On the Refractive Index of Ageing Dispersions of Laponite

Aqueous dispersion of Laponite at low ionic concentration is of interest since it undergoes structural evolution with respect to time, which is usually termed as ageing. In this work we study the refractive index behavior as a function of ageing time, concentration and temperature. We observed that the extended Lorenz-Lorentz equation fitted the refractive index dependence on concentration and temperature very well. The refractive index did not show any dependence on ageing time. However, the dependence of refractive index on concentration showed a marked change as the system underwent transition from an isotropic to a biphasic state. The slope of the refractive index-density data is remarkably close to that of water at all Laponite concentrations. In the context of transport phenomena, optical measurements such as interferometry can exploit the water-like behavior of Laponite dispersions.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Applied Clay Scienc

Vertical integration in production and services: development in transaction cost economics

In this paper, we first establish the core, fundamental concepts of Williamson's TCE, examining the different governance structures or the institutional alternatives that TCE theory proposes. We go on to describe some critical considerations and theoretical proposals that correspond fundamentally to Williamson's heuristic model, the integration of incentives in organizational forms, idiosyncratic demand, and how the concept of transaction is conceived in general.Peris-Ortiz, M.; Bonet, F.; Rueda Armengot, C. (2011). Vertical integration in production and services: development in transaction cost economics. Service Business. 5(1):87-97. doi:10.1007/s11628-011-0103-0S879751Alchian A (1965) The basic of some recent advances in the theory of management of the firm. J Ind Econ 14:30–41Alchian A (1969) Corporate management and property rights. In: Manne GH (ed) Economic Policy and Regulation of Corporate Securities. American Enterprise Institute of Public Policy Research, Washington, DCAlchian A, Demsetz H (1972) Production, information cost, and economic organization. Am Econ Rev 62:777–795Arrow KJ (1959) Toward a theory of price adjustment. In: Abramovitz M et al (eds) The allocation of resources. Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, pp 41–51Arrow KJ (1973) Information and economic behaviour. Federation of Swedish Industries, StockholmArrow KJ (1974) The limits of organizations. W. W. Norton, New YorkBain J (1956) Barriers to new competition. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MABain J (1958) Industrial organization, 2nd edn. John Wiley & Sons, New YorkBarnard CI (1938) The functions of the executive. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MAChandler AC Jr. (1962) Strategy and structure. MIT Press, Cambridge, MAChandler AC Jr. (1977) The visible hand. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MACoase RH (1937) The nature of the firm. Economica 4:386–405Coase RH (1972) Industrial organization: a proposal for research. In: Victor RF (ed) Policy issues and research opportunities in industrial organization. National Bureau of Economic Research, New York, pp 59–73Coase RH (1991) The institutional structure of production. Prize Lecture to the Memory of Alfred Nobel, December 9, 1991, http://www.nobel.se/economics/laureates/1991/coase-lecture.htmlCyert RM, March JG (1963) A behavioural theory of the firm. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJDemsetz H (1967) Toward a theory of property rights. Am Econ Rev 57:347–359Demsetz H (1991) The theory of the firm revisited. In: Williamson O, Winter S (eds) The nature of the firm: origins, evolution, and development. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 159–178Galbraith JR (1993) The value-adding corporation: matching structure with strategy. In: Galbraith JR, Lawler III EE and Associates (eds) Organizing for the future. Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, pp 15–42Li J-M, Yang J-S, Wu HH (2009) Analysis of competence differences among frontline employees from various service typologies. Serv Ind J 29(12):1763–1778Ouchi WG (1979) A conceptual framework for the design of organizational control mechanism. Manag Sci 25(9):833–848Ouchi WG (1980) Markets, bureaucracies, and clans. Admin Sci Q 25:120–142Palmer M, Owens M, De Kervenoael R (2010) Paths of the least resistance: understanding how motives form in international retail joint venturing. Serv Ind J 30(6):965–989Robinson J (1933) The economics of imperfect competition. Macmillan, LondonSafón V (2009) The moderating effect of the technological level of industry on the relationship between innovation and corporate reputation. Int Entrep Manag J 5(4):515–526Simon HA (1947) Administrative behavior. Macmillan, New YorkSimon HA (1962) The architecture of complexity. Proc Am Philos Soc 106:467–482Simon HA (1973) Applying information technology to organization design. Public Admin Rev 33:268–278Un CA, Romero-Martínez AM, Montoro-Sánchez A (2009) Determinants of R&D collaboration of service firms. Serv Bus 3:373–394Warren L, Patton D, Bream D (2009) Knowledge acquisition processes during the incubation of new high technology firms. Int Entrep Manag J 5(4):481–495Williamson OE (1975) Markets and hierarchies: analysis and antitrust implication. Free Press, New YorkWilliamson OE (1979) Transaction-cost economics: the governance of contractual relations. J Law Econ 22:3–61Williamson OE (1981) The modern corporation: origins, evolution, attributes. J Econ Lit 19:1537–1568Williamson OE (1985) The economic institutions of capitalism. Free Press, New YorkWilliamson OE (1991) Comparative economic organization: the analysis of discrete structural alternatives. Admin Sci Q 36:269–296Williamson OE (1993) Calculativeness trust and economic organization. J Law Econ 36:453–486Williamson OE (1996) The mechanisms of governance. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 250–278Williamson OE (1999) Strategy research: governance and competence perspectives. Strateg Manag J 20:1087–1108Williamson OE (2000) The new institutional economics: taking stock, looking ahead. J Econ Lit 38:595–613Williamson OE (2003) Examining economic organization through the lens of contract. Ind Corp Change 12(4):917–938Williamson OE (2005) Transaction cost economics and business administration. Scand J Manag 21:19–40Williamson OE (2008) Outsourcing: transaction cost economics and supply chain management. J Supply Chain Manag 44(2):5–16Williamson OE, Bhargava WH (1986) Assessing and classifying the internal structure and control apparatus of the modern corporation. In: Williamson OE (ed) Economic organization. Firms, markets and policy control. Wheatsheaf Books, Great Britain, Brighton, pp 54–8

Crowdsourcing Controls: A Review and Research Agenda for Crowdsourcing Controls Used for Macro-tasks

Crowdsourcing—the employment of ad hoc online labor to perform various tasks—has become a popular outsourcing vehicle. Our current approach to crowdsourcing—focusing on micro-tasks—fails to leverage the potential of crowds to tackle more complex problems. To leverage crowds to tackle more complex macro tasks requires a better comprehension of crowdsourcing controls. Crowdsourcing controls are mechanisms used to align crowd workers’ actions with predefined standards to achieve a set of goals and objectives. Unfortunately, we know very little about the topic of crowdsourcing controls directed at accomplishing complex macro tasks. To address issues associated with crowdsourcing controls formacro-tasks, this chapter has several objectives. First, it presents and discusses the literature on control theory. Second, this chapter presents a scoping literature review of crowdsourcing controls. Finally, the chapter identifies gaps and puts forth a research agenda to address these shortcomings. The research agenda focuses on understanding how to employ the controls needed to perform macro-tasking in crowds and the implications for crowdsourcing system designers.National Science Foundation grant CHS-1617820Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150493/1/Robert 2019 Preprint Chapter 3.pdfDescription of Robert 2019 Preprint Chapter 3.pdf : PrePrint Versio

Network capitalism and the role of strategy, contracts and performance expectations for Asia-Pacific innovation partnerships

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018. With the growth of emerging economies in Asia-Pacific over the last three decades collaboration with the aim of innovation between firms within and with partners outside the region have developed substantially. Not always have such partnerships fulfilled their anticipated strategic objectives. The literature suggests that the nature of market arrangements and the role of government within that system play a role, but also innate contracting practices and governance of innovation partnerships are related. Yet, our understanding about the specific relationships between these factors and the emerging partnership innovation culture that facilitates joint business activities in an Asia-Pacific context remains vague. In this conceptual chapter we suggest how characteristics of so called network capitalism in conjunction with the nature of contractual agreements between partners, the alignment of their innovation objectives and the ambiguity inherent in their mutual contributions to the partnership can be interpreted as indicators of joint innovation culture. However, while innovation partnerships generally may result to be bureaucratic, market, clan, or adhocracy, we discuss how in an Asia Pacific context, innovation partnerships are limited by the extent of codification and diffusion of information and the social embeddedness of economic transactions

Management control systems in innovation companies: A literature based framework

Past research has traditionally argued that management control systems (MCSs) may present a hindrance to the creativity of innovation companies. This theoretical paper surveys the literature to focus an investigation on the MCSs of innovation companies. Within the object of control paradigm the paper develops and presents a theoretical model of the impact of eleven external, organisational and innovation related contingency factors on the MCSs in companies that engage in innovation activities. We also suggest measures for further empirical research. By formulating hypotheses on 43 potential interactions the model predicts contradictory influences on two direct control categories, results and action control, but stresses the importance of two indirect categories, personnel and cultural control. More specifically, the high levels of technological complexity and innovation capability in this type of company are expected to be negatively associated with the application of results and action control, whereas personnel and cultural seem to be more appropriate. Furthermore, important sources of finance, venture capital and public funding, are both hypothesised to be positively associated with the application of results, action and personnel control; whereas only public funding is predicted to be positively related to the application of cultural control. The principal contribution of this paper lies in synthesising the literature to provide a model of the impact of a unique set of eleven contingency factors for innovation companies on a broad scope of controls. In addition, the contingency model, if empirically validated, would add value by inferring the particular forms of management control which would be beneficial in innovative company settings. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Genome-Wide Expression Analysis Identifies a Modulator of Ionizing Radiation-Induced p53-Independent Apoptosis in Drosophila melanogaster

Tumor suppressor p53 plays a key role in DNA damage responses in metazoa, yet more than half of human tumors show p53 deficiencies. Therefore, understanding how therapeutic genotoxins such as ionizing radiation (IR) can elicit DNA damage responses in a p53-independent manner is of clinical importance. Drosophila has been a good model to study the effects of IR because DNA damage responses as well as underlying genes are conserved in this model, and because streamlined gene families make loss-of-function analyses feasible. Indeed, Drosophila is the only genetically tractable model for IR-induced, p53-independent apoptosis and for tissue regeneration and homeostasis after radiation damage. While these phenomenon occur only in the larvae, all genome-wide gene expression analyses after irradiation to date have been in embryos. We report here the first analysis of IR-induced, genome-wide gene expression changes in wild type and p53 mutant Drosophila larvae. Key data from microarrays were confirmed by quantitative RT-PCR. The results solidify the central role of p53 in IR-induced transcriptome changes, but also show that nearly all changes are made of both p53-dependent and p53-independent components. p53 is found to be necessary not just for the induction of but also for the repression of transcript levels for many genes in response to IR. Furthermore, Functional analysis of one of the top-changing genes, EF1a-100E, implicates it in repression of IR-induced p53-independent apoptosis. These and other results support the emerging notion that there is not a single dominant mechanism but that both positive and negative inputs collaborate to induce p53-independent apoptosis in response to IR in Drosophila larvae

Increased Intestinal Permeability Correlates with Sigmoid Mucosa alpha-Synuclein Staining and Endotoxin Exposure Markers in Early Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder of aging. The pathological hallmark of PD is neuronal inclusions termed Lewy bodies whose main component is alpha-synuclein protein. The finding of these Lewy bodies in the intestinal enteric nerves led to the hypothesis that the intestine might be an early site of PD disease in response to an environmental toxin or pathogen. One potential mechanism for environmental toxin(s) and proinflammatory luminal products to gain access to mucosal neuronal tissue and promote oxidative stress is compromised intestinal barrier integrity. However, the role of intestinal permeability in PD has never been tested. We hypothesized that PD subjects might exhibit increased intestinal permeability to proinflammatory bacterial products in the intestine. To test our hypothesis we evaluated intestinal permeability in subjects newly diagnosed with PD and compared their values to healthy subjects. In addition, we obtained intestinal biopsies from both groups and used immunohistochemistry to assess bacterial translocation, nitrotyrosine (oxidative stress), and alpha-synuclein. We also evaluated serum markers of endotoxin exposure including LPS binding protein (LBP). Our data show that our PD subjects exhibit significantly greater intestinal permeability (gut leakiness) than controls. In addition, this intestinal hyperpermeability significantly correlated with increased intestinal mucosa staining for E. coli bacteria, nitrotyrosine, and alpha-synuclein as well as serum LBP levels in PD subjects. These data represent not only the first demonstration of abnormal intestinal permeability in PD subjects but also the first correlation of increased intestinal permeability in PD with intestinal alpha-synuclein (the hallmark of PD), as well as staining for gram negative bacteria and tissue oxidative stress. Our study may thus shed new light on PD pathogenesis as well as provide a new method for earlier diagnosis of PD and suggests potential therapeutic targets in PD subjects.Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01155492

Design of price incentives for adjunct policy goals in formula funding for hospitals and health services

Background. Hospital policy involves multiple objectives: efficiency of service delivery, pursuit of high quality care, promoting access. Funding policy based on hospital casemix has traditionally been considered to be only about promoting efficiency. Discussion. Formula-based funding policy can be (and has been) used to pursue a range of policy objectives, not only efficiency. These are termed 'adjunct' goals. Strategies to incorporate adjunct goals into funding design must, implicitly or explicitly, address key decision choices outlined in this paper. Summary. Policy must be clear and explicit about the behaviour to be rewarded; incentives must be designed so that all facilities with an opportunity to improve have an opportunity to benefit; the reward structure is stable and meaningful; and the funder monitors performance and gaming

Combined Inactivation of MYC and K-Ras Oncogenes Reverses Tumorigenesis in Lung Adenocarcinomas and Lymphomas

Conditional transgenic models have established that tumors require sustained oncogene activation for tumor maintenance, exhibiting the phenomenon known as "oncogene-addiction." However, most cancers are caused by multiple genetic events making it difficult to determine which oncogenes or combination of oncogenes will be the most effective targets for their treatment.To examine how the MYC and K-ras(G12D) oncogenes cooperate for the initiation and maintenance of tumorigenesis, we generated double conditional transgenic tumor models of lung adenocarcinoma and lymphoma. The ability of MYC and K-ras(G12D) to cooperate for tumorigenesis and the ability of the inactivation of these oncogenes to result in tumor regression depended upon the specific tissue context. MYC-, K-ras(G12D)- or MYC/K-ras(G12D)-induced lymphomas exhibited sustained regression upon the inactivation of either or both oncogenes. However, in marked contrast, MYC-induced lung tumors failed to regress completely upon oncogene inactivation; whereas K-ras(G12D)-induced lung tumors regressed completely. Importantly, the combined inactivation of both MYC and K-ras(G12D) resulted more frequently in complete lung tumor regression. To account for the different roles of MYC and K-ras(G12D) in maintenance of lung tumors, we found that the down-stream mediators of K-ras(G12D) signaling, Stat3 and Stat5, are dephosphorylated following conditional K-ras(G12D) but not MYC inactivation. In contrast, Stat3 becomes dephosphorylated in lymphoma cells upon inactivation of MYC and/or K-ras(G12D). Interestingly, MYC-induced lung tumors that failed to regress upon MYC inactivation were found to have persistent Stat3 and Stat5 phosphorylation.Taken together, our findings point to the importance of the K-Ras and associated down-stream Stat effector pathways in the initiation and maintenance of lymphomas and lung tumors. We suggest that combined targeting of oncogenic pathways is more likely to be effective in the treatment of lung cancers and lymphomas