Hope for the best, prepare for the worst: barriers to service innovation

Purpose Despite the growing scholarly interest in service innovation and its associated benefits for organizations, research into the barriers to developing new services remains scant. In addition, most of these studies have been mainly conducted at the firm level, failing to incorporate macro forces in the industry. To fill this gap, this study aims to investigate major industry trends as well as organizational attributes that affect organizations’ capability in designing innovative services. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative approach was used. In all, 21 semi-structured interviews with senior executives in different banks were conducted to collect data. Data were analyzed through thematic analysis. Findings The results of this study suggest that privatization, technological shortcomings, legislative inefficiencies and deposit orientation instead of market orientation were major industry trends that affect service innovation. Furthermore, ambiguity in knowledge management regimes, silo mentality and the absence of a collaborative organizational culture, growing need to focus on human capital and risk aversion were the main organizational attributes that should be addressed for effective service innovation. Practical implications Service innovation is a strategic asset for organizations. To effectively leverage the benefits, managers should have an end-to-end approach toward the subject. The findings of this study would inform managers of different obstacles in the development of new services from an organizational and industry-wide perspective. Based on the outputs of the interviews and a thorough review of the literature, managerial implications are presented. Originality/value This study is one of the few studies that explores service innovation challenges at both macro and micro levels of analysis, providing a more holistic view of the phenomenon in the context of service organizations

Teething induced fever in a 9-month old child: a case report

The association between teething and fever has attracted considerable interest because studies have reported controversial results. These discordant results have posed a challenge in the management of fever occurring during teething.  The objective of this paper is to supplement previous studies which showed association between teeth eruption and fever and highlight mismanagement of teething induced fever. A 9-month old baby girl presented with fever during teeth eruption. Despite of no malaria parasites seen on blood slide and lack of features and laboratory investigations suggestive of urinary tract infection or bacteremia, the child was treated with antimalarial drugs and prescribed antibiotics. This case study demonstrates that unrecognized teething induced fever leads to unnecessary use of anti-malarial drugs and antibiotics.  We recommend paediatricians to consider teething as one of the causes of fever among children

Prevalent use of herbs for reduction of labour duration in Mwanza, Tanzania: are obstetricians aware?

Background: The use of herbs during pregnancy and labour is rapidly increasing because the herbs are considered to be natural and therefore free of risks.  Despite of this perception, a number of herbs have been reported to have negative effects to the new-borns and the mothers.  Therefore, this study aimed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with the use of herbs during labour among women in Mwanza, Tanzania.Methods: The study involved women who delivered at Bugando Medical Centre and Sekou Toure Hospital in Mwanza, north-western Tanzania. Data were collected using questionnaires.  Comparison of prevalence of herb use by various factors was done. Results: A total of 178 women were involved in the study. The mean age of participants was 26.6 ± 5.4 years. The prevalence of herb use was found to be 23.0%. The use of herbs was significantly associated with marital status (p = 0.011) and the use during previous deliveries (p = 0.000).Conclusion: The study findings signify that, about a quarter of women in Mwanza use herbs during childbirth and the use encourages recurrent use of these herbs in subsequent pregnancies. A large scale survey is recommended to determine the extent of use of traditional herbs during pregnancy and childbirth countrywide. Studies to determine the toxic profile of the herbs which are used are also needed so as to address the matter to the community.

Multi–criteria evaluation and simulated annealing for delimiting high priority habitats of Alectoris chukar and Phasianus colchicus in Iran

Evaluación de múltiples criterios y recocido simulado para delimitar los hábitats de alta prioridad de Alectoris chukar y Phasianus colchicus en Irán La degradación del hábitat y la caza son algunas de las causas más importantes del descenso demográfico de Alectoris chukar y Phasianus colchicus, que son dos de las especies cinegéticas más amenazadas de la provincia de Golestán del Irán. La escasez de datos relativos a la distribución y localización de hábitats de alta calidad para las dos especies dificulta las iniciativas de conservación en la provincia. Utilizamos la evaluación de múltiples criterios para hacer una primera selección de las zonas de distribución general y elaborar mapas de idoneidad de los hábitats para las especies. A continuación, utilizamos estos mapas en forma de algoritmo heurístico en el recocido simulado por medio del programa informático Marxan, a fin de establecer un orden de prioridad entre las zonas para la conservación de ambas especies. Para hallar la solución óptima, probamos varios valores del modificador de longitud de frontera en el proceso de recocido simulado. Nuestros resultados pusieron de manifiesto que la evaluación de múltiples criterios resultó útil para refinar los mapas de hábitat general. La evaluación de las reservas seleccionadas confirmó la idoneidad de las zonas seleccionadas (que principalmente son contiguas a las reservas actuales) lo que facilita su gestión y la hace más viable. La superficie total de las reservas seleccionadas fue de unos 476 km2. Como las reservas actuales de la provincia de Golestán solo representan el 23 % de la superficie óptima, deberá estudiarse la posibilidad de añadir otras áreas protegidas a efectos de conservar de forma eficiente estas dos especies.Habitat degradation and hunting are among the most important causes of population decline for Alectoris chukar and Phasianus colchicus, two of the most threatened game species in the Golestan Province of Iran. Limited data on distribution and location of high–quality habitats for the two species make conservation efforts more difficult in the province. We used multi–criteria evaluation (MCE) as a coarse–filter approach to refine the general distribution areas into habitat suitability maps for the species. We then used these maps as input to simulated annealing as a heuristic algorithm through Marxan in order to prioritize areas for conservation of the two species. To find the optimal solution, we tested various boundary length modifier (BLM) values in the simulated annealing process. Our results showed that the MCE approach was useful to refine general habitat maps. Assessment of the selected reserves confirmed the suitability of the selected areas (mainly neighboring the current reserves) making their management easier and more feasible. The total area of the selected reserves was about 476 km2. As current reserves of the Golestan Province represent only 23 % of the optimal area, further protected areas should be considered to efficiently conserve these two species.Evaluación de múltiples criterios y recocido simulado para delimitar los hábitats de alta prioridad de Alectoris chukar y Phasianus colchicus en Irán La degradación del hábitat y la caza son algunas de las causas más importantes del descenso demográfico de Alectoris chukar y Phasianus colchicus, que son dos de las especies cinegéticas más amenazadas de la provincia de Golestán del Irán. La escasez de datos relativos a la distribución y localización de hábitats de alta calidad para las dos especies dificulta las iniciativas de conservación en la provincia. Utilizamos la evaluación de múltiples criterios para hacer una primera selección de las zonas de distribución general y elaborar mapas de idoneidad de los hábitats para las especies. A continuación, utilizamos estos mapas en forma de algoritmo heurístico en el recocido simulado por medio del programa informático Marxan, a fin de establecer un orden de prioridad entre las zonas para la conservación de ambas especies. Para hallar la solución óptima, probamos varios valores del modificador de longitud de frontera en el proceso de recocido simulado. Nuestros resultados pusieron de manifiesto que la evaluación de múltiples criterios resultó útil para refinar los mapas de hábitat general. La evaluación de las reservas seleccionadas confirmó la idoneidad de las zonas seleccionadas (que principalmente son contiguas a las reservas actuales) lo que facilita su gestión y la hace más viable. La superficie total de las reservas seleccionadas fue de unos 476 km2. Como las reservas actuales de la provincia de Golestán solo representan el 23 % de la superficie óptima, deberá estudiarse la posibilidad de añadir otras áreas protegidas a efectos de conservar de forma eficiente estas dos especies

Association of variable number of tandem repeats in endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene with coronary artery disease

Endo-derived nitric oxide (NO) is synthesized from L-arginine by endothelium nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). Since reduced NO synthesis has been implicated in the development of coronary atherosclerosis; we hypothesized that polymorphisms of NOS gene might be associated with increased susceptibility to this disorder and coronary artery disease (CAD). We studied the 27 base pair tandem repeat polymorphism in intron4 of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene in 141 unrelated CAD patients with positive coronary angiograms in Shahid Rajaee Heart Hospital and 159 age matched control subjects without a history of symptomatic CAD. The study protocol was approved by the Iran University of Medical Sciences Ethics Committee. The eNOS gene intron4a/b VNTR polymorphism was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction. The plasma lipids levels and other risk factors were also determined. The genotype frequencies for eNOS4b/b, eNOS4a/b and eNOS4a/a were 68.8, 29.1 and 2.1 in CAD subjects, and 81, 18.4 and 0.6 in control subjects, respectively. The genotype frequencies differed significantly between the two groups (�2= 6.38 P= 0.041). The frequency of the allele was 16.7 in CAD subjects and 9.8 in control subjects and was significantly higher in the patients (�2= 6.18 P= 0.013, odds ratio=1.84). Plasma lipids, except HDL-C were also remarkablely increased in CAD group

Africa RISING science, innovations and technologies with scaling potential from postharvest management perspective

United States Agency for International Developmen

Investigation of multi-phase tubular permanent magnet linear generator for wave energy converters

In this article, an investigation into different magnetization topologies for a long stator tubular permanent magnet linear generator is performed through a comparison based on the cogging force disturbance, the power output, and the cost of the raw materials of the machines. The results obtained from finite element analysis simulation are compared with an existing linear generator described in [1]. To ensure accurate results, the generator developed in [1] is built with 3D CAD and simulated using the finite-element method, and the obtained results are verified with the source.The PRIMaRE project

Observation of fractional quantum Hall effect at even-denominator 1/2 and 1/4 fillings in asymmetric wide quantum wells

We report the observation of developing fractional quantum Hall states at Landau level filling factors $\nu = 1/2$ and 1/4 in electron systems confined to wide GaAs quantum wells with significantly $asymmetric$ charge distributions. The very large electric subband separation and the highly asymmetric charge distribution at which we observe these quantum Hall states, together with the fact that they disappear when the charge distribution is made symmetric, suggest that these are one-component states, possibly described by the Moore-Read Pfaffian wavefunction.Comment: submitted for publicatio

Endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene intron4 VNTR polymorphism in patients with coronary artery disease in Iran

Background & objectives: Endo-derived nitric oxide (NO) is synthesized from L-arginine by endothelium nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) encoded by the NOS3 gene on chromosome7. Since reduced No synthesis has been implicated in the development of coronary atherosclerosis; polymorphisms of NOS gene might be associated with increased susceptibility to this disorder and coronary artery disease (CAD). We therefore undertook this study to determine the association between the occurrence of CAD and eNOS4 b/a polymorphism in Iranian patients. Methods: We studied the 27 base pair tandem repeat polymorphism in intron4 of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene in 141 unrelated CAD patients with positive coronary angiograms and 159 age matched control subjects without a history of symptomatic CAD. The eNOS gene intron4a/b VNTR polymorphism was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction. The plasma lipids levels and other risk factors were also determined. Results: The genotype frequencies for eNOS4b/b, eNOS4a/b and eNOS4a/a were 68.8, 29.1 and 2.1 per cent in CAD subjects, and 81, 18.4 and 0.6 per cent in control subjects, respectively. The genotype frequencies differed significantly (P<0.05) between the two groups. The frequency of the a allele was 16.7 per cent in CAD subjects and 9.8 per cent in control subjects and was significantly higher in the patients (P<0.05, Odds ratio=1.84). Plasma lipids, except HDL-C were also significantly increased in CAD group. Interpretation & conclusion: Though the genotype frequencies for eNOS4b/ b, eNOS4a/b and eNOS4a/a, also 'a' allele frequency differed significantly between the CAD patients and controls, this polymorphism was not an independent risk factor for the development of CAD in Iranian patients. Further studies with larger samples need to be done to confirm these findings

AR-NAFAKA Project Post-harvest Component: 2016-2017 Progress

United States Agency for International Developmen