Idea Competitions under scrutiny: Acquisition, intelligence or public relations mechanism?

Idea Competitions (ICs) are becoming a popular mechanism chosen by firms to perform Open Innovation. They are a way to engage with external sources of knowledge such as individual entrepreneurs and small firms who are asked to submit ideas and compete for a prize. However, little is known about the success of ICs as acquisition mechanisms. The researchers conducted interviews in five multinational companies to evaluate the effects of using ICs as an acquisition mechanism. Although still preliminary, the results of this study show that the success of ICs as an acquisition mechanism remains uncertain because their output (i.e. the number of ideas acquired) is often low compared to the input (i.e. the number of ideas submitted) and effort required to run them (e.g. to vet ideas). Across the cases observed, ICs appear to be more successful at identifying and acquiring early-stage ideas, particularly those outside the current business focus. The study shows that ICs deliver other functional benefits such as improved intelligence and public relations and that these need to be considered as part of the evaluation of the IC's success. The paper concludes by discussing the conditions in which ICs are implemented and the implications for Open Innovation theory. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.

Understanding and navigating industrial emergence

Industrial emergence is a broad and complex domain, with relevant perspectives ranging in scale from the individual entrepreneur and firm with the business decisions and actions they make to the policies of nations and global patterns of industrialisation. The research described in this article has adopted a holistic approach, based on structured mapping methods, in an attempt to depict and understand the dynamics and patterns of industrial emergence across a broad spectrum from early scientific discovery to large-scale industrialisation. The breadth of scope and application has enabled a framework and set of four tools to be developed that have wide applicability. The utility of the approaches has been demonstrated through case studies and trials in a diverse range of industrial contexts. The adoption of such a broad scope also presents substantial challenges and limitations, with these providing an opportunity for further research. © IMechE 2013.

The industrial emergence of commercial inkjet printing

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how supply and demand interact during industrial emergence. Design/methodology/approach: The paper builds on previous theorising about co-evolutionary dynamics, exploring the interaction between supply and demand in a study of the industrial emergence of the commercial inkjet cluster in Cambridge, UK. Data are collected through 13 interviews with professionals working in the industry. Findings: The paper shows that as new industries emerge, asynchronies between technology supply and market demand create opportunities for entrepreneurial activity. In attempting to match innovative technologies to particular applications, entrepreneurs adapt to the system conditions and shape the environment to their own advantage. Firms that successfully operate in emerging industries demonstrate the functionality of new technologies, reducing uncertainty and increasing customer receptiveness. Research limitations/implications: The research is geographically bounded to the Cambridge commercial inkjet cluster. Further studies could consider commercial inkjet from a global perspective or test the applicability of the findings in other industries. Practical implications: Technology-based firms are often innovating during periods of industrial emergence. The insights developed in this paper help such firms recognise the emerging context in which they operate and the challenges that need to overcome. Originality/value: As an in depth study of a single industry, this research responds to calls for studies into industrial emergence, providing insights into how supply and demand interact during this phase of the industry lifecycle. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Electro-mass multi odor sensor

For an olfactory sensor or electronic nose the task is not only to detect the object concentration, but also to recognize it. It is well known that all the elements can be identified by their charge to mass ratio e+/m. We tried to use this principle for molecular recognition. Two kinds of sensors are used simultaneously in testing. One is Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) for detecting the change in mass, the other is Interdigital Electrode (IE) for detecting the change in conduction. In this paper the principle and the feasibility of this method are reported. The preliminary results on the recognition of alcohols are presented. The multisensor can be used as an instrument for research on material properties and kinetic process as well.

Electro-mass olfactory multi-sensor (EMMS)

For an olfactory sensor or electronic nose, the task is not only to detect the object concentration, but also to recognize it. It is well known that all the elements can be identified by their charge to mass ratio e(+)/m. We tried to imitate this principle for molecular recognition. Two kinds of sensors are used simultaneously in testing. One is quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) for detecting the change in mass, the other is interdigital electrode (IE) for detecting the change in conduction, as an electro-mass multi-sensor (EMMS). in this paper, the principle and the feasibility of this method are discussed. The preliminary results on the recognition of alcohol by EMMS coated with lipids are presented. Meanwhile, the multi-sensor can also be used as an instrument for research on some physico-chemistry problems. The change in conduction of coated membrane caused by one absorbed molecule is reported. It is found that when a QCM is coated with membrane, it still obeys the relationship Delta F (frequency change of QCM) = K Delta m (mass change of absorbed substance) and the proportional coefficient, K, depends not only on quartz properties but also on membrane characteristics as well. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.

Studies on mass summer mortality of cultured zhikong scallops (Chlamys farreri Jones et Preston) in China

Mass mortalities of cultured zhikong scallops (Chlamys farreri) have occurred each summer in most culture areas of northern China since 1996. Among the hypothesized causes are high culture density, infectious disease and genetic inbreeding. To investigate these potential agents, C. farreri were deployed at three densities (low, medium and high) at three sites (Jiaonan, Penglai and Yantai) in the summer of 2000. Scallops were sampled for survival, growth and histopathology before, during and after a mortality episode. Most of the mortality occurred in July and August, during and toward the later part of the spawning season, when water temperature reached 23-26 degrees C. Final cumulative mortalities reached 85% to 90% at all three sites. Scallops in the medium and high densities had higher initial death rates than did those at the low density. High densities also inhibited growth. Ciliates from the genus Trichodina, larvae of various organisms and anomalous secretions were observed in sections of the gill cavity, with highest prevalence during and at the end of the mortality period. Prokaryotic inclusion bodies were found in the soft tissues, but their prevalence was low and apparently without correlation with mortalities. Genetic analysis with random amplified polymorphic DNA markers showed slightly lower heterozygosity in the cultured stocks (0.301) than in the wild stocks (0.331). It is possible that the mortalities are caused by a combination of several factors such as stress associated with reproduction, high temperature, overcrowding and poor circulation in the growout cages, opportunistic invaders or pathogens, and possibly inbreeding. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

环境变迁在中国文明形成中的作用

The formation of civilization, one of great marks in the history of human's society development, has been remained one of the hottest topics in the world. Many theories have been put ford to explain its causes and mechanisms. Although more attentions have been paid to its development, the role of environmental change should not be ignored. In this paper, the level of ancient farming productivity was analyzed, the mechanisms and the process of Chinese ancient civilization formation was explored, and some causes why Chinese ancient civilization shows many different features from other 5 ancient civilizations of the world was analyzed. The main results and conclusions are presented as followed. 1. Compared with the productivity level of other five ancient civilizations, the productivity of ancient China characterized by a feature of extensive not intensive cultivation was lower than that of other five ancient civilizations whose agriculture were based on irrigation. 2. The 5 5000 a B.P. cold event may have facilitated the formation of Egypt and Mesopotamian ancient civilizations and also have had an influence on the development of Neolithic culture in China. 3. The 4 000 a B.P. cold event, which may be the coldest period since the Younger Dryas cold event and signifies the changes from the early Holocene Climate Optimum to late Holocene in many regions of the world, resulted in the great migration of the Indo-European peoples from north Europe to other part of the World and the collapses of ancient civilizations in Egypt, Indus and the Mesopotamian and the collapse of five Neolithic cultures around central China. More important than that is the emergence of Chinese civilization during the same period. Many theories have been put ford to explain why it was in Zhongyuan area not other places whose Neolithic cultures seem more advanced that gave rise to civilization. For now no theory could explain it satisfiedly. Archaeological evidence clearly demonstrate that war was prevailed the whole China especially during the late Longshan culture period, so it seemed war has played a very important role in the emergence of China ancient civilization. Carneiro sees two conditions as essential to the formation of complex societies in concert with warfare, i.e. population growth and environmental circumscription. It was generally through that China couldn't evolved into the environmental circumscription and population pressure because China has extensive areas to live, but that depends on situations. The environmental circumscription area was formed due to the 4000a B.P. cold event and companied flooding disasters, while the population pressure is formed due to three factors; 1) population grow rapidly because of the suitable environment provided by the Holocene Optimum and thus laid its foundations for the ancient human population; 2) population pressure is also related to the primitive agricultural level characterized by extensive not intensive cultivation; 3) population pressure was mainly related to the great migrations of people to the same areas; 4) population pressure was also related to productivity decrease due to the 4 000a B.P. cold event. 4. When population pressure is formed, war is the most possible way to solve the intensions between population and the limited cultivated land and then resulted in the formation of civilization. In this way the climate change during the 4 000a B.P. cold event may have facilitated the emergence of Chinese ancient civilization. Their detailed relations could also be further understood in this way: The first birth places of China ancient civilization could be in Changjiang areas or (and) Daihai area, Shandong province rather than in central China and the emergence time of ancient civilization formed in central China should be delayed if the 4 000a B.P. cold event and companied flooding disasters didn't occurred.

中国企业员工组织承诺研究

The research objectives were to investigate the psychological structure of employees' organizational commitments(OCs), and its antecedents, and to examine the relative effects of employees' OCs to their performances. In order to deeply uncover the nature of OCs, some standard methods, such as in-depth interview, focus-group, semi-open questionnaire, standard questionnaire etc., were employed. In data analysis, not only some common statistical methods, such as multivariate analysis of variance, cross-table analysis, factor analysis, but also some forefront ones, such as confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis of SEM, were used. The paper covers six chapters: 1) In the first chapter, Firstly some previous empirical studies, which examined structures, antecedents, correlates, and/or consequences of organizational commitment in China and Western countries, were summarized. This summary covers most of the respectable researchers' works of this field, such as H.S.Becker, B.Buchanan, L.W.Porter, G. Ritzer, H.M.Trice, J.A.Alutto, L.G.Hrebiniak, R.T.Mowday, J.P.Meyer, N.J.Allen, G.W.McGee, R.C.Ford, R.Eisenberger, etc. Then three theoretical hypothesis were put forward as following: ① In China, OCs should be multidimensional psychological structures, which means there should exist more than one type of OCs; ② There should be some different antecedents to different OCs; ③ Employees with different types of OC should perform differently in their works. Finally the theoretical and practical significance were discussed. 2) In the second chapter, great efforts were made to investigate the OC types. Firstly, in-depth interview with managers and employees, semi-open questionnaire, and some other methods were used in the pilot research to gather much qualitative material. Then OC questionnaire was designed to get quantitative data in about 20 enterprises, including state-owned, collective-owned, wholly foreign-funded, and joint-ventures. During revising of this questionnaire, there were about 5000 samples surveyed. after factor analysis, the data shows that there should be 5 types of OCs in China, which were respectively named as Affective Commitment, Normative commitment, Ideal Commitment, Economic Commitment, Choice Commitment. Thirdly, confirmatory factor analysis method was used to successfully confirm this 5-factor model. Finally, Cronbach a and test-retest correlate indicate that this questionnaire is reliable. Since factor analysis result has show its construct validity, a simple criterion-related validity research was conducted. 3) In order to investigate the correlation between different OC and employee performance and different antecedents of OC, 5 other questionnaires, such as Employee Satisfaction Questionnaire, Perceived Organizational Support Questionnaire, Social Exchange Questionnaire, Altruism Scale, and Leader Confidence Scale were revised in the third chapter. 4)In the fourth chapter, a lot of correlates, cross-table analysis were conducted to show the correlation between different OCs and 10 performances, which indicate employees with different OCs will show different performance in 10 variables, such as altruism, etc. 5) In the fifth chapter, correlate analysis, multivariate of analysis, and path analysis of SEM were used to investigate the antecedents of OC. A satisfactory model showing the correlation between OC and their antecedents was confirmed. 6) In the last chapter, all researches about OC, and its limitations were summarized.

Fitness of hybrids between rapeseed (Brassica napus) and wild Brassica rapa in natural habitats

J. Allainguillaume, M. Alexander, J. M. Bullock, M. Saunders, C. J. Allender, G. King, C. S. Ford, M. J. Wilkinson. (2006). Fitness of hybrids between rapeseed Brassica napus and wild Brassica rapa in natural habitats. Molecular Ecology, 15 (4) 1175-1184. RAE2008

Asesoría en diseño para la Asociación de Artesanas de la Cordillera, municipio de Melgar, departamento del Tolima : informe final.

204 hojas : ilustraciones, fotografías a color.

Effects of task instruction on autobiographical memory specificity in young and older adults

Older adults tend to retrieve autobiographical information that is overly general (i.e., not restricted to a single event, termed the overgenerality effect) relative to young adults' specific memories. A vast majority of studies that have reported overgenerality effects explicitly instruct participants to retrieve specific memories, thereby requiring participants to maintain task goals, inhibit inappropriate responses, and control their memory search. Since these processes are impaired in healthy ageing, it is important to determine whether such task instructions influence the magnitude of the overgenerality effect in older adults. In the current study participants retrieved autobiographical memories during presentation of musical clips. Task instructions were manipulated to separate age-related differences in the specificity of underlying memory representations from age-related differences in following task instructions. Whereas young adults modulated memory specificity based on task demands, older adults did not. These findings suggest that reported rates of overgenerality in older adults' memories might include age-related differences in memory representation, as well as differences in task compliance. Such findings provide a better understanding of the underlying cognitive mechanisms involved in age-related changes in autobiographical memory and may also be valuable for future research examining effects of overgeneral memory on general well-being. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.

Effects of task instruction on autobiographical memory specificity in young and older adults.

Older adults tend to retrieve autobiographical information that is overly general (i.e., not restricted to a single event, termed the overgenerality effect) relative to young adults' specific memories. A vast majority of studies that have reported overgenerality effects explicitly instruct participants to retrieve specific memories, thereby requiring participants to maintain task goals, inhibit inappropriate responses, and control their memory search. Since these processes are impaired in healthy ageing, it is important to determine whether such task instructions influence the magnitude of the overgenerality effect in older adults. In the current study participants retrieved autobiographical memories during presentation of musical clips. Task instructions were manipulated to separate age-related differences in the specificity of underlying memory representations from age-related differences in following task instructions. Whereas young adults modulated memory specificity based on task demands, older adults did not. These findings suggest that reported rates of overgenerality in older adults' memories might include age-related differences in memory representation, as well as differences in task compliance. Such findings provide a better understanding of the underlying cognitive mechanisms involved in age-related changes in autobiographical memory and may also be valuable for future research examining effects of overgeneral memory on general well-being.

An analysis of the efficacy of low-scale concentrated photovoltaics

Gemstone Team LEAF (Light Energy Acquisition of the Future)

RECORDING PROJECT: THE COMPLETE (PUBLISHED) PIANO WORKS OF ROBERT HELPS

This recording represents the complete solo piano works of Robert Helps (1928-2001). As of this writing (March, 2008), approx.120 minutes of Helps' solo piano music has been published, all of which is included on the Digital Media (CD). This project includes the following works: Trois Hommages, Quartet, Nocturne, Valse Mirage, In Retrospect, Three Etudes, Portrait, Three Etudes for the Left Hand, Starscape, Recollections, Shall We Dance and Image. (His few remaining pieces are officially "pending publication" and are therefore not included in this project.) Robert Helps, American pianist and composer, enjoyed a successful career on both fronts, teaching at such institutions as San Francisco Conservatory, Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, the New England Conservatory, the Manhattan School of Music and Princeton University. Helps, never the recipient of a university or conservatory degree, received private instruction from pianist Abby Whiteside and composer Roger Sessions. His recording of the Sessions' Sonatas is considered to be their benchmark performance. As a composer, he received commission and awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Ford Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Helps' compositions were anachronistic in style: his compositional style ranges from Post-Impressionism, Neo­ Romanticsim and early 20th century Atonalism, although he never engaged in serial practices. Since his death in 2001, the Robert Helps Trust has been established at the University of South Florida. Funds are being used to support the continued publishing of his scores. The Robert Helps International Composition Competition and Festival was established in 2005.