Total Quality Management Practices and Technology Transfer in Malaysian Public University

It is widely accepted that the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) as a management philosophy has significantly contributed to good management practice in business organization particularly in the manufacturing and service sectors. The applications of that concepts, techniques and tools have been successfully tailored to non-profit service or government-based organization. In the context of higher education institution, it has been seriously debated by the TQM scholars and academicians on the issue of to what extent TQM can be applied and how relevant its practices are to higher education\u27s core business i.e. teaching and research. Despite having sufficient knowledge and research on TQM implementation in the scope of manufacturing practices and administration-related services, it is hard to find a research on TQM, which focuses on the scope of R&D at a university. This gap has to be filled because the management of research is a critical topic for universities worldwide. For developing countries such as Malaysia the need to have good management practice in R&D is even greater. Without effective research management, the task of becoming significant players in the global knowledge market will become harder. Thus, the first part of this paper will discuss the applicability of TQM and propose a theoretical framework or model of TQM to suit the need of R&D context. The constructs for the TQM framework are based on previous empirical studies and the evaluation criteria of world standard criteria such as MBNQA, EFQM, and QMS ISO 9000. The TQM constructs that will be proposed are leadership, strategic planning, student/stakeholder & industry focus, data & information management, staff management, process & system approach, partnership & resource and continuous improvement. The second part of the paper will discuss the performance indicators of R&D activities particularly in the context of public university. The review of International literatures stressed that the performance of R&D activities have to be measured. The current issue related to research performance at university is the level the research output that can be transferred to the stakeholders. Therefore, this study will use technology transfer framework to measure research performance such as publication, patents, royalty and Spin-off Company. Finally, this paper will conceptually develop a model that would show the relationship between the TQM practices in the area of research and the level of technology transfer

Additional file 2: Table S2. of GPCR and IR genes in Schistosoma mansoni miracidia

Sequences used for phylogenetic analysis in Fig. 4a. (XLSX 19 kb

Additional file 1: Table S1. of GPCR and IR genes in Schistosoma mansoni miracidia

TMHMM, Phobius and HMMer search results during the identification of putative GPCRs within the S. mansoni genome. (XLSX 98 kb

Characterisation of <i>Biomphalaria glabrata</i> IRs and iGluRs.

<p>(A) Molecular phylogeny for IR and iGluRs from <i>B</i>. <i>blabrata</i> (<i>Bgla</i>), <i>A</i>. <i>californica</i> (Acal), <i>S</i>. <i>gregaria</i> (Sgre), <i>D</i>. <i>ponderosae</i> (Dpon), <i>P</i>. <i>argus</i> (Parg) and <i>D</i>. <i>melanogaster</i> (Dmel). Bootstrap supports two IR subfamilies. The 7 newly identified <i>Biomphalaria</i> IRs are highlighted with red diamonds. Phylogenetic tree of nonIR8a/25a IRs is shown for 5 <i>B</i>. <i>glabrata</i>, 2 from <i>P</i>. <i>argus</i> and 9 from <i>A</i>. <i>californica</i>. Clades are indicated by different colours. All gene accession numbers can be found in <b><a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0156380#pone.0156380.s004" target="_blank">S2 Table</a>.</b> (B) Alignment of predicted amino acid sequences of 5 candidate <i>Biomphalaria</i> IRs (BglaIR1-5), including regions encoding putative ligand-binding domains; S1 and S2 domains are shown by black asterisks below the sequences. Three key ligand-binding residues (R, T and D/E) are marked with red asterisks. Blue shading indicates identical or similar amino acids. Sequence logo conservation is presented above the sequence.</p

Analysis of <i>Biomphalaria glabrata</i> IR25a.

<p>(A) The protein domain organization of a typical IR25a is shown above a protein alignment of <i>Biomphalaria</i> (Bgla), <i>Aplysia</i> (Acal), <i>Panulirus</i> (Parg) and <i>Drosophila</i> (Dmel) IR25a. Conserved amino acid residues are highlighted in purple (≥80% conserved) and blue (≥50% conserved), and ligand-binding domain S1 and S2 domains are shown with red lines above the sequences. Three key ligand-binding residues (R, T and D/E) are marked with a black dot. (B) Schematic representation of <i>Biomphalaria</i> IRs, showing conserved and invariable amino acids. Predicted S1 and S2 region are highlighted in green and yellow, respectively. (C) Structure of BglaIR25a predicted by SWISS-MODEL in conjunction with MDS. Top: tertiary structure, purple-α helix, blue-3-10 helix, yellow-β sheet, cyan-turn and white-random coil. Bottom: space filling of predicted binding site, yellow-predicted ligand binding S1 region, green-predicted ligand binding S2 region, and blue-predicted TM region.</p

Ionotropic Receptors Identified within the Tentacle of the Freshwater Snail <i>Biomphalaria glabrata</i>, an Intermediate Host of <i>Schistosoma mansoni</i>

<div><p><i>Biomphalaria glabrata</i> (<i>B</i>. <i>glabrata</i>) is an air-breathing aquatic mollusc found in freshwater habitats across the Western Hemisphere. It is most well-known for its recognized capacity to act as a major intermediate host for <i>Schistosoma mansoni</i>, the human blood fluke parasite. Ionotropic receptors (IRs), a variant family of the ionotropic glutamate receptors (iGluR), have an evolutionary ancient function in detecting odors to initiate chemosensory signaling. In this study, we applied an array of methods towards the goal of identifying IR-like family members in <i>B</i>. <i>glabrata</i>, ultimately revealing two types, the iGluR and IR. Sequence alignment showed that three ligand-binding residues are conserved in most <i>Biomphalaria</i> iGluR sequences, while the IRs did exhibit a variable pattern, lacking some or all known glutamate-interactingresidues, supporting their distinct classification from the iGluRs. We show that <i>B</i>. <i>glabrata</i> contains 7 putative IRs, some of which are expressed within its chemosensory organs. To further investigate a role for the more ancient <i>IR25a</i> type in chemoreception, we tested its spatial distribution pattern within the snail cephalic tentacle by <i>in situ</i> hybridization. The presence of <i>IR25a</i> within presumptive sensory neurons supports a role for this receptor in olfactory processing, contributing to our understanding of the molecular pathways that are involved in <i>Biomphalaria</i> olfactory processing.</p></div

Analysis of ligand-binding domains in <i>Biomphalaria glabrata</i> IRs and iGluRs.

<p>(A) Left: Protein domain structure of conventional iGluRs/IRs in schematic form [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0156380#pone.0156380.ref008" target="_blank">8</a>]. Right: Illustration of the three Pfam domains present in iGluRs and IRs. Both IR8a and IR25a possess the Pfam domain corresponding to the iGluR ATD. All other IRs lack the same homology to the ATD. (B) Alignment of S1 and S2 ligand-binding domains from putative <i>B</i>. <i>glabrata</i> iGluRs and IRs with <i>A</i>.<i>californica</i> iGluRs. <i>Biomphalaria</i> and <i>Aplysia</i> S1 and S2 ligand-binding domains were manually aligned. Blue shading indicates identical or similar amino acids. Three key ligand-binding residues (R, T and D/E) are boxed. S1 and S2 domains are marked with coloured lines at the bottom. (C) Schematic representation of <i>Biomphalaria</i> iGluRs, showing conserved and invariable amino acids. Predicted ATD site is highlighted in red and the region of key ligand-binding residues is magnified and shown in yellow and green.</p

Expression of <i>BglaIR25a</i> as detected by <i>in situ</i> hybridization in <i>Biomphalaria glabrata</i> tentacle.

<p>(A) Control whole-mount <i>in situ</i> hybridization on tentacle tissue with a DIG-labelled sense riboprobe for <i>BglaIR25a</i>. No signal is apparent. (B-D) Whole-mount tentacle probed with antisense riboprobe for <i>BglaIR25a</i>. (E-I) Cryostat sections showing cellular localization of <i>IR25a</i> within central and peripheral cells (arrows). d, distal; p, proximal.</p

Candidate IRs and iGluRs identified from the <i>B</i>. <i>glabrata</i> genome.

<p>Candidate IRs and iGluRs identified from the <i>B</i>. <i>glabrata</i> genome.</p

Tissue expression of <i>Biomphalaria glabrata</i> IRs.

<p>Top: Schematic representation of <i>B</i>.<i>glabrata</i> showing tissues used for RT-PCR. Bottom: RT-PCR detection of 7 <i>Biomphalaria</i> IR genes in different tissues. <i>Biomphalaria</i> IRs can be detected in both olfactory and non-olfactory tissues. No expression could be detected from the lung or gonad. No amplification was detected in RNA samples in the absence of reverse transcription (data not shown) or template (-ve). Control RT-PCR products for comparative analysis of gene expression correspond to the β-actin.</p