How start-up accelerators facilitate innovation

In today’s economy, innovation is the strategic driving force in getting unique opportunities and adding value to knowledge assets. Many countries, to compete and to adapt themselves to the complexity of the new world, try to be innovative and continuously upgrade their knowledge along with changes happened in the environment. Theses countries consider innovation as the key strategy in achieving sustainable competitive advantage and making continuous improvement in their structures, processes, and programs. The interesting thing about start-up accelerator centres that is the main interest of my research is that they try to respond to the demand shaped in the world about the necessity of innovation- related issues. Start-up accelerator is an organization that support start-ups to work on their innovative idea and successfully transform it into commercial products and services. They assist in reinforcing innovation process through the adoption of structured and systematic program. Based on research accounts of the effective role of start-up accelerators in facilitating start-ups’ innovation process, the researcher proposes to probe into the functions of such companies to yield crucial data about their role and significance in the commercialisation of new ideas proposed by start-ups. To help identify the characteristics, functions, and mechanisms which work in start-up accelerators and accelerate the start-ups’ success in commercialisation, the researcher will conduct ‘critical realism’ philosophy and ‘realist review’ methodology to deeply evaluate the acceleration program.https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuposters/1022/thumbnail.jp

Relationship between Total Quality Management, Knowledge Transfer and Knowledge Diffusion in the Academic Settings

AbstractIn the emerging knowledge economy, universities play a critical role in knowledge transfer and knowledge diffusion of their research findings to the industry. Using the Total Quality Management opens a new horizon in higher education settings in order to facilitate knowledge transfer process and institutionalize its diffusion in the industrial contexts. In doing so, the main purpose of this study is to investigate total quality management practices affecting knowledge transfer and knowledge diffusion in the academic settings. The method used in this study is a correlation method, and structural equation modeling (SEM) are utilized to analyze the data by means of the path analysis. The research instrument is the questionnaire. The study's participants are a sample of all graduate students, PhD student and Professors of three departments at Shiraz University, Iran; of which 169 persons randomly selected as examples of expertise. The findings of the study indicated a significant relation between learning, Autonomy, as the TQM practices and knowledge transfer, and between knowledge transfer and knowledge diffusion. The study also pointed out that among the TQM practices, learning and Employee Fulfillment, have the significant correlation with knowledge diffusio

Molecular basis of antiviral immune responses in teleost fish

In addition to the importance of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) and Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) for fisheries or aquaculture of several countries including Canada, these species are valuable for comparative immunological studies. The Atlantic cod possesses a unique immune system among many teleosts, and the Atlantic salmon may serve as a molecular model for genomics studies in salmonids. Several aspects of the immune response in these species are yet to be determined, and a broader picture of the immune responses of Atlantic cod and Atlantic salmon may enhance the health management of wild or farmed populations of these species. With respect to the importance of macrophages in innate immune responses, the objectives of my thesis were to use a macrophage model and genomics approaches to enhance our understanding of the antiviral immune response of Atlantic cod, and to profile the transcriptome of the dietary fatty acid-dependent and antiviral responses of Atlantic salmon. In Chapter 2, I used microarray and quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analyses to identify and validate several antiviral biomarker genes encoding receptors, signal transducers, transcription factors and immune effectors in Atlantic cod macrophages. This study revealed that the antiviral immune responses of Atlantic cod macrophages may be activated downstream of RIG-I-like receptor (RLR)- and Toll-like receptor (TLR)-dependent pathways. Chapter 3 fully characterised Atlantic cod viperin, one of the putative interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) identified in Chapter 2. I found Atlantic cod viperin to be an evolutionarily conserved gene with an antiviral response that is regulated through endosomal-TLRs-, protein kinase R (PKR), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)- and interferon (IFN)-mediated pathways. Using deep sequencing and gene expression analysis, Chapter 4 profiled the immune-related microRNAs (miRNAs) of Atlantic cod macrophages, and discovered both evolutionarily-conserved and teleost-specific miRNAs playing roles in the antiviral immune response of macrophages of this species. Concerning the immune-related functions of omega (n)-3 and n-6 fatty acids, Chapter 5 used an ex vivo model to evaluate if varying levels of dietary n-3 and n-6 fatty acids influence the antiviral responses of Atlantic salmon macrophage-like cells (MLCs). Chapter 5 showed that different levels of dietary n-3 and n-6 fatty acids change the fatty acid composition of head kidney leukocytes, and it identified fatty acid-dependent immune-related biomarkers in Atlantic salmon MLCs. Moreover, this chapter identified a large number of biomarker transcripts activated by RLR, TLR, MAPK and IFN pathways during the antiviral response of Atlantic salmon MLCs. This thesis contributed significantly to the development of a comprehensive picture of the genes, non-coding RNAs and regulating pathways involved in antiviral immune responses of teleosts. In addition, my thesis enhances the general understanding of the immunomodulatory functions of dietary n-3 fatty acids in Atlantic salmon. The novel results generated by this thesis contribute molecular biomarkers that may be used in future immunological studies to aid in the development of aquafeeds and other health management tools for teleosts

Knowledge Transfer and Academic Writing: English Writing Errors in Medical Writing of Iranian Authors

A lower frequency of writing errors facilitates the process of knowledge transfer. In this study, we scrutinized the medical journals highlighting the most frequent and critical writing errors in published medical papers of Iranian English journals. As a sample, 25 published articles were randomly selected from recent issues of five Iranian medical English ISI journals (2019).  The frequency of discourse, lexical, grammatical, and mechanical errors was identified. In all five journals, more than 50% of errors are related to grammatical errors. The highest frequency of grammatical errors was in articles (79%), and the singular/plural errors had the lowest frequency in this category. Of Mechanical errors, the highest and the lowest errors were assigned to comma usage (25%) and spacing (5%), respectively. The discourse errors had the third position of error frequency among the journals (7.8%).   Also, the lexical portion was without error in these journals. Moreover, there is a statistically significant relationship between the impact factors of journals and Grammatical errors (P<0.001). Statistically, no significant relationship was observed between Mechanical errors and the impact factors of journals (P= 0.57). The highest error frequency among the main sections of articles (introduction, method, result, discussion) was in the discussion section (42.6%), and the lowest error frequency was in the result section (15%). These shortages arose from the difference between the grammars of two languages (native and target language) and the unfamiliarity of academic authors from these linguistic points. Adequate language proficiency and proper use of grammar could help the authors to transfer their knowledge efficiently. The findings of this study can help minimize some language-related difficulties in writing scientific papers in all fields of study. https://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1.20088302.2021.19.2.12.

A Web-Based Auction Design for Mass Customization of Services

Mass customization provides customers with the ability to design products and services according to their individual needs through highly flexible processes. In the context of services, this approach calls for the effective allocation of limited service capacity in order to meet customer requirements, thereby increases customers’ value on a product in terms of its available options, price, and schedule. In this thesis, we introduce a web-based auction design for the mass customization of services under capacity constraints. The proposed system design integrates customers’ decision making with a decentralized service customization process through a web-based auction model. This web-based auction system is implemented using an iterative bidding procedure in order to maximize the overall customer value given limited capacity. Experimental results indicate that the solutions obtained from our web-based auction closely approximate those of the optimal outcome. Moreover, it was found that reductions to services customizability significantly decreased customer overall value and auction revenue

Thermal Properties of Oxides With Magnetoplumbite Structure for Advanced Thermal Barrier Coatings

Oxides having magnetoplumbite structure are promising candidate materials for applications as high temperature thermal barrier coatings because of their high thermal stability, high thermal expansion, and low thermal conductivity. In this study, powders of LaMgAl11O19, GdMgAl11O19, SmMgAl11O19, and Gd0.7Yb0.3MgAl11O19 magnetoplumbite oxides were synthesized by citric acid sol-gel method and hot pressed into disk specimens. The thermal expansion coefficients (CTE) of these oxide materials were measured from room temperature to 1500 C. The average CTE value was found to be approx.9.6x10(exp -6)/C. Thermal conductivity of these magnetoplumbite-based oxide materials was also evaluated using steady-state laser heat flux test method. The effects of doping on thermal properties were also examined. Thermal conductivity of the doped Gd0.7Yb0.3MgAl11O19 composition was found to be lower than that of the undoped GdMgAl11O19. In contrast, thermal expansion coefficient was found to be independent of the oxide composition and appears to be controlled by the magnetoplumbite crystal structure. Thermal conductivity testing of LaMgAl11O19 and LaMnAl11O19 magnetoplumbite oxide coatings plasma sprayed on NiCrAlY/Rene N5 superalloy substrates indicated resistance of these coatings to sintering even at temperatures as high as 1600 C

Broad Band Equal-Length And Equal-Width Substrate Integrated Waveguide Four Channel Power Divider

In this letter a novel broad band substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) power divider is proposed. It consist of four output channels made by SIW with equal length and equal width. Design equations and process are given with mathematical analysis. The propagation constant of the output signals have been adjusted by utilize only four via in the middle of the output arms. As a result a novel equal output power divider, is obtained accordingly. The experimental results of a prototype at 10 GHz shows 3.1 GHz bandwidth in both simulation and measurement results. Return loss and transmission coefficients have good agreement with simulation results in considered band

ASPERGILLUS MONITORING PROJECT IN A LARGE EDUCATIONAL HOSPITAL USING MOLECULAR

Our main object was to use a rapid and cheap molecular method for monitoring of Aspergillus infections and epidemiological approaches. Different molecular methods such as restriction fragment length polymorphism based on amplification of ribosomal RNA have been employed to identify Aspergilli in the level of species. The subject of our study was a group of hospitalized patients with clinical and subclinical signs of infection. All of the collected clinical specimens were transported to the medical mycology lab and examined for Aspergillus identification. Environmental specimens were collected from air and surfaces inspected for the Aspergillus hospital sources. A morphological study was firstly performed including; growth characteristics and microscopic features of Aspergillus species on mycological media for the identification. For the confirmation of Aspergillus isolates which similarly found in clinical and environmental sources, molecular method polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism was carried out. From the mentioned specimens, 110 fungal isolates included Candida spp., Aspergillus spp. and other fungi. Among the clinical isolates of Aspergilli; Aspergillus flavus (47%), Aspergillus fumigatus (29.4%) and Aspergillus niger (23.6%) were the most frequent species respectively, and also environmental Aspergillus isolates were Aspergillus niger (43.7%), Aspergillus flavus (41.8%), Aspergillus fumigatus (14.7%). Because of facility in use, speed and high sensitivity of diagnosis, the polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism with a single restriction enzyme was very useful in identification of medically important Aspergillus spp

LPS modulates the expression of iron-related immune genes in two Antarctic notothenoids

The non-specific immunity can induce iron deprivation as a defense mechanism against potential bacterial pathogens, but little information is available as to its role in Antarctic fish. In this study the response of iron metabolism related genes was evaluated in liver and head kidney of the Antarctic notothenoids Notothenia coriiceps and Notothenia rossii 7 days after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection. Average plasma Fe2+ concentration was unaffected by treatment in any of the species. The gene expression response to LPS varied between tissues and species, being stronger in N. coriiceps and more prominent in the head kidney than liver. The reaction to LPS was marked by increased individual variability in most genes analyzed, even when the change in expression was not statistically significant, suggesting different individual sensitivity and coping responses in these wild fish. We found that iron related genes had an attenuated and homogenous response to LPS but there was no detectable relationship between plasma Fe2+ and gene expression. However, overall in both tissues and species LPS exposure set a multilevel response that concur to promote intracellular accumulation of iron, an indication that Antarctic Notothenoids use innate nutritional immunity as a resistance mechanism against pathogens.FCT-NSFC/0002/2016; CCMAR/Multi/04326/2013; PTDC/BIAANM/3484/2014info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Characterization and Transcript Expression Analyses of Atlantic Cod Viperin

Viperin is a key antiviral effector in immune responses of vertebrates including the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). Using cloning, sequencing and gene expression analyses, we characterized the Atlantic cod viperin at the nucleotide and hypothetical amino acid levels, and its regulating factors were investigated. Atlantic cod viperin cDNA is 1,342 bp long, and its predicted protein contains 347 amino acids. Using in silico analyses, we showed that Atlantic cod viperin is composed of 5 exons, as in other vertebrate orthologs. In addition, the radical SAM domain and C-terminal sequences of the predicted Viperin protein are highly conserved among various species. As expected, Atlantic cod Viperin was most closely related to other teleost orthologs. Using computational modeling, we show that the Atlantic cod Viperin forms similar overall protein architecture compared to mammalian Viperins. qPCR revealed that viperin is a weakly expressed transcript during embryonic development of Atlantic cod. In adults, the highest constitutive expression of viperin transcript was found in blood compared with 18 other tissues. Using isolated macrophages and synthetic dsRNA (pIC) stimulation, we tested various immune inhibitors to determine the possible regulating pathways of Atlantic cod viperin. Atlantic cod viperin showed a comparable pIC induction to other well-known antiviral genes (e.g., interferon gamma and interferon-stimulated gene 15-1) in response to various immune inhibitors. The pIC induction of Atlantic cod viperin was significantly inhibited with 2-Aminopurine, Chloroquine, SB202190, and Ruxolitinib. Therefore, endosomal-TLR-mediated pIC recognition and signal transducers (i.e., PKR and p38 MAPK) downstream of the TLR-dependent pathway may activate the gene expression response of Atlantic cod viperin. Also, these results suggest that antiviral responses of Atlantic cod viperin may be transcriptionally regulated through the interferon-activated pathway