ICT industry and resources based analysis of maintenance SME in the Central Europe

Highly competitive situation in Information and Communication technology (ICT) maintenance industry requires a precise analysis of all important factors and carefully defined company strategy which addresses each of these aspects. This paper presents a resource based analysis of family run SME, operating in IT parts and consumables market. In order to understand this complex view, it first describes the company background. It briefly presents the industry key success factors and company strategy of the SME. The value chain analysis helps to name the main organization’s capabilities and evaluates them in terms of costs and customer willingness to pay. Resource audit provides an analysis of key company tangible, intangible and human resources. The outcome of this audit shows that most of SME resources are of an intangible nature. Contrary to the higher mobility of today’s resources, intangible resources of SME such as company reputation, culture and strategic business relations, are mostly immobile and inimitable. Based on the audit all key resources and capabilities are appraised by their strength and importance relative to closest rivals. Results are presented in graph which recognizes the key strengths (family run business related) and weaknesses (IT and finance). The results of the resourced based analysis lead to recommendations for changes in order to create and retain competitive advantage.ICT, resource based analysis, resources, capabilities, strategy, SME, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, GA, IN,

First dedicated observations of runaway electrons in the COMPASS tokamak

Runaway electrons present an important part of the present efforts in nuclear fusion research with respect to the potential damage of the in-vessel components. The COMPASS tokamak a suitable tool for the studies of runaway electrons, due to its relatively low vacuum safety constraints, high experimental flexibility and the possibility of reaching the H-mode D-shaped plasmas. In this work, results from the first experimental COMPASS campaign dedicated to runaway electrons are presented and discussed in preliminary way. In particular, the first observation of synchrotron radiation and rather interesting raw magnetic data are shown

Early and Non-invasive Diagnosis of Aspergillosis Revealed by Infection Kinetics Monitored in a Rat Model

Background:Aspergillus fumigatus is a ubiquitous saprophytic airborne fungus responsible for more than one million deaths every year. The siderophores of A. fumigatus represent important virulence factors that contribute to the microbiome-metabolome dialog in a host. From a diagnostic point of view, the monitoring of Aspergillus secondary metabolites in urine of a host is promising due to the non-invasiveness, rapidity, sensitivity, and potential for standardization.Methods: Using a model of experimental aspergillosis in immunocompromised Lewis rats, the fungal siderophores ferricrocin (FC) and triacetylfusarinine C (TAFC) were monitored in rat urine before and after lung inoculation with A. fumigatus conidia. Molecular biomarkers in high-dose (HD) and low-dose (LD) infection models were separated using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and were detected by mass spectrometry (MS). In the current work, we corroborated the in vivo MS infection kinetics data with micro-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (μPET/CT) kinetics utilizing 68Ga-labeled TAFC.Results: In the HD model, the initial FC signal reflecting aspergillosis appeared as early as 4 h post-infection. The results from seven biological replicates showed exponentially increasing metabolite profiles over time. In A. fumigatus, TAFC was found to be a less produced biomarker that exhibited a kinetic profile identical to that of FC. The amount of siderophores contributed by the inoculating conidia was negligible and undetectable in the HD and LD models, respectively. In the μPET/CT scans, the first detectable signal in HD model was recorded 48 h post-infection. Regarding the MS assay, among nine biological replicates in the LD model, three animals did not develop any infection, while one animal experienced an exponential increase of metabolites and died on day 6 post-infection. All remaining animals had constant or random FC levels and exhibited few or no symptoms to the experiment termination. In the LD model, the TAFC concentration was not statistically significant, while the μPET/CT scan was positive as early as 6 days post-infection.Conclusion: Siderophore detection in rat urine by MS represents an early and non-invasive tool for diagnosing aspergillosis caused by A. fumigatus. μPET/CT imaging further determines the infection location in vivo and allows the visualization of the infection progression over time

Visualizing spatial lipid distribution in porcine lens by MALDI imaging high-resolution mass spectrometry

Peer reviewe

Spatial Distribution of Glycerophospholipids in the Ocular Lens

Peer reviewe

Gliotoxin, identified from a screen of fungal metabolites, disrupts 7SK snRNP, releases P-TEFb, and reverses HIV-1 latency

A leading pharmacological strategy toward HIV cure requires "shock" or activation of HIV gene expression in latently infected cells with latency reversal agents (LRAs) followed by their subsequent clearance. In a screen for novel LRAs, we used fungal secondary metabolites as a source of bioactive molecules. Using orthogonal mass spectrometry (MS) coupled to latency reversal bioassays, we identified gliotoxin (GTX) as a novel LRA. GTX significantly induced HIV-1 gene expression in latent ex vivo infected primary cells and in CD4+ T cells from all aviremic HIV-1+ participants. RNA sequencing identified 7SK RNA, the scaffold of the positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb) inhibitory 7SK small nuclear ribonucleoprotein (snRNP) complex, to be significantly reduced upon GTX treatment of CD4+ T cells. GTX directly disrupted 7SK snRNP by targeting La-related protein 7 (LARP7), releasing active P-TEFb, which phosphorylated RNA polymerase II (Pol II) C-terminal domain (CTD), inducing HIV transcription

ICT industry and resources based analysis of maintenance SME in the Central Europe

Highly competitive situation in Information and Communication technology (ICT) maintenance industry requires a precise analysis of all important factors and carefully defined company strategy which addresses each of these aspects. This paper presents a resource based analysis of family run SME, operating in IT parts and consumables market. In order to understand this complex view, it first describes the company background. It briefly presents the industry key success factors and company strategy of the SME. The value chain analysis helps to name the main organization’s capabilities and evaluates them in terms of costs and customer willingness to pay. Resource audit provides an analysis of key company tangible, intangible and human resources. The outcome of this audit shows that most of SME resources are of an intangible nature. Contrary to the higher mobility of today’s resources, intangible resources of SME such as company reputation, culture and strategic business relations, are mostly immobile and inimitable. Based on the audit all key resources and capabilities are appraised by their strength and importance relative to closest rivals. Results are presented in graph which recognizes the key strengths (family run business related) and weaknesses (IT and finance). The results of the resourced based analysis lead to recommendations for changes in order to create and retain competitive advantage

Impact of Nutrients on the Hoof Health in Cattle

Lameness is currently one of the most important and economically demanding diseases in cattle. It is manifested in a change in locomotion that is associated with lesions, especially the pelvic limbs. The disease of the hoof is painful, affecting the welfare of dairy cows. Important factors that influence the health of the limbs include nutrition, animal hygiene, stable technology, and genetic and breeding predispositions. Nutrition is one of the basic preventive factors affecting the quality and growth of the hoof horn, and the associated prevalence of hoof disease. The strength and structure of the hoof horn are affected by the composition of the feed ration (amino acids, minerals, vitamins, and toxic substances contaminating the feed ration, or arising in the feed ration as metabolites of fungi)