The Differential Role of Alternative Data in SME-Focused Fintech Lending

The rapid emergence of risk management Fintech has led to increasing use of alternative data in personal and business financing. Yet there are significant risks and concerns resulting from using alternative data. We therefore seek to examine the differential role of alternative data in SME-focused Fintech lending. We compare the credit evaluation and fraud detection contexts and examine the circumstances under which alternative data are useful for both contexts. Our goal is to find a parsimonious set of traditional and alternative data types that can help facilitate risk management in SME-focused Fintech lending. In this short paper, we report some preliminary results and findings from the first phase of our data collection and analysis. We then discuss the potential contributions and future plans of the study

User-Generated Content and Employee Creativity: Evidence from Salesforce IdeaExchange Community

This study investigates how accessing user-generated content in online user innovation communities (OUICs) may influence employee creativity. By analyzing a longitudinal dataset obtained from the IdeaExchange community of Salesforce.com, we find that employees who frequently access diverse and well-codified idea content contributed by external product users are likely to generate more ideas than those who do not; however, the marginal effects of diverse and well-codified content decrease as employees access increasing amounts of community content. Moreover, our findings illustrate that the number of implemented ideas from an employee is positively associated with the number of new ideas s/he generates. We discuss important implications of our study for online innovation communities and for employee creativity in organizations. We also provide insights for firms on how to build a thriving community via increasing the scope and level of employee participation

Toward an Understanding of the Impact of Organizational Climate and Organizational Justice on the Implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

This research examines the relationship between the organizational factors (such as justice and organizational climate) and behaviors regarding the implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is emphasized due to its essentiality to ERP success and the symbiotic relationship. There has been much research that has focused on the relationship between justice and business process reengineering, as well as the relationship between BPR and ERP success in separate manners. However, few studies have explored the interrelationships among these constructs. This research helps explain how the organizational climate and organizational justice impacts the likelihood of success of an ERP implementation. While organizational behaviors under involvement are significantly and positively correlated with the success of ERP, justice plays an important mediating role in affecting individual’s attitudes towards organizational changes induced by BPR and ERP implementation

IT Consumerization and New IT Practices: Discriminating, Firefighting and Innovating

This paper investigates the impact of IT consumerization on the internal IT department faced with managing it. IT consumerization is employees wanting to use their consumer devices (e.g., iPads, iPhone, SurfacePros) and applications (e.g., iCloud, LinkedIn) for work purposes. Using case studies of organizations in three different stages of consumerizing the workplace, the study highlights the different practices that internal IT departments deploy in each stage. In the conversion stage IT departments discriminate; in the use stage they firefight; and in the competitive stage they innovate. The study offers implications to the IT literature, much of which focuses on a top-down approach to IT implementation. In contrast, our study takes a bottom up approach where end-users introduce new technology to the organization. This bottom up approach likely explains some IT practices uncovered in this research like internal IT departments getting out of the support business, testing less and embracing failure

Measurement of Stimulated Raman Side-Scattering Predominance and Energetic Importance in the Compression Stage of the Double-Cone Ignition Approach to Inertial Confinement Fusion

Due to its particular geometry, stimulated Raman side-scattering (SRSS) drives scattered light emission at non-conventional directions, leading to scarce and complex experimental observations. Experimental campaigns at the SG-II UP facility have measured the scattered light driven by SRSS over a wide range of angles, showing an emission at large polar angles, sensitive to the plasma profile and laser polarization. Furthermore, direct comparison with back-scattering measurement has evidenced SRSS as the dominant Raman scattering process in the compression stage, leading to the scattering loss of about 5\% of the total laser energy. The predominance of SRSS was confirmed by 2D particle-in-cell simulations, and its angular spread has been corroborated by ray-tracing simulations. The main implication is that a complete characterization of the SRS instability and an accurate measurement of the energy losses require the collection of the scattered light in a broad range of directions. Otherwise, spatially limited measurement could lead to an underestimation of the energetic importance of stimulated Raman scattering

Foreign Exchange Rate and Economic Growth: The Case of Hong Kong

The relationship between the exchange rate and the real GDP of Hong Kong in the long period from 1955 to 2015 is investigated using a structural VAR model. The mutual effect of the two variables is studied in three periods: The results indicate that there is no obvious relationship between the exchange rate and real GDP before Hong Kong’s economy booming. However, a significant positive correlation is found in the sample of 1975–1998, which is associated with the output increases. The direction between the exchange rate and real GDP becomes negative after 1998. In addition, based on Granger causality test, we found the exchange rate could Granger causes GDP after 1975, but there is no Granger causality connection between the two variables before 1975

Neural EGFL-Like 1 Regulates Cartilage Maturation through Runt-Related Transcription Factor 3–Mediated Indian Hedgehog Signaling

The pro-chondrogenic function of runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) was previously considered to be dependent on direct binding with the promoter of Indian hedgehog (Ihh)—the major regulator of chondrocyte differentiation, proliferation, and maturation. The authors’ previous studies identified neural EGFL like 1 (Nell-1) as a Runx2-responsive growth factor for chondrogenic differentiation and maturation. In this study, it was further revealed that the pro-chondrogenic activities of Nell-1 also rely on Ihh signaling, by showing: i) Nell-1 significantly elevated Ihh signal transduction; ii) Nell-1 deficiency markedly reduced Ihh activation in chondrocytes; and iii) Nell-1–stimulated chondrogenesis was significantly reduced by the specific hedgehog inhibitor cyclopamine. Importantly, the authors demonstrated that Nell-1–responsive Ihh signaling and chondrogenic differentiation extended to Runx2 −/− models in vitro and in vivo. In Runx2 −/− chondrocytes, Nell-1 stimulated the expression and signal transduction of Runx3, another transcription factor required for complete chondrogenic differentiation and maturation. Furthermore, knocking down Runx3 in Runx2 −/− chondrocytes abolished Nell-1\u27s stimulation of Ihh-associated molecule expression, which validates Runx3 as a major mediator of Nell-1–stimulated Ihh activation. For the first time, the Runx2→Nell-1→Runx3→Ihh signaling cascade during chondrogenic differentiation and maturation has been identified as an alternative, but critical, pathway for Runx2 to function as a pro-chondrogenic molecule via Nell-1. © 2018 American Society for Investigative Patholog

Soybean inclusion reduces soil organic matter mineralization despite increasing its temperature sensitivity

Legume-based cropping increased the diversity of residues and rhizodeposition input into the soil, thus affecting soil organic matter (SOM) stabilization. Despite this, a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms governing SOM mineralization and its temperature sensitivity across bulk soil and aggregate scales concerning legume inclusion remains incomplete. Here, a 6-year field experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of three cropping systems (i.e., winter wheat/summer maize, winter wheat/summer maize-soybean, and nature fallow) on SOM mineralization, its temperature sensitivity, and the main drivers in both topsoil (0–20 cm) and subsoil (20–40 cm). Soybean inclusion decreased the SOM mineralization by 17%–24%, while concurrently increasing the majority of soil biochemical properties, such as carbon (C) acquisition enzyme activities (5%–22%) and microbial biomass C (5%–9%), within the topsoil regardless of temperature. This is attributed to the increased substrate availability (e.g., dissolved organic C) facilitating microbial utilization, thus devoting less energy to mining nutrients under diversified cropping. In addition, SOM mineralization was lower within macroaggregates (∼12%), largely driven by substrate availability irrespective of aggregate sizes. In contrast, diversified cropping amplified the Q10 of SOM mineralization in mesoaggregates (+6%) and microaggregates (+5%) rather than in macroaggregates. This underscores the pivotal role of mesoaggregates and microaggregates in dominating the Q10 of SOM mineralization under soybean-based cropping. In conclusion, legume-based cropping diminishes soil organic matter mineralization despite increasing its temperature sensitivity, which proposes a potential strategy for C-neutral agriculture and climate warming mitigation