Competition and technology position: the case of China\u27s industrial robotics industry

Firms need to choose a competitive technology position relative to the choices of their competitors. Therefore, firms change their technological similarity with their competitors through differentiation and learning. Although many studies on similarity have been accumulated, most focus on knowledge spillover among similar industries or firms. Therefore, we propose a method for decomposing the direction of technology accumulation into differentiation and learning using the case of fast-growing Chinese robotics firms. We also show that as these firms have closed the gap with a Japanese first-mover firm’s technology position, they also have begun to accumulate their own technologies. In other words, the accumulation of basic technologies for a business can be a precondition for the accumulation of proprietary technologies. A firm’s technology position as its technology structure can show how new industries emerge and industrial structure changes at the firm level

Non-strange dibaryons studied in coherent double neutral-meson photoproduction on the deuteron

The B = 2 bound/resonance state (dibaryon) is an interesting object, which can be a molecule consisting of two baryons or a spatially compact hexaquark hadron object. The yd ^ n°n°d reaction has been experimentally investigated at incident energies ranging from 0.58 to 1.15 GeV to study non-strange dibaryons. The angular distributions of deuteron emission in the yd center-of-mass energy cannot be reproduced by quasi-free production of two neutral pions followed by deuteron coalescence. Additionally a 2.14-GeV peak is observed in the n°d invariant mass distribution. These suggest a sequential process such as yd ^ RIS ^ n°RIV ^ n°n°d with an isoscalar dibaryon RIS and an isovector dibaryon RIV. Since the mass of the observed isoscalar dibaryons are close to the sum of the nucleon (N) and nucleon resonance (N*) masses, an S-wave NN* molecule may play a role as a doorway to a dibaryon

Non-strange dibaryons studied in coherent double neutral-meson photoproduction on the deuteron

The B = 2 bound/resonance state (dibaryon) is an interesting object, which can be a molecule consisting of two baryons or a spatially compact hexaquark hadron object. The yd ^ n°n°d reaction has been experimentally investigated at incident energies ranging from 0.58 to 1.15 GeV to study non-strange dibaryons. The angular distributions of deuteron emission in the yd center-of-mass energy cannot be reproduced by quasi-free production of two neutral pions followed by deuteron coalescence. Additionally a 2.14-GeV peak is observed in the n°d invariant mass distribution. These suggest a sequential process such as yd ^ RIS ^ n°RIV ^ n°n°d with an isoscalar dibaryon RIS and an isovector dibaryon RIV. Since the mass of the observed isoscalar dibaryons are close to the sum of the nucleon (N) and nucleon resonance (N*) masses, an S-wave NN* molecule may play a role as a doorway to a dibaryon

Tumor Necrosis Factor-α Regulates Transforming Growth Factor-β-dependent Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition by Promoting Hyaluronan-CD44-Moesin Interaction*

Aberrant epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is involved in development of fibrotic disorders and cancer invasion. Alterations of cell-extracellular matrix interaction also contribute to those pathological conditions. However, the functional interplay between EMT and cell-extracellular matrix interactions remains poorly understood. We now show that the inflammatory mediator tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) induces the formation of fibrotic foci by cultured retinal pigment epithelial cells through activation of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling in a manner dependent on hyaluronan-CD44-moesin interaction. TNF-α promoted CD44 expression and moesin phosphorylation by protein kinase C, leading to the pericellular interaction of hyaluronan and CD44. Formation of the hyaluronan-CD44-moesin complex resulted in both cell-cell dissociation and increased cellular motility through actin remodeling. Furthermore, this complex was found to be associated with TGF-β receptor II and clathrin at actin microdomains, leading to activation of TGF-β signaling. We established an in vivo model of TNF-α-induced fibrosis in the mouse eye, and such ocular fibrosis was attenuated in CD44-null mice. The production of hyaluronan and its interaction with CD44, thus, play an essential role in TNF-α-induced EMT and are potential therapeutic targets in fibrotic disorders