Knowledge transfer opportunities for the bioscience sector in Chile.

In this article, the movement of knowledge and discoveries that take place in Chile, between academia and industry is reviewed. Examples of knowledge transfer activities, such as training, consultancy, contract and collaborative research as well as licensing relating to Chile’s bioscience sector are presented. In addition, a knowledge transfer ‘fitness’ index of Chile’s six leading universities is derived and analyzed. As a result, an approach for obtaining efficient knowledge transfer activities tailored to the biotechnology industry in Chile is proposed. Indeed, it is recommended that universities that lack intellectual property rights or knowledge transfer capacity concentrate their efforts in developing tailor made consultancy services, focused on biotechnology projects that could be turned into research collaborations with biotechnology companies. Finally, a number of useful information resources about the developments currently taking place in the biotechnology sector in Chile as well as a detail description of the mutual long term benefits of research collaborations to industry and academia are offered.En este artículo, la transferencia de conocimiento y de los descubrimientos que se realizan en Chile, entre la academia y la industria. Ejemplos de actividades de transferencia tecnológica, tales como entrenamiento, consultorías, contratos e investigación colaborativa como también el licenciamiento relacionado con el sector de las Biociencias en Chile son presentados. Adicionalmente se presenta un índice de “salud” de transferencia del conocimiento derivado del análisis de las seis Universidades líderes. Como resultado, se propone una aproximación para la obtención de actividades eficientes de transferencia tecnológica, ajustadas a la industria biotecnológica chilena. Así también se recomienda que las Universidades que carecen de derechos de propiedad intelectual o de capacidad de transferencia tecnológica, concentren sus esfuerzos en el desarrollo de servicios de consultoría, enfocados en los proyectos de biotecnología que podrían transformarse en investigaciones colaborativas con las compañías biotecnológicas. Finalmente, se ofrecen un número de fuentes de información útil acerca de los desarrollos que usualmente toman lugar en el sector biotecnológico en Chile, como también una descripción en detalle de los beneficios mutuos a largo plazo de las investigaciones colaborativas.In this article, the movement of knowledge and discoveries that take place in Chile, between academia and industry is reviewed. Examples of knowledge transfer activities, such as training, consultancy, contract and collaborative research as well as licensing relating to Chile’s bioscience sector are presented. In addition, a knowledge transfer ‘fitness’ index of Chile’s six leading universities is derived and analyzed. As a result, an approach for obtaining efficient knowledge transfer activities tailored to the biotechnology industry in Chile is proposed. Indeed, it is recommended that universities that lack intellectual property rights or knowledge transfer capacity concentrate their efforts in developing tailor made consultancy services, focused on biotechnology projects that could be turned into research collaborations with biotechnology companies. Finally, a number of useful information resources about the developments currently taking place in the biotechnology sector in Chile as well as a detail description of the mutual long term benefits of research collaborations to industry and academia are offered

Rolling-sliding laboratory tests of friction modifiers in dry and wet wheel-rail contacts

Friction management has been carried out extensively in the majority of railway networks in the last few years. A popular practice is the application of friction modifiers to increase the adhesion level in contaminated wheel-rail contacts. Two friction modifiers have particularly been used or tested on several railway networks as adhesion enhancers to facilitate the traction and braking operation under poor adhesion conditions. However, for assessment of the performance the railway operators and infrastructure managers mostly rely on practical observations that do not elucidate completely the effectiveness and side effects of these adhesion enhancers. In this paper, the constituents of the two friction modifiers are identified and the solid components are analyzed. A twin-disk roller rig has been used to study their performance in dry and wet contacts under closely controlled laboratory conditions. The adhesion characteristics of both friction modifiers are examined for different slip ratios. Furthermore, the wheel and rail disks are examined after a series of dry tests to analyze the mass loss, the surface damage, the change in surface hardness and roughness, and the subsurface deformation caused by the friction modifiers compared to dry clean contacts. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Cyclic Stochastic Optimization: Generalizations, Convergence, and Applications in Multi-Agent Systems

Stochastic approximation (SA) is a powerful class of iterative algorithms for nonlinear root-finding that can be used for minimizing a loss function, L(θ), with respect to a parameter vector θ, when only noisy observations of L(θ) or its gradient are available (through the natural connection between root-finding and minimization); SA algorithms can be thought of as stochastic line search methods where the entire parameter vector is updated at each iteration. The cyclic approach to SA is a variant of SA procedures where θ is divided into multiple subvectors that are updated one at a time in a cyclic manner. This dissertation focuses on studying the asymptotic properties of cyclic SA and of the generalized cyclic SA (GCSA) algorithm, a variant of cyclic SA where the subvector to update may be selected according to a random variable or according to a predetermined pattern, and where the noisy update direction can be based on the updates of any SA algorithm (e.g., stochastic gradient, Kiefer–Wolfowitz, or simultaneous perturbation SA). The convergence of GCSA, asymptotic normality of GCSA (related to rate of convergence), and efficiency of GCSA relative to its non-cyclic counterpart are investigated both analytically and numerically. Specifically, conditions are obtained for the convergence with probability one of the GCSA iterates and for the asymptotic normality of the normalized iterates of a special case of GCSA. Further, an analytic expression is given for the asymptotic relative efficiency (when efficiency is defined in terms of mean squared error) between a special case of GCSA and its non-cyclic counterpart. Finally, an application of the cyclic SA scheme to a multi-agent stochastic optimization problem is investigated. This dissertation also contains two appendices. The first appendix generalizes Theorem 2.2 in Fabian (1968) (a seminal paper in the SA literature that derives general conditions for the asymptotic normality of SA procedures) to make the result more applicable to some modern applications of SA including (but not limited to) the GCSA algorithm, certain root-finding SA algorithms, and certain second-order SA algorithms. The second appendix considers the problem of determining the presence and location of a static object within an area of interest by combining information from multiple sensors using a maximum-likelihood-based approach

Design of mimotopes of a conserved epitope in dengue and Zika viruses for the obtention of broadly neutralizing antibodies

Zika and dengue viruses are members of the Flavivirus genus that share many structural and pathological characteristics. They cause mild fever, rash and general body pain but can cause severe reactions, as hemorrhages (dengue virus), congenital syndrome (Zika virus), or even death. After an infection, virus-specific antibodies are generated by the immune system; however, because of the structural similarity between these viruses, some antibodies can cross-react with different members of the flavivirus family. After a secondary infection, the cross-reactive antibodies can lead to the more severe forms of the disease, through a mechanism named antibody-dependent enhancement of infection (ADE). Recently, some broadly neutralizing antibodies (antibodies that neutralize both, dengue and Zika, viruses), have been isolated and it has been demonstrated that they do not induce ADE. These antibodies are directed to a discontinuous quaternary epitope named the Envelope Dimer Epitope (EDE)1, located in the envelope (E) protein of both viruses. To obtain EDE, it is necessary to express the complete E protein, which contains other epitopes that induce ADE. This study aims to generate peptides that emulate the EDE epitope structure (mimotopes) without inducing ADE, and study its capacity to elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies against dengue and Zika viruses, to obtain a vaccine candidate for both viruses. Please click Download on the upper right corner to see the full abstract

The cluster initial mass function of the M82 disk Super Star Clusters

The presence of a population of a large number ($\sim$400) of almost coeval (100--300 Myr) super star clusters (SSCs) in the disk of M82 offers an opportunity to construct the Cluster Initial Mass Function (CIMF) from the observed present-day Cluster Mass Function (CMF). We carry out the dynamical and photometric evolution of the CMF assuming the clusters move in circular orbits under the gravitational potential of the host galaxy using the semi-analytical simulation code EMACSS. We explore power-law and log-normal functions for the CIMFs, and populate the clusters in the disk assuming uniform, power-law, and exponential radial distribution functions. We find that the observed CMF is best produced by a CIMF that is power-law in form with an index of 1.8, for a power-law radial distribution function. More importantly, we establish that the observed turn-over in the present-day CMF is the result of observational incompleteness rather than due to dynamically induced effects, or an intrinsically log-normal CIMF, as was proposed for the fossil starburst region B of this galaxy. Our simulations naturally reproduce the mass-radius relation observed for a sub-sample of M82 SSCs.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, accepted to be published on MNRA

Design of mimotopes of a conserved epitope in dengue and Zika viruses for the obtention of broadly neutralizing antibodies

Zika and dengue viruses are members of the Flavivirus genus that share many structural and pathological characteristics. They cause mild fever, rash and general body pain but can cause severe reactions, as hemorrhages (dengue virus), congenital syndrome (Zika virus), or even death. After an infection, virus-specific antibodies are generated by the immune system; however, because of the structural similarity between these viruses, some antibodies can cross-react with different members of the flavivirus family. After a secondary infection, the cross-reactive antibodies can lead to the more severe forms of the disease, through a mechanism named antibody-dependent enhancement of infection (ADE). Recently, some broadly neutralizing antibodies (antibodies that neutralize both, dengue and Zika, viruses), have been isolated and it has been demonstrated that they do not induce ADE. These antibodies are directed to a discontinuous quaternary epitope named the Envelope Dimer Epitope (EDE)1, located in the envelope (E) protein of both viruses. To obtain EDE, it is necessary to express the complete E protein, which contains other epitopes that induce ADE. This study aims to generate peptides that emulate the EDE epitope structure (mimotopes) without inducing ADE, and study its capacity to elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies against dengue and Zika viruses, to obtain a vaccine candidate for both viruses. Please click Download on the upper right corner to see the full abstract

INTEROPERABILIDAD ENTRE LENGUAJES DE PROGRAMACIÓN

Este artículo tiene como finalidad explicar de qué manera se da la interoperabilidad entre los lenguajes de programación desarrollados o modificados para la tecnología .NET. Esta nueva forma de desarrollo de software, conocida también como programación de lenguaje mixto, se trata de que el código generado por un lenguaje pueda funcionar fácilmente  con el código generado por otro lenguaje. Este enfoque de desarrollo de programas hace que se faciliten las cosas para crear grandes sistemas distribuidos de software, para la programación orientada a componentes, ya que si un componente puede ser utilizado por la mayor variedad posible de lenguajes de computación y por el mayor número de entornos operativos, se considera, además de eficiente muy valioso (Schildt, 2003). La interoperabilidad entre lenguajes es la posibilidad de que el código interactúe con código escrito en un lenguaje de programación diferente. La interoperabilidad entre lenguajes puede ayudar a maximizar la reutilización de código y, por tanto, puede mejorar la eficacia del proceso de programación

Strategies to capture biotechnology opportunities in Chile

Two complementary strategies are proposed to help develop the biotechnology industry in Chile. The objectives of such propositions are based on identifying business opportunities, which can be transformed into biotechnology projects that complement the competitive advantages of the most active areas of the Chilean economy. As a result, the establishment of these initiatives may create the proper business environment where good information, investors'safeguards and economic incentives would be provided to encourage investors to support new biotechnology ventures focused on mining, aquaculture, forestry, as well as wine and fruit production. In addition, a complete description of the Chilean biotechnology industry is provided. Amongst other characteristics, this report shows that the industry lacks financial support from venture capital and foreign investors, has a relatively modest proportion of highly qualified employees that work in Research and Development, presents insufficient patent productivity and is mostly regulated in terms of the use of GMOs

COMPRESIÓN DE DATOS UTILIZANDO LA TEORÍA DE TESELAS

Esta investigación tiene como objetivo presentar un software que permita realizar la compresión de datos de un archivo, los cuales contengan cualquier tipo de información y que conjugando la teoría de las teselas con la teoría de compresión de datos, se pueda reducir el espacio de almacenamiento de un archivo de datos no importando el equipo de cómputo utilizado, su plataforma ni el sistema operativo instalado en dicha computadora. Según la teoría de teselas, una tesela es una regularidad o patrón de figuras que cubre o pavimenta completamente una superficie plana y tiene la característica de la auto similitud; si este concepto se aplica a un archivo de datos, encontramos ciertas cantidades de datos, que son autosimilares o teselas y se repiten varias veces durante todo el archivo; de forma que con una representación que se almacene y las demás sean referenciadas, en cierto momento se puede generar el archivo original sin perder ni un solo dato, con el consecuente ahorro de espacio en el disco duro

Design of a vaccine against dengue and Zika viruses based on a mimotope of the envelope dimer epitope

Zika and dengue viruses are members of the Flavivirus genus that cause mild fever, rash and general body pain; but can cause severe reactions, as hemorrhages (dengue virus), congenital syndrome (Zika virus), or even death. Because of the structural similarity between these viruses, some antibodies generated after an infection can cross-react with different members of the flavivirus family. After a secondary infection, the cross-reactive antibodies can lead to more severe forms of the disease, through a mechanism named antibody-dependent enhancement of infection (ADE). Broadly neutralizing antibodies are antibodies that neutralize both, dengue and Zika viruses; and it has been demonstrated that they do not induce ADE. These antibodies are directed to a discontinuous quaternary epitope named the Envelope Dimer Epitope (EDE)1, located in the envelope (E) protein. To obtain the EDE, it is necessary to express the complete E protein, which contains other epitopes that induce ADE. This study aims to generate a peptide that emulates the EDE epitope structure (mimotope) in order to be used as a dual vaccine against dengue and Zika viruses; without causing ADE. Please click Download on the upper right corner to see the full abstract