Access-Based Services for the Base of the Pyramid

One key challenge for consumers at the base of the pyramid (BoP) is access to products that could transform their livelihood, leading to nonconsumption as the dominant pattern. Previous studies have claimed that nonconsumption could be addressed with services offering access to goods without ownership. Drawing on expected utility theory, we conduct two experimental studies in rural India that provide the first empirical support for the idea that the availability of access-based services reduces nonconsumption at the BoP. Additionally, we show that this effect is explained by BoP consumers’ expected utility assessment as reflected in their perception of access being more affordable and entailing less financial risk than ownership. We also demonstrate that access temporality, an important configurational variable for access-based service providers, affects the degree to which nonconsumption can be decreased. Compared to short-term access, BoP consumers perceive long-term access to be too similar to ownership in terms of affordability and financial risk, which causes them to refrain from purchasing. Overall, the results suggest that access-based services represent a viable alternative for addressing nonconsumption at the BoP. However, service providers should be aware that short-term access is required to gain acceptance among BoP consumers

A 3D MR-acquisition scheme for nonrigid bulk motion correction in simultaneous PET-MR.

PURPOSE: Positron emission tomography (PET) is a highly sensitive medical imaging technique commonly used to detect and assess tumor lesions. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides high resolution anatomical images with different contrasts and a range of additional information important for cancer diagnosis. Recently, simultaneous PET-MR systems have been released with the promise to provide complementary information from both modalities in a single examination. Due to long scan times, subject nonrigid bulk motion, i.e., changes of the patient's position on the scanner table leading to nonrigid changes of the patient's anatomy, during data acquisition can negatively impair image quality and tracer uptake quantification. A 3D MR-acquisition scheme is proposed to detect and correct for nonrigid bulk motion in simultaneously acquired PET-MR data. METHODS: A respiratory navigated three dimensional (3D) MR-acquisition with Radial Phase Encoding (RPE) is used to obtain T1- and T2-weighted data with an isotropic resolution of 1.5 mm. Healthy volunteers are asked to move the abdomen two to three times during data acquisition resulting in overall 19 movements at arbitrary time points. The acquisition scheme is used to retrospectively reconstruct dynamic 3D MR images with different temporal resolutions. Nonrigid bulk motion is detected and corrected in this image data. A simultaneous PET acquisition is simulated and the effect of motion correction is assessed on image quality and standardized uptake values (SUV) for lesions with different diameters. RESULTS: Six respiratory gated 3D data sets with T1- and T2-weighted contrast have been obtained in healthy volunteers. All bulk motion shifts have successfully been detected and motion fields describing the transformation between the different motion states could be obtained with an accuracy of 1.71 ± 0.29 mm. The PET simulation showed errors of up to 67% in measured SUV due to bulk motion which could be reduced to less than 10% with the proposed motion compensation approach. CONCLUSIONS: A MR acquisition scheme which yields both high resolution 3D anatomical data and highly accurate nonrigid motion information without an increase in scan time is presented. The proposed method leads to a strong improvement in both MR and PET image quality and ensures an accurate assessment of tracer uptake

Supplemental Material, Access-Based_Services_for_the_BoP_-_Web_Appendix - Access-Based Services for the Base of the Pyramid

<p>Supplemental Material, Access-Based_Services_for_the_BoP_-_Web_Appendix for Access-Based Services for the Base of the Pyramid by Tobias Schaefers, Roger Moser, and Gopalakrishnan Narayanamurthy in Journal of Service Research</p

Development and evaluation of a numerical simulation approach to predict metal artifacts from passive implants in MRI

Objective!#!This study presents the development and evaluation of a numerical approach to simulate artifacts of metallic implants in an MR environment that can be applied to improve the testing procedure for MR image artifacts in medical implants according to ASTM F2119.!##!Methods!#!The numerical approach is validated by comparing simulations and measurements of two metallic test objects made of titanium and stainless steel at three different field strengths (1.5T, 3T and 7T). The difference in artifact size and shape between the simulated and measured artifacts were evaluated. A trend analysis of the artifact sizes in relation to the field strength was performed.!##!Results!#!The numerical simulation approach shows high similarity (between 75% and 84%) of simulated and measured artifact sizes of metallic implants. Simulated and measured artifact sizes in relation to the field strength resulted in a calculation guideline to determine and predict the artifact size at one field strength (e.g., 3T or 7T) based on a measurement that was obtained at another field strength only (e.g. 1.5T).!##!Conclusion!#!This work presents a novel tool to improve the MR image artifact testing procedure of passive medical implants. With the help of this tool detailed artifact investigations can be performed, which would otherwise only be possible with substantial measurement effort on different MRI systems and field strengths

Carrier Protein-Free Chemo-Enzymatic Synthesis of Arylomycin A2 and Structural Characterization of the Cytochrome P450 AryC

The functional and structural evaluation of AryC, the cytochrome P450 performing biaryl coupling in biosynthetic arylomycin assembly, and its application in the chemo-enzymatic synthesis of arylomycin A2 is described. AryC efficiently converts free substrates without the requirement of any protein interaction partner, likely enabled by a strongly hydrophobic cavity at the surface of AryC pointing to the substrate tunnel. The resulting reactivity of AryC is unprecedented in cytochrome P450-mediated biaryl construction in non-ribosomal peptides, in which PCP-tethering so far was crucial both in vivo and in vitro. Our work thus provides a basis for the development of general biocatalytic platforms for the efficient biocatalytic synthesis of biaryl peptide antibiotics

Understanding sales enablement in complex B2B companies: Uncovering similarities and differences in a cross-functional and multi-level case study

As the sales function continuous to evolve, organizations are increasingly investing in sales enablement, which entails aligning resources across different organizational functions and hierarchical levels to support salespeople in their jobs. Extant literature on sales enablement has been either conceptual or based on general empirical assessments. For a more nuanced understanding, we examine how sales enablement is defined and deployed in a single firm. We report the findings from a single company case study that involved 25 in-depth interviews with cross-functional respondents from sales enablement, marketing, sales operations, sales professionals, and sales managers. Our study shows that the impact of sales enablement on the organization's success is perceived as crucial; however, all stakeholders have different understandings about sales enablement. Findings indicate that different organizational hierarchy levels and functions exhibit substantially different perspectives on and understandings of sales enablement. This ambiguity may have an impact on the effective deployment of sales enablement initiatives within a firm and could result in suboptimal outcomes. We conclude with ideas for future research and provide managerial implications

Understanding Sales Enablement in Complex B2B Companies - Uncovering Similarities and Differences in a Cross-Functional and Multi-Level Case Study

As the sales function continuous to evolve, organizations are increasingly investing in sales enablement, which entails aligning resources across different organizational functions and hierarchical levels to support salespeople in their jobs. Extant literature on sales enablement has been either conceptual or based on general empirical assessments. For a more nuanced understanding, we examine how sales enablement is defined and deployed in a single firm. We report the findings from a single company case study that involved 25 in-depth interviews with cross-functional respondents from sales enablement, marketing, sales operations, sales professionals, and sales managers. Our study shows that the impact of sales enablement on the organization's success is perceived as crucial; however, all stakeholders have different understandings about sales enablement. Findings indicate that different organizational hierarchy levels and functions exhibit substantially different perspectives on and understandings of sales enablement. This ambiguity may have an impact on the effective deployment of sales enablement initiatives within a firm and could result in suboptimal outcomes. We conclude with ideas for future research and provide managerial implications.As the sales function continuous to evolve, organizations are increasingly investing in sales enablement, which entails aligning resources across different organizational functions and hierarchical levels to support salespeople in their jobs. Extant literature on sales enablement has been either conceptual or based on general empirical assessments. For a more nuanced understanding, we examine how sales enablement is defined and deployed in a single firm. We report the findings from a single company case study that involved 25 in-depth interviews with cross-functional respondents from sales enablement, marketing, sales operations, sales professionals, and sales managers. Our study shows that the impact of sales enablement on the organization's success is perceived as crucial; however, all stakeholders have different understandings about sales enablement. Findings indicate that different organizational hierarchy levels and functions exhibit substantially different perspectives on and understandings of sales enablement. This ambiguity may have an impact on the effective deployment of sales enablement initiatives within a firm and could result in suboptimal outcomes. We conclude with ideas for future research and provide managerial implications.Administración y Dirección de Empresa