Presenting the Model of Using Crowdsourcing in Formulating an Open Strategy

In terms of the basic practical purpose, in terms of nature, survey research, and in terms of paradigm, combined-exploratory research, sampling in the qualitative part of the research was done in a purposeful way and in the quantitative part in a stratified random manner. In this regard, the project’s first step was to conduct library studies and collect information. In this regard, it was investigated with a review of the theoretical foundations and internal and external research related to the use of crowdsourcing in the development of open strategy. In this research, due to the lack of research based on the use of crowdsourcing in developing an open strategy and the need to know how to explain the phenomenon in a real context, it is inevitable to follow a qualitative paradigm. On the other hand, the need to purify the factors, explain the model, as well as examine the state of the model and its components and relationships descriptively requires the use of quantitative methods, so a mixed approach that includes qualitative and quantitative methods will be used. First is the organization’s semi-structured interview, which includes crowdsourcing in developing an open strategy and how to rank the factors. The research method was carried out purposefully in the qualitative part of the research and stratified randomly in the quantitative part. They are in the qualitative phase of interviews with managers and vice presidents of Cable manufacturing companies in the United States, interviews will continue until theoretical saturation is reached. The research tool in the qualitative part will be determined by using the exploratory method of using the components of crowdsourcing in developing an open strategy and the factors affecting it, the sampling method in the qualitative part is purposeful. The research tool in the qualitative part of the exploratory interview is semi-structured, and in the qualitative part, the analysis of the interviews was done using the foundational data analysis method. And finally, the final model has been presented and fitted

Designing a Sales Marketing Model for Generation Z

In the world of business and the age of information development and the emergence of new information technologies; Generation Z, due to its special feature in the focus component that leads them to a short-range of attention or decentralization and has a sophisticated filter that makes this generation extremely fast and focus on the target content and avoid ads that interest them is not; Special attention has been paid to companies to provide services and products. Born between 2000 and 2014, this new generation has conveyed to managers, business leaders, and marketers that they need to pay more attention to new and faster technologies in order to succeed in working and doing business with the next generation. What makes this generation more important than other generations in marketing; The high population of these consumers and its growing trend around the world and in the United States; Their interest in using new digital technologies towards adults, being digital natives or in other words, synchronizing with this technology almost from birth; Generation Z has a special impact on business and their willingness to buy from ethical and responsible companies and has convinced managers and marketers that in order to reach new customers, it is necessary to consider this new generation more than before and Include in the sales and marketing policies of their products or services

Organizational Performance Measurement Based on Competitive Intelligence and Strategic Flexibility in the Food Industry

Competitive intelligence requires the appropriate conditions to achieve sustainable competitive advantage and improve organizational performance. Strategic flexibility is one of the effective factors. Since organizational performance can be a factor in recognizing the ascension or decline of organizations in the competition, organizations need to new strategies to have a good performance alongside challenges with the optimal use of opportunities. The purpose of this study is to identify the effect of competitive intelligence on organizational performance with the attention to the role of strategic flexibility mediator

Interaction of Brain Cancer Stem Cells and the Tumour Microenvironment: A Computational Study

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is one of the most common and aggressive primary brain tumours, with a median patient survival time of 6-12 months in adults. It has been recently suggested that a typically small sub-population of brain tumour cells, in possession of certain defining properties of stem cells, is responsible for initiating and maintaining the tumour. More recent experiments have studied the interactions between this subpopulation of brain cancer cells and tumour microenvironmental factors such as hypoxia and high acidity. In this thesis a computational approach (based on Gillespie’s algorithm and cellular automata) is proposed to investigate the tumour heterogeneities that develop when exposed to various microenvironmental conditions of the cancerous tissue. The results suggest that microenvironmental conditions highly affect the characterization of cancer cells, including the self-renewal, differentiation and dedifferentiation properties of cancer cells

Object recognition based on radial basis function neural networks: Experiments with RGB-D camera embedded on mobile robots

An object recognition strategy based on artificial radial basis functions neural networks is presented in this paper. The general context of this work is to recognize object from captures made by a mobile robot. Unlike classical approaches which always select the closest object, our method outputs a set of potential candidates if the input information is not enough discriminant. There are three main steps in our approach: objects segmentation, signature extraction and classification. Segmentation is inspired from previous works and is shortly described. Signature extraction based on global geometric and color features is detailed. Classification based on artificial neural networks is also explained and architecture of the network is justified. Finally a real experiment made with a RGB-D camera mounted on a mobile robot is presented and classification results is criticized

Exploration of interactions between commensal Staphylococci and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a multidrug-resistant superbug that causes infections in immunocompromised and immunocompetent individuals. This infection causes more than 300,000 infections and more than 10,000 deaths, with healthcare associated costs of over $1.7 Billion per year in the United States alone. Given the high morbidity and mortality for this pathogen, there is an urgent need to identify new treatment modalities against MRSA. One important step towards combating this infection is understanding the molecular interaction between commensal Staphylococci (those that live on healthy human skin) and MRSA. Staphylococci use a cell-density dependent regulatory system known as the quorum sensing accessory gene regulator system (agr). The agr system is also responsible for producing virulence factors that allow MRSA to proliferate on the host skin. This regulatory system's direct output is the auto-inducing peptide (AIP) molecule that is unique to each Staphylococcus strain. It is possible to detect the agr system's activity by measuring the concentration of the AIP molecule. Some commensal Staphylococci have shown inhibitory activity against the MRSA agr system in animal models. This project aimed to study the molecular interaction between MRSA and the commensal strain S. simulans, S. hominis, and S. warneri. The AIP structures of the commensal strains were identified. The co-culture study showed that S. simulans inhibits the AIP production of MRSA; however, S. hominins and S. warneri did not induce a measurable impact on MRSA AIP production compared to the single culture of this species. Two previously identified growth indicator molecules of MRSA, aureusimine A and aureusimine B, were monitored in all co-culture samples of MRSA. The abundance of these molecules in samples indicated that MRSA was growing in the co-culture samples of S. simulans even though the AIP production in these samples was being inhibited. Through untargeted metabolomics and utilization of selectivity ratio analysis, the increased abundance of features vs. time was analyzed in the single culture samples of MRSA and S. simulans and their co-cultures. Several (five) features were detected in the mass spectrometry data that were differentially expressed in the co-cultures versus monocultures. Future experiments are planned to identify the molecules associated with these features

Chemotherapy-induced senescent cancer cells engulf other cells to enhance their survival.

In chemotherapy-treated breast cancer, wild-type p53 preferentially induces senescence over apoptosis, resulting in a persisting cell population constituting residual disease that drives relapse and poor patient survival via the senescence-associated secretory phenotype. Understanding the properties of tumor cells that allow survival after chemotherapy treatment is paramount. Using time-lapse and confocal microscopy to observe interactions of cells in treated tumors, we show here that chemotherapy-induced senescent cells frequently engulf both neighboring senescent or nonsenescent tumor cells at a remarkable frequency. Engulfed cells are processed through the lysosome and broken down, and cells that have engulfed others obtain a survival advantage. Gene expression analysis showed a marked up-regulation of conserved macrophage-like program of engulfment in chemotherapy-induced senescent cell lines and tumors. Our data suggest compelling explanations for how senescent cells persist in dormancy, how they manage the metabolically expensive process of cytokine production that drives relapse in those tumors that respond the worst, and a function for their expanded lysosomal compartment

Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BackgroundDisorders affecting the nervous system are diverse and include neurodevelopmental disorders, late-life neurodegeneration, and newly emergent conditions, such as cognitive impairment following COVID-19. Previous publications from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study estimated the burden of 15 neurological conditions in 2015 and 2016, but these analyses did not include neurodevelopmental disorders, as defined by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11, or a subset of cases of congenital, neonatal, and infectious conditions that cause neurological damage. Here, we estimate nervous system health loss caused by 37 unique conditions and their associated risk factors globally, regionally, and nationally from 1990 to 2021.MethodsWe estimated mortality, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs), by age and sex in 204 countries and territories, from 1990 to 2021. We included morbidity and deaths due to neurological conditions, for which health loss is directly due to damage to the CNS or peripheral nervous system. We also isolated neurological health loss from conditions for which nervous system morbidity is a consequence, but not the primary feature, including a subset of congenital conditions (ie, chromosomal anomalies and congenital birth defects), neonatal conditions (ie, jaundice, preterm birth, and sepsis), infectious diseases (ie, COVID-19, cystic echinococcosis, malaria, syphilis, and Zika virus disease), and diabetic neuropathy. By conducting a sequela-level analysis of the health outcomes for these conditions, only cases where nervous system damage occurred were included, and YLDs were recalculated to isolate the non-fatal burden directly attributable to nervous system health loss. A comorbidity correction was used to calculate total prevalence of all conditions that affect the nervous system combined.FindingsGlobally, the 37 conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of DALYs in 2021 (443 million, 95% UI 378–521), affecting 3·40 billion (3·20–3·62) individuals (43·1%, 40·5–45·9 of the global population); global DALY counts attributed to these conditions increased by 18·2% (8·7–26·7) between 1990 and 2021. Age-standardised rates of deaths per 100 000 people attributed to these conditions decreased from 1990 to 2021 by 33·6% (27·6–38·8), and age-standardised rates of DALYs attributed to these conditions decreased by 27·0% (21·5–32·4). Age-standardised prevalence was almost stable, with a change of 1·5% (0·7–2·4). The ten conditions with the highest age-standardised DALYs in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy, migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy, meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications due to preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder, and nervous system cancer.InterpretationAs the leading cause of overall disease burden in the world, with increasing global DALY counts, effective prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies for disorders affecting the nervous system are needed

Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

Background Disorders affecting the nervous system are diverse and include neurodevelopmental disorders, late-life neurodegeneration, and newly emergent conditions, such as cognitive impairment following COVID-19. Previous publications from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study estimated the burden of 15 neurological conditions in 2015 and 2016, but these analyses did not include neurodevelopmental disorders, as defined by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11, or a subset of cases of congenital, neonatal, and infectious conditions that cause neurological damage. Here, we estimate nervous system health loss caused by 37 unique conditions and their associated risk factors globally, regionally, and nationally from 1990 to 2021. Methods We estimated mortality, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs), by age and sex in 204 countries and territories, from 1990 to 2021. We included morbidity and deaths due to neurological conditions, for which health loss is directly due to damage to the CNS or peripheral nervous system. We also isolated neurological health loss from conditions for which nervous system morbidity is a consequence, but not the primary feature, including a subset of congenital conditions (ie, chromosomal anomalies and congenital birth defects), neonatal conditions (ie, jaundice, preterm birth, and sepsis), infectious diseases (ie, COVID-19, cystic echinococcosis, malaria, syphilis, and Zika virus disease), and diabetic neuropathy. By conducting a sequela-level analysis of the health outcomes for these conditions, only cases where nervous system damage occurred were included, and YLDs were recalculated to isolate the non-fatal burden directly attributable to nervous system health loss. A comorbidity correction was used to calculate total prevalence of all conditions that affect the nervous system combined. Findings Globally, the 37 conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of DALYs in 2021 (443 million, 95% UI 378–521), affecting 3·40 billion (3·20–3·62) individuals (43·1%, 40·5–45·9 of the global population); global DALY counts attributed to these conditions increased by 18·2% (8·7–26·7) between 1990 and 2021. Age-standardised rates of deaths per 100 000 people attributed to these conditions decreased from 1990 to 2021 by 33·6% (27·6–38·8), and age-standardised rates of DALYs attributed to these conditions decreased by 27·0% (21·5–32·4). Age-standardised prevalence was almost stable, with a change of 1·5% (0·7–2·4). The ten conditions with the highest age-standardised DALYs in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy, migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy, meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications due to preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder, and nervous system cancer. Interpretation As the leading cause of overall disease burden in the world, with increasing global DALY counts, effective prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies for disorders affecting the nervous system are needed. Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation