Towards a Taxonomy of Firms Engaged in International R&D Cooperation Programs: The Case of Spain in Eureka

El proceso innovador enfrenta una serie de fallos de mercado y por esta razón – y por ser considerado uno de los principales agentes del crecimiento económico en el mundo – un significativo número de políticas gubernamentales y supra-nacionales son diseñadas para promover el progreso tecnológico. En Europa la situación no podría ser diferente y la “Paradoja Europea” es utilizada como principal argumento para la implementación de iniciativas relacionadas a la innovación. Junto con estas políticas hay una creciente preocupación con su continua evaluación, teniendo como objetivo proveer feedbacks para la adaptación y adecuación de estos programas con las necesidades de los agentes involucrados. En este sentido, el presente paper desarrolla una evaluación de los impactos del Programa Eureka para el caso de las empresas españolas participantes en esta iniciativa y con proyectos concluidos entre los años 2000-2005 (a través de análisis de los informes finales de los proyectos). Un total de 77 empresas fueron abordadas con métodos cuantitativos (correlaciones, testes chi-cuadrado, análisis discriminante y análisis de cluster). Los resultados demuestran que la participación española en Eureka suele tener altos niveles de logros tecnológicos. Los logros comerciales parecen estar definidos por la calidad del funcionamiento del proyecto y por la capacidad de las empresas en explotar sus resultados en el mercado ya antes del fin del proyecto. Una tipología introductoria de los participantes es propuesta en 3 conglomerados: (1) Risky Innovators; (2) Inventors; y (3) Consistent Innovators.Innovation is a process that faces several “market failure” situations and for this reason – and for being considered one of the main drivers of economic growth throughout the world – a large number of governmental and supranational policies are designed to foster technological progress. In Europe this situation could not be any different and the “European Paradox” is used as the main argument for the implementation of innovation related initiatives. Along with these policies, there is an increasing concern with their continuous evaluation aiming at providing valuable feedback for these program’s adaptation and adequacy to the player’s needs. In this sense, this paper develops an evaluation of Eureka Programme’s impact for the case of Spanish companies participating in this initiative and that had projects finished in the period 2000-2005 (analysis performed through the information contained in Eureka’s Final Reports). A total of 77 firms were assessed through quantitative methods, namely correlations, chi-square tests, discriminant models and cluster analysis. Findings show that Spain participates in Eureka mainly through SMEs, and that the overall rate of technological achievements is impressively good. Commercial achievements seem to be influenced mainly by the quality of the project’s functioning and the capacity of firm’s exploiting results in the industry by the end of the project. A basic typology of participants is offered in which three clusters are built: (1) Risky Innovators; (2) Inventors; and (3) Consistent Innovators.Innovation Policy; Eureka Programme; Spanish Innovation System; R&D Collaboration, Políticas de Innovación; Programa Eureka; Sistema de Innovación Español; Colaboración en I+D.

Adjuvants : an essential component of neisseria vaccines

Adjuvants may be classified into delivery systems and immune potentiator or modulator molecules based on their mechanism of action. Neisseria vaccines containing traditional adjuvants such as aluminium salts have existed for long time, but meningitis caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroups, particularly serogroup B, continues to be a global health problem. Novel strategies have applied in silico and recombinant technologies to develop "universal" antigens (e.g. proteins, peptides and plasmid DNA) for vaccines, but these antigens have been shown to be poorly immunogenic even when alum adjuvanted, implying a need for better vaccine design. In this work we review the use of natural, detoxified, or synthetic molecules in combination with antigens to activate the innate immune system and to modulate the adaptive immune responses. In the main, antigenic and imune potentiator signals are delivered using nano-, micro-particles, alum, or emulsions. The importance of interaction between adjuvants and antigens to activate and target dendritic cells, the bridge between the innate and adaptive immune systems, will be discussed. In addition, nasal vaccine strategies based on the development of mucosal adjuvants and Neisseria derivatives to eliminate the pathogen at the site of infection provide promising adjuvants effective not only against respiratory pathogens, but also against pathogens responsible for enteric and sexually transmitted diseases

Tensions and Luscher Terms for (2+1)-dimensional k-strings from Holographic Models

The leading term for the energy of a bound state of k-quarks and k-antiquarks is proportional to its separation L. These k-string configurations have a Luscher term associated with their quantum fluctuations which is typically a 1/L correction to the energy. We review the status of tensions and Luscher terms in the context of lattice gauge theory, Hamiltonian methods, and gauge/gravity correspondence. Furthermore we explore how different representations of the k-string manifest themselves in the gauge/gravity duality. We calculate the Luscher term for a strongly coupled SU(N) gauge theory in (2+1) dimensions using the gauge/gravity correspondence. Namely, we compute one-loop corrections to a probe D4-brane embedded in the Cvetic, Gibbons, Lu, and Pope supergravity background. We investigate quantum fluctuations of both the bosonic and the fermionic sectors.Comment: 39 pages, reference added, same version to be published in JHE

Electrostatic Tuning of the Superconductor-Insulator Transition in Two Dimensions

Superconductivity has been induced in insulating ultra-thin films of amorphous bismuth using the electric field effect. The screening of electron-electron interaction was found to increase with electron concentration in a manner correlated with the tendency towards superconductivity. This does not preclude an increase in the density of states being important in the development of superconductivity. The superconductor-insulator transition appears to belong to the universality class of the three dimensional XY model.Comment: Four pages, three figures. Revised slightly to reflect referees' comment

Stability of executive function and predictions to adaptive behavior from middle childhood to pre-adolescence

The shift from childhood to adolescence is characterized by rapid remodeling of the brain and increased risk-taking behaviors. Current theories hypothesize that developmental enhancements in sensitivity to affective environmental cues in adolescence may undermine executive function (EF) and increase the likelihood of problematic behaviors. In the current study, we examined the extent to which EF in childhood predicts EF in early adolescence. We also tested whether individual differences in neural responses to affective cues (rewards/punishments) in childhood serve as a biological marker for EF, sensation-seeking, academic performance, and social skills in early adolescence. At age 8, 84 children completed a gambling task while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. We examined the extent to which selections resulting in rewards or losses in this task elicited (i) the P300, a post-stimulus waveform reflecting the allocation of attentional resources toward a stimulus, and (ii) the SPN, a pre-stimulus anticipatory waveform reflecting a neural representation of a hunch about an outcome that originates in insula and ventromedial PFC. Children also completed a Dimensional Change Card-Sort (DCCS) and Flanker task to measure EF. At age 12, 78 children repeated the DCCS and Flanker and completed a battery of questionnaires. Flanker and DCCS accuracy at age 8 predicted Flanker and DCCS performance at age 12, respectively. Individual differences in the magnitude of P300 (to losses vs. rewards) and SPN (preceding outcomes with a high probability of punishment) at age 8 predicted self-reported sensation seeking (lower) and teacher-rated academic performance (higher) at age 12. We suggest there is stability in EF from age 8 to 12, and that childhood neural sensitivity to reward and punishment predicts individual differences in sensation seeking and adaptive behaviors in children entering adolescence

Cochleates derived from Vibrio cholerae O1 proteoliposomes : The impact of structure transformation on mucosal immunisation

Cochleates are phospholipid-calcium precipitates derived from the interaction of anionic lipid vesicles with divalent cations. Proteoliposomes from bacteria may also be used as a source of negatively charged components, to induce calcium-cochleate formation. In this study, proteoliposomes from V. cholerae O1 (PLc) (sized 160.7±1.6 nm) were transformed into larger (16.3±4.6 µm) cochleate-like structures (named Adjuvant Finlay Cochleate 2, AFCo2) and evaluated by electron microscopy (EM). Measurements from transmission EM (TEM) showed the structures had a similar size to that previously reported using light microscopy, while observations from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated that the structures were multilayered and of cochleate-like formation. The edges of the AFCo2 structures appeared to have spaces that allowed penetration of negative stain or Ovalbumin labeled with Texas Red (OVA-TR) observed by epi-fluorescence microscopy. In addition, freeze fracture electron microscopy confirmed that the AFCo2 structures consisted of multiple overlapping layers, which corresponds to previous descriptions of cochleates. TEM also showed that small vesicles co-existed with the larger cochleate structures, and in vitro treatment with a calcium chelator caused the AFCo2 to unfold and reassemble into small proteoliposome-like structures. Using OVA as a model antigen, we demonstrated the potential loading capacity of a heterologous antigen and in vivo studies showed that with simple admixing and administration via intragastric and intranasal routes AFCo2 provided enhanced adjuvant properties compared with PLc

A Kolmogorov-Zakharov Spectrum in AdSAdS Gravitational Collapse

We study black hole formation during the gravitational collapse of a massless scalar field in asymptotically $AdS_D$ spacetimes for $D=4,5$. We conclude that spherically symmetric gravitational collapse in asymptotically $AdS$ spaces is turbulent and characterized by a Kolmogorov-Zakharov spectrum. Namely, we find that after an initial period of weakly nonlinear evolution, there is a regime where the power spectrum of the Ricci scalar evolves as $\omega^{-s}$ with the frequency, $\omega$, and $s\approx 1.7\pm 0.1$.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. v2: Typos, other initial profile considered for universality, error analysis, close to PRL versio

On Seven-Brane and Instanton Solutions of Type IIB

It is shown that magnetic seven-branes previously considered as different objects are members of a one-parametric family of supersymmetric seven branes. We enlarge the class of seven-branes by constructing new magnetically and also electrically charged seven branes. The solutions display a kink-like behavior. We also construct a solution that naturally generalizes the D-instanton.Comment: 19 pages, no figures. v2: references added. v3: changes in text in section 2.3; minor typos elsewher