Why is strategic R&D (still) homebound in a globalized industry? The case of leading firms in wireless telecom

This paper looks at internationalization of R&D in the wireless telecommunications industry. We compare the international distribution of strategic R&D activities related to the development of wireless standards to other (non standard related) projects. While there is evidence that leading companies in this industry are sourcing globally their know how, still more strategic R&D projects remain homebound. This finding is further elaborated through conversations with R&D and IP managers at Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, and Qualcomm. These semi-structured interviews suggested that a closer look at the internationalization of R&D investment requires scholars to consider maturation and decentralization of R&D and R&D management.

Ownership Structure, Board Composition and Investment Performance

In this paper the relation between ownership structure, board composition and firm performance is explored. A panel of Swedish listed firms is used to investigate how board composition affects firm performance. Board heterogeneity is measured as board size, age and gender diversity. The results show that Swedish board of directors have become more diversified in terms of gender. Also, fewer firms have the CEO on the board which can be interpreted as a sign of increased independency. The regression analysis shows that gender diversity has a small but negative effect on investment performance, and the same holds for CEO being on the board. The analysis also show that board size has a significant negative effect on investment performance. When incorporating all the explanatory variables into one equation however, the negative effect of larger boards dilutes the effect of gender diversity and having the CEO on the board.Corporate governance; board composition; investments performance; marginal q

Family Ownership and Returns on Investment – Founders, Heirs, and External Managers

This paper investigates how family ownership, control, and management affect firms’ investment performance. We use the identity of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman of the Board (COB) to establish under what management the firm is: founder, descendant, or external management. The results show that founder management has no effect on investment performance in family firms, whereas descendant management has a negative impact on returns on investment. Having an externally hired manager significantly improves investment performance. The results also indicate that the separation of voting right from cash flow right has a negative impact on investment performance in both family and non-family firms, but the negative effect is larger in family firms.Ownership; Control; Management; Family Firms; Returns on Investments

Adolescent Girls\u27 Experience of Binge and Loss of Control Eating

The current investigation used qualitative methodology to examine adolescent girls’ perceptions of control over their eating, as well as triggers, and consequences of binge and related eating behaviors. Focus groups were completed with 19 adolescent girls (aged 13-17, 58% African American, 41% White) who endorsed the behaviors. Responses to focus group questions were qualitatively analyzed using a grounded theory approach and constant comparison coding. Results reflected a fundamental lack of awareness of the loss of control (LOC) eating behaviors. Yet, the data did reflect a central theme of the need to affirm independence and autonomy through eating behaviors via three distinct pathways; asserting physical, emotional, and relational control with food. Each strategy produces different positive and negative consequences regarding emotions and physical sensations. This study suggests that adolescent need for autonomy interacts with a sense of feeling out of control of one’s external environment and insufficient coping mechanisms may increase susceptibility to maladaptive eating behaviors

Flexicult® Vet -viljelymaljan vertailututkimus koirien ja kissojen virtsatieinfektioiden diagnostiikassa

Virtsatieinfektiot ovat yleinen syy mikrobilääkkeiden määräämiseen koirilla ja kissoilla. Virtsaviljelyllä pyritään löytämään virtsatieinfektioita aiheuttava bakteeri, jolle tehdään oikean lääkkeen löytämiseksi myös antibioottiherkkyysmääritys. Kansainvälisten suositusten mukaan lemmikkieläinten epäiltyjen virtsatietulehdusten antibioottihoidon tulisi perustua viljely- ja herkkyystesteihin. Yleisimmillä määritysmenetelmillä kestää kuitenkin kaksi päivää ennen kuin herkkyysmäärityksen tuloksiin perustuva hoito voidaan aloittaa. Toimeksiantajana tutkimuksessa toimi Triolab Oy. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli verrata silmämääräisesti Triolabin valikoimaan tulleen koirille ja kissoille tarkoitetun Flexicult® Vet -virtsaviljelymaljan tuloksia perinteiseen virtsan bakteeriviljelyyn ja herkkyysmääritykseen. Vertailumaljaksi valittiin yleisesti eläinklinikoilla käytössä oleva Uriselect 4. Tavoitteena oli, että jos vertailtavien menetelmien tulokset ovat yhtenevät, Triolab voisi suositella Flexicult Vet -maljaa eläinklinikoille korvaamaan nykyisin käytössä olevan menetelmän. Flexicult Vet -maljalla voidaan määrittää bakteerien määrä, alustava tunnistus ja ennuste antibioottiherkkyydestä yhdellä viljelykerralla, jolloin tulokset ovat käytettävissä vuorokauden kuluessa. Kummatkin vertailtavat maljat ovat kromogeenisia, joten bakteeripesäkkeet värjäytyvät eri värein, mikä helpottaa bakteerien silmämääräistä tunnistusta. Näytteitä viljeltiin yhteensä 43, joista 13 oli koirien ja kissojen virtsanäytteitä ja 30 koululta saatuja ATCC -bakteerikantoja ja niiden laimennoksia. Molemmille maljoille tehtiin bakteeriviljelyt ja Uriselect 4 -maljan bakteereille tehtiin lisäksi antibioottiherkkyysmääritykset yleisesti käytössä olevalla kiekkomenetelmällä Mueller-Hinton -maljalle. Tutkimuksen perusteella pesäkemorfologiassa ja kasvun määrässä ei ollut havaittavissa suurempia eroja maljojen välillä. Värireaktiot olivat selkeitä ja toimivat suurimmaksi osaksi valmistajan lupaamalla tavalla. Antibioottiherkkyyksien tulokset vastasivat toisiaan, lukuun ottamatta yhtä poikkeamaa E. colin herkkyydessä amoksisilliini/klavulaanihapolle. Flexicult Vet -malja on helppokäyttöinen käsittelyaikaa säästävä ratkaisu, joka voisi nopeuttaa herkkyysmäärityksiin perustuvaa antibioottihoitoa ja näin ollen korvata perinteisen virtsaviljelymenetelmän eläinklinikoilla rutiinidiagnostiikassa. Luotettavamman tutkimustuloksen saaminen edellyttäisi kuitenkin suurempaa näytemäärää, joka koostuisi kokonaan koirien ja kissojen virtsanäytteistä.Urinary tract infection is a common cause to prescribe antimicrobial medicine for dogs and cats. Urine culturing is used to diagnose urine tract infection, identify the bacterium and to test antimicrobial susceptibility to find the right antibiotics. According to international guidelines the antibiotic treatment for pets suspected urinary tract infections should be based on culturing and susceptibility testing. However, the most common diagnostic culture requires at least two days before the treatment can be started based on susceptibility results. The subject of this study was assigned by Triolab Oy. The purpose of the study was to compare the functioning of the new Flexicult® Vet canine and feline urinary culture tests with traditional culturing and susceptibility tests. The reference plate was Uriselect 4, which is commonly used in veterinary practice. The purpose was to visually compare the results between Flexicult Vet and Uriselect 4 and find out if both have the same results. If the results were congruent, Flexicult Vet can be recommended to replace the existing culture in veterinary practice. Flexicult Vet allows enumeration of bacteria in urine, presumptive identification and prediction of antimicrobial susceptibility with one culturing, so the results are obtainable within 24 hours. Both plates are chromogenic which means that bacteria colonies will appear in different colours, which helps visually identify the bacteria. There was a total of 43 samples of which 13 were canine and feline urine samples and 30 were bacterial ATCC strains and dilutions of them. Bacterial culture was done on both plates. In addition, antimicrobial susceptibility test was made from Uriselect to Mueller-Hinton agar using a disc diffusion. According to the results, there were no significant differences between the plates when comparing colony morphology and bacterial growth. The colour reactions were clear and mostly appeared as promised by the manufacturer. The antimicrobial susceptibility results were same with both plates, except for one false E. coli susceptibility for amoxillin/clavulanate. Flexicult Vet is easy to use, it could reduce processing time of samples and expedite the starting of susceptibility based antibiotic treatment. Hence Flexicult Vet could replace Uriselect 4 in veterinary practices in routine diagnostics. However, obtaining more reliable results would require a larger amount of samples that would consist entirely of canine and feline urine samples

Effects by 8-bromo-cyclicAMP on basal and organic dust-induced release of interleukin-6 and interleukin-8 in A549 human airway epithelial cells

AbstractInhalation of organic dust from a swine-confinement building leads to an intense inflammatory reaction with an increased number of inflammatory cells and mediators in the upper and lower respiratory tract of previously unexposed subjects. In vitro the dust induces cytokine release from epithelial cells and alveolar macrophages. It is known that intracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP) contributes to the regulation of inflammatory responses. We therefore investigated whether 8-Bromo-cAMP, a cell membrane-permeable cAMP analogue, would influence release of the cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-8 in a human airway epithelial cell line, A549, exposed to a suspension of the organic dust, and to a supernatant prepared by centrifugation (at low g-force) of a suspension of dust. The large particulate matter was thus sedimented, leaving bacteria, whole and cell wall constituents in the supernatant. Cytokine release was measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The cytokine release induced by a supernatant was 23% (IL-6) and 27% (IL-8) of the release induced by a dust suspension. 8-Bromo-cAMP (1mM) doubled basal IL-6 release and IL-6 release induced by a dust supernatant (P<0.01), and increased IL-6 release induced by a dust suspension by 19% (P<0.05). 8-Bromo-cAMP did not affect basal IL-8 release, partially inhibited (28%) the release of IL-8 induced by a dust suspension (P<0.01), but increased IL-8 release induced by a dust supernatant by 13% (P<0.05). In summary, expression of the cytokines IL-6 and IL-8 is differentially regulated by 8-Bromo-cAMP, both with regard to basal and dust-induced release. The results indicate that 8-Bromo-cAMP attenuated IL-8 release by affecting signaling transductions induced by the particulate fraction

Diffuse LEED intensities of disordered crystal surfaces : III. LEED investigation of the disordered (110) surface of gold

The LEED pattern of clean (101) surfaces of Au show a characteristic (1 × 2) superstructure. The diffuseness of reflections in the reciprocal [010] direction is caused by one-dimensional disorder of chains, strictly ordered into spatial [10 ] direction. There is a transition from this disordered superstructure to the normal (1 × 1) structure at 420 + 15°C. The angular profiles of the and (01) beam are measured at various temperatures and with constant energy and angles of incidence of the primary beam. The beam profiles are deconvoluted approximately with the instrument response function

Large-scale surface reconstruction energetics of Pt(100) and Au(100) by all-electron DFT

The low-index surfaces of Au and Pt all tend to reconstruct, a fact that is of key importance in many nanostructure, catalytic, and electrochemical applications. Remarkably, some significant questions regarding their structural energies remain even today, in particular for the large-scale quasihexagonal reconstructed (100) surfaces: Rather dissimilar reconstruction energies for Au and Pt in available experiments, and experiment and theory do not match for Pt. We here show by all-electron density-functional theory that only large enough "(5 x N)" approximant supercells capture the qualitative reconstruction energy trend between Au(100) and Pt(100), in contrast to what is often done in the theoretical literature. Their magnitudes are then in fact similar, and closer to the measured value for Pt(100); our calculations achieve excellent agreement with known geometric characteristics and provide direct evidence for the electronic reconstruction driving force.Comment: updated version - also includes EPAPS information as auxiliary file; related publications can be found at http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/th/th.htm

Green Nanotechnology in Nordic Construction - Eco-innovation strategies and Dynamics in nordic Window Chains

This project analyzes Nordic trends in the development and industrial uptake of green nanotechno-logy in construction. The project applies an evolutionary economic perspective in analyzing the innovation dynamics and firm strategies in the window value chains in three Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland and Sweden. Hence the project investigates two pervasive parallel market trends: The emergence of the green market and the emergence of nanotechnology. The analysis investigates how a traditional economic sector such as the construction sector reacts to such major trends.Conclusions are multiple, but among the most important are: Eco-innovation has become the perhaps most important driver for innovation in the construction sector. Search into eco-innovative business opportunities is intense among all companies along the three analyzed Nordic window chains. While we generally find a low uptake of nanotechnology in the construction sector in the Nordic countries we do find quite a high number of nanotech applications in the Nordic window chains. Eco-innovation is influencing strongly on the nanotech development. We see several examples of nano-enabled smart, multifunctional green solutions in the Nordic window chains already or about to having a commercial impact. Currently, it seems the greening of markets is beginning to affect the roles different companies play in the chain. We see a marked shift towards more sys-temic, smart eco-innovative solutions which fit well with nanotech opportunities. Overall, the recent greening of the market seems to be opening a window of opportunity for nanotechnology in the Nordic countries but the widespread discreet firm strategizing towards nanotechnology may reduce the exploitation of these