UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER FACTORS AS PREDICTORS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION

University technology transfer is a collaborative effort between academia and industry involving knowledge sharing and learning. Working closely with their university partners affords biotechnology firms the opportunity to successfully develop licensed inventions and gain access to novel scientific and technological discoveries. These factors may enhance a firm’s entrepreneurial orientation by supporting innovative, proactive, and risk-taking behaviors. This study investigates whether university technology transfer characteristics such as the transfer process, transfer modes (formal and informal), and transfer terms influence entrepreneurial orientation. Using survey data from biotechnology firms that develop human health therapies, the findings suggest that the transfer process and informal technology transfer promote a firm’s ability to act entrepreneurially. Exclusive licensing terms, on the other hand, have a negative influence, and formal technology transfer does not significantly contribute to a firm’s entrepreneurial disposition

Brain Oxygenation Monitoring

A mismatch between cerebral oxygen supply and demand can lead to cerebral hypoxia/ischemia and deleterious outcomes. Cerebral oxygenation monitoring is an important aspect of multimodality neuromonitoring. It is increasingly deployed whenever intracranial pressure monitoring is indicated. Although there is a large body of evidence demonstrating an association between cerebral hypoxia/ischemia and poor outcomes, it remains to be determined whether restoring cerebral oxygenation leads to improved outcomes. Randomized prospective studies are required to address uncertainties about cerebral oxygenation monitoring and management. This article describes the different methods of monitoring cerebral oxygenation, their indications, evidence base, limitations, and future perspectives

Multimodality Neuromonitoring

The monitoring of systemic and central nervous system physiology is central to the management of patients with neurologic disease in the perioperative and critical care settings. There exists a range of invasive and noninvasive and global and regional monitors of cerebral hemodynamics, oxygenation, metabolism, and electrophysiology that can be used to guide treatment decisions after acute brain injury. With mounting evidence that a single neuromonitor cannot comprehensively detect all instances of cerebral compromise, multimodal neuromonitoring allows an individualized approach to patient management based on monitored physiologic variables rather than a generic one-size-fits-all approach targeting predetermined and often empirical thresholds

Relative Flux Calibration of Keck HIRES Echelle Spectra

We describe a new method to calibrate the relative flux levels in spectra from the HIRES echelle spectrograph on the Keck-I telescope. Standard data reduction techniques that transfer the instrument response between HIRES integrations leave errors in the flux of 5 - 10%, because the effective response varies. The flux errors are most severe near the ends of each spectral order, where there can be discontinuous jumps. The source of these errors is uncertain, but may include changes in the vignetting connected to the optical alignment. Our new flux calibration method uses a calibrated reference spectrum of each target to calibrate individual HIRES integrations. We determine the instrument response independently for each integration, and hence we avoid the need to transfer the instrument response between HIRES integrations. The procedure can be applied to any HIRES spectrum, or any other spectrum. While the accuracy of the method depends upon many factors, we have been able to flux calibrate a HIRES spectrum to 1% over scales of 200 A that include order joins. We illustrate the method with spectra of Q1243+3047 towards which we have measured the deuterium to hydrogen abundance ratio.Comment: 24 pages, 17 figures, submitted to PAS

Predicting QSO Continua in the Ly Alpha Forest

We present a method to make predictions with sets of correlated data values, in this case QSO flux spectra. We predict the continuum in the Lyman-Alpha forest of a QSO, from 1020 -- 1216 A, using the spectrum of that QSO from 1216 -- 1600 A . We find correlations between the unabsorbed flux in these two wavelengths regions in the HST spectra of 50 QSOs. We use principal component analysis (PCA) to summarize the variety of these spectra and we relate the weights of the principal components for 1020 -- 1600 A to the weights for 1216 -- 1600 A, and we apply this relation to make predictions. We test the method on the HST spectra, and we find an average absolute flux error of 9%, with a range 3 -- 30%, where individual predictions are systematically too low or too high. We mention several ways in which the predictions might be improved.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Ap

Assessing the hunting practices of Namibia's commercial seal hunt

Following mounting public concerns regarding the treatment of animals in recent years, there has been increasing interest in the development of science-based guidelines for animal welfare in industries such as agriculture and hunting.1,2,3 In the latter case, for example, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) was requested by the European Commission, in 2007, to issue a scientific opinion regarding welfare aspects of seal hunting and to assess the most appropriate killing methods, to reduce unnecessary suffering. As part of its assessment, EFSA's Scientific opinion4 compared seal hunting to the killing of livestock in abattoirs. It noted that while slaughter conditions vary considerably, the goal should be the same: to kill animals with the minimum amount of pain, distress and fear and without causing any avoidable suffering. The report concluded that there was strong evidence that effective killing is not always practiced during seal hunts and that unnecessary and avoidable pain and suffering occurs. Subsequently, Russia ended its commercial hunt for harp seals Pagophilus groenlandicus in the White Sea in February 20095 and banned the killing of all seals under the age of one year in March of 2009.6Two months later, the European Parliament voted 550-49 in favour of a resolution banning the importation of seal hunt products, which comes into effect in 2010.7 Canada and Norway have subsequently lodged challenges against the EU ban with the World Trade Organization

The Deuterium Abundance in the z=0.7 absorber towards QSO PG1718+4807

We report a further analysis of the ratio of deuterium to hydrogen (D/H) using HST spectra of the z=0.701 Lyman limit system towards the QSO PG1718+481. Initial analyses of this absorber found it gave a high D/H value, 1.8 - 3.1 \times 10^{-4} (Webb et al. 1998), inconsistent with several higher redshift measurements. It is thus important to critically examine this measurement. By analysing the velocity widths of the DI, HI and metal lines present in this system, Kirkman et al. (2001) report that the additional absorption in the blue wing of the lya line can not be DI, with a confidence level of 98%. Here we present a more detailed analysis, taking into account possible wavelength shifts between the three sets of HST spectra used in the analysis. We find that the constraints on this system are not as strong as those claimed by Kirkman et al. The discrepancy between the parameters of the blue wing absorption and the parameters expected for DI is marginally worse than 1 sigma. Tytler et al.(1999) commented on the first analysis of Webb et al.(1997,1998), reporting the presence of a contaminating lower redshift Lyman limit system, with log[N(HI)] = 16.7 at z=0.602, which biases the N(HI) estimate for the main system. Here we show that this absorber actually has log[N(HI)] < 14.6 and does not impact on the estimate of N(HI) in the system of interest at z = 0.701. The purpose of the present paper is to highlight important aspects of the analysis which were not explored in previous studies, and hence help refine the methods used in future analyses of D/H in quasar spectra.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures. Accepted by MNRA