An Analysis Of The Techniques Of Technology Transfer

Technology transfer is an increasingly popular topic in today’s ultra competitive business environment. This popularity can be attributed to the fact that if utilized properly, it can not only strengthen a firm’s competitive advantage, but can also bolster the economy of a region or even country. Technology transfer is also advantageous to the academic’s world, as professors can gain funding for their research efforts and prestige for a university if they are able to have their technologies adopted by a business. This paper condenses a vast wealth of information on technology transfer into an easy to read compact format. It will first outline the reasons that technology transfer is not as widely used as it should be. Methods which academics and business professionals can use to enhance the possibility that technology transfer will occur will then be discussed

Future Directions Of Management Science And Operations Management In Business School Curricula

The fields of Management Science (MS) and Operations Management (OM) have co-existed in business school curricula for over a half century. This paper examines five trends that point toward a bright future for Operations Management in the business curriculum. These trends include an increasing emphasis on global competition, the growth of the supply chain as a competitive weapon, more participation from the Operations function in formulating business strategies, the continued dominance of the service sector over the manufacturing sector in developed economies, and increasing demand for general management skills over technical skills for business school graduates. The de-emphasis on technical skills and the fact that MS techniques have been subsumed into other functional areas indicates that the future of Management Science in the business curriculum may not be as bright

Operations Research And Operations Management: From Selective Optimization To System Optimization

The focus of this research paper is to discuss the development of Operations Management (OM) and Operations Research (OR) with respect to their use within the organization’s decision-making structure.  In addition, the difference in the tools and techniques of the two fields is addressed.  The question is raised as to how distinct the two academic fields have become in light of the application of their models to the service industry.  Suggestions are made regarding the possibility of incorporating OM/OR models and their output into the decision making structure of the organization towards the goal of “system optimization”

Performance Benchmarking: A Literature Review And Analysis For Atmospheric Fluidized Bed Combustion Plants

Gaining and maintaining a competitive edge is the key to success in all walks of life, both on the athletic field and in the boardroom.  This research paper will: (1) provide a background on the concept of benchmarking; and (2) present some examples of performance benchmarks for AFBC (atmospheric fluidized bed combustor) steam and power plants resulting from data collected during 1999

Development of an infectious clone system to study the life cycle of Hazara virus

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever orthonairovirus (CCHFV) is a negative sense single stranded RNA virus, capable of causing fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans. Currently, an infectious clone system exists for CCHFV, however, owing to the high containment level required for experimentation with this virus, its potential is limited. Here, a highly efficient infectious clone system was developed for recovery of Hazara virus (HAZV), the first such orthonairovirus system able to be used in biosafety level 2 facilities, providing a valuable tool for increasing our understanding of these viruses. Mechanisms of viral subversion of cellular trafficking pathways involved in viral entry, gene expression, assembly and egress are poorly understood for HAZV and CCHFV. The infectious clone system was adapted to express eGFP, enabling screening of an siRNA library targeting genes involved in cellular trafficking networks via live-cell fluorescent imaging, the first such screen for a nairovirus. Screening revealed an important role for subunits of the coat protein 1 vesicle coatomer (COPI), normally involved in regulation of Golgi / ER cargo trafficking. The effect was observed at multiple stages of the HAZV life cycle; an early stage prior to and including gene expression, and also a later stage during assembly and egress of infectious virus, with COPI-knockdown reducing titres by approximately 100-fold. In addition to gain of function mutations, such as the reporter virus discussed above, the infectious clone system represents a powerful tool for exploring the role of individual nucleotides, amino acids and entire open reading frames within the viral genome. Both CCHFV and HAZV contain a well-documented, highly conserved caspase cleavage motif on the apex of the arm domain on the nucleoprotein (N). Whilst previous literature has demonstrated this motif to be cleaved as purified protein, limited data exists as to its role in the context of viral replication in a cellular system. To this end, the infectious clone system described above was used to create a panel of mutants targeting this conserved caspase cleavage motifs within HAZV N. HAZV bearing an uncleavable DQVE sequence rescued efficiently with growth rates equivalent to those of wild-type virus in both mammalian and tick cells, showing this site was dispensable for virus multiplication. In contrast, substitution of the DQVD motif with the similarly uncleavable AQVA sequence could not be rescued despite repeated efforts. Together, these results highlight the importance of this caspase cleavage site in the HAZV life cycle but reveal the DQVD sequence performs a critical, as yet unknown, role aside from caspase cleavage

Installation of internal electric fields by non-redox active cations in transition metal complexes.

Local electric fields contribute to the high selectivity and catalytic activity in enzyme active sites and confined reaction centers in zeolites by modifying the relative energy of transition states, intermediates and/or products. Proximal charged functionalities can generate equivalent internal electric fields in molecular systems but the magnitude of their effect and impact on electronic structure has been minimally explored. To generate quantitative insight into installing internal fields in synthetic systems, we report an experimental and computational study using transition metal (M1) Schiff base complexes functionalized with a crown ether unit containing a mono- or dicationic alkali or alkaline earth metal ion (M2). The synthesis and characterization of the complexes M1 = Ni(ii) and M2 = Na+ or Ba2+ are reported. The electronic absorption spectra and density functional theory (DFT) calculations establish that the cations generate a robust electric field at the metal, which stabilizes the Ni-based molecular orbitals without significantly changing their relative energies. The stabilization is also reflected in the experimental Ni(ii/i) reduction potentials, which are shifted 0.12 V and 0.34 V positive for M2 = Na+ and Ba2+, respectively, compared to a complex lacking a proximal cation. To compare with the cationic Ni complexes, we also synthesized a series of Ni(salen) complexes modified in the 5' position with electron-donating and -withdrawing functionalities (-CF3, -Cl, -H, -tBu, and -OCH3). Data from this series of compounds provides further evidence that the reduction potential shifts observed in the cationic complexes are not due to inductive ligand effects. DFT studies were also performed on the previously reported monocationic and dicatonic Fe(ii)(CH3CN) and Fe(iii)Cl analogues of this system to analyze the impact of an anionic chloride on the electrostatic potential and electronic structure of the Fe site

An Analysis Of Energy Generating System Concerns

A primary focus of this research project was to collect and analyze data pertaining to operating and maintenance concerns being experienced by owners and operators of energy generating systems and the vendors who supply these systems.  An important purpose in collecting the information from these various groups was to provide some direction to research (both funded and unfunded) relating to specific energy generating system problems currently being experienced or anticipated in the future