538 research outputs found
Organisational Responses to Discontinuous Innovation: A Case Study Approach
Research that examines entrant-incumbent dynamics often points to the organisational limitations that constrain incumbents from successfully pursuing new technologies or fending off new entrants. Some incumbents are nevertheless able to successfully implement organisational structures and develop routines that overcome these institutional constraints. We provide a case-study analysis of how three firms - Motorola, IBM and Kodak - responded to discontinuous innovations and the associated structural and organisational limitations that are typical to incumbent organisations. Each firm was able to capture gains from new technologies and develop profitable products in emerging markets, although their abilities to sustain these gains varied due to subsequent organisational changes. Drawing from these case studies, we synthesise how firms can institute organisational strategies to continue to capture gains from disruptive innovations. A schema suggests that particular organisational strategies are comparatively optimal for corresponding points along an innovation lifecycle
The random phase approximation applied to ice
Standard density functionals without van der Waals interactions yield an
unsatisfactory description of ice phases, specifically, high density phases
occurring under pressure are too unstable compared to the common low density
phase I observed at ambient conditions. Although the description is
improved by using functionals that include van der Waals interactions, the
errors in relative volumes remain sizable. Here we assess the random phase
approximation (RPA) for the correlation energy and compare our results to
experimental data as well as diffusion Monte Carlo data for ice. The RPA yields
a very balanced description for all considered phases, approaching the accuracy
of diffusion Monte Carlo in relative energies and volumes. This opens a route
towards a concise description of molecular water phases on surfaces and in
cavities
Black holes and Hawking radiation in spacetime and its analogues
These notes introduce the fundamentals of black hole geometry, the thermality
of the vacuum, and the Hawking effect, in spacetime and its analogues.
Stimulated emission of Hawking radiation, the trans-Planckian question, short
wavelength dispersion, and white hole radiation in the setting of analogue
models are also discussed. No prior knowledge of differential geometry, general
relativity, or quantum field theory in curved spacetime is assumed.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures; to appear in the proceedings of the IX SIGRAV
School on 'Analogue Gravity', Como (Italy), May 2011, eds. D. Faccio et. al.
(Springer
Confronting the trans-Planckian question of inflationary cosmology with dissipative effects
We provide a class of QFTs which exhibit dissipation above a threshold
energy, thereby breaking Lorentz invariance. Unitarity is preserved by coupling
the fields to additional degrees of freedom (heavy fields) which introduce the
rest frame. Using the Equivalence Principle, we define these theories in
arbitrary curved spacetime. We then confront the trans-Planckian question of
inflationary cosmology. When dissipation increases with the energy, the quantum
field describing adiabatic perturbations is completely damped at the onset of
inflation. However it still exists as a composite operator made with the
additional fields. And when these are in their ground state, the standard power
spectrum obtains if the threshold energy is much larger that the Hubble
parameter. In fact, as the energy redshifts below the threshold, the composite
operator behaves as if it were a free field endowed with standard vacuum
fluctuations. The relationship between our models and the Brane World scenarios
studied by Libanov and Rubakov displaying similar effects is discussed. The
signatures of dissipation will be studied in a forthcoming paper.Comment: 30 pages, 1 Figure, to appear in CQ
Signatures of trans-Planckian dispersion in inflationary spectra
The primordial spectra are calculated using dispersion relations which
deviate from the relativistic one above a certain energy scale Lambda. We
determine the properties of the leading modifications with respect to the
standard spectra when Lambda is much greater than H, the Hubble scale during
inflation. To be generic, we parameterize the lowest order deviation from the
relativistic law by alpha, the power of P/Lambda where P is the proper
momentum. When working in the asymptotic vacuum, the leading modification
scales as (H/Lambda)^alpha for all alpha, except for a discrete set where the
power is higher. Moreover, this modification is robust against introducing
higher order terms in the dispersion relation. We then algebraically deduce the
modifications of scalar and tensor power spectra in slow roll inflation from
modifications calculated in de Sitter space. The modifications do not exhibit
oscillations unless the dispersion relation induces some non-adiabaticity near
a given scale. Finally, we explore the much less studied regime where H and
Lambda are comparable. Our results indicate that the project of reconstructing
the inflaton potential cannot be pursued without making some hypothesis about
the dispersion relation of the fluctuation modes.Comment: Version accepted for publication in PRD. 15 pages, 10 figures.
Comment on observational consequences adde
A switch from α‐helical to β‐strand conformation during co‐translational protein folding
Cellular proteins begin to fold as they emerge from the ribosome.The folding landscape of nascent chains is not only shaped by theiramino acid sequence but also by the interactions with the ribo-some. Here, we combine biophysical methods with cryo-EM struc-ture determination to show that folding of aβ-barrel proteinbegins with formation of a dynamicα-helix inside the ribosome. Asthe growing peptide reaches the end of the tunnel, the N-terminalpart of the nascent chain refolds to aβ-hairpin structure thatremains dynamic until its release from the ribosome. Contactswith the ribosome and structure of the peptidyl transferase centerdepend on nascent chain conformation. These results indicate thatproteins may start out asα-helices inside the tunnel and switchinto their native folds only as they emerge from the ribosome.Moreover, the correlation of nascent chain conformations withreorientation of key residues of the ribosomal peptidyl-transferasecenter suggest that protein folding could modulate ribosome activity
Programmable Edge-to-Cloud Virtualization for 5G Media Industry: The 5G-MEDIA Approach
To ensure high Quality of Experience (QoE) for end users, many media applications require significant quantities of computing and network resources, making their realization challenging in resource constrained environments. In this paper, we present the approach of the 5G-MEDIA project, providing an integrated programmable service platform for the development, design and operations of media applications in 5G networks, facilitating media service management across the service life cycle. The platform offers tools to service developers for efficient development, testing and continuous correction of services. One step further, it provides a service virtualization platform offering horizontal services, such as a Media Service Catalogue and accounting services, as well as optimization mechanisms to flexibly adapt service operations to dynamic conditions with efficient use of infrastructure resources. The paper outlines three use cases where the platform was tested and validated
The Cerenkov effect revisited: from swimming ducks to zero modes in gravitational analogs
We present an interdisciplinary review of the generalized Cerenkov emission
of radiation from uniformly moving sources in the different contexts of
classical electromagnetism, superfluid hydrodynamics, and classical
hydrodynamics. The details of each specific physical systems enter our theory
via the dispersion law of the excitations. A geometrical recipe to obtain the
emission patterns in both real and wavevector space from the geometrical shape
of the dispersion law is discussed and applied to a number of cases of current
experimental interest. Some consequences of these emission processes onto the
stability of condensed-matter analogs of gravitational systems are finally
illustrated.Comment: Lecture Notes at the IX SIGRAV School on "Analogue Gravity" in Como,
Italy from May 16th-21th, 201
On Horava-Lifshitz "Black Holes"
The most general spherically symmetric solution with zero shift is found in
the non-projectable Horava-Lifshitz class of theories with general coupling
constants. It contains as special cases, spherically symmetric solutions found
by other authors earlier. It is found that the generic solution has
conventional (AdS, dS or flat) asymptotics with a universal 1/r tail. There are
several special cases where the asymptotics differ, including the detailed
balance choice of couplings. The conventional thermodynamics of this general
class of solutions is established by calculating the energy, temperature and
entropy. Although several of the solutions have conventional horizons, for
particles with ultra-luminal dispersion relations such solutions appear to be
horizonless.Comment: Latex 41 pages, 5 figure
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