Water for thirsty industry

(11 page pamphlet

Service Systems and Service Innovation: Toward the Theory of Service Systems

Services have been regarded as something intangible, perishable, and heterogeneous so that it is difficult to measure the quality and productivity of them. Services also have long been considered non-productive economic activities. However, considering the recent growth of service industry across the world, it is imperative to study the very nature of service and its systems in the knowledge-based economy from an integrated perspective to improve the quality of life and effective economic development. For this, we in this study will develop a systematic way of understanding the nature service in the knowledge-based economy from a systems’ perspective and build an integrated theory of service systems which facilitates service innovation and improves service productivity. The proposed theory will provide the foundation for designing, producing, delivering, operating, maintaining, monitoring, and improving service systems, which in turn leads to service innovation and thus a sustainable economic growth with providing greater employment opportunities. This study will also provide researchers and companies with the basis for future study and guidelines to further service innovation

Volitional enhancement of firing synchrony and oscillation by neuronal operant conditioning: interaction with neurorehabilitation and brain-machine interface.

In this review, we focus on neuronal operant conditioning in which increments in neuronal activities are directly rewarded without behaviors. We discuss the potential of this approach to elucidate neuronal plasticity for enhancing specific brain functions and its interaction with the progress in neurorehabilitation and brain-machine interfaces. The key to-be-conditioned activities that this paper emphasizes are synchronous and oscillatory firings of multiple neurons that reflect activities of cell assemblies. First, we introduce certain well-known studies on neuronal operant conditioning in which conditioned enhancements of neuronal firing were reported in animals and humans. These studies demonstrated the feasibility of volitional control over neuronal activity. Second, we refer to the recent studies on operant conditioning of synchrony and oscillation of neuronal activities. In particular, we introduce a recent study showing volitional enhancement of oscillatory activity in monkey motor cortex and our study showing selective enhancement of firing synchrony of neighboring neurons in rat hippocampus. Third, we discuss the reasons for emphasizing firing synchrony and oscillation in neuronal operant conditioning, the main reason being that they reflect the activities of cell assemblies, which have been suggested to be basic neuronal codes representing information in the brain. Finally, we discuss the interaction of neuronal operant conditioning with neurorehabilitation and brain-machine interface (BMI). We argue that synchrony and oscillation of neuronal firing are the key activities required for developing both reliable neurorehabilitation and high-performance BMI. Further, we conclude that research of neuronal operant conditioning, neurorehabilitation, BMI, and system neuroscience will produce findings applicable to these interrelated fields, and neuronal synchrony and oscillation can be a common important bridge among all of them

EXPLORING THE LINKAGES BETWEEN FIRM INTERACTIVITY, INNOVATION, AND IMPROVED BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

In today’s dynamic and hypercompetitive business environment, knowledge and innovation have emerged as bases for sustained competitive advantage. This paper addresses two specific research questions. First, we ask, “What is the effect that firm interactivity has on various types of innovation?” As we address this question, we explain that interactivity helps firms create knowledge, which then promotes and enables innovation. Second, we ask, “How do the various types of innovation impact firm performance?” We develop a research model and a set of hypotheses from the basis of organizational knowledge creation theory and the knowledge-based view of the firm. We test this model using survey data, and find that interactivity is positively associated with innovation. We also find that several types of innovation, including service innovation, process innovation, and organizational innovation have a positive impact on firm performance

Factors influencing the health satisfaction of users of public health and medical institutions in South Korea

IntroductionIn this study, we investigated the health satisfaction levels of users of regional health and medical institutions in South Korea and the influencing factors.MethodsWe included randomly selected 300 people with experience in using health and medical institutions from panel data targeting the entire nation. We used questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L) and sociodemographic characteristics to analyze the health satisfaction. EQ-5D-5L was used to measure health-related quality of life in five areas: mobility, self-management, daily activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression. Hierarchical linear regression analysis was performed in three steps to examine the factors influencing health satisfaction.ResultsThe analysis showed that the health satisfaction was positively (+) correlated with monthly income, mobility, self-management, daily life, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression, and negatively (−) correlated with the number of chronic diseases and type of health insurance. The influencing factors in Step 1 and 2 were chronic diseases (β = −0.380, −0.385), respectively. The influencing factors in Step 3 were pain/discomfort (β = 0.202), anxiety/depression (β = 0.257), and the number of chronic diseases (β = −0.222).DiscussionsThe current data suggested that regional health and medical institutions should focus their services on residents with chronic diseases. Moreover, they should expand physical activities to relieve physical pain or discomfort and provide services related to mental health. To accomplish these, we suggested that the government will need to promote post-service health checkup results as a key project, provide user-customized services, provide online services utilizing ICT, expanding the government's financial support, and building infrastructure

Brucellosis among ruminants in some districts of Bangladesh using four conventional serological assays

Brucellosis causes a great economic loss to the livestock industries through abortion, infertility, birth of weak and dead offspring, increased calving interval and reduction of milk yield and it is endemic in Bangladesh. The present study was performed to know the seroprevalence of brucellosis for 1000 ruminants (135 Buffaloes, 465 cattle, 230 goats and 170 sheep) in five different districts of Bangladesh by four conventional serological tests such as: Rose Bengal Plate Test (RBT), tube agglutination test (TAT), competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (C-ELISA), and Fluorescent polarization assay (FPA). Sheep has the highest prevalence (8.24%) of brucellosis. The seroprevalence of brucellosis was significantly higher in animals with previous abortion record in case of buffaloes, cattle, goats and sheep than that with no abortion record. C-ELISA can be the most suitable choice for extensive use in many kinds of livestocks and accurate estimation of Brucella antibodies in ruminants in Bangladesh

Bacteriology division, Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency

ABSTRACT Background: Haemophilus parasuis is the etiological agent responsible for causing Glässer's disease in pigs, which are major respiratory pathogens that cause large economic losses in the pig industry worldwide. H. parasuis obtains transferrinbound iron by expressing two surface receptors, transferrin-binding protein A and B (TbpA and B). The TbpA and B are capable of binding to transferrin, and an impairment of iron uptake mechanisms is likely to induce virulence. For this reason, these proteins can be useful as a candidate target for H. parasuis vaccination. Also, the live attenuated Salmonella Typhimurium expressing recombinant antigens from other pathogens are attractive vaccine vectors. Materials, Methods & Results: In this study, we constructed attenuated S. Typhimurium vaccine strain by porcine neurtophil passage method. By the passage, the ability of the neutrophil-adapted isolate to utilize d-xylose was lost, while the ability of the strain to ferment trehalose was delayed after 2 or more days of the culture. The aspartate β-semialdehyde dehydrogenase (asd) gene was eliminated from S. Typhimurium by one-step PCR. Deletion of asd region was confirmed by PCR using primers specific to the endpoints of the targeted region. TbpA fragment was amplified by PCR from genomic DNA of H. parasuis serotype 5. To construct TbpA expression plasmids, tbpA was subcloned downstream from the β-lactamase signal sequence in the multicopy asd + pYA3493 vector. This plasmid was subsequently electrotransformed into attenuated S. Typhimurium. The 636bp fragment of the tbpA gene of H. parasuis in attenuated S. Typhimurium was amplified by PCR and the in-frame fusion of the tbpA was confirmed by nucleotide sequencing. The used this strain with Asd + balanced-lethal plasmid pYA3493 vector to specify recombinant TbpA antigen, conserved immunogenic region of H. parasuis. Expression of the TbpA protein was analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Western blot. The size of TbpA protein was estimated at about 30kDa. Mice were administered orally in order to evaluate protective efficacy of this vaccine strain against H. parasuis serotype 5. For efficacy test, female ICR mice (5 weeks old) were orally injected, intraperitoneally challenged with a lethal dose (4X10 5 CFU/mouse) of H. parasuis serotype 5, and examined the survival rates compared with vaccination and non-vaccination group. The experiment was terminated two weeks post-challenge. The live attenuated S. Typhimurium conserved pYA3493-TbpA antigen vaccine protected 40% of immunized mice against challenge of H. parasuis serotype 5. This result suggested that the live attenuated Salmonella Typhimurium vaccine expressing TbpA might be protection for Glässer's disease outbreaks caused by H. parasuis. Discussion: This paper has shown protected mice that attenuated S. Typhimurium strain using pYA3493 expresses TbpA antigen against H. parasuis. Vaccination using bacterins is an efficient way to control outbreaks of Glässers disease, but significant variability has been reported. Therefore, the development of a new vaccine system to prevent Glässers disease using pYA3493-TbpA will avoid the disadvantages of the currently used vaccines. We need further works to enhance protection rate and to determine the potential of the vaccine in pigs

Bacteriology division, Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency. Anyang 480-757

ABSTRACT Background: Haemophilus parasuis is the etiological agent responsible for causing Glässer's disease in pigs, which are major respiratory pathogens that cause large economic losses in the pig industry worldwide. H. parasuis obtains transferrinbound iron by expressing two surface receptors, transferrin-binding protein A and B (TbpA and B). The TbpA and B are capable of binding to transferrin, and an impairment of iron uptake mechanisms is likely to induce virulence. For this reason, these proteins can be useful as a candidate target for H. parasuis vaccination. Also, the live attenuated Salmonella Typhimurium expressing recombinant antigens from other pathogens are attractive vaccine vectors. Materials, Methods & Results: In this study, we constructed attenuated S. Typhimurium vaccine strain by porcine neurtophil passage method. By the passage, the ability of the neutrophil-adapted isolate to utilize d-xylose was lost, while the ability of the strain to ferment trehalose was delayed after 2 or more days of the culture. The aspartate β-semialdehyde dehydrogenase (asd) gene was eliminated from S. Typhimurium by one-step PCR. Deletion of asd region was confirmed by PCR using primers specific to the endpoints of the targeted region. TbpA fragment was amplified by PCR from genomic DNA of H. parasuis serotype 5. To construct TbpA expression plasmids, tbpA was subcloned downstream from the β-lactamase signal sequence in the multicopy asd + pYA3493 vector. This plasmid was subsequently electrotransformed into attenuated S. Typhimurium. The 636bp fragment of the tbpA gene of H. parasuis in attenuated S. Typhimurium was amplified by PCR and the in-frame fusion of the tbpA was confirmed by nucleotide sequencing. The used this strain with Asd + balanced-lethal plasmid pYA3493 vector to specify recombinant TbpA antigen, conserved immunogenic region of H. parasuis. Expression of the TbpA protein was analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Western blot. The size of TbpA protein was estimated at about 30kDa. Mice were administered orally in order to evaluate protective efficacy of this vaccine strain against H. parasuis serotype 5. For efficacy test, female ICR mice (5 weeks old) were orally injected, intraperitoneally challenged with a lethal dose (4X10 5 CFU/mouse) of H. parasuis serotype 5, and examined the survival rates compared with vaccination and non-vaccination group. The experiment was terminated two weeks post-challenge. The live attenuated S. Typhimurium conserved pYA3493-TbpA antigen vaccine protected 40% of immunized mice against challenge of H. parasuis serotype 5. This result suggested that the live attenuated Salmonella Typhimurium vaccine expressing TbpA might be protection for Glässer's disease outbreaks caused by H. parasuis. Discussion: This paper has shown protected mice that attenuated S. Typhimurium strain using pYA3493 expresses TbpA antigen against H. parasuis. Vaccination using bacterins is an efficient way to control outbreaks of Glässers disease, but significant variability has been reported. Therefore, the development of a new vaccine system to prevent Glässers disease using pYA3493-TbpA will avoid the disadvantages of the currently used vaccines. We need further works to enhance protection rate and to determine the potential of the vaccine in pigs