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Greatest Level (greatest + level)
Selected AbstractsBenchmarking Innovation: A Short ReportCREATIVITY AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2000Zoe Radnor A project is reported that benchmarked ,best practice' mature organisations, with a base in the United Kingdom, on the processes and practices that they perceive underpinned successful innovation projects. The majority of organisations had director level personnel involved in the innovation process but only three had active involvement of the top management. However, the majority saw the greatest level of innovation being obtained through the use of cross-functional teams. Five key innovation supports were identified during the benchmarking exercise. These were top management support for, and involvement in the process; the appointment of an innovation champion or sponsor; rewards for innovative behaviours and ideas; and finally a positive attitude to building on creative ideas, irrespective of their source. It is suggested that benchmarking can play a role in identifying best-practice innovation structures and procedures. [source] Hygiene measures considering actual distributions of microorganisms in Japanese householdsJOURNAL OF APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 5 2002M. Ojima Aims: Effective household hygiene measures require that sources of bacterial contamination and the places to which contamination spreads be carefully identified. Therefore, a study was performed to examine the distribution of microorganisms throughout ordinary households in Japan, which has its own unique customs of daily life and food preparation. Methods and Results: Using the stamping method, samples were taken from 100 different places and items in each of 86 households. This study found kitchens/dining rooms to have the greatest level of microbial contamination and bathrooms, the next highest level. Toilets (water closets) were found to have an unexpectedly low level of bacterial contamination. The largest bacterial counts were found on items such as drain traps, dish-washing sponges, counter towels, sinks, dish-washing tubs, and bathroom sponges. Conclusions: It is necessary to carefully identify both the items that can become instruments for spreading bacterial contamination and the places that easily become subject to secondary contamination, and then to take timely and effective disinfection/sanitizing measures. Significance and Impact of the Study: The data gathered in this study will be very valuable for anticipating the pathways over which bacteria are transported and prioritizing disinfection targets, to make effective disinfection possible. [source] Spatial Distribution of Bax and Bcl-2 in Osteocytes After Bone Fatigue: Complementary Roles in Bone Remodeling Regulation?,JOURNAL OF BONE AND MINERAL RESEARCH, Issue 5 2002Olivier Verborgt Abstract Osteocyte apoptosis appears to play a key role in the mechanism by which osteoclastic resorption activity targets bone for removal, because osteocyte apoptosis occurs in highly specific association with microdamage and subsequent remodeling after fatigue. However, beyond terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate (dUTP)-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay, little is known about the mechanisms controlling osteocyte apoptosis in vivo. In the current studies, expression of Bax, a proapoptotic gene product, and Bcl-2, an antiapoptotic gene product, was determined in osteocytes of fatigued rat bone using immunocytochemical staining and compared with TUNEL staining patterns. Bax and Bcl-2 were evident in osteocytes by 6 h after loading. Moreover, Bax and Bcl-2 in osteocytes were expressed differently as a function of distance from microdamage sites. The peak of Bax expression and TUNEL+ staining in osteocytes was observed immediately at the microcrack locus, which is where bone resorption occurs in this system; in contrast, Bcl-2 expression, the antiapoptotic signal, reached its greatest level at some distance (1-2 mm) from microcracks. These data suggest that near sites of microinjury in bone, those osteocytes that do not undergo apoptosis are prevented from doing so by active protection mechanisms. Moreover, the zone of apoptotic osteocytes around microcracks was effectively "walled in" by a surrounding halo of surviving osteocytes actively expressing Bcl-2. Thus, the expression pattern of apoptosis-inhibiting gene products by osteocytes surrounding the apoptotic osteocyte at microdamage sites also may provide important signals in the guidance of resorption processes that occur in association with osteocyte apoptosis after fatigue. [source] Comparison of bovine RNA polymerase III promoters for short hairpin RNA expressionANIMAL GENETICS, Issue 4 2006L. S. Lambeth Summary RNA interference (RNAi) mediated by DNA-based expression of short hairpin RNA (shRNA) is a powerful method of sequence-specific gene knockdown. A number of vectors for expression of shRNA have been developed that feature promoters from RNA polymerase III (pol III)-transcribed genes of mouse or human origin. To advance the use of RNAi as a tool for functional genomic research and for future development of specific therapeutics in the bovine species, we have developed shRNA expression vectors that feature novel bovine RNA pol III promoters. We characterized two bovine U6 small nuclear RNA (snRNA) promoters (bU6-2 and bU6-3) and a bovine 7SK snRNA promoter (b7SK). We compared the efficiency of each of these promoters to express shRNA molecules. Promoter activity was measured in the context of RNAi by targeting and suppressing the reporter gene encoding enhanced green fluorescent protein. Results show that the b7SK promoter induced the greatest level of suppression in a range of cell lines. The comparison of these bovine promoters in shRNA expression is an important component for the future development of bovine-specific RNAi-based research. [source] A survey in the park: Methodological and practical problems associated with geophysical investigation in a late Victorian municipal parkARCHAEOLOGICAL PROSPECTION, Issue 3 2010Andrew Parkyn Abstract The survey of Pudsey Park is a geophysical investigation of a late Victorian municipal park. The aim of the survey was to use geophysical techniques to identify the park's changing designs over a 120 year period. An initial design for the park was located during the desk-based assessment, however, it was unclear how much of the original plan had been implemented. It was suspected that Pudsey Park's design has been simplified over time. The project also aimed to identify a suitable sampling strategy for studying park and garden sites by using high-resolution surveys and multiple probe separations for varying depths of detection during earth resistance survey. It was hoped that multiple electrode separations combined with a high density survey could be used to differentiate the signal responses from the modern park designs and earlier design schemes. The choice of strategy is at a significantly higher resolution than guidelines for geophysical investigations for traditional archaeological features. The survey provided highly detailed but complicated data sets; areas of the park have had several redesigns, often where the modern scheme masks previous designs. A number of ,hard' and ,soft' landscaping features were identified including the foundations of the original bandstand (now replaced) and former flower beds. The 0.25,m probe separation surprisingly produced the most defined data with the greatest level of information due to the increased spatial resolution. The geophysical investigation is the first of its kind to investigate a Victorian municipal park in its entirety. The survey validates the importance of high-resolution survey in the study of parks and gardens and also provides a reference data set for future work where poorer documentation hinders interpretation. The geophysics data, together with the accompanying Geographical Information System database produce a unique and detailed picture of a Victorian park from its inception through 120 years of development. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||