Knowledge Transfer and Boundary Conditions: A Study of SMEs in Business Incubation Centers in China

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine innovative practices and emphasize the mechanism of knowledge transfer across knowledge boundaries. By comparing and discussing the emerging boundary issues in knowledge transfer among small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) registered in the incubation centers in China, this paper identified the main knowledge transfer approach and several contextual and organizational factors impacting knowledge transfer. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conduct 39 semi-structured in-depth interviews with employees working within business incubation centers in China. The study uses thematic analysis for data analysis. Findings – Our results contribute to the literature of knowledge transfer and in particular to our understanding of boundary conditions and knowledge transfer approaches in emerging economies. The results also highlight several contextual and organizational factors which impact knowledge transformation across the pragmatic boundary in the context of China. Practical implications – First, organizations need to establish an effective process with tools to accommodate novelty; second, organizations should be aware of the impact of entrepreneurial orientation on innovative performance; and third, it will help organizations if they adopt and integrate information-rich media in managing innovative practices. Originality/value – This research highlights the impact of contextual and organizational factors of SMEs on knowledge transfer in emerging markets and chooses incubation centers as study subjects, which is an organizational context that has not been thoroughly studied due to its unique nature and emerging complexity

Cultural novelty and international students’ experience: a five-country study

Research has linked cultural differences between a sojourner’s home and host country with their cultural transformation. Nonetheless, the results of empirical studies are inconclusive due to different operationalizations of cultural differences and testing among different groups of sojourners. We extend previous investigations by examining the effects of cultural novelty (i.e., the subjective perception of cultural differences) on the experience of international students (N = 1114) in Denmark, Germany, Italy, Poland, and the USA. Drawing on acculturation and social learning theories, we conceptualized a model of students’ adjustment and satisfaction taking into account cultural novelty. We tested the model through multi-group structural equation modeling (SEM) and examined the various relationships across subsamples from all five countries. We determined the significant effects of cultural novelty and a range of factors impacting students’ intercultural experience, such as their cultural intelligence, cultural background, second-language skills, time in the host country, and socialization with domestic students, and how the effects may vary by the host country. We discuss implications for future research and practice

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

COVID-19, Anti-Intellectualism, and Health Communication: Assessing the Chinese Social Media Platform Sina Weibo

In the digital media era, new media platforms have become the main channels for transmitting medical and health information in China. However, anti-intellectualism limits the effectiveness of disseminating health information. Therefore, in China, the government and health departments have made efforts to determine how to control anti-intellectualism to effectively disseminate medical and health information, given the situation of a global pandemic and its counter-measures. Against this backdrop, this study applied textual analysis to explore the manifestations of anti-intellectualism in network platforms. The key findings indicate that the irrational behavior of anti-intellectuals is manifested in emotional dominance, abusive behavior, overconfidence and trusting rumors. Based on these results, the authors propose some measures to balance the relationship between anti-intellectualism and health communication. The findings of the study have significant implications for improving the effectiveness of health communication in China

Use of Deoxyribose by Intestinal and Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli Strains: a Metabolic Adaptation Involved in Competitiveness

We showed that the deoK operon, which confers the ability to use deoxyribose as a carbon source, is more common among pathogenic than commensal Escherichia coli strains. The expression of the deoK operon increases the competitiveness of clinical isolates, suggesting that this biochemical characteristic plays a role in host infectivity

Conversion of Natural Narciclasine to Its C-1 and C-6 Derivatives and Their Antitumor Activity Evaluation: Some Unusual Chemistry of Narciclasine

During the search for a general, efficient route toward the synthesis of C-1 analogues of narciclasine, natural narciclasine was protected and converted to its C-1 enol derivative using a novel semi-synthetic route. Attempted conversion of this material to its triflate in order to conduct cross-coupling at C-1 resulted in a triflate at C-6 that was successfully coupled with several functionalities. Four novel compounds were fully deprotected after seven steps and subjected to evaluation for cytotoxic activity against three cancer cell lines. Only one derivative showed moderate activity compared to that of narciclasine. Spectral and physical data are provided for all new compounds

Individuals with higher CD4/CD8 ratio exhibit increased risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome and in-hospital mortality during acute SARS-CoV-2 infection

Background: CD4/CD8 ratio has been used as a quantitative prognostic risk factor in patients with viral infections. This study aims to assess the association between in-hospital mortality and at admission CD4/CD8 ratio among individuals with acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: this is a longitudinal cohort study with data of all consecutive patients admitted to the COVID-19 unit at Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, Spain for ≥48 h between March to May 2020. The CD4+ CD8+ T-cell subset differentiation was assessed by flow cytometry at admission as well as a complete blood test. Patients were classified according to CD4/CD8 ratio tertiles. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality and the secondary outcome was acute respiratory distress (ARDS). Results: a total of 338 patients were included in the cohort. A high CD4/CD8 ratio (third tertile) was associated with a higher in-hospital mortality [adjusted Cox model hazard ratio (HR) 4.68 (95%CI 1.56-14.04, p = 0.006), reference: second tertile HR 1]. Similarly, a high CD4/CD8 ratio (third tertile) was associated with a higher incidence of ARDS [adjusted logistic regression model OR 1.97 (95%CI 1.11-3.55, p = 0.022) reference: second tertile HR 1]. There was a trend of higher in-hospital mortality and incidence of ARDS in patients within the first tertile of CD4/CD8 ratio compared with the second one, but the difference was not significant. No associations were found with total lymphocyte count or inflammatory parameters, including D-dimer. Conclusion: CD4/CD8 ratio is a prognostic factor for the severity of COVID-19, reflecting the negative impact on prognosis of those individuals whose immune response has abnormal CD8+ T-cell expansion during the early response to the infection