Learning from the UK’s research impact assessment exercise: a case study of a retrospective impact assessment exercise and questions for the future

National governments spend significant amounts of money supporting public research. However, in an era where the international economic climate has led to budget cuts, policymakers increasingly are looking to justify the returns from public investments, including in science and innovation. The so-called ‘impact agenda’ which has emerged in many countries around the world is part of this response; an attempt to understand and articulate for the public what benefits arise from the research that is funded. The United Kingdom is the most progressed in implementing this agenda and in 2014 the national research assessment exercise, the Research Excellence Framework, for the first time included the assessment of research impact as a component. For the first time within a dual funding system, funding would be awarded not only on the basis of the academic quality of research, but also on the wider impacts of that research. In this paper we outline the context and approach taken by the UK government, along with some of the core challenges that exist in implementing such an exercise. We then synthesise, together for the first time, the results of the only two national evaluations of the exercise and offer reflections for future exercises both in the UK and internationally

Draft Optimization of Company Website

The bachelor thesis deals with draft optimization of website for a transport company NOVA Blansko s.r.o. to increase the visibility on the internet and improve communication with customers. The work reveals individual processes of web optimization which should guarantee the positions on the first pages of search results when someone searches for relevant phrases in search engines. During a realization of this project the emphasis is put on minimizing costs. The last chapter called economic assessment evaluates the resulting costs and expected benefits

Efficacy of host-dendritic cell vaccinations with or without minor histocompatibility antigen loading, combined with donor lymphocyte infusion in multiple myeloma patients

Donor lymphocyte infusions (DLI) can induce durable remissions in multiple myeloma (MM) patients, but this occurs rather infrequently. As the graft-versus-tumor (GvT) effect of DLI depends on the presence of host-dendritic cells (DCs), we tested in a phase I/II trial whether the efficacy of DLI could be improved by simultaneous vaccination with host-DCs. We also analyzed the possibility of further improving the GvT effect by loading the DCs with peptides of mismatched hematopoietic cell-specific minor histocompatibility antigens (mHags). Fifteen MM patients not responding to a first DLI were included. Eleven patients could be treated with a second equivalent dose DLI combined with DC vaccinations, generated from host monocytes (moDC). For four patients, the DC products did not meet the quality criteria. In four of the treated patients the DCs were loaded with host mHag peptides. Toxicity was limited and no acute GvHD occurred. Most patients developed objective anti-host T-cell responses and in one patient a distinct mHag-specific T-cell response accompanied a temporary clinical response. These findings confirm that DLI combined with host-DC vaccination, either unloaded or loaded with mHag peptides, is feasible, safe and capable of inducing host-specific T-cell responses. The limited clinical effects may be improved by developing more immunogenic DC products or by combining this therapy with immune potentiating modalities like checkpoint inhibitors.Bone Marrow Transplantation advance online publication, 14 November 2016; doi:10.1038/bmt.2016.250