Distinctive Capability Research Articles

Distinctive Capability with Innovation Process Mediation Affect On Mses Business Performace: Case of Smoked Skipjack Processing Industries in North Sulawesi, Indonesia

Distinctive Capability with Innovation Process Mediation Affect On Mses Business Performace: Case of Smoked Skipjack Processing Industries in North Sulawesi, Indonesia

AFSNN: A Classification Algorithm Using Axiomatic Fuzzy Sets and Neural Networks

In this study, we present a comprehensible classifier AFSNN that embeds a new type of coherence membership function, which builds upon the theoretical findings of the axiomatic fuzzy set (AFS) theory into the hidden layer of neural network with random weights (NNRWs). Borrowing from the idea of NNRWs that employs the random initialization technique, the relation among attributes, simple concepts, and complex concepts are randomly determined. Complex concepts are generated through the combination of randomly selected simple concepts by AFS logic operation. The output weights of NNRWs are utilized to evaluate the confidence of each complex concept for every target class, which means that the feasibility of complex concepts for every class is determined analytically rather than through the tuning parameters of constraint conditions such as in conventional AFS-based classifiers. For the proposed method, compared to other neural-network-based classification methods, the fuzzy descriptions generated from complex concepts in hidden layer make classification result human understandable. We have experimented with several benchmark datasets and compared the results with other neural network-based classifiers. We show that our method outperforms Ensemble, EvRBFN, NNEP, LVQ, and iRProp+ in the seven out of ten datasets. The results show that the performance of AFSNN is competitive in terms of classification accuracy and the network shows a distinctive capability of providing explicit knowledge in the form of linguistic description.

The Influence of Distinctive Capability and Innovation Management Towards the Performance of ISPs in Indonesia

The growing need for Internet influence the growing number of ISPs (Internet Service Provider) companies in Indonesia. Until the end of 1999, there were about 55 operating and non-operating ISPs companies in Indonesia. In 2001, its number increased to 155 companies and per 31 December2016 became 302 companies. However, there is still dissatisfaction from its users to the services received. It does not lead to optimal profitability growth of optimal. Some of them were in the range between 10% - 20% and only some of them were in the range between 30% - 40%. This condition is caused by some problems in innovation management and the development of distinctive capabilities development of companies. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of distinctive capabilities and innovation management on the performance of ISP companies in Indonesia. It was conducted to100 ISP companies in Indonesia in 2017, which were chosen as samples and analyzed using PLS. The results showed that the distinctive capabilities and innovation management influenced on the performance of ISP companies in Indonesia, which is innovation management, gave more dominant influence.

Semantic facial scores and compact deep transferred descriptors for scalable face image retrieval

Abstract Face retrieval systems intend to locate index of identical faces to a given query face. The performance of these systems heavily relies on the careful analysis of different facial attributes (gender, race, etc.) since these attributes can tolerate some degrees of geometrical distortion, expressions, and occlusions. However, solely employing facial scores fail to add scalability. Besides, owing to the discriminative power of CNN (convolutional neural network) features, recent works have employed a complete set of deep transferred CNN features with a large dimensionality to obtain enhancement; yet these systems require high computational power and are very resource-demanding. This study aims to exploit the distinctive capability of semantic facial attributes while their retrieval results are refined by a proposed subset feature selection to reduce the dimensionality of the deep transferred descriptors. The constructed compact deeply transferred descriptors (CDTD) not only have a largely reduced dimension but also more discriminative power. Lastly, we have proposed a new performance metric which is tailored for the case of face retrieval called ImAP (Individual Mean Average Precision) and is used to evaluate retrieval results. Multiple experiments on two scalable face datasets demonstrated the superior performance of the proposed CDTD model outperforming state-of-the-art face retrieval results.

Prevalence of Pyrazinamide Resistance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Pyrazinamide (PZA) is an important component of first-line tuberculosis (TB) treatment because of its distinctive capability to kill subpopulations of persister Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). The significance of PZA can be understood by its inclusion in the most recent World Health Organization-recommended multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB regimen. Very little information is available about the prevalence of PZA-resistant TB from geographically distinct regions of high burden countries, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan, because drug susceptibility testing (DST) of PZA is not regularly performed due to the complexity. In this study, we aimed to find the prevalence of PZA resistance in geographically distinct, Pashtun-dominant KPK Province of Pakistan and its correlation with other first- and second-line drug resistance. In this study, DST of PZA was performed through an automated BACTEC MGIT 960 system (BD Diagnostic Systems). The resistant samples were further subjected to DST of isoniazid (INH), rifampicin (RIF), ethambutol (EMB), streptomycin (SM), moxicillin (MOX), amikacin (AMK), ofloxacin (OFX), kanamycin (KM), and capreomycin (CAP). Out of 1,075 MTB-positive isolates, 83 (7.7%) were found to be resistant to PZA. Among the PZA-resistant isolates, 76 (90-91.6%) and 67 (80-80.7%) were found to be resistant to INH and RIF, respectively, whereas 63 (76%) were resistant to both first-line drugs, INH and RIF (MDR-TB). The resistance level of EMB, OFX, and SM was also significantly high in PZA resistance, 35 (42%), 40 (48%), and 41 (49-50%) respectively. PZA resistance is significantly associated with other first- and second-line drug resistance. A significant number of PZA-resistant isolates are MDR cases. Therefore, DST of PZA should regularly be performed along with other drugs for better management of treatment of MDR and extensively drug resistant (XDR), to avoid side effects in patients.

Adipose mesenchymal stem cells from osteoporotic donors preserve functionality and modulate systemic inflammatory microenvironment in osteoporotic cytotherapy

Maintenance of bone homeostasis against diseased microenvironments remains as a major challenge. Recently, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been unravelled as potent microenvironmental modulators, the systemic infusion of which in cytotherapy can prevent or rescue extensive bone loss via anti-inflammation. However, MSCs also accept microenvironmental regulations; particularly, MSCs from bone marrow (BMMSCs) are prone to pathological microenvironmental factors of bone. In this study, we discovered that BMMSCs from osteoporotic donors of ovariectomized (OVX) mice lost their anti-inflammatory capability and failed to prevent bone loss when infused back into OVX recipients. Nevertheless, MSCs from adipose tissues (ADMSCs) preserved their anti-inflammatory capacity, despite diseased microenvironments of OVX donors, and continued to show protective effects on bone in OVX recipients. In the cellular level, the anti-inflammatory superiority of osteoporotic donor-derived ADMSCs over BMMSCs existed in their distinctive capability to induce T-cell apoptosis, which was molecularly attributed to retained expression levels of critical immunomodulatory genes. Furthermore, these functional discrepancies of BMMSCs and ADMSCs were due to differential stemness, energy metabolism and anti-oxidative defence system, underlying general disparity in their cellular states. Collectively, our findings optimize osteoporotic cytotherapy by using ADMSCs in resistance to and in modulation of diseased microenvironments.

A Variation-Aware Timing Modeling Approach for Write Operation in Hybrid CMOS/STT-MTJ Circuits

In this paper, a variation-aware simulation framework for hybrid circuits comprising MOS transistors and magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) devices is presented. The framework is based on one-time characterization via micromagnetic multi-domain simulations, overcoming the inaccuracies introduced by single-domain analysis, which most of the existing frameworks are based on. As further distinctive capability, non-Gaussian stochastic variations of the MTJ write switching time are explicitly modeled through a Skew Normal distribution, making the model suitable for low-power and low-voltage designs. The framework involves the use of a Verilog-A look-up table-based model, which assures easy integration with commercial design tools. Our strategy is evaluated on a spin-transfer torque-magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) working in RAM and true random number generator (TRNG) modes. In RAM mode, while the commonly-used approach based on Gaussian-distributed switching statistics tends to underestimate the pulse width required for a write error rate of $10^{-6}$ by about 20%, our Skew Normal-based strategy allows tracking reference micromagnetic results with an average error less than 4%. In TRNG mode, our approach also allows a better tracking of the reference 50%-switching probability contour with an error less than 1%abs. However, the incorporation of the Skew Normal distribution in our Verilog-A model results in an increase of the CPU time by 50% on average as compared with the use of the built-in statistical functions.

Evaluation of high-order modes and damage effects of multi-crack beams using enhanced spectral element method

Exact evaluation of high-order modes of a multi-crack Euler–Bernoulli beam using the conventional spectral element method (SEM) suffers from the deficiency of numerical ill-conditioning, mainly due to round-off errors in floating-point computations involved in evaluating the spectral element stiffness matrix, therefore, the modeling of the multiple cracks intensively increases the complexity of the matrix. To address this limitation, an enhanced SEM with the spectral element stiffness matrix constructed in a set of local coordinate systems is developed. With the method, two sets of local coordinate systems are created to derive two types of spectral element stiffness matrices for a multi-crack beam. The proposed spectral element stiffness matrices are of improved capacities to characterize the high-order modes of a multi-crack beam by largely eliminating the round-off errors involved in the conventional SEM. Moreover, the function of evaluating high-order modes endows the enhanced SEM with distinctive capability to reveal the effect of multiple cracks on the modal property of a multi-crack beam. The effectiveness of the proposed method in evaluating high-order modes and revealing the effects of multiple cracks on the modal property of a beam is investigated on various damage cases.

Lipase production and purification by self-buffering ionic liquid-based aqueous biphasic systems

Abstract In this work, a group of Good’s buffer ionic liquids (GB-ILs) comprised of tetrabutylammonium, tetrabutylphosphonium and cholinium cations paired with Good’s buffer (GB) anions (MOPSO, BES and TAPSO) was studied. Their distinctive capability to induce the formation of aqueous biphasic systems (ABS) with the salts K 3 PO 4 , K 2 CO 3 , and (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4, and the polymers poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), poly(propylene glycol) (PPG), and PEG-PPG copolymers was demonstrated. Their application as purification tools to recover a lipase produced via submerged fermentation by Burkholderia cepacia ST8 was investigated. The lipase was preferentially partitioned towards the GB-IL-rich phase in both the GB-IL + salt and polymer + GB-IL purification systems. Molecular docking studies were performed aiming at to understand the possible interactions between the GB-IL ions and the lipase residues. Furthermore, the selected GB-IL-based ABS was investigated as part of an integrated process developed to successfully recover and purify an extracellular B. cepacia ST8 lipase from the fermentation broth, in which a purification factor of 22.4 ± 0.7 and a recovery yield of (94.0 ± 0.2) % were achieved.

Label-free quantitative proteomic analysis of Lactobacillus fermentum NCDC 400 during bile salt exposure

Lactobacillus fermentum NCDC 400 is a commonly used and a comprehensively studied probiotic organism. The distinctive capability to endure the harsh environment of the gastrointestinal tract owing to the presence of bile salts in gastric juice facilitates gut microbiota, especially the probiotic organisms to transiently inhabit the host gut. In the present study, Label-Free Quantification (LFQ) approach has been employed to analyze the expression pattern of Lactobacillus fermentum NCDC 400 strain proteins, under bile acid stress, using high-resolution mass spectrometer connected to nano-liquid chromatography (LC) system. We report the identification of a total of 538 differentially expressed (DE) proteins in response to 1.2% bile salt which is required for the growth of this bacterium. Among the DE proteins, 80 were found to be up-regulated, with greater than 1.3 fold change vis-à-vis 107 proteins which were down-regulated with <0.76 fold change (p<0.05). The functions of down-regulated proteins were largely unknown nevertheless; the putative functions of the up-regulated proteins were categorized into categories viz. stress response, DNA repair, peptidoglycan biosynthesis, amino acids metabolism, signal transduction, transcription, translation, and carbohydrate metabolism. These results suggest that the differentially expressed proteins provide the tolerance towards the various gastrointestinal challenges and involved in bile acid stress response mechanism.

Converting values awareness to values enactment through frame-of-reference training

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate whether values enactment could be increased through frame-of-reference (FOR) training configured around values prototyping and behavioural domain training for managers within an Australian public sector organisation.Design/methodology/approachEmployees from an Australian public sector organisation were studied to ascertain the effect of values training and development via a three-way longitudinal design with a control group.FindingsThe findings indicate that FOR training can increase employee values enactment clarity and, thereby, have a positive impact upon organisational values enactment.Practical implicationsThe application of FOR training constitutes a new approach to supporting the development of employee values clarity, which, in turn, can support the achievement of organisational values enactment. Through FOR training, employees can learn to apply organisational values in their decision-making and other behaviours irrespective of whether they are highly congruent with their personal values.Originality/valueEmpirical research into values management is limited and there is a lack of consensus to what is needed to create a values-driven organisation. The article shows that FOR training can be a beneficial component of a broader human resource strategy aimed at increasing organisational values enactment. With reference to the resource-based view of the firm, it is argued that values enactment constitutes a distinctive capability that may confer sustained organisational advantage.

Fitting Analysis using Differential evolution Optimization (FADO):

The goal of population spectral synthesis (PSS) is to decipher from the spectrum of a galaxy the mass, age and metallicity of its constituent stellar populations. This technique has been established as a fundamental tool in extragalactic research. It has been extensively applied to large spectroscopic data sets, notably the SDSS, leading to important insights into the galaxy assembly history. However, despite significant improvements over the past decade, all current PSS codes suffer from two major deficiencies that inhibit us from gaining sharp insights into the star-formation history (SFH) of galaxies and potentially introduce substantial biases in studies of their physical properties (e.g., stellar mass, mass-weighted stellar age and specific star formation rate). These are i) the neglect of nebular emission in spectral fits, consequently, ii) the lack of a mechanism that ensures consistency between the best-fitting SFH and the observed nebular emission characteristics of a star-forming (SF) galaxy. In this article, we present FADO (Fitting Analysis using Differential evolution Optimization): a conceptually novel, publicly available PSS tool with the distinctive capability of permitting identification of the SFH that reproduces the observed nebular characteristics of a SF galaxy. This so-far unique self-consistency concept allows us to significantly alleviate degeneracies in current spectral synthesis. The innovative character of FADO is further augmented by its mathematical foundation: FADO is the first PSS code employing genetic differential evolution optimization. This, in conjunction with other unique elements in its mathematical concept (e.g., optimization of the spectral library using artificial intelligence, convergence test, quasi-parallelization) results in key improvements with respect to computational efficiency and uniqueness of the best-fitting SFHs.

Innovativeness in family firms: an internationalization approach

PurposeThis paper aims to build on opportunity identification and resource-based view theory, this paper examines the internationalization process of family firms. The role of innovativeness in influencing the internationalization rate of family firms is explored in terms of customer responsiveness, proactiveness and risk-taking.Design/methodology/approachMultiple case studies were carried out with several family businesses in the information technology industry in Australia.FindingsThe findings of this research suggest that innovativeness of family firms depends on responsiveness to customer needs in the international market while involving a degree of risk-taking. In addition, the results suggest family firms are not proactive in their pursuit of international market opportunities.Research limitations/implicationsIf family firms focus more on becoming more innovative, then they will stand a better chance to successfully enter more international markets.Originality/valueThe paper highlights the need for family firms to embrace their innovativeness as a distinctive capability for their internationalization efforts. Several new research directions that may enhance the understanding of family firm innovation and internationalization are suggested.

الخصائص المطلوب توافرها في معلمي الموهوبين والمتفوقين من وجهة نظر الإداريين العاملين في مدارس الموهوبين والمتفوقين الأردنية

Abstract:The study aimed to identify the main dimensions and characteristics of the teachers of gifted and talented students from the perspective of schools management in such schools in Jordan. The participants of this study were (56) male and female administrative staff members from gifted and talent schools in Jordan. The study used Ayasrah and Azizi’s tool (2013) for data collection. The study has identified six main dimensions and characteristics of teachers of gifted and talent students around which the study variables were accumulated. It explains accumulatively a percentage of (75.668%).The study has also sorted the main characteristics of teachers of gifted and talented students in a descending manner under each dimension according to the mean calculations; it was noticeable that all of the means of all of the characteristics were above (3), and the highest mean amongst the means of all characteristics was (4.5604) for the characteristic of “appreciate students’ talents during the ideas generation and brainstorming’’ within the learning dimension. On the other hand, the lowest mean reached (3.5502) for the characteristic of “Has a high and distinctive capability to find and extract the relationships between the subjects and ideas” within the cognitive dimension. This study recommends including the set of characteristics revealed by the study in the programs of rehabilitation, preparation and training for the teachers of gifted and talented students that are offered to them before and during the employment duration.Keywords: Characteristics of Teachers of Gifted And Talent Students, Talents and Distinction, Management of Gifted and Talent Schools.

\u201cInternet+\u201d approach to mapping exposure and seismic vulnerability of buildings in a context of rapid socioeconomic growth: a case study in Tangshan, China

This paper presents the development of an “Internet+” approach to mapping exposure and seismic vulnerability of buildings in a context of rapid socioeconomic growth. This approach is a combination of the following interdependent components: (1) extraction of footprint areas of a large number of buildings from high-resolution Google Earth images; (2) estimation of floor numbers of these buildings with an integrated use of high-resolution Google Earth images, Tencent/Baidu Street Views, crowdsourcing data, and associated building-relevant local knowledge; and (3) identification of structural types of these buildings by a combined use of crowdsourcing data and associated building-relevant local knowledge. The efficacy of this “Internet+” approach was demonstrated through an application in Tangshan, China. Field-based verification indicated that the overall mean absolute percentage error of the proposed “Internet+” approach in assessing the total floor area of the addressed buildings was 4.64 %. The verification also showed that the overall consistency between the estimated structural types using the proposed approach and the actual structural types of the buildings with structural type uncertainties could reach 97.54 %, with a kappa coefficient of 0.94. Because of its good accuracy, noteworthy speed, substantial labor savings, negligible cost and distinctive capability in covering large areas in near real time, this “Internet+” approach might have promising prospects in actual seismic loss risk reduction challenges.

Cancer microarray data feature selection using multi-objective binary particle swarm optimization algorithm.

Cancer investigations in microarray data play a major role in cancer analysis and the treatment. Cancer microarray data consists of complex gene expressed patterns of cancer. In this article, a Multi-Objective Binary Particle Swarm Optimization (MOBPSO) algorithm is proposed for analyzing cancer gene expression data. Due to its high dimensionality, a fast heuristic based pre-processing technique is employed to reduce some of the crude domain features from the initial feature set. Since these pre-processed and reduced features are still high dimensional, the proposed MOBPSO algorithm is used for finding further feature subsets. The objective functions are suitably modeled by optimizing two conflicting objectives i.e., cardinality of feature subsets and distinctive capability of those selected subsets. As these two objective functions are conflicting in nature, they are more suitable for multi-objective modeling. The experiments are carried out on benchmark gene expression datasets, i.e., Colon, Lymphoma and Leukaemia available in literature. The performance of the selected feature subsets with their classification accuracy and validated using 10 fold cross validation techniques. A detailed comparative study is also made to show the betterment or competitiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Controllable synthesis of dual-MOFs nanostructures for pH-responsive artemisinin delivery, magnetic resonance and optical dual-model imaging-guided chemo/photothermal combinational cancer therapy

Theranostic nanoagents which integrate diagnostic and therapeutic moieties into a single platform have attracted broad attention in cancer therapy, however the development of more effective and less toxic diagnostic and therapeutic interventions is still of great urgency. Herein, novel core-shell PB@MIL-100(Fe) dual metal-organic-frameworks (d-MOFs) nanoparticles are fabricated and their combined theranostic effects in vitro and in vivo are investigated. The d-MOFs nanoparticles can serve as a T1-T2 dual-modal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast and fluorescence optical imaging (FOI) agent due to the existence of inner PB MOFs and outer MIL-100(Fe) MOFs. The artemisinin (a traditional Chinese anticancer medicine) with a high loading content of 848.4 mg/g is released from the d-MOFs upon tumor cellular endocytosis due to the pH-responsive degradation of outer MOFs in low pH lysosomes of tumor cells. Furthermore, the inner PB MOFs can be utilized for photothermal therapy due to its strong absorbance in NIR region. Under the guidance by such dual-modal imaging, in vivo photothermal and chemotherapy is finally carried out, achieving effective tumor ablation in an animal tumor model. Furthermore, histological analysis revealed that the drug delivery system had no obvious effect on the major organs of mice due to the low toxicity of both d-MOFs and artemisinin. The distinctive multimodal imaging capability, excellent synergistic therapy effect through the combined chemo-photothermal therapy together with the low toxicity of both d-MOFs and artemisinin endow the theranostic nanoagent a promising next generation of nanomedicine for efficient and safe cancer therapy.

The New Local: Reappraising Peacebuilding from the Grassroots

A Crucial Link: Local Peace Committees and National Peacebuilding . By Andries Odendaal. Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace, 2013. 192 pp., $16.00 paperback (ISBN-13: 978-1601271815). Opting Out of War: Strategies to Prevent Violent Conflict. By Mary B. Anderson and Marshall Wallace. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2013. 193 pp., $18.95 paperback (ISBN-13: 978-1588268778). Peacebuilding through Community-Based NGOs: Paradoxes and Possibilities. By Max Stephenson Jr. and Laura Zanotti. Sterling, VA: Kumarian Press, 2012. 98 pp., $19.95 paperback (ISBN: 978-1565494268). Recent scholarship on civil war has identified that conflict is waged on multiple levels. What if we thought about building peace in a similar, multilevel way? This article reviews three recent additions to the literature on peacebuilding and argues that, in distinguishing between local and national conflict dynamics, they mark a useful departure from the dominant treatment of the local in relation to “top-down” peacebuilding. Particular attention is paid to Odendaal’s thoughtful work on local peace committees and Anderson and Wallace’s compelling survey of communities that chose to “opt out” of war. By exploring situations of disjuncture, in which there is consensus for peace on either the local or national level but not both, these authors emphasize the importance of creating cross-level linkages. They also underscore the distinctive capability for peacebuilding, yet also violence and instability, that resides in the local level.

Transitioning beyond the Economic-environmental Trade-off in the City of Hangzhou

This research uses the concept of to develop further the field of urban transformation and sustainability. Empirically, we document and conceptualize the experience of a Chinese industrialized city, Hangzhou, in overcoming the economic-ecological trade-off common in declining urban environments. We analyze Hangzhou's large-scale green initiative by examining the political, entrepreneurial and environmental rationale behind the initiative, the distinctive organizational capability that enables its implementation, and the initiative's economic and ecological impact on the city. We propose and elaborate the concept of ambidexterity in the making and two sets of enabling mechanisms to explain how such a unique capability is formed and functions to afford an urban government to actualize its green aspirations into an ecological reality, while simultaneously fostering entrepreneurialism and further economic development.

A facile synthesis of versatile Cu2−xS nanoprobe for enhanced MRI and infrared thermal/photoacoustic multimodal imaging

A novel type of intelligent nanoprobe by using single component of Cu2−xS for multimodal imaging has been facilely and rapidly synthesized in scale via thermal decomposition followed by biomimetic phospholipid modification, which endows them with uniform and small nanoparticle size (ca.15 nm), well phosphate buffer saline (PBS) dispersity, high stability, and excellent biocompatibility. The as-synthesized Cu2−xS nanoprobes (Cu2−xS NPs) are capable of providing contrast enhancement for T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), as demonstrated by the both in vitro and in vivo imaging investigations for the first time. In addition, due to their strong near infrared (NIR) optical absorption, they can also serve as a candidate contrast agent for enhanced infrared thermal/photoacoustic imaging, to meet the shortfalls of MRI. Hence, complementary and potentially more comprehensive information can be acquired for the early detection and accurate diagnosis of cancer. Furthermore, negligible systematic side effects to the blood and tissue were observed in a relatively long period of 3 months. The distinctive multimodal imaging capability with excellent hemo/histocompatibility of the Cu2−xS NPs could open up a new molecular imaging possibility for detecting and diagnosing cancer or other diseases in the future.