PHASES OF THE LIFE CYCLE OF UNIVERSITY SCIENTIFIC AND PEDAGOGICAL SPECIALIST’S BRAND

The article considers the life cycle of a university scientific and pedagogical specialist's brand as a continuous period from the moment of gaining a high level of recognition by the target audience to the moment of loss of specified influence on the target audience. A direct correlation between the phases of a university scientific and pedagogical specialist's brand life cycle and starting points of the theory of innovation diffusion is proved there. The division of the life cycle of a brand into six phases is proposed. They are as follows: phase of development of branding technology, phase of the introduction of a university scientific and pedagogical specialistʼs brand into the educational and scientific activity of a university, phase of growth of personal and professional potential of a brand, phase of stabilization of interaction of image and reputation brand components; the phase of extinction of the university specialist’s brand and the phase of the brandʼs exit from the market of providing educational and scientific services. The inexpediency of purposefully avoiding the development phase of branding technology is argued, as such “dynamically oriented” branding does not take into account the peculiarities of the personal and professional potential of the specialist, as well as lacks systemic and strategic focus. It is specified that depending on the purpose of application, rebranding of the university professor’s brand can act as a connecting phase of a life cycle of a specialists’ brand and as a singular process of formation of a new university professor’s brand. It is emphasized that preventive or forced-consolidating rebranding by a university professor due to fixing a temporary decline in his brand demand by the target audience in a phase of growth of personal and professional potential is ineffective. Keywords: brand; university professor; life cycle; phase; differentiation; target audience; university; rebranding.

Repurposing Cardiac Glycosides: Drugs for Heart Failure Surmounting Viruses

Drug repositioning is a successful approach in medicinal research. It significantly simplifies the long-term process of clinical drug evaluation, since the drug being tested has already been approved for another condition. One example of drug repositioning involves cardiac glycosides (CGs), which have, for a long time, been used in heart medicine. Moreover, it has been known for decades that CGs also have great potential in cancer treatment and, thus, many clinical trials now evaluate their anticancer potential. Interestingly, heart failure and cancer are not the only conditions for which CGs could be effectively used. In recent years, the antiviral potential of CGs has been extensively studied, and with the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, this interest in CGs has increased even more. Therefore, here, we present CGs as potent and promising antiviral compounds, which can interfere with almost any steps of the viral life cycle, except for the viral attachment to a host cell. In this review article, we summarize the reported data on this hot topic and discuss the mechanisms of antiviral action of CGs, with reference to the particular viral life cycle phase they interfere with.

Value Creation and Cost Management by Use of the New ISO 15663 Life Cycle Costing Standard

The new edition of the ISO 15663 standard has been developed during the recent years and will strengthen the industry cost management for business value creation. This paper shows how such standardization can be used to further enhance and promote adoption of a common and consistent approach to life cycle costing in the offshore oil and gas industry. The new ISO 15663 edition maintains key principles from previous editions, but does also introduce an improved and revised management methodology for application of life cycle costing. The purpose is to provide decision support for selecting between alternative options (e.g., projects, operational and technical subject matters) across life cycle phases, also aligned with overall corporate business objectives such as HSE and sustainability. It also provides the means of identifying cost drivers and a framework for value optimization over the entire life of an asset. The international standard is providing an essential set of normative requirements on how to implement and apply the life cycle costing methodology and the decision criteria, supported by an exhaustive part of recommended practices. This includes the identification of common and specific contractual considerations for operators, contractors and vendors (e.g., complementary metrics besides expenditure, such as systems availability guarantee and risk-sharing clauses). It also includes the application in the life cycle phases of an asset, the techniques and data input, examples of application, and assessment and lessons learnt. Capital expenditure (CAPEX), operating expenditure (OPEX), revenue and lost revenue (LOSTREV) factors are addressed. The standard includes an unambiguous definition of the economic objectives of a project and application of the same business criteria when making major engineering decisions. The life cycle costing methodology is applicable to all asset decisions in any life cycle phase, but should be applied only when expected to add value for decision-support. The required extent of planning and management of the appropriate life cycle costing is depending on the magnitude of the costs involved, the potential value that can be created and the life cycle phase. This paper demonstrates how the new ISO 15663 can be utilized by providing new examples of life cycle costing, to give all participants in the process — oil and gas operators, contractors and vendors — an up-to-date and streamlined set of requirements and guidance, encouraging a fit for purpose application. The paper does also present unique key economic evaluation measures such as life cycle cost (LCC) and net present value (NPV).

Switching it up: algal insights into sexual transitions

While the process of meiosis is highly conserved across eukaryotes, the sexual systems that govern life cycle phase transitions are surprisingly labile. Switches between sexual systems have profound evolutionary and ecological consequences, in particular for plants, but our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms and ultimate causes underlying these transitions is still surprisingly incomplete. We explore here the idea that brown and green algae may be interesting comparative models that can increase our understanding of relevant processes in plant reproductive biology, from evolution of gamete dimorphism, gametogenesis, sex determination and transitions in sex-determining systems.

Real-time monitoring and analyses of sensory data integrated into the BIM platform

Bridges and tunnels, crucial elements of the railway infrastructure, are exposed to various types of deterioration processes. Their condition is a subject of monitoring, as it is important to collect as much as possible information in every life cycle phase to reliably predict their future performance. An enormous quantity of monitoring data is generated during the whole life cycle of these assets. EU funded Shift2Rail research project Assets4Rail which is focusing on measuring, monitoring, and data handling for railway assets, as data management is as important as their generation. This paper presents the major outcomes of the Assets4Rail project and its application to infrastructure projects.

Job switching and communities of practice: mapping facilitators and dampeners to life cycle

Purpose This paper aims to understand the impact of the job switching behavior on different stages of the communities of practice’s life cycle. Job switching has been viewed from both positive and negative point of views, and its impact on certain organizational factors might be found in literature. Job switching/job hopping behavior of an individual might be fueled by socio-economic factors as well as fun, but it has serious implication for the companies. But an understanding of how this new employee might influence the communities of practice, given which stage is the community in, is something that has not been studied yet. This work is an attempt in that direction. Design/methodology/approach Using integrative review technique, this paper forwards a conceptual framework based on the literature reviewed and builds a model using an understanding of the nuances of each stage of the life cycle of communities of practice. Findings The model proposes the impact of switching on each stage of the life cycle of communities of practice. It is observed that at each stage a new entrant who is a “job hopper” might either help or hinder the progress of a community of practice. Research limitations/implications This paper gives a new impetus to the research on communities of practice in contemporary perspective. The model proposed could be tested using data from real communities of practice. This paper limits itself to the proposal of the model and does not engage in testing it. Practical implications Organizations and managers may use the model to understand how a new entrant to the organization will complement the existing life cycle phase of the communities of practice within. Originality/value The conceptual model proposed is unique in its context of job switching behavior and its effect on communities of practice. Research on communities of practice from this contemporary perspective might bring important research directions in future.

Taxonomic position of the two sympatric forms of Chondracanthus chamissoi (f. lessonii and f. chauvinii) (Rhodophyta, Gigartinaceae) by using two molecular markers

The red seaweed Chondracanthus chamissoi shows high morphological variability. Initially, three species were identified based on the width of the main axis of their blades. Later, all of them were included in a single species with two morphological groups. Recently, quantitative studies demonstrated the existence of two forms in C. chamissoi: f. lessonii and f. chauvinii. It was also shown that these two forms occur in sympatry, growing side by side. These forms were not associated with either a life cycle phase or the sex of the blades. This study aimed to determine whether the two forms could represent different species. We evaluated the forms' taxonomic position using COI and rbcL markers, including samples from three localities in southern Chile. All specimens shared a single rbcL haplotype, whereas the two COI haplotypes differed by four base pairs and were present in blades of both forms and life cycle phases. The two morphological types correspond to intraspecific forms. This species is of commercial importance, and its main market is aimed at human consumption with a marked preference for f. lessonii.

Haplo-diplontic life cycle expands coccolithophore niche

Coccolithophores are globally important marine calcifying phytoplankton that utilize a haplo-diplontic life cycle. The haplo-diplontic life cycle allows coccolithophores to divide in both life cycle phases and potentially expands coccolithophore niche volume. Research has, however, to date largely overlooked the life cycle of coccolithophores and has instead focused on the diploid life cycle phase of coccolithophores. Through the synthesis and analysis of global scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coccolithophore abundance data (n=2534), we find that calcified haploid coccolithophores generally constitute a minor component of the total coccolithophore abundance (≈ 2 %–15 % depending on season). However, using case studies in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, we show that, depending on environmental conditions, calcifying haploid coccolithophores can be significant contributors to the coccolithophore standing stock (up to ≈30 %). Furthermore, using hypervolumes to quantify the niche of coccolithophores, we illustrate that the haploid and diploid life cycle phases inhabit contrasting niches and that on average this allows coccolithophores to expand their niche by ≈18.8 %, with a range of 3 %–76 % for individual species. Our results highlight that future coccolithophore research should consider both life cycle stages, as omission of the haploid life cycle phase in current research limits our understanding of coccolithophore ecology. Our results furthermore suggest a different response to nutrient limitation and stratification, which may be of relevance for further climate scenarios. Our compilation highlights the spatial and temporal sparsity of SEM measurements and the need for new molecular techniques to identify uncalcified haploid coccolithophores. Our work also emphasizes the need for further work on the carbonate chemistry niche of the coccolithophore life cycle.

Evaluating environmental impacts of an oil tanker using life cycle assessment method

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is considered a holistic approach in evaluating the environmental impacts of a product in its life cycle. Recently, LCA method has been applied in the shipping and shipbuilding sectors. In order to provide a comprehensive LCA research in the field of naval architecture, this study uses LCA method to assess the environmental performance of a Panamax oil tanker in its whole life cycle. The ship’s life cycle including transportation activities is divided into five phases: raw material extraction & production, shipbuilding, operation, maintenance, and ship’s end of life. CML 2001 is chosen as the life cycle impact assessment methodology. GaBi software is used to obtain the life cycle emission inventory and environmental impacts. The results show the contributions of each life cycle phase to the total life cycle. Detailed emissions and environmental impacts of the ship are also analyzed. Due to huge amount of fuel consumed in ship operation, this phase dominates the emissions and environmental impact, compared with other phases. This study gives to the LCA practitioners a cradle-to-grave LCA example that could be useful for future researches in the field of shipping and shipbuilding sectors.