λ-lemma for nonhyperbolic point in intersection

The well known λ-Lemma has been proved by J. Palis for a hyperbolic fixed point of a C 1 -diffeomorphism. In this paper we show that the result is true for some cases of nonhyperbolic point

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

How leadership affects organisational citizenship behaviour – a study of independent hotels

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that managers in independent hotels can influence to improve organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) by examining the relationship between leadership style and OCB through newly developed balanced organisational culture and trust variables. Unlike most studies, which have been on chain hotels, this study investigates these relationships in independent hotels in Iran. Additionally, organisational size was also included in the study. Design/methodology/approach: Using information from Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism 160 independent hotels were identified and approached. A survey was assembled using well-known instruments. 392 usable questionnaires, out of 1150 distributed, were collected from employees and analysed using SEM. Findings: Contrary to previous studies, we found that in this context neither transformational nor transactional leadership affects trust directly but only through balanced organisational culture and only transactional leadership had a direct relationship with OCB. Also, organisational size had a moderating effect on the relationship between trust and OCB. Originality/value: We add to the theoretical literature dealing with the different behaviour of constructs developed in a Western context in other contexts and suggests that hotel managers in a collectivist culture, like Iran, who want to build OCB can do so by creating organisational culture conditions (Balanced Organisational Culture) that foster trust between managers and their subordinate

How leadership affects organisational citizenship behaviour – a study of independent hotels

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that managers in independent hotels can influence to improve organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) by examining the relationship between leadership style and OCB through newly developed balanced organisational culture and trust variables. Unlike most studies, which have been on chain hotels, this study investigates these relationships in independent hotels in Iran. Additionally, organisational size was also included in the study. Design/methodology/approach: Using information from Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism 160 independent hotels were identified and approached. A survey was assembled using well-known instruments. 392 usable questionnaires, out of 1150 distributed, were collected from employees and analysed using SEM. Findings: Contrary to previous studies, we found that in this context neither transformational nor transactional leadership affects trust directly but only through balanced organisational culture and only transactional leadership had a direct relationship with OCB. Also, organisational size had a moderating effect on the relationship between trust and OCB. Originality/value: We add to the theoretical literature dealing with the different behaviour of constructs developed in a Western context in other contexts and suggests that hotel managers in a collectivist culture, like Iran, who want to build OCB can do so by creating organisational culture conditions (Balanced Organisational Culture) that foster trust between managers and their subordinates

Organizational justice in the hotel industry: revisiting GLOBE from a national culture perspective

Purpose - Despite its significance, national culture is often underrepresented in the hospitality industry. Implementing tools such as the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE), while valuable to a considerable extent, might induce false assumptions about of the universality of managerial practices for hotels through purposefully ignoring the in-group variations within each cultural cluster. Because employees’ perceptions are deeply rooted in context-specific value systems, this study challenges the tendency to adopt a globalized approach to leadership and management through investigating potential variations in employees’ perceptions in two countries in the south Asian cluster of the GLOBE. Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected by using hard-copy and online by convenience-sampling technique from a sample of hotel employees and managers in Iran (392) and India (421). Structural equation modeling using AMOS 22 was adopted to test the hypotheses. Findings - Both similarities and differences were observed between the Iranian and Indian contexts. The similarities confirm that GLOBE is correct to place them in the same regional cluster but the differences which relate to perceptions of organizational justice are also revealing. While Procedural Justice affects organizational factors that influence employee motivation with the Iranian sample, Distributive Justice has no effect, whereas with the Indian sample these results were the other way around. Implications – For scholars and practitioners we show that organizational theories and concepts cannot necessarily be transferred from a Western context to other parts of the world without making adjustments for national culture and generalizations cannot even be made within regions of similar culture. For example, this study shows that in Iran organizational justice is perceived differently from how it is perceived in India. Originality - This study extends the literature about the effect of national culture on the hotel employees’ cognitions and behaviours through shedding light on the divergence between countries within the same regional cluster in the GLOBE classification

Comparison of the effectiveness and safety of formoterol versus salmeterol in the treatment of patients with asthma: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Formoterol and salmeterol are two long-acting β2-agonists given by inhalation, with bronchodilating eff ects lasting for at least 12 h after a single administration. Formoterol has a faster onset of action compared with salmeterol. Th e aim of this study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis on the data published from previous review in order to calculate pooled estimates of eff ectiveness and safety assessment of formoterol and salmeterol in treatment of patients with asthma. Materials and Methods: In this study, we conducted an electronic search for medical citation databases including Cochrane, PubMed, Scopus, PsycInfo, and IranMedex. Besides manual search of the databases that record randomized clinical trials, conference proceedings, and journals related to asthma were included. Studies were evaluated by two independent people based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, and the common outcomes of studies were entered into the RevMan 5.0.1 software, after evaluation of studies and extraction of data from them; and in cases where there were homogeneous studies, meta-analysis was performed, and for heterogeneous studies, the results were reported qualitatively. Results: Of the 1539 studies initially found, 13 were included in the study. According to the meta-analysis conducted, no signifi cant diff erence was found between the inhalation of formoterol 12 μg and salmeterol 50 μg in the two outcomes of mean forced expiratory volume 1 s (FEV1), 12 h after inhalation of medication and Borg score (A frequently used scale for quantifying breathlessness) after inhalation of medication. In addition, salmeterol was more eff ective than formoterol in the two outcomes of percent decrease in FEV1 after inhalation of methacholine and the number of days without an attack. Since the two outcomes of FEV1 30-60 min after inhalation of medication and morning peak expiratory fl ow after inhalation of medication were heterogeneous, they had no meta-analysis capabilities, and its results were reported qualitatively. Conclusion: Th e data from included studies shows that, more effi cacy has been achieved with Salmeterol, especially in some outcomes such as the percent decrease in FEV1 after inhalation of Methacholine, and the number of days without an attack; and therefore, the administration of Salmeterol seems to be benefi cial for patients, compared with Formoterol. © 2015 Journal of Research in Medical Sciences

Can Discord Domain-Containing Receptor 2 Mutation Act as a Disease Modifier for PRKAR1A Associated Melanotic Schwannoma?

Melanotic Schwannomas are rare neural sheath tumors with distinctive findings of both Schwann cells and melanocytic cells. Recognition of this entity has prompted the importance of distinction from similar tumor types such as melanomas. Early diagnosis facilitates removal of the mass with less risk of local invasion and metastasis. Although previously known as mostly benign lesions, malignant conversion and recurrence are recognized. This paper presents a patient with melanotic schwannoma, describes the distinctive features that will separate it from melanoma, and addresses the possibility of further guided therapy through next-generation sequencing

The Recent-Transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Strains among Iranian and Afghan Relapse Cases: a DNA-fingerprinting using RFLP and spoligotyping

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Relapse of tuberculosis (TB) may develop as the result of reactivation of the endogenous primary infection, or as a result of a exogenous reinfection. This survey evaluated the rate of reactivation versus recent transmission among Iranian and Afghan relapse cases.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The sputum specimens were digested, examined microscopically for acid-fast bacilli, and inoculated into Löwenstein-Jensen slants by standard procedures. Thereafter, the susceptibility and identification tests were performed on culture positive specimens. Subsequently, the strains that were identified as <it>Mycobacterium tuberculosis </it>(258 isolates) were subjected to IS6110 restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and spoligotyping. Additional patient's information was collected for further epidemiological analysis. Patients whose isolates had identical genotyping patterns were considered a cluster with recent transmission episode.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Out of 258 available isolates, 72(28%) had multi-drug resistant (MDR-TB) in ratio and 42 (16.2%) had other resistant. Notably, 38 of MDR-TB cases (52%) were isolated from Afghan patients. By IS6110-RFLP typing method, 65 patients (25%) were clustered in 29 clusters. In cluster cases, the intra-community transmissions between Iranian and Afghan patients were 41%. All MDR-TB patients in clusters had either Haarlem I or Beijing characteristic. The risk factors like sex, family history, close contact, living condition, PPD test result and site of TB infection were not associated with clustering. Although, the MDR-TB strains were more frequent in non-cluster cases (31%) than cluster one(18%) (P < 0.05). Majority of <it>M. tuberculosis </it>strains isolated from non-cluster cases were belong to EAI3 (51; 30%) and CASI(32;18.6%) superfamilies.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>During the studied period, reactivation of a previous infection remain the more probable cause of recurrence. Although, the evidence of intra- community transmission between Iranian and Afghan TB cases, highlighted the impact of afghan immigrants in national tuberculosis control program (NTP) of Iran.</p