The adoption of market orientation by small and medium enterprises : a grounded theory study

The adoption of a market orientation by companies and its effect on business performance has been a subject of numerous past studies. The concept of market orientation itself has received tremendous attention from both academia and the business world. However, research on market orientation has largely been conducted in the context of multi-national corporations (MNCs) and large institutions instead of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Even when SMEs were studied, such studies often too narrowly focus on a particular area of SME’s market orientation and do not offer any all-encompassing framework for future research. In view of this knowledge gap, we set out to investigate the potential factors affecting an SME’s level of market orientation through a grounded theory approach. Based on an extensive literature review, we formed an integrated preliminary framework that served as the foundation for our theory-building process. Then we conducted in-depth face-to-face interviews with Singaporean SME owners and managers, and carried out field observations by shadowing one of the SME owners for one day. Based on the qualitative data collected, we derived concrete theoretical concepts and relationships from the interview transcripts to build our final theory. Existing factors affecting an SME’s market orientation level were reviewed, modified or replaced with newly discovered ones, upon which a final framework was formed. We discuss the implications of our proposed theory for SME owners and managers as well as industry policymakers.BUSINES

Temporal and Spatial Variations in Carbon/Nitrogen Output in the Karst Critical Zone and Its Response to the Forest Ecosystem of Karst Desertification Control

Rocky desertification is a common phenomenon in karst areas. Soil carbon and nitrogen storage is of great significance to the formation and evolution of ecosystems. Soil leakage is one of the important indicators in evaluating ecosystem stability. There are few studies on the response of carbon and nitrogen leakage below the surface of karst critical zones to forest ecosystems. The karst springs in the study area of Shibing Heichong, Bijie Salaxi and Guanling-Zhenfeng Huajiang in Guizhou, China, were selected to determine the variation characteristics of carbon and nitrogen content and karst spring outputs and their response to soil leakage. The results showed the following: (1) The content and output of carbon and nitrogen in karst springs in the three study areas showed obvious spatial differences. The carbon and nitrogen output of karst spring water was mainly concentrated in the rainy season. The carbon and nitrogen contents and output of karst springs in the Shibing Heichong study area were higher than those in the Bijie Salaxi and Guanling-Zhenfeng Huajiang study areas. (2) The carbon and nitrogen outputs of karst springs were mainly affected by flow. Land cover and land use in forests affect the carbon and nitrogen contents of karst springs and thus affect the output. (3) The higher the soil leakage of the karst spring was, the higher the carbon and nitrogen output. The leakage of the overlying soil in the Shibing Heichong study area was high, but the soil decline was small, and the stability of the forest ecosystem was relatively good. In summary, a lower degree of rocky desertification results in higher leakage from karst springs and higher risks of soil leakage; however, the ecosystem was relatively stable. Evaluating forest soil carbon and nitrogen loss and ecosystem stability in karst areas through the nutrient output of karst springs is of great significance for the prevention and control of rocky desertification areas

Characteristics of and Influencing Factors of Hydrochemistry and Carbon/Nitrogen Variation in the Huangzhouhe River Basin, a World Natural Heritage Site

In karst areas, the characteristics of water chemistry and carbon and nitrogen are of great significance to basic research. The contents of Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Na+, HCO3−, SO42−, NO3−, Cl−, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and total nitrogen (TN) in water samples from 18 rivers and 14 springs in the Huangzhouhe River Basin were determined. The results showed that the water chemistry type in the Huangzhouhe River Basin is HCO3-Ca-Mg. The chemical composition is mainly affected by dolomite weathering and also by ion exchange and other human activities. The river and spring DIC remain at the same level in the upper and middle reaches and decrease in the lower reaches. The NO3-N and TN of river water and TN of spring water increase in the middle reaches, while NO3-N of spring water decreases in the lower reaches. The DOC in the basin increases with the increase of SO42− and Cl−, mainly due to the human influence of agricultural and domestic sewage. In the basin, the NO3-N and TN in spring water are larger, and the DOC in river water is larger, mainly because there are more phytoplankton and human activities in the river water. The carbon and nitrogen in the Huangzhouhe River Basin are mainly HCO3− and NO3− ions. The evaluation of pH, Cl−, NO3-N, SO42−, and TDS shows that the water quality is good and the ecological environment is good

Grid-tree composite support structures for lattice parts in selective laser melting

Metal lattice structure has excellent mechanical properties to develop lightweight parts, and selective laser melting (SLM) makes it possible to construct complex lattice parts without molds. Support structures are required in SLM to remove heat away from the process and reduce geometrical distortions. However, traditional support structure generation methods have some problems, such as low generation efficiency, difficulty in the removal and not meeting the fabrication requirements of lattice parts. Therefore, this article proposes a grid-tree composite support structure generation algorithm for lattice parts. First, optimize the build orientation of the lattice parts considering the surface quality of functional features and the processability of lattice structures. Then, identify the frame’s overhang area and the point overhang of lattice structures. Finally, generate the grid-tree composite support structure for lattice parts. We conducted experiments to verify our approach and compare our method with three supports of Magics RP. Experimental results reveal that our method is effective in reducing support volume and warpage deformation

Analysis of the Three-Dimensional Fluorescence Spectroscopy Characteristics of Dissolved Organic Matter in Groundwater from a Subtropical Cave in Dry Season—Daxiao Cave in South China Karst

Groups in dissolved organic matter (DOM) emit fluorescence information at characteristic wavelengths when irradiated by excitation waves, which can reveal the geochemical behavior of dissolved organic matter in the environment and its sources, but there are few relevant studies in cave groundwater systems. In order to investigate the relationship between drip hydrochemistry characteristics and DOM in cave systems after subsurface leakage, in this study, from the perspective of dissolved organic matter in the karst cave water system, the groundwater in the dry season of Daxiao Cave was selected as the research object. Five drip points and one water pool (DX-1, DX-2, DX-3, DX-4, DX-5, and DX-C) in Daxiao Cave were monitored and consecutively sampled for four months. The parallel factor analysis method (PARAFAC), three-dimensional (3D) fluorescence parameters, and excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy (EEM), combined with the hydrochemistry characteristics of the drip water and correlation analysis, were used to analyze the 3D fluorescence spectral characteristics of the DOM of the drip water of Daxiao Cave and their influencing factors. The results show that (1) the hydrochemistry type of the drip water in Daxiao Cave was within the Ca–Mg–HCO3 type, and Ca2+, Mg2+, and HCO3− were the dominant ions in Daxiao Cave; (2) the fluorescence fractions of drip water in dry season caves were dominated by C1 (humus-like), C2 (tryptophan-like), and C3 (tyrosine-like), and the fluorescence fractions of drip water DOM were controlled by protein fluorophores; (3) the DOM in the drip water of Daxiao Cave in the dry season was controlled in part by subsurface leakage and was largely the result of microbial degradation; and (4) the DOM of the drip water may be influenced by the chemical composition of the water, but the exact process is not clear

Transcriptome of Gonads From High Temperature Induced Sex Reversal During Sex Determination and Differentiation in Chinese Tongue Sole, Cynoglossus semilaevis

11 pages, 5 figures, supplementary information https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2019.01128The sex of Chinese tongue sole (Cynoglossus semilaevis) is determined by both genetic sex determination (GSD) and environmental sex determination (ESD), making it an ideal model to study the relationship between sex-determination and temperature. In the present study, transcriptomes of undifferentiated gonads from genetic females and males, as well as differentiated gonads from males, females, and pseudomales under high and normal temperature treatments were generated for comparative transcriptomic analysis. A mean of 68.24 M high-quality clean reads was obtained for each library. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between different sexes and environmental treatments were identified, revealing that the heat shock protein gene family was involved in the high temperature induced sex reversal. The Gene Ontology (GO) terms and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways that were enriched in pseudomale and genetic female comparison included neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, cortisol synthesis and secretion, and steroid hormone biosynthesis. Furthermore, weighted gene co-expression network analyses were conducted on all samples, and two modules were positive correlated with pseudomale under high temperature. An illustrated protein-protein interaction map of the module identified a hub gene, hsc70. These findings provide insights into the genetic network that is involved in sex determination and sexual differentiation, and improve our understanding of genes involved in sex reversal under high temperatureThis work was supported by National Nature Science Foundation of China (31722058, 31802275, and 31472269), National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFD0900301), the AoShan Talents Cultivation Program Supported by Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (2017ASTCP-ES06), the Taishan Scholar Project Fund of Shandong of China to CS, the National Ten-Thousands Talents Special Support Program to CS, and the International Scientific Partnership Program ISPP at King Saud University (No. 0050)Peer Reviewe

Efficient Purification of Ginkgolic Acids from <i>Ginkgo biloba</i> Leaves by Selective Adsorption on Fe₃O₄ Magnetic Nanoparticles

Ginkgolic acids (GAs; anacardic acids; 6-alkylsalicylic acids) are both unwanted constituents in standardized <i>Ginkgo biloba</i> (Ginkgo) extracts and desirable constituents for pharmacological assays. Thus, for the quality control of Ginkgo extracts, the availability of pure GAs is important. In this investigation, inexpensive and easily prepared Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) in methanol were used to selectively adsorb GAs from crude petroleum ether extracts of Ginkgo leaves in the presence of various lipids including other alkylphenols (cardanols and cardols). The adsorption capacity of the MNPs is high, at 4–5% (w/w). The moiety responsible for the adsorption is the salicylic acid group, which binds strongly to Fe­(III). Desorption with acidified methanol gave an extract with a GA content of 73%. This could be further separated by preparative HPLC on a C₈ column. In total, eight different GAs were captured by MNPs. The MNP adsorption step can replace more traditional column chromatography and liquid–liquid extraction steps and is superior in terms of solvent consumption, selectivity, labor, and energy consumption. MNPs might become an efficient separation technique for selected high-value phytochemicals that contain a salicylic acid moiety

Ultrafast non-radiative dynamics of atomically thin MoSe2.

Photo-induced non-radiative energy dissipation is a potential pathway to induce structural-phase transitions in two-dimensional materials. For advancing this field, a quantitative understanding of real-time atomic motion and lattice temperature is required. However, this understanding has been incomplete due to a lack of suitable experimental techniques. Here, we use ultrafast electron diffraction to directly probe the subpicosecond conversion of photoenergy to lattice vibrations in a model bilayered semiconductor, molybdenum diselenide. We find that when creating a high charge carrier density, the energy is efficiently transferred to the lattice within one picosecond. First-principles nonadiabatic quantum molecular dynamics simulations reproduce the observed ultrafast increase in lattice temperature and the corresponding conversion of photoenergy to lattice vibrations. Nonadiabatic quantum simulations further suggest that a softening of vibrational modes in the excited state is involved in efficient and rapid energy transfer between the electronic system and the lattice