Technology forecasting in the National Research and Education Network technology domain using context sensitive Data Fusion

Using inductive reasoning this paper develops a framework for the Structural Equation Modeling based context sensitive Data Fusion of technology indicators in order to produce Technology Forecasting output metrics. Data Fusion is a formal framework that defines tools, as well as the application of these tools, for the unification of data originating from diverse sources. Context sensitive Data Fusion techniques refine the generated knowledge using the characteristics of exogenous context related variables, which in the proposed framework entails non-technology related metrics. Structural Equation Modeling, which is a statistical technique capable of evaluating complex hierarchical dependencies between latent and observed constructs, has been shown to be effective in implementing context sensitive Data Fusion. For illustrative purposes an example model instantiation of the proposed framework is constructed for the case of the National Research and Education Network technology domain using knowledge gained through action research in the South African National Research Network, hypotheses from peer-reviewed literature and insights from the Trans- European Research and Education Network Association’s annual compendiums for National Research and Education Network infrastructure and services trends. This example model instantiation hypothesizes that a National Research and Education Network’s infrastructure and advanced services capabilities are positively related to one another, as well as to the contextual influence it experiences through government control. Also, positive relationships are hypothesized between a National Research and Education Network’s infrastructure and advanced services capabilities and its usage, which is defined as the technology forecasting output metric of interest for this example. Data from the 2011 Trans-European Research and Education Network Association compendium is used in the Partial Least Square regression analysis of the example model instantiation, which confirms all hypothesized relationships, except the postulation that a National Research and Education Network’s infrastructure and advanced services capabilities are positively related. This latter finding is explained by observing the prevalence of technology leapfrogging in the National Research and Education Network global community.The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, as well as the University of Pretoria.http://www.journals.elsevier.com/technological-forecasting-and-social-change2017-10-31hb2016Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM

Industrial and commercial opportunities to utilise concentrating solar thermal systems in South Africa

A solar energy technology roadmap has been developed for South Africa. The roadmap lists a number of technological systems that fulfil three requirements from a South African perspective. First, they have clearly been demonstrated or commercialised. Second, a local industry could be stimulated including the potential to export, with associate socio-economic growth; and the other requirements of government can be met in terms of improving energy security and access, and addressing climate change. Third, they have a medium to high R&D intensity, in terms of available capacity and associate resources needed to support the further development of the technological systems. Concentrated Solar Thermal systems feature prominently in the list of technologies. These systems can generate electrical power, then referred to as Concentrating Solar Power systems, typically in the 1 to 100 MW range for on- and off-grid applications. They can also simply produce heat, typically in the 100 to 1000ºC range, primarily for commercial and industrial process applications. This paper discusses the international trends and drivers for these systems to generate power and heat, and then focuses on the specific potential in the South African context. A number of barriers to realizing the potential are discussed and recommendations are made accordingly to stimulate the growth of this industry sector in South Africa

Impact of intellectual property rights on the governance mode decisions of engineering managers during the establishment of research alliances with publicly funded entities

Strengthening intellectual property rights for publicly financed research and development (R&D) ensures that research organizations maximize the full national value of the intellectual property that they generate, but potential negative spillover effects on the perceived value of a research alliance might deter an existing alliance partner from continued collaboration or a potential alliance partner from future collaboration. This study, performed in 2010 within the context of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa, aimed to develop a structural equation modeling-based value-mediation governance decision-making model that will enable engineering managers at publicly financed R&D organizations to select optimal governance modes for the research alliances they are establishing to grow their organizations’ R&D capabilities.http://tandfonline.com/loi/uemj202018-09-30hb2017Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM

The development of a performance measurement system for maintenance

Business enterprises are under increasing pressure to become internationally competitive due to globalisation. World-class companies from abroad can now easily compete with local companies, introducing high quality products and services to the local community and industry. The pace of technological change is also forcing companies to increase productivity and to become more cost effective. Performance management is part of the strategic management process in the business enterprise and the maintenance department therefore has to address this as part of the strategy formulation for the maintenance function. This paper outlines the strategic management process that is required in the maintenance department and defines a systematic process to develop a performance measurement system for maintenance.Besigheidsondernemings is onder toenemende druk om internasionaal kompeterend te word weens globalisering. Wêreldklas maatskappye kan nou maklik met plaaslike maatskappye meeding deur hoë kwaliteit produkte en dienste aan die plaaslike gemeenskap en nywerheid te lewer. Die tempo van tegnologiese verandering dwing maatskappye ook om produktiwiteit te verhoog en meer koste-effektief te word. Prestasiebestuur is deel van strategiese bestuur in 'n onderneming en die instandhoudingsafdeling moet derhalwe prestasiebestuur aanspreek as deel van die ontwikkeling van strategie vir die instandhoudingsfunksie. Hierdie artikel bespreek die strategiese bestuursproses soos benodig in die instandhoudingsafdeling en stel 'n sistematiese proses voor vir die ontwikkeling van 'n prestasiemetingstelsel vir instandhouding.http://sajie.journals.ac.z

A relational view of knowledge transfer effectiveness in small new technology-based firms : an empirical analysis of a South African case

The open innovation model often neglects the frictions that external knowledge flows could encounter when crossing organisational boundaries. This study recognises such barriers and investigates the impact of these barriers on knowledge transfer effectiveness by using data on small new technologybased firms (NTBFs) located in the emerging South African economy. The empirical results show that the characteristics of inter-organisational knowledge exchange relationships (organisational and technological similarity and contact frequency) do have an impact on the effectiveness of knowledge transfer. The findings stress the relevance of a relational approach, as factors derived from it act as barriers to effective knowledge transfer for small firms.http://www.academicjournals.org/AJBMai201

Reliable and valid measurement scales for determinants of the willingness to accept knowledge

Before any acquired knowledge is used or adds value to the receiving project (members), it must be accepted by its recipients, leading to an increase in their positive attitudes towards, and intended use of, the acquired knowledge. To be willing to accept knowledge, the receiving project’s team members must perceive it to have value and be easy to use. The focus of this exploratory paper is to develop and empirically test relevant sub-dimensions of perceived value and ease-of-use. The sub-dimensions were identified through a literature review, and measurement scales were developed empirically by applying a well-established scale development methodology.Voordat enige verkrygde kennis vir ʼn projek gebruik word of waarde toevoeg tot die projek en sy projeklede, moet die kennis aanvaar word deur die ontvangers daarvan. Dit sal die positiewe ingesteldheid van die ontvangers tot die kennis verhoog. As voorvereiste vir die gewilligheid om kennis te ontvang, moet die verkrygde kennis dus van waarde wees en moet dit maklik lyk vir die projeklede om die kennis te kan gebruik. Die fokus van hierdie artikel is dus om dimensies vir die meting van die gewilligheid om die verkrygde kennis te aanvaar te identifiseer en om die skalese dimensies te ontwikkel. Die dimensies is vanuit ’n literatuuroorsig identifiseer, en die skale is empiries bepaal met behulp van ʼn bewese skaal ontwikkelingsmetodologie.http://sajie.journals.ac.za/pubam2022Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM

Iron Dysregulation and Inflammagens Related to Oral and Gut Health Are Central to the Development of Parkinson's Disease

Neuronal lesions in Parkinson’s disease (PD) are commonly associated with α-synuclein (α-Syn)-induced cell damage that are present both in the central and peripheral nervous systems of patients, with the enteric nervous system also being especially vulnerable. Here, we bring together evidence that the development and presence of PD depends on specific sets of interlinking factors that include neuroinflammation, systemic inflammation, α-Syn-induced cell damage, vascular dysfunction, iron dysregulation, and gut and periodontal dysbiosis. We argue that there is significant evidence that bacterial inflammagens fuel this systemic inflammation, and might be central to the development of PD. We also discuss the processes whereby bacterial inflammagens may be involved in causing nucleation of proteins, including of α-Syn. Lastly, we review evidence that iron chelation, pre-and probiotics, as well as antibiotics and faecal transplant treatment might be valuable treatments in PD. A most important consideration, however, is that these therapeutic options need to be validated and tested in randomized controlled clinical trials. However, targeting underlying mechanisms of PD, including gut dysbiosis and iron toxicity, have potentially opened up possibilities of a wide variety of novel treatments, which may relieve the characteristic motor and nonmotor deficits of PD, and may even slow the progression and/or accompanying gut-related conditions of the disease

Antimicrobial susceptibility of gram-negative pathogens isolated from patients with complicated intra-abdominal infections in South African hospitals (SMART Study 2004-2009) : impact of the new carbapenem breakpoints

BACKGROUND: The Study for Monitoring Antimicrobial Resistance Trends (SMART) follows trends in resistance among aerobic and facultative anaerobic gram-negative bacilli (GNB) isolated from complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAIs) in patients around the world. METHODS: During 2004–2009, three centralized clinical microbiology laboratories serving 59 private hospitals in three large South African cities collected 1,218 GNB from complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAIs) and tested them for susceptibility to 12 antibiotics according to the 2011 Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines. RESULTS: Enterobacteriaceae comprised 83.7% of the isolates. Escherichia coli was the species isolated most commonly (46.4%), and 7.6% of these were extended-spectrum b-lactamase (ESBL)-positive. The highest ESBL rate was documented for Klebsiella pneumoniae (41.2%). Overall, ertapenem was the antibiotic most active against susceptible species for which it has breakpoints (94.6%) followed by amikacin (91.9%), piperacillin-tazobactam (89.3%), and imipenem-cilastatin (87.1%), whereas rates of resistance to ceftriaxone, cefotaxime, ciprofloxacin, and levofloxacin were documented to be 29.7%, 28.7%, 22.5%, and 21.1%, respectively. Multi-drug resistance (MDR), defined as resistance to three or more antibiotic classes, was significantly more common in K. pneumoniae (27.9%) than in E. coli (4.9%; p < 0.0001) or Proteus mirabilis (4.1%; p < 0.05). Applying the new CLSI breakpoints for carbapenems, susceptibility to ertapenem was reduced significantly in ESBL-positive E. coli compared with ESBL-negative isolates (91% vs. 98%; p < 0.05), but this did not apply to imipenem-cilastatin (95% vs. 99%; p = 0.0928). A large disparity between imipenem-cilastatin and ertapenem susceptibility in P. mirabilis and Morganella morganii was documented (24% vs. 96% and 15% vs. 92%, respectively), as most isolates of these two species had imipenem-cilastatin minimum inhibitory concentrations in the 2–4 mcg/mL range, which is no longer regarded as susceptible. CONCLUSIONS: This study documented substantial resistance to standard antimicrobial therapy among GNB commonly isolated from cIAIs in South Africa. With the application of the new CLSI carbapenem breakpoints, discrepancies were noted between ertapenem and imipenem-cilastatin with regard to the changes in their individual susceptibilities. Longitudinal surveillance of susceptibility patterns is useful to guide recommendations for empiric antibiotic use in cIAIs.Merck & Co., Inc.http://www.liebertpub.com/overview/surgical-infections/53/am2013ay201

An electron microscopic study of odontoblasts in the apical third of permanent human teeth

PLEASE NOTE: This work is protected by copyright. Downloading is restricted to the BU community: please click Download and log in with a valid BU account to access. If you are the author of this work and would like to make it publicly available, please contact [email protected] (M.Sc.D.)--Boston University, School of Graduate Dentistry. Dept. of Endodontics, 1986.Includes bibliographic references: leaves 84-90.Ten mature human teeth of different ages were demineralized and odontoblasts were studied with a transmission electron microscope. Sections were made from the apical 3mm and the cemento enamel junction as a control. Apart from the different shape of odontoblasts from the two areas, the cytoplasmic organelles were found to differ considerably. Nuclei differed mainly in the ratio of euchromatin to heterochromatin. Odontoblasts from the apical area had a noticable increase in heterochromatin which indicates a low degree of cellular activity. Rough endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi complex were either absent or in a rudimentary form in odontoblasts from the apical part of the radicular pulp. When present, the polarity of the cell changed relative to the odontoblastic process. The nucleus moved from a position proximal in the cell body to a central position, while the rough endoplasmic reticulum moved from a supra nuclear position to an infra nuclear position. Generally, the odontoblasts from the apical part of the radicular pulp were in a state of low activity or no activity compared with the odontoblasts from the cemento enamel junction