Inscribing value on business model innovations: Insights from industrial projects commercializing disruptive digital innovations

In this paper we seek to show how marketing activities inscribe value on business model innovation, representative of an act, or sequence of socially interconnecting acts. Theoretically we ask two interlinked questions: (1) how can value inscriptions contribute to business model innovations? (2) how can marketing activities support the inscription of value on business model innovations? Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with the thirty-seven members from across four industrial projects commercializing disruptive digital innovations. Various individuals from a diverse range of firms are shown to cast relevant components of their agency and knowledge on business model innovations through negotiation as an ongoing social process. Value inscription is mutually constituted from the marketing activities, interactions and negotiations of multiple project members across firms and functions to counter destabilizing forces and tensions arising from the commercialization of disruptive digital innovations. This contributes to recent conceptual thinking in the industrial marketing literature, which views business models as situated within dynamic business networks and a context-led evolutionary process. A contribution is also made to debate in the marketing literature around marketing's boundary-spanning role, with marketing activities shown to span and navigate across functions and firms in supporting value inscriptions on business model innovations.

Present orientation, future orientation and alcohol use in Northern Irish adolescents

Earlier initiation into more problematic drinking behaviour has been found to be associated with more problematic drinking later in life. Research has suggested that a lower future time perspective (and higher present time perspective) is associated with health-compromising behaviours such as problematic alcohol use in college student, University undergraduate and general population samples. This study used a cross-sectional design to examine whether consideration of future consequences (CFC), assessed by the Consideration of Future Consequences Scale, was significantly related to drinking behaviour in a large sample (n=707) of Northern Irish adolescents. Alcohol use was self-reported by means of a composite measure of drinking behaviour. Demographic data were also gathered. After controlling for year in school (proxy for age), sex and for clustering at school level, lower future orientation and higher present orientation were found to be significantly associated with more problematic self-reported drinking behaviour. These results extend recent findings of a significant relationship between a foreshortened future time perspective and more problematic self-reported drinking behaviour in a UK sample of University undergraduates, to a large UK sample of adolescents. Given the relationship between early-onset drinking and more problematic use in later life, health promotion interventions might explore using the CFC construct in targeting adolescent drinkers.

Effects of alcohols and compatible solutes on the activity of β-galactosidase

During alcoholic fermentation, the products build up and can, ultimately, kill the organism due to their effects on the cell's macromolecular systems. The effects of alcohols on the steady-state kinetic parameters of the model enzyme ß-galactosidase were studied. At modest concentrations (0 to 2 M), there was little effect of methanol, ethanol, propanol and butanol on the kinetic constants. However, above these concentrations, each alcohol caused the maximal rate, V (max), to fall and the Michaelis constant, K (m), to rise. Except in the case of methanol, the chaotropicity of the solute, rather than its precise chemical structure, determined and can, therefore, be used to predict inhibitory activity. Compounds which act as compatible solutes (e.g. glycerol and other polyols) generally reduced enzyme activity in the absence of alcohols at the concentration tested (191 mM). In the case of the ethanol- or propanol-inhibited ß-galactosidase, the addition of compatible solutes was unable to restore the enzyme's kinetic parameters to their uninhibited levels; addition of chaotropic solutes such as urea tended to enhance the effects of these alcohols. It is possible that the compatible solutes caused excessive rigidification of the enzyme's structure, whereas the alcohols disrupt the tertiary and quaternary structure of the protein. From the point of view of protecting enzyme activity, it may be unwise to add compatible solutes in the early stages of industrial fermentations; however, there may be benefits as the alcohol concentration increases.

Prenatal alcohol exposure alters biobehavioral reactivity to pain in newborns

To examine biobehavioral responses to an acute pain event in a Cape Town, South Africa, cohort consisting of 28 Cape Colored (mixed ancestry) newborns (n = 14) heavily exposed to alcohol during pregnancy (exposed), and born to abstainers (n = 14) or light (<or = 0.5 oz absolute alcohol/d) drinkers (controls).

The Temporal Focus Scale:Factor structure and association with alcohol use in a sample of Northern Irish school children

The Temporal Focus Scale (TFS) is a 12-item self-report measure of cognitive engagement with the temporal domains of past, present and future. Developed in college student samples, a three-factor structure with adequate reliability and validity was documented in a series of independent studies. We tested the factor structure of the scale in a sample of Northern Irish adolescents and found that our data supported a three factor structure, although there were problems with item 10. Because time perspective measures have been found to relate differentially to various health behaviours, we tested the relations between scores on the TFS and self-reported alcohol use. Results showed that scores on the TFS were not consistent statistical predictors of drinking category in a logistic regression. Results are discussed in terms of scale development, future scale use and the assessment of health-compromising behaviours such as adolescent alcohol consumption. © 2012 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents.

CUE-EXPOSURE TO ALCOHOL-ASSOCIATED STIMULI REDUCES AUTONOMIC REACTIVITY, BUT NOT CRAVING AND ANXIETY, IN DEPENDENT DRINKERS

A controlled trial was conducted of cue-exposure with dependent drinkers in treatment. All subjects were engaged in an insight-orientated therapy programme, and responses to an alcohol-associated, compared with a neutral, stimulus were assessed at the beginning and end of treatment. Compared with a control group, which did not receive intervening cue-exposure sessions, subjects who received such interventions manifested reductions in heart rate, salivation and arousal responses to the alcohol-associated, compared with the neutral, stimulus. They did not, however, show similar reductions in subjective estimates of craving and anxiety. These results and the desynchrony in reductions in cue-reactivity across response domains are discussed in terms of their implications for cue-exposure in treatment and recent theoretical conceptualizations of the relationship between autonomic reactivity, craving and drinking behaviour.

ALCOHOL-RELATED KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES IN PEOPLE WITH A MILD LEARNING-DISABILITY - THE EFFECTS OF A SENSIBLE DRINKING GROUP

Alcohol-related knowledge and attitudes in people with a mild learning disability, who were either living, or being prepared to live, in relatively independent conditions in the community, were assessed through a structured interview format. Compared with non-learning-disabled teenagers, adults and a hospitalized patient sample, alcohol-related knowledge in the people with a learning disability was found to be significantly poorer, alcohol was reported as having particularly negative effects and susceptibility to social pressure to drink alcohol was greater. A 'sensible drinking' group, taking a social skills and influences approach to alcohol education, was conducted with a subgroup of the individuals with a learning disability. The group format and methods, including in vivo sessions in a public house, are described. Follow-up evaluations suggested some significant positive changes in knowledge, attitudes and sensible drinking skills. It is concluded that this population, which is increasingly living, or being moved into, independent conditions in the community, is at least as vulnerable to social influences on alcohol use and abuse as are young people. As with young people, the usefulness of making available such alcohol-education programmes as described in this study, is discussed.

Affective disruption: Walter Benjamin and the 'history' of Ireland's industrial schools

What role do organizations play in writing history? In this paper, I address the part played by organizations in the enactment of large-scale violence, and focus on the ways in which the resulting histories come to be written. Drawing on the case of Ireland's industrial schools, I demonstrate how such accounts can act to serve the interests of those in power, effectively silencing and marginalizing weaker people. A theoretical lens that draws on ideas from Walter Benjamin and Judith Butler is helpful in understanding this; the concept of 'affective disruption' enables an exploration of how people's experiences of organizational violence can be reclaimed from the past, and protected in a continuous remembrance. Overall, this paper contributes a new perspective on the writing of organizational histories, particularly in relation to the enactment of violence. 

Are Alkyl Sulfate-Based Protic and Aprotic Ionic Liquids Stable with Water and Alcohols? A Thermodynamic Approach

The knowledge of the chemical stability as a function of the temperature of ionic liquids (ILs) in the presence of other molecules such as water is crucial prior to developing any no GO industrial application and process involving these novel materials. Fluid phase equilibria and density over a large range of temperature and composition can give basic information on IL purity and chemical stability. The IL scientific community requires accurate measurements accessed from reference data. In this work, the stability of different alkyl sulfate-based ILs in the presence of water and various alcohols (methanol, ethanol, 1-butanol, and 1-octanol) was investigated to understand their stability as a function of temperature up to 423.15 K over the hydrolysis and transesterification reactions, respectively. From this investigation, it was clear that methyl sulfate- and ethyl sulfate-based ILs are not stable in the presence of water, since hydrolysis of the methyl sulfate or ethyl sulfate anions to methanol or ethanol and hydrogenate anion is undoubtedly observed. Such observations could help to explain the differences observed for the physical properties published in the literature by various groups. Furthermore, it appears that a thermodynamic equilibrium process drives these hydrolysis reactions. In other words, these hydrolysis reactions are in fact reversible, providing the possibility to re-form the desired alkyl sulfate anions by a simple transesterification reaction between hydrogen sulfate-based ILs and the corresponding alcohol (methanol or ethanol). Additionally, butyl sulfate- and octyl sulfate-based ILs appear to follow this pattern but under more drastic conditions. In these systems, hydrolysis is observed in both cases after several months for temperatures up to 423 K in the presence of water. Therein, the partial miscibility of hydrogen sulfate-based ILs with long chain alcohols (1-butanol and 1-octanol) can help to explain the enhanced hydrolytic stability of the butyl sulfate- and octyl sulfate-based ILs compared with the methyl or ethyl sulfate systems. Additionally, rapid transesterification reactions are observed during liquid-liquid equilibrium studies as a function of temperature for binary systems of (hydrogen sulfate-based ionic liquids + 1-butanol) and of (hydrogen sulfate-based ionic liquids + 1-octanol). Finally, this atom-efficient catalyst-free transesterification reaction between hydrogen sulfate-based ILs and alcohol was then tested to provide a novel way to synthesize new ILs with various anion structures containing the alkyl sulfate group.

Physical characterisation and component release of poly(vinyl alcohol)-tetrahydroxyborate hydrogels and their applicability as potential topical drug delivery systems

Poly(vinyl alcohol)-tetrahydroxyborate (PVA-THB) hydrogels are dilatant formulations with potential for topical wound management. To support this contention, the physical properties, rheological behaviour and component release of candidate formulations were investigated. Oscillatory rheometry and texture profile analysis were used at room temperature and 37 °C. Results showed that it was possible to control the rheological and textural properties by altering component concentration and modifying the type of PVA polymer used. Hydrogels made using PVA grades with higher degrees of hydrolysis displayed favourable characteristics from a wound healing perspective. In vitro release of borate and PVA were assessed in order to evaluate potential clinical dosing of free species originating from the hydrogel structure. Component diffusion was influenced by both concentration and molecular weight, where relevant, with up to 5% free PVA cumulative release observed after 30 min. The results of this study demonstrated the importance of poly(vinyl alcohol) selection for ensuring appropriate gel formation in PVA-THB hydrogels. The benefits of higher degrees of hydrolysis, in particular, included lower excipient release and reduced bioadhesion. The unique physical characteristics of these hydrogels make them an appealing delivery vehicle for chronic and acute wound management purposes.