Government Research Institutes Research Articles

Transparent, Actionable Framework for Food and Nutrition Research Public-Private Partnerships.

Transparent, Actionable Framework for Food and Nutrition Research Public-Private Partnerships.

The development of marine biotechnology in Oman: Potential for capacity building through open innovation

This study examines the current state of the art in the emerging and strategically important marine biotechnology sector in Oman, which has a long coastline, rich marine heritage and strong fishing industry. In a knowledge-based economy, the ability to innovate is a key factor for increasing organisational competitiveness and this may be achieved using open innovation. This is the use by firms of external knowledge, ideas and technology to innovate. In this study, the extent of open innovation in Omani marine bioindustry companies has been studied by examining data from the top sixteen companies ranked by number of employees. The results indicate that the extent of openness in these companies is higher towards market side activities. In addition, the use of open innovation to increase collaboration between companies, Universities and government research institutes needs to be significantly strengthened.

Evaluating the management effectiveness of marine protected areas at seven selected sites in the Philippines

Fisheries is a vital sector in the Philippine economy, providing a significant source of both domestic and export earnings while meeting essential food security and nutritional requirements. However, marine resources in the Philippines are facing increasing pressure from overfishing, destructive fishing practices, habitat destruction, declining water quality and limited management capacity. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are part of the management strategy to address these issues but the majority of MPAs around the world do not meet their management objectives. This paper discusses the identification and testing of management effectiveness indicators to evaluate MPA management for seven sites in the Philippines. The selection of 14 indicators was a participatory process that involved representatives from the academe, civil society groups, fishing associations, local government units (LGUs), national government agencies and research institutions. Overall, the majority of the indicators are rated positive but there is significant room for improvement, particularly in areas of resource use conflict, availability and allocation of resources and interaction between MPA managers and stakeholders. It is imperative that MPAs across the Philippines be managed and implemented as a network to maximize conservation and fisheries management. Moreover, given that the Philippines lies in the Coral Triangle area of the highest marine biodiversity in the world, increased political will and support for MPAs is urgently needed to meet global marine biodiversity targets and allow the Philippines to be an example of effective marine biodiversity conservation.

Biosecurity and dual-use research: gaining function - but at what cost?

Biosecurity and dual-use research: gaining function - but at what cost?

R&D COLLABORATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATION

The literature on the impact of R&D collaboration on innovation performance of firms suggests that R&D collaboration is not always beneficial. Therefore, a more detailed analysis of the effects of R&D collaboration is necessary. This paper investigates the relevance of R&D collaboration with different partner types on a firm's environmental innovation performance. Thereby, product related and process related environmental innovations are distinguished. Firm-level data from 2337 German firms are used in the regression analysis. The results suggest that R&D collaboration with suppliers, customers, universities, governmental research institutes, consultants, and other firms within the same corporate group is positively associated to a firm's process related environmental innovation performance. R&D collaboration with customers, suppliers, other firms within the same corporate group and consultants is positively associated with the development of environmental friendly products.

A Review of Swedish Residential Building Stock Research

Energy usage in the Swedish building stock has changed significantly the last 20 years. The target of reducing the Green Houses Gas (GHG) emissions by 40% till 2020 seems reachable through improved energy efficiency and a switch to less GHG emitting heat sources. The goal of GHG neutrality by 2050 will however require further initiatives. This paper is primarily a review of the contemporary Swedish building stock state and research. Different research bodies, such as government research institutes, universities, and companies, have different financing and foci. They present their analyses the built environment differently. This paper creates a structure amongst these actors by dividing them in groups and by identifying topics where there are different positions held by researchers and practitioners in the fields related to building stock. Data from Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) is used to display how energy usage varies depending on building age. This gives an indication on how the building stock is developing and what possibilities there are to reach environmental targets.

2014年度における大学・官公庁研究機関の研究題目に関する調査結果

2014年度における大学・官公庁研究機関の研究題目に関する調査結果

Febrile convulsions in preschool children Kashmir India

Background: Febrile convulsions are the most common cause of convulsions in children under five years of age. Objective of current study was to know the incidence, age and sex distribution of febrile convulsions in preschool children Kashmir India. Methods: A prospective hospital based study, carried out in the Department of Pediatrics, G.B. Pant Hospital, Government Medical College and Research Institute, Srinagar India from 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2010. All the hospitalized sick children who had febrile convulsions in the age group 1 month to 6 years of the age between 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2010. All children with febrile convulsions in the age group 1 month to 6 years were enrolled in this study. Variables recorded were demographics, clinical presentation, laboratory tests, and diagnosis and hospital course. Results: A total of 897 children in the age group 1 month to 6 years were admitted for recent seizures. Among these patients 545 (60.7%) had febrile convulsions. Among Febrile convulsions, 379 had typical febrile convulsion and 166 atypical febrile convulsions. Febrile convulsions were more common in males (308) than females (237). Febrile convulsions were more common in first three years of life. Conclusions: Febrile convulsions were the commonest cause of convulsions in children under five years of age and majority of them occurred in first two years of life. Typical febrile convulsion were common than atypical febrile convulsions.

Factors Affecting the Adoption of Organic Farming in Peshawar-Pakistan

This study was conducted to investigate the factors affecting the adoption of organic farming in Peshawar-Pakistan. A total of 100 respondents were randomly selected from the four different cultivated areas of Peshawar, namely Palosi, Regi, Ternab and Pushtakhara. Binary logistic re-gression was used in this study to categorize the organic farming into adoption and non-adoption. The purpose of this model was to check the event probability for a categorical response variable with two outcomes. The results of the binary logistic show that factors affecting adoption of organic farming have a significant effect on the farmer productivity. Moreover, cost, productivity, profitability, compatibility and efficiency have a positive and significant effect. Thus, it is obvious that adopting organic farming not only to increase the farmer income but also to protect environmental pollution by avoiding the toxic chemical and fertilizer. Finally, we suggest that government agencies, extension and research institution should play a vital role to strengthen the awareness and advantages of organic farming.

Expression of Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA) in Oral Submucous Fibrosis: An Immunohistochemical Study.

Expression of Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA) well-correlates with the cell division. The suprabasal expression of PCNA is considered to be a marker of dysplastic oral mucosa indicating a special proliferative cellular state in those lesions. Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) is considered to be a premalignant condition with potential to get transformed into oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The present study was done to assess the PCNA expression in different grades and in different layers of epithelium of OSMF and to compare the expression of PCNA in OSMF with OSCC. A group of 40 histopathologically diagnosed, formalin fixed, paraffin embedded tissue samples were included in study. The study group was further divided into 2 groups; 30 OSMF and 10 OSCC. Theses samples were collected from Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Government Dental College and Research Institute, Bangalore. The samples were subjected to immunohistochemical method using indirect immunoenzyme LSAB method. All 40 cases showed positivity for PCNA. The percentage of positive cells was more in basal and suprabasal layer both in OSMF and OSCC, whereas the greater percentage of positive cells was seen in the superficial layer of OSCC. All OSMF cases showed positive expression in basal and suprabasal layer and only 77% of cases showed positive PCNA expression in the superficial layer with variable immunoreactivity and 23% did not show any positive staining in the superficial layer. The percentage of positive cells and the intensity of staining increased as the disease severity increased in OSMF. Increased proportion of cells expressed PCNA staining which are in proliferative layers of OSMF. This biomarker provides an insight into the biological behaviour of the condition that substantiates its potentially malignant nature and may also provide an intermediate end point in chemotherapeutic trials.

Dental students perception of orthodontic treatment

Introduction: The relationship between physical appearance and perception of an esthetic deviation, and the impact of such deviation on self-esteem and body image are important issues in determining the benefits of orthodontic treatment. Aim: To assess dental students' perception of orthodontic treatment. Materials and Methods: A total of 230 undergraduate dental students of Government Dental College and Research Institute, Bangalore, Karnataka formed the study group. Each classroom of the participants was visited, and self-administered questionnaire was given. An analysis of variance was done between the groups to test for statistical difference. Categorical variables were evaluated using a Chi-square test with the level of significance of P Results: About 75% of the students were aware of their dental esthetics. About 75% of females were satisfied with the attractiveness of their teeth when compared to 69% in males. House surgeons had more positive attitude compared to the 1 st year students. Conclusion: The dental students had good knowledge about the orthodontic treatment and had a positive attitude toward it. Females had very good knowledge, satisfaction and positive attitude compared to the males regarding dental esthetics and treatment. House surgeons were much more aware, very much satisfied and had a more positive attitude than 1 st year students.

Demographic, clinical profile of severe acute malnutrition and our experience of nutrition rehabilitation centre at children hospital Srinagar Kashmir

Background: Malnutrition in children is widely prevalent in India. Children with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) have nine times higher risk of dying than well-nourished children. Objective of current study was to know the demographic and clinical profile of patients with SAM, and assess the effectiveness of NRC in providing therapeutic care for children with SAM in Kashmir. Methods: A prospective hospital based study, carried out in the Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) Department of Pediatrics, G.B. Pant Hospital Government Medical College and Research Institute, Srinagar India from April 2014 to March 2015. All the children who were admitted to NRC ward of hospital during study period. All children with SAM were enrolled in this study. Variables recorded were demographics, anthropometry, clinical presentation, laboratory tests, and medical complications, outcome indicators and hospital course. Results: A total of 146 children were admitted for SAM. Among these patients 80 (54.8%) were males, 39.7% were in the age group of 1 to 2 years. 61.6% children were from lower socioeconomic strata and 85% from rural Kashmir. The most common co morbidity in SAM patients was acute gastroenteritis (30%) followed by acute respiratory infection (26.3%). 75.3% was recovery rate and only one patient died during study period. Conclusions: NRCs provide live-saving care for children with SAM as demonstrated by the high survival rates of the program. Community-based therapeutic care for children with uncomplicated SAM needs to become a key component of the continuum of care for children with SAM.

Research on Agri-Food Cold Chain Logistics Management System: Connotation, Structure and Operational Mechanism

Along with the demand of development, this paper will define agri-food cold chain logistics management system. It is a general term of management system, organization system, standard system, running mechanism, etc. According to the activities and characters of agri-food cold chain logistics, the content of agri-food cold chain logistics management system includes three levels of management activities. There are macro management and part of the industry management of the government-led agricultural cold chain logistics activity, industry management of industry association as the main body, and micro enterprise operation management of enterprise as the main body. In addition, this paper will draw lessons from the city of agricultural products cold chain logistics management experience in the international, the main behavior of the logistics market, strengthen monitoring and early warning, strengthen the whole process, and make market access strictly and other key links have to be closely surrounded. Through improving agricultural products cold chain logistics management laws and regulations system, standard system, management system, testing system, certification system, technology supporting system, information service system, and establishing emergency mechanism and other agricultural products cold chain logistics security support system, government, industry, consumers, media, education and scientific research institutions and other relevant parties can take many aspects, many angles, many levels mutually supporting measures, in order to establish and improve the agricultural products cold chain logistics safety control system, and establish the whole process control system from farm to table, to ensure the safety of agricultural products cold chain logistics.

Climate Change-Implications for Agriculture and Food Security

Abstract The warning signs of global warming have appeared everywhere, right from increased concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, to increasing temperatures, and occurrence of extreme events like droughts, floods, intense rains, and cyclones, besides melting of glaciers and rise in sea levels. The objectives of this paper are to present likely scenarios, risks to agriculture, food security and livelihoods arising out of climate change in coming few decades. Further, the paper analyses the projected situations in 21st century with special reference to climate change impacts on groundwater resources, agricultural and horticultural crops besides dairy and allied sectors in Indian context. In addition to carrying forward the analyses on the underlying forces of climate change, it gives a comprehensive account of climate profile of India. It suggests various measures required to minimize the adverse effects of climate change on environment. It also explains in depth the salient features of India’s National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA), launched in 2011, and how it is being implemented at micro-level in villages/clusters to develop climate change adaptation and mitigation measures in a technological, management, and socio-economic level to protect the losses to food and commercial crops. At the same time, NICRA aims to protect the livelihoods of vulnerable people in rural areas by giving them access to information, technical and institutional support from the Government and agricultural research Institutions to manage their crops and allied enterprises that may happen to be under climate change threat. The paper also analyses the framework of The National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) launched in 2010 under the domain of National Action Plan on Climate Change that was announced earlier in 2009. The major objectives of NMSA mission are to develop adaptive crop varieties by conserving, enriching and exploiting the genetic pool of agricultural and allied sector crops to lessen the adverse impacts of climate change on their yields and provide the much needed food security to Indian population. The paper concludes by recommending that India should invest in research and development (R&D) activities for introducing high-yielding new generation of climate change adaptable crops, along with improved farm management practices specific to such climates, in order to maximize nutrient utilization and water use efficiencies that are essential in raising real time crop yields. Also, alternate cropping systems should be practised to prevent crop failures from extreme events. Key words: climate change, greenhouse gases (GHGs), intergovernmental panel on climate change ( IPCC), carbon dioxide (CO2), emissions, temperature, floods, climate, livelihoods, south-west monsoon, rainfall, rainfed, crop yields, adaptation, mitigation, carbon sequestration, sustainable, resilient, and food security

New York City Panel on Climate Change 2015 Report. Chapter 6: Indicators and monitoring.

William Solecki,1,a Cynthia Rosenzweig,2,a Reginald Blake,3,a Alex de Sherbinin,4 Tom Matte,5 Fred Moshary,6 Bernice Rosenzweig,7 Mark Arend,6 Stuart Gaffin,8 Elie Bou-Zeid,9 Keith Rule,10 Geraldine Sweeny,11 and Wendy Dessy11 1City University of New York, CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities, New York, NY. 2Climate Impacts Group, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University Earth Institute, New York, NY. 3Physics Department, New York City College of Technology, CUNY, Brooklyn, NY; Climate Impacts Group, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. 4 Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University, Palisades, NY. 5New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York, NY. 6NOAA CREST, City College of New York, CUNY, New York, NY. 7CUNY Environmental Crossroads, City College of New York, CUNY, New York, NY. 8Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University Earth Institute, New York, NY. 9Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ. 10Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ. 11New York City Mayor’s Office of Operation, New York, NY

A Novel Ontology based R&D Project Proposal Classification using Text Mining Approach

and Development (R&D) project proposals selection is one of the decision-making task commonly found in government funding agencies, universities, research institutes, and technology intensive companies. With the rapid development of research work in projects, research project selection & classification into different domain is a necessary task for the research funding agencies. It is common to group the large number of research proposals, received by the research funding agencies based on their similarities into research discipline areas. Text Mining has emerged as a definitive technique for extracting the unknown information from large text document for the proposal classification. Ontology is a knowledge repository in which concepts and terms are defined as well as relationships between these concepts. Thus, ontology can automate information processing and can facilitate text mining in a specific domain (such as research project selection). This paper presents approach towards ontology-based text-mining to cluster research proposals based on their similarities in research areas. The method also includes an optimization model for balancing proposals by geographical regions. The grouped proposals are then assign to the appropriate research experts for peer-review through system itself. The proposed method is milestone over the manual approach for classifying proposals.

The Ecological Security Research of the Northern Slope of Qinling Mountains Based on the DPSIR Model

Since the formal implementation of the Qinling Mountains protection strategy, the environmental protection of the Qinling Mountains has been gradually paid much attention by the government and other research institutions. Therefore, from different angles, to study the protection of the ecological environment of Qinling Mountains is currently becoming a hot spot of academic research. This paper takes the Northern slope of Qinling Mountains which have four administrative districts, and selected the DPSIR Model to analyze the ecological security index of the four districts to study the human activities impact on these areas, and chose the 2009 and 2013 economics and environmental data to establish the DPSIR Model. The results showed that with the sustainable development and environmental protection, the human activates have the positive influence on the Qinling Mountains. The conclusions include: (1)From 2009 to 2013, the ecological security index of four districts in the Northern slope of Qinling Mountains showed an increase tendency. (2)The ESI of Chang’an remained the safe status, Zhouzhi and Lantian remained the relatively unsafe status, but the ecological security level turned to relatively safe in Huxian. (3)Depends on the ESI study from 2009 to 2013, it showed that the human activities, especially the positive activities can upgrade the ESI level in the Northern slope of Qinling Mountains.

Assessment of Agricultural Sector Policies and Climate Change in Malawi-The Nexus between Climate Change Related Policies, Research and Practice

This paper presents results of the assessment of major agricultural related policies in relationship to climate change issues conducted in Malawi to determine the extent to which agricultural sector policy integrates with climate related issues to influence practice and research. Over thirty government policies related to agriculture were reviewed and 50 key informants from government, non-governmental organizations and agricultural research institutes were interviewed. Results revealed that research does not sufficiently influence and inform policy and practice because implementation is greatly influenced by politics and relationship with development partners; only 20% of independent agricultural research outputs find its way into policy and practice while 24 % of research by civil society gets absorbed into policy. Collaborative research among government, civil society and academia results in 41% of research output informing policy and practice. Development partners and civil society organizations have more influence in policy formulation and practice through campaign and advocacy. Climate Change policy for Malawi was still in draft form and the absence of policy has led to duplication of efforts by stakeholders in implementing climate change projects. Weak links between researchers, policy makers, and donor partners are some of the challenges that limit contribution of agricultural research to inform policy and practice. This study calls for harmonization of all outdated agricultural sector policies and mainstream them into climate change framework to influence agricultural practice. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE

Cooperative efforts contained spread of Pierce's disease and found genetic resistance

An outbreak of Pierce's disease of grapevine in the Temecula Valley in the late 1990s was one in a decades-long series of sporadic appearances of this infection in California. However, the new outbreak was qualitatively different because of the rapidity with which it spread in the vineyard and its appearance almost simultaneously at distant locations. The causative agent of Pierce's disease is the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa, and the distinct characteristics of the Temecula Valley outbreak were traced to the establishment of a new insect vector in California, the glassy-winged sharpshooter. Intensive and collaborative efforts among government agencies, industry and research institutions over 15 years have successfully contained the disease, and given scientists time to discover promising long-term potential solutions through genetic resistance.

The Outline of the “Collaborative Study on Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases in Vietnam, Enhancement of Research Capacity”

The Institute of Tropical Medicine, of Nagasaki University (ITM) and the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Vietnam (NIHE), have been jointly conducting a joint project since 2005 on emerging and reemerging infectious diseases under a grant from the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Technology (MEXT) of Japan. A Vietnam research station established on the NIHE campus has been the site of a number of research activities. Project for clarifying environmental and social factors affecting outbreaks of zoonosis, vector-borne infectious diseases, diarrhoea, and childhood pneumonia have been conducted within a collaborative project framework. Having achieved the goals set or research in the project’s first phase (from 2005 to 2009), the next objectives have been underlined, clarifying the factors and mechanisms causing infectious diseases. Four groups were established to answer these research questions, i.e., diarrhoea, vector-borne disease, clinical epidemiology, and zoonosis. These groups have conducted 15 independent activities. To conduct projects on a higher level, cooperation has been established with three Vietnamese governmental research institutions and with JICA-supported national hospitals. The outcome of such activities is expected to contribute greatly to promoting public health and improving medical care.