Alliance Network Research Articles

A Mamluk Sultan in Genoa

The Sīrat Baybars represents a very important Arab folktale pretending to describe the life of Mamluk Sultan Baybars (r. 1260-77). While the content varies between fact and fiction, it proved to be highly entertaining and popular among the Egyptian population until the nineteenth century, where we still hear of public recitals. As such it has shaped the image of Europeans and Christians as outer and inner foes of the Muslim realm and as a constant possible threat. The paper focusses especially on the so-called Genoa Episode of the Sīrat Baybars, when the sultan is taken as captive to Genoa but rescued by a Muslim alliance. The episode shows how real historical events like the Fatimid attack on Genoa in the tenth century and the Mamluk conquest of Cyprus in the fifteenth merge into later narratives. It will also show how the relationship between Europeans, Christian Dhimmis and Mamluks are interwoven in networks of alliances and deceit. In doing so the Sīrat Baybars underlines the existing mental map in Egypt and ensures its survival into modern times.

"Our Voices Will Get Louder": A Qualitative Exploration of Factors Influencing Arab/Middle Eastern North African (MENA) American Patient Participation in US-Based Health Care and Health Research.

Heightened anti-Arab/Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) xenophobia in the United States (US) coupled with the addition of a MENA category on the next US Census call into attention the health needs of this minoritized population. Targeted research is needed to better understand the factors that influence Arab/MENA American participation in US-based health research and health care. A novel qualitative interview guide was constructed to better understand the health research experiences, health care experiences and needs of Arab/MENA patients nationally. Patients were recruited through the Arab American Health Network Alliance (AAHNA) community connections. Semi-structured interviews were conducted virtually in English and Arabic, and qualitative data was interpreted through iterative thematic analysis using inductive reasoning. A total of seventeen interviews (n = 17) were completed (14 in English, 3 in Arabic). Notably, the majority identified as female (82%) and have resided in the US for 18years or longer (53%). Three main themes were identified (1) Individual-level Comfortability and Access to Research Participation, (2) Advancing Community Health Outcomes and Participation, and (3) Structural Barriers as Drivers of Health Disparities. The health research and health care experiences explored in this project have the potential of informing future inquiries on Arab/MENA American health. For instance, we suggest building community trust, providing equitable compensation and support, increasing health workforce diversity, and advocating for affordable health care, all to improve Arab/MENA patient participation in health research.

Toward an improved causal test of network effects: Does alliance network position enhance firm innovation?

AbstractResearch SummaryAssessing whether network position causes firm outcomes is difficult because networks result from firms' strategic choices. To address this issue, we develop a research design that separates self‐driven network change from other‐driven change. Because other‐driven change suppresses the focal firm's agency, outcomes resulting from it can be interpreted as causal—under verifiable assumptions. We apply this method to reassess whether alliance network position affects firm innovation. Using data from the biotechnology industry, we find that structural holes (but not closure) increase firm innovation when self‐driven network change is involved but not when other‐driven change is involved. This raises two possibilities: network effects spuriously capture unobservable firm characteristics or network theories must be updated to account for agency.Managerial SummaryWe examine a crucial question for managers making decisions about alliance networks: Does a firm's position in its alliance network drive innovation, or is it a reflection of the firm's inherent qualities? Our research explores this question by examining network changes outside a firm's control. We find that bridging disconnected partners (structural holes) enhances innovation, but only when firms actively create these positions and not when these positions result from others' actions. Our findings suggest that network position alone does not drive innovation. Acknowledging that network position, per se, is not advantageous provides nuanced insight to better guide managerial decisions.

Magnetic resonance-conditional cardiac implantable electronic devices: an Italian perspective on the prevalence of mixed-brand systems over time

The historical restriction of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for patients with cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) has been lifted by certified MRI-conditional systems in recent years. Mixed-brand CIED systems consisting of a generator from one manufacturer and at least one lead from another manufacturer are not certified for MRI. We evaluated the temporal trend in the prevalence of mixed-brand systems in the era of MRI-conditional systems. Data were analyzed on 5853 CIEDs implanted de novo between 2012 and 2022 in 81 Italian centers linked to the nationwide Home Monitoring Expert Alliance network. The percentage of mixed-brand implants was calculated by device type (pacemaker, implantable cardioverter-defibrillator [ICD], cardiac resynchronization therapy [CRT] device) and over time. A mixed-brand system was implanted in 4.1% (95% CI, 3.6-4.6%) of analyzed patients or, by device type, in 4.5% (3.5-5.7%) of pacemaker patients, 1.1% (0.7-1.7%) of ICD patients, and 6.8% (5.7-7.9%) of CRT pacemaker/defibrillator patients (p < 0.001). Prevalence of mixed-brand implants exhibited significant temporal fluctuations, first declining from 6.6% (2012–2014) to 1.3% (2019), and then increasing to 5.1% (2022). Temporal changes were statistically significant for pacemakers (p < 0.001) and CRT devices (p = 0.001), but not for ICDs (p = 0.438). In the decade between 2012 and 2022, mixed-brand CIED systems were more prevalent in patients treated with pacemakers and CRT devices than in ICD recipients. A decline in the prevalence of mixed-brand systems was observed after the introduction of MRI-conditional systems, reaching a minimum in 2019, followed by a progressive increase in the subsequent years.

Uptake of health economic evaluations alongside clinical trials in Australia: an observational study.

Australia's clinical trials sector is highly productive with continued sector investment needed to enhance research impact. Generating economic evidence alongside trials has the potential to facilitate the implementation of trial results into practice. Ascertaining the use of health economic evaluations alongside clinical trials can assist in determining whether clinical trials fully realize and operationalize their potential to change policy and practice. The aims of this study were to ascertain the uptake of health economic evaluations alongside Australian-led clinical trials and explore associations between uptake and trial characteristics. This observational study comprised a descriptive analysis of clinical trials registries, a cross-sectional survey of Australian Clinical Trials Alliance (ACTA) networks, and a subgroup analysis of completed acute care trials. Descriptive analyses of trial registrations were conducted, with logistic regressions used to identify predictors of proposing and subsequently publishing a health economic evaluation alongside acute care trials. Few randomized Australian-led clinical trials (11% of 9251) and ACTA network trials (43% of 227) proposed a health economic evaluation. In the subgroup analysis, 22% of the 324 acute care trials and 53% of the 38 ACTA network acute care trials proposed a health economic evaluation. Acute care trials funded by government bodies were significantly more likely to propose and publish a health economic evaluation than those funded by hospitals, universities, and other funders, after adjusting for phase, registration year, primary sponsor type, and comparator. Current uptake of health economic evaluations alongside Australian-led clinical trials is low, with uptake higher among the subset of ACTA network trials. This is despite economic evidence playing an increasingly prominent role in health system management, as well as rising health expenditure, limited budgets, and competing demands. There is significant opportunity to embed health economic evaluations alongside clinical trials, particularly phase 3 trials, to increase research outputs and optimize research translation. Investing in clinical trial networks that support funding for a health economist or a health economic evaluation may be an effective strategy to increase the uptake of health economic evaluations alongside trials.

Does embeddedness in strategic alliances matter for innovation efficiency? The moderating roles of government R&amp;D subsidies and standardization

PurposeThis paper investigates the impact of strategic alliance network centrality and structural holes on firm innovation efficiency. In addition, the paper aims to explore the moderating effects of government R&amp;D subsidies and firm technology standardization.Design/methodology/approachBased upon the literature on strategic alliance networks, this paper proposes a conceptual model with several hypotheses. The empirical analysis is based on a sample of 736 observations from 92 mechanical manufacturing firms in China from 2010 to 2017. We measured firm innovation efficiency via the DEA model and performed quantitative analysis with GMM estimation.FindingsThe results indicate that strategic alliance network centrality is positively related to firm innovation efficiency, and structural holes have a U-shaped relationship with firm innovation efficiency. Government R&amp;D subsidies positively moderate the relationship between centrality and firm innovation efficiency. Firm technology standardization positively moderates the relationship between centrality and firm innovation efficiency and the U-shaped relationship between structural holes and firm innovation efficiency.Practical implicationsFirms should focus on improving innovation efficiency and maximizing innovation output under limited resources. Furthermore, managers ought to strengthen cooperation between firms and external alliances while promoting the utilization of strategic alliance network position resources to benefit innovation efficiency.Originality/valueThis paper considers that innovation efficiency, including input and output processes, is more representative than innovation performance, and few studies have focused on the relationship between strategic alliance networks and innovation efficiency. To fill this research gap, this paper explores the impact of strategic alliance network position embedding on innovation efficiency.

Binary Particle Swarm Optimization for Fair User Association in Network Slicing-Enabled Heterogeneous O-RANs

The Open-Radio Access Network (O-RAN) alliance is leading the evolution of telecommunications towards a greater intelligence, openness, virtualization, and interoperability within mobile networks. The O-RAN standard incorporates of many components the Open-Central Unit (O-CU) and Open-Distributed Unit (O-DU), network slicing and heterogeneous base stations (BS). Together, these innovations have given rise to a three-tiered user association (UA) relationship in a type of network called heterogeneous network (HetNet) with network slicing-enabled. There is an absence of efficient UA schemes for achieving fair resource allocation in such network scenario. Hence, this study formulates the fairness-aware UA problem as a utility-based combinatorial optimization problem, which is computationally hard to solve. Hence, an efficient Binary Particle Swarm Optimization (BPSO)-based UA scheme is proposed to solve the problem. Through simulations of an O-RAN based HetNet with network slicing-enabled, performance of the proposed BPSO-UA scheme is compared against two other baseline UA schemes. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed BPSO-UA scheme in achieving high fairness through equitable network slicing resource allocation, thereby leading to higher user connectivity rate and comparable average spectral efficiency. This innovative approach sheds light on the potential of metaheuristic algorithms in tackling intricate UA challenges, offering valuable insights for the future design and optimization of mobile networks.

Holy Infrastructures: Catholicism, Detroit Borderlands, and the Elements

AbstractThrough an ethnographic rendering of the Catholic Church at the Detroit-Windsor borderland, this article foregrounds the ways elemental forces, including water, earth/soil, and air, form an interconnected entity that constitutes part of the theopolitical and religious scaffolding of Holy Infrastructures. We argue that the repetitive inscription of social and affective flows within an urban terrain generates infrastructure projects that contract forces of variable intensity into alliance or disjuncture. The interrelation of these forces as Holy Infrastructure, offers vital information on (dis/en)abling racialized forms of hosting and being hosted by the divine within urban settings, specifically as it pertains to theological labor at multiple scales. Indeed, we understand holiness in Catholic Detroit as a performative sovereignty of partition that mediates a desire for unbrokenness and spatiotemporal rapture. The topologies of Holy Infrastructure thus give rise to overlapping but divergent “wholes” within the racialized urban terrain, offering insight into the Church as a loose network of horizontal alliances that may enforce or subvert hierarchy. Our focus on elemental forces allows us to move beyond abstractions and focus on how theological projects take shape in physical space within an urban ecology. Indeed, Holy Infrastructures come into focus most clearly in relation to the intersection of theology with environmental, climatic, and territorial projects. By approaching Church and State as co-constitutive, we show how Holy Infrastructures offer insight into the racialized and gendered terrain of contemporary Detroit.

R&amp;D Alliance and Innovation: The Interaction of Network Structure and the Quality of the Relationship

AbstractMuch research has taken a structural perspective to examine how the R&amp;D alliance network affects innovation. However, little is known about how the quality of the relationship affects firms’ innovation. In this study, I examine the interaction of network structure and the quality of the relationship and explore the impact on innovation. Using a combination of propensity score weighting and difference‐in‐difference estimation strategies to address endogeneity, I find that the quality of the relationship moderates the inverted U‐shaped relationship between network structure and innovation performance. In addition, I present evidence consistent with possible underlying mechanisms: both network structure and the quality of the relationship affect firms’ access to novel information and firms’ recombination capacity to influence innovation performance.

Research on the Impact of Coopetition Relationship on Knowledge Transfer in Alliance Network

Research on the Impact of Coopetition Relationship on Knowledge Transfer in Alliance Network

Alliance Network, Knowledge Network, and Exploratory Innovation

Alliance Network, Knowledge Network, and Exploratory Innovation

All About Him? CEO Narcissism, Gender and Alliance Network Structural Holes

All About Him? CEO Narcissism, Gender and Alliance Network Structural Holes

US Military Posture in the Asia-Pacific and its Impact on Regional Stability

The geopolitics of Asia-Pacific are witnessing a transition. The regional powers calculate their bets as China rises as a key player and challenges the traditional dominance of the United States. The region hosts various flashpoints – in the wake of rising tensions, the US and China may redefine the power equilibrium, resulting in increased militarization and altering the region’s security environment. The evolving geopolitical dynamics thus characterize a power rivalry between these two powers. In pursuit of influence and supremacy, the US generates far-reaching consequences for regional stability. The involvement of the US in the region and the interests of regional stakeholders are closely connected with the US-China competition. This research paper analyzes this environment in a comprehensive manner, taking into account the multifaceted drivers shaping regional security dynamics. In addition, it highlights the complex network of alliances and military modernization efforts that are exacerbating the strategic equilibrium within the region. It also explores the complex maritime disputes in the South and East China Seas, highlighting the direct territorial and strategic stakes for both the US and China.

Reinforcing the Resistance: Iran and the Levant in a Multipolar Middle East

AbstractHamas's al‐Aqsa Flood operation, Israel's brutal response, and the regional escalation of the conflict, including Iran's and Israel's unprecedented strikes on each other's territory, mark a critical juncture for the Middle East. These events have brought a renewed focus on the Levant as a key area of Iranian geopolitical interest and rivalry with Israel. Syria and the broader subregion are viewed by Tehran as vital for its national security and that of its alliance network, the Axis of Resistance, and for the survival of the regime. This article explores Iran's policy toward the Levant, focusing on Syria as the crucible of Iran's engagement with the region over the last decade. The study highlights how Iran's approach is defined by its continued desire to maintain its projection of strategic depth, thus ensuring its own security and that of the Axis of Resistance. Israel looms large over this calculus as the Islamic Republic looks to strengthen its allies’ positions against its enduring rival.

The Systemic Score May Identify Life-Threatening Evolution in Still Disease: Data from the GIRRCS AOSD-Study Group and the AIDA Network Still Disease Registry.

We aimed to evaluate the clinical usefulness of the systemic score in the prediction of life-threatening evolution in Still disease. We also aimed to assess the clinical relevance of each component of the systemic score in predicting life-threatening evolution and to derive patient subsets accordingly. A multicenter, observational, prospective study was designed including patients included in the Gruppo Italiano Di Ricerca in Reumatologia Clinica e Sperimentale Adult-Onset Still Disease Study Group and the Autoinflammatory Disease Alliance Network Still Disease Registry. Patients were assessed to see if the variables to derive the systemic score were available. The life-threatening evolution was defined as mortality, whatever the clinical course, and/or macrophage activation syndrome, a secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis associated with a poor prognosis. A total of 597 patients with Still disease were assessed (mean ± SD age 36.6 ± 17.3 years; male 44.4%). The systemic score, assessed as a continuous variable, significantly predicted the life-threatening evolution (odds ratio [OR] 1.24; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.07-1.42; P = 0.004). A systemic score ≥7 also significantly predicted the likelihood of a patient experiencing life-threatening evolution (OR 3.36; 95% CI 1.81-6.25; P < 0.001). Assessing the clinical relevance of each component of the systemic score, liver involvement (OR 1.68; 95% CI 1.48-2.67; P = 0.031) and lung disease (OR 2.12; 95% CI 1.14-4.49; P = 0.042) both significantly predicted life-threatening evolution. The clinical characteristics of patients with liver involvement and lung disease were derived, highlighting their relevance in multiorgan disease manifestations. The clinical utility of the systemic score was shown in identifying Still disease at a higher risk of life-threatening evolution in a large cohort. Furthermore, the clinical relevance of liver involvement and lung disease was highlighted.

A German DJ, Postmodern Dreams, and the Ambivalent Politics of East–West Exchange at the First Exhibition of Approximate Art in Riga, April 1987

Organized as part of the annual Art Days festival in the capital of the Latvian SSR, the First Exhibition of Approximate Art comprised a cacophonous and provocative mashup of music, dance, performance art, and design. At the center of the event was a demonstration of mixing and scratching records by Maximilian Lenz, also known as Westbam, one of the leading DJs in West Berlin. Mining archival sources in Berlin and Riga, this article reconstructs the complicated path by which the DJ came to perform at the event. It reveals a surprising network of relations and alliances operating in tandem behind the scenes, featuring a Riga artist dedicated to enacting a vision of postmodern performance in his city, an ambitiously networking émigré Latvian living in exile in West Germany, and a pair of Soviet offices under direct control of the KGB, charged with managing cultural exchanges with the West in hopes of currying sympathies for Soviet culture and policy. Complementing and extending research on the “gaps” and “holes” in the Soviet system that sometimes allowed for the staging of otherwise unacceptable works of art, the story of the First Exhibition of Approximate Art reveals how personal connections and interpersonal networks within even the most highly monitored parts of the system itself—the state security apparatus—could open doors for artistic projects unanticipated and even undesired by the bureaucratic state.

Don't ignore either side: The differential impact of ego-network density of the focal firm and partner on technological invasion

This study investigated the differential effects of the ego-network density (i.e., ego-density) of the focal firm and its partner on the focal firm's competitive behavior toward its partner in technological areas, as well as the moderating role of relative structural holes in the whole alliance network. The empirical findings indicate that the ego-density of the focal firm has an inverted U-shaped relationship with technological invasion, whereas the ego-density of the partner firm has a negative effect. Relative structural holes also appear to strengthen the inverted U-shaped relationship between the focal firm's ego-density and technological invasion while attenuating the negative effect of the partner firm's ego-density on technological invasion. By concurrently considering both participants in this allying relationship and the synergistic interaction of the ego and whole alliance network, these results add to our understanding of the coopetition relationship within such networks.

Uncovering the impact of technology convergence on innovation quality: From the perspective of ego‐network dynamics pathway

AbstractThis paper examines the mediating effect of R&amp;D alliance network dynamics on the relationship between technology convergence and firm innovation quality, it further investigates the moderating effect of degree assortativity in the inventor network. An empirical analysis is conducted based on a panel negative binomial regression model with data of Chinese high‐tech firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock from 2000 to 2018. The results show that novel technology convergence not only contributes to innovation quality directly but also indirectly through ego‐network expansion. The relationship between reinforced technology convergence and innovation quality is inverted U‐shaped, partially mediated by ego‐network stability. In addition, degree assortativity suppresses the effects of novel technology convergence on ego‐network expansion and innovation quality and steepens the inverted U‐shaped relationships of reinforced technology convergence with ego‐network stability and innovation quality. This paper contributes to the relevant literature by revealing the links between technology convergence, ego‐network dynamics, and innovation quality, and emphasizing the importance of inventor collaboration ties formation mechanism in knowledge searching and convergent innovation. Furthermore, the conclusion provides managerial suggestions for high‐tech firms to coordinate internal and external resources to improve technical impacts.

U.S.-Japan-Australia Trilateralism: The Inner Core of Regional Order Building and Deterrence in the Indo-Pacific

executive summary: This article examines the state of security cooperation between the U.S., Japan, and Australia through the Trilateral Strategic Dialogue (TSD), and finds that even though the TSD maintains a relatively low profile, this minilateral alignment effectively forms the inner core of regional order building and deterrence within the U.S. hub-and-spoke alliance network. main argument Since its formal establishment in 2002, the TSD has come to function as the inner core of coordination among allies in the face of strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific. It possesses significant capability to shape the regional security environment, as seen in terms of normative efforts at order building under the "free and open Indo-Pacific" banner, and is underwritten by a combined commitment to regional deterrence. Compared with the Quad and coordination between Australia, the UK, and the U.S. (AUKUS), the TSD is overlooked and underanalyzed as an exemplar of strategically orientated minilateral cooperation. To remedy this oversight, this article details how the TSD is being employed as a tool of strategic competition by capturing its primary functions while evaluating its capabilities, potential, and weaknesses. Because the TSD would likely form the nucleus of any U.S.-led collective response to a regional contingency, it is the most consequential example of "strategic minilateralism" within the Indo-Pacific security architecture. policy implications • Policymakers are increasingly recognizing the potential of minilateral security configurations as purposeful tools through which to prosecute strategic competition. • Mature minilaterals like the TSD can provide capable and multifaceted forums to achieve combined strategic objectives, such as regional order building and enhanced deterrence. • These tasks are inextricably interlinked, and while TSD partners strive to maintain the regional order, they must increase their efforts to credibly deter conflict and be adequately prepared to respond accordingly should deterrence fail.

Управление предпринимательскими сетями арктических территорий: методика проектирования сетевой архитектуры и ее реализация на Python

This study aims to develop a methodology for designing entrepreneurial networks based on assessing the potentials of actors, which are social and economic groups participating in entrepreneurial relations localized in the territories of the Russian Arctic. The objective is to ensure the reasoned participation of actors in network alliances. Methodological approaches and results of assessing the entrepreneurial potential of actors were previously presented, with the author developing approaches that account for the regional features of Arctic processes and allow for broad interpretation. To achieve this, the potential of various actors, or stakeholders operating in Arctic territories, is evaluated. This involves the use of indicators to integrate data in order to detail entrepreneurial properties. Among the indicators are involvement in creating business infrastructure, the scale of activity, innovative endeavors, professionalism of public organizations, and the efficiency of government administration in fostering a favorable investment climate. Other indicators include population engagement in innovation-driven processes (the degree of integration of local and scientific knowledge achieved by establishing formal and informal institutions and programs for interaction between the population and scientific communities; the degree of development of public institutions as subjects of the transfer of innovative solutions between participants in the territorial innovation system, etc.), the degree of monopolization of the territory's economy, the presence of large venture investors, and the venture policy of corporations indicating the stage of territory development. The article's objective is to lay theoretical foundations and methodological provisions for designing the architecture of Arctic network alliances. The focus is on ensuring maximum entrepreneurial potential, considering Arctic processes and their rapid recombination amid swift changes in the business environment. As a result, the author proposes a methodological approach to identifying actors in entrepreneurial networks and connections that support relationships between central actors. This identification is based on the target function of maximizing and restructuring entrepreneurial potential in the Arctic, whose calculation is automated through the use of the Python programming language. The article introduces the author's version of software for generating management information for network brokers. All data for assessment and design can be obtained from official open sources, ensuring the speed of data collection and processing. Research plans involve developing provisions of a methodology focused on the meso-level of the Russian Arctic macroregion for territorial, production, and socio-economic systems with significant potential for forming relations in the innovation economy.