Corporate Firm-Level Knowledge Accumulation and Engineering Manpower Outsourcing

Firm-level knowledge is a key resource providing a competitive advantage in innovation for enterprises. Outsourcing strategies reveal trends in strategic business administration. However, internal knowledge accumulation (KA) and engineering manpower outsourcing (EMO) produce opposing effects on firm-level knowledge. This study analyzes the relationship between KA and EMO among enterprises in Taiwan by means of expert interviews, an analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and a fuzzy logic inference system (FLIS). The results show that, compared to EMO, firm-level KA affords a greater degree of influence on the effectiveness of firm-level knowledge. Based on the literature and expert interviews, the three sub-variables of knowledge integration ability (KIA), knowledge absorption ability (KAA), and knowledge sharing ability (KSA) are extracted from the KA variable, and the three sub-variables of cost, resources, and strategy are extracted from the EMO variable

New Climate of Innovation System in China - From the Perspective of Regional Transition

China has been one of the most favorite markets in the world for the last decade. With the economic liberalization reforms starting in 1978, China¡¦s government provided for Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in a few of provinces on the coastal area (Yao et al, 1998). SEZs in China have been established and aiming to attract direct foreign investment (FDI) to encourage technology transfer and boost exports and employment. However, since the changes of policies, regional characteristics of manpower, and fruitful university spin-offs, the business opportunities in China are inclined to transit from the south to north and obviously result in a new climate of innovated competitiveness and regional cooperation in China. This study investigates the innovation tendency of regional transition from the south to north in China by examining the regional characteristics of manpower, revenue of university spin-offs, provincial R&D expenditures and FDI, and regional government policies in China.

AHP analysis of key success factors for enterprise transformation; From the viewpoint of project management process

Nowadays, project management, instead of operations, has become the main operation mode of an enterprise, while plenty discussions on using project management to help transformation of enterprises can be easily found in the existing literature. However, only a few stages of the project management process were applied in current frameworks, which could not provide an effective and comprehensive solution for an enterprise in crisis. In view of this, this study aimed to explore enterprise transformation from the perspective of project management process, proposing a whole transformation plan more coherent and complete. It would also suggest a fresh approach for exploring this research topic. The study found that the two phases of "planning" and "execution" are the most important ones for enterprise transformation. Therefore, it should be bold but cautious when formulating a transformation plan, and the plan should be precisely executed when being implemented. More importantly, this study connected the project management process with the enterprise transformation planning process, so that the enterprise transformation can be carried out more smoothly and have better probability of success.Keywords. Enterprise transformation; Project management process; Analytical hierarchy process (AHP).JEL. C52; L25; M14

AHP analysis of classifying and positioning the crucial influential factors of brand establishment in the semiconductor industry

Abstract. This study categorizes the crucial influencing factors and positions them according to their importance in achieving the impact of semiconductor brand establishment on improving corporate performance and meeting customer needs. This study conducted an in-depth literature review that recognizes the crucial factors necessary for implementing influence in establishing a semiconductor brand. This study identifies five main variables and 17 subvariables, including “Customer value”, “Brand equity”, “Brand loyalty”, “Brand orientation” and “Brand performance”, and provides experts’ suggestions. The positioning of 17 subvariables and 5 main variables representing crucial influential factors was performed using an analytical hierarchy process (AHP) technique per their relevance in crucial influential factor implementation. The results show that 5 main variables and 17 subvariables play a vital role in the successful implementationof the impact of establishing a semiconductor brand, and  “Customer value” has gained more weight compared to the other main variables. ‘Addressing problem’, ‘Superior value’ and ‘New product development’ are more important than are other subvariables. The limitation of this study is that, first, although this study consults experts from the semiconductor industry and academia of various countries, their opinions are only relevant to their regions. Second, the development of this model only applies to the semiconductor industry. Third, only expert opinion variables were used for pairwise comparisons. This study compensates for the lack of key factors in establishing a semiconductor brand, using the literature and expert questionnaires to obtain the weight of each factor through the AHP method and ranking them in order of importance. It examines the overall situation of the practice of building brand comprehension, missing no factor, understanding where the key points areand using them effectively. This research advances the implementation focus of the key factors that affect the establishment of semiconductor brands. According to the results of the literature review, this study is the first on implementing key factors affecting the establishment of a semiconductor brand. This study attempts to fill this gap.Keywords. Crucial influential factors, Establishing semiconductor brand, AHP.JEL. C44, M21, M31, D81, L29

Analyzing the influential factors of industry 4.0 in precision machinery industry

Abstract. Nowadays the science and technology progresses not only create the change to have a big impact on various industries, but also stimulate Industry 4.0 being applied in the manufacturing industry to achieve manufacturing efficiency and to reduce its cost to increase additional values. This study uses the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) evaluation method, which considers four criteria layers: Internet of things factors, Automationfactors, Intelligent factors, Big data factors, and twelve influence factors in sub-layer are: perceived layer, network layer, application layer, field layer, management layer, control layer, process control visualization, system supervisory and control omni bearing, green energy manufacturing production, variety, volume, and velocity. Then, the relative risk indicator (RRI) is obtained by the Analytical Hierarchical Process method, and the overall risk indicator (ORI) can be obtained after introducing the evaluation value of each impact factor through the case. The research results confirm that the risk assessment values obtained the hierarchical analysis method are consistent. This research through the Analytic Hierarchy Process, then discusses Industry 4.0 pair of Taiwan's precision machinery industry management pattern institute emphatically face with target, expected will provide the existing machine manufacture industry as well as the future wants to invest the precision machine industry the management policy-maker reference value, also might take the government policy consideration factors and the machine manufacture industry scholars study the academic for reference.Keywords. Industry 4.0, Precision machine industry, Analytic Hierarchy Process.JEL. L22, M11, O14

Online Promotion and Its Influence on Destination Awareness and Loyalty in the Tourism Industry

Abstract Internet is commonly accepted as an important aspect in successful tourism promotion as well as destination marketing in this era. The main aim of this study is to explore how online promotion and its influence on destination awareness and loyalty in the tourism industry. This study proposes a structural model of the relationships among online promotion (OP), destination awareness (DA), tourist satisfaction (TS) and destination loyalty (DL). Randomly-selected respondents from the population of international tourists departing from Vietnamese international airports were selected as the questionnaire samples in the study. Initially, the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to test the validity of constructs, and the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), using AMOS, was used to test the significance of the proposed hypothesizes model. The results show that the relationships among OP, DA, TS and DL appear significant in this study. The result also indicates that online promotion could improve the destination loyalty. Finally, the academic contribution, implications of the findings for tourism marketers and limitation are also discussed in this study. JEL classification numbers: L1

Peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the ovary with torsion

AbstractPeripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumors (pPNETs) of the ovary are rare monophasic teratomas, and fewer than 100 cases have been reported in the literature. pPNETs mainly involve young women during their reproductive age, therefore, accurate diagnosis followed by multimodal treatment should be taken into consideration for fertility preservation. We report a patient with stage IA pPNET of the ovary presenting with acute abdominal pain secondary to torsion that was successfully managed by fertility-sparing surgery and six courses of combination chemotherapy with vincristine, Adriamycin, and cyclophosphamide. She has had a disease-free survival of >3 years. This brief review demonstrates the clinical course of pPNET and summarizes the literature to show that clinical stage at the time of diagnosis is the most important prognostic factor and that the vast majority of recurrences are observed within 10 years

Trypsin-induced proteome alteration during cell subculture in mammalian cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It is essential to subculture the cells once cultured cells reach confluence. For this, trypsin is frequently applied to dissociate adhesive cells from the substratum. However, due to the proteolytic activity of trypsin, cell surface proteins are often cleaved, which leads to dysregulation of the cell functions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, a triplicate 2D-DIGE strategy has been performed to monitor trypsin-induced proteome alterations. The differentially expressed spots were identified by MALDI-TOF MS and validated by immunoblotting.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>36 proteins are found to be differentially expressed in cells treated with trypsin, and proteins that are known to regulate cell metabolism, growth regulation, mitochondrial electron transportation and cell adhesion are down-regulated and proteins that regulate cell apoptosis are up-regulated after trypsin treatment. Further study shows that bcl-2 is down-regulated, p53 and p21 are both up-regulated after trypsinization.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In summary, this is the first report that uses the proteomic approach to thoroughly study trypsin-induced cell physiological changes and provides researchers in carrying out their experimental design.</p

Effect of diabetes on mortality and length of hospital stay in patients with renal or perinephric abscess

OBJECTIVES: We compared the risk of in-hospital mortality and the length of hospital stay between diabetic and non-diabetic patients hospitalized for renal or perinephric abscess. METHOD: The data analyzed in this study were retrieved from Taiwan's National Health Insurance claims. The risk of in-hospital mortality and the length of hospital stay were compared between 1,715 diabetic patients, hospitalized because of renal or perinephric abscess in Taiwan between 1997 and 2007, and a random sample of 477 non-diabetes patients with renal or perinephric abscess. RESULTS: The in-hospital mortality rates from renal or perinephric abscess for the diabetic patients and the non-diabetic patients were not different, at 2.3% and 3.4%, respectively. However, diabetes was significantly associated with a longer length of hospital stay among patients with renal abscess, by 3.38 days (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.59-5.17). CONCLUSIONS: Diabetes does not increase the risk of in-hospital mortality from renal or perinephric abscess. Nevertheless, appropriate management of patients with diabetes and concurrent renal or perinephric abscess is essential to reduce the length of hospital stay

Distinct functional defect of three novel Brugada syndrome related cardiac sodium channel mutations

The Brugada syndrome is characterized by ST segment elevation in the right precodial leads V1-V3 on surface ECG accompanied by episodes of ventricular fibrillation causing syncope or even sudden death. The molecular and cellular mechanisms that lead to Brugada syndrome are not yet completely understood. However, SCN5A is the most well known responsible gene that causes Brugada syndrome. Until now, more than a hundred mutations in SCN5A responsible for Brugada syndrome have been described. Functional studies of some of the mutations have been performed and show that a reduction of human cardiac sodium current accounts for the pathogenesis of Brugada syndrome. Here we reported three novel SCN5A mutations identified in patients with Brugada syndrome in Taiwan (p.I848fs, p.R965C, and p.1876insM). Their electrophysiological properties were altered by patch clamp analysis. The p.I848fs mutant generated no sodium current. The p.R965C and p.1876insM mutants produced channels with steady state inactivation shifted to a more negative potential (9.4 mV and 8.5 mV respectively), and slower recovery from inactivation. Besides, the steady state activation of p.1876insM was altered and was shifted to a more positive potential (7.69 mV). In conclusion, the SCN5A channel defect related to Brugada syndrome might be diverse but all resulted in a decrease of sodium current