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This study examines the impact of gender at three different positions in a firm&rsquo, s hierarchy on innovative activities, looking at over 6474 firms in 30 emerging countries. We create a dummy variable for each of the six survey questions on product innovation, process innovation, organizational innovation, marketing innovation, and R&amp, D (Research &amp, Development) spending. Each dummy acts as a dependent variable in a separate logit regression, and the sum of the dummies acts as the dependent variable in another ordered logit regression. We use the female ownership percentage, female top management, and female majority in the workforce as test variables. We use the Heckman two-stage model to address endogeneity concerns with gender. We find that the female ownership percentage is generally positively related to individual innovation measures as well as the composite measure, while female top management is positively associated with marketing innovation only, and a female majority in the workforce is not significantly related to any measure. The results suggest that promoting innovation in emerging countries would involve governments encouraging further market participation by women and supporting female CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) to innovate, and firms fostering innovation among female workers.

Government research and development (R&D) subsidies are more important in countries that are latecomers to the biotechnology industry, where venture capital has not been developed, and the ratio of start-ups is high. Previous studies have mostly focused on the additionality of the input and output through government R&D subsidies, such as private R&D investment, technological innovation, and financial performance. In addition, some studies have focused on the behavioral additionality (the change in a firm’s behavior) of firms through government R&D subsidies. However, each study is fragmented and does not provide integrated results and implications. Therefore, this study comprehensively investigated the effects of government R&D subsidies on the multifaceted aspects of input, output, and behavioral additionality based on data from South Korean biotechnology companies. This study used the propensity score matching (PSM) method to prevent selection bias. The results showed that firms benefiting from government R&D subsidies had a markedly higher R&D investment in terms of input additionality, and they produced more technological innovation within a shorter period in terms of output additionality, though financial performance was not determined. Moreover, government R&D subsidies have accelerated strategic alliances and suppressed external financing (debt financing) in terms of behavioral additionality.

Anti-biofouling has been improved by passive or active ways. Passive antifouling strategies aim to prevent the initial adsorption of foulants, while active strategies aim to eliminate proliferative fouling by destruction of the chemical structure and inactivation of the cells. However, neither passive antifouling strategies nor active antifouling strategies can solely resist biofouling due to their inherent limitations. Herein, we successfully developed multimodal antibacterial surfaces for waterborne and airborne bacteria with the benefit of a combination of antiadhesion (passive) and bactericidal (active) properties of the surfaces. We elaborated multifunctionalizable porous amine-reactive (PAR) polymer films from poly(pentafluorophenyl acrylate) (PPFPA). Pentafluorophenyl ester groups in the PAR films facilitate creation of multiple functionalities through a simple postmodification under mild condition, based on their high reactivity toward various primary amines. We introduced amine-containing poly(dimethylsiloxane) (amine-PDMS) and dopamine into the PAR films, resulting in infusion of antifouling silicone oil lubricants and formation of bactericidal silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), respectively. As a result, the PAR film-based lubricant-infused AgNPs-incorporated surfaces demonstrate outstanding antibacterial effects toward both waterborne and airborne Escherichia coli, suggesting a new door for development of an effective multimodal anti-biofouling surface.

The objective of this study is to summarize the current general evaluation process that stakeholders use to evaluate single or multiple medical devices to select the optimal medical device. This study constructed a novel evaluation framework to select the optimal medical device by overcoming the limitations of assessments that were previously confined to the medical device cycle and the purpose of the specific assessment. It also presents a general framework for incorporating usability evaluations into the frame to reflect the objectives and characteristics of key stakeholders in the medical device industry. In addition, the results of medical device evaluation are further analyzed using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP).

Video traffic is increasing at a considerable rate due to the spread of personal media and advancements in media technology. Accordingly, there is a growing need for techniques to automatically classify moving images. This paper use NetVLAD and NetFV models and the Huber loss function for video classification problem and YouTube-8M dataset to verify the experiment. We tried various attempts according to the dataset and optimize hyperparameters, ultimately obtain a GAP score of 0.8668.

Mitochondrial oxidative stress is a key pathologic factor in neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease. Abnormal generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), resulting from mitochondrial dysfunction, can lead to neuronal cell death. Ceria (CeO2) nanoparticles are known to function as strong and recyclable ROS scavengers by shuttling between Ce(3+) and Ce(4+) oxidation states. Consequently, targeting ceria nanoparticles selectively to mitochondria might be a promising therapeutic approach for neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we report the design and synthesis of triphenylphosphonium-conjugated ceria nanoparticles that localize to mitochondria and suppress neuronal death in a 5XFAD transgenic Alzheimer's disease mouse model. The triphenylphosphonium-conjugated ceria nanoparticles mitigate reactive gliosis and morphological mitochondria damage observed in these mice. Altogether, our data indicate that the triphenylphosphonium-conjugated ceria nanoparticles are a potential therapeutic candidate for mitochondrial oxidative stress in Alzheimer's disease.

Aging is accompanied by altered T-cell responses that result in susceptibility to various diseases. Previous findings on the increased expression of inhibitory receptors, such as programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), in the T cells of aged mice emphasize the importance of investigations into the relationship between T-cell exhaustion and aging-associated immune dysfunction. In this study, we demonstrate that T-cell immunoglobulin mucin domain-3 (Tim-3), another exhaustion marker, is up-regulated on aged T cells, especially CD8(+) T cells. Tim-3-expressing cells also produced PD-1, but Tim-3(+) PD-1(+) CD8(+) T cells had a distinct phenotype that included the expression of CD44 and CD62L, from Tim-3(-) PD-1(+) cells. Tim-3(+) PD-1(+) CD8(+) T cells showed more evident properties associated with exhaustion than Tim-3(-) PD-1(+) CD8(+) T cells: an exhaustion-related marker expression profile, proliferative defects following homeostatic or TCR stimulation, and altered production of cytokines. Interestingly, these cells produced a high level of IL-10 and induced normal CD8(+) T cells to produce IL-10, which might contribute to immune dysregulation in aged mice. The generation of Tim-3-expressing CD8(+) T cells in aged mice seems to be mediated by encounters with antigens but not by specific infection, based on their high expression of CD49d and their unbiased TCR Vβ usage. In conclusion, we found that a CD8(+) T-cell population with age-associated exhaustion was distinguishable by its expression of Tim-3. These results provide clues for understanding the alterations that occur in T-cell populations with age and for improving dysfunctions related to the aging of the immune system.

Combination therapy is a cornerstone of anticancer therapy, suggesting potential therapeutic benefit to nonresponders to single-agent treatment. BVAC, a B-cell-and-monocyte-based vaccine loaded with alpha-galactosylceramide(α-GC) and tumor antigen as reported in our previous studies, can be successfully combined with other treatments. Here we found out a novel synergistic regimen in TC-1 tumor model which combines BVAC with topotecan, a chemotherapeutic agent as a topoisomerase I inhibitor. We demonstrated some significant alteration in the immunoprofiles of topotecan-treated mice. We observed increased tumor recruitment of monocytes and CD8+ T cells, and decreased frequencies in regulatory T cells in tumor. Accordingly, we are currently investigating how topotecan-induced changes in immune cell composition could lead to improvement of antitumor effect. These data indicate that topotecan not only has cytotoxicity to tumor but can contribute to modulating tumor immune microenvironment. We anticipate that this study could provide a rationale for combination of cancer vaccine and chemotherapy and define future optimal treatment regimens in cancer patients. Citation Format: Jeong-Mi Lee, Kwang-Soo Shin, Choong-Hyun Koh, Insu Jeon, Tae-Seung Kang, Boyeong Song, Chang-Yuil Kang. Immunomodulatory effects of topotecan augment the effectiveness of chemotherapy-immunotherapy combination [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 4239.

For cancer vaccines, the selection of optimal tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) that can maximize the immunogenicity of the vaccine without causing unwanted adverse effects is challenging. In this study, we developed two engineered Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) antigens, K965 and K1117, and compared their immunogenicity to a previously reported truncated HER2 antigen, K684, within a B cell and monocyte-based vaccine (BVAC). We found that BVAC-K965 and BVAC-K1117 induced comparable antigen-specific antibody responses and antigen-specific T cell responses to BVAC-K684. Interestingly, BVAC-K1117 induced more potent antitumor activity than the other vaccines in murine CT26-HER2 tumor models. In addition, BVAC-K1117 showed enhanced antitumor effects against truncated p95HER2-expressing CT26 tumors compared to BVAC-K965 and BVAC-K684 based on the survival analysis by inducing T cell responses against intracellular domain (ICD) epitopes. The increased ICD epitope-specific T cell responses induced by BVAC-K1117 compared to BVAC-K965 and BVAC-K684 were recapitulated in human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-untyped human PBMCs and HLA-A*0201 PBMCs. Furthermore, we also observed synergistic antitumor effects between BVAC-K1117 and anti-PD-L1 antibody treatment against CT26-HER2 tumors. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that inclusion of a sufficient number of ICD epitopes of HER2 in cellular vaccines can improve the antitumor activity of the vaccine and provide a way to optimize the efficacy of anticancer cellular vaccines targeting HER2.

This paper analyzes factors affecting pricing in patent licensing contracts in the biopharmaceutical industry based on a dataset that includes royalty-related data such as running royalty rate, up-front payment, milestones, and deal value. Data on drug candidates for 11 drug classes is obtained for regression analysis between royalty-related data and multiple input descriptors such as market factors, licensor factors, and licensee factor in order to derive the formula for predicting royalty-related estimates such as royalty rate, up-front payment, milestones, and deal value. Data is gathered from multiple sources including MedTrack and is processed through merging and cleaning. We found that the three most important factors in pricing in patent licensing in the biopharmaceutical industry are CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate), PDELR (Previous Deal Experience of Licensor), and AR (Attrition Rate). We found that factors in the formula used to estimate the license fee are totally different by drug class. We found that the three most important factors in the frequency in the formula used to estimate the license fee are PDELR, RnDLR (R&amp, D Costs of Licensor), and PDELE (Previous Deal Experience of Licensee). This study suggests a method of estimating the proper royalty rate, up-front payment, milestones, and deal value of the drug candidates of 11 drug classes by using easily obtained input data.

Environmental noise pollution is an important social problem. Noise is known to have an adverse effect on human emotions and bodies. However, the methodology of previous studies did not consider selection bias in eliminating participants during the screening process. Therefore, for this study, we propose a framework that combines propensity score matching with a generalized additive model to reduce that sampling problem. Within this framework, we use health data from the National Health Insurance Service and noise data from the National Noise Information System in Korea. Using the proposed framework and data set, we analyze the effects of noise on cardiocerebrovascular disease. Our results show that, when daytime noise increases by 1 A-weighted decibel (dB(A)), cerebrovascular disease increases by 0.66%, hypertension increases by 0.17%, and heart disease increases by 0.38%. Moreover, we conducted a scenario analysis to investigate the effects of noise reduction policies. When noise levels are reduced to meet regulatory targets, cerebrovascular diseases decrease by 2077 per million people, high blood pressure decreases by 5705 per million people, and heart disease decreases by 1151 per million people. Our results thus provide information about noise exposure–response functions in Korea that could be used to establish noise reduction policies.

Previous studies related to open innovation have presented piecewise implications in relation to various knowledge management capacities. The study published by Lichtenthaler and Lichtenthaler in 2009 presented a model that combines the various open innovation capacities of firms in view of a mix of knowledge management, dynamic capability and absorptive capacity. Despite these efforts, there have been few empirical studies on the relationships among capacities, or between capacities and performance from an integrated perspective. Therefore, this study seeks to clarify the relationships among knowledge capacities and between knowledge capacities, technological innovation and financial performance at the firm level. Our findings are that the transformative, connective, inventive and absorptive capacities both directly and indirectly affects technological innovation performance, and innovative and desorptive capacities are the key factors connecting technological innovation to financial performance. This study provides managerial implications for the balanced development of the various knowledge capacities and the improvement of technological innovation and financial performance for firm knowledge managers.

Government R&D investments are steadily increasing with the perception that R&D plays an important role in technological innovation and sustainable economic growth. In particular, because biotechnology is recognized as one of the next growth engines, the Korean government has recently increased their investment in biotechnology R&D. However, careful analysis of the efficiency of government-sponsored R&D projects is still lacking. In this paper, we measured the technical efficiency and technology gap ratio to investigate the efficiency of Korean government-sponsored R&D projects of 16 sub-biotechnologies from 2007 to 2013 using a metafrontier Data Envelopment Analysis approach. There was no improvement in overall efficiency between 2007 and 2013. Biochip development technology has been the most efficient sub-biotechnology field and the least efficient fields have been biotechnology product safety and efficacy assessment technology. Medical science and engineering is the closest to optimal production technology among sub-biotechnologies. The efficiency of universities and government-funded research institutes is high, while the efficiency of companies is relatively low. The results suggest that the government should improve the R&D planning process and establish a customized R&D investment strategy that considers the characteristics of technologies and the seven organization types of R&D conductors to increase R&D efficiency.

The accumulated knowledge of nanoparticle (NP) synthesis for the last 30 years has enabled the development of functional NPs for biomedical applications. Especially, NPs with multifunctional capabilities are gaining popularity as the demand for versatile and efficient NP agents increases. Various combinations of functional materials are integrated to form multicomponent NPs with designed size, structure, and multifunctionality. Their use as diagnostic and/or therapeutic tools is demonstrated, suggesting their application potentials in healthcare and medical practice. Here, the recent achievements in the synthesis and biomedical applications of multifunctional NPs are summarized. Starting with a brief overview regarding the advances in NP synthesis and accompanying progress in nanobiotechnology, various components to construct the multifunctional NP agents, which include polymers and mesoporous, magnetic, catalytic, and semiconducting NPs, are discussed together with their overall integration forms, such as NP assembly, hollow/porous structures, or hybrid/doped systems. Following the explanation of the features that multifunctional NP agents can offer, an outlook and a brief comment regarding the future research directions are provided.

The number of strategic alliances for R&D activities in the biotechnology industry is sharply increasing. Some studies show that each alliance partner type has different alliance motives, resources and capabilities, organizational structures and cultures, and degrees of competition with partners, which can lead to different performances of strategic alliances. In this regard, this study conducts an empirical analysis of the different impact of each type of alliance partner on technological innovation performance and finds the moderating effect of absorptive capacity and potential competition by categorizing strategic alliances for R&D activities in the biotechnology industry into three types: vertical-downstream alliances, vertical-upstream alliances, and horizontal alliances. This study analyzed 206 Korean biotechnology firms and their strategic alliances for a total of 292 R&D activities. The results of the analysis showed that vertical alliances have a positive impact on technological innovation performance, while horizontal alliances have an inverted U-shaped relationship with technological innovation performance caused by the effect of competition. Additionally, it was confirmed that the R&D intensity of biotechnology firms has a moderating effect of increasing the impact of vertical-upstream alliances on technological innovation performance.

Colloidal assemblies of nanoparticles possess both the intrinsic and collective properties of their constituent nanoparticles, which are useful in applications where ordinary nanoparticles are not well suited. Here, we report an immunoassay technique based on colloidal nanoparticle assemblies made of iron oxide nanoparticles (magnetic substrate) and manganese-doped zinc sulfide (ZnS:Mn) nanoparticles (photoluminescent substrate), both of which are functionalized with antibodies to capture target proteins in a sandwich assay format. After magnetic isolation of the iron oxide nanoparticle assemblies and their bound ZnS:Mn nanoparticle assemblies (MZSNAs), photoluminescence of the remaining MZSNAs is measured for the protein quantification, eliminating the need for washing steps and signal amplification. Using human C-reactive protein as a model biomarker, we achieve a detection limit of as low as 0.7 pg/mL, which is more than 1 order of magnitude lower than that of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (9.1 pg/mL) performed using the same pair of antibodies, while using only one-tenth of the antibodies. We also confirm the potential for multiplex detection by using two different types of photoluminescent colloidal nanoparticle assemblies simultaneously.

Tissue adhesives have emerged as an alternative to sutures and staples for wound closure and reconnection of injured tissues after surgery or trauma. Owing to their convenience and effectiveness, these adhesives have received growing attention particularly in minimally invasive procedures. For safe and accurate applications, tissue adhesives should be detectable via clinical imaging modalities and be highly biocompatible for intracorporeal procedures. However, few adhesives meet all these requirements. Herein, we show that biocompatible tantalum oxide/silica core/shell nanoparticles (TSNs) exhibit not only high contrast effects for real-time imaging but also strong adhesive properties. Furthermore, the biocompatible TSNs cause much less cellular toxicity and less inflammation than a clinically used, imageable tissue adhesive (that is, a mixture of cyanoacrylate and Lipiodol). Because of their multifunctional imaging and adhesive property, the TSNs are successfully applied as a hemostatic adhesive for minimally invasive procedures and as an immobilized marker for image-guided procedures., The use of tissue adhesives for the closure of wounds is of growing interest for surgery and trauma management. Here, the authors develop an adhesive that is biocompatible, enables tissue adhesion and also permits real-time imaging due to the presence of contrast agents for multiple modalities.

Novel magnetically recyclable carbon nanocomposites were synthesized to support various nanocatalysts using a simple, economical and scalable method. The designed nanocomposites, which are composed of porous carbon and Fe 3 O 4 nanocrystals, can be used as an expandable platform to load versatile nanoparticle catalysts such as Pd and Pt. These nanocomposites with high surface area and permeable porous structure can contain abundant and accessible small-sized catalyst nanoparticles. These characteristics led to efficient catalytic reactions and enhanced catalytic activity, which were verified in selective reduction of nitroarenes and Suzuki cross-coupling reactions. The nanocomposite catalysts provided excellent catalytic activities to yield the desired products in short reaction time and mild reaction conditions. The catalysts could be easily separated from the reaction mixture by a magnet, and recycled five consecutive cycles in reduction of nitrobenzene and Suzuki cross-coupling of bromobenzene without losing significant activities.

The scope of healthcare has been expanding from caring for sick people to keeping people from becoming sick, and telemedicine will play a significant role in this new healthcare paradigm. This study investigated consumer preferences and willingness to pay for attributes of telemedicine services in South Korea. A market simulation was conducted to examine the market shares of alternative services and their relationships to the perceived usefulness of service types and preferred device types.Using a conjoint survey, we collected data on consumer preferences for six telemedicine service attributes. Data analysis used the Bayesian mixed logit model. The market simulation estimated the probabilities of a specific service alternative being chosen using estimated model coefficients.Wearable devices were the most preferred, followed by smart-home and smartphone devices. Consumers perceived managing blood glucose to be the most useful telemedicine service, followed by monitoring oxygen saturation and blood pressure. The market simulation indicated that consumer preferences for device types were associated with the types of chronic diseases for which management through telemedicine services is perceived to be useful.As the focus of healthcare moves from treating patients to keeping individuals healthy, a key factor for the successful deployment of telemedicine services is understanding consumer perceptions and attitudes. The results of this study revealed the dynamics of consumer preferences with regard to service attributes.

In recent years, technological mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have become important strategic tools for enterprises to access and utilize new external knowledge. In particular, in the biopharmaceutical industry, M&A activities are actively being progressed due to an increase in new drug development costs, a decrease in R&D productivity, and the patent expiration of blockbuster drugs. However, there is a lack of research on the integrated view of (1) the acquirer’s capability and (2) the dyadic relationship of the knowledge base between the acquirer and target on the innovation performance of the acquirer. Furthermore, there are few empirical studies on the impact of these factors on ambidextrous innovation; that is, exploitative and explorative innovation. Therefore, with this integrated view in mind, this study analyzed the effect of each factor on the exploitative and exploratory innovation performance of the acquirer. A negative binomial regression was conducted using patent data to measure the innovation outcome of the acquirer after M&A. The findings suggest that (1) the acquisition experience of the acquirer and (2) the technological commonness between the acquirer and the target both had a significant impact on the exploitation and exploration innovation performance.

Exposure to air pollution affects human activity and health. Particularly, in Asian countries, the influence of particulate matter on humans has received wide attention. However, there is still a lack of research about the effects of particulate matter on human outdoor activities and mental health. Therefore, we aimed to explore the association between exposure to particulate matter with a diameter of less than 10 &micro, m (PM10) and outdoor activity along with mental health in South Korea where issues caused by particulate matter increasingly have social and economic impacts. We examined this relationship by combining the physical and habitual factors of approximately 100,000 people in 2015 from the Korean National Health Survey. To measure each individual&rsquo, s exposure to particulate matter, we computed the total hours exposed to a high PM10 concentration (&gt, 80 &mu, g/m3) in a given district one month before the survey was conducted. After dividing all districts into six groups according to the exposed level of the high PM10, we applied the propensity score-weighting method to control for observable background characteristics. We then estimated the impact of the high PM10 on outdoor activity and mental health between the weighted individuals in each group. Our main findings suggest that the impact of PM10 on outdoor activity and stress shows an inverted-U shaped function, which is counterintuitive. Specifically, both outdoor activity and stress levels tend to be worsened when the exposure time to a high PM10 (&gt, g/m3) was more than 20 h. Related policy implications are discussed.

Highly fluorescing biological labels with excitation in near-infrared window II have attracted the interest of scientific community as they are capable of increasing both penetration depth and imaging quality. However, studies on the utilization of quantum dots (QDs) in biological imaging appear to be rather limited to the near-infrared window I (NIR-I: 650-950 nm). We herein report on the observation of efficient photoluminescence (PL) in Mn 2+-doped ZnS QDs excited by two-photon absorption (2PA) in near-infrared window II (NIR-II: 1000-1350 nm). Multiphoton-absorption-induced PL measurements indicate that these biocompatible QDs exhibit a two-photon action cross-section of 265 GM at 1180 nm, the highest value reported to date among conventional fluorescent probes on excitation in NIR-II. This value is 1-2 orders of magnitude higher than that for organic dye molecules excited by NIR-I photons and 3-4 times greater than that of fluorescent proteins excited in the NIR-II. The underlying NIR-II excitation mechanism for the Mn2+ emission at 586 nm on account of the 4T1- 6A1 transition is attributed to the transitions from the valence subband of ZnS QDs (or ground states of Mn2+ ions) to the excited states of Mn2+ ions by direct two-photon absorption. Transient PL measurements reveal single exponential decay with a PL lifetime of 0.35 � 0.03 ms irrespective of excitation wavelength, which are 4-5 orders longer than that of conventional fluorescent probes. With the excitation in NIR-II window and the unique combination of photophysical properties such as a greater two-photon action cross-section, a longer PL lifetime, and larger anti-Stokes shift (450 nm or more), Mn2+-doped ZnS QDs appear to be a promising candidate for deep tissue imaging applications. � 2013 American Chemical Society.

Three-photon excitation is a process that occurs when three photons are simultaneously absorbed within a luminophore for photo-excitation through virtual states. Although the imaging application of this process was proposed decades ago, three-photon biomedical imaging has not been realized yet owing to its intrinsic low quantum efficiency. We herein report on high-resolution in vitro and in vivo imaging by combining three-photon excitation of ZnS nanocrystals and visible emission from Mn(2+) dopants. The large three-photon cross-section of the nanocrystals enabled targeted cellular imaging under high spatial resolution, approaching the theoretical limit of three-photon excitation. Owing to the enhanced Stokes shift achieved through nanocrystal doping, the three-photon process was successfully applied to high-resolution in vivo tumour-targeted imaging. Furthermore, the biocompatibility of ZnS nanocrystals offers great potential for clinical applications of three-photon imaging.

Light affects not only the development and physiology of the shoots (stems, leaves, and flowers) of plants but also the underground root system. Light triggers shoot cells to release signals that travel to the root and affect the development and physiology of the root system. Like shoot cells, root cells also have photoreceptors that can be activated by light, leading Lee et al . to investigate if light actually reaches these underground parts of the plant. Exposing Arabidopsis thaliana shoots to light while protecting the roots from light activated the photoreceptor phyB in the roots. In the root, phyB activated Hy5, a transcription factor that mediates cellular responses to light and was important for growth of the primary root and for root gravitropism, the proper downward orientation of roots. Arabidopsis stems efficiently conducted only certain wavelengths of light to the root tissues, and these conducted wavelengths activated phyB directly in the roots. These findings demonstrate that roots not only receive information about light conditions through signaling molecules that travel from the shoot to the root in response to light but also directly perceive light that is conducted through the plant tissues.

Having dataset in relational database published and accessed on the Web of Data is a hot issue. I n t his p aper, w e present implementation of publishing relational database as Linked Data with two open-source platforms, particularly D2RQ and Ontop. Both platforms provide their own way to translate databases into RDF Graphs. However, in case of querying data, Ontop shows much better performance than D2RQ.

Heart failure remains a major public health concern with a 5-year mortality rate higher than that of most cancers. Myocardial disease in heart failure is frequently accompanied by impairment of the specialized electrical conduction system and myocardium. We introduce an epicardial mesh made of electrically conductive and mechanically elastic material, to resemble the innate cardiac tissue and confer cardiac conduction system function, to enable electromechanical cardioplasty. Our epicardium-like substrate mechanically integrated with the heart and acted as a structural element of cardiac chambers. The epicardial device was designed with elastic properties nearly identical to the epicardial tissue itself and was able to detect electrical signals reliably on the moving rat heart without impeding diastolic function 8 weeks after induced myocardial infarction. Synchronized electrical stimulation over the ventricles by the epicardial mesh with the high conductivity of 11,210 S/cm shortened total ventricular activation time, reduced inherent wall stress, and improved several measures of systolic function including increases of 51% in fractional shortening, ~90% in radial strain, and 42% in contractility. The epicardial mesh was also capable of delivering an electrical shock to terminate a ventricular tachyarrhythmia in rodents. Electromechanical cardioplasty using an epicardial mesh is a new pathway toward reconstruction of the cardiac tissue and its specialized functions.

A sweat-based glucose monitoring device with transdermal drug delivery is developed for noninvasive diabetes treatment., Electrochemical analysis of sweat using soft bioelectronics on human skin provides a new route for noninvasive glucose monitoring without painful blood collection. However, sweat-based glucose sensing still faces many challenges, such as difficulty in sweat collection, activity variation of glucose oxidase due to lactic acid secretion and ambient temperature changes, and delamination of the enzyme when exposed to mechanical friction and skin deformation. Precise point-of-care therapy in response to the measured glucose levels is still very challenging. We present a wearable/disposable sweat-based glucose monitoring device integrated with a feedback transdermal drug delivery module. Careful multilayer patch design and miniaturization of sensors increase the efficiency of the sweat collection and sensing process. Multimodal glucose sensing, as well as its real-time correction based on pH, temperature, and humidity measurements, maximizes the accuracy of the sensing. The minimal layout design of the same sensors also enables a strip-type disposable device. Drugs for the feedback transdermal therapy are loaded on two different temperature-responsive phase change nanoparticles. These nanoparticles are embedded in hyaluronic acid hydrogel microneedles, which are additionally coated with phase change materials. This enables multistage, spatially patterned, and precisely controlled drug release in response to the patient’s glucose level. The system provides a novel closed-loop solution for the noninvasive sweat-based management of diabetes mellitus.

Uniform and extremely small-sized iron oxide nanoparticles (ESIONs) of4 nm were synthesized via the thermal decomposition of iron-oleate complex in the presence of oleyl alcohol. Oleyl alcohol lowered the reaction temperature by reducing iron-oleate complex, resulting in the production of small-sized nanoparticles. XRD pattern of 3 nm-sized nanoparticles revealed maghemite crystal structure. These nanoparticles exhibited very low magnetization derived from the spin-canting effect. The hydrophobic nanoparticles can be easily transformed to water-dispersible and biocompatible nanoparticles by capping with the poly(ethylene glycol)-derivatized phosphine oxide (PO-PEG) ligands. Toxic response was not observed with Fe concentration up to 100 μg/mL in MTT cell proliferation assay of POPEG-capped 3 nm-sized iron oxide nanoparticles. The 3 nm-sized nanoparticles exhibited a high r(1) relaxivity of 4.78 mM(-1) s(-1) and low r(2)/r(1) ratio of 6.12, demonstrating that ESIONs can be efficient T(1) contrast agents. The high r(1) relaxivities of ESIONs can be attributed to the large number of surface Fe(3+) ions with 5 unpaired valence electrons. In the in vivo T(1)-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ESIONs showed longer circulation time than the clinically used gadolinium complex-based contrast agent, enabling high-resolution imaging. High-resolution blood pool MR imaging using ESIONs enabled clear observation of various blood vessels with sizes down to 0.2 mm. These results demonstrate the potential of ESIONs as T(1) MRI contrast agents in clinical settings.

The pharmaceutical industry, where research and development (R&amp, D) efficiency is central to company survival, has recently faced significant challenges. To increase efficiency, companies must implement strategies such as open innovation (OI), wherein they sell their intellectual property, maximize their use of external resources, adjust their structures, and implement new business models. In this study, we divided 701 U.S. pharmaceutical companies according to their OI strategies to measure and compare their R&amp, D efficiencies between 2001 and 2016. We analyzed the deal data of companies by first dividing them into four groups (inside-out, outside-in, coupled, and closed) to calculate R&amp, D efficiency using stochastic and meta-frontier analyses. In the first group analysis, the coupled group shows high technical efficiency, but in an overall comparison, the inside-out group achieves the highest efficiency values. These values increased between 2005 and 2010, when the R&amp, D crisis in the industry was great at its highest. We thus identified the characteristics of each group based on our results, and presented extensive analyses using a time-series comparison and enterprise-level analysis. We claim that pharmaceutical companies can still cope with the current R&amp, D crisis by implementing different OI strategies.

This research aimed to build a solid basis through analytic hierarchy process (AHP) analysis to develop a reliable and practical valuation model that reflects the characteristics of the biotech industry and propose a reference formula to estimate the license fee by drug class for potential business transactions. In this study, we reviewed 135 related studies and found 167 related determinants. We surveyed 25 or more specialists in the biopharmaceutical industries. The survey group consisted of National Research Institutes (&lsquo, Group 1&rsquo, ), Companies (&lsquo, Group 2&rsquo, ), and Government Agencies&ndash, Universities (&lsquo, Group 3&rsquo, ). The average of the total group and Group 3 showed the same tendency at a Level 3 ranking, where the priority in determining the license fee was arranged in the order of &lsquo, the market factor, the technology factor, the financial factor, and the environmental factor&rsquo, in light of the factors, and &lsquo, patent characteristics, licensee characteristics, and licensor characteristics&rsquo, for the characteristics. We noted that the patent characteristics were primarily significant in technology transactions and their contract fee in the groups (Total, Group 2 and Group 3), followed by licensee characteristics. In terms of the in-depth index, we noted that the development phase and attrition rate, intellectual property tradability, and licensee licensing experience, followed by quality of technology, were the most influential determinants.

Thanks to recent advances in the synthesis of high-quality inorganic nanoparticles, more and more types of nanoparticles are becoming available for medical applications. Especially, metal oxide nanoparticles have drawn much attention due to their unique physicochemical properties and relatively inexpensive production costs. To further promote the development and clinical translation of these nanoparticle-based agents, however, it is highly desirable to reduce unwanted interbatch variations of the nanoparticles because characterizing and refining each batch are costly, take a lot of effort, and, thus, are not productive. Large-scale synthesis is a straightforward and economic pathway to minimize this issue. Here, the recent achievements in the large-scale synthesis of uniform-sized metal oxide nanoparticles and their biomedical applications are summarized, with a focus on nanoparticles of transition metal oxides and lanthanide oxides, and clarifying the underlying mechanism for the synthesis of uniform-sized nanoparticles. Surface modification steps to endow hydrophobic nanoparticles with water dispersibility and biocompatibility are also briefly described. Finally, various medical applications of metal oxide nanoparticles, such as bioimaging, drug delivery, and therapy, are presented.

Although different kinds of metal oxide nanoparticles continue to be proposed as anode materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs), their cycle life and power density are still not suitable for commercial applications. Metal oxide nanoparticles have a large storage capacity, but they suffer from the excessive generation of solid–electrolyte interphase (SEI) on the surface, low electrical conductivity, and mechanical degradation and pulverization resulted from severe volume expansion during cycling. Herein we present the preparation of mesoporous iron oxide nanoparticle clusters (MIONCs) by a bottom-up self-assembly approach and demonstrate that they exhibit excellent cyclic stability and rate capability derived from their three-dimensional mesoporous nanostructure. By controlling the geometric configuration, we can achieve stable interfaces between the electrolyte and active materials, resulting in SEI formation confined on the outer surface of the MIONCs.

We present a rapid and reliable method for determining the sizes and size distributions of

Multimodal imaging is highly desirable for accurate diagnosis because it can provide complementary information from each imaging modality. In this study, a sol-gel reaction of tantalum(V) ethoxide in a microemulsion containing Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles (NPs) was used to synthesize multifunctional Fe(3)O(4)/TaO(x) core/shell NPs, which were biocompatible and exhibited a prolonged circulation time. When the NPs were intravenously injected, the tumor-associated vessel was observed using computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed the high and low vascular regions of the tumor.

Transportation by train has numerous advantages over road transportation, especially with regard to energy efficiency, ecological features, safety, and punctuality. However, the contrast in ride comfort between standard road transportation and train travel has become a competitive issue. The ride comfort enhancement technology of tilting trains (TTX) is a particularly important issue in the development of the Korean high-speed railroad business. Ride comfort is now defined in international standards such as UIC13 and ISO2631. The Korean standards such as KSR9216 mainly address physical parameters such as vibration and noise. In the area of ride comfort, living quality parameter techniques have recently been considered in Korea, Japan, and Europe. This study introduces biological parameters, particularly variations in heart rate, as a more direct measure of comfort. Biological parameters are based on physiological responses rather than on purely external mechanical parameters. Variability of heart rate and other physiological parameters of passengers are measured in a simulation involving changes in the tilting angle of the TTX. This research is a preliminary study for the implementation of an e-health train, which would provide passengers with optimized ride comfort. The e-health train would also provide feedback on altered ride comfort situations that can improve a passenger's experience and provide a healthcare service on the train. The aim of this research was to develop a ride comfort evaluation system for the railway industry, the automobile industry, and the air industry. The degree of tilt correlated with heart rate, fatigue, and unrelieved alertness.

When passengers ride in a car of a train, they feel the vibration, which partially defines their degree of comfort. The ISO standards based on existing passenger trains, the Wz evaluation method, UIC standards, and the KS are standards in this area. Based on the vibration of the train car ride, the speed, the noise, and only considering mechanical elements, there is a limit for passengers to feel comfort in these situations, especially because problems related to trains on a curved line have not been evaluated. To evaluate car comfort on a tilting train is challenging. Based on readings of a train car, mechanical elements have an impact on the heart, blood pressure, and body temperature; therefore, these biological parameters are evaluated here using train car ride data. In particular, a tilting train operated on a curved line is used with changes of the tilt level to evaluate the level of comfort felt by passengers. This research can be the preliminary study to implement e-Health train that provides optimized ride comfort service to passengers and also, proper feedback service according to changed ride comfort situation that can improve passenger’s feeling as well as healthcare service.

The train transportation has a lot of advantages-energy efficiency is high, it is eco-friendly, safety is better than normal roads and it is possible for people to arrive on time. In these days, the valuation of ride comfort, which is only limited to road transportation, is newly recognized in order to having competitiveness from other transportation. Especially, in the development of the Korean high-speed railroad business, the ride comfort enhancement of tilting train is very important problem to be solved. Currently, there are international standards of ride comfort such as UIC13, ISO2631. In Korea case, although it has own standard like KS R9216, it mainly depends on the physical parameter such as vibration and noise. So recently, in the valuation of ride comfort, the movements of living parameter technique introduction are increasing on the base of Japan and many developed countries of Europe techniques. Presently, the method of train ride comfort is mainly based of vibration, that is, mechanical parameter adding selection of variable acceleration and noise. This paper would like to show biological parameter; heart rate and blood pressure variation. This method is more direct, based on human body response, than mechanical parameter method. In this experiment, the variability of heart rate and blood pressure of passengers according to tilting angle change of TTX, the Korean tilting train, we are supposed to know that the extent of tilting on the simulation has influence on variability of heart rate and blood pressure, which are living parameter of heart’s blood. This research can be the preliminary study to implement e-Health train that provides optimized ride comfort service to passengers and also, proper feedback service according to changed ride comfort situation that can improve passenger’s feeling as well as healthcare service.

The Korea is consisted of 70% mountain terrain and at existing rail road, it is many of curve railroad segment naturally. If tilting train is applied, it is unnecessary that speed of tilting train is supposed to decelerating in the curve railroad segment. As you get a hunch as term 'tilting', the biggest feature of tilting train is the thing that is tilted when the tilting train is traveled hour. The tilting train cancels centrifugal force of the curve railroad segment at sway and is not decelerated speed of tilting train in the curve railroad segment by the tilting of train body. The TTX is acquired tilting angle range from -8deg to maximum 8deg and can get high speed at railroad which shared with low speed train. But the tilting of passenger compartment gives negative influence to passengers aspect to ride comfort. This is the important problem for long time. Moreover, it is rapidly able to decrease ride comfort by traveling of long time riding in tilting train than other train. Through tilting train simulator experiment, we are willing to know the stress, one of element of ride comfort, by monitoring change in the heart rate and blood pressure of simulator riders according to tilting angle. Considering pleasance and stability, elements of ride comfort the pleasance is restricted thoroughly and we will just only think about stability. As up-to-date engineering products, the TTX which is Korean tilting train, is necessary that passenger's stability is guaranteed. This research is based on proving relation tilting angle and bio-signal, heart rate and blood pressure. The ride comfort research of TTX ultimately should develop by giving feedback to suspension, control part.

We describe n-type nanostructured bulk thermoelectric La-doped SrTiO3 materials produced by spark plasma sintering of chemically synthesized colloidal nanocrystals. The La doping levels could be readily controlled from 3 to 9.0 at% by varying the experimental conditions. We found that nanoscale interfaces were preserved even after the sintering process, and the thermoelectric properties of the nanostructured bulk La-doped SrTiO3 were characterized. An enhanced thermoelectric efficiency was observed and attributed to the large decrease in thermal conductivity obtained with no significant change in the Seebeck coefficient or electrical conductivity. The nanostructured bulk of the La-doped SrTiO3 exhibited a maximum ZT of ∼0.37 at 973 K at 9.0 at% La doping, which is one of the highest values reported for doped SrTiO3. Furthermore, the materials showed high thermal stability, which is important for practical high-temperature thermoelectric applications. This report demonstrates the high potential for low-cost thermoelectric energy production using highly stable and inexpensive oxide materials.