Family enterprise and technological innovation

Family enterprises in China have significant impact on China’s social and economic development. Yet did technological innovation in Chinese family enterprise play a role on this impact? We examine the role that technology innovation played in the rise in importance of Chinese family businesses. We analyze the impact of family enterprises on companies’ technological innovation through both family ownership and family management involvement. We further scrutinize how Chinese family-owned business internationalization strategies affected their technological innovation activities. The authors show that family ownership without family management involvement has a negative relations with companies’ technical innovation. We further demonstrate that family ownerships with family management involvement have a positive relations with enterprises’ technical innovation. Our study provides some effective measures to increase the investment in firms’ technical innovation and minimize the disadvantages of family business. The research result has practical significance in the governance of family enterprises

Family enterprise and technological innovation

This is the final version. Available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordFamily enterprises in China have significant impact on China’s social and economic development. Yet did technological innovation in Chinese family enterprise play a role on this impact? We examine the role that technology innovation played in the rise in importance of Chinese family businesses. We analyze the impact of family enterprises on companies’ technological innovation through both family ownership and family management involvement. We further scrutinize how Chinese family-owned business internationalization strategies affected their technological innovation activities. The authors show that family ownership without family management involvement has a negative relations with companies’ technical innovation. We further demonstrate that family ownerships with family management involvement have a positive relations with enterprises’ technical innovation. Our study provides some effective measures to increase the investment in firms’ technical innovation and minimize the disadvantages of family business. The research result has practical significance in the governance of family enterprises

Is Bitcoin a currency, a technology-based product, or something else?

This is the author accepted manuscript . The finla version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordCryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have fascinated technologists and investors alike. They have become prevalent, with over 2,000 Bitcoin-like cryptocurrencies now in use. Most jurisdictions have not regulated cryptocurrencies. Whether existing regulations apply to cryptocurrency turns ultimately on if we classify cryptocurrencies as currencies, securities, or derivatives, or a money services (transfer) vehicle. In this set of exploratory analyses we seek to classify Bitcoin. We utilize a variety of methods to compare aspects of its behavior to: currencies, asset classes such as derivatives, technology-based products and possible technology-based products such as Ether and the security SPY, and speculative financial bubbles. We find that Bitcoin's behavior more closely resembles a technology-based product, an emerging asset class, or a bubble event, rather than a currency or a security; such that it is correct that existing currency and security laws should not apply to cryptocurrencies

Is Blockchain mining profitable in the long run?

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from IEEE via the DOI in this recordBlockchain technologies are at the heart of digital innovation and are a harbinger of Industry 4.0. Consequently, popular press and academic researchers alike have focused on its importance. Yet blockchain technologies’ most promising efforts, cryptocurrency and smart contracts, are underpinned by blockchain mining. The blockchain mining service is undergoing change, cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and others are nearing the end of their minting. Smart contracts are in their infancy. The financial impetus for providing the mining service has changed. Here, we add to the literature through a deep financial analysis of blockchain mining regarding its long-term financial viability. Our methods include a financial cost analysis and an analysis of the financial viability of cryptocurrency through focus on Ethereum. It is found that blockchain miners, despite initial profitability, cannot maintain sustainable financial viability without substantial fees. This work is important to those academics who focus on understanding how service technologies and products underpin Industry 4.0. Finally, this paper contributes to the practitioners’ decision-making process to embrace blockchain mining as a technological entrepreneur

ALMA and ROSINA detections of phosphorus-bearing molecules: the interstellar thread between star-forming regions and comets

To understand how Phosphorus-bearing molecules are formed in star-forming regions, we have analysed ALMA observations of PN and PO towards the massive star-forming region AFGL 5142, combined with a new analysis of the data of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken with the ROSINA instrument onboard Rosetta. The ALMA maps show that the emission of PN and PO arises from several spots associated with low-velocity gas with narrow linewidths in the cavity walls of a bipolar outflow. PO is more abundant than PN in most of the spots, with the PO/PN ratio increasing as a function of the distance to the protostar. Our data favor a formation scenario in which shocks sputter phosphorus from the surface of dust grains, and gas-phase photochemistry induced by UV photons from the protostar allows efficient formation of the two species in the cavity walls. Our analysis of the ROSINA data has revealed that PO is the main carrier of P in the comet, with PO/PN>10. Since comets may have delivered a significant amount of prebiotic material to the early Earth, this finding suggests that PO could contribute significantly to the phosphorus reservoir during the dawn of our planet. There is evidence that PO was already in the cometary ices prior to the birth of the Sun, so the chemical budget of the comet might be inherited from the natal environment of the Solar System, which is thought to be a stellar cluster including also massive stars

Management goals for type 1 Gaucher disease: An expert consensus document from the European working group on Gaucher disease

AbstractGaucher Disease type 1 (GD1) is a lysosomal disorder that affects many systems. Therapy improves the principal manifestations of the condition and, as a consequence, many patients show a modified phenotype which reflects manifestations of their disease that are refractory to treatment. More generally, it is increasingly recognised that information as to how a patient feels and functions [obtained by patient- reported outcome measurements (PROMs)] is critical to any comprehensive evaluation of treatment. A new set of management goals for GD1 in which both trends are reflected is needed. To this end, a modified Delphi procedure among 25 experts was performed. Based on a literature review and with input from patients, 65 potential goals were formulated as statements. Consensus was considered to be reached when ≥75% of the participants agreed to include that specific statement in the management goals. There was agreement on 42 statements. In addition to the traditional goals concerning haematological, visceral and bone manifestations, improvement in quality of life, fatigue and social participation, as well as early detection of long-term complications or associated diseases were included. When applying this set of goals in medical practice, the clinical status of the individual patient should be taken into account

Analysis of performance in Depth Based Routing for Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks

In the last decade, Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs) have been widely studied because of their peculiar aspects that distinguish them from common wireless terrestrial networks. In fact, most UWSNs use acoustic instead of radio-frequency based communications, and nodes are subject to high mobility caused by water currents. As a consequence, specialized routing algorithms have been developed to tackle this challenging scenario. Depth based Routing (DBR) is one of the first protocols that have been developed to this aim, and is still widely adopted in actual implementations of UWSNs. In this paper we propose a stochastic analysis that aims at evaluating the performance of UWSNs using DBR in terms of expected energy consumption and expected end-to-end delay. Under a set of assumptions, we give expressions for these performance indices that can be evaluated efficiently, and hence they can be adopted as the basis for optimizing the configuration parameters of the protocol

BASECOL2012: A collisional database repository and web service within the Virtual Atomic and Molecular Data Centre (VAMDC)

The BASECOL2012 database is a repository of collisional data and a web service within the Virtual Atomic and Molecular Data Centre (VAMDC, http://www.vamdc.eu). It contains rate coefficients for the collisional excitation of rotational, ro-vibrational, vibrational, fine, and hyperfine levels of molecules by atoms, molecules, and electrons, as well as fine-structure excitation of some atoms that are relevant to interstellar and circumstellar astrophysical applications. Submissions of new published collisional rate coefficients sets are welcome, and they will be critically evaluated before inclusion in the database. In addition, BASECOL2012 provides spectroscopic data queried dynamically from various spectroscopic databases using the VAMDC technology. These spectroscopic data are conveniently matched to the in-house collisional excitation rate coefficients using the SPECTCOL sofware package (http:// vamdc.eu/software), and the combined sets of data can be downloaded from the BASECOL2012 website. As a partner of the VAMDC, BASECOL2012 is accessible from the general VAMDC portal (http://portal.vamdc.eu) and from user tools such as SPECTCOL

Cumulative Prognostic Score Predicting Mortality in Patients Older Than 80 Years Admitted to the ICU.

OBJECTIVES: To develop a scoring system model that predicts mortality within 30 days of admission of patients older than 80 years admitted to intensive care units (ICUs). DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: A total of 306 ICUs from 24 European countries. PARTICIPANTS: Older adults admitted to European ICUs (N = 3730; median age = 84 years [interquartile range = 81-87 y]; 51.8% male). MEASUREMENTS: Overall, 24 variables available during ICU admission were included as potential predictive variables. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify independent predictors of 30-day mortality. Model sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were evaluated with receiver operating characteristic curves. RESULTS: The 30-day-mortality was 1562 (41.9%). In multivariable analysis, these variables were selected as independent predictors of mortality: age, sex, ICU admission diagnosis, Clinical Frailty Scale, Sequential Organ Failure Score, invasive mechanical ventilation, and renal replacement therapy. The discrimination, accuracy, and calibration of the model were good: the area under the curve for a score of 10 or higher was .80, and the Brier score was .18. At a cut point of 10 or higher (75% of all patients), the model predicts 30-day mortality in 91.1% of all patients who die. CONCLUSION: A predictive model of cumulative events predicts 30-day mortality in patients older than 80 years admitted to ICUs. Future studies should include other potential predictor variables including functional status, presence of advance care plans, and assessment of each patient's decision-making capacity

Relationship between the Clinical Frailty Scale and short-term mortality in patients ≥ 80 years old acutely admitted to the ICU: a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) is frequently used to measure frailty in critically ill adults. There is wide variation in the approach to analysing the relationship between the CFS score and mortality after admission to the ICU. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of modelling approach on the association between the CFS score and short-term mortality and quantify the prognostic value of frailty in this context. METHODS: We analysed data from two multicentre prospective cohort studies which enrolled intensive care unit patients ≥ 80 years old in 26 countries. The primary outcome was mortality within 30-days from admission to the ICU. Logistic regression models for both ICU and 30-day mortality included the CFS score as either a categorical, continuous or dichotomous variable and were adjusted for patient's age, sex, reason for admission to the ICU, and admission Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score. RESULTS: The median age in the sample of 7487 consecutive patients was 84 years (IQR 81-87). The highest fraction of new prognostic information from frailty in the context of 30-day mortality was observed when the CFS score was treated as either a categorical variable using all original levels of frailty or a nonlinear continuous variable and was equal to 9% using these modelling approaches (p < 0.001). The relationship between the CFS score and mortality was nonlinear (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Knowledge about a patient's frailty status adds a substantial amount of new prognostic information at the moment of admission to the ICU. Arbitrary simplification of the CFS score into fewer groups than originally intended leads to a loss of information and should be avoided. Trial registration NCT03134807 (VIP1), NCT03370692 (VIP2)