Resource Slack, Innovation Ambidexterity, and Quality Performance: Knowledge Heterogeneity Perspective

Abstract. Resource slack and innovation ambidexterity can both be represented and connected conceptually with heterogeneous knowledge structure. Hypothesizing with the logic of knowledge heterogeneity, the present study empirically examined ambidexterity’s mediation effect in the relationship between two forms of resource slacks (i.e., human and financial resources) and product quality. Companies in Taiwanese manufacturing industry were located based on the random inspection conducted by the Department of Budget, Accounting and Statistics of the Government in 2011, and surveyed. Our findings demonstrated that slack resource is only an indirect factor for product quality evaluated by internal developers and producers (i.e. development and delivery processes) and external customers (product-specific quality). Specifically, first, different resource slacks influence differently on ambidexterity; second, both exploration and exploitation positively influence quality of innovation; third, ambidexterity plays a significant mediator’s role that may strategically alter the relationship between slack and quality. Research has paid increasing attention to ambidexterity (i.e., exploration and exploitation) in organizational innovation. Mostly, however, focus on the influencing factors leading to possible ambidextrous design or implementation of innovation. Few have examined ambidexterity’s effects on specific dimensions of innovation as outcomes.Keywords. Resource slacks, Ambidexterity, Quality, Knowledge heterogeneity.JEL. M10; M11; M14

BANet: Blur-aware Attention Networks for Dynamic Scene Deblurring

Image motion blur usually results from moving objects or camera shakes. Such blur is generally directional and non-uniform. Previous research efforts attempt to solve non-uniform blur by using self-recurrent multi-scale or multi-patch architectures accompanying with self-attention. However, using self-recurrent frameworks typically leads to a longer inference time, while inter-pixel or inter-channel self-attention may cause excessive memory usage. This paper proposes blur-aware attention networks (BANet) that accomplish accurate and efficient deblurring via a single forward pass. Our BANet utilizes region-based self-attention with multi-kernel strip pooling to disentangle blur patterns of different degrees and with cascaded parallel dilated convolution to aggregate multi-scale content features. Extensive experimental results on the GoPro and HIDE benchmarks demonstrate that the proposed BANet performs favorably against the state-of-the-art in blurred image restoration and can provide deblurred results in real-time

Comparison of the Offspring Sex Ratio Between Cleavage Stage Embryo Transfer and Blastocyst Transfer

SummaryObjectiveTo compare the sex ratio of offspring born after cleavage stage embryo transfer and blastocyst transfer.Materials and MethodsIn this retrospective study of embryo transfer (ET), we included 473 offspring from 446 deliveries during the period January 2002 to December 2007. Statistical analysis was performed on the sex ratio of offspring resulting from day 3 cleavage stage embryo transfer and from sequential blastocyst culture transfer.ResultsIn total, 446 patient deliveries were included in this analysis. There were 251 singleton pregnancies, 109 twin pregnancies, and four triplet pregnancies. The total number of offspring was 473, of which 118 resulted from day 3 ETs, and 355 resulted from blastocyst ETs. At our center, the influence on the sex ratio of cleavage stage ET and blastocyst-stage ET showed a bias towards males in both cases. The overall female to male ratio for offspring resulting from day 3 ETs was not significantly higher than the same ratio for offspring resulting from blastocyst ETs (p = 0.24; odds ratio, 0.762). The female to male ratio for either singleton births or multiple deliveries was also not significantly different between day 3 ETs and blastocyst ETs.ConclusionThe sex ratio was influenced by cleavage stage ET and blastocyst-stage ET. In both cases, there was a bias towards males. In addition, when blastocyst ET was compared with day 3 ET, there was no further increase in the percentage of male offspring

Using global diversity and local topology features to identify influential network spreaders

AbstractIdentifying the most influential individuals spreading ideas, information, or infectious diseases is a topic receiving significant attention from network researchers, since such identification can assist or hinder information dissemination, product exposure, and contagious disease detection. Hub nodes, high betweenness nodes, high closeness nodes, and high k-shell nodes have been identified as good initial spreaders. However, few efforts have been made to use node diversity within network structures to measure spreading ability. The two-step framework described in this paper uses a robust and reliable measure that combines global diversity and local features to identify the most influential network nodes. Results from a series of Susceptible–Infected–Recovered (SIR) epidemic simulations indicate that our proposed method performs well and stably in single initial spreader scenarios associated with various complex network datasets

The modulation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α/plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 axis in human gingival fibroblasts stimulated with cyclosporine A

Background/PurposeThe prominent side effect of the immunosuppressive drug cyclosporine A (CsA) is gingival overgrowth. Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α regulates a wide variety of profibrogenic genes, which are closely associated with tissue fibrosis. The aim of this study was to compare HIF-1α expression in normal gingival tissues and CsA-induced gingival overgrowth specimens and further explore the potential mechanisms that may lead to induction of HIF-1α expression.MethodsFifteen CsA-induced gingival overgrowth specimens and five normal gingival tissues were examined by immunohistochemistry. Western blot was used to investigate the effects of CsA on the expression of HIF-1α in cultured human gingival fibroblasts. The effects of CsA on plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI)-1 expression were evaluated in environmental hypoxia.ResultsHIF-1α staining in gingival tissue was stronger in CsA-induced gingival overgrowth group than normal gingival group (p < 0.05). The expression of HIF-1α was significantly higher in CsA-induced gingival overgrowth specimens with higher levels of inflammatory infiltrates (p = 0.041). CsA was found to upregulate HIF-1α protein in a dose-dependent manner (p < 0.05). Hypoxia increased CsA-induced PAI-1 protein expression than normoxic conditions (p < 0.05).ConclusionThese results suggest that HIF-1α expression is significantly upregulated in CsA-induced gingival overgrowth specimens. The activation of HIF-1α may promote fibrogenesis by an increase of PAI-1 expression and a subsequent elevation of extracellular matrix production in gingival tissues

Geographical heterogeneity and influenza infection within households

Although it has been suggested that schoolchildren vaccination reduces influenza morbidity and mortality in the community, it is unknown whether geographical heterogeneity would affect vaccine effectiveness

The potential impact of primary headache disorders on stroke risk

Distribution of PHDs. (DOC 55 kb