Estado atual do branding nas companhias spin-off e start-up acadêmicas: caso universidades públicas na Colômbia

The aim of this research is to describe the current state of branding processes that affect academic spin-off and start-up companies in Colombia. The findings are based on the case study of three academic spin-off companies and three academic start-up companies from three public universities in Colombia. The data is compiled from semi-structured interviews with the companies’ founders and is analyzed using the qualitative content analysis methodology. Bresciani & Eppler’s (2010) model of analysis of branding for SMEs was used. The results show the importance of branding activities for the companies studied. New factors were identified as being relevant and specific to the process of branding in academic spin-offs and start-ups: the absence of marketing departments, publicity as the principal means of affecting the brand, the figure of the entrepreneur as “live representation” of the brand, recruitment processes and the importance of backing from the university brand. It was found that the factors that have not driven or allowed branding activities in these companies are the lack of financial resources, the lack of knowledge in this field or the undervaluing of branding. Finally, the cyclical process of branding of this type of companies is described.Esta investigación tiene como fin describir el estado actual de los procesos de branding que efectúan las empresas tipo spin-off y start-upacadémicas en Colombia. Los hallazgos están basados en el estudio de caso de tres empresas tipo spin-off académico y tres start-upacadémico, provenientes de tres universidades públicas colombianas. Los datos son recopilados a través de entrevistas semiestructuradas aplicadas a los fundadores de las compañías, y a su vez analizados mediante la metodología de análisis de contenido cualitativo. Se empleó el modelo de análisis de branding para PYME descrito por Bresciani y Eppler (2010). Los resultados muestran la importancia de las actividades de branding para las empresas estudiadas. Nuevos factores fueron detectados como relevantes y particulares para los procesos de brandingen las spin-off y start-up académicas: la ausencia de departamentos de mercadeo, las actividades publicitarias como medio principal para efectuar presencia de marca, la figura del emprendedor como “representación viva” de la marca, los procesos de selección de personal y la importancia del respaldo de marca de la universidad. Se encontró que los factores que no han impulsado o permitido actividades de brandingen las empresas son la falta de recursos financieros, el desconocimiento del tema y la subvaloración de este. Finalmente se describió el proceso cíclico para el branding de la categoría de empresas analizadas.Esta pesquisa tem como finalidade descrever o estado atual dos processos de branding que efetuam as empresas tipo spin-off e start-up acadêmicas na Colômbia. Os achados estão baseados no estudo de caso de três empresas tipo spin-off acadêmico e três start-up acadêmico, provenientes de três universidades públicas colombianas. Os dados são recopilados através de entrevistas semiestruturadas aplicadas aos fundadores das companhias, e a sua vez analisados mediante a metodologia de análise de conteúdo qualitativo. Utilizou-se o modelo de análise de branding para PYME descrito por Bresciani & Eppler (2010). Os resultados mostram a importância das atividades de branding para as empresas estudadas. Novos fatores foram detectados como relevantes e particulares para os processos de branding nos spin-off e start up acadêmicos: a ausência de departamentos de marketing, as atividades publicitárias como meio principal para efetuar presença de marca, a figura do empreendedor como “representação viva” da marca, os processos de seleção de pessoal e a importância do respaldo de marca da universidade.  Encontrou-se que os fatores que não têm impulsionado ou permitido atividades de branding nas empresas são a falta de recursos financeiros, o desconhecimento do tema e a sub-valoração deste. Finalmente se descreveu o processo cíclico para o branding da categoria de empresas analisadas

Design of an Information System for optimizing the Programming of nursing work shifts

Health institutions operate twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. They face a demand that fluctuates daily. Unlike jobs with fixed hours and obligatory days off, in health, operational continuity is required. The allocation for nursing shifts generates a rotation of people for health services according to legal and casuistic guidelines. Assigning and planning shifts results in a workload that takes an average of five to six extra hours. Existing applications offer a partial solution because they do not consider the news and contingencies of a health service. A web application is presented that, given a list of nurses, historical shifts and restrictions, a work shift planning is generated. This application comes to support the current shift allocation method based on electronic spreadsheets. The development consists of two modules. The first module has a shift allocation algorithm developed in C ++ and the second module has a graphical interface. As a case study, a set of health services from Chile and Colombia was used. The services have a defined number of nurses, who work different shifts according to the role and need of the institution. The results obtained are similar to a historical one. The proposed system takes less time and delivers various files and parameters that can be useful for nurses, the service and the health institutio

The tumor-targeted CD40 agonist CEA-CD40 promotes T cell priming via a dual mode of action by increasing antigen delivery to dendritic cells and enhancing their activation

Tumor-targeted CD40 agonism represents an attractive strategy for cancer immunotherapy (CIT) as it promotes dendritic cell (DC) activation and concomitant tumor-specific T cell priming without causing systemic side effects. We developed the bispecific CD40 agonistic antibody CEA-CD40, which triggers CD40 stimulation exclusively in the presence of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), a glycoprotein specifically expressed on tumor cells. In this study, we demonstrate that CEA-CD40 can enable potent in vitro DC activation and consecutive T cell cross-priming in a CEA-specific manner. Furthermore, we provide evidence that CEA-CD40 increases colocalization of CEA$^{+}$ tumor material and DCs. Using CEA$^{+}$ tumor-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs), which are known to be an excellent tumor antigen source, we show that CEA-CD40 mediates delivery of CEA$^{+}$ EVs to DCs. Importantly, our data indicates that this fosters acquisition of tumor EV major histocompatibility complex I/peptide complexes by DCs, consequently improving CD8$^{+}$ T cell priming against EV-associated antigen in vitro. Thus, we provide mechanistic evidence for a dual mode of action of CEA-CD40 for CIT: we suggest that CEA-CD40 has the potential to activate DCs and in addition can promote their loading with tumor antigen derived from EVs to trigger tumor-specific T cell cross-priming

The strength of density‐dependent mortality is contingent on climate and seedling size

QuestionsDensity‐dependent processes may promote species diversity in plant communities. Here, we tested whether seedling survival was density‐dependent and varied by seedling size, species and climatic factors.LocationTropical rain forest, Xishuangbanna, southwest China.MethodsGeneralized linear mixed‐effects models were used to examine seedling survival (232 tree species) across 9 years of seedling census data from a 20‐ha tropical forest dynamics plot. Our predictor variables were conspecific and heterospecific neighbour density, size of the seedling and annual variation in climatic factors.ResultsWe found significant negative effects of conspecific tree density, but positive effects of heterospecific seedling density on the survival of tree seedlings in this plot. In general, conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD) was observed most frequently for large size classes of seedlings (≥20‐cm high), while heterospecific positive density dependence (HPDD) was similar at all size classes. CNDD for large seedlings was stronger during warm years, and HPDD for large seedlings was stronger during dry years.ConclusionsOur study suggests that the strength of density dependence varied through time, and this strength was influenced by water availability and temperature. Our results highlight the potential for changes in species composition and species co‐existence that could result from increasing temperature‐strengthening CNDD effects and decreasing precipitation strengthening HPDD effects.In this study, we tested the correlation between the strength of density dependence and climatic conditions across 9 years of censuses. We found the strength of density dependence fluctuates and is significantly correlated with temperature and precipitation. Our study highlights the alteration of the strength of density dependence with climate change which will alter community composition in tropical forest.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145578/1/jvs12645.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145578/2/jvs12645_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145578/3/jvs12645-sup-0001-AppendixS1.pd

Large‐ and small‐seeded species have contrasting functional neighborhoods in a subtropical forest

Forest community composition is the outcome of multiple forces, including those that increase taxonomic and functional divergence and those that promote convergence in traits. The mechanisms underlying these forces may not operate homogenously within communities; individuals of different species are never perfectly mixed, and thus, species tend to be surrounded and interact with different subsets of species. In fact, taxonomic and functional composition of neighborhoods of different focal species can be highly variable. Here, we examine whether mechanisms driving species‐level neighborhoods relate to intrinsic characteristics of focal species such as differences in life‐history and resource‐uptake strategies and in turn relate to species survival. We focus on two key characteristics: (1) seed mass, which defines a dominant axis of life‐history strategies related to stress tolerance, and (2) understory light preferences that sort species from light‐demanding pioneers to shade‐tolerant. We monitored seedling communities over 10 yr in Puerto Rico and calculated neighborhood trait dispersion in species‐level neighborhoods using seven functional traits. We examined whether species‐level characteristics, seed mass and preferred light conditions, influence patterns of functional dispersion in seedling neighborhoods using linear models. Then, we examined how species‐level functional neighborhoods impact seedling survival. We found that small‐ and large‐seeded species diverge in the type of functional neighborhoods they associate with. Large‐seeded species associate with neighbors that are more similar than expected in leaf economic traits, but more different than expected in seed mass and leaf area traits, while the opposite was found for small‐seeded species. This variation in species functional neighborhood was important in determining seedling survival. In sum, our results suggest that divergent and convergent forces do not operate homogenously over entire communities. Their relative role changes in space, and on a species‐by‐species basis, probably with a deterministic foundation linked to traits such as seed mass

Centralized Modularity of N-Linked Glycosylation Pathways in Mammalian Cells

Glycosylation is a highly complex process to produce a diverse repertoire of cellular glycans that are attached to proteins and lipids. Glycans are involved in fundamental biological processes, including protein folding and clearance, cell proliferation and apoptosis, development, immune responses, and pathogenesis. One of the major types of glycans, N-linked glycans, is formed by sequential attachments of monosaccharides to proteins by a limited number of enzymes. Many of these enzymes can accept multiple N-linked glycans as substrates, thereby generating a large number of glycan intermediates and their intermingled pathways. Motivated by the quantitative methods developed in complex network research, we investigated the large-scale organization of such N-linked glycosylation pathways in mammalian cells. The N-linked glycosylation pathways are extremely modular, and are composed of cohesive topological modules that directly branch from a common upstream pathway of glycan synthesis. This unique structural property allows the glycan production between modules to be controlled by the upstream region. Although the enzymes act on multiple glycan substrates, indicating cross-talk between modules, the impact of the cross-talk on the module-specific enhancement of glycan synthesis may be confined within a moderate range by transcription-level control. The findings of the present study provide experimentally-testable predictions for glycosylation processes, and may be applicable to therapeutic glycoprotein engineering