Impact of Intellectual Property Rights on the Governance Mode Decisions of Engineering Managers During the Establishment of Research Alliances With Publicly Funded Entities

Strengthening intellectual property rights for publicly financed research and development (R&D) ensures that research organizations maximize the full national value of the intellectual property that they generate, but potential negative spillover effects on the perceived value of a research alliance might deter an existing alliance partner from continued collaboration or a potential alliance partner from future collaboration. This study, performed in 2010 within the context of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa, aimed to develop a structural equation modeling-based value-mediation governance decision-making model that will enable engineering managers at publicly financed R&D organizations to select optimal governance modes for the research alliances they are establishing to grow their organizations’ R&D capabilities.     

Serum from diabetic BB/W rats enhances calcium currents in primary sensory neurons

We examined the hypothesis that exposure of nondiabetic rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons to sera from diabetic BB/W rats would produce an increase in calcium currents associated with impaired regulation of the inhibitory G protein-calcium channel complex. Acutely dissociated rat DRGs were incubated for 18-24 h in medium supplemented with sera (10% vol/vol) from either diabetic rats with neuropathy or age-matched, nondiabetic controls. Exposure of DRG neurons to sera from diabetic BB/W rats resulted in a surface membrane immunofluorescence pattern when treated with an anti-rat light-chain antibody that was not observed in neurons exposed to control sera. Calcium current density (IDCa) was assessed with the use of the whole cell variation of the patch-clamp technique. IDCa in neurons exposed to diabetic sera was significantly increased compared with neurons exposed to control sera. Guanine nucleotide-binding (G) protein regulation of calcium channel function was examined with the use of a two-pulse "facilitation" or IDCa enhancement protocol in the presence of activators [guanosine 5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate) (GTP gamma S)] or antagonists [guanosine 5'-O-(2-thiodiphosphate) (GDP beta S) and pertussis toxin (PTX)] of G protein function. Facilitation was significantly decreased in neurons exposed to diabetic sera. Intracellular diffusion of neurons with GDP beta s blocked facilitation, whereas dialysis with GTP gamma s increased facilitation to a similar magnitude in neurons exposed to either diabetic or control sera. Treatment with PTX resulted in a significant increase in IDCa and approximately 50% decrease in facilitation in neurons treated with control sera but no significant changes in neurons exposed to diabetic sera. We conclude that serum from diabetic BB/W rats with neuropathy contains an autoimmune immunoglobulin that impairs regulation of the inhibitory G protein-calcium channel complex, resulting in enhanced calcium influx. Regulation of the inhibitory G protein-calcium channel complex involves PTX-sensitive and -insensitive G proteins.     

Cytotoxicity and antineoplastic activities of alkylamines and their borane derivatives

The alkylamines and their related boron derivatives demonstrated potent cytotoxicity against the growth of murine and human tissue cultured cells. These agents did not necessarily require the boron atom to possess potent cytotoxic action in certain tumor lines. Their ability to suppress tumor cell growth was based on their inhibition of DNA and protein syntheses. DNA synthesis was reduced because purine synthesis was blocked at the enzyme site of IMP dehydrogenase by the agents. In addition ribonucleotide reductase and nucleoside kinase activities were reduced by the agents which would account for the reduced d[NTP] pools. The DNA template or molecule may be a target of the drugs with regard to binding of the drug to nucleoside bases or intercalaction of the drug between DNA base pairs. Only some Of the agents caused DNA fragmentation with reduced DNA viscosity. These effects would contribute to overall cell death afforded by the agents.     

Computationally directed axisymmetric aspheric figuring (after N. J. Brown)

We examine some computational problems related to the finishing of axisymmetric optical surfaces discussed in a paper by N. J. Brown [Opt. Eng. 17, 602-620 (1978)]. In the spirit of Brown's paper we develop solution algorithms that are suitable for implementation on today's personal computers. The use of the algorithms is illustrated by some sample calculations.     

Low-frequency intensity noise in semiconductor lasers

The low-frequency intensity noise at 25 MHz of a Fabry-Perot semiconductor laser is measured as a function of injection current. All the measurements are taken at room temperature and the laser is operated with a commercial current source (the conditions under which laser diodes are often used). At the highest injection current of twice threshold, the intensity noise is 5.5 dB above the shot-noise limit. When the longitudinal side mode suppression of the laser is 20 dB or larger, the intensity noise is modeled adequately by an expression derived from the single-mode, small-signal, linearized, semiclassical rate equations. All the parameters used in the theory are derived or referenced.     

Development and evaluation of a cloud-gap-filled MODIS daily snow-cover product

The utility of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) snow-cover products is limited by cloud cover which causes gaps in the daily snow-cover map products. We describe a cloud-gap-filled (CGF) daily snow-cover map using a simple algorithm to track cloud persistence, to account for the uncertainty created by the age of the snow observation. Developed from the 0.05° resolution climate-modeling grid daily snow-cover product, MOD10C1, each grid cell of the CGF map provides a cloud-persistence count (CPC) that tells whether the current or a prior day was used to make the snow decision. Percentage of grid cells “observable” is shown to increase dramatically when prior days are considered. The effectiveness of the CGF product is evaluated by conducting a suite of data assimilation experiments using the community Noah land surface model in the NASA Land Information System (LIS) framework. The Noah model forecasts of snow conditions, such as snow-water equivalent (SWE), are updated based on the observations of snow cover which are obtained either from the MOD10C1 standard product or the new CGF product. The assimilation integrations using the CGF maps provide domain-averaged bias improvement of ~11%, whereas such improvement using the standard MOD10C1 maps is ~3%. These improvements suggest that the Noah model underestimates SWE and snow depth fields, and that the assimilation integrations contribute to correcting this systematic error. We conclude that the gap-filling strategy is an effective approach for increasing cloud-free observations of snow cover.     

Remote sensing of photosynthetic light-use efficiency across two forested biomes: Spatial scaling

Eddy covariance (EC) measurements have greatly advanced our knowledge of carbon exchange in terrestrial ecosystems. However, appropriate techniques are required to upscale these spatially discrete findings globally. Satellite remote sensing provides unique opportunities in this respect, but remote sensing of the photosynthetic light-use efficiency (ε), one of the key components of Gross Primary Production, is challenging. Some progress has been made in recent years using the photochemical reflectance index, a narrow waveband index centered at 531 and 570 nm. The high sensitivity of this index to various extraneous effects such as canopy structure, and the view observer geometry has so far prevented its use at landscape and global scales. One critical aspect of upscaling PRI is the development of generic algorithms to account for structural differences in vegetation. Building on previous work, this study compares the differences in the PRI: ? relationship between a coastal Douglas-fir forest located on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and a mature Aspen stand located in central Saskatchewan, Canada. Using continuous, tower-based observations acquired from an automated multi-angular spectro-radiometer (AMSPEC II) installed at each site, we demonstrate that PRI can be used to measure ? throughout the vegetation season at the DF-49 stand (r² = 0.91, p < 0.00) as well as the deciduous site (r² = 0.88, p < 0.00). It is further shown that this PRI signal can be also observed from space at both sites using daily observations from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer (MODIS) and a multi-angular implementation of atmospheric correction (MAIAC) (r² = 0.54 DF-49; r² = 0.63 SOA; p < 0.00). By implementing a simple hillshade model derived from airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) to approximate canopy shadow fractions (α_s), it is further demonstrated that the differences observed in the relationship between PRI and ε at DF-49 and SOA can be attributed largely to differences in α_s. The findings of this study suggest that algorithms used to separate physiological from extraneous effects in PRI reflectance may be more broadly applicable and portable across these two climatically and structurally different biome types, when the differences in canopy structure are known.