A critical appreciation of intangible resources in PharmaNutrition

Background: Organizations in knowledge-intensive industries such as the field of PharmaNutrition benefit from a critical consideration of intangible resources for innovation performance and competitive advantage. Effective management of these resources, however, is complicated due to difficulties in their identification, appropriation, application, and evaluation. As a consequence, knowledge-intensive organizations are at risk of suboptimal exploitation of their most important value drivers. Methods: The literature on organizational intangible resources was reviewed as part of an ongoing investigation into effective management of intangible resources in the PharmaNutrition-specific context. Results: Although high-level dimensions of intangible resources are recognized across industries, the identity and relevance of various lower-level components are heterogenous and dependent on organization's unique situational attributes. Despite the existence of historical, industry-sourced tick-the-box lists presented here, an analysis of industry-specific characteristics of intangible resources and mechanisms to appropriate their value is warranted to enable practitioners to innovate effectively and efficiently. Conclusions: This editorial aims to put the topics of intangible resources and their appropriability on the agenda, and invites scholars and practitioners to contribute to the advancement of our understanding regarding these topics through an online survey

Principals or puppets? Analysing variation in local political parties’ social policy positions

The decentralisation of policy responsibilities from the national to the local level in the domain of social policies is meant to facilitate a better fit to local conditions, and, consequently, inspire local variation in social policy positions. This article examines two questions: (1) to what extent do Dutch local party branches’ social policy positions deviate from their national mother party and local peer parties and (2) do local conditions explain this deviation? To answer these questions, we developed a dataset including 168 local party manifestos from 27 strategically selected municipalities and 8 national party manifestos. Our analyses show limited deviation in local parties’ positions compared to their national mother party and other local branches of their national mother party. This suggests that the social policies addressed in the party manifestos of local parties seem to reflect a process of institutional isomorphism. Furthermore, the limited deviation that does exist in local parties’ social policy positions is not convincingly larger in municipalities (1) that are smaller, (2) that have higher social benefit dependency, or (3) that have high vote shares for local independent challengers. This is contrary to what can be expected based on the contingency theory

Determinants of the clinical course of musculoskeletal complaints in general practice: design of a cohort study

BACKGROUND: Musculoskeletal complaints are frequent and have large consequences for public health. Information about the prognosis after presentation in general practice is far from complete. Knowledge about determinants of the clinical course of musculoskeletal complaints is essential for management decisions and to inform patients about their prognosis. The purpose of this study is to provide information about the prognosis of musculoskeletal complaints other than low back pain by studying the course of these complaints in general practice and to identify determinants of this course. METHODS: Patients of 18 years and older, who present in general practice with a new episode of a musculoskeletal complaint of the neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand, arm, hip, knee, ankle or foot, are recruited by their general practitioner (GP). Participants will receive complaint-specific questionnaires by mail at baseline and after 3, 6, 12 and 18 months. The following putative determinants of the course of the complaints will be investigated: sociodemographic characteristics, characteristics of the complaint, psychosocial job characteristics, physical workload, physical activity during leisure time, pain coping, mood, kinesiophobia, social support, optimism. The primary outcomes are perceived recovery, pain, functional status, sick leave and overall quality of life

Seasonal diet changes in elephant and impala in mopane woodland

Elephant and impala as intermediate feeders, having a mixed diet of grass and browse, respond to seasonal fluctuations of forage quality by changing their diet composition. We tested the hypotheses that (1) the decrease in forage quality is accompanied by a change in diet from more monocots in the wet season to more dicots in the dry season and that that change is more pronounced and faster in impala than in elephant; (2) mopane (Colophospermum mopane), the most abundant dicot species, is the most important species in the elephant diet in mopane woodland, whereas impala feed relatively less on mopane due to the high condensed tannin concentration; and (3) impala on nutrient-rich soils have a diet consisting of more grass and change later to diet of more browse than impala on nutrient-poor soils. The phosphorus content and in vitro digestibility of monocots decreased and the NDF content increased significantly towards the end of the wet season, whereas in dicots no significant trend could be detected. We argue that this decreasing monocot quality caused elephant and impala to consume more dicots in the dry season. Elephant changed their diet gradually over a 16-week period from 70% to 25% monocots, whereas impala changed diets rapidly (2-4 weeks) from 95% to 70% monocots. For both elephants and impala, there was a positive correlation between percentage of monocots and dicots in the diet and the in vitro digestibility of these forage items. Mopane was the most important dicot species in the elephant diet and its contribution to the diet increased significantly in the dry season, whereas impala selected other dicot species. On nutrient-rich gabbroic soils, impala ate significantly more monocots than impala from nutrient-poor granitic soils, which was related to the higher in vitro digestibility of the monocots on gabbroic soil. Digestibility of food items appears to be an important determinant of diet change from the wet to the dry season in impala and elephants

Entropic effects on the Size Evolution of Cluster Structure

We show that the vibrational entropy can play a crucial role in determining the equilibrium structure of clusters by constructing structural phase diagrams showing how the structure depends upon both size and temperature. These phase diagrams are obtained for example rare gas and metal clusters.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Health-related and overall quality of life of patients with chronic hip and knee complaints in general practice

BACKGROUND: Information about quality of life of patients with chronic hip or knee complaints in general practice is scarce. This study describes the health-related and overall quality of life (HRQL) of these complaints. METHODS: Data were obtained from a cohort study in general practice. HRQL at three months follow-up was analysed. HRQL was measured as: symptoms, physical, psychological and social functioning, and general health perceptions, using the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities osteoarthritis index (WOMAC) and the MOS 36-item short-form-health survey (SF-36). Overall quality of life was measured using a 5-point rating scale. RESULTS: The results show that patients with chronic hip or knee complaints have a substantial lower HRQL compared to patients who had recovered from baseline hip or knee complaints. The largest effect was found on symptoms and physical functioning: up to 2.9 standard deviations below patients who had recovered from baseline hip or knee complaints. Scores of patients with both chronic hip and knee complaints were significantly worse than scores of patients with only knee complaints on most subscales. CONCLUSION: In patients with chronic hip or knee complaints the worst scores were seen on scales that measure symptoms and physical functioning, but still a substantially lower score was obtained for overall quality of life. Quality of life was poorer for patients with both chronic hip and knee complaints compared to those with chronic hip or knee complaints onl