD], but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors [NB, VS, MD] are articulated in the 'author contributions' section.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A common structured integrated collaborative digitised (CrOsS) framework for the historic building repair and maintenance (R&M) sector

The UK historic building repair and maintenance (R&M) sector generates £9.7 billion in output. However, challenging delivering quality R&M are project under-performance, a lack of collaborative project practices, resulting in poor communication, underpinned by persistent skills shortages. These are not solely UK concerns; various international studies have echoed similar issues, however, to maintain focus, the scope of the research is within the UK context, in particular Scotland’s stone-built heritage. Adopting a four stage qualitative participatory exploratory action research strategy; this research aims to develop a framework, to support an effective integrated multi-disciplinary, collaborative, structured, and digitised Project Management and on-site practice approach, to aid increased efficiencies. Firstly, a synthesis of the relevant academic literature and industrial reports enabled direction towards the acquisition of appropriate intelligence, in order to guide and inform the study’s theoretical foundation. Secondly, 14 semi-structured interviews with Scottish SMEs were executed, which bounded the key findings under three main themes; senior management, human resource, and technical. Concurrently, through co-operative industry engagement, the generation of a best practice historic building SME R&M four-phase process map was undertaken. Thirdly, a common structured collaborative process standard framework was developed and finally, validated through active industry participation; a demonstration project, four semi-structured interviews, and two focus groups of six industry practitioners. The validation feedback confirmed that the developed framework is valid, credible, acceptable, and applicable as a process standard designed to offer a process model, map, and management tool.The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)Heriot Watt Universit

Strategies for re-engineering the growth and sustainability of small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in the agrarian sector in the Eastern Highlands, Zimbabwe.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the agrarian sector play a considerable role in poverty reduction and economic growth. Governments across the globe have emphasized SME re-engineering as a policy thrust for economic development. It is against this background that this research aimed to evaluate strategies for re-engineering the growth and sustainability of Zimbabwean agrarian SMEs. The primary purposes were to understand the challenges experienced by agrarian SMEs in re-engineering their growth, critically examine the re-engineering strategies, namely government policies, agricultural support mechanisms, SME development strategies, gender dynamics, SME management, and develop a framework to re-engineer agricultural SMEs in Zimbabwe. Hypotheses were developed from an in-depth literature review to examine the relationship between the strategies for re-engineering SMEs in the agrarian sector in Zimbabwe. Random and purposive sampling techniques were used to survey 380 SMEs and 30 key Policy-makers and Agricultural Field Marshalls from the Eastern Highlands in Zimbabwe. The data was analysed using SPSS to perform descriptive and inferential analysis. The main findings, based on regression analysis, showed that there is an association between government policies and the success of the re-engineered SMEs. Furthermore, there was also a strong relationship among agricultural support mechanisms, gender, management and techno-innovative strategies in re-engineering SMEs, as they all contributed to economic growth. Based on these results, it is suggested that policy-makers focus on developing SMElinked policies and skills development, so that the re-engineering processes can be successful and ultimately lead to the agricultural and economic development of Zimbabwean agrarian SMEs

How has contamination to water supply altered Havelock North business owners’ perspectives on water? : A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master at Lincoln University and Waterways Centre for Freshwater Management

Safe drinking water is essential to public health. In August 2016 an outbreak of gastroenteritis in Havelock North, New Zealand, shook the public’s trust in the water supply service. Over 5,500 of the town’s 14,000 residents were estimated to have fallen ill with campylobacteriosis, and 45 people were hospitalised. There were three attributable deaths and an unknown number still suffer on-going health issues. Consequently business owners were detrimentally affected – financially, operationally and emotionally. Their perceptions of water were immediately affected, particularly with the application of chlorine to the water supply, and their trust in their local government bodies diminished. Transformative Learning Theory was the lens used to ascertain if the contamination event transformed Havelock North business owners’ perspectives on water. Perspective change is most likely to occur when people experience a series of sensory perceptionary encounters, also critically reflect on the complete context of those physical and mental perceptions, and additionally, critically self-reflect on how they can transform the context or situation and then take action. All business owners underwent changes in perception concerning their water supply and all critically reflected on the context of the contamination event. However, none were deemed to have undergone a transformation in their perspectives on water because they did not engage in any critical self-reflection. The various causes of the contamination were all external to Havelock North business owners, they perceived there was no need for them to critically self-reflect on themselves nor their business strategies. Their perceptions in regard to the importance of water did change because the event made many of them realise how integral water was to trading and remaining operational. The disruption triggered them to think about the connectivity of water to natural ecosystems, including humanity. Business owners unquestioningly accepted the unwritten hydrosocial contract with the local councils, and none had experienced a transformative perspective change whereby they sought to renegotiate this contract

Comparative proteomic and transcriptomic profiling of Micromonospora strains associated with legumes

[ES]La interacción planta-microorganismo es un evento que acontece de manera dinámica y constante en la rizosfera. Estas interacciones planta-microorganismo se han centrado frecuentemente en el estudio de bacterias Gram-negativas y los beneficios o prejuicios que producen en la planta. Sin embargo, en los últimos años ha empezado a abordarse el estudio del comportamiento de bacterias Gram-positivas con respecto a las plantas. Dentro de la gran diversidad microbiana dentro de suelo, destaca el género Micromonospora. Este género perteneciente al filo Actinobacteria formado por bacterias Gram-positivas, está ampliamente distribuido en diferentes ambientes de todo el mundo como suelos, hábitats acuáticos (agua dulce y sedimentos marinos), manglares, lodos e incluso han sido aisladas de muestras de roca arenisca antártica y piedra caliza de cantera. En la última década, Micromonospora ha sido aislada de tejidos vegetales, principalmente de nódulos fijadores de nitrógeno, tanto de plantas actinorizales como leguminosas, y muy puntualmente de otros tejidos. Además, en diferentes trabajos se ha observado que Micromonospora puede actuar como un promotor del crecimiento vegetal, pero también el estudio de su genoma ha revelado varios rasgos genómicos potencialmente involucrados en la interacción planta-bacteria. Los resultados obtenidos a lo largo de la tesis doctoral han proporcionado información sobre la interacción molecular entre Micromonospora y su planta huésped y su capacidad para colonizar diferentes leguminosas y tejidos vegetales. Por lo tanto, podemos responder a las preguntas planteadas al comienzo de la investigación: ¿Se puede aislar a Micromonospora de diferentes tejidos vegetales que no sean nódulos fijadores de nitrógeno? ¿Tiene Micromonospora la capacidad de ingresar y colonizar leguminosas que no sean su huésped original? ¿Pueden los exudados de raíz de las plantas de Lupinus alterar los patrones específicos de expresión génica en Micromonospora e influir en su interacción con el huésped? Los resultados recogidos en la tesis doctoral han demostrado que Micromonospora puede ser aislada de diferentes tejidos vegetales diferentes a los nódulos fijadores de nitrógeno, como raíces, tallos y hojas. Entre las 148 cepas identificadas como especies pertenecientes al género Micromonospora, diferentes miembros de la misma especie se aislaron de diferentes tejidos, lo que indica que una especie no limita su presencia a un solo tipo de tejido vegetal. También se ha demostrado en esta tesis doctoral que Micromonospora no solo es capaz de colonizar los tejidos vegetales de su hospedador original, sino también de diferentes leguminosas. La capacidad de Micromonospora para infectar diferentes especies de leguminosas contrasta con las interacciones simbióticas entre rizobios y leguminosas, y Frankia y plantas actinorrícicas, que son más restrictivas. Además, este trabajo describe el proceso de colonización de Micromonospora en la superficie de la raíz y los pelos radicales hasta su ubicación en los primordios nodulares y los nódulos maduros, junto con la rizobia. Sin embargo, la capacidad de la Micromonospora para colonizar diferentes leguminosas puede deberse a un intercambio de señales entre la planta y la bacteria. Este trabajo exploró cómo los exudados de raíz de una leguminosa como Lupinus albus podrían alterar la expresión de genes y proteínas en varias cepas de Micromonospora. Los perfiles transcriptómicos y proteómicos, recogidos en la tesis doctoral, proporcionaron una información valiosa sobre cómo Micromonospora reacciona a los compuestos liberados por la planta y qué eventos pueden estar ocurriendo durante esta interacción cuando Micromonospora entra en contacto con los exudados de las raíces de las plantas

SMEs and the internet drivers of and barriers to e-engagement.

For many years, the internet and its associated technologies have been heralded as the new frontier for SMEs and, inherently, “a good thing”. Despite this having been a common theme for at least the last fifteen years, still many SMEs are not “e-engaged. Despite significant amounts of public money being invested in promoting the Internet to SMEs, estimates for the UK range from 20 to 40 percent non- e-engagement, and substantially more in other jurisdictions. This thesis examines the barriers and drivers to e-engagement by SMEs and challenges the conventional wisdom that the Internet is a positive force for all. In particular, the research looks at the micro end of the SME spectrum, (the μSME), and identifies a number of hitherto un-examined areas of their operation and business models. Following a comprehensive review of the relevant canon of literature, a conceptual framework is derived, developed and presented. This provides the skeleton upon which the research strategy sits. The empirical data set consists of seventeen in depth case studies from a range of SMEs involved in the b2b, b2c and professional services fields. A cross case analysis was then undertaken, leading to the finalised framework. One of the key contributions of this research is the development of the conceptual model and associated framework. This allows for the identification and analysis of barriers, drivers and key determinants of the decision by SMEs and specifically of μSMEs with regard to their engagement, or not, with the Internet. Some commentators have noted that the literature on SME Internet engagement is fragmented and incoherent and that there is a need for framework development and research at the conceptual level to provide more focused research. This thesis accepts that challenge. It takes a comparative approach to both engaged and non-engaged companies, where possible in the same industry, to allow for key determinants and principle impact factors to be identified. The research provides detailed examples of the business models operated by the case companies and the factors affecting their implementation and operation. The variables affecting each SME are codified and mapped against the determinants and principle drivers. This enables the analysis to identify the barriers that filter, and in some cases entirely block, engagement with the Internet

Wright State University\u27s Symposium of Student Research, Scholarship & Creative Activities from Thursday, October 26, 2023

The student abstract booklet is a compilation of abstracts from students\u27 oral and poster presentations at Wright State University\u27s Symposium of Student Research, Scholarship & Creative Activities on October 26, 2023.https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/celebration_abstract_books/1001/thumbnail.jp

Understanding community entrepreneurship in Nigeria (towards a new entrepreneurship development model)

This is an investigation into the influences of the triadic factors of culture, Institutional rules and entrepreneurship development policy instruments on entrepreneurship development at the community level within Nigeria. The research objective is to utilise a better theoretical understanding of how these factors impact on entrepreneurial behaviour at the community level, to then proffer a diagnostic model that better calibrates the environmental munificence of target communities. In order to achieve this, the study seeks answers to four research questions that focus on the nature, relevance, impact and inter-relatedness of each of the triadic factors on the entrepreneurial behaviour of community-­‐based entrepreneurs in such a complex and emerging country as Nigeria. It is expected that such a model will enable the design and implementation of community entrepreneurship development policy and programmes that are better suited to the environmental context of targeted communities. Design/Methodology/Approach: A multiple case-study approach is taken to compare three community ventures within Nigeria. The use of a multi-method approach made it possible to collect multiple data on different levels by combining data collection methods, such as observations, interviews, questionnaires and the content analysis of official government documents. In this regard the study benefits from both narrative and quantitative analysis. Findings: Heritage and culture had a strong bearing on how the community ventures came about, and were ultimately managed. The community­‐based entrepreneurs see the ventures, along with the skills and knowledge required to produce the crafts, as cultural artefacts in their own right, which are passed down through generations utilising various techniques of cultural reproduction chief amongst which is an apprenticeship system. While the entrepreneurial ventures are lacking in formal structures and processes, there is a strong social energy and network that binds the operators of the ventures together and offers them what they themselves recognize as their competitive advantage. The institutional and policy environment within which these community entrepreneurs play is perceived as being exceedingly harsh and in some instances debilitating, creating occasional tensions in the way the community entrepreneurs interpret the formal institutional rules within which they must do business. There is a conceptual disconnect between the rhetoric offered by the guiding policy document studied and the organising framework that guided this research, which presupposes an inherent weakness within the document. The study finds that cultural and institutional factors and their influences on community-­based entrepreneurs are interpreted in different ways, creating different environmental contexts within the communities studied. Practical Implications/Contribution: The research contributes to the theoretical area of community entrepreneurship. It offers a new way of understanding community entrepreneurship, as well as an empirical basis for crafting the entrepreneurship policy agenda. It argues for monolithic national enterprise development policy agendas to be discontinued in favour of a more bespoke arrangement that tailors such policies and programme regimes to the specific needs of the community in line with the assessment of the entrepreneurial environment of the community. It makes a contribution to practice by offering a diagnostic model that helps calibrate and categorise the environmental munificence (defined here as the quality of the overall context of the triadic environmental factors) of target communities

Entrepreneurship Development through Corporate Social Responsibility – A Study of the Nigerian Telecommunication Industry

Beyond the conventional meaning of CSR as a voluntary obligation for enhancing the social, economic and environmental wellness of the society, the developmental-oriented CSR is emerging and requires exploratory and empirical investigations. This research attempts to fill the gap in this direction by examining the Entrepreneurship Development through Corporate Social Responsibility – A Study of the Nigerian Telecommunication Industry. In specific terms, the research seeks deeper understanding of CSR and Entrepreneurship with a view to refocusing both constructs as support mechanisms for small enterprise development in Nigeria. Considering the multidisciplinary nature of this research, an extensive review of literature was carried out which provided deeper insights into the research problem. Arising from the review of literature, the human capital theory and stakeholder theory provided the required theoretical grounding for the study. For easy triangulation, the study adopted a mixed research methods (an amalgam of qualitative and quantitative research methods). The target population for the study was the Nigerian telecommunication industry, which comprised the 24 telecommunication companies and the 65 million proxy telephone users. Lagos state was preferred as the sample location. From the target population, sample sizes of 9 telecommunication companies and 384 telephone users were selected with justifications using purposive sampling and snowballing sampling respectively. The qualitative aspect of research used interview instrument for data collection. The interview data from 9 interviewees were analysed using content and thematic analyses. The quantitative research on the other hand used web-enabled questionnaire instrument for data collection. Out of the 384 telephone users targeted, only 369 responses were analysed, using descriptive and inferential statistics (Chi-Square Test, Friedman Rank Test, Structural Equation Modelling and Multiple Linear Regression Analysis). At end of the investigation, it was found that the stakeholders’ perception of CSR is largely a philanthropic perspective; while the perception of entrepreneurship in the same industry is the act of setting up businesses for self-employment and wealth creation. Furthermore, the dominant CSR activity is sports and entertainments, while entrepreneurship development was poorly supported. With regards to the potentials, the study found that CSR is a potential means for funding entrepreneurship education; funding start-up venture capital for unemployed graduates/trainees; funding business clusters and technology business incubation centres for small businesses; funding purchase of equipment and tools for poor artisans, craftsmen and petty traders in disadvantaged host communities; and also CSR could be an effective instrument for political risk mitigation in hostile communities like Niger-Delta and Northern Nigeria. Finally, it was found that there is a relationship between CSR and entrepreneurship in the Nigerian telecommunication industry, but the predictability of CSR dimensions on entrepreneurship is weak. The study has therefore enriched the literature with an enhanced understanding of CSR incorporating entrepreneurship, as opposed to viewing CSR in terms of social, economic and environmental dimensions. The study concludes with a discussion of the academic and practical implications of the findings as well as recommendations for further research in this multidisciplinary field