Is Big Blue 'Open' for Business?

The vertical control of research and development (R&D) is becoming obsolete due to the increasing availability of useful knowledge. Industries that have relied on exclusivity or lag in exploiting their own discoveries are being challenged through the proliferation of players and better communication, which opens new opportunities for creating value. Joint ventures, spin-offs, better integration of university and industrial research, are all providing new routes to creating new products and services. This new approach is termed open innovation. The debates concerning open innovation and the adoption of it by multinational companies present some of the most challenging issues in innovation and patent research. My analysis of these areas promises to solve the research gap identified by many scholars, as it examines one of the largest multinational corporation's commitment (IBM) to this new innovation practice. Using an original source of IBM open and closed patents I quantitatively analyse their commitment through the differences in patent quality. I conclude that IBM has committed to this process and I further reinforce the findings through an empirical study of twelve open innovation characteristics that I identify in the literature review. Overall this research refines academics understanding of the commitment to open innovation. I conclude with suggestions on how similar organisations should adopt open innovation and offer practical suggestions regarding the avenues for future research

A desk review of the ecology of heather beetle

The heather beetle Lochmaea suturalis is a naturally occurring species in the heather dominated landscapes of the United Kingdom. When the heather beetle population density increases dramatically it can cause significant damage to heather plants. It has been suggested that burning heather outside the permitted heather-burning season will promote the regeneration of heather following heather beetle damage. There is also some discussion as to whether burning outside the permitted season might also help control heather beetle. For these reasons Natural England regularly receives applications for licences to burn outside the permitted season. However, burning at this time of year may have effects on a wide range of biodiversity. Therefore, Natural England commissioned this report, and (NEER009 - Desk review of burning and other management options for the control for heather beetle) to ensure the best available evidence is being used. This report is based on an extensive literature review to determine the current state of knowledge of the ecology of the heather beetle. Some of the older references, which appear to form the basis for much current thinking on the subject, are now out of print and were not accessible for this review. A flurry of work was published in the 1980s and early 1990s, but much of this was either: • based at the same experimental plots; • involved relatively low levels of replication; or • did not report heather beetle damage as a central focus of the work. More recently, there have been some PhDs quantifying the ecology of heather beetles in more detail, but these have rarely been published in the peer-reviewed literature. Therefore, current thinking may be influenced by out-of-date information and experimental work that does not truly back up the conclusions of authors. This makes it difficult both to confidently discern patterns over time in frequency and severity of attacks (such as might be caused by climate change or changing nutrient deposition loads) and to be certain which factors control population levels in most year’s at most heather-dominated sites. Much more, and higher quality, monitoring and experimental work needs to be carried out to be able to predict the likely population dynamics of this species under different scenarios. The potential for parasites and parasitoids to control population numbers is particularly worthwhile. More detailed spatial analyses based on citizen science records, combined with carefully designed laboratory studies, might also be used to more clearly elucidate the relationship between beetle numbers and climatic conditions, enabling prediction of the relative likelihood of outbreaks occurring in the future

Desk review of burning and other management options for the control for heather beetle (NEER009)

The heather beetle Lochmaea suturalis is a naturally occurring species in the heather dominated landscapes of the United Kingdom. When the heather beetle population density increases dramatically it can cause significant damage to heather plants. It has been suggested that burning heather outside the permitted heather-burning season will promote the regeneration of heather following heather beetle damage. There is also some discussion as to whether burning outside the permitted season might also help control heather beetle. For these reasons Natural England regularly receives applications for licences to burn outside the permitted season. However, burning at this time of year may have effects on a wide range of biodiversity. Therefore, Natural England commissioned this report, and (NEER008 - A desk review of the ecology of heather beetle) to ensure the best available evidence is being used. An extensive literature review was carried out to determine the effectiveness of burning and other management options in managing heather-dominated systems for the heather beetle Lochmaea suturalis. In general, the quantity of relevant studies was low, and the quality of most was also poor, with very low levels of replication and/or a lack of controls or comparators being very common. There are three potential ways that management could be used. The first way is to reduce the likelihood of outbreaks. There is currently no evidence that burning is useful for this, due to a lack of relevant studies. Other management options that could be considered to achieve this are biological control and drainage of wetter areas, as well as general moorland management such as mowing, rotovating and sod cutting. The second way that burning could be used is by burning infested areas to reduce the numbers of heather beetles present. There has been some discussion as to whether it would be necessary to do this outside the current burning season, but there is currently no reliable evidence available to show whether this is effective, nor a cost-benefit analysis to take account of the additional risks of burning during the summer months. This is again due to a total lack of relevant studies. Other management options at this stage are to use insecticides on the affected areas, but there are also risks associated with this and again there is a lack of evidence as to how effective it would be. The potential for biocontrol at this stage has also not yet been explored. The third way is in encouraging regeneration of damaged areas. The available evidence for this is generally poor quality, and there is some suggestion that management techniques other than burning might be more effective at encouraging regrowth. In addition, some sites have been observed to regenerate naturally, in the absence of management, so there is a question as to whether management is necessary. Some trials are currently under way in Scotland and the Peak District with the aim of determining which management techniques are best for restoring damaged heather, but again the level of replication and lack of control areas appears to be a problem. The following are recommended in order to be better able to advise managers in the future: • Management actions should be carefully monitored so as to establish the effects of decisions (including whether to burn out of season or not). This monitoring should use properly designed experiments with adequate levels of replication and control plots. The effectiveness of management in controlling heather beetles and the effects on biodiversity as a whole and on ecosystem functioning should all be recorded. • Further research should be undertaken into the relationship between the heather beetle and its natural enemies. • Further research should be undertaken into the other factors that might affect the likelihood of outbreaks occurring

Correction of misaligned slices in multi-slice cardiovascular magnetic resonance using slice-to-volume registration

A popular technique to reduce respiratory motion for cardiovascular magnetic resonance is to perform a multi-slice acquisition in which a patient holds their breath multiple times during the scan. The feasibility of rigid slice-to-volume registration to correct for misalignments of slice stacks in such images due to differing breath-hold positions is explored. Experimental results indicate that slice-to-volume registration can compensate for the typical misalignments expected. Correction of slice misalignment results in anatomically more correct images, as well as improved left ventricular volume measurements. The interstudy reproducibility has also been improved reducing the number of samples needed for cardiac MR studies

Multiparameter analysis of naevi and primary melanomas identifies a subset of naevi with elevated markers of transformation

Here we have carried out a multiparameter analysis using a panel of 28 immunohistochemical markers to identify markers of transformation from benign and dysplastic naevus to primary melanoma in three separate cohorts totalling 279 lesions. We have identified a set of eight markers that distinguish naevi from melanoma. None of markers or parameters assessed differentiated benign from dysplastic naevi. Indeed, the naevi clustered tightly in terms of their immunostaining patterns whereas primary melanomas showed more diverse staining patterns. A small subset of histopathologically benign lesions had elevated levels of multiple markers associated with melanoma, suggesting that these represent naevi with an increased potential for transformation to melanoma

Wrappings of power: a woman’s burial in cattle hide at Langwell Farm, Strath Oykel

A well-preserved burial, discovered during peat clearing on Langwell Farm in Strath Oykel, Easter Ross, consisted of a stone cist that held the skeleton of a woman who had died in 2200–1960 cal BC. Although the cist contents were disturbed and partly removed before archaeological investigation took place, the burial rite can be interpreted to some extent. The woman, who died in her late 20s, had been wrapped in brown cattle hide, and wooden and woven objects were placed with her body. Periodic waterlogging created conditions that allowed the rare, partial preservation of the organic materials. Analysis of bone histology indicated that decay of the human remains had been arrested, either by deliberate mummification or waterlogging. The cist had been set into a low knoll on the valley floor and it may have been covered with a low cairn or barrow. This spot had been the site of a fire several hundred years earlier, and it may have been a node on a cross-country route linking east and west coasts in the Early Bronze Age. The use of animal hide suggests the creation and use of particular identities, linking the dead to ancestors and to powerful spiritual properties attributed to the natural world. The work was carried out for Historic Scotland under the Human Remains Call-off Contract

The plasma biomarker soluble SIGLEC-1 is associated with the type I interferon transcriptional signature, ethnic background and renal disease in systemic lupus erythematosus.

BACKGROUND: The molecular heterogeneity of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases has been one of the main obstacles to the development of safe and specific therapeutic options. Here, we evaluated the diagnostic and clinical value of a robust, inexpensive, immunoassay detecting the circulating soluble form of the monocyte-specific surface receptor sialic acid binding Ig-like lectin 1 (sSIGLEC-1). METHODS: We developed an immunoassay to measure sSIGLEC-1 in small volumes of plasma/serum from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients (n = 75) and healthy donors (n = 504). Samples from systemic sclerosis patients (n = 99) were studied as an autoimmune control. We investigated the correlation between sSIGLEC-1 and both monocyte surface SIGLEC-1 and type I interferon-regulated gene (IRG) expression. Associations of sSIGLEC-1 with clinical features were evaluated in an independent cohort of SLE patients (n = 656). RESULTS: Plasma concentrations of sSIGLEC-1 strongly correlated with expression of SIGLEC-1 on the surface of blood monocytes and with IRG expression in SLE patients. We found ancestry-related differences in sSIGLEC-1 concentrations in SLE patients, with patients of non-European ancestry showing higher levels compared to patients of European ancestry. Higher sSIGLEC-1 concentrations were associated with lower serum complement component 3 and increased frequency of renal complications in European patients, but not with the SLE Disease Activity Index clinical score. CONCLUSIONS: Our sSIGLEC-1 immunoassay provides a specific and easily assayed marker for monocyte-macrophage activation, and interferonopathy in SLE and other diseases. Further studies can extend its clinical associations and its potential use to stratify patients and as a secondary endpoint in clinical trials

Seasonal Variation in the Hepatoproteome of the Dehydrationand Freeze-Tolerant Wood Frog, Rana sylvatica

Winter’s advent invokes physiological adjustments that permit temperate ectotherms to cope with stresses such as food shortage, water deprivation, hypoxia, and hypothermia. We used liquid chromatography (LC) in combination with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) quantitative isobaric (iTRAQ™) peptide mapping to assess variation in the abundance of hepatic proteins in summer- and winter-acclimatized wood frogs (Rana sylvatica), a northerly-distributed species that tolerates extreme dehydration and tissue freezing during hibernation. Thirty-three unique proteins exhibited strong seasonal lability. Livers of winter frogs had relatively high levels of proteins involved in cytoprotection, including heat-shock proteins and an antioxidant, and a reduced abundance of proteins involved in cell proliferation, protein synthesis, and mitochondrial function. They also exhibited altered levels of certain metabolic enzymes that participate in the biochemical reorganization associated with aphagia and reliance on energy reserves, as well as the freezing mobilization and post-thaw recovery of glucose, an important cryoprotective solute in freezing adaptation

Eigenvalues of Dirichlet Laplacian within the class of open sets with constant diameter

This paper is about a shape optimization problem related to the Dirichlet Laplacian eingevalues in the Euclidean plane. More precisely we study the shape of the minimizer in the class of open sets of constant width. We prove that the disk is not a local minimizer except for a limited number of eigenvalues