The Scottish Research Institutes

1986 ◽  
Vol 87 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 173-184
Author(s):  
L. P. Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Research And Development ◽  
Shelf Life ◽  
Food Quality ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Research Progress ◽  
Human Diet ◽  
Research Institutes ◽  
Social Environmental ◽  
Industry Needs

SynopsisThe organisations concerned with agricultural and fisheries research and development in Scotland are outlined and the institutional and funding arrangements are explained. The role of DAFS is presented in an AFRS context and the operation of the customer/contractor principle discussed. The overall objective is to improve the efficiency of plant and animal production in northern Britain, taking account of social, environmental and welfare considerations. Flexibility to respond to changing requirements is an important factor. The remits of the institutes and colleges are set out and are appropriate to the major agricultural sectors. The integrative and collaborative strengths of the commissioned work are illustrated with selected examples of relevance to produce yield, food quality, shelf-life and human diet. Advice on research and development priorities and the allocation of budgets is provided by the new Priorities Board and there is close liaison between DAFS, MAFF and AFRC to ensure co-ordination of effort.Reference is also made to the main elements of the fisheries research programme. Revised review procedures to monitor research progress and respond to changing industry needs are described. The paper concludes by examining the problems arising from reduced funding.

Research progress of packaging indicating materials for real-time monitoring of food quality

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 377-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danfei Liu ◽  
Ling Yang ◽  
Mi Shang ◽  
Yunfei Zhong
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Shelf Life ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Food Quality ◽  
Food Packaging ◽  
Cold Chain ◽  
Research Progress ◽  
Packaging Materials ◽  
Toxic Substances ◽  
Fresh Food

The rapid development of cold-chain transportation necessitates consumers to present high requirements on safety and freshness of fresh food in recent years. The quality and taste of fresh food can be monitored and controlled through the intelligent packaging technologies and new food packaging materials such as time-temperature indicators (TTIs), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), biological composites and polymer nanocomposites. Based on different packaging materials, indicators and sensors are employed in food packaging for real-time detection of information about freshness, temperature, microbiological, and shelf life of products in the supply chain. Wide varieties of packaging materials are suitable for providing intelligent and smart properties for food packaging, such as oxygen scavenging capability, antimicrobial activity, and recording the thermal history. Due to the special properties of prepared materials, TTIs are used to point out the remaining shelf life of perishable products throughout the supply chain. Compared with others, they have the advantages of low cost, small size and convenient indication. Additionally, the TTIs can effectively solve food quality and safety problems caused by temperature fluctuation in supply chain. Since the irreversible color change of TTIs, the food safety situation would be shown intuitively. Currently, the TTIs were widely used in application of food packaging by providing safety information. However, the application is also accompanied with some deficiencies such as the accuracy of monitoring, migration of toxic substances, stability and expensive cost etc. This review will deeply discuss the preparation of various types of TTIs based on different package indicating materials with a particular emphasis on how to improve their accuracy and stability, control the migration of toxic substances and to develop new TTIs.

Organizational determinants and idiosyncrasies of firms’ absorptive capacity in a developing country

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 384-395
Author(s):  
André Luiz da Silva Teixeira ◽  
Márcia Siqueira Rapini ◽  
Thiago Caliari
Keyword(s):  
Research And Development ◽  
Developing Country ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Absorptive Capacity ◽  
Organizational Innovation ◽  
Knowledge Diffusion ◽  
Research Institutes ◽  
External Relationships ◽  
Organizational Determinants

Abstract This article analyses the idiosyncrasies and organizational determinants of the absorptive capacity (AC) of firms located in a developing country. Theoretically, this article characterizes a ‘vicious circle of limited AC’ in Latin American firms. Empirically, the Brazilian Innovation Survey (2011 and 2014) is employed to analyze the role of organizational innovation and different innovative efforts to build two types of AC: (1) academic AC (to absorb knowledge from universities or research institutes); (2) market AC (to absorb knowledge from suppliers, clients, or competitors). The main results indicate that firms develop both types of AC through training and acquisition of external Research and Development (R&D), instead of expenditure on internal R&D; academic AC is also built by external relationships and the firms’ researchers’ skills, while market AC is primarily affected by better internal knowledge diffusion. These results qualify the generic argument of limited AC for firms in a Latin American context.

scholarly journals Technological innovations performance and public-private-partnerships

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 549-557
Author(s):  
Fanny Saruchera ◽  
Maxwell Agabu Phiri
Keyword(s):  
Research And Development ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Public Private Partnerships ◽  
Technological Innovations ◽  
The Public ◽  
Key Success Factors ◽  
Critical Success ◽  
Research Institutes

The research institutes’ dilemma in successfully bringing their breakthrough technological innovations to the market has remained major concern in most developing economies. Zimbabwe is no exception. The theory of Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) and their increasing applicability in especially the provision of public facilities and services has commanded some research interest worldwide. However, not much attempts have been made to unlock the value in the PPP’s capability in enhancing commercialization of technological innovations, worst still from a developing economy’s perspective. This paper explores the role of PPPs in ensuring successful Research and Development, and Commercialization (R & D-C) of research outcomes. Guided by a systematic literature review on key success factors of PPPs, cases of two forms of PPPs (a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) PPP, and a concession contract) were studied and their operations were monitored and evaluated, in comparison to institutes not engaged in any partnership – to supplement data obtained through key informant interviews. The study established that research institutes engaged in PPPs had relatively fewer commercialization challenges for their output as compared to those who were not engaged. However, it emerged that there are limitations regarding observance of the critical success factors, thereby hindering progress of the prevailing PPPs. The findings of this study imply that there are limited understandings surrounding the value that could be unlocked in commercializing research institutes’ innovations through PPPs. To the few existing PPPs, there is lack of integrative frameworks for the management of, and success of the PPPs. Anchored on promoting ideal collaborations in which all key values are honoured, the study proposes a framework that emphasizes a collaboration in which the public research institute concentrates on research and development, while the private firm partner uses her market analytics to focus on getting the product to the market.

Evaluation of Fiscal Policy Effect of China’s Photovoltaic Industry

2018 ◽  
pp. 111-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gang AN ◽  
Hang WANG
Keyword(s):  
Fiscal Policy ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
Operating Performance ◽  
Fiscal Policies ◽  
Micro Data ◽  
Policy Effect ◽  
Policy Suggestions ◽  
Asset Size ◽  
The Empirical Analysis

To explore the role of fiscal policies in promoting the development of photovoltaic industry, the effects of financial subsidies on the development of China’s photovoltaic industry were analyzed by using the micro data of listed companies. The empirical analysis results in this study indicate that the fiscal policies represented by financial subsidies play a remarkable positive impetus function and financial subsidies are positively correlated with the operating performance of Photovoltaic enterprises. With larger the asset size and higher the Research and Development (R&D) investments, the operating performance of Photovoltaic enterprises is the better. Based on the above results, this study puts forward some policy suggestions on optimizing fiscal policy tools and further promoting the development of photovoltaic industry.

Role of Research and Development in Sustaining Indian Agriculture: A Brief Review

2020 ◽  
pp. 396-401
Keyword(s):  
Research And Development ◽  
Production Process ◽  
Annual Increase ◽  
Agriculture Sector ◽  
The Past ◽  
Indian Agriculture ◽  
Self Sufficiency ◽  
Development Institutions ◽  
Agriculture Development

Technology united with research and development has evolved as a grave differentiator of the agriculture sector in India including production, processing, and agriculture packing and marketing of given crops. Near about 50 percent of the Indian workforce was engaged in the agriculture sector but its share in GDP was only 14 percent, much lower in comparison to former. Though, certain agriculture items showed a steady annual increase in terms of kilograms per hectare. Agriculture transformed significantly over the past few decades but when it comes to investment in research and development there is a lot more which needs to be done. The paper analyzes the role of various research and development institutions in boosting the growth of the agriculture sector that helps in attaining sustainable agriculture development and self-sufficiency in the production process since independence. It also focusesed on the various issues faced by these development institutions. The findings unveiled that since independence a lot more was done to boost the research and development in the agriculture sector at both the center and state levels but a proper implementation of these policies along with transparency could bring more desirable outcomes than were gained at present.

NOB1: A Potential Biomarker or Target in Cancer

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 1081-1089
Author(s):  
Weiwei Ke ◽  
Zaiming Lu ◽  
Xiangxuan Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Cancer Treatment ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Rna Binding ◽  
Binding Protein ◽  
Tumor Development ◽  
Anticancer Therapy ◽  
Research Progress ◽  
Normal Tissues ◽  
Potential Biomarker

Human NIN1/RPN12 binding protein 1 homolog (NOB1), an RNA binding protein, is expressed ubiquitously in normal tissues such as the lung, liver, and spleen. Its core physiological function is to regulate protease activities and participate in maintaining RNA metabolism and stability. NOB1 is overexpressed in a variety of cancers, including pancreatic cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate carcinoma, osteosarcoma, papillary thyroid carcinoma, colorectal cancer, and glioma. Although existing data indicate that NOB1 overexpression is associated with cancer growth, invasion, and poor prognosis, the molecular mechanisms behind these effects and its exact roles remain unclear. Several studies have confirmed that NOB1 is clinically relevant in different cancers, and further research at the molecular level will help evaluate the role of NOB1 in tumors. NOB1 has become an attractive target in anticancer therapy because it is overexpressed in many cancers and mediates different stages of tumor development. Elucidating the role of NOB1 in different signaling pathways as a potential cancer treatment will provide new ideas for existing cancer treatment methods. This review summarizes the research progress made into NOB1 in cancer in the past decade; this information provides valuable clues and theoretical guidance for future anticancer therapy by targeting NOB1.

scholarly journals Advances in the role of miRNAs in the occurrence and development of osteosarcoma

Open Medicine ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1003-1011
Author(s):  
Guanyu Zhang ◽  
Yiran Li ◽  
Jiasheng Xu ◽  
Zhenfang Xiong
Keyword(s):  
Target Gene ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Research Direction ◽  
Research Progress ◽  
Skeletal System ◽  
Translation Process ◽  
Non Coding Rnas ◽  
New Research ◽  
Post Transcriptional Regulation

AbstractOsteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary malignant tumor of the skeletal system in the clinic. It mainly occurs in adolescent patients and the pathogenesis of the disease is very complicated. The distant metastasis may occur in the early stage, and the prognosis is poor. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNAs of about 18–25 nt in length that are involved in post-transcriptional regulation of genes. miRNAs can regulate target gene expression by promoting the degradation of target mRNAs or inhibiting the translation process, thereby the proliferation of OS cells can be inhibited and the apoptosis can be promoted; in this way, miRNAs can affect the metabolism of OS cells and can also participate in the occurrence, invasion, metastasis, and recurrence of OS. Some miRNAs have already been found to be closely related to the prognosis of patients with OS. Unlike other reviews, this review summarizes the miRNA molecules closely related to the development, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of OS in recent years. The expression and influence of miRNA molecule on OS were discussed in detail, and the related research progress was summarized to provide a new research direction for early diagnosis and treatment of OS.

scholarly journals A Study on the Impact of R&D Intensity on Business Performance: Evidence from South Korea

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 135
Author(s):  
Hun Park ◽  
Jun-Hwan Park ◽  
Sujin Lee ◽  
Hyuk Hahn
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
Business Performance ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Research Groups ◽  
Innovative Firms ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Knowledge Services

The role of R&D (research and development) intensity on the effect of knowledge services on the business performance of firms has been discussed by using PLS-SEM and PLS-MGA methods. Research groups were divided into two groups, innovative and non-innovative. Respondents were classified into innovative firms if their R&D intensity was over 3% and vice versa. PLS-SEM and PLS-MGA results were compared for two groups and valuable insights were extracted. For innovative firms, knowledge services seemed to be verified and processed by the decision makers and utilized to achieve their business performance. On the other hand, a large number of non-innovative firms seemed to have a stronger tendency to utilize knowledge services directly for their business without sufficient verification by the decision makers.

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