The impact of non-technological innovation on technical innovation: do services differ from manufacturing? An empirical analysis of Luxembourg firms

Generally speaking, the support of technological innovation has been viewed in terms of input such as R&D and instruments such as legal protection. The literature on innovation highlights the interactive nature of the innovation process in which non-technological activities are essential. However, few works have taken into account the role of other innovative strategies such as marketing and organisational innovation, a role which may differ according to whether the firm is involved in manufacturing or in services. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to fill this gap by highlighting the effects of non-technological innovation strategies on technological innovation. For the empirical work, we used firm-level data drawn from the Community Innovation Survey 2006 for Luxembourg. Our results show that the effects of non-technological innovations differ depending on the phase of the innovation process. Marketing and organisational innovations significantly increase the likelihood of innovation, but not the commercial success of innovation. The study also shows the differentiated effects of the two types of non-technological innovation in manufacturing and service, and confirms the key role of organisational innovation for services.CIS; Innovation; Marketing; Organisation; Technological Innovation

Do firms rely on sources of information for organizational innovation?

The growing literature on knowledge and information has focused on the impact of information sources on technological innovation. Our objective was to explore the use made by firms of internal and external (market, research and generally available) sources of information for their organizational innovation practices? implementation. Furthermore, we studies whether these sources may vary according to whether the firm operates in the manufacturing or service industry. Multivariate probit models? results on 2008 Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data show notable differences between services and manufacturing, for instance that employees? skill levels are more important for manufacturing than for services. Overall, this paper provides strong evidence of the heterogeneity in firms? sources of information to engage in organizational innovation. On one hand, differences appear in the sources of innovation used for the various types of organizational innovation, indicating the appropriateness to differentiate organizational innovation practices rather than using an aggregated measure of organizational innovation. On the other hand, the sources of information vary according to the type of industry, even though some similarities appear. Managerial and theoretical implications for organizational innovation are provided.CIS; manufacturing/services; organizational innovation; sources of information

LCS Master Console Event Message Reduction

System monitoring and control (SMC) message browsers receive so many messages daily that operators are unable to keep track all of them. Important messages are often mixed up among the less important ones. My job is to reduce the messages so that warning and emergency messages can be seen easily and therefore, responded promptly. There are multiple methods to achieve this. Firstly, messages that look the same should not appear many times in the message browser. Instead, the message should appear only once but with a number that counts the times that it appears. This method is called duplicate message suppression. Messages that display "normal" or "advisory" alarm level should be suppressed. Secondly, messages that update the most recent status of a system should replace the old-status messages. This method is called state based message correlation. Thirdly, some unnecessary messages should be sent straight to history after being displayed or not displayed at all. For an example, normal messages that are not a response to an operator's action should not be displayed. I also work on fixing messages that are not color-coded and formatted properly

Synergistic effects of organizational innovation practices and firm performance

Organizational innovation has been shown to be favourable for technological innovation. However, the question of which organizational practices should be combined ? and thus of their compatibility ? remains unanswered. We here empirically investigate the complementarities between different organizational practices (business practices, knowledge management, workplace organization and external relations). Firm-level data were drawn from the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) carried out in 2008 in Luxembourg. Supermodularity tests provide evidence of the impact of complementary asset management to raise firms? innovative performance. The organizational practices? combinations differ according to whether the firm is in the first step of the innovation process (i.e. being innovative) or in a later step (i.e. performing as far as innovation is concerned). When adopting organizational practices, managers should therefore be aware of their effects on technological innovation. These results also have implications for public policies in terms of innovation support.Complementarities; Organizational innovation; Technological innovations; Supermodularity; Innovative performance

Why do Academic Scientists Engage in Interdisciplinary Research ?

This article provides a first empirical study of the determinants of the propensity to which academic scholars tend to perform interdisciplinarity research. For that purpose we introduce a measure of interdisciplinarity as the diversity of their research production across scientific domains. Our dataset concerns more than nine hundred permanent researchers employed by a large French university which is ranked first among French universities in terms of Impact. As expected we find that the traditional academic career incentives do not stimulate interdisciplinary research while having connections with industry does. The context of work in the laboratory (size, colleagues’ status, age and affiliations) strongly affects the propensity to undertake interdisciplinary research.Economics of science, Academic incentives, Interdisciplinary research, Laboratory, University.

VIRTUAL TEAMS IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Abstract: The world, nowadays, is closer and closer thanks to information communication technology (ICT). Actually, virtual teams are considered as a great way to connect people and bring advantages to organizations. From the existing literature, it is expected to extend knowledge about two big issues: the global virtual teams and ICT, as well as their benefits and drawbacks. For doing so, many academic and scientific journals are used for the purposes of summarizing and synthesizing. This study is secondary research combining some practices to explore the issue. On the one hand, virtual teams enable to cooperate with members from different geography and time zones. On the other hand, organizations have to deal with many challenges when applying them. Two typical examples of a reputable global brand and the success of a national company are presented to explain this issue, including IBM Company in the USA and FPT Group in Vietnam. By identifying the pros and cons, organizations can suggest suitable solutions to manage and establish their teams in a better way.Keywords: information communication technology, virtual teams, virtual working, team management, multinational team

A Community-Based Education on Cardiovascular Diseases among Vietnamese Buddhist Nuns

Abstract Background: According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death (31%) worldwide. Out of those cases, 85% are due to heart attack and stroke. Hypertension is among the most modifiable risk factors for the development of cardiovascular diseases. Since Vietnamese Buddhist nuns have diets high in salt, this makes them at higher risk for hypertension and CVDs. Purpose: This educational project aims to improve cardiovascular health knowledge among Vietnamese Buddhist nuns in the greater Seattle area by implementing culturally tailored community-based health education programs virtually via phone. Methods: A community-based educational program on CVDs for Vietnamese Buddhist nuns was presented virtually via phone by the DNP student in individual sessions. This session included pre-and post-educational tests to assess CVD knowledge and its prevention among Buddhist nuns. This project used evidence-based knowledge to provide culturally-tailored information on CVD for the Vietnamese Buddhist nuns, who are an under-served population in the Seattle area. The assessment of knowledge was done before and after intervention using a survey questionnaire. Results: Five Buddhist nun participants showed an overall improvement of CVDs knowledge after the post-intervention section. The percentage of correct responses to general knowledge about CVDs improved 28% from 64% (pre-intervention) to 92% (post-intervention). The percentage of participants that reported right answers about CVDs signs / symptoms was increased by 40%, and high salt intake, stress level and family history of CVDs were all increased by 20% respectively. Therefore, the desired project goal was achieved. Conclusion: All the nun participants\u27 CVDs knowledge was improved after the education session. This community-based educational program empowers nuns to seek early care for their health, reduces the fear of stigma about health and religious practices, and increases their common knowledge about CVDs

Retrospective Evaluation of Skeletal, Dentoalveolar, and Periodontal Changes of Microimplant Assisted Rapid Palatal Expansion (MARPE) In Skeletally Matured Patients

Introduction: Microimplant-assisted rapid palatal expansion (MARPE) has recently been offered to adult patients as a treatment option for correcting maxillary transverse deficiency. However, there is a lack of information in the literature on the effects of this newer expansion technique specifically related to skeletal maturity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the immediate skeletal, dentoalveolar, and periodontal response to MARPE in skeletally matured patients, as assessed by the cervical vertebral maturation (CVM) method, using cone-beam computed tomography.;Experimental Design and Methods: Eight patients (2 females, 6 males; mean age of 21.9 +/- 1.5 years) treated with the maxillary skeletal expander (MSE), a particular type of MARPE appliance, were included in the study. Measurements before and after MARPE of midpalatal suture opening, upper facial bony expansion, aveolar bone bending, dental tipping, and buccal bone thickness were compared using one-way ANOVA or matched-pair t-test (alpha = 0.05).;Results: Midpalatal suture separated in 100% of subjects with no dislodged microimplants. Contribution to total expansion include 41% skeletal, 12% alveolar bone bending, and 48% dental tipping. Pattern of midpalatal suture opening was parallel in both coronal and axial view. On average, absolute dental tipping ranged from 4.17° to 4.96o and buccal bone thickness reduced by 0.27 mm to 0.68 mm, which may be improved overtime with orthodontic uprighting.;Conclusion: MARPE can be a clinically acceptable, nonsurgical treatment option for correcting mild to moderate maxillary transverse discrepancies, less than 7 mm, in skeletally matured adult patients with a healthy periodontium