Collaboration experience in the supply chain of knowledge and patent development

In this paper we aim at understanding the role of collaboration experience in supply chains of knowledge (SCoK). The SCoK of a company is its supply chain not related to the flow of physical goods but to the flow of R&D commodities. R&D commodities are for example patents, technologies, research services, studies, and projects, and, in high-tech industries, their development and commercialization is considered as important as real products. To accomplish our aim in this paper we fulfil the following research objectives: 1) investigate the relationship between the collaboration experience in SCoK and the propensity of the firm to develop new patents; 2) examine how the structural embeddedness of the firm within its SCoK mediates this relationship. We ground our conceptual model on the supply chain, open innovation and social capital literatures and empirically test our hypotheses on a cross-sectional dataset of 208 biotech companies that have signed 612 SCoK agreements in the years 2006–2010. The key findings of this study are: first, accumulating experience in SCoK collaborations facilitates the development of new patents; second, being central and bridging structural holes within the SCoK are two means by which the experience in SCoK collaborations is translated into new patents

Is preoperative ultrasound tumor size a prognostic factor in endometrial carcinoma patients?

Objective: We aimed to assess the prognostic value of preoperative ultrasound tumor size in EC through a single center, observational, retrospective, cohort study. Methods: Medical records and electronic clinical databases were searched for all consecutive patients with EC, preoperative ultrasound scans available to ad hoc estimate tumor size, and a follow-up of at least 2-year, at our Institution from January 2010 to June 2018. Patients were divided into two groups based on different dimensional cut-offs for the maximum tumor diameter: 2, 3 and 4 cm. Differences in overall survival (OS), disease specific survival (DSS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were assessed among the groups by using the Kaplan–Meier estimator and the log-rank test. Results: 108 patients were included in the study. OS, DSS and PFS did not significantly differ between the groups based on the different tumor diameter cut-offs. No significant differences were found among the groups sub-stratified by age, BMI, FIGO stage, FIGO grade, lymphovascular space invasion status, myometrial invasion, lymph nodal involvement, histotype, and adjuvant treatment. Conclusions: Preoperative ultrasound tumor size does not appear as a prognostic factor in EC women

Frequency of left ventricular hypertrophy in non-valvular atrial fibrillation

Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is significantly related to adverse clinical outcomes in patients at high risk of cardiovascular events. In patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), data on LVH, that is, prevalence and determinants, are inconsistent mainly because of different definitions and heterogeneity of study populations. We determined echocardiographic-based LVH prevalence and clinical factors independently associated with its development in a prospective cohort of patients with non-valvular (NV) AF. From the "Atrial Fibrillation Registry for Ankle-brachial Index Prevalence Assessment: Collaborative Italian Study" (ARAPACIS) population, 1,184 patients with NVAF (mean age 72 \ub1 11 years; 56% men) with complete data to define LVH were selected. ARAPACIS is a multicenter, observational, prospective, longitudinal on-going study designed to estimate prevalence of peripheral artery disease in patients with NVAF. We found a high prevalence of LVH (52%) in patients with NVAF. Compared to those without LVH, patients with AF with LVH were older and had a higher prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, and previous myocardial infarction (MI). A higher prevalence of ankle-brachial index 640.90 was seen in patients with LVH (22 vs 17%, p = 0.0392). Patients with LVH were at significantly higher thromboembolic risk, with CHA2DS2-VASc 652 seen in 93% of LVH and in 73% of patients without LVH (p <0.05). Women with LVH had a higher prevalence of concentric hypertrophy than men (46% vs 29%, p = 0.0003). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that female gender (odds ratio [OR] 2.80, p <0.0001), age (OR 1.03 per year, p <0.001), hypertension (OR 2.30, p <0.001), diabetes (OR 1.62, p = 0.004), and previous MI (OR 1.96, p = 0.001) were independently associated with LVH. In conclusion, patients with NVAF have a high prevalence of LVH, which is related to female gender, older age, hypertension, and previous MI. These patients are at high thromboembolic risk and deserve a holistic approach to cardiovascular prevention

Sandgrain roughness model for rough walls within Eulerian-Lagrangian predictions of turbulent flows

Wall roughness is known to have a significant influence on particle-laden wall-bounded flows directly affecting the particulate and the continuous phase. For sufficiently high mass loading the fluid flow is also indirectly altered by the particles subjected to collisions with rough walls. The paper is concerned with the question how the effect of rough walls on the particulate phase can be modeled taking a minimum of measured or empirically determined physical quantities into account. Following Nikuradse's idea, a sandgrain roughness model is proposed for the dispersed phase in which the wall is covered by a densely packed layer of sand grains idealized by mono-disperse spheres. Based on geometric considerations relying on generally used roughness parameters such as R z or R q the local inclination of the wall is determined in order to predict the inelastic collision of the particles with the wall including friction. The sandgrain model also takes the shadow effect into account leading to asymmetric probability density functions of the wall inclination angles, where the mean normal vector is turned towards the incoming particle trajectory. The wall model applicable in 3-D is evaluated in the context of four-way coupled large-eddy simulations for turbulent plane channel flow but is also applicable in direct numerical simulations or Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes predictions. A variety of test scenarios were considered including varying wall roughness values, several mass loadings and different particle sizes.</p

Role of collaborative supply chain of innovation in firm’s performance

This work depicts the Supply Chain of Innovation (SCoI) including only those kinds of relationships related to the purchase and selling of R&D commodities. The theoretical framework represents the propensity of a firm in improving its innovation performance thanks to its collaboration experience and positioning in SCoI. We validate our theoretical framework on a sample of 208 biotechnology companies involved in 814 SCoI agreements. Our results show the positive direct impact of SCoI collaboration experience on innovation performance and a mediating role of positioning in SCoI on the abovementioned link