Inside-out and outside-in orientations: A meta-analysis of orientation's effects on innovation and firm performance

The inside-out and outside-in orientations place differing levels of emphasis on internal versus external resources and capabilities as sources of competitive advantage. While the inside-out orientation primarily considers organizational resources, followed by competitors and customers (implicitly), the outside-in orientation appears to reverse the order by first examining customers and competitors and then the degree to which the firm responds to them, implicitly addressing organizational resources. Existing empirical evidence does not clarify the comparative effects of inside-out and out-side in orientations on innovation performance. This paper draws on 232 independent studies (N = 38,051) analyzed systematically through a quantitative meta-analytic synthesis in order to develop a detailed contextualized elaboration of the relationships between the inside-out and outside-in orientations and innovation performance. Going beyond the direct effects, we also extend the literature by investigating the moderating effects of industry type (high-tech vs. low-tech), economic development (developed vs. developing countries), and cultural context (collectivist vs. individualist cultures). Our findings shed light on the relative value of inside-out and outside-in orientation for innovation performance, the direct and indirect effects of the two orientations on firm performance, and the conditions under which the effectiveness of each is enhanced

The assessment of hazelnut mechanical harvesting productivity

ArticleHazelnut cultivation represents a new opportunity for Calabrian mountainous and sloping areas (Southern Italy), where no alternative fruit crops, except forestry, could be settled. In this Region, hazelnut production doubled during the last fifty years, inciting the farmers to introduce mechanization in cropping practices such as harvesting in order to increase productivity and decrease production costs. Indeed, harvesting is currently one of the most expensive processes of the productive cycle, moreover to be time consuming if carried out manually. Mechanization degree depends significantly on the terrain topography: in sloping areas, rakes are often associated to aspirating machines to harvest the fallen fruit, while the employment of harvesting machines from the ground prevails in flat areas. In this context, the present paper aims to assess technical and economic aspects of harvesting operation, using a harvester from the ground model ‘Jolly 2800’ (GF s.r.l., Italy). Particularly, for technical purposes data about operational working time as well as working productivity were collected according to CIOSTA requirements, in two harvesting sites, whereas, for mechanical harvesting economic evaluation, an estimation model was applied to calculate machinery cost per hour. Moreover, the cost per kg of hazelnut in shell and the average cost per hectare were estimated also. The obtained results show a working productivity of 0.065 ha h-1 op-1 in the first harvesting site, while it was equal to 0.022 ha h -1 op-1 in the second one. Concerning the average cost per hectare, the second harvesting site showed the worst economic performances, with 550.76 € ha-1 against 182.54 € ha-1 obtained in the first one

Tryptase as a marker of severity of aortic valve stenosis

Background: Severe aortic valve stenosis is one of the most common cause of mortality in adult patients affected with metabolic syndrome, a condition associated with an active inflammatory process involving also mast cells and their mediators, in particular tryptase. The aim of this study was to characterize the possible long-term prognostic role of tryptase in severe aortic valve stenosis. Case presentation: The baseline serum tryptase was measured in 5 consecutive patients admitted to our Hospital to undergo aortic valve replacement for severe acquired stenosis. Within 2years after, the patients were evaluated for the occurrence of major cardiovascular events (MACE). The tryptase measurements were higher in patients experiencing MACE (10.9, 11.7 and 9.32ng/ml) than in non-MACE ones (5.69 and 5.58ng/ml). Conclusions: In patients affected with severe aortic stenosis, baseline serum tryptase may predict occurence of MACE. Further studies are needed to demonstrate the long-term prognostic role of this biomarker

Genotype-Phenotype Correlation in NF1: Evidence for a More Severe Phenotype Associated with Missense Mutations Affecting NF1 Codons 844–848

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a common genetic disorder with a birth incidence of 1:2,000–3,000, is characterized by a highly variable clinical presentation. To date, only two clinically relevant intragenic genotype-phenotype correlations have been reported for NF1 missense mutations affecting p.Arg1809 and a single amino acid deletion p.Met922del. Both variants predispose to a distinct mild NF1 phenotype with neither externally visible cutaneous/plexiform neurofibromas nor other tumors. Here, we report 162 individuals (129 unrelated probands and 33 affected relatives) heterozygous for a constitutional missense mutation affecting one of five neighboring NF1 codons—Leu844, Cys845, Ala846, Leu847, and Gly848—located in the cysteine-serine-rich domain (CSRD). Collectively, these recurrent missense mutations affect ∼0.8% of unrelated NF1 mutation-positive probands in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) cohort. Major superficial plexiform neurofibromas and symptomatic spinal neurofibromas were more prevalent in these individuals compared with classic NF1-affected cohorts (both p < 0.0001). Nearly half of the individuals had symptomatic or asymptomatic optic pathway gliomas and/or skeletal abnormalities. Additionally, variants in this region seem to confer a high predisposition to develop malignancies compared with the general NF1-affected population (p = 0.0061). Our results demonstrate that these NF1 missense mutations, although located outside the GAP-related domain, may be an important risk factor for a severe presentation. A genotype-phenotype correlation at the NF1 region 844–848 exists and will be valuable in the management and genetic counseling of a significant number of individuals

Expanding the clinical phenotype of individuals with a 3-bp in-frame deletion of the NF1 gene (c.2970_2972del): an update of genotype–phenotype correlation

Purpose: Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is characterized by a highly variable clinical presentation, but almost all NF1-affected adults present with cutaneous and/or subcutaneous neurofibromas. Exceptions are individuals heterozygous for the NF1 in-frame deletion, c.2970_2972del (p.Met992del), associated with a mild phenotype without any externally visible tumors. Methods: A total of 135 individuals from 103 unrelated families, all carrying the constitutional NF1 p.Met992del pathogenic variant and clinically assessed using the same standardized phenotypic checklist form, were included in this study. Results: None of the individuals had externally visible plexiform or histopathologically confirmed cutaneous or subcutaneous neurofibromas. We did not identify any complications, such as symptomatic optic pathway gliomas (OPGs) or symptomatic spinal neurofibromas; however, 4.8% of individuals had nonoptic brain tumors, mostly low-grade and asymptomatic, and 38.8% had cognitive impairment/learning disabilities. In an individual with the NF1 constitutional c.2970_2972del and three astrocytomas, we provided proof that all were NF1-associated tumors given loss of heterozygosity at three intragenic NF1 microsatellite markers and c.2970_297

Riociguat treatment in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension: Final safety data from the EXPERT registry

Objective: The soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator riociguat is approved for the treatment of adult patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and inoperable or persistent/recurrent chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) following Phase

Software performance of the ATLAS track reconstruction for LHC run 3

Charged particle reconstruction in the presence of many simultaneous proton–proton (pp) collisions in the LHC is a challenging task for the ATLAS experiment’s reconstruction software due to the combinatorial complexity. This paper describes the major changes made to adapt the software to reconstruct high-activity collisions with an average of 50 or more simultaneous pp interactions per bunch crossing (pileup) promptly using the available computing resources. The performance of the key components of the track reconstruction chain and its dependence on pile-up are evaluated, and the improvement achieved compared to the previous software version is quantified. For events with an average of 60 pp collisions per bunch crossing, the updated track reconstruction is twice as fast as the previous version, without significant reduction in reconstruction efficiency and while reducing the rate of combinatorial fake tracks by more than a factor two

Search for heavy Majorana or Dirac neutrinos and right-handed W gauge bosons in final states with charged leptons and jets in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for heavy right-handed Majorana or Dirac neutrinos NR and heavy right-handed gauge bosons WR is performed in events with energetic electrons or muons, with the same or opposite electric charge, and energetic jets. The search is carried out separately for topologies of clearly separated final-state products (“resolved” channel) and topologies with boosted final states with hadronic and/or leptonic products partially overlapping and reconstructed as a large-radius jet (“boosted” channel). The events are selected from pp collision data at the LHC with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1 collected by the ATLAS detector at √s = 13 TeV. No significant deviations from the Standard Model predictions are observed. The results are interpreted within the theoretical framework of a left-right symmetric model, and lower limits are set on masses in the heavy righthanded WR boson and NR plane. The excluded region extends to about m(WR) = 6.4 TeV for both Majorana and Dirac NR neutrinos at m(NR) < 1 TeV. NR with masses of less than 3.5 (3.6) TeV are excluded in the electron (muon) channel at m(WR) = 4.8 TeV for the Majorana neutrinos, and limits of m(NR) up to 3.6 TeV for m(WR) = 5.2 (5.0) TeV in the electron (muon) channel are set for the Dirac neutrinos. These constitute the most stringent exclusion limits to date for the model considered

Measurement of vector boson production cross sections and their ratios using pp collisions at √s = 13.6 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Abstract available from publisher's website