How Does the Innovation System in the Spanish Ceramic Tile Sector Function?

The industrial district of Castellon is characterized by a great dynamism based on technological innovation, both product and process, the origins of which are to be found on its providers (1), the machinery industry and the frit, glaze and colours industry. In this paper the current situation of the frit, glaze and colour industry is analyzed, accounting also for the situation of its main European competitor in Italy. The formation and development of the industry is also described in relation to the industrial district and the innovation system where it belongs, together with the R&D activity, the innovation activity, and the main technological milestones that have made it become the world leader. The analysis shows the challenges to which this subsector, and more generally, the tile innovation system need to react to, by means of cooperation, in order to maintain the tile district leadership. Globalization implies new behaviours and one of the most relevant is the increase of cooperation among the different actors in the innovation system

Фільтраційні справи радянських громадян, примусово вивезених до Німеччина в роки Великої Вітчизняної війни, як історичне джерело

We ask how incumbent car manufacturers and their political coalitions changed their political strategy with respect to the Californian zero emission vehicle mandate over the period 2000-2013. Building on the Corporate Political Activities literature we conceptualize firms' political strategies and their underlying tactics and actions. Our longitudinal case study builds on a dataset comprising governmental reports, documents, and public hearing transcripts, letters from industry, and complementary interviews with stakeholders. We find that car manufacturers became less defensive over time and more proactive and compliant in their political strategies towards the zero emission vehicle mandate. Car manufacturers' coalitions on the other hand, remain relatively defensive in their political actions as they continue to do the manufacturers' "dirty work". We provide insights in the Corporate Political Activities used to influence policymakers. To deal with industry opposition to policy interventions, our research suggests that policy makers might focus their interaction with industry on individual firms instead of industry associations, craft policies that stimulate competition between firms to break apart their closed industry front, and complement technology-forcing policies with demand-pull initiatives

BALANCING INTUITION AND RATIONALITY FOR IMPROVING INNOVATION DECISION-MAKING: THE ROLE OF DESIGN CONSULTANCIES

ABSTRACT To contain risks and increase the profitability of innovation efforts, firms frequently engage in joint innovation activities with external sources of knowledge, like design consultancies. Innovation literature has given limited consideration to the strategic role that design consultancies can play in the innovation efforts of their clients. A plausible explanation reside in the difficulty to assess and quantify the quality of their output, given the intangibility of the output itself and the difficulty of connecting a knowledge-intensive output to clients' performance indicators. By analyse the data from 7 dyadic case studies, we examine design consultancies' impact on their clients' strategic decision-making as a way of capturing their strategic role in clients' innovation efforts. We conclude that design consultancies can influence clients' strategic decisions by enhancing the two main strategic decision-making mechanisms identified by the literature -rationality and intuition. Design consultancies' impact on strategic decision-making is then transferred to some indicators of innovation performance. Early involvement in problem definition and long term relationships with clients seem t.o strengthen design professionals' influence

Локальные элиминационные алгоритмы обработки запросов в базах данных

Рассмотрено использование локальных элиминационных алгоритмов (ЛЭА) для обработки запросов в реляционных базах данных. Обсуждаются особенности реализации локального алгоритма, использующего лишь прямую часть.Розглянуто використання локальних елімінаційних алгоритмів (ЛЕА) для обробки запитів в реляційних базах даних. Обговорюються особливості реалізації локального алгоритму, що використовує лише пряму частину.The applying local elimination algorithms (LEA) for processing queries in relational databases is considered. The special features of realization of local algorithm using only a forward part are discussed

OH 12.8-0.9: A New Water-Fountain Source

We present observational evidence that the OH/IR star OH 12.8-0.9 is the fourth in a class of objects previously dubbed "water-fountain" sources. Using the Very Long Baseline Array, we produced the first images of the water maser emission associated with OH 12.8-0.9. We find that the masers are located in two compact regions with an angular separation of ~109 mas on the sky. The axis of separation between the two maser regions is at a position angle of 1.5 deg. East of North with the blue-shifted (-80.5 to -85.5 km/s) masers located to the North and the red-shifted (-32.0 to -35.5 km/s) masers to the South. In addition, we find that the blue- and red-shifted masers are distributed along arc-like structures ~10-12 mas across oriented roughly perpendicular to the separation axis. The morphology exhibited by the water masers is suggestive of an axisymmetric wind with the masers tracing bow shocks formed as the wind impacts the ambient medium. This bipolar jet-like structure is typical of the three other confirmed water-fountain sources. When combined with the previously observed spectral characteristics of OH 12.8-0.9, the observed spatio-kinematic structure of the water masers provides strong evidence that OH 12.8-0.9 is indeed a member of the water-fountain class.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures (1 color), accepted for publication in the Ap J Letter

Search for radiative pumping lines of OH masers: I. The 34.6um absorption line towards 1612 MHz OH maser sources

The 1612 MHz hydroxyl maser in circumstellar envelopes has long been thought to be pumped by 34.6um photons. Only recently, the Infrared Space Observatory has made possible spectroscopic observations which enable the direct confirmation of this pumping mechanism in a few cases. To look for the presence of this pumping line, we have searched the Infrared Space Observatory Data Archive and found 178 spectra with data around 34.6um for 87 galactic 1612MHz masers. The analysis performed showed that the noise level and the spectral resolution of the spectra are the most important factors affecting the detection of the 34.6um absorption line. Only 5 objects from the sample (3 red supergiants and 2 galactic center sources) are found to show clear 34.6um absorption (all of them already known) while two additional objects only tentatively show this line. The 3 supergiants show similar pump rates and their masers might be purely radiatively pumped. The pump rates of OH masers in late type stars are found to be about 0.05, only 1/5 of the theoretical value of 0.25 derived by Elitzur (1992). We have also found 16 maser sources which, according to the analysis assuming Elitzur's pump rate, should show the 34.6 $\mu$m absorption line but do not. These non-detections can be tentatively explained by far-infrared photon pumping, clumpy nature of the OH masing region or a limb-filling emission effect in the OH shell.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, 3 table

A method for comparing discrete kinematic data and N-body simulations

This paper describes a method for quantitatively comparing an N-body model with a sample of discrete kinematic data. The comparison has two stages: (i) finding the optimum scaling and orientation of the model relative to the data; and (ii) calculating a goodness of fit, and hence assessing the plausibility of the model in vew of the data. The method derives from considering the data and model both as samples from some underlying binned distribution function, and applying probability theory arguments. As an example, I consider a published N-body model for the Galactic bulge and disc, and fictitious l,b,v measurements, and recover (with error estimates) the spatial and velocity scales of the model and the orientation of the bar. The fictitious data are actually derived from the model by assuming the mass scale and the solar position, but their size and extent mimics a recent survey of OH/IR stars. The results indicate that mass of the bulge and our viewing angle of the bar are usefully estimable from current surveys.Comment: To appear in A

OH-selected AGB and post-AGB objects I.Infrared and maser properties

Using 766 compact objects from a survey of the galactic Plane in the 1612-MHz OH line, new light is cast on the infrared properties of evolved stars on the TP-AGB and beyond. The usual mid-infrared selection criteria, based on IRAS colours, largely fail to distinguish early post-AGB stages. A two-colour diagram from narrower-band MSX flux densities, with bimodal distributions, provides a better tool to do the latter. Four mutually consistent selection criteria for OH-masing red PPNe are given, as well as two for early post-AGB masers and one for all post--AGB masers, including the earliest ones. All these criteria miss a group of blue, high-outflow post-AGB sources with 60-mum excess; these will be discussed in detail in Paper II. The majority of post-AGB sources show regular double-peaked spectra in the OH 1612-MHz line, with fairly low outflow velocities, although the fractions of single peaks and irregular spectra may vary with age and mass. The OH flux density shows a fairly regular relation with the stellar flux and the envelope optical depth, with the maser efficiency increasing with IRAS colour R21. The OH flux density is linearly correlated with the 60-mum flux density.Comment: 16 pages, LaTex, 22 figures, AJ (accepted

Incumbent entry modes and entry timing in sustainable niches: The plant-based protein transition in the United States, Netherlands, and United Kingdom

While literature on sustainability transitions has generally portrayed incumbent firms as reluctant to engage in sustainable niches and primarily employing strategies that aim to limit niche growth, practice offers many examples that contradict this. In this paper, we mobilize insights from organizational literature, and particularly the concept of entry modes and entry timing from the international business and strategy literature, to investigate incumbent firms’ engagement in sustainable niches through the introduction of new products, collaborative efforts with new entrants, the introduction of new brands, mergers & acquisitions, and investments. We focus on entry modes of incumbent firms, including food firms, meat processors, retailers, and food service firms, in meat substitute markets in the United States (US), the Netherlands (NL), and the United Kingdom (UK). We identify distinct entry mode patterns for the four firm types and that the entry modes of different types of incumbent firms vary in their timing and commitment towards the plant-based meat substitute niche. Contrary to the general consensus stemming from previous literature on incumbent engagement in transitions, our case shows that incumbents proactively engaged with niche products incentivized by economic opportunities stemming from changing consumption patterns, which preceded any regulatory action

Wellbeing at Work: Four Perspectives on What User Experiences with Artifacts May Contribute

Part 2: User Experiences and Wellbeing at Work (UX@Work)International audienceMost work involves the use of artifacts; thus, user experience (UX) is a factor in how most employees experience their work. This study revisits the tool, media, dialogue-partner, and system perspectives on artifact use to explore how UX may contribute to wellbeing at work. It is found that artifacts foster positive UX when they lend the user expressive power (tool), are transparent (media) or perceptive (dialogue partner).They foster negative UX when they break the user’s task focus or make the user a mere system component. These findings are discussed and refined by elaborating the classic concepts of ready to hand and present at hand