Understanding New Product Project Performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to summarize the accumulated body of knowledge on the performance of new product projects and provide directions for further research. Design/methodology/approach – Using a refined classification of antecedents of new product project performance the research results are meta-analyzed in the literature in order to identify the strength and stability of predictor-performance relationships. Findings – The results reveal that 22 variables have a significant relationship with new product project performance, of which only 12 variables have a sizable relationship. In order of importance these factors are the degree of organizational interaction, R&D and marketing interface, general product development proficiency, product advantage, financial/business analysis, technical proficiency, management skill, marketing proficiency, market orientation, technology synergy, project manager competency and launch activities. Of the 34 variables 16 predictors show potential for moderator effects. Research limitations/implications – The validity of the results is constrained by publication bias and heterogeneity of performance measures, and directions for the presentation of data in future empirical publications are provided. Practical implications – This study helps new product project managers in understanding and managing the performance of new product development projects. Originality/value – This paper provides unique insights into the importance of predictors of new product performance at the project level. Furthermore, it identifies which predictor-performance relations are contingent on other factors.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug and aspirin use and the risk of head and neck cancer

Background: Evidence for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) preventing head and neck cancer (HNC) is inconclusive; however, there is some suggestion that aspirin may exert a protective effect.

Methods: Using data from the United States National Cancer Institute Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial, we examined the association between aspirin and ibuprofen use and HNC.

Results: Regular aspirin use was associated with a significant 22% reduction in HNC risk. No association was observed with regular ibuprofen use.

Conclusion: Aspirin may have potential as a chemopreventive agent for HNC, but further investigation is warranted.

Transformation or bureaucratisation?: the changing role of community representation in local strategic partnerships in England

The debate about the need to build social capital and to engage local communities in public policy has become a central issue in many advanced liberal societies and developing countries. In many countries new forms of governance have emerged out of a growing realisation that representative democracy by itself is no longer sufficient. One of the most significant public policy trends in the UK has been the involvement of community organisations and their members in the delivery of national policy, mediated through local systems of governance and management. One such policy area is urban regeneration. Central government now requires local authorities in England to set up Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) to bring together stakeholders who can prepare Community Strategies and deliver social and economic programmes which target areas of deprivation. This paper reviews the key institutional processes which must be addressed, such as representation, accountability and transformation.

At the end of the day: Macmillan's account of the Cuban missile crisis

Pre-publicity for the final volume of Harold Macmillan’s memoirs, At the End of the Day, stressed that it would provide the British side of the Cuban missile crisis for the first time. The Churchillian model chosen, changes required by the Cabinet Office and Macmillan’s desire to rebuke those political opponents who claimed that the crisis demonstrated a lack of British influence in Washington, however ensured a focus on his personal relationship with President Kennedy. His larding the text with contemporary observations from his diaries also skewed Macmillan’s account and, in particular, underplayed the significance of British moves at the United Nations in New York to secure a credible United Nations inspection regime and a US guarantee of the inviolability of Cuba. Careful reconstruction of Macmillan’s real-time experience of the Cuban missile crisis demonstrates the limitations of his own account of this event

Akt/PKB activation and insulin signaling: a novel insulin signaling pathway in the treatment of type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disease categorized primarily by reduced insulin sensitivity, β-cell dysfunction, and elevated hepatic glucose production. Treatments reducing hyperglycemia and the secondary complications that result from these dysfunctions are being sought after. Two distinct pathways encourage glucose transport activity in skeletal muscle, ie, the contraction-stimulated pathway reliant on Ca2+/5′-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK)-dependent mechanisms and an insulin-dependent pathway activated via upregulation of serine/threonine protein kinase Akt/PKB. Metformin is an established treatment for type 2 diabetes due to its ability to increase peripheral glucose uptake while reducing hepatic glucose production in an AMPK-dependent manner. Peripheral insulin action is reduced in type 2 diabetics whereas AMPK signaling remains largely intact. This paper firstly reviews AMPK and its role in glucose uptake and then focuses on a novel mechanism known to operate via an insulin-dependent pathway. Inositol hexakisphosphate (IP6) kinase 1 (IP6K1) produces a pyrophosphate group at the position of IP6 to generate a further inositol pyrophosphate, ie, diphosphoinositol pentakisphosphate (IP7). IP7 binds with Akt/PKB at its pleckstrin homology domain, preventing interaction with phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate, and therefore reducing Akt/PKB membrane translocation and insulin-stimulated glucose uptake. Novel evidence suggesting a reduction in IP7 production via IP6K1 inhibition represents an exciting therapeutic avenue in the treatment of insulin resistance. Metformin-induced activation of AMPK is a key current intervention in the management of type 2 diabetes. However, this treatment does not seem to improve peripheral insulin resistance. In light of this evidence, we suggest that inhibition of IP6K1 may increase insulin sensitivity and provide a novel research direction in the treatment of insulin resistance.

Responsabilidade ambiental: análise das divulgações ambientais das empresas do PSI-20 comparativamente com empresas não cotadas

Orientador: Mestre, António Pinto Marques

How Effective are Unemployment Benefit Sanctions? Looking Beyond Unemployment Exit

This paper provides a comprehensive evaluation of the effects of benefit sanctions on post-unemployment outcomes such as post-unemployment employment stability and earnings. We use rich register data which allow us to distinguish between a warning that a benefit reduction may take place in the near future and the actual withdrawal of unemployment benefits. Adopting a multivariate mixed proportional hazard approach to address selectivity, we find that warnings do not affect subsequent employment stability but do reduce post-unemployment earnings. Actual benefit reductions lower the quality of post-unemployment jobs both in terms of job duration as well as in terms of earnings. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Ambulatory blood pressure measurement and antihypertensive therapy.

The traditional basis for assessing the effect of antihypertensive therapy is the blood pressure reading taken by a physician. However, several recent trials have been designed to evaluate the blood pressure lowering effect of various therapeutic agents during the patients' normal daytime activities, using a portable, semi-automatic blood pressure recorder. The results have shown that in a given patient, blood pressure measured at the physician's office often differs greatly from that prevailing during the rest of the day. This is true both in treated and untreated hypertensive patients. The difference between office and ambulatory recorded pressures cannot be predicted from blood pressure levels measured by the physician. Therefore, a prospective study was carried out in patients with diastolic blood pressures that were uncontrolled at the physician's office despite antihypertensive therapy. The purpose was to evaluate the response of recorded ambulatory blood pressure to treatment adjustments aimed at reducing office blood pressure below a pre-set target level. Only patients with high ambulatory blood pressures at the outset appeared to benefit from further changes in therapy. Thus, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring can be used to identify those patients who remain hypertensive only when facing the physician, despite antihypertensive therapy. Ambulatory monitoring could thus help to evaluate the efficacy of antihypertensive therapy and allow individual treatment.

L'Écho de Paris

1887/06/08 (Numéro 1178).

La piece de cabinet , dédiée aux poëtes du temps

[Mazarinade. 1649]

Coutume de Metz, divisée en trois parties.

Contient : Recueil des ordonnances faites par le maître échevin, les treize, les comtes jurés, les pairs, l'évêque de Metz Bertrand, et la communauté de la cité de Metz, les amans de Metz, etc., de 1178 à 1533 ; Formulaire « des choses appartenant » aux us et « stille du pallaix » ou à la procedure ; « Du stille de la mandellerie » ou formulaire d'actes

Mélanges historiques concernant l'Anjou et le Poitou.

Contient : Lettre d'Oihénart à A. Duchesne ; Diplôme de Charles le Simple pour le monastère d'Aurillac ; Notes généalogiques sur diverses familles de l'Anjou ; Extrait d'une description de la Gaule ; Extraits des archives de Saint-Laud d'Angers ; Évêques d'Angers, des origines à 1587 ; Extraits du cartulaire de Saint-Julien d'Angers ; Donation à Marmoutier de l'église Saint-Malo de Dinant ; Concile de Limoges ; Chartes de Maillezais ; Extraits du bullaire de Cluny ; Chartes relatives au prieuré de la Fougereuse ; Fondation du monastère de Saint-Jean d'Orbestier ; Extraits du cartulaire de Boisgrolland ; Fondation de l'abbaye de Jars ; Chartes de Guillaume et Savari de Mauléon ; Charte de Geoffroi, duc d'Aquitaine, pour Saint-Hilaire de Poitiers ; Privilège de Louis VII pour les églises de la province de Bordeaux (1137 ; Luchaire, Actes de Louis VII, n° 1) ; Privilèges de la Chaise-Dieu ; Chartes de Montierneuf de Poitiers ; Charte de Guillaume VII, duc d'Aquitaine, pour Sainte-Croix de Bordeaux ; Chartes de Saint-Hilaire de Poitiers ; Chartes de l'église de Mirebeau ; Charte de Guillaume V, duc d'Aquitaine, pour la Trinité de Vendôme ; Pièces et notes relatives à La Rochelle ; Extraits du cartulaire de Saint-Melaine de Vitré ; Diplôme de Charlemagne pour Saint-Cybar d'Angoulême ; Fondation de Sainte-Croix de Loudun

Recueil de chartes de commune.

Contient : Châteauvillain ; Troyes ; Nogaro en Armagnac ; Narbonne ; La Beuvrière (cf. fol. 73) ; Reims ; Troyes ; Beaumont ; Châteauvillain (1236 ; cf. fol. 2) ; La Chapelle [d'Angillon] ; Joigny ; Lorris ; Dixmont ; Montargis ; Barcelone (cf. fol. 149) ; Selens et Saint-Aubin ; La Beuvrière (cf. fol. 14) ; Chaumont ; Saint-Bris ; Saint-Laurent-sur-Barenjon ; Voisines ; Le Moulinet ; Barlieu ; Crespy [-en-Valois] ; Montdidier ; Laon ; Soissons ; Abbeville ; Compiègne ; Saint-Quentin ; Corbie ; Saint-Josse-sur-Mer ; La Fère ; Beauvais ; Nanteuil ; Courmelles ; Breteuil ; Beaumont-en-Argonne ; Chaumont ; Saint-Omer ; Vaux près Mouzon ; Vaux, Saconin, Mercin ; Chacrise ; Tournai ; Crandelain, etc ; Ambleteuse ; Morsain, etc ; Mantes ; Ferrières ; Aizy ; Pargny ; Saint-Riquier ; Soissons ; Saint-Martin d'Issoudun (cf. fol. 182) ; Rouen ; Dreux ; Meaux ; Reims ; Chablis ; Chatillon-sur-Seine ; Sens ; Auxerre ; Cerny ; Dixmont ; Étampes ; Orléans ; Bourges ; Issoudun (cf. fol. 148) ; Beaufort-en-Vallée ; La Rochelle ; Villefranche [d'Allier] ; Montauban ; Nevers ; Castres ; Toulouse ; Habitants de la Terre d'Albigeois ; Aigues-Mortes ; Lorrez-le-Bocage ; Le Puy ; Saint-Céré ; Barcelone ; Chatillon-sur-Marne ; Raucourt et Héraucourt ; Mézières ; Chatillon-sur-Marne ; Saint-Hellier ; Coutumes d'Anjou et du Maine ; Ervy-le-Chatel ; Cerres, Montceaux, Chaussepierre ; Notice sur un ms. de Chroniques françaises, de la bibliothèque de Colbert (= Duchesne 79)