Testing for the effects of organisational and individual cognitive-distance in small business and creative industries innovation partnerships

This thesis is concerned with understanding how the similarities, or differences, between small businesses working on transactional open-innovation projects might affect the dyadic performance. Specifically it explores whether varying degrees of difference, both at the organisational-level and at the individual personal-level, affects innovation performance and whether there is a ‘trade-off’ in innovation outcomes somewhere between high levels of similarity and difference. Empirical studies of similarity and difference have conflicting findings and most research into the particular condition of similarity and difference have taken place between multi-national businesses or in industries that have more formal innovation agendas, such as bio-technology or ICT. Additionally prior research has tended to evaluate a potential linear relationship between similarity variables and innovation performance. The study here draws on the Cognitive Theory of the Firm (Nooteboom, 2003) and its conceptual model of ‘cognitive distance’ which proposes that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between the degree of difference in an innovation partnership and the innovation performance. It suggests a tipping point where performance improves up to a threshold and then begins to decline. The sample group is drawn from a cohort of small businesses based in the North-West of England taking part in an innovation voucher scheme designed to encourage linkages between small businesses and creative services suppliers. An analytical framework based on different measures and types of similarity is developed by reviewing a broad range of literature on innovation, open-innovation and small business innovation and these measures are used to assess innovation success against a range of six performance indicators. A major contribution of the research is the extension of the empirical domain for cognitive distance to the small and micro-business sector and further, the creation of a methodology which allows cognitive-distance to be directly measured, and performance assessed, at the level of the individuals within the innovation partnership. The relativity small sample group and the quite specific context requires the findings to be further corroborated but if results found here prove valid with other sample groups and within other contexts too, there may be implications in the future for how small firms might go about selecting their innovation partners

Creative credits:a randomized controlled industrial policy experiment

This report examines the results of a pilot study, which used a method of evaluation called randomised control trials (RCTs) to see if a popular business support scheme called Creative Credits worked effectively. The pilot study, which began in Manchester in 2009, was structured so that vouchers, or 'Creative Credits', would be randomly allocated to small and medium-sized businesses applying to invest in creative projects such as developing websites, video production and creative marketing campaigns, to see if they had a real effect on innovation. The research found that the firms who were awarded Creative Credits enjoyed a short-term boost in their innovation and sales growth in the six months following completion of their creative projects. However, the positive effects were not sustained, and after 12 months there was no longer a statistically significant difference between the groups that received the credits and those that didn’t. The report argues that these results would have remained hidden using the normal evaluation methods used by government, and calls for RCTs to be used more widely when evaluating policies to support business growth

Assessing an experimental approach to industrial policy evaluation:Applying RCT+ to the case of Creative Credits

Experimental methods of policy evaluation are well-established in social policy and development eco-nomics but are rare in industrial and innovation policy. In this paper, we consider the arguments forapplying experimental methods to industrial policy measures, and propose an experimental policy eval-uation approach (which we call RCT+). This approach combines the randomised assignment of firmsto treatment and control groups with a longitudinal data collection strategy incorporating quantitativeand qualitative data (so-called mixed methods). The RCT+ approach is designed to provide a causativerather than purely summative evaluation, i.e. to assess both ‘whether’ and ‘how’ programme outcomesare achieved. In this paper, we assess the RCT+ approach through an evaluation of Creative Credits – aUK business-to-business innovation voucher initiative intended to promote new innovation partnershipsbetween SMEs and creative service providers. The results suggest the potential value of the RCT+ approachto industrial policy evaluation, and the benefits of mixed methods and longitudinal data collection

The Vulnerable Elders Survey‐13 Predicts Hospital Complications and Mortality in Older Adults with Traumatic Injury: A Pilot Study

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/86959/1/j.1532-5415.2011.03493.x.pd

Improving early childhood care and development, HIV testing, treatment and support, and nutrition in Mokhotlong, Lesotho: study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial

Background Since 1990, the lives of 48 million children under the age of 5 have been saved because of increased investments in reducing child mortality. However, despite these unprecedented gains, more than 200 million children in low and middle income countries (LMIC) cannot meet their developmental potential due to poverty, poor health and nutrition, and lack of necessary stimulation and care. Lesotho has high levels of poverty, HIV and malnutrition, all of which affect child development outcomes. There is a unique opportunity to address these complex issues through the widespread network of informal preschools in rural villages in the country, which provide a setting for inclusive, integrated Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD), HIV and nutrition interventions. Methods We are conducting a cluster randomised controlled trial in Mokhotlong district, Lesotho, to evaluate a newly developed community-based intervention programme to integrate HIV testing and treatment services, ECCD, and nutrition education for caregivers with children aged 1-5 years living in rural villages. Caregivers and their children are randomly assigned by village to intervention or control condition. We select, train, and supervise community health workers recruited to implement the intervention, which consists of nine group-based sessions with caregivers and children over 12 weeks (eight weekly sessions, and a ninth top up session one month later), followed by a locally hosted community health outreach day event. Group-based sessions focus on using early dialogic booksharing to promote cognitive development and caregiver-child interaction, health-related messages, including motivation for HIV-testing and treatment uptake for young children, and locally appropriate nutrition education. All children aged 1-5 years and their primary caregivers living in study villages are eligible for participation. Caregivers and their children will be interviewed and assessed at baseline, immediately after completion of the intervention, and 12 months post intervention. Discussion This study provides a unique opportunity to assess the potential of an integrated early childhood development intervention to prevent or mitigate developmental delays in children living in a context of extreme poverty and high HIV rates in rural Lesotho. This paper presents the intervention content and research protocol for the study

International genome-wide meta-analysis identifies new primary biliary cirrhosis risk loci and targetable pathogenic pathways.

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a classical autoimmune liver disease for which effective immunomodulatory therapy is lacking. Here we perform meta-analyses of discovery data sets from genome-wide association studies of European subjects (n=2,764 cases and 10,475 controls) followed by validation genotyping in an independent cohort (n=3,716 cases and 4,261 controls). We discover and validate six previously unknown risk loci for PBC (Pcombined<5 × 10(-8)) and used pathway analysis to identify JAK-STAT/IL12/IL27 signalling and cytokine-cytokine pathways, for which relevant therapies exist

Multiorgan MRI findings after hospitalisation with COVID-19 in the UK (C-MORE): a prospective, multicentre, observational cohort study

Introduction: The multiorgan impact of moderate to severe coronavirus infections in the post-acute phase is still poorly understood. We aimed to evaluate the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities after hospitalisation with COVID-19, evaluate their determinants, and explore associations with patient-related outcome measures. Methods: In a prospective, UK-wide, multicentre MRI follow-up study (C-MORE), adults (aged ≥18 years) discharged from hospital following COVID-19 who were included in Tier 2 of the Post-hospitalisation COVID-19 study (PHOSP-COVID) and contemporary controls with no evidence of previous COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibody negative) underwent multiorgan MRI (lungs, heart, brain, liver, and kidneys) with quantitative and qualitative assessment of images and clinical adjudication when relevant. Individuals with end-stage renal failure or contraindications to MRI were excluded. Participants also underwent detailed recording of symptoms, and physiological and biochemical tests. The primary outcome was the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities (two or more organs) relative to controls, with further adjustments for potential confounders. The C-MORE study is ongoing and is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04510025. Findings: Of 2710 participants in Tier 2 of PHOSP-COVID, 531 were recruited across 13 UK-wide C-MORE sites. After exclusions, 259 C-MORE patients (mean age 57 years [SD 12]; 158 [61%] male and 101 [39%] female) who were discharged from hospital with PCR-confirmed or clinically diagnosed COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and Nov 1, 2021, and 52 non-COVID-19 controls from the community (mean age 49 years [SD 14]; 30 [58%] male and 22 [42%] female) were included in the analysis. Patients were assessed at a median of 5·0 months (IQR 4·2–6·3) after hospital discharge. Compared with non-COVID-19 controls, patients were older, living with more obesity, and had more comorbidities. Multiorgan abnormalities on MRI were more frequent in patients than in controls (157 [61%] of 259 vs 14 [27%] of 52; p&lt;0·0001) and independently associated with COVID-19 status (odds ratio [OR] 2·9 [95% CI 1·5–5·8]; padjusted=0·0023) after adjusting for relevant confounders. Compared with controls, patients were more likely to have MRI evidence of lung abnormalities (p=0·0001; parenchymal abnormalities), brain abnormalities (p&lt;0·0001; more white matter hyperintensities and regional brain volume reduction), and kidney abnormalities (p=0·014; lower medullary T1 and loss of corticomedullary differentiation), whereas cardiac and liver MRI abnormalities were similar between patients and controls. Patients with multiorgan abnormalities were older (difference in mean age 7 years [95% CI 4–10]; mean age of 59·8 years [SD 11·7] with multiorgan abnormalities vs mean age of 52·8 years [11·9] without multiorgan abnormalities; p&lt;0·0001), more likely to have three or more comorbidities (OR 2·47 [1·32–4·82]; padjusted=0·0059), and more likely to have a more severe acute infection (acute CRP &gt;5mg/L, OR 3·55 [1·23–11·88]; padjusted=0·025) than those without multiorgan abnormalities. Presence of lung MRI abnormalities was associated with a two-fold higher risk of chest tightness, and multiorgan MRI abnormalities were associated with severe and very severe persistent physical and mental health impairment (PHOSP-COVID symptom clusters) after hospitalisation. Interpretation: After hospitalisation for COVID-19, people are at risk of multiorgan abnormalities in the medium term. Our findings emphasise the need for proactive multidisciplinary care pathways, with the potential for imaging to guide surveillance frequency and therapeutic stratification

Social capital and AIDS competent communities: evidence from eastern Zimbabwe

Contents: Technical report 2: Church responses to HIV in Zimbabwe: To what extent are the Anglican, Apostolic and Catholic churches supportive of HIV care, treatment and prevention? Technical report 3: In what way do formal community groups impact HIV-related behaviours? The role of social capital in building HIV competence in rural Zimbabwe. Technical report 4: In what ways do community groups support optimal access and adherence to antiretroviral treatment in Zimbabwe? Technical report 5: Grassroots community perceptions of a disappointing STI/HIV prevention intervention in Zimbabwe. Technical report 6: The role of community conversations in facilitating local HIV competence: Case study from eastern Zimbabwe. Technical report 7: Community-level factors enhancing or restricting the impact of a cash transfer program in Manicaland, Zimbabwe. Technical report 8: Community sources of support for AIDS-affected, AIDS-infected and orphaned children in Zimbabwe. Technical report 9: Social capital and public policy: A review