Home About us Contact | |||
Technical Innovations (technical + innovation)
Selected AbstractsCompeting with offshore IT outsourcing: Johnston McLamb innovatesGLOBAL BUSINESS AND ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE, Issue 3 2005Ronald J. Johnston Drawing on its core values, IT consultancy Johnston McLamb has rolled the dice with a strategy of technical innovation to combat the threat posed by low-priced offshore IT companies. The strategic shift has had organizational and process implications, which have challenged the young company to rapidly learn and innovate in these arenas as well. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Cellular origins of ,-cell regeneration: a legacy view of historical controversiesJOURNAL OF INTERNAL MEDICINE, Issue 4 2009A. Granger Abstract. Beta-cell regeneration represents a major goal of therapy for diabetes. Unravelling the origin of , cells during pancreatic regeneration could help restore a functional ,-cell mass in diabetes patients. This scientific question has represented a longstanding interest still intensively investigated today. This review focuses on pioneering observations and subsequent theories made 100 years ago and describes how technical innovation helped resolve some, but not all, of the controversies generated by these early investigators. At the end of the 19th century, complete pancreatectomy demonstrated the crucial physiological role of the pancreas and its link with diabetes. Pancreatic injury models, including pancreatectomy and ductal ligation, allowed investigators to describe islet function and to assess the regenerative capacity of the pancreas. Three main theories were proposed to explain the origins of newly formed islets: (i) transdifferentiation of acinar cells into islets, (ii) islet neogenesis, a process reminiscent of islet formation during embryonic development, and (iii) replication of preexisting islet cells. Despite considerable technical innovation in the last 50 years, the origin of new adult , cells remains highly controversial and the same three theories are still debated today. [source] Promoting eco manufacturing: an Australian caseJOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, Issue 4 2008Roumen Dimitrov This paper analyses the communication campaign of a small industry plant, the Fuji Xerox Eco Manufacturing Center in Sydney, Australia. Disproportionably to its size, it has become a national and world leader in the push for waste free, sustainable manufacturing. The rarity of the case,a resource-poor for-profit organization taking the role of an influential advocate,helps to highlight the centrality of public relations in the promotional mix. I examine ,remanufacturing' not as a one-off technical innovation, but as prolonged internal and external communication campaign. I also stress on the public character of internal communication, where public relations is instrumental from the start. I draft and discuss an alternative model of integrated marketing communications for small businesses and nonprofits. Integration happens here on personnel rather than organizational (interdepartmental) level. The more such organizations turn towards external causes and multiple publics,as in this case of industrial advocacy and public affairs,the more likely public relations transforms from a component into the organizing principle of the communication strategy. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] OrnaMental POrnamentation: The Abstract and the Exuberant Body of OrnamentationARCHITECTURAL DESIGN, Issue 2 2010Marjan Colletti Abstract In the last few years, the introduction of new digital software has enabled the exuberant articulation of ornate surfaces and volumes. Marjan Colletti looks beyond technical innovation and observes a two-fold conceptual tendency that he labels the ,ornaMental' and the ,pOrnamentation', differentiating between the first's inclination to create form through abstraction and the latter's potential for the figural through sensation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A consideration on R&D direction for future Internet architectureINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, Issue 6-7 2010Hiroshi Esaki Abstract The professional Internet system has been operated for more than 20 years, while preserving the continuous introduction of technical innovations. The Internet architecture, of course including the future Internet, must preserve the following five essential features of the Internet architecture. These are (1) autonomous, (2) distributed, (3) disconnected, (4) inter-domain, and (5) global operation. The current Internet system is challenged by the following three aspects; global, ubiquitous and mobility. ISOC, Internet Society (www.isoc.org), has initiated the strategic initiative that is focusing on ,Trust and Identifier'. We must re-design the identifier, directory service, trust model, routing and communication model for the computer system and for the computer networks. For example, Delay Tolerant Networking or Peer-to-Peer system architecture would challenge the introduction of new technological frameworks to the existing Internet. Finally, this paper discusses how to build and how to deploy the future Internet infrastructure. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Using technical innovations in clinical practice: The Drinker's Check-Up software programJOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2004Daniel D. Squires Interest in assessing and treating a variety of psychological conditions with software programs is increasing rapidly. This article reviews a software program for problem drinkers entitled the Drinker's Check-Up (DCU) and illustrates its use with three patients. The DCU is based on the principles of brief motivational interventions and can be used as a stand-alone intervention by therapists without expertise in substance abuse or as a prelude to alcohol treatment services. It is the first software program to provide integrated assessment, feedback, and assistance with decision making for individuals experiencing problems with alcohol. Preliminary data from an ongoing clinical trial of the DCU as a stand-alone intervention indicate that it is an effective intervention for a wide range of problem drinkers. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol/In Session. [source] Gains and structural effects of exploiting scale-economies in Norwegian dairy productionAGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, Issue 2 2001Knut Løyland Dairy production; Economies of scale; Cost functions; Technical change Abstract In this paper, we present calculations of the economic gains in terms of reduced costs by exploiting scale-economies in dairy production in Norway, and the effect this would have had on the number of farms. We also explore whether or not optimal scale and unexploited scale-economies change over time due to scale-augmenting technical change. The analysis is based on homothetic cost functions estimated by means of data for individual dairy farms for the period 1972,1996. For 1972, we find that, by full exploitation of scale-economies, the costs could have been reduced by almost 40%, while the number of farms would have been reduced by more than 85%. The number of small farms has been substantially reduced in the period considered. This fact, combined with small scale-augmenting technical change, implies that the gains and structural effects of exploiting scale-economies have decreased over time. In 1996, costs could have been reduced by close to 30% by full exploitation of scale-economies, while the number of farms would have been reduced by slightly more than 70%. Thus, both gains and structural effects are substantially less than in 1972. Nevertheless, the calculated gains for 1996 make almost 5 billion NOK. This corresponds almost exactly to the total public support to the dairy farms in 1996. The unexploited scale-economies are largely due to the agricultural policy. Thus, a substantial share of the same can be considered as part of the,price' the Norwegian society has to pay for this policy. In addition, there are likely to be large hidden costs of this policy due in particular to the quota system and other direct production regulations. They imply that technical innovations and other efficiency-improving investments requiring increased production to be profitable are not carried out. This is the more likely explanation for the extremely poor efficiency development in Norwegian dairy production in the period studied. [source] Holocene vegetation and land-use changes in response to climatic changes in the forelands of the southwestern Alps, Italy,JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE, Issue 3 2006Walter Finsinger Abstract The Holocene sediment of Lago Piccolo di Avigliana (Piedmont, Italy, 356,m,a.s.l.) was dated by 14C and analysed for pollen to reconstruct the vegetation history of the area. The early- and mid-Holocene pollen record shows environmental responses to centennial-scale climatic changes as evidenced by independent palaeoclimatic proxies. When human impact was low or negligible, continental mixed-oak forests decreased at ca. 9300 BC in response to the early-Holocene Preboreal climatic oscillation. Abies alba expanded in two phases, probably in response to higher moisture availability at ca. 6000 and ca. 4000 BC, while Fagus expanded later, possibly in response to a climatic change at 3300 BC. During and after the Bronze Age five distinct phases of intensified land use were detected. The near synchroneity with the land-use phases detected in wetter regions in northern and southern Switzerland points to a common forcing factor in spite of cultural differences. Increasing minerogenic input to the lake since 1000 BC coincided with Late Bronze,Iron Age technical innovations and probably indicate soil erosion as a consequence of deforestation in the lake catchment. The highest values for cultural indicators occurred at 700,450 and at 300,50 BC, coinciding with periods of high solar activity (inferred from ,14C). This suggests that Iron Age land use was enhanced by high solar activity, while re-occupation of partly abandoned areas after crises in earlier periods match better with the GRIP stable isotope record. On the basis of our data and comparison with independent palaeoclimatic proxies we suggest that precipitation variation was much more important than temperature oscillations in driving vegetation and societal changes throughout the Holocene. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Advances in adult living donor liver transplantation: A review based on reports from the 10th anniversary of the adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation meeting in TokyoLIVER TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 6 2004Yasuhiko Sugawara In 1993, the Shinshu Group performed the first successful adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). During the first 10 years of LDLT, many technical innovations have been reported. The major limitation of LDLT for adult recipients is the size of the graft. To overcome the problem, several graft types were designed, including left liver graft with caudate lobe, right liver, modified right liver, and right lateral sector and dual grafts. The necessity and criteria of reconstruction of middle hepatic vein is still on debate in right liver graft without trunk of middle hepatic vein. Biliary reconstruction remains a significant source of morbidity in LDLT. Donor safety must always be the primary consideration in LDLT and the selection criteria and management of the living donor must continue to be refined. On February 21, 2004, the 10th anniversary of the adult-to-adult LDLT meeting was held in Tokyo to review the accumulated experience and the presented information is summarized. (Liver Transpl 2004;10:715,720.) [source] Project visioning: Its components and impact on new product successTHE JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 6 2001Gary S. Lynna The concept of corporate vision has been receiving considerable attention in the strategy scholarship. A clear and lofty organizational vision can provide direction to a company and can positively impact its ability to succeed. Yet research on vision at the project level has been curiously lacking. The purpose of this research is to define project vision, discuss its components and explore its impact on successful new product development. After studying the vision on a series of 13 innovations at three companies (Apple, IBM and HP), we identified several components of an effective project vision that include vision clarity, vision agreement/support and vision stability and assessed their impact on new product success. To confirm the validity and generalizability of our observations, we then tested these insights on 509 new product teams from a wide variety of firms. We found that an effective vision varies depending on the innovation type - incremental, evolutionary and radical. Our results demonstrate that vision clarity is positively associated with success in evolutionary (market or technical), and radical innovations, but not for incremental projects. Vision stability is positively associated with success in incremental and evolutionary market innovations; and vision support is positively associated with success in incremental, and evolutionary technical innovations. [source] Consumer integration in sustainable product developmentBUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 5 2007Esther Hoffmann Abstract Changes in production and consumption patterns are a crucial element of the sustainability agenda. Communication between product developers and users, and user integration in product development, can serve as a means for organizational as well as individual learning processes, resulting in sustainable product development. Recent approaches to innovation research describe the role of users in the innovation process as essential. However, conventional market research gives consumers a passive role as a mere object of research instead of considering them as possible innovators themselves. Improved methods, such as INNOCOPE (innovating through consumer-integrated product development), tested in this study with a cycle manufacturer and resulting in a new product, a pedelec, are needed for effective communication, activating consumers and enabling them to promote sustainability goals. Through co-operative product development processes key factors facilitating and obstructing the adoption of sustainable innovations may be identified. Such processes can enhance the emergence and diffusion of sustainable product innovations and different forms and bodies of knowledge can be combined. Integrating users' contextual everyday knowledge of the product with the technical knowledge of companies may lead to mutual learning, technical innovations and changes in consumer behaviour. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source] Applicant and Recruiter Reactions to New Technology in Selection: A Critical Review and Agenda for Future ResearchINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SELECTION AND ASSESSMENT, Issue 2-3 2003Neil AndersonArticle first published online: 30 JUL 200 This paper presents a narrative review of recent research into applicant and recruiter reactions to new technology in employee selection. Different aspects of the use of new technology are noted including computer-based testing, Internet-based recruitment and candidate assessment, telephone-based and video-based interviews, video-based situational judgment tests, and virtual reality scenarios. It is argued that an appropriate way to conceptualize these advances is as ,technical innovations' as defined in the creativity and innovation research in Industrial, Work, and Organizational (IWO) psychology. Applicant reactions research is reviewed thematically, and studies into three main themes are discussed: Applicant preferences and reactions, equivalence, and adverse impact. Following Bartram (2001), an amphibian-monarchistic analogy is employed at several stages in the review. Four major criticisms of the extant applicant reactions research base are noted: its atheoretical orientation, a short-termist concentration upon reactions level outcomes, an over-reliance on students as surrogates, and a patchiness of coverage of crucial research questions. The second part of this paper explores neglected issues of recruiter adoption of new technology for employee selection. Again drawing from advances in the innovation and creativity literatures, this section explores likely antecedent factors at the individual and organizational levels of analysis. A general model of recruiter adoption of new technology is posited as a framework for future research in this area. For both applicant and recruiter reactions further research is called for and implications for practice are noted throughout. [source] |