Trajectory of innovation in emerging industries: evidence from the global wind power industry

This dissertation unpacks "innovation" along its constituent dimensions, namely technological, geographic, and people. I study how these dimensions interact among each other to define the course or trajectory of innovation. The setting for this study is the global wind power industry, a rapidly evolving innovation-intensive emerging industry. The innovations are studied at two levels - location-level and firm-level. At the location-level, I measure breadth and depth of innovation along the three dimensions. I then examine how the innovation breadth and depth at a location impact the locations' innovation performance. I find negative curvilinear effects for both but breadth having a larger impact than depth. Since breadth has the potential to develop earlier than depth, I argue that late entering new locations can catch-up faster with leading incumbent locations in emerging industries. At the firm-level, I study the development of firm's innovation capabilities. A special focus is given to emerging economy multinational enterprises (EMNEs) as they start with lower amounts of technological and market knowledge but exhibit a fast catch-up to get on par with the industry leading advanced economy multinationals (AMNEs). EMNEs are catching up with AMNEs even in emerging, high technology industries, where their knowledge-based disadvantages are most severe. I explain this phenomenon by distinguishing between output and innovation capabilities. By comparing the knowledge bases of an industry leading AMNE and a fast follower EMNE, I find that AMNE's knowledge base is deeper and composed of more distinct technology groups than that of the EMNE. Thus, although the EMNE has caught up in terms of output capabilities, it still lags in terms of innovation capabilities. Next, I study closely the process of innovation catch-up by analyzing firms' R&D internationalization strategies. I study EMNE R&D internationalization by comparing it to that by AMNE to find that its purpose and drivers are different for EMNEs. While the internationalization of AMNEs' R&D activities can to a large extent be explained in terms of the twin strategies of competence exploitation and competence creation, EMNE R&D internationalization is rooted in the firms' overall catch-up strategy to get on par with industry leaders. An in-depth comparison of knowledge flows reveals that within AMNEs, headquarters often serves the primary source of knowledge for R&D subsidiaries. In contrast, within EMNEs, headquarters accesses knowledge from R&D subsidiaries in advanced economies for innovation catch-up. Within this dichotomy, accessing is more difficult and slower than sourcing making EMNE innovation catch-up harder and slower.Business Administration/Strategic Managemen

The pathology of Lates calcarifer herpesviral disease—Disseminated intravascular coagulation explains mortality spikes

Lates calcarifer herpesvirus (LCHV) causes an emerging serious disease in aquaculture. Sudden drops in feed rates and mortality spikes exceeding 40%–50% often accompany LCHV infections in juvenile L. calcarifer, soon after transfer into sea cages. Affected fish have patchy white skin and fins, corneal opacity and frequently hang in surface water column like ‘ghost’ or ‘zombie’ fish. Fish have pale gills, fluid-filled intestines with yellowish casts, lipid depleted liver, enlarged spleen and kidney and reddened brain. Epithelial hyperplasia, apoptosis, marginated nuclear chromatin, amphophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies and the occasional multinucleated cells are observed in gills, skin, intestines, liver and kidney. These are often accompanied by lymphocytic-monocytic infiltration and extensive necrosis in gills, skin, kidney and intestines. Martius scarlet blue stains indicate presence of fibrin in vasculature in brain, gills, intestines, kidney and liver, or disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). DIC has been reported in human herpesviral infections. Multifocal lifting of intestinal epithelium with proteinaceous exudate and necrosis of several adjacent villi often progress to involve entire gut sections. Atrophied livers with accentuated lobules may progress to marked loss of hepatic acini. Multifocal dilated attenuated renal tubules are often accompanied by casts and marked protein loosing renopathy. This study on LCHV demonstrates that it can cause significant pathology and mortality

Nonlocal similarity image filtering

Abstract. We exploit the recurrence of structures at different locations, orientations and scales in an image to perform denoising. While previous methods based on “nonlocal filtering ” identify corresponding patches only up to translations, we consider more general similarity transformations. Due to the additional computational burden, we break the problem down into two steps: First, we extract similarity invariant descriptors at each pixel location; second, we search for similar patches by matching descriptors. The descriptors used are inspired by scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT), whereas the similarity search is solved via the minimization of a cost function adapted from local denoising methods. Our method compares favorably with existing denoising algorithms as tested on several datasets.

Image-guided ToF depth upsampling: a survey

Recently, there has been remarkable growth of interest in the development and applications of time-of-flight (ToF) depth cameras. Despite the permanent improvement of their characteristics, the practical applicability of ToF cameras is still limited by low resolution and quality of depth measurements. This has motivated many researchers to combine ToF cameras with other sensors in order to enhance and upsample depth images. In this paper, we review the approaches that couple ToF depth images with high-resolution optical images. Other classes of upsampling methods are also briefly discussed. Finally, we provide an overview of performance evaluation tests presented in the related studies

Formulation & Characterization of Transdermal Patch of Ginger Extract

This study focuses on the formulation and characterization of a transdermal patch containing ginger extract. Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is renowned for its bioactive compounds, particularly gingerols and shogaols, which exhibit significant medicinal benefits. The transdermal patch formulation involves the incorporation of ginger extract into a suitable polymer matrix to ensure controlled and sustained release of the active ingredients through the cellulose membrane. A combination of polymers, plasticizers, and permeation enhancers was evaluated to optimize the patch\u27s mechanical properties, adhesiveness, and drug release profile. In vitro drug release studies were performed using Franz diffusion cells, and the results indicated that the transdermal patch effectively released ginger extract. OBJECTIVES: To create a new dose form of the ginger extract containing transdermal patch. METHODS: The ginger extract were collected by maceration method. The Mentha leaves were hydro-distilled to obtained the Mentha oil. The transdermal patch containing the ginger extract were prepared by the solvent casting method. RESULTS: The optimized formulation demonstrated satisfactory tensile strength, uniform drug distribution, and prolonged drug release, making it a promising candidate for transdermal drug delivery systems

Manufacturing flow line systems: a review of models and analytical results

The most important models and results of the manufacturing flow line literature are described. These include the major classes of models (asynchronous, synchronous, and continuous); the major features (blocking, processing times, failures and repairs); the major properties (conservation of flow, flow rate-idle time, reversibility, and others); and the relationships among different models. Exact and approximate methods for obtaining quantitative measures of performance are also reviewed. The exact methods are appropriate for small systems. The approximate methods, which are the only means available for large systems, are generally based on decomposition, and make use of the exact methods for small systems. Extensions are briefly discussed. Directions for future research are suggested.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant DDM-8914277

Preventing the preventable through effective surveillance: the case of diphtheria in a rural district of Maharashtra, India

Background: Epidemic diphtheria is still poorly understood and continues to challenge both developing and developed countries. In the backdrop of poor immunization coverage, non-existent adult boosters, weak case based surveillance and persistence of multiple foci, there is a heightened risk of re-emergence of the disease in epidemic forms in India. Investigating each outbreak to understand the epidemiology of the disease and its current status in the country is therefore necessary. Dhule a predominantly tribal and rural district in Northern Maharashtra has consistently recorded low vaccination coverages alongside sporaidic cases of diphtheria over the last years. Methods: This study reports the findings of an onsite survey conducted to assess a recent outbreak of diphtheria in Dhule district and the response mounted to it. Secondary data regarding outbreak detection and response were obtained from the district surveillance office. Clinical data were extracted from hospital records of eleven lab confirmed cases including one death case. Frequency distributions were calculated for each identified clinical and non- clinical variable using Microsoft™ Excel® 2010. Results: Our findings suggest a shift in the median age of disease to adolescents (10-15 years) without gender differences. Two cases (18%) reported disease despite immunization. Clinical symptoms included cough (82%), fever (73%), and throat congestion (64%). About 64% and 36% of the 11 confirmed cases presented with a well defined pseudomembrane and a tonsillar patch respectively. Drug resistance was observed in all three culture positive cases. One death occurred despite the administration of Anti-Diphtheric Serum in a partially immunized case (CFR 9%). Genotyping and toxigenicity of strain was not possible due to specimen contamination during transport as testing facilities were unavailable in the district. Conclusions: The outbreak raises several concerns regarding the epidemiology of diphtheria in Dhule. The reason for shift in the median age despite consistently poor immunization coverage (below 50%) remains unclear. Concomitant efforts should now focus on improving and monitoring primary immunization and booster coverages across all age groups. Gradually introducing adult immunization at ten year intervals may become necessary to prevent future vulnerabilities. Laboratory networks for genotyping and toxigenicity testing are urgently mandated at district level given the endemicity of the disease in the surrounding region and its recent introduction in remote Dhule. Contingency funds with pre- agreements to obtain ADS and DT/Td vaccines at short notice and developing standard case management protocols at district level are necessary. Monitoring the disease, emerging strains and mutations, alongside drug resistance through robust and effective surveillance is a pragmatic way forward