Pitfalls and Opportunities in Knowledge Sharing - Experiences from a research capacity building project in Central America

A number of attempts have been made in the North to assist in the formation of independent research capacities in the South by establishing knowledge sharing through North-South research collaboration. One such attempt was initiated by Danida through its programme for Enhancement of Research Capacity (ENRECA). Aalborg University was approached by the National University of Costa Rica to make a joint research venture within the field of sustainable development. The project got a Central American (CA) regional perspective by including participants from Nicaragua and El Salvador. The project was titled Sustainable Development Strategies for Central America (SUDESCA) and aimed at support of relevant CA research activities, including the formation of adequate organizational setups that would eventually sustain forthwith. The project focused on two theoretical themes, i.e. the National Systems of Innovation and the Social Construction of Technology approaches. In this paper the CA universities are viewed as important sub-systems of the respective national systems of innovation. Thus, the following is an analysis of the institutional sustainability of the research capacity of universities perceived as parts of the national systems of innovation. To what extent did the knowledge transfer and exchange as well as the organizational capacity building efforts succeed? What were the main pitfalls and opportunities experienced? What did the Aalborg team learn about its own research capacity set-up? Our overall conclusion is that it is a mistake to assume that research capacity may be more or less directly transferred from the North to the South. Research capacity existing in the North has to be carefully adapted to the specific conditions where it may be expected to be useful.Innovation system, knowledge adaption, Central America

Isolation, Identification, Modification, and Biological Analysis of extracts of A. Mexicana

Argemone mexicana is a member of the Papaveraceae family of plants that has been used for centuries in traditional medicine by indigenous communities in Mexico and the United States. Through a collaborative project, we have explored separation of key components of the seeds and leaves of this plant to isolate the source of their biological activity. We have already identified two key molecules which give this plant anti-microbial properties against the gram-positive bacteria. Furthermore, we have chemically modified one of these molecules to observe variations on activity. We hope this leads to the discovery of new antibiotic drugs

Synthetic associations in the context of genome-wide association scan signals

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have successfully identified a large number of genetic variants associated with complex traits, but these only explain a small proportion of the total heritability. It has been recently proposed that rare variants can create ‘synthetic association' signals in GWAS, by occurring more often in association with one of the alleles of a common tag single nucleotide polymorphism. While the ultimate evaluation of this hypothesis will require the completion of large-scale sequencing studies, it is informative to place it in the broader context of what is known about the genetic architecture of complex disease. In this review, we draw from empirical and theoretical data to summarize evidence showing that synthetic associations do not underlie many reported GWAS associations

Desarrollo e implementación del portal de la revista Científica “RCIEN” de la facultad de Ciencias e Ingenierías de la UNAN-Managua

El presente trabajo de Seminario de Graduación, es titulado: Desarrollo e implementación de portal de la revista Científica “RCIEN” de la facultad de Ciencias e Ingenierías de la UNAN-Managua. El propósito de este documento fue implementar una revista científica con fines educativos y tutorías, mediante el desarrollo web, tales como: iconmon, jquery, loremipsun, lorempixel y HTML5. De esta manera se incentivará a los usuarios, con un mecanismo virtual que permita sintetizar y brindar información, acerca de noticias nacionales, internacionales, efemérides, tecnología, ciencia y estudios. Por lo tanto la organización de información de las distintas unidades académicas, estarán dispuestas y alojada en un dominio web www.campuscomputación/unan.edu.ni/RCIEN para la recreación y disponibilidad al usuario. Con el fin de proveer a la comunidad universitaria interés simultaneo, se identificaron los aspectos necesarios para la configuración esquematizada de la página web, tanto como detalles y estilos formales, promediada en una base de datos, que constituirá nuestra web y que a la vez brindarán con un diseño de programación donde se realicen registros de usuarios mediante un diseño de formularios para un acceso personalizado y versátil, con el objetivo principal de que ellos interactúen y compartan sus ideas con los demás usuarios que estén registrados

Identifying Antimicrobial Phytocompounds to Combat ISS Superbugs

The isolation, or creation, of novel antimicrobial agents is currently at the forefront of modern healthcare due to the stark decrease in antimicrobial drug development in recent years and due to the increasing rise of superbugs, or microorganisms that are resistant to more than one type of antimicrobial treatment, which are predicted by 2050 to cause 10 million deaths/year. In addition to being a terrestrial cause for concern, antimicrobial resistant microbes are also a threat to the health of the individuals on the International Space Station (ISS). According to recent studies, a diverse population of bacteria and fungi, including several opportunistic pathogens, have colonized the ISS, and many of these strains have been found to possess antimicrobial resistance genes. Therefore, our research is focused on testing bacterial and fungal pathogens that have been isolated from the ISS against methanolic extracts from different medicinal plants, such as Argemone mexicana and Curcuma longa. Additionally, from previous work in our lab (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249704), we have identified several antibacterial compounds in A. mexicana and are attempting to determine the distribution of these phytocompounds (berberine, chelerythrine, sanguinarine) in the plant using quantitative chemistry techniques. This work highlights the importance of plants as an invaluable pharmaceutical resource at a time when antimicrobial drug discovery has plateaued

Contributions of Universities and Public Research Centers to Innovation Processes in the industry: the Costa Rican case

Presented at GLOBELICS 2009, 7th International Conference, 6-8 October, Dakar, Senegal.Parallel session 1: Research networks and knowledge flowsThis paper presents an analysis on the links among universities and public research institutes with the industry in Costa Rica. The study analyses information from three different sources. The first one is a data base from the national survey of science, technology and innovation in Costa Rica. The other one is a survey to researches in universities and public research centres. A third source is a deep interview to researchers within universities and public research centres. The objective of the study is to have a better understanding of the creation, transfer and materialisation of knowledge in the innovation processes of the industry. The main results give us an idea of the weakness of the Costa Rican innovation system. There are clear difficulties for the universities and the public research centers to develop satisfactory links with firms. It is a high concentration of the investment in science and technology in the academic sector. It would be natural that firms have access to the efforts by research centers. However, it is obvious that the percentage of firms that has an effective linkage with the universities and public research centers is very low. Some institutional barriers and mistrust between these actors, avoid better linkages. But there are also some positive efforts. The study focuses on the elements that promote or hinder the linkage among universities and firms, and attend the challenges of developing economies to improve these kinds of relationships. A chain of limitations hinder useful interactions of universities and public research centres with the industry, hindering innovation processes by firms. Most of the barriers are internal problems to the research centres, including very bureaucratic processes that hinder the possibility to joint projects with firms. It seems natural to strengthen trust among universities, public research centres and firms, but also the introduction of institutional changes that facilitate networking

Parental Beliefs and Perceptions of the Role of Middle Schools in Student Tobacco Use Prevention Activities in Juárez, Mexico

The purpose of this study was to examine parental beliefs and perceptions of the role that schools should play in implementing smoking prevention activities for their children in Juárez, Mexico. The parents were of sixth grade students from six randomly selected middle schools. Schools were classified by school setting and socioeconomic status. A total of 506 surveys were sent to the homes of the parents and 77% (N=390) responded. The majority of the parents (88%) were supportive of smoking prevention activities. Furthermore, mothers were significantly more likely than fathers to agree that the school had an important role to play in smoking prevention activities (p<0.01). Parents of students in the low SES category regardless of school setting were significantly more likely to support the implementation of smoking prevention activities than parents of students who attended either a middle or high SES school setting (p<0.01). However, even though 79% of parent respondents believed their child’s school should get parental input about what should be taught in tobacco prevention programs, only 62% felt that such activities should include homework and projects involving families. These results provide further evidence that if school-based adolescent tobacco prevention programs are to be successful, public health initiatives need to do a much better job not only soliciting and receiving parental input with regard to proposed anti-tobacco curricula but also in convincing parents of the importance of becoming active participants in the process

Uso de instrumentos económicos para la gestión ambiental en Costa Rica

Incluye BibliografíaEl uso de impuestos como instrumentos de gestión ambiental no ha sido manejado en forma explícita en Costa Rica. La aplicación principal se da de forma indirecta en el programa de PSA. Pero, como se verá en el capítulo I, en realidad no se ha creado ningún impuesto adicional para cubrir el pago de servicios ambientales, sino que con la ley que crea el programa, se redistribuyen los fondos que de todas formas se estaban recolectando. No hay entonces creación de impuestos para la generación de fondos o para cambiar las decisiones de mercado en asuntos ambientales. El uso de sellos ecológicos también es muy incipiente en el país. El Programa de 'Bandera Ecológica' fue creado como parte de las estrategias conjuntas de la Cámara de Industrias, la Municipalidad de San José y el Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía (MINAE);, en septiembre de 1994. El proyecto consiste en el otorgamiento de una distinción a aquellas empresas, comunidades e instituciones que contribuyen a la protección del ambiente y a la limpieza de los ríos. En la sección 7 del capítulo II se estudia la evolución de este instrumento en el país. El programa de pago de servicios ambientales se fundamenta en el principio de que los propietarios del bosque y plantaciones forestales deben recibir pagos para compensar los beneficios que sus bosques y plantaciones brindan a la sociedad. En el país se reconocen cuatro servicios ambientales: mitigación de emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero; protección de agua para uso urbano rural o hidroeléctrico;protección de la biodiversidad para conservarla y para el uso sostenible, científico y farmacéutico, investigación y mejoramiento genético, protección de ecosistemas y formas de vida; belleza escénica natural para fines turísticos y científicos. El Convenio para la disminución de contaminantes por parte del sector cafetalero es un acuerdo voluntario, con el que los empresarios del sector se comprometen a seguir procesos de transformación tendientes a disminuir la contaminación de aguas que genera la actividad. El objetivo general del Convenio era reducir radicalmente la descarga de agua contaminada en los ríos cercanos a las empresas beneficiadoras de café, impulsando transformaciones hacia un 'beneficiado limpio'. El documento se centra en el análisis de lecciones aprendidas y recomendaciones para mejorar la aplicación de programas de gestión ambiental de este tipo